Motivations and barriers of export performance: Greek exports to the Balkans

Foreign market entry can play a very important role in a nation's economic prosperity. This study concentrates on the evaluation of specific characteristics of the export decision process and is focused on factors that stimulate firms to export or inhibit them from doing so. The analysis is accomplished by using a sample of 40 listed firms on the Athens Stock Exchange involved in making exports to four South-Eastern European (SEE) countries (the Balkans): Albania, Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Romania. The research is based on a questionnaire which has provided several insights into export motivations and barriers. It uses the principal component factor analysis technique in order to investigate common factors that might explain the underlying beliefs about the perceived variables.

In today’s globally interconnected world, resilient and technology-driven supply chains are pivotal to ensuring national security, economic stability, and competitive growth. The complexities of modern trade, coupled with geopolitical tensions, natural disasters, and cybersecurity threats, have exposed vulnerabilities in traditional supply chain systems. These disruptions not only threaten critical infrastructure but also undermine economic prosperity by increasing costs and reducing efficiency. Advanced technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT) offer transformative solutions to these challenges. Blockchain enhances transparency and security by providing immutable records of transactions, ensuring accountability across supply chain networks. AI optimizes operations through predictive analytics, improving demand forecasting, inventory management, and risk assessment. Meanwhile, IoT enables real-time monitoring, allowing stakeholders to track assets, environmental conditions, and logistics with unprecedented precision. Together, these technologies empower supply chains to adapt dynamically, fostering resilience against disruptions. Beyond operational improvements, technology-driven supply chains hold strategic importance for national security. Secure and transparent supply chains mitigate risks associated with critical resources, such as semiconductors and energy, while fostering domestic manufacturing capabilities. Economically, these innovations enhance efficiency, create jobs, and enable businesses to remain globally competitive. This paper explores the intersection of technology and supply chain resilience, highlighting their contributions to national security, economic prosperity, and sustainable development. It emphasizes the need for robust policy frameworks, interdisciplinary collaboration, and scalable solutions to ensure the future of secure and efficient global trade systems.

Purpose – This study aims to examine the association between national economic prosperity (measured by per capita gross national income – GNI) and the acquisition of football workers (indicated by number of amateur footballers, football officials and professional footballers) and predict football performances (specified by qualifications at continental football championships) based on per capita GNI and football workers. Design/methodology/approach – Archival data of 203 national football teams were utilized based on continental football championship records before 2014. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to build various models to ascertain their predictive values. Economically prosperous nations are those with a per capita GNI of more than US$10,000, and unprosperous nations are those with per capita GNI of less than US$10,000. Findings – The analysis indicated that per capita GNI was significantly and positively associated with the acquisition of football workers – but not predictive of football performance. Rather football officials and professionals emerged to be the key predictors of football performance and not per capita GNI. The final model predicted 73.1 and 74.2 per cent of performance and non-performance, respectively, of national football teams correctly. Research limitations – The findings were largely restricted to quantitative archival data for the last continental championships. However, future research may benefit from using qualitative interviews, questionnaires and or ethnographic studies of players, teams and or managers. Practical implications – The results revealed that economic prosperity positively influences the acquisition of football resources (here – in football workers). Specifically, targeted production of football workers, such as the acquisition of a large number of effective professional footballers and officials, can boost football performance – and not merely economic prosperity. Originality/value – Actual football-specific human capital (and not general population) was used in predicting continental football qualifications – a factor uncommon in such studies.

Foreign market selection and entry are important decisions for internationalizing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) because they involve uncertainty, and influence performance. While it is inherent in effectual foreign market entry (FME) decision-making to rely on international partners and relationships to develop international markets, causal foreign market selection and business relationships/networks have frequently been presented as alternative ways to expand abroad. We conceive SMEs’ foreign market selection and entry as international business decisions and build on causal and effectual logic, and business network theory, to propose a model explaining SMEs’ international performance. We contribute to international business and SME literature by uncovering two different paths (causal and effectual) to FME collaboration and international performance. FME collaboration mediates the relation between causal foreign market selection and effectual entry decision-making and international performance. Our theoretical explanation for the mediating mechanism through which international performance can be enhanced is the network approach.

