Search results for: regional advantage

Authors: T. Davitashvili

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In this paper, some results of numerical simulation of the air flow dynamics in the troposphere over the Caucasus Mountains taking place in conditions of nonstationarity of large-scale undisturbed background flow are presented. Main features of the atmospheric currents changeability while air masses are transferred from the Black Sea to the land’s surface had been investigated. In addition, the effects of thermal and advective-dynamic factors of atmosphere on the changes of the West Georgian climate have been studied. It was shown that non-proportional warming of the Black Sea and Colkhi lowland provokes the intensive strengthening of circulation and effect of climate cooling in the western Georgia.

Keywords: regional climate, numerical simulation, local circulation, orographic effect

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Authors: Ahmad Almaududy Amri

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Southeast Asia is considered as an area which is important in terms of piratical studies. There are several reasons to this argument: firstly, it has the second highest figure of piracy attacks in the world from 2008 to 2012. Only the African Region transcends the number of piracies that were committed in Southeast Asia. Secondly, the geographical location of the region is very important to world trade. There are several sea lanes and straits which are normally used for international navigation mainly for trade purposes. In fact, there are six out of 25 busiest ports all over the world located in Southeast Asia. In ancient times, the main drivers of piracy were raiding for plunder and capture of slaves; however, in modern times, developments in politics, economics and even military technology have drastically altered the universal crime of piracy. There are a variety of motives behind modern day piracy including economic gains from receiving ransoms from government or ship companies, political and even terrorist reasons. However, it cannot be denied that piratical attacks persist and continue. States have taken measures both at the international and regional level in order to eradicate piratical attacks. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Act against the Safety of Navigation served as the two main international legal frameworks in combating piracy. At the regional level, Regional Cooperation Agreement against Piracy and Armed Robbery and ASEAN measures are regard as prominent in addressing the piracy problem. This paper will elaborate the problems of piracy in Southeast Asia and examine the adequacy of legal frameworks at both the international and regional levels in order address the current legal measures in combating piracy. Furthermore, it will discuss current challenges in the implementation of anti-piracy measures at the international and regional levels as well as the way forward in addressing the issue.

Keywords: piracy, Southeast Asia, maritime security, legal frameworks

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Authors: Kesi Widjajanti

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To develop the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), it is important to unlock potential resources that can improve their performance. Business Partnerships (BP) are currently an interesting topic of strategy to use to expand markets and maximize financial and marketing performance. However, many business partnerships have not quite a role among small and medium companies in the creative industry in the Batik Craft sector in Indonesia. This study is rooted in the Resource Advantage Theory of Competition ( RAToC), which emphasizes that the advantage of company resources can be sourced from organizational and relational resources. With the basis of this theory, SMEs can optimize the allocation of relational resources and organizational goals, improve operational efficiency, and gain a strategic advantage in the market. Companies that are able to actualize organizational and relational resources better than other market players can be used for the process of increasing their superior performance. This study explores key elements from the RAToC perspective and shows how Business Partnerships have the potential to drive SMEs' growth. By aligning visions, and organizational resources, sharing knowledge and leveraging complementary relational resources, SMEs can increase their competitiveness, enter new markets, and achieve superior performance. The theoretical contribution of RAToC in small companies is due to the role of Pro-Grow Business Partnership strength as an important antecedent for improving SMEs' performance. The benefits (scenarios) of a Business Partnership to grow together are directed at optimizing resources that can create additional value for customers so that they can outperform competitors. Furthermore, managerial implications for SMEs who wish to unlock their resource potential can encourage the role of Pro-Grow Business Partnerships, which have specific characteristics, can absorb experience/knowledge capacity and utilize this knowledge for the development of "together" business ventures.

Keywords: pro grow business partnership, performance, SMEs, resources advantage theory of competition, industry kreatif batik handycraft indonesia

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Authors: Daniel Thompson, Muhammad Peerbux, Sophie Cerutti, Hansraj Riteesh Bookun

