Key Economic Indicators Research Articles

Production Systems Continuous Improvement Modelling

<div><strong>Purpose:</strong> This paper focuses on the authors’ contribution to modelling algorithms for key business processes, economic indicators and original mathematical model for improvement assessment.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Methodology/Approach:</strong> Researching and writing the article one uses interdisciplinary knowledge (technological production processes were considered in unity with economic principles of their construction and management), a combination of technical and technological approach, formal logic and mathematical economic modelling. For justifying the scope of model parameters, it is used field research (enterprises survey) and method of expert evaluation.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Findings:</strong> The research has showed the integration of theory of constraints, and lean manufacturing is possible and expedient. The observations of the model’s integral values and their dynamic patterns allow for important insights about positive or negative trends in production system development taken as a whole. The model enables to reveal the trends for particular items and draw the top teams’ attention to problem areas. They will be subject to further decomposing and improvement.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Research Limitation/implication:</strong> The model can be treated as cross-functional. But as every enterprise has its unique production environment, it can be exposed to further adjustment to individual enterprise specific conditions.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Originality/Value of paper:</strong> The indicators and mathematical model for improvement assessment proposed by authors develop and complement the existing system of knowledge about production management and can be used as a practical tool for control of the continuous improvement process in company.</div>

Book Review: Business Essentials for Strategic Communicators: Creating Shared Value for the Organization and Its Stakeholders, by Matthew W. Ragas and Ron Culp

Matthew W. Ragas and Ron Culp Business Essentials for Strategic Communicators: Creating Shared Value for the Organization and Its Stakeholders. Palgrave McMillan: New York, 2014. 211 pp.Competition for entry-level jobs in strategic communication will remain competitive, as more than 51,0 00 undergraduates are enrolled in public relations, advertising, and strategic communication programs in the United States. Business Essentials for Strategic Communicators provides a broad overview of the knowledge communications majors need to navigate the future of corporate communication.The first chapter describes the transformation of the public relations practitioner's role from that of technician responsible simply for shaping the company message to that of strategic advisor responsible for developing the message and influencing organizational decisions. Much of the chapter presents results of the authors' studies-including one sponsored by the Arthur W. Page Society. For example, 8 out of 10 corporate executives reported undergraduates lack essential knowledge despite the Commission on Public Relations Education's (CPRE) recommendation of undergraduate and graduate courses in accounting, economics, management, marketing, and finance.The ability to understand income statements, balance sheets, cash flow, and shareholder equity is requisite for success. Citing a study of salaries, the authors report MBAs earning higher salaries than professionals with master's degrees from strategic communication programs. The authors emphasize for the future strategic communicator, communications acumen is secondary to acumen. Chapter 1 concludes that business 101 is essential not only for corporate careers but also for nonprofit and government careers.Chapter 2 provides an overview of economics, the Federal Reserve, and key economic indicators. Ragas and Culp, professors at DePaul University in Chicago, explain that strategic communicators require a working knowledge of the consumer price index, currency exchange rates, U.S. treasury bond rates, Gallup's economic confidence index, and the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index, as well as spending and forecasting trends in advertising and marketing like ZenithOptimedia and Nielsen.The importance of Wall Street and the financial and stock markets is covered in Chapter 3. The authors give the reader an overview of stock valuations and the impact of the securities and bond markets on the corporate bottom line. The chapter sketches the differences among the primary U.S. stock exchanges and explains initial public offerings and the role of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in financial communication with stakeholders. Chapter 3 concludes with a brief overview of exchanges in other countries and identification of the players in the financial markets including investment banks, federal and state regulators, institutional and individual investors, information intermediaries, and proxy advisers to name a few.Accounting and its role in corporate record keeping and reporting are the focus of the book's fourth chapter. Income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements are defined, and sample income statements and balance sheets are presented in the chapter's tables. Chapter 4 concludes with an explanation of financial valuation metrics such as market capitalization and price-to-earnings ratios. Each chapter concludes with key terms and discussion questions. A 22-page glossary appears at the end of the book.Strategic communicators need to understand corporate law and disclosure as well as the relationship between the company and the SEC. Chapter 5 presents a brief historical overview of SEC regulations for public companies and defines material information and insider trading. The overview also includes corporate disclosure theories and research and corporate disclosure channels including earnings conference calls and investment conferences. …

