Investment Partnership Research Articles

Prospects and Challenges of Market Entry for Austrian Companies in an Emerging Market – the Case of Chile

Abstract Chile is, compared to several other South American countries, geographically and demographically rather limited, but despite that it is the second most important trading and investment partner for Austria in this region. The aim of this paper is to gain firsthand insights into the motivations and perceptions of the entry of Austrian firms into the Chilean market by using an exploratory research approach.Interviews with thirteen qualified and experienced persons were conducted and analyzed, using Mayring’s qualitative content analysis. The Chilean market is an attractive opportunity for Austrian firms, as it performs quite well in international business environment rankings. The study results indicate a variety of motivationsfor entering the market, as well as diverse entry mode decisions based on numerous factors, together with a prevailing positive perception of the Chilean business environment. Several results probably cannot be generalized for the entire country, as the capital city is the center of business, and research in other regions of Chile might have different results. Challenges have been identified in the matters of language, distance, time, culture, recruitment, complexity, local partners and the indigenous population. Chile is a highly developed emerging market where doing business faces few obstacles. Therefore, the country represents a very attractive location in South America with great potential for Austrian companies.

Role of public-private partnerships investment in energy and technological innovations in driving climate change: evidence from Brazil.

This study aims to examine the impact of public-private partnerships (PPP) investment in energy, technological innovations (TI), economic growth (EG), exports, and foreign direct investment (FDI) on CO2 emissions in Brazil over the period from 1984 to 2018. In doing so, we employ the Ng-Perron unit root test to examine the stationarity and autoregressive lag distributed (ARDL) model for cointegration between CO2 emissions and its determinants. The outcomes are as follows: first, in the long run, the PPP investment in energy deteriorates the environmental quality by increasing CO2 emissions, while TI has a significant negative effect on CO2 emissions. It is also found that the exports and FDI degrade the environmental quality and the relationship between EG and CO2 emissions is inverted U-Shaped, presence of the EKC hypothesis. Second, in the short run, PPP investment in the energy sector is negatively influencing, while TI has a positive association with carbon emissions. The empirical findings provide new insights for policymakers to regulate PPP investment in the energy sector for the improvement of environmental quality in Brazil. Graphical abstract.

Determinants of foreign direct investment outflow from India to Poland

Abstract This article concerns the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) outflow from India to Poland with some insights to other European countries. This topic strongly relates to globalization of foreign trade and especially new economic initiatives between European Union (EU) and India, which was one of the first countries to develop trade relations with EU. According to CEIC data – Financial Data and Economic Indicators, India’s FDI outflow increased slightly to 1.4 billion USD in September 2019 in comparison with 996.5 million USD in September 2018, but it is still below the average of 1.8 billion USD for a period of 2007–2019. Available at: https://www.ceicdata.com/en/india/foreign-direct-investment-outflow/foreign-direct-investment-outflow (accessed October 19, 2019). Very limited number of the scientific research can be found in European literature about India’s FDI outflow to EU countries in period of 2004–2019. Indian economists made some research on that topic. Professor J. Ramachandran (listed among the Best Management Thinkers for the year 2015, the first Bain Fellow in India) from Indian Institute of Management Bangalore in 2004 and Professor Jaya Prakesh Pradhan from Central University of Gujarat in 2008 explored the evolution in Indian outward FDI, referring to a shift in the pattern of overseas expansion and basis of competitiveness of Indian companies. The main goal of this article is to explain what really triggers Indian investors to go to Poland and what kind of businesses they form. Some examples of the Indian-based companies are mentioned to support the analysis. The author of this article also researched on different governmental bilateral trade agreements and initiatives, trying to find any direct impacts of that on the India FDI outflow to Poland and other EU countries. He used empirical method of the analysis based on accessible data for period 2004–2019 and literature in that topic and also direct interviews with private Indian investors who made decision to start and run their business in Poland or other EU countries. The main conclusion is that Poland the leader of Visegrad Group is an interesting investment for India and India can be for Poland a counterpart investment partner to China.

