...Information Technology is having a tremendous impact on today's workplace in creating new ways of doing business. The expanding capabilities of networks, the extensive use of the Internet, and the radical improvements in personal computers are all contributing to creating a foundation for conducting business electronically, and bringing us into the age of electronic commerce (E-Commerce or EC). The advent of Internet-based business-to-business electronic commerce (B2B-EC) has brought about many benefits to enterprises in developed countries. It offers direct links between trading firms and their customers, which creates a new trading mechanism in a highly effective and efficient manner, thus reducing operating costs and achieving quick response time. As such, enterprises in developing countries have begun to apply B2B-EC to their businesses, in order to achieve these benefits as well. China has been developing dramatically these years, and has joined the WTO in 2001. However, B2B electronic markets are still in their early stages of development. Diverse aspects of consumer economy such as purchasing habits, payment methods and modes of exchange are different from those of the developed countries. These years, many corporate suppliers and customers in China are looking for Internet-based solutions to streamline their procurement procedures and to reduce the cost of establishing trading relationship by conducting trading transactions electronically (Martinsons, 2002). Due to...
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...Selected Problems of International Trade Explain the cases “ Dassonville”, “ Cassis de Dijon” and “ Keck” ( or Keck and Mithouard). The European Union was created on the principle to guarantee the free movement of goods, capital, services, and people within the EU's 27 member states1. The goal at that time was to increase the specialisation, competition with the goal to offer better quality of services to the consumer at a lower price, larger economies of scale, improved utilization of resources and intended to drive economic integration whereby the once separate economies of the member states become integrated within a single EU wide economy. All cases mentioned above, Dassonville, Cassis de Dijon and Keck & Mithouard, were related to national legal barriers impeding the free movement of goods within European Union. Concluding in all of them, the Court has said that discriminatory and non-discriminatory rules of member states (therefore not actions of private corporations or individuals) that hinder trade shall be illegal. In detail, in the case of Dassonville it was perfectly possible for a French seller of Scotch whisky to sell a non certified whiskey without the certificate of authenticity, when it was not in the neighboring Belgium where a trader selling the same whisky would be subject to restrictions that would effectively reduce its ability to compete with the French trader. In the Cassis de Dijon case, there was a regulation applying both to imports...
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...Harvard Business School 9-799-131 May 4, 2001 European Monetary Union In the spring of 1999, Romano Prodi, newly designated chairman of the European Commission, prepared to help create an economically integrated Europe. Since the introduction of the euro on January 1, Europe had been operating with a single currency—at least for business-tobusiness transactions. Despite some technical problems with the changeover and an 8% depreciation of the euro against the dollar, this extraordinary step toward integration had gone fantastically well. Western Europe continued to experience healthy growth—in excess of 2% annually—and the Commission was expanding its plans to further integrate Europe’s markets. But before real integration could be achieved, many more reforms would be needed. While the Commission recently concluded that “thanks to the Single Market Programme, today’s European 2 product markets work much better than they did in the 1970s,” they still exhibited wide price differentials, diverse regulations, and a lack of inter-European investment and competition. Capital markets had moved further, as members of the European Union had dropped regulations and encouraged competition across national borders. But even here, prices and margins remained high, and inter-European rationalization had only just begun. Finally, the markets for labor had barely begun to integrate. Here, high minimum wages, payroll taxes, unemployment benefits and diverse restrictions on flexibility...
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...third parties rely on information from an audit which is paid for by the company being audited. We are not aware of evidence suggesting that the courts in the UK have made, or are liable to make, excessive damages awards against auditors. Professional indemnity insurance is available, and LLP status – the chosen corporate form of many audit businesses – exists to protect partners' personal assets. The competition arguments 1.3 It has been argued that a cap on auditors' liability would however be procompetitive because it would lead to: • • • 1.4 a reduction in the barriers to entry and growth facing smaller audit firms the maintenance of competition between larger audit firms, including for non-audit work, and less risk of collapse of one of the Big Four. On the basis of the evidence available to us, however, none of these arguments appears compelling. First, the current liability position is a minor barrier to entry in comparison to reputation, third party perceptions, economies of scale, global networks, regulation, and various other impediments to the entry and growth of smaller audit firms. The liability position is symmetric as between all audit firms, so the introduction of a cap would not 1.5 Office of Fair Trading 1 appreciably alter the relative...