National intelligence and national prosperity

Offensive realism believes that countries are bound to absorb more relative power in the anarchy international system than other countries. The regional congress competes with the surrounding countries for regional supremacy and then wins the region's dominant position. The regional congresses compete with the surrounding countries for regional supremacy and then win the dominant position of global hegemony. However, in today's world, where globalization and anti-globalization coexist, global conflicts are intensifying, and it is impossible to achieve national economic development and prosperity solely by relying on military forces. The interaction between countries is more interdependent. Moreover, big countries may only sometimes compete with other countries for the position of regional hegemon. China's "Belt and Road" initiative in 2013 aims to develop economic development with neighbouring countries and contribute to world economic prosperity rather than competing for the world's economic prosperity. China's "Belt and Road" initiative in 2013 aims to develop economic development with neighbouring countries and contribute to world economic prosperity rather than competing for economic supremacy.

Bridges are a critical part of our nation's economic prosperity and local community well-being. One of the latest trends in bridge engineering is sustainable design, which is designing so that resources are available for many generations to come. Sustainable design considers the ecological, economic and socio-cultural environments and works to balance all three. There are some sustainable infrastructure rating systems (RSs) available, such as Envision that can be applied to bridges. However, no system has been developed that would specifically apply to bridge sustainability assessment. The objectives of this study are first, to investigate bridge sustainability issues from three main aspects: environmental, economical and social; and second, to apply multi-criteria analysis to assess the sustainability of the Penang Second Bridge in Malaysia. A hierarchy structure of the sustainable bridge attributes was developed for each RS, and an analytical hierarchy process method was then applied for the appraisal of the sustainability of a bridge pertaining to the relative attributes. The research involved a committee of Malaysian bridge professionals to support the rational decision-making. The results reveal that the case study has achieved most of the criteria of the sustainability assessments.

Summary form only given. Energy has been the life-blood for continuing progress of human civilization. Since the beginning of industrial revolution around two centuries ago, the global energy consumption has increased by leaps and bounds to accelerate the human living standard on this planet, particularly in the industrialized nations. Per-capita energy consumption, particularly in electrical form, has been a barometer of a nation's economic prosperity. Today, the major amount of electricity is generated by fossil fuel and nuclear power plants. Fossil Juel plants create environmental pollution problem whereas the nuclear plants have safety problem. These pollution and safety problems are now causing major concerns in our society. How can we continuously improve our living standard, and at the same time, live in a cleaner and safer environment? Renewable energy sources, and possibly the fusion energy in future (if at all possible), can to a certain extent mitigate these problems, but conservation of energy with more efficient use of electricity is a definite method of solving this problem. Power electronics and drives technology is recently showing a major impact in energy conservation besides its general role in global industrial automation. The presentation will begin by broad introduction of global energy generation, depletion of fossil and nuclear fuels, environmental pollution, and energy conservation scenarios. The role of power electronics and drives technology, which has gone through rapid advancement during the last four decades will be reviewed in a broader perspective. The recent advances of power semiconductor devices, converter topologies, variable frequency drives, control and estimation techniques will be discussed, and technology trends will be outlined wherever possible. More recently, the emerging AI technology tools, such as expert system, fuzzy logic, neural network and genetic algorithm are expanding the frontier of power electronic and drives.