CONCEPTUAL PRINCIPLES OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN THE FIELD OF HEALTHCARE

Introduction. At the current stage of economic and social development in Ukraine, characterized by high levels of uncertainty, economic instability, deteriorating financial situation of the state and citizens against the background of the emergence and exacerbation of risks of epidemics, the processes of strategic health planning significantly complicate. The purpose of the article is to form the conceptual foundations of strategic management of healthcare. Results. It is determined that taking into account the intersectoral relationship of the healthcare system, as methods of reforming, it is appropriate to consider the spread of corporate economic activity within the system, on the basis of cooperation between government, community and business to achieve health goals. Conclusions. It is proved that the creation of corporate networks of the healthcare system at the regional level can be considered as a diversification of economic activities and sources of funding. The model of corporate governance in the national healthcare system should be based on the spread of partnerships (corporate) relationships, which are layered on the elements of process modeling in the healthcare system. Corporatism, as a kind of social organization of public relations, allows us to focus more on solving the problems of the healthcare system. In addition, it is important to use public-private investment partnerships, which involve cooperation between business authorities and the community to attract investment for health development. This variant of partnership is the most correct for the healthcare system of Ukraine, because then the content of partnership as a diversification of funding sources in the healthcare system is revealed, and the issue of funding is the most important to ensure the national healthcare system. Thus, the expediency of using the integrated possibilities of corporatization and public-private partnership in improving the investment climate of the national patient-centered healthcare system becomes obvious. Keywords: strategy, strategic management, healthcare, conceptual model.

Comparative studies into public private partnership and traditional investment approaches on the high-speed rail project linking 3 airports in Thailand

At present, PPP (Public-Private Partnership) plays an important role in infrastructure project development. This is attributable to the fact that many governments around the world have a budget constraint and may try to prioritize their budget for other developments in need. Allowing a private sector to participate in investment is an important step towards the cost-saving for a government. The private sector has an advantageous opportunity in the investment partnership, and public users tend to have superior service. Thai government envisages potential advantages of PPP and adopts this practice in various projects. However, the new mega project linking 3 airports is one of the first highspeed rail projects in Thailand of which the Thai government has insufficient experience. There are serious concerns whether the PPP adoption could enable a viable option. Therefore, this study aims to analyze benefits and risks of PPP adoption in the High-Speed Rail Project Linking 3 Airports in Thailand. Lifecycle assessment has been carried out by breaking down the project into various phases. Field data have been gathered from different sources such as an official website, feasibility study reports, annual reports of related government agencies, and opinions from technical experts in private sector. Financial analysis is used to analyze and calculate related financial values. The results reveal that the PPP adoption in this project yields different benefits and risks depending on each phase of the project. Adopting PPP can overcome key limitations and provide some real benefits that the traditional approach cannot. Simultaneously, there are risks incurred from the PPP adoption due to the complexity in PPP partnership such additional transaction costs and interrelation complexity. However, the risks can be managed by a rigorous plan and practice. Both governmental and private sectors need to collaborate to ascertain the project's success.

TTIP and Environmental Consequences

This paper empirically investigates the impact of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on per capita emissions of eight air pollutants and municipal waste. We employ the same explanatory variables and apply the same empirical strategy and methodologies as in (Qirjo and Pascalau, 2019b). We provide robust evidence suggesting that the implementation of TTIP could be beneficial to the environment because it may reduce per capita emissions of NO2 and HFCs/PFCs/SF6 for a typical TTIP member. This result is based on statistically significant evidence showing that, on average, the Pollution Haven motive based on national per capita income variations is dominated by the Factor Endowment Argument based on the Heckscher-Ohlin trade theory and the Pollution Haven motive originating from an inverse measurement of national population density differences. However, we also report generally statistically significant evidence implying that the implementation of TTIP could denigrate the environment as it may increase per capita emissions of SO2, SOx, NOx, SF6, and NH3. These findings are consistent with results from game theoretical approaches that analyze the role of the strategic trade policies on the environment.

