Foreign Buyers Research Articles

Ungovernable systems: The strength of informal institutions in the sea cucumber fishery in Yucatan, Mexico.

Formal and informal institutions govern fisheries around the world. Yucatan’s sea cucumber fishery is not an exemption, the sudden and fast development of the fishery in 2010 has motivated the creation of informal and illegal forms of organization. The prices, buyers’ interest and the fishing effort substantially increased, being followed by illegal fishing-fishers and traders, creating informal fishing-trade channels and severe social and biological concerns. This article aims to give account of the emergence and dynamics of the informal institutions which currently dominate this fishery. It was sought to identify the extent to which rules and regulations are not being respected and how they are affecting fish resources and coastal communities. We considered the case of the port of Sisal, Yucatan, Mexico to illustrate our argument and here we applied a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methodologies including informal and in-depth interviews applied to 17 key informants, a questionnaire applied to 47 fishers and an estimation of the degree of compliance from three of the main management measures. Socio-biological negative impacts were identified in Yucatan’s coastal communities and its fisheries. Foreign buyers and local middlemen exert high pressure on fishers to exceed the quota and catch the highest possible volumes facilitating the fisheries decline. This and the growing economic interest motivated the development of strong informal institutions supporting illegal fishing and informal trade. Social problems emerged and women were particularly affected. The economic power of the fishery is likely to overcome any type of governance structure. The enforcement of entry rules was not effective, so the governance base was around informality and illegal actions. Local and foreign buyers are exerting pressure to increase the catch volume thus it is recommended that rules and regulations be directed at buyers and exporting companies rather than at fishers.

Analysis of the Gulf of California cannonball jellyfish fishery as a complex system

Cannonball jellyfish has become the target of an important seasonal fishery in the Gulf of California. Research has focused mainly on biological and management aspects, yet linkages and dynamics between social and ecological components have received less attention. Based on an analysis of stakeholder perceptions and its comparison with available quantitative data, this study provides a holistic view of the fishery and its actors as part of a complex adaptive system. Stakeholders include artisanal fishers, owners of improvised and permanent processing plants, foreign buyers and funders, local managers, Mexican management entities, women, and Indigenous communities. Policy guidelines and management actions must address sustainability within various dimensions as understood by those interviewed: social equity, economic benefits, and environmental responsibility. To transition to sustainability, a transdisciplinary research approach is needed to provide management advice and to strengthen fishery governance through co-management decision-making strategies.

What Drives Landowners to Resist Selling Their Land? Insights from Ethical Capitalism and Landowners’ Perceptions

Foreign land grabbing is acknowledged as a phenomenon that generates disempowerment and dispossession of local farmers, human rights violations. Previous studies have revealed the lack of ethical benchmarks in foreign large-scale land transactions that raise moral concerns. It is evident that when resources are scarce and people depend on them, the balance between values and interests transforms itself into a dilemma. Within this context, the aims of the paper were to bring to the fore critical reflection on a more ethical perspective of large-scale land acquisitions and to extend the scant information on what factors determine landowners not to sell their land to foreigners to limit land grabbing. This context justifies the need for a critical reflection on a more ethical perspective of large-scale land acquisitions. Therefore, two objectives were set. The first one is to document the role of ethics in large-scale land transactions. Based on the land grabbing literature, authors selected a set of eight land grabbing narratives, most often interrelated and overlapping, that pose ethical considerations. The second objective is to reveal how well a set of variables can predict the “Resistance to sell” the land to foreigners even when an attractive price is offered. As ethics is a social construct, the analysis captured the stakeholders’ perspective on land grabbing. Therefore, a questionnaire was applied to a sample of 332 Romanian landowners from twelve randomly selected counties to reveal their perceptions. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to observe how well a set of seven variables could predict landowners’ “Resistance to sell” their land to foreign buyers. The use of PLS-SEM was justified by the existence of single items and the need to examine many structural model relations. Results showed that the variables with the strongest contribution to the prediction of the dependent variable are the “Probability to join an association for farmers rights defense”, the “Importance of the land price offered by the potential foreign buyer”, and the “Perceived effect of agricultural land conversion to urban land”. Raising awareness on the importance of buyer attributes, increasing people’s perception of the negative effect of agricultural land conversion to urban land, or strengthening the state’s image as a necessary actor to limit land grabbing will increase landowners’ resistance to sell their land to foreigners. Finally, it can be inferred that, within this frame of discussion, ethics should be valued as a means to create economically viable and morally justifiable solutions for foreign large-scale land transactions.

