A Review on Perspectives of Cluster Formation in Promoting Competitive Advantage for Small and Medium Enterprises and Sustainable Economic Growth

ABSTRACTThis study examines the role of regulatory quality toward the achievement of India's sustainable economic growth. India's economy is known for its policy structure that guarantees infrastructural development and ease of doing business (EOD). EOD is a mechanism for achieving a structural development that stems from the informal economy. This has impacted India's economy positively through the increase in the small and medium businesses and enterprises (SMEs) because of the increasing participation of private agents in building and developing the entire economy. Hence, this study chooses India's economy as a specimen to examine the possible contribution of the selected variables as they are considered prevailing economic factors in India's economic performance. The direct motive of this study is to test and compare the impact of regulatory quality on EOD and economic growth in pursuit of sustainable economic development. While the focus is on the role of regulatory quality on EOD and economic growth, other vital and prevailing economic factors (banking efficiency, FDI and labor force participation rate) in India are introduced to the modeling of this study. India's economy is known for its policy structure that guarantees infrastructural development and EOD. It will add to the growth and sustainability literature to investigate the economy with respect to the implication of regulatory quality and EOD toward achieving sustainable economic growth; hence, the need for this study. For insightful research into the objectives, this study adopts a two‐model approach centered on economic growth and EOD. The study adopts Augmented Least Squares (RALS), newly developed RALS‐EG (Engle and Granger test), fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), and autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) techniques for effective analysis and justification of the objectives of this study. The findings from this analysis revealed the importance of regulatory quality to both economic growth and EOD for India through a positive interaction with the two targeted variables (i.e., economic growth and EOD). EOD has a positive link with economic growth; bank efficiency has a positive link with both economic growth and EOD; FDI has a positive link between economic growth and EOD. This shows that FDI, bank efficiency, and EOD policies will foster sustainable economic growth for India.

This study investigated the impact of the people category of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on sustainable and conventional economic growth in Asia and the Pacific region, using a sample of 52 selected countries between 2000 and 2023. Employing two distinct models, model A1 for conventional economic growth and model A2 for sustainable economic growth, we explained the relationships between five SDG indicators: employed poverty rate, stunted children, expenditure on health, expenditure of education, and % of women MNAs on economic growth. This study employed a fixed-effect model and random-effect model to investigate the impact of the people category SDGs on traditional and sustainable economic growth. The comparative analysis of each SDG in both models revealed valuable insights. SDG 1, “employed poverty rate”, has a positive impact on economic growth in both models, while SDG 2, “percentage of stunted child”, did not significantly influence economic growth in either model. Moreover, SDG 3 and SDG 4, relating to “government’s health expenditure per capita” and “government’s Education education expenditure per capita”, respectively, exhibited a positive impact on traditional and sustainable economic growth. Conversely, SDG 5, “percentage of women members of national parliament”, displayed an insignificant impact on traditional and sustainable economic growth models. In conclusion, this study suggests that policymakers should prioritize targeted interventions to alleviate employed poverty, enhance healthcare, and boost education spending. Moreover, promoting women’s representation in national parliaments should be approached with context-specific strategies to maximize its impact on economic growth.

SDG 8’s goal is to promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth; full and productive employment; and decent work for all. This chapter examines the experiences of East Asian developing countries in achieving rapid and inclusive economic growth by focusing on the role of international tradeand foreign direct investmentnexus created through global value chains (GVCs)by multinational corporations (MNCs). GVCs enabled participating companies and countries to improve productivity, contributing to economic growth. The factors attributable to the participation in GVCs include high competitiveness of local companies and open business environment created by the Asian government. Moreover, construction and maintaining well-functioning soft (e.g., education and legal systems) and hard (e.g., transportation and communication systems) infrastructure by the government and international donors contributed to the creation of business-friendly environment. Faced with growing protectionism and the threats of growing US-China rivalry, infectious diseases, climate change, etc., maintaining an open and transparent rules-based business environment is crucially important to further achieving sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth. In the light of absence of effective global economic order, exemplified by ineffectiveness of the World Trade Organizationin trade liberalization as well as dispute settlement, regional economic frameworks such as the CPTPP and RCEP in the Asia and Pacific region would be proven to be effective to achieve the goal.