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...IMPEDIMENTS TO INTERNATIONAL HARMONIZATION Initially, the original idea to harmonize global accounting first met in St. Louis, Missouri in 1904. The idea floated for 62 years before the United State (US), Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) formed Accountants International Study Group (AISG) in which it purpose was to study and report on accounting practices in the three countries. Then in 1973, the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) was established and mandated to develop worldwide accounting Standards. In 1977, the AISG was disbanded and replaced by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) to developed and enhance a coordinated worldwide accounting profession with harmonized standards[1]. However, the goal towards international accounting harmonization does not come without certain impediments in which lead to the hindrance to the harmonization process. In support to the statement above, it was noted by Nobes and Parker (2010) that among the obstacles to harmonization were, the size of the present differences between the accounting practices of different countries, the main or predominant purposes of financial reporting which are varies in between countries, the lack of international regulatory agency, nationalism and the effect of economic consequences on accounting standards. The differences between accounting practices of different countries presently can mean such matters as accounting system classification, the financial reports users and...
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...export to the EU and North America, and many of those in the Philippines are also exporting to Japan. Collectively the 83 factories employed over 100,000 workers, the majority of whom were females under the age of 35. This report contains an executive summary of the findings, based on information collected from workers, factory management, supervisors, human resource staff and trade union officials. The research was carried out by the ITGLWF’s affiliates in each of the target countries, in some cases with the assistance of research institutes. The ITGLWF would like to express our gratitude to the Free Trade Zones and General Ser vices Employees Union, the ITGLWF Philippines Council, Serikat Pekerja Nasional and F GARTEKS SBSI. The International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF) is the global voice of textile, garment...
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...The New International Trade The “New” international trade refers to trade issues that are related to imperfect markets. The Infant Industry Argument The Argument: In some industries, new firms cannot compete with established firms because they don’t have enough experience. According to this argument, the government should use import barriers to protect these infant industries. The Learning Curve Describes the relationship between historical output and current average cost of production. Also called dynamic increasing returns-to-scale, learning-by-doing. [pic] The underlying economic assumption is that some production processes cannot be completely “learned” without actually producing. There are “tricks of the trade” that come only through experience. Ex: Japanese auto industry If an industry is characterized by learning-by-doing, then what is the proper policy response, if any? If perfect capital markets No policy response is necessary. Banks will finance the venture if it makes economic sense. Why might the market not work? Imperfect K markets Not enough banks, not large enough banks, no international borrowing. Gov’t has skills or information that the private sector doesn’t What could the gov’t do? Subsidize production to move down learning curve faster. Unlike an import tariff, this has no distortion on the consumption side. [pic] Lesson Gov’t should use policies which distort as few decisions as possible. Why might the gov’t still...
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...the major types of electronic markets and describe their features. 3. Describe the types of intermediaries in EC and their roles. 4. Describe electronic catalogs, shopping carts, and search engines. 5. Describe the various types of auctions and list their characteristics. 6. Discuss the benefits, limitations, and impacts of auctions. 7. Describe bartering and negotiating online. 8. Define m-commerce and explain its role as a market mechanism. 9. Discuss liquidity, quality, and success factors in e-marketplaces. 10. Describe the economic impact of EC. 11. Discuss competition in the digital economy. 12. Describe the impact of e-marketplaces on organizations. Content How Raffles Hotel Is Conducting E-Commerce 0. 2.1 Electronic Marketplaces 0. 2.2 Types of Electronic Markets: From Storefronts to Portals 0. 2.3 Intermediation and Syndication in E-Commerce 0. 2.4 Electronic Catalogs and Other Market Mechanisms 0. 2.5 Auctions as an EC Market Mechanism 0. 2.6 Bartering and Negotiating Online 0. 2.7 E-Commerce in the Wireless Environment: M-Commerce 0. 2.8 Issues in E-Markets: Liquidity, Quality, and Success Factors 0. 2.9 Economics of E-Marketplaces 0. 2.10 Competition in the Digital Economy 0. 2.11 Impacts of E-Markets on Business Processes and Organizations 0. 2.12 E-Reality Managerial Issues Real-World Case: Rosenbluth International–A New Way to Compete Appendix 2A Build-to-Order Production Answers to Pause/Break Section Review Questions ...