Innovation has been recognised as a distinctive input to wealth creation through the stimulation of new ideas, processes and products. A nation's economic prosperity has been attributed to the concerted efforts in research and development, technology transfer and collaboration among firms, knowledge institutions and the government. This paper discusses the challenges and determinants of agro-operations and innovation initiatives in developing countries. With particular reference to the Caribbean region, available country statistics and data are analysed. A generic model of collaborative innovation for agriculture that stresses collaboration among the stakeholders (government, knowledge institutions, public and private firms and others) is described. Drawn from the experience of The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the paper illustrates the rationale and the action agenda of the country to revitalise its agro-operations and innovation capabilities for sustainable development. The country's experience may provide insights for other developing countries in the areas of innovation capability building and technology transfer.

Ship breaking industry is one of the important industries for developing economies. It provides employment, economic prosperity and much needed re-useable materials for country's economic development. Ship breaking industry is green per se as it allows using scrap metals and other machineries for vertical and horizontal recycling. It provides raw materials for national economic activities including industrialization, construction, and building and infrastructure development. Ship breaking is crucial especially for Bangladesh as it does not have any natural resources including iron ore except the natural gas. Although ship breaking is economically beneficial but it comes with a huge environmental and occupational health and safety cost. Ship breaking industries have been developed through unplanned and unscientific ways in most developing countries. In this study, a systematic and sustainable approach to ship breaking activities has been proposed. With proper implementation, it will not only safeguard the environment and occupational health and safety but also improve productivity, profit margin and national economic prosperity. The proposed approach can be replicated in most developing countries with little or no modification.

This study is premised on the notion that public health policy should address not only health itself, but also primary determinants of health. We examined the effect of national policies on educational outcomes, in particular, on adolescent reading literacy (ARL). We compared the effect of traditional policy indicators--national income and educational spending--with income inequality, a measure of redistributive policies. We used Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data that provide a rare opportunity to test policy effects after accounting for competing individual-, school-, and country-level explanations. Our sample consisted of 119,814 students, 5126 schools, and 24 countries. Multilevel/Hierarchical regression findings were striking: GDP had a significant, but negligible effect on ARL scores (β=0.002, SE=0.0008), while educational spending had no significant effect. By contrast, income inequality exhibited a larger inverse association (β=-1.15, SE=0.57). Among the wealthy nations in OECD, additional economic prosperity and educational spending is trumped by distribution of income for its effect on ARL. Our study yielded a striking result about education, a major determinant of health. Not only is income inequality a significant determinant of ARL scores, but direct spending on education and overall national economic prosperity are not.

Scholars assert that firms with a strong entrepreneurial orientation (EO) should enjoy an advantage in foreign market entry. However, extant theory, particularly the dominant logic and adaptation frameworks, as well as supporting empirical research outside the domain of foreign market entry, suggests that the positive impact of a strong EO on foreign market entry is likely to be situational. Per the dynamic capabilities perspective, the authors first propose that marketing program adaptation (MPA) is a mediator of the EO-foreign market entry relationship. They further propose two moderators of the EO-MPA relationship, both of which are related to foreign market uncertainty: cultural distance (which increases uncertainty but is known prior to entry) and unanticipated events (which increases uncertainty but by definition are not known prior to entry). A study of 245 US MNCs supports the thesis that MPA is strongly related to foreign market entry success and that EO is an important contributor to foreign entry success when cultural distance is high and unanticipated events occur during launch but is less relevant in the opposite scenarios. There are important implications for firms entering foreign markets.

<p>The climate is changing, largely in part due to anthropogenic behaviour — the use of fossil fuels. The paper explores one of the largest contributors to global carbon emissions: the transportation sector and the shift towards electrification. However, rather than the more typical approach taken to directly evaluate the transportation sector, this paper opted for a rather unique approach by beginning the evaluation of emissions from the mining sector, where the commodities for electric vehicles are largely sourced. After evaluating two interdependent sectors' emissions using a life cycle assessment approach, the results indicated a net benefit for the mining project in question in Ontario, and more broadly the benefit of bringing an electric vehicle supply chain to Ontario. On the global stage, diversifying the commodities needed for transportation -- a premise considered vital to individual and national economic prosperity -- is necessary to bring about more balanced global stage. If projects similar to those evaluated in this study were done with forethought for the environment, a greener future might just be possible.</p>