Price discrimination in informal labor markets in Bogot\xe1: an audit experiment during the 2018 FIFA World Cup

We conducted an audit experiment to examine whether street vendors in Bogotá (Colombia) exert price discrimination based on buyers’ attributes, such as gender and nationality, and based on product characteristics, such as the increasing marginal valuation of items needed to complete a collection. We exploited the seasonal demand for album stickers related to the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018. In our within-subjects design, experimenters carried out in-person audits and quoted a pre-determined list of missing stickers. They interacted with 59 sticker vendors located in five geographic clusters and collected 287 vendor–buyer interactions. We find that prices quoted to foreign buyers are higher than prices quoted to Colombian buyers. By contrast, we do neither find evidence supporting direct gender-based discrimination, nor that vendors charge a higher price per sticker when the list of missing stickers is shorter. We complement the study with a qualitative analysis based on interviews that reveal vendors’ pricing strategies, their awareness of price discrimination, and the trade of counterfeits. The qualitative results suggest that price discrimination appears to be unconscious.

Does Compliance to the Prescribed Standards in Readymade Garments Sector Predict Employee Turnover Intention? The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction and Organizational Attraction

Compliance to legal requirements and standards prescribed by international certification bodies and/or foreign buyers in the readymade garments (RMG) industry in Bangladesh is a burning issue regarding a safer working environment for employees. The present study examines the mediating effects of job satisfaction and organizational attraction on the relationship between the compliance and turnover intention. Research questions, hypotheses and research objectives are developed from the premises of job demands–resources (JD-R) theory, social exchange theory, social identity theory and prior empirical findings. Data are collected from 444 workers of the RMG industry through a multi-item survey instrument. We analyse the collected data using covariate-based structural equation modelling though AMOS (version 20). Results show that all of the direct influences except that of compliance on turnover intention are significant. The findings confirm that compliance acts as a distal antecedent of employee turnover intention through its mediating influences via job satisfaction and organizational attraction. The study sheds light on the significance of maintaining the provisions of compliance by the RMG in Bangladesh. It makes robust empirical and theoretical contributions to the extant literature. First, it supplements the inadequate documentation in RMG and other clothing industries. Unlike other studies on compliance in the RMG sector, this study measures compliance from the perspective of both the employer and the employees. Second, the study also makes a complementary contribution to the organizational attraction research by focusing on current employees rather than prospective employees. Finally, a little pursuit is evident in using theory and empirical proof together in the RMG industry. Hence, it aims to validate the theoretical account of the JD-R theory, social identity theory and social exchange theory in the context of a developing country.

Varstvene omejitve pri pridobivanju kmetijskih zemljišč: vpliv na zemljiški trg v Litvi

During the period of about 15 years, there were several attempts to regulate land tenure in Lithuania by changing the procedure of land acquisition and imposing some restrictive measures for the acquisition of agricultural land. This research aimed to determine the impact of those restrictive measures on the land market. This article represents the analytical results of the statistical data on agricultural land privatisation and market sales in respect of changes in legal acts. According to the analysis, changes in land acquisition procedure had no negative effect on land privatisation and volumes of land sales nor on land sale prices during the transitional period of limited access for foreign buyers in 2004–2014. The volatility of land sales during the transitional period can be explained by the natural market cyclicality, while the steady growth of prices indicates that the land market has not yet reached its long-run equilibrium. The new regulative provisions adopted in 2014 after the transitional period was over were intended to prevent land concentration and had a positive, yet momentary, effect on the supply of private agricultural land. A significant increase in land prices after introducing those provisions was caused by the ceased supply of state land and some other causes that were not analysed in this paper.