A techno-economic analysis of post-combustion CO2 capture and compression applied to a combined cycle gas turbine: Part I. A parametric study of the key technical performance indicators

In order to mitigate significant capital expenditure and parasitic energy demands associated with post combustion capture plant, many studies focused on improving its performance and efficiency through improvement in the design, integration of utilities and selection of key operating parameters (KOPs) using various key performance indicators (KPIs). In this study, an equilibrium monoethanolamine-based CO2 capture plant and compression train model was developed, validated and then used to assess the effects of KOPs on the performance of the CO2 capture and compression process applied to a 400MWe combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant in hot countries using selected non-monetized key economic and environmental performance indicators. These were selected so as to allow performance comparisons without resorting to economic assumptions (e.g., discount rates, costs of energy), which make such comparisons difficult. The results illustrate higher compression power and dramatic increase of cooling water requirements in coolers and washing water systems in hot countries. This work elucidates the complex compromise between minimizing capital and operating expenditure indicators, and environmental impacts. It highlights the importance of considering the whole process, as opposed to simply focusing on the energy penalty associated with solvent regeneration.

Is There Any Link between Democracy and Economic Development in Nigeria?

With estimated population of over 150 million and been the world sixth largest producer of oil with greater economic potentials in all sectors, the larger population of the Nigeria is still poor as a result of bad governance and corruption among other economic challenges. The current democratic dispensation that started in 1999 suggested there would be instant outright economic development. But, Nigeria is still lagging behind among the committee of democratic nations, in terms of development. Therefore, the nature of relationship between democracy and economic development in Nigeria like any other developing countries became an important issue in this debate. Hence, this study investigated the causal relationship between democracy and economic development from 1999 till date, using some key economic indicators including Revenue Generation, Unemployment Rate, Poverty Rate, Effective Healthcare, Gross Domestic Products (GDP) and Foreign Exchange Rate. The study argued that, though Nigeria has experienced sixteen years of uninterrupted democratic rule, available evidence revealed that, there is no clear direct link between democracy and economic development in Nigerian, as a result of this, the last sixteen years of democratic dispensation in the country might not have significantly improve development. Therefore, though the study recommends strict compliance to the principles of democracy, good governance can make meaningful addition in the long run. But, to promote good governance, sound anti-corruption policies must be put in place, while the legislative, judiciary and executive arms of government must be functional and alive to their responsibilities.

Productivity change in commercial fisheries: An introduction to the special issue

Productivity is a key economic indicator that measures the relationship between inputs used to produce a product, and the amount of product produced. Productivity change measures how productivity has changed through time. In traditional land based industries, these two economic metrics have been extensively measured and studied. Until recently, this has not been true for commercial fishing fleets. This article provides an overview of productivity as an economic performance metric, and highlights specific studies of productivity change in commercial fisheries during the past 50 years. It concludes with an introduction to the articles contained in this special edition.

Greening the competitive advantage: antecedents and consequences of green brand equity

The concept of green brand equity has recently been introduced to business research. Chen (J Bus Ethics 93:307–319, 2010) found green brand equity to be positively influenced by green brand image via green satisfaction and green trust as parallel mediators in an Asian electronic product customer sample. Our research aims at replicating and extending these findings. Based on a German sample (N = 358), we replicate this mediation model in a different cultural context (a Western culture), extend it to service brands, and show that the model is valid for female as well as male consumers. Furthermore, we extend the original model by providing first empirical evidence for the relevance of green brand equity as a predictor of key economic indicators of consumer response (i.e., brand attitude, positive word-of-mouth communication). Finally, we discuss the implications of green brand equity for management as one determinant of a company’s success in a highly competitive business world.