<p>The climate is changing, largely in part due to anthropogenic behaviour — the use of fossil fuels. The paper explores one of the largest contributors to global carbon emissions: the transportation sector and the shift towards electrification. However, rather than the more typical approach taken to directly evaluate the transportation sector, this paper opted for a rather unique approach by beginning the evaluation of emissions from the mining sector, where the commodities for electric vehicles are largely sourced. After evaluating two interdependent sectors' emissions using a life cycle assessment approach, the results indicated a net benefit for the mining project in question in Ontario, and more broadly the benefit of bringing an electric vehicle supply chain to Ontario. On the global stage, diversifying the commodities needed for transportation -- a premise considered vital to individual and national economic prosperity -- is necessary to bring about more balanced global stage. If projects similar to those evaluated in this study were done with forethought for the environment, a greener future might just be possible.</p>

PurposeIn this paper it is argued that value chain structure, that is the way that skills and activities are divided between different firms within an industry, often evolves in a locally specific way and this has serious implications for the global expansion of firms. It is argued that for managers to be successful with global expansion they must consciously consider both the division of activities in the value chain of the new market, and the degree to which their own skills and capabilities can readily compliment or interface with those of local partners and suppliers.Design/methodology/approachData was collected and case studies developed on firms that have faced challenges related to value chain structure when undertaking foreign market entry. The study followed directives for case‐based research, and was based upon multiple sources of evidence: archival data, industry publications, interviews and direct observation. The study conformed with Yin's recommendations for developing construct validity and reliability. Multiple sources of evidence were used to achieve data triangulation, thereby reinforcing construct validity. As analysis of the companies under analysis evolved, progress was communicated to key executives and managers in the firms under analysis, thereby encouraging the early identification of possible rival explanations and ensuring internal validity. From the academic literature, field visits and the development of case studies, the research was refined during 2007‐2008 in a reiterative process of application, testing and adaptation. Common issues were identified and used to build theory and make the concepts generic enough so they could be utilized by other managers.FindingsDecades of wisdom about foreign market entry tells managers to assess whether their unique skills and capabilities might offer comparative competitive advantage in markets where aspects such as socio‐cultural attributes, regulatory and legal structure, level of economic development and the availability of supporting administrative and physical infrastructure can differ from the home market. They are encouraged to analyze these potential hurdles carefully, and to decide if their company‐specific skills and capabilities outweigh country‐specific challenges in operating abroad. But beyond the firm and country specific elements that are traditionally considered as part of foreign market entry decisions, the structure of the foreign industry's value chain, and the capabilities of the firms operating within that chain, can also play a very significant role in the potential of global expansion. Industry value chains, and the activities and skills of the firms within those chains, can evolve in distinctly different ways, even within industries that produce similar products or services.Practical implicationsThe paper takes a cross‐industry view to draw practical recommendations for managers considering foreign market entry from both the manufacturing and service sectors. It is argued that for managers to be successful with global expansion they must consciously consider both the division of activities in the value chain of the new market, and the degree to which their own skills and capabilities can readily compliment or interface with those of local partners and suppliers.Originality/valueEven the smartest managers can put a great deal of effort into the “traditional” tools of foreign market entry analysis while at the same time remaining blissfully ignorant of the value‐chain‐related problems that they might encounter. This is not because they are negligent, but because they have come to take for granted the manner in which the value chain functions in their home market, and almost no one from the consulting or academic world has challenged them to question these deeply held assumptions as part of typical approaches to market entry analysis. The paper takes a cross‐industry view to draw practical recommendations for managers considering foreign market entry from both the manufacturing and service sectors. It is argued that for managers to be successful with global expansion they must consciously consider both the division of activities in the value chain of the new market, and the degree to which their own skills and capabilities can readily compliment or interface with those of local partners and suppliers.