Sustainable economic growth and identifying factors affecting it are among the important issues which have always received attention from researchers of different countries. Accordingly, one of the factors affecting economic growth, which has received attention from researchers in the developed countries over recent years, is the issue of environmental technologies that enter the economic cycle of other countries after being patented through technology transfer. The current research investigated the role of the environment-related patents and the effects of the patented technological innovations compatible with climate change mitigation on the economic growth and development in the Middle East countries within a specific time period. The required data were gathered from the valid global databases, including Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and World Bank and have been analyzed using multi-linear regression methods and econometric models with Eviews 10 software. The obtained results with 95% confidence level show that the environmental patents (β = 0.02) and environment management (β = 0.04) and technologies related to the climate change mitigation (β = 0.02) have a significant positive impact on the sustainable economic development and growth rate in the studied countries. Such a study helps innovators and policymakers in policy decisions related to sustainable development programs from the perspective of environmentally friendly technologies by demonstrating the role of patents in three important environmental areas, namely environmental management, water-related adaptation and climate change mitigation, as one of the factors influencing sustainable economic growth.

As the global financial and economic crisis hit the European Union, no country was left unharmed. To this day, the Member States share the burden of excessive foreign debt, inflation, budget deficit, high unemployment levels, shaken stability of the currency, and many more. Multiple responses were introduced to these damaging effects, including adopting changes to the use of the Globalisation Adjustment Fund, enabling a Financial Stability Mechanism for the Euro zone and introducing a number of micro-financing instruments, particularly to support SMEs. Nevertheless, these have all been short-term actions, which will not suffice to ensure a long-term, sustainable economic growth of the European economies and maintain the EU's position among global political and economic leaders. European leaders have adopted the Europe 2020 strategy for economic growth, which addresses all key-areas of economic growth - from innovations to employment and environment. Yet, the greatest challenge to this goal remains regional cohesion - namely, full economic and social convergence of the regions and Member States of the European Union. After thirty six years of a common Regional policy and over twelve years since the creation of the Cohesion policy, the remaining economic and social disparities within the Union are striking. What is more, the distribution of cohesion financing, similarly to the Common Agricultural policy direct payments, continues to portray a significant weakness in the common objectives of fair competition and solidarity among Member States. Within the next multiannual financial framework of 2014-2020, Regional and Cohesion policy of the EU will have a fundamental importance in eliminating existing disparities among regions, providing for a sustainable economic growth, increasing the EU's competitiveness and implementing the ambitious Europe 2020 goals. It can therefore be considered as a key element in Europe's economic recovery. This paper provides an analytical examination of the goals, strategies and current trends in the Regional and Cohesion policy as a tool of economic growth of the European Union. It provides a brief insight into the history, objectives and functioning of the policy in order to continue with analysis of its results and provide recommendations for improvement of the policy and increase its positive impact on the EU's economic development. Materials, statistics, working documents and analysis provided by EU and national institutions, as well as independent analysts have been used in the production of this paper. Results and conclusion are presented in a descriptive, logically constructive manner of synthesis. More specifically, the paper concludes by stating that in order to achieve full convergence and be able to ensure sustainable economic recovery and growth throughout the EU, greater flexibility and sovereignty need to be employed in political decision-making and regulations on allocation of funds. To raise the positive effects on Member States' economies, equality must be ensured to attain the Union's strategic goals without harming the weakest Member States' economies and competitiveness. It is therefore essential that the convergence objective be formulated as the leading goal of the Regional and Cohesion policy. Policies under the upcoming multiannual financial framework must be results-oriented. The EU's economic recovery, hence, also its Regional and Cohesion policy and allocation of funds, have to reflect the practice of fair competition, solidarity and equality. Only then will the European Union be able to fulfil its political and economic ambitions. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.0.5.1092

The Indonesian government policy in encouraging sustainable economic growth to reduce unemployment, poverty and inequality is threatened to fail, because economic growth does not reach targets and is not of quality. The purpose of this research is to explain the four pillars of growth and development namely; human capital, social capital, institutional economics and entrepreneurship as the main drivers of quality and sustainable economic growth. This research method used primary data on entrepreneurship and SMEs in the provinces of Central Java and Yogyakarta. The correlational form of recursive model path analysis was used as analytical method. The research results show the very strong role of human capital as the main key in driving economic growth both directly and indirectly. The existence of human capital and social capital will further encourage new economic institutions, furthermore new economic institutions will encourage the competitiveness of productive entrepreneurship and high, quality, and sustainable regional economic growth. The policy implication is that high, quality, and fundamentally sustainable economic growth must be built on the four main pillars basis namely; human capital, social capital, institutional and entrepreneurship in order to be more successful in reducing development problems; unemployment, poverty and income inequality.