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Patients with carotid stenosis, which may be asymptomatic or symptomatic in the form of transient ischaemic attack (TIA), amaurosis fugax, or stroke, often require an endarterectomy to reduce stroke risk. Risks of this procedure include stroke, death, myocardial infarction, and cranial nerve damage. Carotid endarterectomy is most commonly performed under general anaesthetic, however, it can also be undertaken with a regional anaesthetic approach. Our tertiary centre generally performs carotid endarterectomy under regional anaesthetic. Our major tertiary hospital mostly utilises regional anaesthesia for carotid endarterectomy. We completed a cross-sectional analysis of all cases of carotid endarterectomy performed under regional anaesthesia across a 10-year period between January 2010 to March 2020 at our institution. 350 patients were included in this descriptive analysis, and demographic details for patients, indications for surgery, procedural details, length of surgery, and complications were collected. Data was cross tabulated and presented in frequency tables to describe these categorical variables. 263 of the 350 patients in the analysis were male, with a mean age of 71 ± 9. 172 patients had a history of ischaemic heart disease, 104 had diabetes mellitus, 318 had hypertension, and 17 patients had chronic kidney disease greater than Stage 3. 13.1% (46 patients) were current smokers, and the majority (63%) were ex-smokers. Most commonly, carotid endarterectomy was performed conventionally with patch arterioplasty 96% of the time (337 patients). The most common indication was TIA and stroke in 64% of patients, 18.9% were classified as asymptomatic, and 13.7% had amaurosis fugax. There were few general complications, with 9 wound complications/infections, 7 postoperative haematomas requiring return to theatre, 3 myocardial infarctions, 3 arrhythmias, 1 exacerbation of congestive heart failure, 1 chest infection, and 1 urinary tract infection. Specific complications to carotid endarterectomy included 3 strokes, 1 postoperative TIA, and 1 cerebral bleed. There were no deaths in our cohort. This analysis of a large cohort of patients from a major tertiary centre who underwent carotid endarterectomy under regional anaesthesia indicates the safety of such an approach for these patients. Regional anaesthesia holds the promise of less general respiratory and cardiac events compared to general anaesthesia, and in this vulnerable patient group, calls for comparative research between local and general anaesthesia in carotid surgery.

Keywords: anaesthesia, carotid endarterectomy, stroke, carotid stenosis

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Authors: Soebowo Musa

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Mining industries are known to be very volatile due to their sensitive nature toward changes in the environment, particularly coal mining. Heavy equipment distributors and coal mining contractors are among heavily affected by such volatility. They are facing more uncertainty on the sustainability of the coal mining industry. Strategic alliances and organizational capabilities such as innovation capability have long been seen as ways to stay competitive with a focus more on the strategic alliances partner-to-partner in serving their customers. In today’s rapid change in the environment, a shift in consumer behaviors, and the human-centric business approach, this study looks at the strategic alliance partner-to-customer relationship in both the industrial organization and resource-based theories. This study was conducted based on 250 respondents from the strategic alliances partner-to-customer between heavy equipment distributors and coal mining contractors in Indonesia. This study finds strategic alliances have the highest association toward cost reduction, a proxy of operational efficiency followed by its association toward innovation capability. Further, strategic alliances and innovation capability have a positive relationship with customer loyalty, while innovation capability and customer loyalty have no significant relationships toward the firm’s competitive advantage. This study also indicates that cost reduction is not a condition to develop customer loyalty in the strategic alliance partner-to-customer relationship. It confirms strategic alliances are a strategy that creates a firm’s operational efficiency, innovation capability that develops customer loyalty, and competitive advantage.

Keywords: strategic alliance, innovation capability, cost reduction, customer loyalty, competitive advantage

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Authors: Kemalettin Eryesil, Osman Esmen, Aykut Beduk

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In this study, it has been studied to determine the relationship between business performance and strategic flexibility, which is defined to be the strategic choice that provides the ability of rapidly responding the changes of the dynamic environment of the companies, for having competitive advantages. In this context a field study has been conducted over 56 companies, which are active in informatics and electronics sectors in TEKNOKENT. As a result of the study it has been determined that; strategic flexibility has an effect on business performance and there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between strategic flexibility and business performance.

Keywords: sustainable competition advantage, strategic flexibility, firm performance, TEKNOKENT

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Authors: Moh’d A. AL-Shboul

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Recently, and due to Arab spring and terrorism around the globe, pushing and driving most governments potentially to harmonize their border measures particularly the regional and an international transit trade within and among Customs Unions. The main purpose of this study is to investigate and provide an insight for monitoring and controlling the trade supply chain within and among different countries by using technological advancement (i.e. an electronic tracking system, etc.); furthermore, facilitate the local and intra-regional trade among countries through reviewing the recent trends and practical implementation of an electronic transit traffic and cargo that related to customs measures by introducing and supporting some case studies of several international and landlocked transit trade countries. The research methodology employed in this study was described as qualitative by conducting few interviews with managers, transit truck drivers, and traders and reviewing the related literature to collect qualitative data from secondary sources such as statistical reports, previous studies, etc. The results in this study show that Jordan and other countries around the globe that used an electronic tracking system for monitoring transit trade has led to a significant reduction in cost, effort and time in physical movement of goods internally and crossing through other countries. Therefore, there is no need to escort transit trucks by customs staff; hence, the rate of escort transit trucks is reduced by more than ninety percent, except the bulky and high duty goods. Electronic transit traffic has been increased; the average transit time journey has been reduced by more than seventy percent and has led to decrease in rates of smuggling up to fifty percent. The researcher recommends considering Jordan as regional and international office for tracking electronically and monitoring the transit trade for many considerations.