Hot-Button Issues in International Arbitration: A Survey Among Arbitrators

International Arbitration has been in the focus of public attention following the fierce debate on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). A broad public has questioned whether arbitral tribunals should be entrusted with issues of public interest. Some of these issues are particularly controversial. These ‘hot-button’ issues include international sanctions, corruption, money laundering and, to a somewhat lesser extent, antitrust law. The authors wanted to know how arbitrators deal with these issues, should they come up in an arbitration. They set up a survey in the form of a short online questionnaire and invited more than 2,500 arbitrators, listed as members of different European arbitral institutions, to participate. The participants were asked whether they have already encountered hot-button issues in an arbitration, whether they felt prepared to deal with them and whether they have been approached by parties who wanted a hot-button issue to be disregarded in the arbitration. Further questions addressed possible proactive measures to prevent public policy violations, such as a cooperation with public authorities and state courts. The authors compare the results of their survey with recent developments in International Arbitration. Public interest, Public policy, Competition law, International sanctions, Corruption, Money laundering, Enforceability, Survey, Practice, Cooperation

Missing in Action? France and the Politicization of Trade and Investment Agreements

Negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) and for the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada have provoked massive mobilization throughout Europe, both on the streets and online. Yet France, long at the epicenter of anti-globalization and anti-Americanism, has played a surprisingly modest role in the mobilization campaign against these agreements. This article asks why France did not contribute to anti-TTIP mobilization and, more broadly, how patterns of French mobilization over trade have changed over the past two decades. Using comparative-historical analysis, we explore to what extent this puzzling French reaction can be traced to changing attitudes towards the US, agenda-shaping by the French government, and transformations in the venues and techniques of social mobilization. We thus contribute to the growing literature on the politicization of trade agreements and offer insights into the links between domestic and international politics.

Huddle Up! Exploring Domestic Coalition Formation Dynamics in the Differentiated Politicization of TTIP

The politicization of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has manifested itself to different extents across EU Member States. In some countries, conflicting interpretations about the deal were highly visible in public and political debates, while in others there was hardly any awareness. To further understand this phenomenon, trade scholars have to date not yet deepened nor leveraged the insights of the ‘differentiated politicization’ and social movement literature, which both point to coalition formation as an important trigger of politicization processes. This article contributes to our understanding of variation in politicization across EU Member States, by exploring coalition formation dynamics in differentiated politicization processes, in order to identify the factors facilitating successful domestic coalition formation. Through an exploratory case study design, I focus on three countries that exemplify high, middle, and low politicization cases: Germany, Belgium, and Ireland. By relying on the testimonies of campaigners active during the TTIP episode, I identify three elements that facilitated the formation of a diverse domestic coalition, which subsequently played an important role in pushing for a broad-based debate about the implications of TTIP: (i) an expert ‘mesomobilization’ link with a transnational advocacy network, (ii) the prior availability of domestic alliances, and (iii) an inclusive framing approach in order to establish a diverse coalition. The findings also underline the importance of timing in the unfolding of (successful) politicization processes.

National Autonomy or Transnational Solidarity? Using Multiple Geographic Frames to Politicize EU Trade Policy

The article contributes to our understanding of how trade is politicized and how civil society activists manage the tensions between multiple collective action frames in a complex political context. When viewed alongside the Brexit referendum and Trump’s US Presidency, it is easy to see the 2013–2016 campaign against a European Union–US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership as a further example of an apparently growing populist ‘nationalism.’ Yet, in the European context—where campaigning was most visible—there was in fact extensive reliance on, and re-iteration of, a transnational ‘European’ frame, with antecedents in the 1999–2006 campaign against General Agreement on Trade in Services negotiations. As the article argues, transnational campaigning operates within a nexus of multiple, and sometimes conflicting, geographic frames. In both campaigns discussed here, activists typically engaged with the wider public via the national context and, sometimes, with allusions to ‘national autonomy.’ However, their activism was dependent upon a frame espousing ‘transnational solidarity.’ Developed over time, this structured their transnational relations with other groups and more full-time activists.