Knowledge capital, innovation, and growth in China

We study the relationship between industry-level investments in intangible knowledge capital (KC) and three key economic indicators in China. We find evidence consistent with the hypothesis that investments in KC are productivity-enhancing among domestically owned and foreign invested enterprises (FIEs). Consistent with other research, we find that China's KC generates new patents, but fewer than in major industrialized economies. Finally, we find that China's comparative advantage has shifted toward those sectors where domestic firms have made larger investments in KC, but this trend appears to be independent of the KC accumulated by FIEs.

Is China’s investment in Africa good for the Nigerian economy?

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of China’s trade agreement and foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to Nigeria with special reference to the manufacturing sector utilizing the following key economic performance indicators: inflation, unemployment, income and gross domestic product, to name a few. Since the turn of the millennium, China has enjoyed a substantial presence in the African continent. In fact, the country has signed bilateral agreements with Angola, South Africa and Sudan to name a few. Recently, China established its West African trade hub in Lagos, the economic capital of Nigeria, to be strategically positioned. The results of the study revealed conclusively that although China’s investments over the years have benefited the Nigerian economy and its various firms in the manufacturing sector, the agreement signed by both countries ultimately needs to be reexamined to ensure equity. Design/methodology/approach – To thoroughly analyze the effects of China’s investments in Nigeria, this study was carried out in two phases. The first analysis of this study is anchored on a “before/after” framework based on descriptive statistical analysis of the selected economic performance indicators chosen from selected cross-national data. Accordingly, the time frame for this study runs from 1993-2012 which roughly corresponds to the era when China commenced significant investments in Nigeria. Second, employees, policymakers and individuals in the manufacturing/textile industries were interviewed. Furthermore, participation from federal as well as local government agency staff members was solicited using the Delphi technique. Findings – Empirically, the results conclusively reveal China’s dominance in the manufacturing and textile sectors in Nigeria. In other words, at face value, China’s investments are ultimately good for the Nigerian economy. However, at a micro-level analysis, the researcher examined the human factor, that is, the families of former and current employees, abandoned businesses/factories and a decaying textile industry that was once vibrant. Originality/value – To the knowledge of the researcher, this is the first study attempting to assess the impact of the rise of China on the Nigerian economy by combining key economic performance indicator in tandem with face-to-face interviews and the Delphi technique.

Economic poverty and inequality at regional level in Malta: focus on the situation of children

1This paper performs an economic poverty and inequality mapping of three children age categories in Malta; it consists in the first attempt based on income from the EU-SILC survey and Census data. From a policy-making point of view, the availability of such key economic indicators at locality level certainly provides a valuable tool in assessing the effectiveness of national strategies and in identifying areas that need to be targeted by new policies; in fact sample surveys alone cannot provide reliable information at such a fine level of detail, while national censuses are not designed to and cannot be extended to cover specific topics such as economic poverty and inequality. Thus, the merging of the two sources provides policy-makers with a new insight into the differences between localities. There are also benefits of a technical nature, particularly in terms of sampling strategies, that can be derived from this study. Through such an exercise it is possible to identify economic homogeneity and/or heterogeneity among households with children in different localities: this is useful when defining strata for sampling design for surveys aiming at studying other economic phenomena relating to children.

(Comovement of Key Economic Indicators Among South Asian Countries)

