Competitive Global Economy Research Articles

Colonial History and Geography have been the Main Determinants of Africa’s Poor Economic Growth: An Experience of Lost Decades (1980-2000)

Many states in Africa have experienced particularly painful growth trajectories and transitions to post-independence democracy. In particular many writers have noted the ‘lost decades’ for democratic consolidation and economic growth in Africa between 1980 and 2000. Current perceptions of Africa are framed by high levels of absolute poverty and low levels of life expectancy, and significant national debt burdens. Many countries have experienced extended periods of devastating political and military conflict, as well as unsuccessful attempts with Marxist- Leninist and free market economic policy, further exacerbating the painful nature of post-independence development. The development paths of many African countries have also been significantly conditioned by regional militarism as well as international geopolitical developments, furthering conflict and development trauma. This paper therefore seeks to identify some of the root causes of the poor economic growth that many post-independence African nations have experienced, specifically between 1980 to 2000. It argues that colonial (and neo-colonial) history and geography have played a significant role in Africa’s lagging growth rate and peripheral regional status in a hostile and competitive global economy.

CHINESE VECTOR OF US POLICY IN THE SECOND PART OF THE CURRENT DECADE:ECONOMIC ASPECT

The paper covers new approaches of theUSadministration to foreign economic policy with focus onChina, the wide range of instruments being used against unfair Chinese practicies.USpolicy with some issues shaping theUSparticipation in the world economy and changing relations with main trade partners, includingChina, is being analyzed. The Tariffs being imposed by US and then byChinaare only a piece of the problem. The negotiations over the protection of intellectual property, cyber theft, technology transfers are on the agenda. It is highlighted thatChina’s science and technology capabilities, with growing of research and development spending remaining extremely high, has made it possible to become a prominent player and the largest world’ producer in many technology-intensive industries. Also its relative position is not so strong in the knowledge – intensive services sector, where US and leading EU countries are dominating, China’s growth in this field is far more rapid than developed economies overall. While global economic competition is increasing, it becomes more difficult to reach the bilateral understanding between US andChina.

The Role of Indonesian Human Resources in Developing MSMEs Facing the Industrial Revolution 4.0

This study aims to determine the role of Indonesian HR in increasing MSMEs facing the 4.0 industrial revolution. The research method used is a qualitative method with an analytical and explorative descriptive approach. From the results of the research conducted, it was found that the quality of human resources in the Dzul Collection bag industry was less supportive for developing the industry due to the low level of education and lack of innovation to produce quality products. To improve the quality of human resources, effective and efficient steps are needed through sharing knowledge and exchanging knowledge among fellow employees and training. Through these activities, it is expected that the development of this industrial business can be realized, especially in the face of free markets and global economic competition.

A Decision Support Tools Using Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach for Financial Performance Analysis in a Competitive Global Economy

Stakeholders may gauge a company's financial well-being, profitability, and efficiency via a financial performance review. An outline of the main points of evaluating financial performance is given in this abstract. Revenue growth, profitability, liquidity, cash flow, return on investment, debt management, asset efficiency, market value, return on equity, and comparative analysis against industry peers are all the evaluation's financial criteria and metrics. The market value, debt levels, liquidity, profitability, cash flow management, revenue-generating capabilities, and the firm's financial condition may be better understood by looking at these metrics. We proposed a methodology to evaluate the financial performance in the competitive global economy. We gather the criteria to be analyzed. So, we used the concept of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) to deal with various and conflicting criteria. We compute the weights of the criteria by the mean value. Then, we used the criteria weights as input into the MCDM method. We used the VIKOR method to rank the various companies in this study. We collected ten criteria and 20 companies to be organized. We conducted the sensitivity analysis in two parts and changed the weights of criteria under ten different cases. In the second case, we change the parameter in the VIKOR method with a value between 0.1 and 1. The results of the two cases show the results are stable and the proposed model performs well.

