...Adjustment ------------------------------------------------- Engy Naguib ------------------------------------------------- ‘Despite having their roots in a mixture of internal and external factors, the most appropriate response to current problems of economic performance in countries of the Middle East is to pursue stabilization and structural adjustment policies, supported by IMF/World Bank lending packages.’ Critically appraise this statement with reference to the recent experience of one MENA country of your choice. Many MENA countries have been facing significant economic hardships. This has forced the international community for economic intervention - serious interventions - to protect their interests in the form of economic reforms. Economic Reform and Structural Adjustment Programs had its failures, reflecting the failures of the post- Washington Consensus neo-liberal interventions in developing countries (Mitchelle, 1999). These failures have to reflect on choices of MENA countries as they are facing a cross-road. Forms of intervention varied in many ways after WWI, when political imperialism was done with its role in fostering mercantilist and conventional capitalism gains (Dillard, 1988). But these powers had to be maintained, so the economic intervention was more appealing than political, during the second half of the twentieth century. This paper argues that developing countries were victims of political and economic powers struggle for dominance during the...
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...Abstract Supply chain plays a critical role in the business operations as well as on the success or failure of companies. Carrefour is a well-known brand throughout the world. This case study report offers an understanding of the Carrefour Middle East operations. The report begins with an introduction of the company and its brief history, followed by its organizational structure and business model. The subsequent section explains the logistical and cross-functional drivers and their role in the Carrefour supply chain design. It is followed by Carrefour’s operational strategies in the Middle East and its value chain. Lastly, some of the existing supply chain challenges faced by the company in Middle East are explained followed by the roadmap ahead. Introduction Supply chain management is one of the key activities that determine the success of a company (Cambra and Polo, 2008; Quayle, 2003). Companies consider various key factors and practices while designing supply chain strategies. 1.1 Carrefour Company Background Carrefour was founded in 1959 on the basis of a collaboration between two budding entrepreneurs, Marciel Fourniel and Louis Defforey in Eastern France ( Carrefour History,2004). Carrefour was primarily geared towards being one of only a few free service supermarkets in France during this time due to the grocery store business being known as family run operations. In 1963, Carrefour invented a new concept : the hypermarket, and opened its first hypermarket ...
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...I certify that my work upholds the standards for Academic Honesty outlined in the Graduate Catalog. I have not: * Cheated Used or attempted to use crib sheets, electronic sources, stolen exams, unauthorized study aids in an academic assignment, or copied or colluded with a fellow student in an effort to improve my grade. * Fabricated Falsified, invented, or misstated any data, information, or citation in an academic assignment, field experience, academic credentials, job application, or placement file. * Plagiarized Used the works (i.e. words, images, other materials) of another person as my own words without proper citation in any academic assignment, including submission (in whole or in part) of any work purchased or downloaded from a Web site or an Internet paper clearinghouse. Additionally, works I have produced for prior classes have been properly cited and not represented (in whole or in part) as new work produced for this assignment. * Facilitated Academic Dishonesty Assisted or attempted to assist any person to commit any act of academic misconduct, such as allowing someone to copy a paper or test answers. Additionally, I certify that I have been informed of the resources provided by the university to teach students about academic honesty, including the Online Writing Center and Webster’s plagiarism tutorials. I understand that it is my responsibility to learn and apply the principles of academic honesty, and cannot argue ignorance should I be...
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... Strategy Consulting in the MENA Region “Promising investment sectors in the MENA region” The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region encompasses a diverse array of countries and economic activities, offering numerous opportunities for private equity investments. However, due to the global economic downturn that impacted the region in 2009 along with the Arab Spring that broke out in 2011, the overall performance of the MENA region and its investing scope were adversely impacted. The ongoing civil war in Syria that also affects Jordan and Lebanon, the insurgencies in Libya and Yemen and the overall spread of the terrorist group ISIS have participated in decreasing foreign direct investments over the last few years. Furthermore Egypt and Tunisia are still undergoing a fragile transition while Morocco and Jordan's liberalization reforms have yet to be fully implemented. In this context of general instability, investors are being extremely cautious and are now focused on markets where economic growth is driven by solid fundamentals and sectors that are resistant to the fluctuations in the global economic cycle. Investors are shifting towards defensive and less speculative sectors that offer turnaround and even high growth potential. The following report will investigate four of these sectors including healthcare, education, infrastructure and renewable energy. In order for the MENA countries to become predominant leaders in...