Seit nunmehr knapp zwei Dekaden verbinden viele regionalpolitische Akteure mit dem Cluster- und Netzwerkkonzept wirtschaftliches Wachstum und eine Aufwertung der lokalen wirtschaftsstrukturellen Situation. Gleichzeitig hat sich auf die Anspruche dieses, in Fachkreisen als Instrument regionaler Strukturentwicklung auserst popularen Konzepts, eine kritische Lesart entwickelt und gezeigt, dass das Konzept in weiten Teilen auf bisher wissenschaftlich nur in unzureichendem Mase gesicherten Erkenntnissen fust. In dieser Tradition setzt sich der Aufsatz eingehend mit den Grundstrukturen des Clusterkonzeptes auseinander. Ziel des Aufsatzes ist es, die gegenwartig gebrauchliche Art des Umgangs der regionalpolitischen Praxis mit dem Konzept zu hinterfragen und fur die noch ausstehenden Forschungsbedarfe zu sensibilisieren.

Economic Vulnerabilities and Livelihoods: Impact of <scp>COVID</scp>‐19 in Fiji and Vanuatu

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the financial development and economic growth in underdeveloped countries. An observed characteristic of the process of economic development over time, in a market-oriented economy using the price mechanism to allocate resources, is an increase in the number and variety of financial institutions and a substantial rise in the proportion not only of money but also of the total of all financial assets relative to GNP and to tangible wealth. Typical statements indicate that the financial system somehow accommodates—or, to the extent that it malfunctions, it restricts—growth of real per capita output. Such an approach places emphasis on the demand side for financial services; as the economy grows it generates additional and new demands for these services, which bring about a supply response in the growth of the financial system. In this view, the lack of financial institutions in underdeveloped countries is simply an indication of the lack of demand for their services.

The stability and sustainability of economic growth have always been a hot topic of concern in the academic and practical circles around the world. The purpose of this study is to examine the stability and sustainability of China's economic growth. For over 200 economies around the world, ensuring the stability and sustainability of their economic development in the face of sudden and catastrophic events is a great challenge. The COVID-19 epidemic in 2020 is just an emergency to test the economic development of each economy. The method adopted in this study is to observe the economic growth of more than 200 countries and regions in the world in 2020, visually measure the economic growth of each economy after being impacted by the COVID-19 epidemic, and then further explain the reason for the robustness of China's economic growth with the help of shock theory, statistical methods, including variance coefficient, nonlinear econometric model, shock entropy and other quantitative indicators. This study found that although the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on China's economic growth is huge on the whole, the resilience of China's economic growth is significant, and the original trend of economic growth has not changed because of the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. Its average variance coefficient is only 0.42, and the shock entropy is almost 0. The conclusion is that China's economic development is not only robust, but also sustainable. The practical significance of this study is that the perfect industrial economic structure and the Chinese style COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control model can still maintain the existing track of economic development at a certain cost of economic development, ensuring that the overall trend of economic growth remains strong, which lays a solid foundation for economic and social development after the COVID-19 epidemic.

This paper empirically examines Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and Nigeria’s economic growth from 1970-2012. The benefits of SMEs to any economy are easily noticeable. These includes: creation of jobs, provide a vehicle for reducing income disparities, increase the output of goods and services produced in the economy etc. The main objective of this paper is to examine the impact of SMEs on economic growth in Nigeria. In order to achieve this objective, the study polled 84 SMEs for primary data collection as well as statistical records for years 1975-2012 as secondary data. The ordinary least square, co-integration and error correction model was used to estimate the data collected during the period of this study. The variables used include Gross Domestic Product as the dependent variable and Finance Available to Small and Medium Enterprises, Interest rate and Inflation rate as the independent variables. Our result showed that Finance Available to SMEs showed a positive relationship with economic growth while Interest rate and Inflation rate showed a negative and positive influence on economic growth respectively. Thus, we concluded that the independent variables play an important role in determining the impact of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises on economic growth in Nigeria. Based on this, it was recommended that the Nigerian Government should organize a national enterprise forum, which would focus on the contributions of SMEs in national development objectives; the Federal/State Ministries of Industry in collaboration with the National Association of SMEs should work out strategies for an annual report of SMEs operating in Nigeria and the Government should adopt policy measures to maintain a favorably low commercial banking lending rate as this will accelerate high investment in Small, Medium and large-scale businesses and subsequently in the long-run contribute significantly to economic growth.

