American Journal of Trade and Policy
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Does ICT Development Flatten the Globe? Evidence from International Trade Costs Data
Get PDFThis study attempts to bring new perspectives on the death of distance hypothesis by examining to what extent the intensification of ICT has contributed to attenuate the effect of distance on international trade issues. Our analysis is based on an extended gravity model constituted of 2827 country pairs observed from 2002 to 2012. The model is estimated by using the Hausman-Taylor instrumental variable approach to deal with specificities of the panel gravity models that cannot be treated in classical fixed-effect or random-effect models. The estimations confirm significant beneficial effects of ICT regarding trade costs reduction. We found that bilateral trade costs are significantly low between countries that have a more densified communication network. And this effect appears to be strongly heterogeneous regarding the distance. In particular, we found that the impact of ICT on trade costs is greater when the distance between the trading partners is more important. We also found that the elasticity of trade costs to distance decreases as the level of ICT increases. These results appear robust to various sensitivity and robustness checks and are consistent with other studies. Finally, the results obtained in this study suggest the existence of strong distance-neutralizing effect of ICT.
JEL Classifications Code: F14 ; O3
Contemporary Situation of FDI and its Determinants: Bangladesh Scenario
Get PDFThis paper examines the present FDI scenario of Bangladesh since 1971 along with an explanation of its significant trend. The various trend facilities, exemptions provided by the government of Bangladesh are also mentioned in the paper. Moreover, the paper also investigates those factors that are handle and affects current FDI situation using the annual data for 1996-2010. From the analysis, we found that market size, infrastructure facilities, trade openness, export promotion, labor cost and availability of skilled labor are the important factors that contribute most to affect FDI.
 
Trade Liberalization and Its Effects on the Economic Growth of Bangladesh: An Empirical Analysis
Get PDFThe objective of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of the trade policy on Bangladesh economy between the periods 1990 to 2010. This research analyzes the achievements of the economy regarding the important variables such as growth of GDP, export, import, exchange rate, terms of trade, and foreign reserve after the trade liberalization in 1990s. The study demonstrates that the inward policy of the trade liberalization reduces the import while the forward policy increases the employment, production, and export. Finally, liberalization policy improves overall economic indicators as GDP per capita, FDI, and remittances have been growing up since pre-liberalization. The study shows that both export and import have increased noticeably since liberalization, with import rising faster than export in the period immediately after liberalization.
 
The Effects of Risk Management System on Financial Performance of Commercial Banks in Rwanda: A Case of Cogebanque Ltd.
Get PDFThis research study entitled an Assessment of the Effect of Risk Management System on Financial Performance of Commercial Banks in Rwanda aimed at assessing risk factors that performance of commercial banks like credit risk, embezzlement, theft and among others. Three specific objectives were formulated namely; to analyze the effect of directive control system on Financial Performance of Cogebanque Ltd; to establish the effect of preventive control system on Financial Performance of Cogebanque Ltd; to examine the effect of detective control system on Financial Performance of Cogebanque Ltd. The study examined risk management system and financial performances in Cogebanque Ltd located in Kigali City for a period of four years from 2011-2014. The study used descriptive design. A sample size of 40 staff of Cogebanque Ltd, participated in the study. SPSS software (version 22) was used to process the data and analysis were made by use of frequency/percentages, mean and standard deviation. The relationship between the variables was established by use of Pearsons correlation. The study established that different risk management systems which consist of directive control system, preventive control system and detective control system. The study revealed that risk management system has improved Cogebanque bank’s return on investment, profitability, liquidity, return asset and return on equity and loan returns by 72.7%.
 
Implementation of Strategic Plans on Oil Distributors: A Study on Selected Oil Companies in Kenya
Get PDFThe essence of strategy is to attempt to relate the organization to the changes in the environment. For any organization, strategy helps in interrogating the long term plans and ensuring that there is harmony between the vision, mission, objectives, core values, activities and its environment. Strategy formulation and implementation are core management functions. The developed strategy may be good but if its implementation is poor the intended strategic objectives may not be achieved. To ensure survival and success, firms do not only need to formulate strategies that seek to constantly maintain a match between the organization and its environment but also must ensure appropriate execution of strategy at all levels. Success therefore calls for proactive approach to business. The study aimed at identifying the determinants of strategy implementation plans on oil distributors in Kenya. Specifically, the study attempted to achieve the following objectives: to determine the effect of organizational structure; organizational culture; leadership; resource allocation and to establish the effect of communication on implementation of strategic plans on oil distributors in Kenya. The study was based on resource-based theory; dynamic capability theory and knowledge-based view theory. The study adopted a survey design that had used cross-sectional survey approach to collect data. The population of the study comprised of 14 oil distributors in Kenya based in Nairobi County. The target respondents comprised of 64 business owners and 136 managers therefore comprising of a target population of 200 respondents. A sample size of 60 respondents was selected for the study. Primary data was collected through semi-structured questionnaires. Data was coded in SPSS and Excel software for analysis where the tables of frequencies, percentage, mean and standard deviation was extracted for presentation of data. Inferential statistics was done to establish the relationship between the implementation of strategic plans and the five independent variables. The outcome of the study was to establish whether organizational structure; organizational culture; leadership; resource allocation and corporate communication affect the implementation of strategic plans in the oil distributors sector in Nairobi County. The research recommends that for oil distributors to improve on the implementation of strategic plans they need to enhance of teamwork, accountability, transparency and communication.
 
