Business Reforms Research Articles

The Impact of the Corona Virus on Supply Chains: Opportunities and Challenges

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;">The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on economies everywhere, affecting everything from supply chain networks to international trade as a direct result of the increased vulnerability of more nations and the disruption of the activities of key traders. This research study examines how COVID-19 affected the supply chain on a worldwide and regional scale, as well as the systemic policy and economic steps governments and businesses took to rebound and maintain resilience. COVID-19 has had a significant influence, prompting governments and businesses to take steps to fortify their operations and businesses against disruptions, highlight the necessity for resilience in supply chains and emphasize the importance of managing risk. The supply value chain is at risk from the prolonged implementation of COVID-19 trade measures like border closure, export restrictions, and import sanctions. Many businesses are transitioning from a "recovery mode" to a resilient and sustainable mode" and are beginning to plan for the future. The study suggests that corporate and government leaders should prioritize proactive and adaptable policy, economic, and structural adjustment. This research will be useful to policymakers and industry leaders in their efforts to lessen the effect of COVID-19 on the global supply chain by enforcing governmental, economic, and business reforms built on resilient supply chains and mitigating economic risks during tough times.</span></p>

Public–Private Partnerships and Their Limitations in Sustainable Public Sewerage Industry: A Comparative Analysis of Three Municipal Cases in Japan

Since the mid-1980s, many public water and sewerage business reforms have been carried out in countries around the world in the form of privatization and the introduction of market systems. In Japan, municipalities operate sewerage businesses as a public service, and their revenues are expected to decline in future due to a decrease in population and the deterioration of existing facilities and equipment. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the administrative reform of the public sewerage businesses in Japan as a means of increasing business efficiency and achieving sustainable management. For our research method, we conducted a case study of three advanced municipal sewerage business reforms, which were aimed at introducing outsourcing through long-term concessions, but two were abandoned by the local councils in the middle of the process. The research shows that the limiting factors for these sewerage business reforms include the uncertainty regarding the required investment for heavy rain and earthquake countermeasures. With growing awareness of disaster prevention and mitigation, municipalities are expected to mobilize maximum resources in an emergency. Furthermore, facilities that were constructed in the 1960s to meet the needs of a growing urban population have deteriorated and become an "unmeasurable risk." The second point is the uncertainty about the amount and duration of the central government subsidies provided to municipalities. Due to growing interest in environmental changes caused by global warming, severe weather events attract greater public attention. New capital investment is required to strengthen the capacity of sewerage systems, especially in densely populated urban areas. Under the principle that rainwater treatment is a public expense, about half of the construction cost of sewerage facilities for rainwater is subsidized by the central government. This is a customary yet unstable fiscal policy, making it an uncertain factor in implementing long-term public–private partnership projects.

Trash bin for medical smart waste as entrepreneurs Da’wah output and Islamic work professionalism implementation

Entrepreneurs Da'wah is related to success in business which cannot be separated from religious life. Doing business does not mean greedy and does not like to accumulate or live happily. The attitude of a religious businessman is part of the elements of upholding da'wah. At the practical level, da'wah is to realize Islamic teaching activities by doing good, preventing evil deeds, giving warnings and giving good news. This study focuses on the problem of building a corporate ladder, marketing strategy, human resource development, and the meaning of work. The company ladder from the beginning of the healthcare business. Healthcare businesses are now adjusting to a new reality where bargaining power has shifted to consumers. Consumers now play a key role in the commercialization process, making them important stakeholders to meet their needs. Health business reforms have convinced consumers to make protection a bigger priority than ever since the COVID-19 pandemic escalated around the world. Health care businesses in Indonesia are no exception, must increase their brand trust, because of the great responsibility to protect consumers from COVID-19 prevention, and brand trust also gives added value to the hospital brand itself.