THE MARKET OF MEDICAL SERVICES AT THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL (MEDICAL TOURISM): REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

The growth rate of the world medical tourism sector is currently considered among the highest in comparison with other tourist segments. There are a large number of scientific conferences on the topic of medical tourism in the world. It spawned a new concept of modern healthcare. In the context of global economic competition, the phenomenon of medical tourism makes medicine develop more rapidly. In this regard, the authors conducted a search and review of relevant sources on the issue of medical tourism. In order to select and summarize sources, a search was made for the current literature. The review presents the nature, problems and possibilities of medical tourism in the framework of the literature studied. Unfortunately, the issue of the development of medical tourism is relatively little studied, this is confirmed by the small number of original studies. At the same time, medical tourism as a phenomenon of global health is growing, and therefore requires proper monitoring, government regulation and the development of the necessary infrastructure.

Assessing the impact of job enrichment on employees' satisfaction: perceptions of public sector employees in the Kingdom of Bahrain

The public sector is one of the main parts of the economy of the Kingdom of Bahrain which is currently facing an economic recession caused by reducing oil prices and raising global economic competition. Hence it is useful to evaluate the tools used for lowering costs and increasing productivity. Job enrichment is a tool that is used to develop job designs through more challenges, experiences, growth opportunities and responsibilities to employees in order to raise their satisfaction and increase their productivity with the minimum costs. This study aims to assess the impact of job enrichment application on employees' satisfaction perceived by the public sector employees of Bahrain. Furthermore, it tests the influence of demographic factors on the employees' perception of job enrichment and job satisfaction. Findings have shown that there is a positive relationship between job enrichment and employees' satisfaction according to the perceptions of public sector employees in Bahrain.

Global interdependence in clean energy transitions

AbstractThe global energy industry is transforming as governments invest in clean energy technologies to address climate change, enhance energy security, and strengthen national competitiveness. Comparative research on clean energy transitions highlights the domestic drivers and constraints of clean energy transitions. This article contends that we need to understand the effects of global interdependence on clean energy transitions. Shifts in forms of interdependence between firms—influenced by the rise of global supply chains—have new implications for policy choices made by governments. Governments face more complex demands from domestic industries facing global economic competition, and act strategically in response to the actions of other governments, including sub-national actors, and firms in the global economy. We suggest that research on interdependence in clean energy transitions benefits from an analytical focus on mechanisms of transnational change such as cross-national and multi-level policy feedback and cross-national policy sequencing. Global interdependence has important implications for economic and environmental outcomes, affecting the durability of competitive advantage, and influencing the pace of the diffusion of clean energy technologies.

Engineering Technology Curriculum Development: Bridging the Gap Between Academia-Industry Through Undergraduate Final Year Project

The Malaysia Higher Education sector has experienced major growth in the 60 years since its independence. In order for Malaysia to keep up with the increasingly challenging and competitive global economy, higher education must be sustainably transformed. One of the key shifts highlighted in the Malaysia Higher Education Blueprint 2015-2025 is through empowering Technology, Vocational, Education and Training (TVET) programmes. Although the graduates from the Malaysian Technical University Network (MTUN) have shown significant achievements through the Graduate Employability rates, there are some pressing issues that still need to be addressed. The industry practitioners have raised concerns about graduates that does not meet employers’ expectations and is not well-prepared to enter the workforce. As part of the initiative to address the gap above, the Engineering Technology Infrastructure Program (ETIM) at Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) has taken the effort to appoint the industry practitioners as its Undergraduate Final Year Project (FYP) co-supervisors. These industry co-supervisors plays an important role since the beginning of the course by providing real-life industry problems for the students to propose solutions. This method have seen tremendous improvement towards students’ soft skills such as problem-solving and decision-making. This helps the graduates to better prepare themselves upon entering the workforce and simultaneously fulfilling the industry needs in being exposed to real-life industry problems. The industry and academia should continuously work together to ensure that the courses and curriculum are current and in accordance to the requirements posed by the industry.

The Job Seeking Experiences of International Graduates in the Host Country: Australia’s Lost Opportunity?