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...complete destruction.” (Cynthia Occelli) Furthermore, this quote perfectly resembles the hardships and difficulties that Piri Thomas and Maria Christina Mena faced in “Down These Mean Streets” and “My Protocol for Our Sister America”. They both illustrate situations and periods in the United States where many wouldn’t be able to comprehend unless they lived in those moments. In their writings, one can see the differentiations that Thomas and Mena express about their concerns. By both Thomas and Mena growing up in New York City, we see how different people react to change. Both Thomas and Pena portrayed their memories in a vivid and brutal way to express the troubles they encountered with identity and racial discrimination. How they dealt with their obstacles, showed their true colors and revealed...
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...1. Introduction The most important factor in the fate of societies and nations is command of energy. Energy is defined as the ability or capacity to do work. Energy policy in the European Union represents one of the core policies since the beginning of the European Integration. The treaty of Paris to establish a European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM or EAEC) were the first attempts to an energy cooperation within the European Community. As the size of the European Union grows (reached twenty eight member states as of March 2013), it needed more energy sources as energy plays an important role for economic development. Now the European Union is the largest importer of energy (oil and gas) in the world, and the second largest energy consumer. Therefore, member states of the EU need more secure access to energy resources. Beside the North-South and East-West energy corridors, Europe ingests the South-North corridor, connecting it with North Africa and the Middle East. In 2007 Oil and Gas Journal estimated stocks and supplies of oil at 114 billion barrel and natural gas at 13, 9 billion cubic meter. Almost one third of European imported oil comes either from the Middle East or from North-West Africa. Europe pipeline interests in the south are focused exclusively on natural gas. In 2006 Algeria delivered 16, 7% of Europe gas, and it’s considered to be the biggest third land delivers natural gas, including LNG (Liquefied Natural...
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...Financial Markets, Insurance and Entrepreneurship in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region Draft not to be cited February 27, 2013 1. Introduction The goal of the paper is to focus on the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and particularly those of the of the South of the Mediterranean, and examine the relationship between insurance – defined as the capability of covering the cost of future harmful events-and entrepreneurship broadly defined as the capability to start independent businesses activities and possibly introduce new combinations of productive factors. The analysis is based on the distinction between uncertainty and risk that Knight unveiled (Knight, 2012) arguing that risk involves situations where a decision maker face unknown outcomes but known ex-ante probability distributions, while uncertainty is characterized by situations in which the probability distribution of a random outcome is unknown. Consequently, while risk can be covered by insurance, uncertainty normally is not. The other pillar of this research is the role of entrepreneurship; a factor that the economic literature has not considered for long time and that in the last 20 years has become the center of any strategy for economic growth in emerging and advanced economies. The discovery of the role of entrepreneurs dates back to Schumpeter (Schumpeter, 1982a) who regards entrepreneurs as the engine of economic growth. Schumpeter (Schumpeter...