Ease of Doing Business Reforms and Business Growth Among Selected Micro, Small And Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Present Day Nigeria: a Hierarchical Multiple Regression Modelling Approach

This article examines how operators of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the Lagos, Nigeria perceives the impact of the ease of doing business reforms, as crafted by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) on their businesses. This article utilises the survey approach and the hierarchical linear modelling technique for analysis. Measures of ease of doing business topics used in this study include starting a business, getting credit, getting electricity and registering property. Others are, tax payment, entry and exit of people and construction permits. These components of ease of doing business reforms were analysed from the perception of the MSME operators, with a view to determining the factors to be considered by government for improving the business regulatory environment. Results revealed that whilst operators are confident that the reforms have impacted revenue growth and cost reduction, particularly through getting credit, getting electricity and registering property, the same could not be said for employment generation. From these findings the authors suggest that whilst government may yet find plenty of room to operate in to improve the modalities for starting businesses, tax payment, movement of business persons into and out of the country, and processing of construction permits, MSME operators, just as much as government, still have their bit to do by ensuring that as businesses are empowered, they become more socio-economically responsible

HOSPITAL SAFETY BOX MONITORING: BUILDING BRAND TRUST IN HEALTHCARE BUSINESS DURING COVID -19 WAVE

The health business is adjusting to a new reality where bargaining power has shifted to consumers. Consumers are now playing a key role in the commercialization process, making them important stakeholders to fulfill their needs. Health business reforms have convinced consumers to give protection a greater priority than ever since the COVID-19 pandemic escalated around the world. Health care businesses in Indonesia are no exception, should increase their brand trust, because of the huge responsibility to protect consumers from the prevention of COVID-19, and brand trust also gives added value to the hospital's own brand. A brand with the right value proposition can "prove" the true value of its product or service to patients in the minds of consumers, one of which is from medical waste management. Hospital waste is usually a contagious and toxic chemical that can affect human health and environmental impacts if not treated properly. Medical waste including sharp objects, infectious waste, pharmaceutical waste, and other waste is mostly generated in health facilities such as health centers and hospitals. such as intravenous lines, syringes, gloves, which after use must be handled and destroyed in such a way that they do not fall into the hands of the public or even injure medical personnel. The Smart Waste concept is here to answer the challenges of trust in hospital brands in Indonesia, especially in the city of Bandung, increasing the sense of security of consumers is the main goal of this concept where hospital safety boxes work together with sensors and microcontrollers, disposal of syringes can be done more intelligently. , safe and the risk of medical personnel punctured by infected needle waste can be reduced.

Rethinking business reforms in post-conflict settings: the case of Sierra Leone

ABSTRACT The literature on ‘conflict-sensitive’ business practices has burgeoned in recent years. Yet there remains a critical knowledge gap on the value of incorporating ‘conflict-sensitivity’ systematically to business environment reforms (BER) advanced by the public sector and its international partners. Wars and protracted conflicts reshape market environments in deeply distortive ways. The resulting transformation often enlarges the informal sector at the expense of formal state institutions, while it also reinforces high dependence on foreign aid and investments. Simultaneously, policy communication channels also become disrupted and unreliable. The existing BER literature remains generally insensitive to these peculiarities. Drawing on a case study of Sierra Leone, this article explores the implications of these omissions and shows that BER may even bring about adverse effects when the peculiarities of these conflict-generated market distortions are neglected. In order to avoid negative repercussions, conflict-sensitive BER needs to take into account the multiplicity of business environments and the heterogeneity of business actors operating within conflict-affected nations.

Ease of Doing Business Through Implementation of WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement

Bangladesh ranked 168th in the Doing Business Report 2020 of the World Bank from its previous position of 176th last year. Bangladesh's progress in Doing Business ranking is the direct outcome of government's doing business reforms initiatives coordinated by the Private Sector Development Policy Coordination Committee (PSDPCC), Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) and other relevant ministries and agencies under direct supervision of the Honorable Prime Minister's Office. Eight steps progress of this years should not make us complacent but this should be treated as the first step towards our progress. Our target to perform in double digit and even less should get priority in coming days. A complementary way of performing better in Doing Business Index could be proper implementation of WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) in Bangladesh.