This paper examines the job seeking experiences of international graduates in attempting to obtain meaningful work in their university education host country. Qualitative feedback on the specific job seeking barriers and experiences in the host country after graduating were provided by 696 respondents. The findings suggest that the specific barriers to finding employment were their visa status, lack of work experience and perceived discriminatory practices of potential employers and/or their agents. The study also suggests that the discriminatory employment experiences of international university graduates demonstrate a lack of congruence between the concept of best fit in hiring decision making and a culturally diverse Australian labour market. Not only do the current practices limit the source of potential highly educated, skilled and culturally aware employees into the labour market of the host country, it also severely compromises an organisation’s ability to achieve workplace diversity; a strategic outcome necessary to compete within a highly competitive global economy.

Essence of a Flexible Organisational Culture to Influence Change in the 21st Century Organisation

In the current dynamic, diverse global organisational environment, organisations face the challenge of having to embrace change, so as to comply with emerging business models, technological advancement, mergers and acquisitions. It is thus imperative that organisations have in place flexible organisational cultures that are swift to adopt and embrace change that demands greater levels and lengths of innovation and creativity. This enables organisations to take significant strides in opening up to change and compete in the increasingly competitive global economy. The study adopted the desk research approach, qualitatively reviewing extensive literature, which is to yield detailed reported information, and this conviction of enquiry enables a deeper understanding of the effectiveness. The findings thus reveal that changing organisational culture is an uphill task although a flexible organisational culture is fundamental to organisations existence and capability to compete in a dynamic environment. Organisational culture change is essential in supporting organisational change. In other words a flexible organisational culture is essential in ensuring a smooth change process.

A case study of international instructors’ experiences of English-medium instruction policy in a Korean university

ABSTRACTIn the midst of increasing global economic competition, higher education (HE) institutions in many non-English-speaking societies have expanded the extent of internationalization through the recruitment of international faculty members to their campuses and the adoption of educational policies such as English-medium instruction (EMI). Despite growing diversity in HE, little is known concerning the international faculty members’ perceptions and practices in relation to EMI policies. This case study examined international instructors’ experiences of teaching subject courses in English in a Korean university. A mixed method approach was taken with respect to the challenges of EMI with a questionnaire administered to 18 international instructors and in-depth qualitative interviews carried out with 5 of these instructors. The analyses revealed that the participants were dissatisfied with the lack of interaction between Korean and international students. Notably, without sufficient knowledge of the local language, the participants explicitly affirmed the effects of the local, Korean language on improving interaction and participation. They also provided tasks which local and international students should perform collaboratively in a team. The findings are discussed in terms of how EMI should be implemented to overcome locally bound constraints in a non-English-speaking context and to embrace the emerging needs of international stakeholders.

Teacher education in a post-modern liberal democratic society

In the last few years, there is a strong inclination to see a technological development, economic growth and social cohesion as the goals of education and therefore teachers are taken to be responsible for social solidarity and for national success in the global economic competition. This paper rejects the reduction of teaching to maximize effective instruction in the service of economic success and group solidarity and therefore resists the utilitarian thrust of much recent policy and practice in teacher education. The main argument is that teachers today are committed to a moral education from the virtue ethics perspective. The role of the teachers in a post-modern democratic society that respects the ideal of autonomy is to seek the development of their students, shaping their character while practicing certain virtues and leading them to a life of individual flourishing and self-fulfilment. Having the ability to cultivate young people character while guiding them towards finding their own ideas about how to lead a valuable life depends on the relationships that teachers and students maintain. The conclusion is that teachers are required to base decisions first and foremost on values like attentiveness, sensitivity, empathy, responsiveness and trust, values which are derived from an ethics of care. An ethics of care is the most suitable ethical framework for guiding teacher's practice nowadays. The paper provides an account of why virtue ethics and an ethics of care, which is sometimes seen as a version of virtue ethics, are the appropriate ethical frameworks for contemporary teacher education.