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...Hinnebusch, School of International Relations, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AX, Scotland, UK. Tel: 44-1334-462-861. E-mail: rh10@st-andrews.ac.uk Received: November 24, 2011 Accepted: April 26, 2012 Online Published: July 1, 2012 doi:10.5539/res.v4n3p18 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/res.v4n3p18 Abstract Europe’s relation with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is discussed in the context of normative (International Society) and materialist approaches (World System’s Theory). First, European imperialism’s export of a flawed Westphalian state system is summarized. How Europe is “caught” between MENA and the US and co-opted into a division of labour toward the region is then surveyed. The gap between the normative rhetoric and actual inequitable outcomes and structures constructed under the Euro-Mediterranean partnership is examined, looking at the three “baskets” of economic developmental, political reform and cultural convergence. Four “hard cases,” EU policies toward Palestine, Iran, Syria and Turkey, illustrate the ambiguities of the EU’s approach to MENA. MENA public opinion’s ambivalence toward Europe reflects these realities. The conclusion is that the EU’sMENA policy is caught between the rhetoric of post-colonialism and practices of neo-colonialism. Keywords: EU, Middle East, Euro-Mediterranean partnership, neo-liberalism 1. Introduction Europe literally made the contemporary Middle East states system. International society approaches...
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...Hikma Pharmaceuticals: an Emerging Markets Multinational By : Radi Haloub and John Anchor Industry Background The emergence of the pharmaceutical industry, in the late 1850s, was a breakthrough during which drug makers created the slogan “You Have a Problem, We Have a Pill” (Lynn, 1993: 5). This slogan reflected that fact that the pharmaceutical business was one of the world's largest industries, in addition to being one of the most profitable ones. Since that time, developments in medicine have not ceased to continue to serve humanity and prevent diseases through manufacturing, developing and promoting medications. The industry is highly controlled by healthcare authorities and governmental regulations, due to medical and safety concerns. For example, governments and authorities obligate firms to obey manufacturing and registration laws, storage conditions, labelling and packaging, product marketing, distribution, public awareness, prescription and patenting (John, et al. 2007), and this is what makes pharmaceuticals unique at the industry level. Pharmaceutical companies are classified according to their level of investment in Research and Development (R&D): the “Principal Companies” are the companies which have large investments in R&D to produce patented drugs, whereas “Generic Companies” produce offpatent drugs. Generic drugs (Generics or Branded Pharmaceuticals) are defined by Brems et al. (2011) as off-patent drugs which are not offered by the original manufacturer...
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...Bayt.com’s ‘Values, Ethics and Integrity in the MENA Workplace’, a poll recently conducted by the region’s number one job site, has revealed that despite respondents across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region considering top ethics and integrity to be very important in a company, more than half have at some point in their careers been asked to do something they considered to be somewhat challenging to their own set of personal values. For 98% of respondents, working for a company that has top ethics and integrity is important – ‘very important’ to 92.3%. Roughly three quarters (74.2%) consider the company they work for to have a high level of ethics and integrity, to ‘a large extent’ for 45.8% of respondents. Six in 10 state that their company has a written code of ethics, which 67.8% claim is fleshed out and well-communicated in a transparent manner. Ethics training is required at 68% of respondents’ companies, with 78.8% claiming that ethical criteria are included in the employee appraisal system. On the other hand, 17.2% say that their company is not at all transparent about its values, with a further 15% stating that the level of transparency is low. Top managers set a good example of ethical conduct, according to 68% of respondents, though only 47.7% consider, to a large extent, that their direct manager is someone with a high level of ethics and integrity. A quarter (23.3%) state that their direct manager may not be someone they see as having a high...
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...formalized specialty that requires a formal training except for GCP [14, 15]. The position of CRC does not necessitate a certain educational level, but usually a medical field Bachelor's degree along with clinical studies experience or closely related research experience is recommended [2]. The rapid population growth, need for medication, and widespread life-style related and rare genetic diseases in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region should have been met with large numbers of clinical studies. However, MENA countries sponsor only less than one percent of global clinical studies [16]. Accordingly, healthcare providers in MENA region are not fully aware of GCP guidelines and roles of CRC. Very few studies were conducted to explore the awareness of healthcare professionals in MENA region about GCP guidelines and responsibilities of CRC, e.g. a study carried out in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [17], and a study in India [18]. Therefore, this study was conducted trying to cover this gap through investigating the awareness of health care providers in MENA region regarding GCP guidelines, and explore their expectations of the roles and responsibilities of CRC. ...
