Commercial Issues Research Articles

Chaozhou Guild Hall’s Social Functions and Cohesiveness

As one of the most eminent business groups in Chinese history, Chaoshan merchants have left footprints in a great many of places throughout the world and built up world-wide Chaozhou guild halls, sites with multiple functions range from supporting their countrymen, worshiping the gods in Chaoshan culture, dealing with commercial issues to holding many other activities that strengthen the cultural identity of the Chaoshan people. The historical sites can still be seen in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Shantou, Hongkong and other cities in China as well as quantities of overseas districts. This essay will take some of the Chaozhou guild halls as research subject to examine how the buildings serve as social bond and how the social functions of the architectures are related to the cohesiveness. This essay argues that the construction of the Chaozhou guild halls root in Chaoshan people’s idea of solidarity, but the power of intensifying Chanshan people’s cultural identity lies heavily on the constructions’ social functions, in that the daily life, decision, and action of Chaoshan merchants are made to associate with the place closely. Numerous historical events took place in the guild halls engage into historical progression, and the guilds halls evolved into the chamber of commerce after establishment of the People’s Republic of China, which indicates the significance of looking at the historical architectures from the perspective of cultural studies.

Technological Perspective of Cyber Secure Smart Inverters Used in Power Distribution System: State of the Art Review

The purpose of smart grid architecture as compared to the conventional grid is to ensure more stability, reliability and bi-directional communication between the utility and the consumer. The deployment of the same has succeeded in improving the efficiency of the distribution systems and effective co-ordination and interoperability among the different components of the grid. Smart inverters play a major role in seamless grid integration, control and conversion of power when the renewable energy sources are present. However, they come with several security challenges as well, which are of considerable concern. Certain cyber threats include physical and cyber attacks, natural phenomena which in turn can lead to grid failure, blackouts, commercial energy losses, privacy and safety issues, etc. Therefore, there is a need for critical examination of all these issues which must be considered for designing cyber secure smart inverters at the distribution level. In this comprehensive review, keeping the technological perspective in mind, the existing gaps and the necessity for the same are highlighted. The various topologies, IEEE protocols and the control strategy are presented in detail. This will enable prospective researchers to address the design issues of smart inverters with greater focus on security and reliability aspects.

Mimicking the mimics: problematizing cover performance of Filipino local music on social media

The performance of cover songs in popular music has long been a subject of critical discussion and debate due to the artistic, social, cultural, and commercial issues that covers raise. In non-Western societies, most popular songs covered by artists are Anglo-American, a situation which implicitly privileges Western music and reinforces both the “west and the rest” trope and the cultural imperialism thesis. Taking American amateur artists and their online videos performing Filipino popular music as case studies, this article examines how social media platforms facilitate and problematize center-periphery relations in popular music through a diffusion of cultural products “from the rest to the west.” Moreover, we show that more than the promise of audience reach, the phenomenon reflects how these cover artists embody cultural and social situatedness in Filipino culture. As they mimic the mimics, they also embody an identity in motion.

Risks in export deliveries of SMEs

The article is devoted to the analysis of the main risks associated with export deliveries by small and medium–sized industrial enterprises. Of all the many risks that arise in foreign trade deliveries of SMEs, the author identifies two large groups: a priori risks, which are a theoretical plan for working out certain commercial issues of the company’s entry into the foreign market, and a posteriori risks, which become known to the business entity only after entering a foreign market, organizing a specific supply chain, conducting an advertising campaign, etc. The described risk groups — apriori, aposteriori, most specific level — the level of commercial risks of an enterprise engaged in foreign trade deliveries.

The IFRS 17 contractual service margin: a life insurance perspective

Abstract IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts is a new accounting standard currently expected to come into force on 1 January 2023. It supersedes IFRS 4 Insurance Contracts. IFRS 17 establishes key principles that entities must apply in all aspects of the accounting of insurance contracts. In doing so, the Standard aims to increase the usefulness, comparability, transparency and quality of financial statements. A fundamental concept introduced by IFRS 17 is the contractual service margin (CSM). This represents the unearned profit that an entity expects to earn as it provides services. However, as a principles-based standard, IFRS 17 results in entities having to apply significant judgement when determining the inputs, assumptions and techniques it uses to determine the CSM at each reporting period. In general, the Standard resolves broad categories of mismatches which arise under IFRS 4. Notable examples include mismatches between assets recorded at current market value and liabilities calculated using fixed discount rates as well as inconsistencies in the timing of profit recognition over the duration of an insurance contract. However, there are requirements of IFRS 17 that may create economic or accounting mismatches of its own. For example, new mismatches could arise between the measurement of underlying contracts and the corresponding reinsurance held. Additionally, mismatches can still arise between the measurement of liabilities and the assets that support the liabilities. This paper explores the technical, operational and commercial issues that arise across these and other areas focusing on the CSM. As a standard that is still very much in its infancy, and for which wider consensus on topics is yet to be achieved, this paper aims to provide readers with a deeper understanding of the issues and opportunities that accompany it.