Home Country Subnational Environment and Internationalization of Emerging Market Firms

We extend the research on home country by focusing on subnational environment, particularly accounting for the impact of subnational heterogeneity on firm’s decision to engage in internationalization. We argue that not all firms headquartered in the subnational region derive the same benefit from institutional development. Using a sample of Indian firms for the period 2008-2017 and logistic regression method we find support for our hypotheses. Our results indicate that a firm’s capability to internalize the institutional benefits is likely to encourage a firm from the subnational region that is rigorously implementing business reforms to internationalize. Whereas, firm’s increased focus on domestic market is likely to discourage its international pursuits.

Business reform outcomes: Why so different?

Post-crisis policy making increasingly focuses on doing business reforms. We argue that the effects of those reforms will be different across countries. To understand the reasons for the reform outcome divergence, we advance a novel firm-size distribution (FSDs) argument. At the center of the argument is the fact that FSDs are different across countries and stable over time. Then, if a given doing business reform induces firms of different size to grow differently, this will produce a variety of reform outcomes across countries. To advance the argument, we set up a tractable general equilibrium (GE) model and study how firms of different size grow after a doing business reform. The model predicts that larger firms will grow faster than smaller firms after the reform. The model predictions are tested on the Enterprise Surveys (ES) data, merged with the Doing Business indicators. We confirm that firms of different size grow differently after a Doing Business reform. Thus, based on the notable differences of firm size distributions across countries, identical reforms to start, operate and close a business will produce a variety of reform outcomes across countries.

Ease of Doing Business Index

Ease of doing business ranking / index is one of the most discussed issues among the economies around the world. Probably it is one of the World Banks powerful reports that got attention of the governments around the world. Private sector is creating pressure on respective government to ensure required reforms to do better in ease of doing business index. Entrepreneurs / investors are taking decisions of respective investment in a country based on the ranking of that country in ease of doing business report. Countries like Afghanistan, Djibouti, China, Azerbaijan, India, Togo, Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire, Turkey and Rwanda etc. took the issue seriously and introduced remarkable number of reforms to facilitate businesses. As a result, these countries performed better in the 2019 Doing Business Ranking. It is worth mentioning that, the BRIC economies namely Brazil, Russian Federation, India and China introduced a total of 21 reforms, with getting electricity and trading across borders etc. as the most common areas of improvement. Bangladesh government has deputed Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) to coordinate ease of doing business reforms and a very high level committee at the Honourable Prime Minister’s Office is working to propose, monitor reforms required to do ease of doing business. But we are yet to get any result out of this movement here in Bangladesh. Before getting into further details of ease of doing business let try to have a look what it actually is.

Business reforms and total factor productivity in Vietnamese manufacturing

Vietnam implemented reforms in the 2000s to ease start-up of new businesses with dramatic effect on firm entry and market competition. This study examines firm level data for the period 2000–2010 to analyze total factor productivity (TFP) in connection with the reforms, adopting a semi-parametric technique developed by Wooldridge (2009) and Petrin and Levinsohn (2012) to measure TFP. Intensified competition is hypothesized to have driven convergence of TFP within industrial sectors as technologies best suited to Vietnamese market conditions became more widely implemented. The evidence strongly supports this hypothesis with convergence found for 16 of the 17 sectors analyzed. Further, comparison of TFP growth rates between the first and second half of the decade shows mixed results by sector and region. More often than not, TFP growth is seen to have slowed over time. This suggests that competition acted not only to push low TFP firms to exit the market or raise productivity, it also discouraged use of technologies that may have been overly advanced and not cost efficient for Vietnam.