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...Water and wind were used as mill-based energy sources. The millers obtained skill in the equipment and the design. The waterpower eventually came to be used on industries in Europe instead of milling grain. Europe’s conversion to milling had extreme impacts to their culture and didn’t affect MENA that much. During the end of the 19th century cities in Morocco had many horse mills but only some watermills. The mills in MENA were operated by animals. Commercialization altered the milling role around the 18th century and it enforced new duties for example cleaning up the grain, bolting the food, and blending up the flour. The miller also had to let his assistants to do more of the physical work and he had to be more of a business person. It was not uncommon for a miller to do some farming and many millers were also baker in a bakery. The millers...
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...This article was downloaded by: [University of Glasgow] On: 06 August 2013, At: 08:28 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Journal of Transnational Management Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wtnm20 Diversification, Strategy, and Stability of Lebanese Banks: A Non-Parametric DEA Approach Rock-Antoine Mehanna & Youssef Yazbeck a b a b Sagesse University, Furn el Shebak, Lebanon Saint Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon Published online: 14 Jun 2012. To cite this article: Rock-Antoine Mehanna & Youssef Yazbeck (2012) Diversification, Strategy, and Stability of Lebanese Banks: A Non-Parametric DEA Approach, Journal of Transnational Management, 17:2, 155-166, DOI: 10.1080/15475778.2012.676939 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15475778.2012.676939 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed...
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...deal with political risk. This is significant since political risk can have a substantial impact on firms, as current world events are showing in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Before I discuss this, firstly we need to understand what exactly is political risk. Essentially political risk is defined as the risk of losing money as a result of unstable governments or regulatory environments. Acts of terrorism, wars, and military coups are all extreme examples of political risk. Expropriation of assets by the government – or merely the threat – can also have a devastating effect on share prices as seen from the events in Syria, Libya, Egypt, Bahrain and Tunisia. All these countries highlight that the MENA nations have over the past few months witnessed unprecedented civil disturbances, along with mass demonstrations and disruptions to businesses. Egypt has over the years moved to become a manufacturing hub for many firms in the MENA region, while Tunisia has been a tourism sanctuary. However, these recent political problems and uncertainty around the old and new incoming governments have implications for company profits. The next part will untangle political risk and help develop some strategic options for firms to deal with future political risk. What caused this Political Risk? In the MENA region, the political unrest was caused by an increased toxic mix of high unemployment, high inflation, oscillations in fuel prices and long standing corrupt regimes. Broadly speaking...
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...Illicit Financial Flows From Developing Countries: 2001-2010 Dev Kar and Sarah Freitas December 2012 Illicit Financial Flows From Developing Countries: 2001-2010 Dev Kar and Sarah Freitas1 December 2012 Global Financial Integrity Wishes to Thank The Ford Foundation for Supporting this Project 1 Dev Kar, formerly a Senior Economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is Lead Economist at Global Financial Integrity (GFI) and Sarah Freitas is an Economist at GFI. The authors would like to thank Simón Ramírez Amaya, an intern at GFI, for assistance with data research as well as Raymond Baker and other staff at GFI for helpful comments. Any errors that remain are the authors’ responsibility. We are pleased to present here our analysis of Illicit Financial Flows From Developing Countries: 2001-2010. In our previous annual reports we have utilized the World Bank Residual model adjusted for trade mispricing, presented in both gross non-normalized and in filtered normalized calculations. In this year’s report we are adding a second form of analysis, the Hot Money Narrow model adjusted for trade mispricing, again presented in non-normalized and normalized calculations. The results for 2010 are summarized as follows: World Bank Residual Plus Trade Mispricing, Non-Normalized World Bank Residual Plus Trade Mispricing, Normalized Hot Money Narrow Plus Trade Mispricing, Non-Normalized Hot Money Narrow Plus Trade Mispricing, Normalized US$ 1,138 billion US$ US$...
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