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Purpose: The paper aims to relook at the notion of competitiveness in the challenging times of pandemic. The failure of global value chains caused many nations despite their state of economic development to struggle for necessary items. The goal of achieving profitability abated by having self-sufficiency, specifically in the manufacturing sector where unlike services, the production processes jolted. Under this backdrop, the paper attempts to project local industry clusters as a panacea for achieving resilient competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach: To explore the credibility of clusters as an important tool to prepare nations towards a resilient future, a correlation between the state of cluster development in a country and its national competitiveness has been tested. Besides, any difference in the notion of state of cluster development between least developing countries, developing countries and developed countries has also been tested. The paper uses the data from World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report. Findings: Strong support for the research hypothesis has been found. High positive correlation exists between the state of cluster development and national competitiveness. The state of cluster development is found to be significantly different among three categories of countries. Originality/value: Clusters have been promoted in academic literature, policy circles and the business community for many advantages. This paper is a novice attempt to showcase these can serve as an instrument to prepare economies for self-sufficiency and a resilient future by performing an objective evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The development in information communication and technology (ICT) has led to many changes such as reorganization of economics, globalization and trade. With more innovation processes being organized and adopted across technologies, trade, etc., these are getting more closely related and needs fresh research perspective. This study aims to empirically investigate the interrelationship between ICT penetration, innovation, trade and economic growth in 20 developed and developing nations from 1995 to 2018. Design/methodology/approach: The present paper examines both long-run and short-run relationships between the four variables, namely, innovation, ICT penetration, trade and economic growth, by applying panel estimation techniques of regression and vector error correction model. ICT penetration and innovation indices are constructed using principle component analysis technique. Findings: The findings of the study highlight that for developed nations, growth, trade and innovation are significantly interlinked with no significant role of ICT penetration While for developing nations, significant relationship is present between growth and trade, ICT penetration and innovation. With respect to trade, in case of developed nations, significant relationship is present with ICT penetration. While for developing nations there is no significant result for trade promotion. On further employing the vector error correction model, the presence of short run causality between growth, trade and innovation in case of developed nations is established but no such causality between variables for developing nations is seen. Originality/value: The present paper adds to the existing strand of literature examining interlinkage between innovation and growth by introducing new variables of ICT penetration and innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze variations in the degree of persistence of profitability across diverse economic sectors and industry groups over the time period of 1990-2014 for a sample of top publically listed firms belonging to a selected set of developed and developing economies. Design/methodology/approach: Degree of profit persistence has been estimated using Mueller's (1990) autoregressive methodology. Firms were classified into different economic sectors and industry groups as per the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS). The examination of inter-sectoral variations in profit persistence has been performed by comparing mean values of estimated short-run and long-run profit persistence parameter for all firms and between firms belonging to the developed and developing countries, respectively. Findings: Firms in consumer staples, consumer discretionary and health care enjoy persistent above the norm returns, unlike firms in traditional industries, utilities and energy sectors, which are characterized by low persistence and below the norm returns. A high degree of profit persistence is observed in health care and idea- and technology-intensive sector in the developed countries; however, in the developing countries, profits persist higher in consumer discretionary and capital-intensive telecommunication services sectors. Originality/value: The study provides a holistic examination of inter-sectoral variations in profit persistence of top firms in developed and developing economies using a uniform methodology and data set. It can serve as an aid to the competition commissions and anti-trust regulatory authorities to formulate policies for curtailing anti-competitive activities in certain sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This research aims to provide a new perspective on the evolving linkages between LAs and FSAs in the context of the technology-based manufacturing industry. Firm-level competitive strengths in an international context build upon the combination of (largely) exogenous location advantages (LAs) and endogenous firm-specific advantages (FSAs). The authors focus especially on the decay of LAs over time, which