E-platform use and exporting in the context of Alibaba: A signaling theory perspective

Despite the prominent role played by B2B electronic platforms (E-platforms) in assisting exporters, extant research pays scant attention to how, and under what conditions, exporters can deploy B2B E-platforms to enhance their sales performance. Drawing on signaling theory, we examine how the deployment of E-platforms affects export sales performance via foreign buyer contact. We also explore the moderating roles of institutional environment and export growth strategy. We test our model with a dataset composed of a survey and archival data on Chinese exporters that subscribe to Alibaba.com. The findings indicate that E-platform use positively affects foreign buyer contact and, in turn, export sales performance. This positive effect is even more substantial when exporters originate from regions with less-developed market intermediaries or when the institutional distance between the home and host countries is greater. In contrast, this effect becomes weaker when the level of export market diversification or product diversification is higher.

Österreichs M&A-Markt 2020

The most interesting details concerning the Austrian M&A-Market 2020: A decrease in number of transactions by 7,3%; A decrease in transaction volume by 5,9%; The share of cross-border transactions of 61,0% continues to be one of the lowest during the observation period; The number of Austrian buyers abroad and of acquisitions of Austrian companies by foreign buyers are exactly equal; The relative share in number of transactions with CEE-countries is the lowest since the fall of the Iron Curtain; A significant decrease of transactions following insolvency proceedings or restructurings - also the lowest value within the observation period; Against the trend, both number as well as share of financially induced transactions were rising. In the last years, sectors which are to be classified as services have gained more and more share amongst main players in the Austrian M&A-Market - at least per number of transactions. In 2020, they completely disappeared from the top ranks - to be replaced by industries profiting from state inter-ventionism.

COVID-19 and It's Impact of Sri Lanka Economy

COVID-19, which is caused by the corona virus, is an infectious disease that was discovered in early 2020. The virus began to spread in December 2019 (WHO, 2020) based in Wuhan, China. Each plague-stricken country began to look for appropriate measures. The epidemic is not over yet Sri Lanka is taking and taking various measures to control it. The threat is still the same. The research examines the economic impact of Kovid-19 on the Sri Lankan economy, with the main objectives being to identify areas of economic growth such as tourism, food and agriculture, apparel, exports, small and medium enterprises. This revitalization study is based on published data on export earnings, the World Health Organization, the CBSL Annual Report, and newspaper articles. The secondary data analysis method was mainly used to interpret the result. The study found that key revenue industries such as agriculture, tourism, apparel and textiles and small and medium enterprises were affected by the epidemic. Total export earnings from tea were $ 347.3 million in 2019, down $ 270.1 million from January to March 2020. Income from other agricultural sectors such as fruit and vegetable production (coconut production 15.9) and coconut production (136). Compared to March 2019, it has dropped significantly to $ 9 million. During the period from January to June 2019, the tourism industry was $ 1,901 and in 2020 it was at a low of 956 (January to June). Sales of more than 80% of small and medium enterprises have fallen due to delays or cancellations of orders from local and foreign buyers. Increasing demand for alternative tourism businesses, including Towns, is completely changing the way business lending to small retailers, wholesalers and small and medium-sized enterprises is conducted. Just as well-planned and well-planned processes are needed to revive the economy, it is imperative that all brains be integrated into a single brain.

Attitude towards foreign product purchase: Malaysian consumers' perspective

Attitude towards foreign product purchase: Malaysian consumers' perspective

Ганчір'я - непотріб або цінний ресурс? Утилізація відходів в Українській СРР у 1920-х - на початку 1930-х років