Keywords: electronic tracking system, facilitation system, regional and international corridor, supply chain security, transit trade

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Authors: Patria Yunita

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Kuznets’ environmental curve analysis suggests sacrificing economic development to reduce environmental problems. However, we hope to achieve sustainable economic development. In this case, Islamic social finance, especially that of waqf in Indonesia, can be used as a solution to bridge the problem of environmental damage to the sustainability of economic development. The Panel Logit Regression method was used to analyze the probability of increasing economic growth and the role of waqf in the environmental impact of CO₂ emissions. This study uses panel data from 33 Indonesian provinces. The data used were the National Waqf Index, Forest Area, Waqf Land Area, Growth Rate of Regional Gross Domestic Product (YoY), and CO₂ Emissions for 2018-2022. Data were obtained from the Indonesian Waqf Board, Climate World Data, the Ministry of the Environment, and the Bank of Indonesia. The results prove that CO₂ emissions have a negative effect on regional economic growth and that waqf governance in the waqf index has a positive effect on regional economic growth in 33 provinces.

Keywords: waqf, CO₂ emissions, panel logit analysis, sustainable economic development

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Authors: Sipho Mbatha, Anne Mastament-Mason

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South African manufacturing global competitiveness was ranked 22nd (out of 38 countries), dropped to 24th in 2013 and is expected to drop further to 25th by 2018. These impacts negatively on the industrialisation project of South Africa. For industrialization to be achieved through labour intensive industries like the Apparel Manufacturing Industries of South Africa (AMISA), South Africa needs to identify and respond to factors negatively impacting on the development of competitive advantage This paper applied factor conditions from Porter’s Diamond Model (1990) to understand the various challenges facing the AMISA. Factor conditions highlighted in Porter’s model are grouped into two groups namely, basic and advance factors. Two AMISA associations representing over 10 000 employees were interviewed. The largest Clothing, Textiles and Leather (CTL) apparel retail group was also interviewed with a government department implementing the industrialisation policy were interviewed The paper points out that while AMISA have basic factor conditions necessary for competitive advantage in the clothing and textiles industries, Advance factor coordination has proven to be a challenging task for the AMISA, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and government. Poor infrastructural maintenance has contributed to high manufacturing costs and poor quick response as a result of lack of advanced technologies. The use of Porter’s Factor Conditions as a tool to analyse the sector’s competitive advantage challenges and opportunities has increased knowledge regarding factors that limit the AMISA’s competitiveness. It is therefore argued that other studies on Porter’s Diamond model factors like Demand conditions, Firm strategy, structure and rivalry and Related and supporting industries can be used to analyse the situation of the AMISA for the purposes of improving competitive advantage.

Keywords: compliance rule, apparel manufacturing industry, factor conditions, advance skills and South African industrial policy

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Authors: Fatima Homor

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The new era in business has started, according to my research paper findings, corporate social responsibility leads organizations to an incomparable advantage phase, where competition is secondary and financial growth is a result. Those who join later, lose their active advantage and cause passive disadvantage for their organizations. The main purpose of this presentation is to state the obvious and shed the light of the advantages of doing good, while doing well for multinational enterprises, extremely low fluctuation (preventing one of the highest costs), significantly lower marketing budget, enhanced reputation causing customer and supplier loyalty, employee commitment results in higher motivation level leading to better quality at each stages, Corporate Social Responsibility brings Unique Selling Proposition incomparable to others. The paper is based on a large research work conducted for the University of Liverpool Masters in Business Administration program, with the title of Corporate Social Responsibility for Multinational Enterprises to gain incomparable advantage. The research is based on both recent secondary data, but most importantly on 25 interviews with Chief Executive Officers at Multinational Enterprises and / or the Human Resources / corporate communications directors. The direct gains on Corporate Social Responsibility are analyzed when it is embedded into the core of the business. It is evident that project based Corporate Social Responsibility is not effective neither from the supported topic, Non-governmental Organizations point of view nor from the organization’s long-term sustainability point of view. Surveys have been conducted, data compared and consequences drawn. Corporate Social Responsibility must be started inside of the business to strengthen it. First, commit employees. It must come from the Chief Executive Officer. It must be related to the business profile. It has to be long term. They will commit customers. B-corps are coming (e.g. Unilever); the phenomenon of social enterprises has become a leading one.