Managed Globalization 2.0: The European Commission’s Response to Trade Politicization

Several studies have sought to explain the politicization of European Union’s (EU) trade policy during negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the EU and Canada (CETA). This article contributes to the literature on the politicization of trade by assessing how politicization is addressed by those tasked with the content and implementation of trade policy, namely the European Commission (hereafter Commission). We identify the origin and definition of managed globalization (MG), and thereafter identify, through a qualitative content analysis of EU Trade Commissioners’ speeches from 2013 to late 2017, how the doctrine re-emerged as the leitmotif<em> </em>of EU trade policy. The Commission’s initial response to civil society organizations’ contestation over TTIP and CETA was to insist on the economic benefits of the agreements. As contestation intensified, we find indirect references to MG, as the Commission focused on clarifying that upholding European values was equally important to market access in EU trade policy. Then, from late 2016 until late 2017, the Commission’s messaging was directed primarily at populist fears of trade and globalization; emphasizing that protectionism was unnecessary, and that globalization could be controlled, culminating in the emergence of explicit references to MG. The article expands on existing research on MG by identifying trade politicization as a factor that prompted a modification and expansion of the MG doctrine and its use, while also discussing some accompanying policy changes.

The Selective Politicization of Transatlantic Trade Negotiations

European Union (EU) trade policy is in the spotlight. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations triggered substantial public mobilization which emerged in a surge of literature on trade politicization. Notwithstanding politicization’s topicality and significance, it varies considerably over time, across trade agreements negotiations as well as across EU member states. By picking up on the latter, this article examines why, despite similar economic benefits potentially to be gained from trade liberalization, TTIP negotiations revealed striking differences in politicization in Germany and the UK. Understanding this variation is illustrated by highlighting the impact of some of TTIPs’ substantial issues mobilizing a range of materially and ideationally motivated stakeholders, who in turn shaped diverging governments’ trade positions of the countries under scrutiny. In explaining this selective politicization across two European countries, focus is on three explanatory variables, domestic material interests (business associations and trade unions), societal ideas (voters and non-governmental organizations [NGOs]) dominant in these countries’ domestic politics, as well as their interaction with national institutions. For this reason, the societal approach to governmental preference formation is employed which provides a detailed exploration of these three domestic factors, as well as the importance of their interdependence, in shaping the TTIP positions of the UK and German governments.

Slow Rise of Trade Politicisation in the UK and Brexit

Since the Brexit referendum, the UK government has deployed a vision of ‘Global Britain’ revolving around trade agreements, yet, this was not a key issue in the referendum. Drawing on politicisation literature, we explore the absence of visible activism around future trade policy, in contrast to moderate activity around the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). We identify actors in UK TTIP mobilisation and trace their actions post-referendum, revealing politicisation as campaigners participate in channels for attempting to influence future UK trade policy. In the presence of these channels and lack of full clarity on future policy, to date, recourse to visible mobilisation in the public space has not yet occurred. Tracing this dynamic process, intertwining Brexit and trade policy, enables us to understand how politicisation of one process affects another. Crucially, given the context of re-nationalisation of trade policy, it allows us to explore how politicisation is operationalised in the absence of one of the key conditions for politicisation suggested in the literature: the transfer of authority to a more remote level of governance.

Towards Explaining Varying Degrees of Politicization of EU Trade Agreement Negotiations

Over the last decade, European Union (EU) trade agreement negotiations in the form of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada have been strongly contested. By contrast, many other EU trade negotiations have sailed on with far less politicization, or barely any at all. In this contribution, we assess a series of plausible explanation for these very varying degrees of politicization across EU trade agreement negotiations—conceived of as the combination of polarization of opinions, salience given to them in public debate, and the expansion of the number of societal actors involved therein. Through a review of existing explanations, we show how each of these explanations faces a set of challenges. In the third section, we argue it is useful to conceive of these existing explanations as structural background conditions enabling agency on the part of interest group and civil society organizations. We therefore close by sketching how literature on the relationship between interest group mobilization and public opinion could inform further comparative research on trade policy negotiations, and on politicization of EU policy making in general.