The article analyzes reuse of waste in the USSR in the 1920s - early 1930s taking the example of rags. The study is done due to the non-disclosure of this scientific problem in the Ukrainian and foreign research. Based on a comparative analysis of the disposal of rags in the Russian Empire and in the USSR (case of Ukraine), the absence of ruptures in the practice of its collection has been proved. This is argued by the recognition of the value of rags as a raw material for the development of a number of industries, for example paper. The conclusion is made about the reconceptualization of waste in the early USSR, which began to be considered as a valuable raw material resource for the needs of the Soviet economy and exports. It was found that the initial interest in collecting rags was due to the need to expand exports in order to obtain additional foreign exchange earnings and purchase deficit in the USSR equipment and goods. However, since the second half of the 1920s, rags were recognized as a valuable resource for the Soviet industry. It was found that with the development of the Soviet economy, the circle of customers of rags expanded and the chemical, haberdashery and construction industries joined the paper and light industry. The similarities and differences of the multilevel mechanism of collecting rags and its main actors in tsarist Russia and in the Soviet Union are revealed. Author analyzed the evolution of its forming and found that in the 1920s, the activity in the collecting rags was decentralized. It was carried out by a wide range of actors as one of the areas of procurement of various types of agricultural and industrial raw materials for the Soviet economy. Author put the question of the need to analyze the dilemma of collecting rags in the context of a total shortage of consumer goods and poverty of the population, which widely used the practice of clothing repair. As a result, garbage often transformed in almost unusable in recycling rags. The author did not identify the environmental motivation for the reuse of rags during this period, but concluded that these activities contributed to the creation of certain elements of waste sorting and storage infrastructure, development and improvement of waste management rules, which established a basis for more efficient and conscious waste management in the second half of the 20th century.

REVERSING THE DECLINE OF CANADIAN PUBLIC MARKETS

It is the best of times for Canada’s public markets, it is the worst of times for Canada’s public markets. It is an age when markets have been rewarding public companies with the highest valuations seen in generations. It is an age of a rapid decline in Canadian companies opting to go public. Given that Canada’s reliance on public markets is far higher than that of any other country — double that of the next-highest country — we should be alarmed that fewer and fewer companies are choosing to go public. Companies that stay private are, on average, less successful, less productive, less likely to grow into national champions, and more likely to be sold to foreign buyers. The current decline of public markets may go to the heart of what is arguably the biggest long-term policy issue in the country: our innovation gap and declining relative productivity growth. There is no shortage of advantages for a company to go public. Public companies grow faster, grow larger, become both more productive and efficient, and have cheaper access to capital. An IPO permits early investors to exit while allowing managers to continue to build the company. What is evidently causing more and more Canadian executives to avoid going public, despite all these advantages, is a regulatory and governance ecosystem that has grown increasingly hostile to and distrustful of corporate leadership. Executives who consider going public face an environment in which their compensation levels will be high; indeed, pay for senior executives at public companies has grown remarkably in recent years. However, because of increasingly onerous regulatory disclosure requirements, earning those rewards comes at the cost of having their pay disclosed to the public, debated by shareholders and scrutinized by the media. Companies that go public also face a growing loss of control over their own governance due to pressure to adhere to an ever-evolving list of so-called universal best practices that can run dozens of pages long. These practices exact costs but don’t generally improve results. The result is a dominant one-size-fits-all governance model that does not in fact fit many, or even most companies. The key factor creating this hostile environment is a massive intrusion by outside forces on the powers traditionally exercised by boards and executives. Corporate governance used to arise from the bargaining and experimentation of the private parties that coalesce around corporations. Now governance is frequently imposed ex post on public companies by third parties with their own agendas. Particularly problematic are third-party commercial proxy advisors, ostensibly representing the interests of institutional shareholders. Their short-term, faddish, complex, and value-harming governance practices diverge dangerously from the interests of long-term flesh-and-blood investors. The innovations over the past three decades in governance rules were designed to reduce agency costs and improve corporate performance. Those that have proven failures at doing so, and there are several, should be scrapped. Rather than helping Canada’s markets become stronger, public markets have grown substantially weaker, and rather than making Canadian companies better, we now face an environment where companies would rather sell to a foreign buyer and leave the country, than go public here. The repercussions can only be adverse for Canada.

Do Foreign Buyer Taxes Affect House Prices?

This paper studies the impact of foreign buyer taxes on house prices using recent law changes in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Counterfactual house prices are estimated for each treated location combining prediction techniques from machine learning with inference methods from the Synthetic Control Method literature. In general, foreign buyer taxes have negative, large, and persistent effects on house price growth. We find bigger effects in locations with bigger taxes and with higher immigrant shares. Alternative outcome variables, including population growth, GDP growth, and unemployment rates were either unaffected or slightly affected in ways that do not confound our results.