ОСОБЕННОСТИ РАЗВИТИЯ КРЕДИТОВАНИЯ ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ В СОВРЕМЕННЫХ УСЛОВИЯХ

The article, along with the classical understanding of the essence of lending to individuals, which does not accurately reflect reality, presents the features of the appointment of an educational loan. According to the authors, lending to an individual for training is aimed at meeting a person's needs for his intellectual de-velopment and at the same time forms human capital. The relevance of this topic is increasing in terms of the formation of high-level human capital for high-tech sectors of the economy. A special role in this regard is assigned to financial and credit organizations, which ideally will allow them to enter the high-tech sectors of the economy and, along with commercial issues, solve the problem of increasing the country's human capital.

Research on the factors of consumer satisfaction with the development of digital communications: expectations and reality

The authors of this article proceed from the fact that, as a result of the intensive development of digital technologies, a digital society has formed an understanding of life, in which many habitual social practices have been transformed into digital ones. In particular, digital technologies have contributed to the fact that communication on personal, social and commercial issues has moved to a different, virtual level. However, in a number of areas, digital communication causes problems and communication disruptions. For example, previous studies have highlighted high levels of consumer dissatisfaction with companies using digital communication tools. Especially a lot of criticism is caused by answerphones, recently widely popular and used increasingly by public and commercial institutions. The article examines the new ways companies use to deliver their message to an existing or potential customer, as well as the quality and customer ratings of some of these solutions. In addition, the authors tried to identify factors that influence consumer satisfaction when communicating with companies in the digital environment. The main research methods are analysis of previous projects results, interviews and online survey. The article is based on the results of the research conducted in the city of Nizhny Novgorod. The city residents expectations for the automated communication system used in the modern world between the user and the service provider in case when communication is initiated by the consumer to solve his problems were studied on the example of telecommunications companies. These expectations were divided into six groups, and a comparative quantitative assessment of consumer expectations and the actual quality of communication was made. A low level of satisfaction with new ways of communication between companies and consumers was detected, and factors influencing consumer attitudes were identified. In general, the study showed that the formed factors determine the priority directions of transformation of the communication practices of companies and are the basis for the balance of technologies and human resources at the enterprise.

Регуляторная автономия Великобритании: проблемы и перспективы

Sovereignty does not imply regulatory autonomy. After Brexit, the UK should align its regulatory policy with European norms, if it is interested in close partnership with the EU. Compromises must be made by both sides in order to ensure stability of the partnership. The EU will have to acknowledge the UK’s right to diverge from European rules. Britain will have to partly accept the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. The structure of dispute settlement mechanism which will be created under the partnership agreement should be a product of a compromise. The present study shows that optimal structure of dispute settlement mechanism must include two different procedures: one for political issues and the other for commercial issues. The central role for the European Court of Justice must be envisaged as a part of politically oriented procedure. There must be no role for the European Court of Justice or any Union to set the pace of political communication. The latter reflects the interest of Great Britain to simplify economic relations, which means that, firstly, disputes are resolved by independent arbiters; secondly, the EU acknowledges the UK’s right to diverge from European regulations; and thirdly, the UK accepts the EU’s right to impose countervailing duties to compensate for adverse effects of divergence on competition. This article also examines the main problems of future British regulatory policy, especially in the field of state aid. Boris Johnson’s government has decided not to form a full-fledged regulatory regime in the area of state aid. Its stance is politically appropriate since Conservative party manifesto for the 2019 general election promised to support local industries without limitations. But that decision created a great deal of economic risk. Firstly, the absence of a domestic subsidy control regulator can cause chaos within regulation system because workable norms and rules can only be sustained by a tight enforcement mechanism. Secondly, the EU can cite lack of subsidy control as an obstacle for British business to have unrestricted access to the European market.