Keywords: B-corps, embedded into core business, first inside, unique advantage

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Authors: Atiwat Khatpibunchai, Taweesak Kritjaroen

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A social enterprise is the innovative hybrid organizations where its ultimate goal is to generate revenue and use it as a fund to solve the social and environmental problem. Although the evidence shows the clear value of economic, social and environmental aspects, the limitations of most of the social enterprises are the expanding impact of social and environmental aspects through the normal market mechanism. This is because the major sources of revenues of social enterprises derive from the business advocates who merely wish to support society and environment by using products and services of social enterprises rather than expect the satisfaction and the distinctive advantage of products and services. Thus, social enterprises cannot reach the achievement as other businesses do. The relevant concepts from the literature review revealed that dynamic capability is the ability to sense, integrate and reconfigure internal resources and utilize external resources to adapt to changing environments, create innovation and achieve competitive advantage. The objective of this research is to study the influence of dynamic capability that affects competitive advantage and sustainable performance, as well as to determine important elements of dynamic capability. The researchers developed a conceptual model from the related concepts and theories of dynamic capability. A conceptual model will support and show the influence of dynamic capability on competitive advantage and sustainable performance of social enterprises. The 230 organizations in South-East Asia served as participants in this study. The results of the study were analyzed by the structural equation model (SEM) and it was indicated that research model is consistent with empirical research. The results also demonstrated that dynamic capability has a direct and indirect influence on competitive advantage and sustainable performance. Moreover, it can be summarized that dynamic capability consists of the five elements: 1) the ability to sense an opportunity; 2) the ability to seize an opportunity; 3) the ability to integrate resources; 4) the ability to absorb resources; 5) the ability to create innovation. The study recommends that related sectors can use this study as a guideline to support and promote social enterprises. The focus should be pointed to the important elements of dynamic capability that are the development of the ability to transform existing resources in the organization and the ability to seize opportunity from changing market.

Keywords: dynamic capability, social enterprise, sustainable competitive advantage, sustainable performance

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Authors: Xiaohan Ye

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Under the new normal situation, some urban spaces with the industrial base and regional features in Zhejiang, China have been selected to build a characteristic town, a kind of environmentally-friendly development platform with city-industry integrated, in an attempt to achieve the most optimized layout of productivity with the least space resource. After analysis on the connotation, mechanism and mode of characteristic town in Zhejiang, it is suggested in this paper that characteristic town should take improving the regional ecological environment as an important object in planning strategy from the perspective of ecological concept. Improved environmental quality, optimized resource allocation, and compact industrial distribution should be realized so as to drive the regional green and sustainable development. Finally, this paper analyzes location selection, industrial distribution, spatial organization and environment construction based on the exploration of the dream town of Zhejiang province, the first batch of provincial-level characteristic towns to demonstrate how to apply the ecological concept to the design of characteristic town.

Keywords: characteristic town, ecological concept, Hangzhou dream town, planning strategy

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Authors: Sergey Chirun

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Using of a combination of institutional analysis and network access has allowed the author to identify the characteristics of the informal institutions of regional political power and political regimes. According to the author, ‘field’ of activity of post-Soviet regimes, formed under the influence of informal institutions, often contradicts democratic institutional regional changes which are aimed at creating of a legal-rational type of political domination and balanced model of separation of powers. This leads to the gap between the formal structure of institutions and the real nature of power, predetermining the specific character of the existing political regimes.

Keywords: authoritarianism, institutions, political regime, social networks, transformation

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Authors: Oliver T. Gore

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Social inequalities and inequity of outcomes in higher education (HE) persist in South Africa despite the government introducing policy that seeks to address social injustices brought about by previous apartheid policies. In addressing these social injustices, HE policy conceptualises inequalities under the concept of historical ‘disadvantage’ which is understood to be primarily race-based. The study adds on to the existing knowledge on inequalities through developing the dimensions of (dis)advantage, which have the potential to inform the South African HE policy on providing equal opportunities amongst diverse students to participate and succeed in their studies. Drawing from the capabilities approach, this study argues that (dis)advantage can be richly understood in terms of students’ capabilities, functionings and agency as opposed to a sole focus on race. The study argues that limited freedoms, lack of effective opportunities, and reduced agency for students to turn university resources into real achievements such as personal development, economic skills and social responsibility amounts to disadvantage, while the converse is also true. The study draws from qualitative interview data with honours students, university staff and Student Representative Council members from five different university departments at one South African university. This presentation uses results from 20 students and reveals what their university experiences tell us regarding students’ unfreedoms in relation to: the inability to make decisions, poor schooling backgrounds, inadequate finances, emotional stress, lack of social support, inability to understand the language of instruction, lack of safe transport and accommodation issues. Despite these unfreedoms, the data shows that the students aspired and persevered with their studies. Using theory and empirical data in conversation, the paper shows that there is a need to nuance the definition of (dis)advantage, particularly by focusing on how different forms of disadvantage intersect with each other.