Vietnam’s Trade Policy: A Developing Nation Assessment

NOTE: THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED WITH THE INFORMING SCIENCE INSTITUTE. Aim/Purpose................................................................................................................................................................................................... This paper is a review of the progress of the Vietnam socio-economic and development plan and an assessment of the extent to which Vietnam is putting in place the critical social and economic development structures that will enable it to reach the status of “developed nation” in the time set (2020) by its national strategic plan. The research will identify and review trade patterns, trade policy and the effect of foreign aid on Vietnam’s plan to transform its economy and society from a developing nation status to status of developed nation. The overriding question stands as “is” Vietnam effectively moving towards developed nation status soon”? Background................................................................................................................................................................................................... This paper examines the history of Vietnam from the command economy in its transition to a market driven economy, the criteria, hurdles and challenges as the country moves towards a developed country status. Methodology................................................................................................................................................................................................... Applied research based on the body of research in socio-economic development theory, international trade and market theory. The review is conducted by collecting and analyzing data on foreign trade, foreign aid, business and general economic growth, development and social wellbeing. It identifies and appraises the trade patterns, trade effects, socio-economic policies and the effect of foreign aid] on the economic growth and the progress of the country towards becoming a developed nation state. Contribution................................................................................................................................................................................................... The findings will assist academic, business and government researchers, policy and decision makers engaged developing Vietnam’s trade policies and strategic plan for its it future growth and economic progress towards a developed nation status. The paper will also provide additional insight into the business and market structure and environment in Vietnam and the role it plays aiding its growth and development. Findings.......................................................................................................................................................................................................... Vietnam has experienced significant progress to date based on conventional developed nation criteria. However, there is an ongoing need for continued assertive governmental application of geo-economic and geopolitical policies focusing on sustainable, comprehensive, and vital social, cultural and economic growth. Recommendations for Practitioners................................................................................................................................................................ Specific policies and strategies for government and business reforms in Vietnam must focus on, 1. Replacing the projected benefits in growth utilizing accomplishments to date from negotiations and strategic development of the TPP, in-spite of current delays or withdrawal. 2. Continuing use of US financial aid and ODA sources to enhance HDI and support Vietnam’s commercial and social opportunities 3. Continued industrial zone development 4. Continued human labor improvements 5. Continued export expansion programs 6. Continued close working relationship with the WTO 7. Continued development strategies including SEDS, SEDPs, and FTAs Recommendation for Researchers................................................................................................................................................................ Researchers, when collecting economic and social data, need to [adhere to World Trade Standards data collection, measurement, classification, and estimation of trading data: for example,] precisely define, and determine the validity, accuracy, expected bias and relevant statistics and classification methods used by government agencies and international organizations. Impact on Society........................................................................................................................................................................................... Vietnam’s drive towards developed nation status will enhance the quality of life for a greater number of its citizens. Future Research................................................................................................................................................................................................ Future researchers ought to focus on specific elements of HDI and forms of foreign aid support for long-term economic and social development, and enhancing governmental reform of its dynamic and strategic development potential.

Model for performance evaluation in customs service management with dual hesitant fuzzy information

With the rapid development of Customs information construction, the employment and management of resources has become the important factor for the sound development of Customs practice. The application of large amount of new facilities and new technologies imposes higher requirements on the management and service level of China Customs. A framework planning and design of the Customs service management which is combined with the actual needs of the Customs service management will help to promote standardization of Customs technology management and working procedure. High quality service will provide a safe and reliable technology operation environment for various business reforms. In this paper, we investigate the multiple attribute decision making problems with the dual hesitant fuzzy information. Then, based on the induced OWG (IOWG) operator, this paper shall present the induced dual hesitant fuzzy Hamacher ordered weighted geometric (IDHFHOWG) operator. We have applied the IDHFHOWG operators to multiple attribute decision making for performance evaluation in customs service management with dual hesitant fuzzy = �

Foreign Aid, Law Reform, and the World Bank’s Doing Business Project

AbstractProminent socio-legal scholars have criticized the World Bank’s Doing Business Project on the grounds that development aid donors improperly condition aid on compliance with Doing Business norms. This paper provides the first empirical test of that thesis. I examine nearly a decade of development assistance to analyze whether developing countries that implement more Doing Business reforms indeed tend to receive more development aid. I find mixed support for the conditionality thesis. While aid from multilateral organizations and from the World Bank’s International Development Assistance (IDA) program are correlated with reform efforts, total aid, as well as aid from rich countries, is not.