Pricing-to-Market and Exchange Rate Pass-Through in the Sri Lankan Crepe Rubber Export Markets

This article analyses the impact of the pricing-to-market (PTM) strategy on the Sri Lankan crepe rubber. The fluctuation in the value of the Sri Lankan rupees can alter the prices of exported goods in terms of foreign currencies. This affects the Sri Lankan products either to be more or less expensive to the foreign buyers and consequently, it effects on export demand. Hence, analyzing the effects of PTM is an important element in assessing the relationship of the exchange rates and export prices of tradable goods. Within and between models of panel regression was used to analyse the exchange-rate-pass -through (ERPT) of Sri Lankan crepe rubber in the world market. The within model was used to analyse the short-run pricing-to-market and the between model was used to analyse the long-run pricing-to market. Data of eight export market destinations spans from 2003 to 2014 were used in the analysis. Results indicated that the short-run pricing-to market is a strategically viable plan to expand the Sri Lankan crepe rubber market via exchange rate pass through.

What is Bangladesh’s competitive advantage? An exploratory content analysis of the unique firm resources claimed by Bangladeshi apparel export firms

ABSTRACT Apparel exports play a vital role in the economy of Bangladesh. The apparel industry contributes to country’s GDP, generates employment, reduces poverty, and is the most important sector for Bangladesh’s socio-economic development. However, little research is available on the individual firm resources of the Bangladesh apparel sector. The purpose of this paper is to explore the unique resources claimed by the Bangladeshi apparel exporting firms and identify the key resources that assist in achieving competitive advantage. A web-based content analysis of texts available on ‘About Us' or related sections of the Bangladeshi apparel export firms was analysed. The results of content analysis revealed several unique key resources claimed by the apparel exporting firms of Bangladesh. Examining these firm resources will allow sourcing personnel, foreign buyers, owners and government policymakers to better understand the Bangladesh’s apparel export industry.

Why did the United States Evolve from the Largest International Creditor in 1980 to the Largest International Debtor in 1990?

Remarkable transformation of the U.S. international investment position occurred over the last 40 years. U.S. net foreign assets were larger than combined net foreign assets of all other creditors. By 1990, foreign-owned U.S. securities and real assets were larger than U.S. owned foreign securities and assets. This change occurred without the U.S. Treasury borrowing in foreign currency and few U.S. firms borrowing, reflecting a surge in foreign purchases of U.S. securities. Inferences from the currency composition of portfolio changes of those who acquired U.S. dollar securities suggest that foreign savers took the initiative on cross-border investment inflows. The U.S. could not have developed a larger capital account surplus after 1980 unless a similar increase in the U.S. current account deficit occurred. The primary factor that led to the U.S. current account deficit increase was the surge in U.S. stocks and other asset prices, resulting in a U.S. household wealth surge and consumption boom. The foreign saving inflow displaced domestic saving. In addition, an increase in the price of the U.S. dollar led to expenditure-switching from U.S. goods to increasingly less expensive foreign goods. When investor demand for U.S. dollar securities declined, the U.S. dollar price fell in 1992, 2002, and 2020 and the price of U.S. dollar securities declined. The paper discusses the source of the change in the U.S. international investment position, the flow of foreign saving to the U.S., cyclical variability in the foreign saving flow to the U.S., and the potential impact of an adjustable parity arrangement.