Keywords: capabilities approach, (dis)advantage, higher education, social justice

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Authors: Joseph Omeiza Alao

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The wobbly state of waste management and the high level of environmental irresponsibility is a threat to environmental security, which invariably endangered public health, regional groundwater systems and atmospheric condition. The dumping of waste materials in water bodies and gutters and the frequent burning of waste materials heaped at dumpsites as well depict the highest level of environmental indiscipline. These unruly human factors have compelled this study to apply four different techniques for environmental impact assessment and the possible public health risks of poor waste management in Nigeria. The techniques include a geophysical survey (resistivity data acquisition), dispatched questionnaire surveys, physiochemical water analysis and a physical survey of several dumpsites. While the resistivity data indicates high-level dumpsite leachate invading the ground soil down to the water table, the physiochemical water analysis depicts high content of BOD (401 – 711) mg/l, COD (731 – 1312) mg/l, TDS (419 – 1871) mg/l and heavy metals (0.014 – 1.971) mg/l present in the regional groundwater systems, which have altered the chemistry of the regional groundwater. The resistivity data shows that the overburdened soil layer overlaying the regional groundwater systems was very low (4.5 Ωm – 151 Ωm) as against the existing data (180 Ωm – 3500 Ωm). However, the physical surveys and the dispatched questionnaire surveys explore the depth of environmental irresponsibility among the citizen. While the imprints of gross environmental indiscipline may be absolutely irreversible, adequate knowledge of the environmental implications of careless waste disposal. After a critical examination of the current waste management strategies in Nigeria, the study suggests a future direction for environmental security and sustainability. Several influential regional factors, such as geology, climatic conditions, and hydrology, were also discussed.

Keywords: groundwater, environmental indiscipline, waste management, water analysis, leachate plumes, public health

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Authors: Yazdani Saeed, Rafiei Hamed, Nekoofar Farahnaz

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Governments Policies play a major role in national and international Markets. Pistachio is one of the most important non-oil export commodity of Iran. Therefore, in this study the relation between the producer support policies and the export of Pistachio was examined. An econometric model (VAR) was applied to test the study hypothesis. According to the estimated coefficient in VAR model, lag of producer support index has a significant and negative effect on variation of Pistachio’s export in short term. In other word, in short term, export advantage index is dependent on the amount of producers support in previous period.

Keywords: producer support, export advantage, pistachio, Iran

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Authors: Naresh Kumar Verma

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Nuclear energy being adapted as a renewable energy source and its production by developing countries has turned into a major strategic concern and politics by the developed world. The West seem to be the sole proprietor of such energy source and any country opting for such energy production either face significant hurdles or geopolitical challenges in developing such energy source. History of West Asia is full of interference by external powers which has been integral in the incessant conflict in the region. Whether it was the creation of Israel, the Gulf war of 1991, or the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and more recently the Iranian nuclear conundrum, the soil of West Asia has always been a witness to the play of extra regional powers game. Iran, being a theocratic state has been facing such threats and challenges, regarding its intentions and its capability in such energy production. The paper will try to assess the following issues: -Politics of Renewable Energy Generation. -Geographical and strategic significance of Iran’s nuclear programme. -Challenges in the path of Iran developing nuclear energy as a RE source. -The interests of the regional and extra-regional actors in challenging Iranian Nuclear Programme.

Keywords: developing countries, geopolitics, Iran, nuclear energy, renewable energy

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Authors: Renalda El Samra, Elie Bou-Zeid, Hamza Kunhu Bangalath, Georgiy Stenchikov, Mutasem El Fadel

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The regional-scale impact of climate change over complex terrain was examined through high-resolution dynamic downscaling conducted using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, with initial and boundary conditions from a High-Resolution Atmospheric Model (HiRAM). The analysis was conducted over the eastern Mediterranean, with a focus on the country of Lebanon, which is characterized by a challenging complex topography that magnifies the effect of orographic precipitation. Four year-long WRF simulations, selected based on HiRAM time series, were performed to generate future climate projections of extreme temperature and precipitation over the study area under the conditions of the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5. One past WRF simulation year, 2008, was selected as a baseline to capture dry extremes of the system. The results indicate that the study area might be exposed to a temperature increase between 1.0 and 3ºC in summer mean values by 2050, in comparison to 2008. For extreme years, the decrease in average annual precipitation may exceed 50% at certain locations in comparison to 2008.