Politicisation ‘Reversed’: EU Free Trade Negotiations with West Africa and the Caribbean

The politicisation of recent European Union (EU) trade negotiations such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement suggests that the more negotiations focus on deep integration issues, the higher the potential for polarization of values and interests. Yet, as we argue, this pattern does not necessarily hold true in EU trade negotiations with the developing world. In the case of the Economic Partnership Agreements with West Africa and the Caribbean region, the pattern of politicisation was ‘reversed’: Politicisation remained low in the Caribbean region, despite the inclusion of deep integration issues. To the contrary, negotiations became highly politicised in West Africa, where negotiations focussed on the traditional realm of trade in goods. Combining the insights from the literature on the role of non-state actors (NSAs) in trade policy-making in developing countries and on politicisation, we show that limited pre-existing mobilisation resources of NSAs, and few opportunities to engage with the political level of negotiations, imply that those affected by the inclusion of deep integration issues hardly mobilise. We also find that lack of technical expertise and the significance of traditional trade areas pre-empts NSAs from engaging in emotive framing on deep integration issues. This helps us to unpack the different patterns of politicisation across both regions: Politicisation in West Africa was facilitated by civil society actors who—in contrast to the Caribbean region—could draw on pre-existing networks, expertise, and direct access to the regional negotiation level.

The EU Investment Policy in Asia in the Light of ´Dawn of An Asian Century in International Investment Law`

After its gradual establishment, the investment policy of the European Union experienced turbulent times when the EU and the United States commenced negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Trade and Investment Partnership. While the public and political focus concentrated on the transatlantic relations with the United States (TTIP) and Canada (CETA), the EU has steadily progressed at different paces with third countries in Asia where it commenced trade and investment negotiations with Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, China, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia among others. This paper seeks to evaluate how the Union has been successful in its “Asia strategy” in the field of investment negotiation and promotion of its reform approach to the investment protection regime. It offers an overview of the EU investment negotiations with the individual partners in the Far East and explores these relationships and their potential implications. It concludes that it is not surprising that the EU already persuaded the first countries in this region about its novel approach because of their strong motivation to conclude agreements with the EU that will ‘modernise’ and ‘harmonise’ the existing investment protection. On the other hand, challenges persist as it remains to be seen in which direction Asian actors will push for in the development of global investment governance.

Application of improved clustering algorithm in investment recommendation in embedded system

The user's investment behaviour is individual, and group-oriented, which can reflect the user's cognitive background and interest on a certain extent. The user investment group can help users to find similar investment partners. Users can view the investment or other related people's interests. With the development of the Internet financial industry, people's demand for Internet financial knowledge services has become increasingly strong. Accessing financial information and conducting financial transactions through online financial platforms has become normal for investors. As a popular research area, the recommendation system can help users to better use Internet information, improve user loyalty, and promote products. In this paper, an improved kernel cluster-based incremental clustering method is proposed, and the stock information of the Shanghai Stock Exchange is used as the experimental data for cluster mining. The experimental results show that the improved kernel-based incremental clustering algorithm proposed in this paper can complete the investment recommendation for financial users. For a certain extent, it reduces the risk of financial investment, enhances the stability of the financial market, and has a strong positive effect.

Trust and Support for Comprehensive Trade Agreements in the European Parliament

Abstract Comprehensive Trade Agreements (CTAs) constitute a new generation of free trade agreements, which challenge traditional models of trade preferences. To understand preferences toward CTAs I present a new predictor, trust in government, that explains support for CTAs in the European Parliament. I develop a unified framework that includes economic and noneconomic factors to explain trade preferences, and analyze support for three recent CTAs: the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement with Canada (CETA), and the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement. Using an original dataset on trade voting and a multilevel model, I show that higher levels of citizens’ trust in government make Members of the European Parliament more likely to vote in favor of CTAs. My research offers a novel theoretical argument and insights on the connection between public trust and elite position-taking.