Timor Lorosae. Timor-Leste: The history and development of Asia's newest nation By Abraham Joseph and Takako Hamaguchi; Foreword by José Ramos-Horta Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. 2014. Pp. xxii + 189. Map, Photographs, Index.

Timor-Leste: The history and development of Asia's newest nation By ABRAHAM JOSEPH and TAKAKO HAMAGUCHIJ Foreword by JOSfi RAMOS-HORTA Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. 2014. Pp. xxii-i-189. Map, Photographs, Index. This work focuses on developments in the economy and foreign policy of Timor-Leste since its independence. The authors provide an overview of the country's national economic policies and initiatives and their outcomes while valorising its partnerships with the United Nations and key donor nations. The title of the book might be misleading, however, since the analysis lacks context, particularly on the dynamic nature of internal relations and their impact on the economic development and foreign policies of Timor-Leste. Furthermore, the country's relations with 'donor nations' and the UN are not critically assessed, but instead rather lauded. Yet, although these inherently asymmetric power relations between Timor Leste and its 'well-meaning big brothers' have received more critical analysis in recent writings (e.g. Caroline Hughes, Dependent communities: Aid and politics in Cambodia and East Timor, 2009; and my Timor Leste: Politics, history, and culture, 2010) one of the author's arguments seems to imply that the successes of Southeast Asia's newest nation are the result of foreign engineering and 'tutorship'; and thus to minimise the achievements of the people of Timor-Leste themselves. The book also does not make any mention of the numerous civil society and local NGO initiatives that are not only impacting but in some cases driving rural development. Even the challenges faced by Timor-Leste are presented in a muted manner; again lacking a nuanced analysis and thus predicting a rosy picture for the immediate future. To be fair, the authors' arguments are in line with the main goal of the book, which is to showcase Timor-Leste as an exemplary success story to other small nations. The people of Timor-Leste should be proud of all their achievements in developing and transforming their nation through their commitment to a peaceful postconflict reconstruction. These successes were not entirely achieved through the direction of their foreign advisers, donor nations, and the United Nations, but through their own sacrifices, hard work and commitment. Here again, the book does not seem to give enough credit to the Timorese. The book is divided into an introduction and nine main chapters. The chapters address key issues through the dominant discourses of the United Nations. Such UN discourses are thus transplanted into Timor-Leste and national policies seem to coalesce around these. The introductory chapter provides a summary of the economic developments and foreign policies of Timor-Leste since its independence up to 2012. The subsequent chapters provide an elaboration of this overview. Chapter 1 examines the economic history of the country, providing narrative explanations of the statistical data compiled by the UN showing a steady post-independence growth and developments in a number of economic sectors. The second chapter addresses Timor-Leste's framework for development and the ways it is in line with the UN's Millennial Development Goals (MDG). Through an examination of national policies for sustained economic growth, the authors highlight the establishment of the Petroleum Fund, and policies concerning land reform and capital development, as well as initiatives on business reforms and export promotions. Timor-Leste's policies on food security, anti-corruption, and the protection of vulnerable populations have made great strides towards the MDG. After a brief overview of the history of oil and gas exploration and related treaties, the following chapter is devoted to the consideration of the Natural Resources Endowment and the ways in which Timor-Leste has utilised the receipts from its oil and gas resources towards economic development. …

Business Entry Regulations and Reforms

This paper outlines short and long-term regulatory reforms that governments could implement to make starting a business easier in their respective countries. The short-term reforms represent “quick-wins” because they are primarily administrative in nature and can be accomplished quickly. Although rapid, they would have a large impact on the business environment in countries by eliminating red tape that hinders businesses. These “quick-wins” also create an environment in which longer-term, more in-depth reforms are more likely to succeed. The longer-term reforms may require more time for implementation, a conducive and enabling environment, as well as changes to prevailing laws.