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...m.alhashmi@infotech.monash.edu.my Abstract Electronic commerce (EC) offers many benefits to organizations of any size including small to medium- sized enterprises (SMEs). At this stage, there is still a need for a better understanding of the potential and relevance of EC in developing countries as well as the behaviour of SMEs towards EC adoption. Moreover, there is still a need for a holistic view of how various widely known factors at the organization, industry and national levels affect EC adoption. Therefore, this study proposes a theoretical model of EC technologies adoption by SMEs in developing countries by incorporating various readiness factors identified in the literature that may determine EC technologies adoption by SMEs in developing countries. It then explores the influence of these factors on the adoption of different EC technologies. The environmental pressure is also considered in this study. Through a survey of SMEs within the grocery industry in Malaysia as an example of a developing country, the study demonstrates how various readiness factors influence the adoption of various EC technologies differently. This study provides additional insights into EC adoption by SMEs in developing countries and has important implications for research and practice. 1. Introduction The emergence of electronic commerce (EC) technologies has affected many industries and organizations. In this study, EC is defined as the process of buying, selling, transferring or exchanging...
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...Internet or intranets. Refers to a broader definition of EC, not just the buying and selling of goods and services, but also servicing customers, collaborating with business partners, conducting e-learning and conducting electronic transactions within an organization. 2 E-Business EC can take several forms, depending on the degree of digitization of the Product (service) sold The process e.g. ordering, payment, fulfilment etc. The delivery method. 3 A product may be physical or digital, the process may be physical or digital and the delivery method may be physical or digital. In traditional commerce, all dimensions are physical. In pure EC, all dimensions are digital. All other dimensions are partial EC. 4 EC Organizations Purely physical organizations are referred to as brick and mortar (old economy organizations), whereas companies that are engaged in only EC are considered virtual or pure-play organizations. Clicks and mortar organizations are those that conduct some EC activities, usually as an additional marketing channel. 5 Classification of EC by the Nature of the Transactions and the Relationships Among Partners B2B B2C All participants in B2B EC are either businesses or other organizations. B2C EC includes retail transactions of products or services from businesses to individual shoppers. Also called e-tailing. In B2B2C EC, a business provides some product or service to a client...
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...------------------------------------------------- BMAN31090 Comparative Industrial Relations To what extent does the current EU framework provide the basis for the reconciliation of social and economic rights in the areas of EU freedoms, posting of workers and industrial action? Discuss with reference to the situation in at least three of the core countries. Introduction: Since the formation of the European Union in the 1950s, there has been a constant tension between the market aim of the union and social policy. The enlargement of the EU in 2004 and 2007 deepened even further these misalignments and in some respects it can be argued that a tension between new and old Member States started to emerge. Arnholtz and Mailand (2013) argues that the social dimension of the EU is as old as itself. Nonetheless it was not until the early 1980s that the European Union started to gradually develop a genuine social dimension to complement economic integration. This social dimension includes directives that are considered to be 'hard-law' as well as 'soft-law' which deal with aspects such as 'Open Methods of coordination' and the voluntary agreements of social partners. The aim of this paper is to discuss the implications of economic and social policies in the European labour market. In order to get the argument across, the emphasis will be put on four major legal cases that were interpreted by the European Court of Justice and the implications of the rulings on several member...