본고는 최근 넥스트 차이나로 각광받고 있는 인도와, 향후 세계경제를 견인할 신흥국 11개 국가(Next Eleven)로 선정된 파키스탄과 방글라데시가 포함된 남아시아 지역의 국가간 주요경제지표에 대한 장단기 연관성에 관한 연구이다. 실증분석 결과에 따르면 이 지역의 장기 동조화 정도는 매우 낮으며, 단기적으로도 이 지역 국가간 경제 연관성이 작다는 것을 알 수 있다. 이 결과는 장기적 추세뿐만 아니라 단기적 경기변동에 따른 각 국가의 반응이 상이하며, 이러한 국가간 이질적 움직임이 남아시아 지역 경제통합을 저해하는 주요인임을 보여준다. 따라서 최근 인도의 부상이 남아시아 전역의 성장으로 이어지는 스필오버 효과(Spillover effect)는 기대하기 힘들 것이며, 우리 정부와 기업도 이에 대한 정책대응과 전략을 수립할 필요가 있다. 남아시아 지역 국가간 경제 동조화를 저해하는 요인은 다양하다. 이 지역은 영토분쟁을 비롯해 천연자원 갈등, 난민 문제 등의 국가간 문제가 지속적으로 발생하고 있다. 특히 인도와 파키스탄 간의 고질적인 갈등구조가 가장 큰 문제이다. 역내교역 비중이 낮은 것도 남아시아 지역의 경제통합에 걸림돌인데, 이 지역 국가들의 보호무역 주의와 높은 비관세무역장벽이 주원인이다. 역내투자 또한 매우 저조한데, 이는 남아시아 지역 절반이 최빈개도국으로 투자역량 자체가 부족하기 때문이며, 이 또한 경기변동 공행성을 약하게 하는 요인이다. 제도적 문제도 남아시아 역내투자를 저해하는 요인이다. 실례로 파키스탄은 인도로부터의 공식적인 직접투자를 불법으로 규정하고 있다. 이러한 저해요인들이 해결되지 않으면 인도의 부상에 따른 긍정적인 파급효과는 제한적일 것이며, 남아시아 지역의 경제통합은 계속해서 지체될 것이다. 따라서 우리 기업과 정부는 남아시아 각국에 대한 차별적인 진출전략과 경제협력 정책을 수립해야 할 것이다. This paper investigates the short-term and long run co-movement of key economic indicators in the South Asian countries: real GDP, exports, imports, openness, exchange rate. This paper performs Johansen’s co-integration test to detect long-term stochastic time trend and Vahid and Engle’s common feature test to examine the existence of short-run common cycles. The results show that the co-movement of the South Asian countries is very weak not only in the long run but also in the short run. Regional conflicts and low degree of intra-trade and intra-investment have led to weak co-movement in this region. Especially tensions between India and Pakistan make barriers in most areas, including trade and investment. The weak co-movement means that the economic integration of South Asia continues to be delayed and the spillover effect of the rise of the Indian economy will be limited. Therefore, it is suggested that both firms and the government have to make differentiated and specialized strategies and policies for each South Asian country.

Evaluation of Productivity Responses from the Leather Value Chain Strata in Kenya

Productivity is fundamental in addressing key economic indicators such employment, wealth creation, trade, competiveness and rural development in Africa. The inattentive attitude towards the importance of productivity in most African countries has culminated to problems that entail lack of sustainable productivity framework in their commodity development. In retrospect, as a panacea the value addition initiatives being set up in the continent should as a prerequisite take cognizance of productivity to its livestock agro-based production chain. This background, therefore, prompted the significance of this study to focus in identifying and examining the survey responses from the leather strata in Kenya related to productivity. In addition, the study evaluated the significance of the interrelationship between various stratums that interphase in the value creation process of the leather sector influence activities related to productivity. During the prognosis, a quantitative approach (n=244), descriptive analysis including an aggregate score to ascertain the top activities impacting on productivity in Kenya was carried out. The results indicated that whilst producers were mainly concerned with transport related costs, skilled man power attributed a major constraint amongst the slaughterhouse, traders, tanners and footwear. However, tanners involved with the processing of the hides and skins, identified enhancement of Total factor of productivity (TFP) as fundamental to their productivity. This was a significant result as it illustrated appropriate focus on management of costs and enhancing productivity to spar generation of tangible value-addition initiatives and transform the leather strata to be competitive. Thusly, the overall results indicated that productivity related activities were significant (p<0.05) to the value chain stratum. Therefore, this observation strengthened the aspect of considering productivity as fundamental in the leather sector’s quest for achieving higher performance in the leather strata value addition initiatives in Kenya.