Purpose. The purpose of the paper is to study and describe some characteristics of the balanced economic growth of entrepreneurial entities (small, medium and large enterprises), draw valid conclusions and reveal future perspectives, which will allow us to balance their sustainable dynamic development and be able to mobilize and effectively manage our own resources. Results. In both developed and developing countries, the role of small and medium enterprises is important. Small and medium-sized businesses are the main driving force in business development. In many countries of the world (including EU countries), small and medium entrepreneurship is considered as the main strategic direction of inclusive growth, employment, and economic development. The problem of economic growth of enterprises in the market economy is an urgent issue. Despite many innovative offers, the activities of the country’s enterprises, the growth of their scale requires more efforts. One of the main guidelines for ensuring the sustainable economic growth of enterprises is to ensure the economic efficiency of the leading sectors of the country’s economy, the enterprises included in them. In the conditions of modern globalization, as a result of the strengthening of competition, the issue of the development of the innovative economy came to the fore. The role of the leading directions of the country as a whole, as well as their individual enterprises, is essentially increasing. They determine the country’s specialization in the world economic system. Such enterprises determine the national competitive advantage. Scientific novelty. While working on the research issues of the paper, as a result of theoretical and empirical research, the following were improved and complexly investigated: modern approaches to the study of ensuring the balanced economy, components of the balanced indicator system, balanced economic growth models, as a result of which the modern features and challenges of the economic growth of Georgian enterprises were revealed. Besides, in this study, the theoretical foundations of the balanced economic growth research are analyzed; the peculiarities of the balanced growth of enterprises in the conditions of globalization are defined; the ways of balanced economic growth of enterprises, its financial and economic indicators, models and perspectives are determined; the mechanism of sustainable development of enterprises is identified; as a result of studying the functions of a small and medium-sized enterprise, its strengths and weaknesses have been identified; the factors hindering the development and internationalization of the country’s small and medium-sized enterprises have been identified; the main recommendations for the development and internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises of the country have been developed. Practical value. The conclusions and recommendations formed as a result of the conducted research can be used as a starting point for the balanced economic growth of the country’s business entities, small and medium enterprises.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically analyze the impact of remittance inflows on sustained economic growth in India.Design/methodology/approachThis study has taken a time series dataset for the period of 1976–2021, and a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag model technique (NARDL) has been applied to check the impact of remittance inflows along with other control variables, including broad money and service sector performance, on the sustained economic growth of India.FindingsThe results of the study indicated that in both the short and long runs, any positive shock in remittance inflows has a positive impact on the economic growth of India, while negative shocks do not affect economic growth.Practical implicationsThe economic policymakers of India can use the findings of the study by implementing remittance-friendly policies. Moreover, NITI Aayog, the body working toward achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) in India, can also use this study as a reference while making strategies to achieve SDG.Originality/valueEconomic growth has always been an area of interest among economists, researchers and policymakers. However, achieving sustained economic growth requires an analysis of those factors that themselves have sustained performance over a long period of time and have the potential to sustain it over the upcoming years. This study has taken remittance inflows as one such factor and investigated its impact on the sustained economic growth of India. At present, there is an evident gap in the literature that very little attention has been given to sustained Indian economic growth. Moreover, there is no study available in which the nonlinear impact of different variables has been tested on the economic growth of India.

This study investigated the influence of tax determinants on sustainable economic growth of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in South-South, Nigeria. A cross sectional survey design was conducted on a sample of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in South-South, Nigeria. The study anchored on the fiscal exchange theory. Primary data was collected using a questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale. The sample was 535 owners of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) taxpayers were purposively selected. The data collected was presented with the use of descriptive statistics, while bivariate and multivariate analysis was used in the estimation of the regression model developed for the study. The results suggested that tax knowledge positively and significantly influenced sustainable economic growth among MSMEs in south-south Nigeria; tax compliance cost positively and significantly influenced sustainable economic growth among MSMEs in south-south Nigeria; tax awareness has no positive and significant impact on sustainable economic growth among MSMEs in south-south Nigeria; taxpayers’ perception on accountability positively but not significantly influenced sustainable economic growth among MSMEs in south-south Nigeria and tax rate positively and significantly influenced sustainable economic growth among MSMEs in south-south Nigeria. On the basis of the findings, the study concluded that tax determinants influence the level of sustainable economic growth of micro, small and medium enterprises in South-South Nigeria. The study recommended amongst others that government should continuously invest on tax education both at the basic and secondary levels of education. This can be done by putting in place tax clubs in different schools so that as learners get to the taxpaying brackets they are fully aware of tax responsibilities as well as improve tax information thereby simplifying tax procedures for higher revenue generation for sustainable economic growth.

The development of Ivorian public debt in recent years has raised concerns. Is its current level capable of boosting the economy or, on the contrary, being at the source of a recession? This paper analyzes the effect of the level of indebtedness on economic growth in Côte d’Ivoire using the Threshold Autoregressive (TAR) model over the period 1970-2018. The results obtained in the short run shed light on the no relationship between public debt and economic growth. In the long run, on the other hand, there is a bi-directional granger causality between public debt and the sustainability of economic growth. The non-linearity between the variables of interest has been studied and the results show the presence of a threshold effect: beyond 48.03 percent of GDP, any increase in public debt by 1% should reduce economic growth by 0.28%. Thus, the study questions the relevance of the criterion set by the WAEMU: public debt &lt;70% of GDP.