A Case Study of Nonnative English-Speaking International Students' Adjustment to a Korean University

Kim, Jeongyeon. 2018. “A Case Study of Nonnative English-Speaking InternationalStudents' Adjustment to a Korean University”. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 26(1).111~133. In the midst of intense global economic competition, institutions of highereducation in many non-English-speaking societies have rigorously expandedinternationalization and seen a dramatic increase of international students. This studyinvestigated a case of nonnative English-speaking international students' adjustment toa Korean university devoted to internationalization. A mixed method was adopted toexamine the relationships between adjustment and factors including perception ofEnglish as a lingua franca (ELF), perception of English-medium instruction, culturalknowledge, and perceived language proficiency. The analysis of the questionnaireresponses of 132 international students and qualitative interviews with seven of therespondents revealed their negative view of EMI, which was frequently associated withthe local language used in class. Their adjustment correlated significantly with theamount of the knowledge of the Korean culture and with the extent to which theywould perceive English as a means of intercultural communication. Although therelationship between their view of EMI and adjustment was not significant, it was foundstill valid and indirect through the factor of the Korean language proficiency. Notably,in the qualitative interviews, the participants revealed limited understanding of the wayinteraction is framed in different local communities. These findings are discussed topropose improved support for international students of non-English-speaking highereducation.

Innovative activity of hospitality industry enterprises in the context of global economic competition

In the article the role and influence of innovative activity in the hospitality industry enterprises is considered. Generalized and structured functions and features of innovative activity of enterprises of the tourism industry in the conditions of global economic competition. Approaches to structuring the types of innovative activity of hospitality industry enterprises are proposed.

Pengaruh Spiritualitas Kerja terhadap Keterlekatan Karyawan melalui Kepuasan Kerja pada UKM Kota Bogor

The Quality human resources are needed in global economic competition. Spirituality in work becomes a solution developed by companies, because it can be created a conducive environment for employees to work as good as possible. The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of work spirituality on employee engagement through job satisfaction in Small and Medium Enterprises cluster of food and beverages in the city of Bogor. This research used Structural Equation Modeling PLS for data analysis. Samples are SMEs that have at least 5 employees and have been registered in the Department of Industry and Trade (Disperindag) and the Department of Cooperatives and SMEs Bogor City. So that 25 SMEs are eligible, consisting of 65 people consisting of employees and owners of SMEs. Sampling method using purposive sampling. The results showed that the spirituality of work has a positive effect directly on employee engagement and indirectly influence through job satisfaction on employee engagement to the organization. Meanwhile, job satisfaction has a direct positive effect on employees' engagement to the organization. Therefore, increased employee engagement to SMEs is suggested through several supporting activities such as: communicating and facilitating the need for spirituality in the workplace.

Beyond fresh and direct: exploring the specialty food industry as a market outlet for small- and medium-sized farms

AbstractAs small- and medium-sized farms struggle to remain viable in a competitive global economy, the expanding specialty food industry provides a potential marketing opportunity. These farms raise many of the farm products that can become the key ingredients in value-added foods. Little research exists about processed specialty foods made from locally/regionally sourced ingredients produced by small- and medium-sized farms. This study investigates the benefits, barriers and challenges for small- and medium-sized farmers who want to sell products to specialty food manufacturers (SFMs). This paper analyzes 240 survey responses from dairy, meat, fruit/vegetable/nuts and grain specialty manufacturers and 60 in-depth interviews of these manufacturers and farmers in California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington and Oregon. We found that almost half of the manufacturers surveyed source primary ingredients directly from farms or from their own farm. More than half of the farms that supply these key ingredients are small or medium-sized, indicating that many farms in this category are already successfully supplying SFMs with key ingredients. The key benefits manufacturers receive from working with these farms included quality assurance, trust, and traceability. Key obstacles to such farmer/manufacturer transactions are: cost, inability to meet volume requirements, unreliable supply and lack of year-round supply. The nature of relationships between manufacturers and farmers emerged as a theme that influences the success of small- and medium-sized farms as ingredient suppliers. Whether they were large or small, most manufacturers purchased their key ingredients from multiple suppliers in order to reduce their risk. Overall, we find evidence that the specialty food industry is an emerging market channel for small- and medium-sized farms. We also find that to be successful suppliers of SFMs, farmers need to have processes in place to ensure the quality of their products; provide the specific attributes the manufacturer requires for its ingredients and be willing to communicate frequently with the manufacturer.