Grab–Uber merger in Southeast Asia: the Singapore approach

The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) issued an infringement decision in October 2018 after finding that the sale of Uber’s Southeast Asian business to Grab for a 27.5 per cent stake in Grab was in breach of the Competition Act (the ‘Act’).1 The CCCS found that the transaction resulted in a substantial lessening of competition in the provision of ride-hailing platform services in Singapore in breach of section 54 of the Act. A financial penalty of $6,582,055 was imposed on Uber, and a financial penalty of $6,419,647 was imposed on Grab. Other Directions were made. This was the first time that the CCCS had investigated and penalized an unnotified merger (although notification is not compulsory). This followed the imposition of earlier Interim Measures Directions (IMDs) aimed at lessening the impact of the transaction on drivers and riders, while the investigation continued following the failure of the parties to notify the CCCS prior to completion. The published decision contains a detailed analysis of the merger and its surrounding circumstances under the Act. It is heavily redacted in parts to maintain commercial confidentiality, so some of the commercial issues are more difficult to assess. Nevertheless, the CCCS took a particularly strong position in rejecting the arguments of the parties and ultimately imposed the financial penalties and extensive Directions to redress the anticompetitive outcomes arising from the merger which had been completed. The transaction allowed Uber to exit the jurisdiction and the region but left it with a significant shareholding in Grab and a board position in that company. This has been a pattern of behaviour for Uber in earlier transactions, which raises some issues about the true nature and impact of the transactions on competition in the region.

Management of Reserves in Mature Oil and Gas Fields

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 196252, “Management of Reserves in Mature Oil and Gas Fields,” by Douglas Peacock, SPE, and Andrew Duncan, SPE, Gaffney, Cline, and Associates, prepared for the 2019 SPE/IATMI Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, Bali, Indonesia, 29-31 October. The paper has not been peer reviewed. As production of fields declines, revenues will eventually no longer cover costs. As defined by the Petroleum Resources Management System (PRMS), the Reserves class of resources is limited by the earliest truncation of either technical, license, or economic limit. If no technical or license restrictions exist, the economic limit, defined as the time when the maximum cumulative net cash flow occurs for a project, defines the date up to which Reserves may be booked. The complete paper outlines some of the challenges involved in late-life field management and how Reserves assessment may be affected. Extending Field Life Oil and gas fields can have lives much longer than initially envisioned. Fields may be relinquished or proposed for abandonment when the operator’s perspective does not allow the full potential of the field to be exploited. Organizational barriers, regulatory or commercial issues, capital- or manpower-allocation constraints, technology limitations, cost structures, and other factors may exist that, if resolved, can extend the productive life of a field or production area. Several classes of activity can be considered to extend field life while maintaining safe and profitable operations. These include the following: Cost management Incremental or alternative production Operational improvements Fiscal and commercial improvements Cost Management. A detailed understanding of operating costs, and where and why they are incurred in a production system, allows uneconomic elements of the production system to be abandoned, improving the economics of the remaining system. This can take place at the well level (high-water-cut wells) or the satellite-production-system level by consolidating production streams into a single processing facility. The overall objective is to reduce costs by ceasing uneconomic activities. This approach also may require decommissioning activities to be carried out to remove redundant infrastructure (e.g., wellhead platforms) where the continued existence of these facilities would incur costs to maintain a minimum level of structural integrity and safety. The unit costs of essential activities or services can be reduced by contract renegotiation; furthermore, alternative and lower-cost approaches to deliver the same production service may exist.

On the Valuation of Natural Resources: Real Options Analysis of Marginal Oilfield-Development Projects Under Multiple Uncertainties

Summary This paper shows the applicability and the value of real options analysis (ROA) in valuing a marginal undeveloped discovery in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) under multiple project uncertainties, namely geology, costs, and oil prices. Marginal fields can prove uneconomic when developed under prevailing circumstances such as technical (reservoir size, infrastructure distance and remoteness, crude-oil type) or commercial issues (oil prices, high cost of development, lack of third-party-access arrangements), among others. As such, using traditional discounted-cash-flow (DCF) methodologies such as the net present value (NPV) might not adequately value the embedded options that these uncertainties create, leading to a rejection of the investment decision. Hence, we assess if the valuation differs if valued by the traditional DCF approach compared with ROA. We develop a valuation model for the traditional DCF and real options and specifically model the flexibility in the options to delay, abandon, or expand the field anytime during the relinquishment requirement period considering these multiple uncertainties. The binomial lattice and later the Black and Scholes models are used to model the options because of the flexibility they provide in incorporating early exercise. The results indicate that the DCF values lag those of the option values for the deferral and expansion options. In contrast, the abandonment option exhibited only a marginal change with respect to the DCF value. A significant implication of this finding is that management decision making will be better off considering these embedded options in their field-development and capital-investment choices.