EU-US trade post-trump perspectives: TTIP aspects related to foreign direct investment and innovation

The international economic debate on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has focused mainly on trade induced real income gains while the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)-related and innovation induced benefits have been largely neglected, although the EU and the US are leading FDI host countries and FDI source countries. Moreover, from a theoretical perspective a knowledge production function has to be considered in order to analyze FDI and innovation dynamics – and this can then be linked to output and economic growth, respectively. It is argued that such a Schumpeterian approach for an open economy is needed to understand deep integration dynamics while the standard CGE model used by Francois et al. (2013) leads to an underestimation of deep integration projects such as TTIP. The panel data estimation of knowledge production functions for 20 EU countries between 2002 and 2012 shows clear empirical evidence that a rise of the number of researchers and of the FDI stock-GDP ratio (or related variables) will raise patent applications. Additionally, a higher per capita income – that could reflect trade related real income gains in the context of TTIP – also contributes to new knowledge and a fortiori to higher GDP. Time series data analysis for Germany indicates additionally that FDI induced higher innovation dynamics will raise output - combining trade benefits and FDI/innovation related real income gains plus transatlantic macroeconomic interdependency effects a real income gain of nearly 2% should be expected for Germany (and the EU). As the Trump Administration is focusing on bilateralism, the US is essentially renouncing a considerable output increase and opportunities to improve its current account; instead the Trump Administration has adopted a policy of protectionism which is likely to undermine trade dynamics and economic growth. In the long run, transatlantic trade perspectives could improve.

Comparison of the Financial Performances of Real Estate Investment Partnership Companies That Are Operated in BIST

Geleceğimizi öngörebilmek ve günümüz rekabet ortamında şirketlerin finansal performanslarının önemli bir unsur olduğu bilinmektedir. Durum böyle olunca sadece finansal oran analizleri de belli bir ölçüde yeterli gelmediği görülmüştür. Bunun için araştırmacılar belirli yöntemler geliştirmiş ve uygulamalar gerçekleştirmişlerdir. Bu uygulamalar arasında çok kriterli karar verme yöntemleri sıklıkla kullanılan bir yöntemler dizisi olduğu görülmüştür. Türkiye’de gayrimenkul yatırım ortaklığı şirketleri de sermayesi ciddi önemli bir sektör olduğu bilinmektedir. Bu yüzdendir ki bu sektörde faaliyet gösteren işletmelerin finansal rasyo analizlerinin yapılması yatırımcılar ve şirket yöneticileri için önemlidir. Bu çalışmamızda gayrimenkul yatırım ortaklığı sektöründe faaliyet gösteren sermayesi en yüksek on şirket ele alınarak belli finansal oranlar ile çok kriterli karar verme yöntemleri olan TOPSIS ile MOORA yöntemi kullanılmıştır.Bu çalışmanın öncelikli amacı, farklı standartlardaki ölçüm araçları ile şirketlerin finansal performans sıralamalarının ölçülmesi amaçlanmıştır. Bu çalışmamızda hisse senetleri borsada işlem görmekte olan sermayesi 2017 yılı için en yüksek seviyede olduğu tespit edilen gayrimenkul yatırım ortaklığı şirketlerinin finansal performanslarının sıralaması TOPSIS ve MOORA tekniği kullanılarak yapılmıştır.Çalışmada ilk olarak 2013-2017 yılsonu verileriyle 10 adet geleneksel olarak kullanılan finansal oran hesaplanmış daha sonra oranların ortalaması alınarak TOPSIS ve MOORA yönteminin karar matrisi bu şekilde oluşturulmuştur. Böylelikle kullanılan 10 şirketin oran analizleriyle finansal performans kriterleri açısından oluşturulan sıralamalar karşılaştırılıp yorumlanmıştır.