Keywords: HiRAM, regional climate modeling, WRF, Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP)

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Authors: Christantus Begealawuh Nchongayi

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As clearly stated in goal 14 of sustainable development goals, global oceans greatly contribute to making the earth habitable for mankind. This explains why ocean governance is an important global concern today. The emerging maritime security problems and the impact of climate change on African oceans, evidenced by tropical cyclones as seen recently in the Southern region of Africa, is also an indication that maritime governance and policymaking are important elements of peace and security in Africa. Within the last decade, there have been commendable efforts towards maritime governance and policymaking in Africa, although implementation of existing maritime policies is still lacking. This paper provides a snapshot of the overall state of the maritime policymaking process in Africa. It specifically explores the challenges facing policymakers in developing national and regional maritime security strategy in the East African Community. For methodology, the paper relied on primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected from informal discussions with policymakers and key policy-making bodies in Africa, and from a survey of public opinions. The study found that the Africa Integrated Maritime Strategy (2050 AIMS) is a recent template for regional and national maritime security policymaking in Africa and that although maritime security has in the past not been prioritized in the security agenda of the East African Community, developing and aligning a regional maritime security strategy to the 2050 AIMS will result to positive regional integration outcomes in East Africa.

Keywords: 2050 Africa integrated maritime strategy, east African community, maritime policy-making, maritime security

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Authors: Peerawat Chailom, Pimgarn Suwan-Natada

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The objective of this study is to examine the effects of e-commerce integrated for export marketing strategy on export advantage and firm performance. This study indicates that e-commerce infrastructure, organizational learning for e-commerce, and internet dissemination were antecedent of e-commerce integrated for export marketing strategy. In additional, export expertise is moderating variable of the research. In this study, 151 export businesses in Thailand are the sample of study. The results of study indicate that e-commerce integrated for export marketing strategy has significant positive influences on export advantage and export performance. Moreover, e-commerce infrastructure, organizational learning for e-commerce, and internet dissemination are have positive effects on e-commerce integrated for export marketing strategy. For moderating effect, export expertise significant influences on the relationships between e-commerce integrated for export marketing strategy and export advantage, and significant influences on the relationships between e-commerce integrated for export marketing strategy and export performance. Theoretical and practical implications are presented. Conclusion and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

Keywords: e-commerce integrated for export marketing, e-commerce infrastructure, organizational learning for e-commerce, export performance

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Authors: Hong Zhang, Runlian Miao, Min Zhang

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Coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is of great importance and has been emphasized by the government in recent years. Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region accumulates a large part of S&T resources of the whole country and boasts the most influential achievements. In order to improve innovation capability of the region, universities, research institutions and enterprises from Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei have cooperated in many forms, but technological innovation is not so satisfactory due to unbalanced allocation, poor sharing and low utilization efficiency of S&T resources. Therefore, it’s very necessary to promote resources sharing, optimize their overall layout, and enhance their innovation performance, which can further deepen coordination development of the region. This study focuses on S&T resources with the methods of documents research plus field investigation and qualitative research combing plus quantitive research. It starts from the macro background of promoting coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and arrives at improving regional innovation capability. Firstly, the author makes a literature review on coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and summarizes that coordinated development has been carried forward in the major fields which lay foundation for regional innovation; secondly, analyzes current S&T resources distribution and coordinated innovation by taking key industries as the examples; based on analysis of the status quo of resources sharing and innovation in the region, the author points out problems and obstacles that holdbacks coordinated innovation of the region and at last raises some suggestions to resources sharing and regional innovation. It reaches the conclusion that an efficient management mechanism, market laws, favorable environment, model innovation and incentive measures can help to accelerate resources sharing and regional innovation in the region.

Keywords: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, coordinated development, innovation, S&T resources

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Authors: Simeon Karafolas, Maciej Woźniak

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Mostly of public financing programs at national and regional level are funded from European Union sources. EU can participate directly to a national and regional program (example LEADER initiative, URBAN…) or indirectly by funding regional or national funds. Funds from European Union are provided from EU multiannual financial framework form which the annual budget is programmed. The adjusted program 2007-2013 of the EU considered commitments of almost 1 trillion Euros for the EU-28 countries. Provisions of the new program 2014-2020 consider commitments of more than 1 trillion Euros. Sustainable growth, divided to Cohesion and Competitiveness for Growth an Employment, is one of the two principal categories; the other is the preservation and management of natural resources. Through this financing process SMEs benefited of EU and public sources by receiving grants for their investments. Most of the financial instruments are available indirectly through the national financial intermediaries. Part of them is managed by the European Investment Fund. The paper focuses on the public financing to SMEs by examining case studies on divers forms of public help. It tries to distinguish the efficiency of the examined good practices and therefore try to have some conclusions on the possibility of application to other regions.