Spheres of Influence: A Walzerian Approach to Business Ethics

Michael Walzer is one of the most distinguished political philosophers and social critics of this century. His ideas have had great import and influence in political philosophy and political discussion, yet very few of his ideas have been incorporated explicitly into the business ethics literature. We argue that Walzer’s work provides an important conceptual canvas for business ethics scholars that has not been adequately explored. Scholars in business ethics often borrow from political theory and philosophy to generate new insights and develop new substantive contributions. Many valuable theoretical resources are already used extensively—particularly Aristotle, Kant, Marx and a variety of utilitarian philosophers. Walzer offers another set of resources to bring to the conversation of what business ethics is and how business ethicists add value. This paper provides an opportunity to delve further into Walzer’s writings, particularly themes that are tied to business ethics, and to illustrate how his ideas can be extended to reshape our understanding of the field and develop new perspectives on ethical issues in commerce.

Advanced Applications on Bilingual Document Analysis and Processing Systems

Today, rapid digitization requires efficient bilingual non-image and image document classification systems. Although many bilingual NLP and image-based systems provide solutions for real-world problems, they primarily focus on text extraction, identification, and recognition tasks with limited document types. This article discusses a journey of these systems and provides an overview of their methods, feature extraction techniques, document sets, classifiers, and accuracy for English-Hindi and other language pairs. The gaps found lead toward the idea of a generic and integrated bilingual English-Hindi document classification system, which classifies heterogeneous documents using a dual class feeder and two character corpora. Its non-image and image modules include pre- and post-processing stages and pre-and post-segmentation stages to classify documents into predefined classes. This article discusses many real-life applications on societal and commercial issues. The analytical results show important findings of existing and proposed systems.

Mercosul social e participativo: uma revisão das normativas e instâncias criadas

No início dos anos 2000, as consequências econômicas do neoliberalismo, associadas a uma “virada à esquerda” nos governos sul-americanos, proporcionou que questões sociais e políticas ganhassem protagonismo na agenda política regional do Mercosul em detrimento dos assuntos meramente comerciais, tema que pautou o despertar do bloco regional. Para incorporar as novas questões, como os direitos sociais, direitos humanos e a participação social, inúmeras normativas e instâncias foram criadas. O objetivo deste artigo é realizar uma revisão sobre as principais normativas e instâncias criadas, com enfoque especial para a questão participativa. Para atingir a este objetivo, recorremos à revisão bibliográfica da literatura especializada e à análise documental. A partir da análise, podemos identificar que o Mercosul trilhou relativamente um curto caminho na implementação de mecanismos participativos para atores não-estatais, já que inúmeros órgãos e instâncias contam com mecanismos participativos institucionalizados, não obstante, as críticas e as necessidades de aperfeiçoamento.

Probabilidad de adopción de inocuidad en la producción de frutas y hortalizas orgánicas de México

La producción de frutas y hortalizas orgánicas en México se ha posicionado exitosamente en el mercado internacional. La mayoría de sus practicantes son pequeños productores que están organizados y orientados a la producción para la exportación. Cada vez es más complejo mantenerse en este tipo de mercados, ya que es indispensable garantizar la calidad e inocuidad alimentaria de las frutas y hortalizas orgánicas que se ofertan. Los productos orgánicos han causado brotes epidemiológicos de enfermedades, que pone en riesgo la salud de los consumidores y la aceptación de estos productos en el mercado. Por esto deben identificarse las características y circunstancias que llevan a la adopción de estándares de inocuidad alimentaria. Partiendo de que los pequeños productores de frutas y hortalizas orgánicas de México no cuentan con la implementación de estándares de inocuidad alimentaria se desarrolla el presente estudio. Con análisis Probit se determina la probabilidad de la adopción de estos estándares por parte de pequeños productores. El estudio se desarrolló en ocho estados, entre ellos Puebla, Jalisco y Veracruz, se visitaron 22 municipios, entrevistaron a 56 productores de frutas y hortalizas orgánicas certificados que determinaron las variables institucionales y de producción que representan la posibilidad de adoptar inocuidad. El modelo indica que la probabilidad de adopción del estándar no solo depende de cumplir con las acciones que establece el mismo, si no de cuestiones comerciales y de compromiso con la instituciones y contratos comerciales que realicen los productores.