Economic and geographical position of municipal unions as factor in the development of foreign economic activities: A case study of Primorskii krai

The article discusses the influence of the economic and geographical position of municipalities of the Primorskii krai on their foreign-economic activity. The author carried out a typology of municipalities based on their position relative to the land and maritime state borders, as well as key external economic indicators, including foreign trade turnover, turnover of services, foreign investment, and number of enterprises with foreign capital. The paper provides a detailed description of the types of municipalities in terms of the development of foreign economic relations taking into account the use of the potential of their geographic location. The typology shows that the economic and geographical position has the biggest influence on the development of foreign economic activity of the largest coastal municipalities, as well as a significant influence on the border municipalities.

How Do Economic Recessions Affect the U.S. Restaurant Industry?

The objective of this study is to examine how the U.S. economic recessions have affected the restaurant industry using the key economic indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP), unemployment rate, and interest rates. The analysis has been conducted separately for the full-service restaurant and limited-service restaurant sectors. Despite growing concerns about the consequences of economic recessions in the restaurant industry, little research has been conducted in this area. During an economic recession, limited-service restaurant sales might increase since consumers opt to use relatively inexpensive dining options such as fast-food while full-service restaurant sales are more likely to plunge due to high menu prices. The results of this study will provide useful guidance and assistance to restaurant operators as well as practitioners, in particular during periods of economic recession.

HDBTracker

Numerous web databases, e.g., amazon.com, eBay.com, are "hidden" behind (i.e., accessible only through) their restrictive search and browsing interfaces. This demonstration showcases HDBTracker, a web-based system that reveals and tracks (the changes of) user-specified aggregate queries over such hidden web databases, especially those that are frequently updated, by issuing a small number of search queries through the public web interfaces of these databases. The ability to track and monitor aggregates has applications over a wide variety of domains - e.g., government agencies can track COUNT of openings at online job hunting websites to understand key economic indicators, while businesses can track the AVG price of a product over a basket of e-commerce websites to understand the competitive landscape and/or material costs. A key technique used in HDBTracker is RS-ESTIMATOR, the first algorithm that can efficiently monitor changes to aggregate query answers over a hidden web database.

Economic implications of pre- and post-combustion calcium looping configurations applied to gasification power plants

Abstract Gasification is a promising conversion technology to deliver high energy efficiency simultaneously with low energy and cost penalties for carbon capture. This paper is devoted to in-depth economic evaluations of pre- and post-combustion Calcium Looping (CaL) configurations for Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plants. The poly-generation capability, e.g. hydrogen and power co-generation, is also discussed. The post-combustion CaL option is a gasification power plant in which the flue gases from the gas turbine are treated for CO2 capture in a carbonation–calcination cycle. In pre-combustion CaL option, the Sorbent Enhanced Water Gas Shift (SEWGS) feature is used to produce hydrogen which is used for power generation. As benchmark case, a conventional gasification power plant without carbon capture was considered. Net power output of evaluated cases is in the range of 550–600 MW with more than 95% carbon capture rate. The pre-combustion capture configuration was evaluated also in hydrogen and power co-generation scenario. The evaluations are concentrated for estimation of capital costs, specific investment cost, operational & maintenance (O&M) costs, CO2 removal and avoidance costs, electricity costs, sensitivity analysis of technical and economic assumptions on key economic indicators etc.

DME 상용화 플랜트 예비 타당성 조사

Dimethyl ether (DME) is a new clean fuel as an environmentally-being energy resources. DME has similar characteristics to those of LPG and can be substituted Diesel fuel. KOGAS has investigated and developed new innovative DME synthesis process from synthesis gas with KOGAS's own technologies. KOGAS had finished the construction of 10ton/day DME demonstration plant in 2008, we have established the basic design of commercial plant which can produce 3,000ton/day DME. Specifically, an economic model for a commercial DME project will be presented. It accounts for all the major cost factors that are considered in a commercial scale project as the model input for performing cash flow analysis, after which key economic indicators are produced including the internal rate of return (IRR), net present value (NPV). Sensitivity analysis is performed to identify dominant cost factors to the project economics and quantify their impact. The inputs to the economic analysis will be based on representative cost factors from the commercial-scale design of KOGAS' direct DME process supplemented by literature data. Case study results will be presented based on recent commercialization projects.