Keywords: DIFASS, grants, SMEs, public financing

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Authors: Liu Danping

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Walking space has very important historical and cultural value in ancient and even modern urban development. As far as the footpath itself is concerned, it reflects the spatial organization mode and traditional architectural construction characteristics of mountain cities. In terms of the spatial nature of streets, traditional streets contain the history of urban development and the most primitive urban life. The slow walking speed allows people to carefully perceive the space and scenery along the way. The real city life in the streets often makes people feel the cultural connotation and unique charm of the city. According to the regional characteristics of pedestrian traffic in the main urban area of Chongqing, the charm of chongqing is discussed. Based on the study of chongqing characteristic walking space elements, this paper summarizes the characteristics of Chongqing urban walking traffic, analyzes the existing problems of mountain city walking traffic, and takes Yuzhong Peninsula as an example to analyze the charm promotion strategy of urban walking traffic.

Keywords: mountain city, walking space, urban charm, urban renewal, regional culture

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Authors: Tyler D. Cesarone, Tatiana M. Wugalter

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The movement of patients from the Global North to the Global South in pursuit of inexpensive healthcare and touristic experiences dominates the academic discourse on international medical travel (IMT). However, medical travel exists in higher numbers between Global South countries as patients who lack trust in, and feel disenfranchised by, their national healthcare systems seek treatment in nearby countries. Through a review of the existing literature, this paper examines patterns of IMT in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Southern Africa, distinguishing North-South medical tourism from South-South intra-regional medical mobility (IRMM). Evidence from these case studies demonstrates that notions of medical distrust and disenfranchisement, rooted in low-resourced and poor quality healthcare systems, are key drivers of IRMM in the Global South. The movement of patients from lower income to proximate higher income countries not only reveals tensions between patients and their healthcare systems but widens gaps in the quality of healthcare between departing and destination countries. In analyzing these cross-regional similarities, the paper moves beyond the current literature’s focus on singular case studies to expose global patterns of South-South IRMM. This presents a shift from the traditional focus on North-South medical tourism, demonstrating how disparities in healthcare systems both influence and are influenced by IRMM.

Keywords: global South, healthcare quality, international medical travel (IMT), intra-regional medical mobility (IRMM), medical disenfranchisement, medical distrust, medical tourism

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Authors: Qinke Sun, Liang Zhou

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The ‘Dragon-Elephant Debate’ between China and India is an important manifestation of global multipolarity in the 21st century. The two rising powers have carried out economic reforms one after another in the interval of more than ten years, becoming the fastest growing developing country and emerging economy in the world. At the same time, the development differences between China and India have gradually attracted wide attention of scholars. Based on the continuous annual night light data (DMSP-OLS) from 1992 to 2012, this paper systematically compares and analyses the regional development differences between China and India by Gini coefficient, coefficient of variation, comprehensive night light index (CNLI) and hot spot analysis. The results show that: (1) China's overall expansion from 1992 to 2012 is 1.84 times that of India, in which China's change is 2.6 times and India's change is 2 times. The percentage of lights in unlighted areas in China dropped from 92% to 82%, while that in India from 71% to 50%. (2) China's new growth-oriented cities appear in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, Ordos, and Urumqi in the west, and the declining cities are concentrated in Liaoning Province and Jilin Province in the northeast; India's new growth-oriented cities are concentrated in Chhattisgarh in the north, while the declining areas are distributed in Uttar Pradesh. (3) China's differences on different scales are lower than India's, and regional inequality of development is gradually narrowing. Gini coefficients at the regional and provincial levels have decreased from 0.29, 0.44 to 0.24 and 0.38, respectively, while regional inequality in India has slowly improved and regional differences are gradually widening, with Gini coefficients rising from 0.28 to 0.32. The provincial Gini coefficient decreased slightly from 0.64 to 0.63. (4) The spatial pattern of China's regional development is mainly east-west difference, which shows the difference between coastal and inland areas; while the spatial pattern of India's regional development is mainly north-south difference, but because the southern states are sea-dependent, it also reflects the coastal inland difference to a certain extent. (5) Beijing and Shanghai present a multi-core outward expansion model, with an average annual CNLI higher than 0.01, while New Delhi and Mumbai present the main core enhancement expansion model, with an average annual CNLI lower than 0.01, of which the average annual CNLI in Shanghai is about five times that in Mumbai.

Keywords: spatial pattern, spatial difference, DMSP-OLS, China, India

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Authors: Sarma Binti Aralas

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The relationship between property rights and trade specialization is examined for developing and developed countries using panel data analysis. Property rights is measured using the international property rights index while trade specialization is measured using the comparative advantage index. Cross country differences in property rights are hypothesized to lead to differences in trade specialization. Based on the argument that a weak protection of natural resources implies greater trade in resource-intensive goods, developing countries with less defined property rights are hypothesized to have a comparative advantage in resource-based exports while countries with more defined property rights will not have an advantage in resource-intensive goods. Evidence suggests that developing countries with weaker environmental protection index but are rich in natural resources do specialize in the trade of resource-intensive goods. The finding suggests that institutional frameworks to increase the stringency of environmental protection of resources may be needed to diversify exports away from the trade of resource-intensive goods.