Developing a Society Journal Utilizing the Triad Framework

Developing a Society Journal Utilizing the Triad Framework

Flying Car Transportation System: Advances, Techniques, and Challenges

Since the development of transport systems, humans have exploited ground-level, below-ground, and high-altitude spaces for transportation purposes. However, with the increasing burden of expanding populations and rapid urbanization in recent decades, public transportation systems and freight traffic are suffering huge pressure, plaguing local governments and straining economies. Engineers and researchers have started to re-examine, propose, and develop the underused near-ground spaces (NGS) for transportation purposes. For instance, flying cars, which are not a totally novel idea, aim at solving the traffic congestion problem and releasing the strains on existing city transport networks by utilizing unoccupied NGS. Flying cars differ from traditional grounded transportation systems that are entirely limited by their physical space, such as trains on tracks or automobiles on roads. Flying cars do not occupy or compete for high-altitude spaces used by air traffic for long-distance transfer. As there is limited specific literature on flying cars and flying car transportation systems (FCTS), this paper aims to describe the modern advances, techniques, and challenges of FCTS. We explore the inherent nature of NGS transportation and devise useful proposals to facilitate the construction and commercialization of FCTS. We begin with an introduction to the increasing need for NGS transportation and we address the advantages of using flying cars. Next, we present a brief overview of the history of the development of flying cars in terms of the historic timeline and technique development. Then, we discuss and compare the state of the art in the design of flying cars, including the take-off & landing (TOL) modes, pilot modes, operation modes, and power types, which are related to the adaptability, flexibility & comfort, stability & complexity, and environmental friendliness of flying cars, respectively. Additionally, since large-scale operations of flying cars can improve current transportation problems, we also introduce different facets of the various designs of FCTS, including path and trajectory planning, supporting facilities, and commercial designs. Finally, we discuss the challenges that might arise while developing and commercializing FCTS in terms of safety issues, commercial issues, and ethical issues.

Commercial Issues in Private International law

Interest in Australian private international law has rekindled over the past decade. Australian courts are contending with more transnational litigation than ever before, facilitated by the ease with which people, business and information now cross borders.

EU regulation in the area of acceptance and execution of court decisions in civil and business cases rendered in the EU member-states in the Republic of Bulgaria

The subject of this research is the international legal acts in the area of acceptance and execution of decisions rendered by foreign courts, current procedural legislation of the Republic of Bulgaria, as well as research publications on this topic. The object of this research is the legal foundation and procedural actions in acceptance and execution of foreign court decisions on civil and commercial issues in the Republic of Bulgaria. The author carefully examines the rules directly related to execution and refusal to execute a court decision rendered in a member-state on the territory of Bulgaria. Special attention is given to the multiple issues pertaining to implementation of EU regulations recently passed in the area of EU civil process. Analysis of the positions dedicated to direct execution and refusal to execute a court decision is conducted in the context of the position of Brussels I Bis Regulation. The author makes following conclusions and recommendations: Bulgarian legislator needs to eliminate the difference between obligation to execute a foreign court decision and domestic court decision; it is necessary to amend the Civil Procedure Code of Bulgaria, as well as clarify the process of refusal to execute in accordance with the Article 47 of the Brussels I Bis Regulation. The author’s contribution into the research of this topic consists in the recommendation on improvements to the legal regulation and passing equal conditions for execution of foreign and national court decisions within the framework of the EU.

A INFLUÊNCIA DOS DIREITOS DE TRANSMISSÃO NO JORNALISMO ESPORTIVO: UM ESTUDO COM JORNALISTAS SOBRE A COBERTURA DOS JOGOS PARALÍMPICOS RIO/2016

O objetivo da investigação foi caracterizar influências da detenção dos direitos de imagem e transmissão no processo de produção de notícias sobre os Jogos Paralímpicos Rio/2016. Esta pesquisa foi de cunho qualitativo, descritivo, exploratório e se inspirou em algumas características dos estudos de newsmaking. Entrevistamos 15 jornalistas e editores de diferentes grupos de mídia e jornais do país que cobriram o megaevento esportivo. As definições e delimitações do fazer jornalístico pautadas pelas questões comerciais, como por exemplo os limites de tempo e espaço para entrevistar os atletas e a dificuldade de, por vezes, eles acessarem ídolos esportivos regionais para a cobertura noticiosa direcionada a localidades específicas, indicam que, quando não se possui os direitos de transmissão, se restringe a amplitude e a complexidade das informações a serem recolhidas pelos jornalistas para a produção das notícias.