has been observed in many highly developed countries during the past decades. The authors show how the strengthening of FSAs can substitute for decaying LAs, thereby safeguarding against the demise of entire industrial regions. Design/methodology/approach: The authors examine the technology-based manufacturing industry in Belgium, building upon an analysis of survey responses by 66 firms including a subgroup of 26 multinational enterprise (MNE) subsidiaries. The professional association representing this industry in Belgium (Agoria) viewed the firms included in the survey as representative for Belgian technology-based manufacturing in terms of the LAs they presently build upon (or location disadvantages they face) and the internal strengths they command relative to (foreign) rivals. The investigation uncovered the decay of critical LAs in Belgium and in parallel, the rise of 'compensating' FSAs of Belgian operations relative to foreign firms, including, especially, MNE sister subsidiaries in other countries. The authors also conducted 23 in-depth interviews with senior level managers (CEOs and senior vice presidents) of technology-based firms, including 10 subsidiaries of foreign-owned MNEs, which validated our analysis of the interplay between LAs and FSAs. Findings: The findings reveal that since inception, Belgian manufacturing operations experienced an overall decay in their critical LAs by 23% on average. Despite this, several Belgian subsidiaries of foreign MNEs consider themselves as commanding a resource-base superior to that of the next-best-in-class subsidiaries. Furthermore, when assessing the dynamic interplay between LAs and FSAs, there is some evidence that the decay of LAs fueled the quest for – and firm-level journey toward – stronger FSAs. Originality/value: The originality of this study is the alternative perspective to the conventionally assumed "positive-positive" relationship between LAs and FSAs. Prior management research has not examined the impact of decaying LAs on new FSA-creation in the realm of technology-based manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to discuss the dilemma of global sustainable economic development and poverty alleviation in the context of the environmental concerns. Design/methodology/approach - A range of recently published literature focusing on the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) is reviewed. The arguments that are in favor and against the notion of poor being "market" are examined. The implications of increased consumption by the poor even while the developed countries maintain their levels of consumption are discussed. Findings - This paper argues that current levels of consumption by the developed world is not sustainable even as the world's poor begin to consume more to maintain a reasonable standard of living. New business models and models for sustainable development are called for. Research limitations/implications - Sustainable development is an extremely complex issue and it is impossible to address this complexity in a single article. Practical implications - The paper challenges businesses to develop new business models that have more stringent constraints imposed on them. Originality/value - This paper challenges the current norm of unbridled growth. The paper calls for academicians and practitioners to develop new models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two hypotheses concerning two variables that potentially influence the "add/drop" foreign market decisions of U S. exporters of sewing machines are developed and empirically tested. The variables are import market potential, and a surrogate measure of import market competitiveness. A third variable, concerning a developing country's "trade regime"—Import Substituting, Export Promoting (Bhagwati, 1978)—is employed as a control variable in the tests. The two hypotheses are confirmed, and the results shed light on how U S. exporters of sewing machines should analyze data on the three variables en route to adjusting their respective portfolios of export markets in a context of making add/drop foreign market decisions. The results of the research potentially contribute to three different literatures: the international marketing literature, the competitiveness literature and the "trade regime" literature in international economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to examine the relationship between sustainability reporting and bank performance after financial crisis in developed and developing countries. Design/methodology/approach: This study examines 882 banks from developed and developing countries covering 11 years after the 2008 financial crisis. The independent variable is environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores. The dependent variables are return on assets, return on equity and Tobin's Q. This study uses bank- and country-specific control variables to measure the relationship between sustainability reporting and bank performance. Findings: The findings deduced from the empirical results demonstrate that ESG improves banks' accounting and market-based performance in developed countries, supporting value creation theory. Using pooling regression and instrumental variable – generalized method of moments, this study finds that ESG weakens banks' performance in developed and developing countries. Originality/value: To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first study to investigate and compare the impact of sustainability reporting on banks' performance in developed and developing countries. The study found similarities in the impact of sustainability reporting and the improvement of banks' current and future performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]