Keywords: environmental protection, panel data, renewable resources, trade specialization

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Authors: Priti Bajpai, Mohammed Shibil

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This paper utilizes a comparative case study design to examine a regional onion market. The particular case of onion markets is used to understand perishable product supply chains. The site for the study is Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Results from a six-month field study are outlined. In particular, the findings suggest that firms should examine adding additional destinations to their supply chain. Further, we argue that utilizing Dubai as a supply chain hub is in certain cases counterproductive. Implications for food supply chains and regional trade are discussed.

Keywords: supply chains, food markets, onion trade, field study

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Authors: Tapiwa Shumba, Nyaradzo D. T. Karubwa

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Dispute resolution is the plinth of regional integration initiatives anchored on the rule of law and compliance with obligations. Without effective and reliable despite resolution mechanisms, it may be difficult to foster deeper integration. Within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) legal and institutional framework exists an apparent recognition that dispute resolution is an integral part of the regional integration. Almost all legal instruments of SADC include some provision for dispute resolution. Institutionally, the somewhat now defunct SADC Tribunal is meant to be the fulcrum for resolving disputes that arise under SADC instruments. However, after a closer analysis of the substance of these legal provisions and the attendant procedural mechanisms for addressing disputes, an argument can be made that dispute resolution in SADC is somewhat scant, fragmented and neglected. In most instruments, the common provision on dispute resolution appears to be a ‘mid-night clause’. In other instruments which have specialised provisions and procedures, questions of practicality and genius cannot be avoided. Worse still there now appears to be a lack of magnanimity between the substantive provisions in various instruments and the role of the transformed Tribunal. This scant, fragmented and neglected dispute resolution system may have an impact on the observance of the rule of law and compliance with obligations in the rules-based SADC system. This all, in turn, has an effect on the common agenda for deeper regional integration. This article seeks to expose this scant, fragmented and neglected SADC dispute resolution system and to propose a harmonised system that addresses these challenges. A ‘one stop shop’ system under a strengthened SADC tribunal is proposed as a responsive solution.

Keywords: regional integration, harmonisation, SADC tribunal, dispute resolution

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Authors: Nila Febri Wilujeng, Helda Risman

Abstract:

Enjoying stable security within its region for the last 50 years, ASEAN nowadays contends with the global context emerging dynamically, which brings about multidimensional challenges and threats such as terrorism, radicalism, armed rebellion, hijacking, and other non-traditional threats. Dealing with these circumstances, ASEAN member states tighten its capacity by enhancing regional cooperation and strategic information exchange among ASEAN member states so-called ASEAN Our Eyes. This initiative adopted for the sake of forestalling any possible threat posed by violent extremism, radicalization, and terrorism through timely strategic information exchange among ASEAN member states. By using qualitative method, this paper will utilize regional security complex and international cooperation theories in analyzing the process to examine ASEAN Our Eyes based on its terms of reference. As a result, it portrays that ASEAN Our Eyes is able to undermine the gaps in the realm of strategic information exchange in monitoring the movement of violent extremism, radicalism, foreign terrorist fighters, and crime-terror nexus. However, it remains premature as a strategic measure to encounter those threats in the years to come.

Keywords: regional cooperation, counter-terrorism, ASEAN our eyes, strategic information exchange

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Authors: Irakli Manvelidze, Genadi Iashvili, Giga Phartenadze, Giorgi Katamadze

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Establishment of electronic governance in the region is facing serious problems. Organizational, technical, social and methodological problems have been identified after the research. These problems currently create serious barriers and prevent the development of effective e-governance. Lack of human resources, difference in program targets of the centre and the region, lack of citizens’ awareness about the project of electronic governance are other issues that should be mentioned. In spite of positive changes the overall situation concerning development of modern information-communication technologies in Adjara is not satisfactory. The information systems in the region can be described as transforming in a democratic way which needs serious reforms. Current situation shows that unsystematic, uncoordinated actions were made which overall represents more chaotic rather than coordinated systematic process. Therefore, a strategic document ‘Adjarian Electronic Government’ should be created which will ensure systematic development of electronic governance in the region. The implementation of the strategy of ‘Adjarian Electronic Government’ should be based on not only conceptual and instrumental but also legal basics. A legal normative basis should be created which will include formation of electronic government’s instrumental basis as well as creation of united regional system of electronic document management. Meanwhile types of documents which would be used in inter institutional relations should be defined under a legal norm. Creation of regional united system of e-filing will regulate regional public institutions, relations between local self-government and public organizations as well as it will ensure coordinated work of all regional public institutions.

Keywords: e-government, information society, public administration, reforming state governance, public institutions

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