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...T H E I N T E R N AT I O N A L M O N E TA R Y S Y S T E M AGENDA • Definition • History • Fixed Vs. Floating • Coalitions • Roadmap • Q&A DEFINITION • Sets of internationally agreed rules, conventions and supporting institutions, that facilitate international trade, cross border investment and generally the reallocation of capital between nation states. H I S T O R Y O F T H E M O N E TA R Y S Y S T E M Gold Standard 1870 1944 Nixon Shock 1971 1976 Bretton Woods Jamaica Agreement T H E G O L D S TA N D A R D T H E G O L D S TA N D A R D • When International trade was limited in volume, payment for goods purchased from another country was made in gold or silver. • As the volume of international trade expanded in the wake of the Industrial Revolution, a more convenient means of financing international trade was needed. T H E G O L D S TA N D A R D • The solution adopted was to arrange for payment in paper currency and for governments to agree to convert the paper currency into gold on demand at a fixed rate. = T H E G O L D S TA N D A R D • 1880: Most of the world’s trading nations including Great Britain, Germany, Japan, and USA adopted the Gold Standard. • Given the Gold Standard, the value of any currency in units of any other currency was easy to determine. T H E G O L D S TA N D A R D • The Gold Standard acts as an adjustment mechanism, which achieves the Balance-of-Trade Equilibrium...
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...Directive Break 1 European Union Introduction to European Directives. Cyprus, Czech Republic Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta Slovakia Slovenia Turkey January 2006 KM Loi & Associates 1 January 2006 KM Loi & Associates Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom 2 New Approach – 98/34/EC In 1985, a Directive on New Approach to Technical Harmonization and Standards was established to promote free movement of goods within Europe. It agreed to gradually remove the product regulatory and safety requirements of each individual country and replace them with essential requirements to cover all of Europe based on prevention of new barriers to trade, mutual recognition and technical harmonization. January 2006 KM Loi & Associates 3 EU – Single Market EU Policy and Regulation EU Policy and Regulation EU Directives Essential Requirements Manufacturer Manufacturer or or Representative Representative Product and Services January 2006 KM Loi & Associates 4 Directive 98/34/EC A single market - December 31, 1992. • • • • Harmonization is limited to Essential Requirements. Only products fulfilling ER can be placed on the market and put into services. Published Harmonized standards are presumed to conform to corresponding essential requirements. Harmonized standards and technical specifications are voluntary and manufacturers are free to choose any route to meet compliance...
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................................ I Table of Abbreviations.................................................................................... II Table of Figures............................................................................................. III Table of Tables..............................................................................................IV 1 Introduction.................................................................................................. 1 2 Market Leadership as a Strategic Goal in Electronic Commerce ................ 1 2.1 Value Chains and Actors in EC............................................................. 1 2.2 Principles for Success in Electronic Commerce.................................... 3 2.3 Porter’s Branch Structure Analysis applied to EC Markets ................... 4 2.4 Context Factors and Value Creation Potentials in EC Markets ............. 8 2.5 First Mover Advantage and the Role of the Pioneer ............................. 9 3 Amazon.com – The Road to Market Leadership ....................................... 10 3.1 Company Portrait ................................................................................ 10 3.2 Redefining Book Retailing: Amazon vs. Barnes & Noble .................... 11 3.3 Realizing the...
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...Abstract This project was done in an effort to elaborate of the use of containers for the stowage of dangerous goods as well as the impacts it has. As well as how the International conventions, International Policies and Protocol for transporting dangerous goods are taking into consideration. Throughout this assignment, the main conventions will be examined and focused on such as MARPOL and SOLAS as well as policies established that deals with the transportation al Dangerous cargo that was established and enforced by the IMO (International Maritime Organization). There is also a list of dangerous goods and their classification that are mentioned by the UN (United Nation). Also giving the different classification of dangerous goods as well as what they are sub-divided into Classification of Dangerous Goods in the Shipping Industry The use of containers to aid in the transportation of dangerous goods has had a significant impact on the supply in many ways. A container can be defined as a portable or stationary hold, usually spaced in a rectangular form, which is used to store and container any item, good or commodity. While exploring different ways in which containers being used for DG’s impact, we will have to explore the different classification under which DG’s are placed as stated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Table 1: Classification of Dangerous Goods (IMO) | Class 1: | Explosives | Class 2: | Gases | Class 3: | Flammable liquids | Class...
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