STUDY OF FEATURES OF ECONOMIC COMPETITION AT WORLD MARKETS OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL RAW MATERIALS IN THE CONTEXT OF FOOD SAFETY PROVISION

Changes that take place in ХХІ century in the European economy cause not only the decrease of the topicality of problems of food safety provision, but condition their global and large-scale character. The question of people provision with food products, overcoming of poverty, economic competition at world markets of food and agricultural raw materials is for today priority for the whole international community. This problematic has different aspects and manifestation forms in different countries, regions, territories. The geography of products provision has an ambiguous character: a loss of products and their high quality is observed in certain regions, whereas other regions suffer from malnutrition and low-quality food products. The important role is plaid there by losses of society from waste of food products and low-quality competition, caused by different socio-political and socio-economic interests of countries and desire to influence the internal life of other countries through influence mechanisms on their food market functioning. In general food resources are enough throughout the world for providing satisfactory nutrition of the whole mankind. But food production it is not always provided where it is needed. Starvation and malnutrition, impoverishment of almost 1/5 of the population of the planet is the main social content of the food crisis. The economic competition at world food and agricultural raw materials markets plays no less important role. World tendencies of the value conjuncture, insufficient attention of state leaders to accumulation of sufficient resources for providing parity in the global economic competition create threats in providing food safety of many countries.

COMPARATIVE STUDY ON RETAIL SALES FORECASTING BETWEEN SINGLE AND COMBINATION METHODS

In today’s competitive global economy, businesses must adjust themselves constantly to ever-changing markets. Therefore, predicting future events in the marketplace is crucial to the maintenance of successful business activities. In this study, sales forecasts for a global furniture retailer operating in Turkey were made using state space models, ARIMA and ARFIMA models, neural networks, and Adaptive Network-based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS). Also, the forecasting performances of some widely used combining methods were evaluated by comparison with the weekly sales data for ten products. According to the best of our knowledge, this study is the first time that the recently developed state space models, also called ETS (Error-Trend-Seasonal) models, and the ANFIS model have been tested within combining methods for forecasting retail sales. Analysis of the results of the single models in isolation indicated that none of them outperformed all the others across all the time series investigated. However, the empirical results suggested that most of the combined forecasts examined could achieve statistically significant increases in forecasting accuracy compared with individual models and with the forecasts generated by the company’s current system.

Technological Change in Turkish Manufacturing Industry: The Case of Gaziantep City

:Ensuring competition in global economy, the production of high value products within the country and the reduction of current budget deficit; in other words, increasing the output of industries manufacturing intermediate goods and end products, which have high import dependency, are major targets of Turkey. The state of technological infrastructure of manufacturing industry in the country as well as the process of change that the industry undergoes are essential for the realization of these targets. New technologies play an important role in the competitiveness and economic development of cities, region and the country in the international market. In particular, the use of new technologies in manufacturing industry and companies’ capacity for innovation are prerequisites for businesses to enter a tougher competition in the global economy as well as for cities and countries to persevere on the larger scale. In this respect, the main purpose of this study is to examine the technological transformation of the manufacturing industry in Gaziantep, which is positioned in the top five among Turkey's exports and employs a considerable work force, in comparison to the technological change experienced by the manufacturing industry in Turkey. In the study, the technological level of manufacturing industry in Turkey and the technological change process of manufacturing industry in Gaziantep are presented between 2009-2016 with key indicators. The findings of this study reveal that the current level of technology the city of Gaziantep manufacturing industry has had is far behind the level Turkish manufacturing industry has reached.

Praktik Ekonomi Islam pada Komunitas Keagamaan di Sulawesi Selatan

This article aims to explain the implementation of the Islamic economic system in the process and practice of community empowerment by selecting the An-Nadzir religious community in South Sulawesi as the basis for its analysis. In this case An-Nadzir developed as an independent religious community with the application of Islamic economics in social-economic life. This research is done by qualitative data collection, then presented in descriptive analysis. In the era of the ASEAN economic community and the current global economic competition, various forms of strategy and implementation of the economic system need to be done. One is the implementation of Islamic economics with the empowerment of society as a practical offer. This is endeavourmust be implemented through the empowerement the middle to lower community in order to create a strong, creative, and more independent society. The social-economic empowerment of religious communities is one of the bids as an alternative to implementing the Islamic economic system.