THE OPPORTUNITIES AND BARRIERS OF BICYCLE EXPORT FROM BANGLADESH: A STUDY ON M & U CYCLES LTD, MEGHNA GROUP

The cycle industry, M & U Cycles Ltd is a sister concern of Meghna group was established in 1982 in Gazipur, Dhaka. At Present 600 nos. or above worker works in this M & U Cycles industry. In The Last year from this M & U Cycles industry total 1, 30,000 Pcs bicycle assembled/produced and exported to different countries.The Product of Bicycle which exports from Bangladesh has great opportunities to earn foreign exchanges i.e. foreign currency can be used to develop this country. Now a Days, as per we know the total annual turnover of M & U Cycles Ltd only from export 30 million USD per year .Thats why this is great opportunities by exporting bicycle from Bangladesh.While my study for preparing this internship report it seems to me that particular sector (Bicycles) is very much facing the financial problem. The loan interest rate is too high for the sector to accomplish export processing, and also that sector is very much depended on import of raw materials. It seems to me that M & U Cycles Ltd, is always try to get their sustainable growth in the competitive market. In very recent time the government of Bangladesh has taken some significant decision to face the situation of economic recession. The governments takes a package of Tk 25000-30000 crore in order to priorities protection of the export oriented industries, agricultural growth, employment generation and social security to offset the negative effects of the global economic crisis. They also recommended creation of an export stabilization fund, retention and skill development for returning migrant workers, infrastructure development and simplification and streamliner of rules and procedures to help entrepreneur. According to IMF gradation, Bangladesh ranked as the 48th largest economy in the world in 2008. The economy has grown at the rate of 6.7%. The Bicycles industry sector must be played a very significant role there. In spite of economical recession of the world as well as in the country, M & U Cycles Ltd is one of the participators of earning foreign currency in Bangladesh. In the package are also measures like adoption of effective steps to provide necessary scope and facilities to workers and employees to perform social responsibility by management to fulfill compliance with standards set by the foreign buyers, reducing import dependence through ensuring supply of quality local raw materials in production of Bicycle exports.

Long-Term and Short-Term Export Contracts for Natural Gas Supply

Natural gas is exported in accordance with the terms and conditions of foreign trade contracts between the seller and the buyer. Research into the execution procedure, terms and conditions of such contracts has both theoretical and practical value. The importance of a foreign trade contract for relations between the parties cannot be overemphasized as its scope determines and legally binds the parties for the achievement of their respective goals. When entering into foreign trade contracts, the parties should consider the impact of natural gas extraction, processing, transportation, storage processes on terms of foreign trade transactions with natural gas. These terms are especially important for long-term natural gas export contracts which are considered to be the traditional form of natural gas trading. However, more recently, forms of foreign trade contracts for natural gas export used to interact with foreign buyers have become more diversified. Natural gas trading under short-term contracts using electronic trading platforms is becoming increasingly important. In this article, the author examines the key peculiarities of such contracts, defines basic advantages and disadvantages of using various contract forms for natural gas export.

Долгосрочные и краткосрочные экспортные контракты на поставку природного газа

Natural gas is exported in accordance with the terms and conditions of foreign trade contracts between the seller and the buyer. Research into the execution procedure, terms and conditions of such contracts has both theoretical and practical value. The importance of a foreign trade contract for relations between the parties cannot be overemphasized as its scope determines and legally binds the parties for the achievement of their respective goals. When entering into foreign trade contracts, the parties should consider the impact of natural gas extraction, processing, transportation, storage processes on terms of foreign trade transactions with natural gas. These terms are especially important for long-term natural gas export contracts which are considered to be the traditional form of natural gas trading. However, more recently, forms of foreign trade contracts for natural gas export used to interact with foreign buyers have become more diversified. Natural gas trading under short-term contracts using electronic trading platforms is becoming increasingly important. In this article, the author examines the key peculiarities of such contracts, defines basic advantages and disadvantages of using various contract forms for natural gas export.

Recent Aggravation of Export Earnings in Bangladesh: Is This an Outcome of Export Subsidence of RMG Sector Due to COVID-19 Outbreak?

Bangladesh has the 2nd largest economy in term of purchasing power parity in South Asia after India. Bangladesh is also considered as one of the fastest growing middle-income countries with a market based mixed economy. Despite of trade deficit in the current account of the balance of payment, the country has been recognized as one of the key destinations of foreign direct investment. Availability of cheap labor made the cost of production lower which makes it possible to attract foreign buyers. Export oriented RMG sector has made a huge contribution in the economy of Bangladesh. Readymade garments have been the key source of export earnings with its accolades in the foreign market. This sector also provides a greater number of job creation especially for female workers. Current pandemic outbreak has raised an unfavorable situation in the RMG sector due to the lockdown in many developed countries, especially European countries which adversely affects the total export earnings of Bangladesh. Because of that, many factories have shut down their production with a huge extinction of foreign demand for RMG products. This voluminous impact of COVID-19 in the export earning capability of readymade garments industry has shifted the trade balance into an unstable situation to create short term alarm in the economy.