Globalization and Perspective of Economic Relations Between Turkey and Albania

In the context of the globalization process, in this paper, are analyzed the Turkish-Albanian economic relations and their perspective. Since Albania and Turkey are two countries with open economies, with a century old common history, it is interesing to analise the economic relations between them. This becomes even more interesting in terms of the features of their economic development. In the past ten years, Turkey has experienced only high rates of economic growth, achieving seventh place in Europe in GDP indicator and the 15th in the world. Turkey has an economy that was not affected by the financial crisis and global recession. The material analyse two main branches of the Turkish economy: agriculture and industry. Furthermore it is presented the dynamics of some key economic indicators, the dynamics of unemployment, GDP and inflation. Moreover, it is exposed the order of the Turkish economy in relation to the European economy and the world economy, Turkey's relations with the world, etc. Recently, the Albanian economy has marked progress. In the paper are presented some of the main economic indicators of economic areas,focusing on such indicators as: GDP, inflation and unemployment. Also, we have analysed the existing bilateral relations between Turkey and Albania. The analysis is focused mainly on Turkish investments in Albania and export-import relations. Changes in economic structure and ownership, associated with corresponding changes in legislation have created the possibility of a new collaboration. Up to now the relationship between the two countries, despite the historical connection, have been unsatisfactory. This fact is confirmed and emphasized by leaders of the two countries. In the material is also considered the prospect of Turkish-Albanian economic relations. It is presented the vision of Turkish Government in 2013. Albanian economy What offers the Albanian economy to the Turkish economy? Which are the strengths and weekness? What are the problems faced by Turkish businessmen in Albania? DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2014.v4n2p422

Return to Gold-Based Monetary System: Analysis Based on Gold Price and Inflation

Researchers and economists clarify that the problem of inflation and the currency instability occurs today is due to the implementation of monetary system which is not based on valuable commodity or gold as the gold standard of the previous system. As a sequence to this, there has been a proposal to create a Bretton Woods II system by the World Bank President, Robert Zoelick, recently in 2010. The question is whether the return to gold currency is justifiable in order to ensure world economic stability. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the historical data of the inflation rate and world gold price in order to identify a more stable financial system. The study will provide evidence that the gold standard era is the most stable era thus justifies the return to gold currency. This study uses time series data for a key economic indicator i.e. inflation rate starting from year 1880 to 2008, divided into three phases of gold standard system; i.e. the full gold standard system (1880-1914) and the gold exchange standard system (1925-1931); the Bretton Woods system (1946-1972) and the fiat currency system (1973-2008), using regression model and CUSUM test. The results show that the rate of inflation and the value of world gold are much lower and more stable during the gold standard phases than the fiat money. This indicates that the move to return to gold currency is more apt in the bid to ensure global economic stability. However, more efforts are needed to resolve the implementation mechanism.

Acquisition of the Severnaya Neft company: Retrospective analysis of the transaction effectiveness

This paper presents a retrospective investigation into the effectiveness of the integration transaction involving the acquisition of oil and gas assets from OAO Severnaya Neft by OAO Rosneft. The main points of the transaction are highlighted, key economic indicators of the company’s activity before and after the transaction are presented, and the performance of its main financial ratios is analyzed. On the basis of data on the subsequent development of OOO RN-Severnaya Neft within the structure of OAO Rosneft, it is shown that this transaction was appropriate.

Public finance in Arab countries: selected indicators

This statistical file is mainly concerned with key economic indicators covering public revenues, expenditures and debts of Arab governments for the period 2007–11. Tables 1 and 2 provide statements...