Relationship between Foreign Direct Investment and Company Taxation: Case of Bangladesh
Get PDFThis study looks at the association between foreign direct investment and company taxation in Bangladesh from 2001-2010. The annual reports were sourced from the Bangladesh Bank Bulletin, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and World Bank which was analyzed using Descriptive Statistic, correlation and regression. The independent variable corporate taxation was measured using corporate tax rate (CTR) whilst dependent variable foreign direct investment was measured using FDI net inflow (% of GDP). GDP, exchange rate and inflation rate were used as control variables. The result showed negative significant relationship between CTR and FDI whereas exchange rate and FDI indicated negative insignificant relationship. On the other hand, GDP was positively insignificantly related with FDI whilst inflation had positive significant relationship with FDI. Based on the result, the study suggested that there is require for the government to lo trim down corporate tax rate in order to create a centre of attention FDI into the country.
 
Impact of Multi-Cloud Infrastructure on Business Organizations to Use Cloud Platforms to Fulfill Their Cloud Needs
Get PDF"Infrastructure as a Service" (IaaS) refers to utilizing various public cloud platforms by Multi-Cloud Infrastructure. This multi-cloud paradigm abstracts the differences between cloud providers so that applications and operational procedures can function in a manner that is uniform across all environments. This makes it possible for businesses to reap the benefits of cloud service providers\u27 many capabilities while avoiding the risks typically associated with depending on a single cloud service. It is becoming increasingly vital for enterprises to modernize their applications and seamlessly manage and control deployment and scale across environments. As a result, multi-cloud management of the underlying infrastructure is becoming increasingly important. Within the confines of this investigation, we have covered topics such as the relevance of the Multi-Cloud Infrastructure, its many benefits, drawbacks, and other issues. In addition, we have investigated the functions involved in the operation of multi-cloud infrastructure. This piece presents an overview of the multi-cloud infrastructure idea and discusses some recommended procedures
Trade Interference or Good Environmental Stewardship: The Case of Gibson Guitar and the Lacey Act
Get PDFThe Gibson Guitar Corporation based in Tennessee was raided by federal agents twice for importing prohibited wood products. The raids, especially the second, attracted much public attention and have even led for calls from some members of Congress for a change. The case examines the Lacey Act, the allegations of wrong doing, and the question trade and domestic job creation at the expense of environmental stewardship.
JEL Classifications Code: F1
Entrepreneurship Development by Small & Medium Enterprises in Sylhet: Problems and Prospects
Get PDFThis paper analyses the entrepreneurship practices in the small and medium enterprises in Sylhet. In this study forty- five samples have been surveyed under nine different categories of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) operating in Sylhet. The categories were –retailing, tailoring, boutique shop, flowers shop, pharmacy, restaurant, mobile servicing shop, fast food shop and phone and fax shop. Both structured and unstructured questions were used in the questionnaire to collect the data and also some published materials are studied to find out the business constraints and potentiality of SMEs in this region. This study reveals that SMEs are contributing as engines of economic growth to a large extent in this region. The finding of the study reveals that, besides possessing a high potentiality, SMEs are facing a lot of problems like inadequate capital, raw materials collection, high cost of operating, financing and marketing, insufficient support facilities, unstable political situation, etc. An attempt has been made to identify major obstacles and potentially of doing business by using SMEs and recommend some policy measures for overcoming the constraints.
 
Do Budget Deficit Crowds out Private Investment: A Case of Tanzanian Economy
Get PDFThe existing high budget deficit in Tanzanian economy has created an immense concern among economic policy analysts. The study investigates whether budget deficits crowd out or crowd in private investment in Tanzania, using annual data covering the period from 1970 to 2012. Using the Johansen cointegration test suggests there is at least one cointegration vector among these variables. Under such circumstances, we employed a vector error correction model (VEC), since it offers more and better information compared to other data generation processes. The results point to a close long–term relationship between private investment, and other variables included in the study. Results suggest that budget deficits significantly crowds out private investment. These results substantiate the theoretical predictions and are also supported by previous studies. The paper recommends that government should redirect it fiscal policy that would favor the private investor by discouraging high government expenditure and maintaining a low fiscal deficit. Also, to avoid crowding out effect, capital market should be used to finance budget deficit.
JEL Classifications Code: H