Democratic Education Requires Rejecting the New Corporate Two-Tiered School System

In his essay “Individuality, Equality, and Creative Democracy—the Task Before Us,” Jim Garrison (2012, in this issue) restates Dewey’s call “to educate individuals capable of criticizing and recreating society—not simply reproducing the status quo” (369). Good idea. He writes that under the new structural feudalism, “schools assume the task of standardizing human capital as a commodity suitable for ready exchange that fits docilely into the existing sociopolitical-economic order rather than democratic individuals charged with challenging and changing the status quo” (371). In what follows here, I briefly suggest that how schools are being reformed and by whom illustrates the formation of a new two-tiered educational system—not just through NCLB (focused on by the author) but also RTTT (Race to the Top), chartering, and other forms of privatization. NCLB requires all schools to meet Adequate Yearly Progress on tests or be subject to a slate of radical reforms, most of which, such as privatization and “turnarounds,” are market based. In its Bush administration version, NCLB set the stage for transforming the public school system into a privatized system by declaring public schools as “failed” and in need of business reforms. In its reauthorized form, opt-out provisions require commitment to the same. Working-class and poor schools will remain subject to the rigid pedagogical approaches, punitive disciplinary models, and scripted lessons that accord with the banking education model promoted by NCLB and RTTT. Professional-class schools will be given more latitude and be less subject to sanctions based on scores, which translates to allowing more dialogue and less drill, more expansive approaches

Assessment of information technology effects on management of supply chain based on fuzzy logic in Iran tail industries

Evolutions rooted in technology in market arena, business, and demands reforms in supply chain and consequently more demands for created value by end user are among factors causing reforms on management of supply chain. Integrity of supply chain activities and utilized technologies is an essential factor to survive competitions in the market. Organizations, therefore, need to adopt policies to coordinate themselves with new arena in market and electronic commerce. Despite bad news from Iran tail industries about unplanned production, the industry is still in growing path. In addition to easy access to mineral resources and low-energy costs, which have made it quite reasonable to invest in the industry, state tariff policies for imported tail products have made new investment chances in the industry. As a result, Iran recently won a position among five leading counties in world tail industry. However, knowing about high profit margin in tail industries, many countries have stepped into the market and through producing high-quality products have intensified competition in the market. This study tries to identify and assess IT indexes in Iran tail industry’s supply chain and hopes to take a step forward to gain better market position in international market by prioritizing the indexes using fuzzy logic.

How is the Firm Dealing with the Merger? A Study of Employee Satisfaction with the Change Process

The purpose of this study was to understand the degree to which employees’ satisfaction with merger-induced organizational changes impact on their productivity and the merged-firm performance. This is because, the introduction of market-driven business reforms in many developing economies has seen the emergence of growth-drivers that includes the search for new markets, increasing competition in local markets, new investors’ interest in emerging markets, and hence the desire for firms to merge. The results showed that human resource issues are important aspects of mergers which, if it is not well handled, may impact negatively on employee satisfaction with consequent repercussions on productivity and the success of the merger. It is concluded that employee satisfaction to a merger-induced organizational changes could be enhanced by instituting effective two way communication system and using participatory approaches in job redesign processes. By implication, merger-induced change has human factor challenges that merging firms need to understand.

How Do Regulations Compare Across Economies?

For the fifth year in a row Eastern Europe and Central Asia led the world in Doing Business reforms. Twenty-six of the region’s 28 economies implemented a total of 69 reforms. Since 2004 Doing Business has been tracking reforms aimed at simplifying business regulations, strengthening property rights, opening up access to credit and enforcing contracts by measuring their impact on 10 indicator sets. Nearly 1,000 reforms with an impact on these indicators have been captured.