Technology Competitiveness in Emerging Markets: The Case of the Brazilian Polymer Industry

The Brazilian polymer industry (plastics, rubbers, fibers, adhesives, paints, and varnishes) is the fastest growing segment of the Petrochemical Chain. Since the polymer industry is characterized as science based, the capacity to create technology is vital for its long-range survival in the market. This paper analyzes how Brazilian polymer firms maintain their technological competitiveness, explains the main modes of technology transfer, and evaluates the degree of technological dependence of this industry. The methodology consisted of a database built with data from the Brazilian Patent Office. To confirm the findings, interviews were conducted with staff members from seven Brazilian polymer firms. The data base analysis and the interviews reveal that, in spite of the fact that Research and Development (R&D) and technological innovation have a fundamental role in their competitiveness, the firms are technologically dependent upon foreign suppliers.     

Institutional competitiveness in the global economy: Denmark,the United States,and the varieties of capitalism

Despite high taxes, a large welfare state, and much economic regulation, Denmark competes successfully against other advanced capitalist economies. Denmark’s success is based in large part on its institutional competitiveness – its capacity to achieve socioeconomic success as a result of the competitive advantages that firms derive from operating within a particular set of institutions. The institutional basis for successfully coordinating labor markets and vocational training programs are examined for Denmark and the US – two countries that were very different institutionally but very successful in the 1990s and in the 2000s. We show that there is no one best way to achieve success in today’s global economy, except with respect to social inequality; that the mechanisms underlying institutional competitiveness are more complex than often recognized; that institutional hybrids can be as successful as purer political economic cases; and that high taxes and state spending can enhance socioeconomic performance. As such, this paper challenges both neoliberalism and the varieties of capitalism school of comparative political economy.     

Institutional competitiveness,social investment,and welfare regimes

Are the rather generous welfare regimes found in most European countries sustainable; that is, are they competitive in a globalizing economy? Or will they, on the contrary, be crowded out by the more austere and less expensive regimes generally found in liberal Anglo‐Saxon countries? We first discuss this issue conceptually, focusing on the notions of institutional competitiveness, social investment, and short‐term and long‐term productivity. We then briefly present the results of an empirical study of 50 social indicators of policies and outcomes in 20 Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) countries during the early 2000s. We conclude that welfare regimes have not been forced to converge through a “race to the bottom.” There remain three distinct ways to face the “trilemma” of job growth, income inequality, and fiscal restraint: Nordic countries achieve high labor market participation through high social investment; Anglo‐Saxon countries attain the same objective through minimal public intervention; while Continental European countries experience fiscal pressures because their social protection schemes are not promoting participation to the same extent.     

“钻石体系”下的山西煤炭产业竞争力研究

波特的“钻石体系”强调在没有要素禀赋的情况下，企业如何抓住每个环节主动提高国际竞争力而非被动依赖先天优势，该分析范式完全适合对山西煤炭产业竞争力的分析。目前影响山西煤炭产业竞争力的主要因素有：生产要素、国内市场需求、企业战略、结构及同业竞争等，面对机会与挑战并存的态势，山西煤炭产业必须充分发挥非天然资源的其他生产要素的优势，获得相关产业如电力、钢铁产业的支持，加强同业合作，改变煤炭产业内部恶性竞争的局面，真正提升自身的竞争力。     

区位选择对企业竞争力提升的影响

作为企业生产经营活动中应考虑的一个重要因素,区位选择通过对企业的成本、收益、资源配置效率、市场份额以及文化氛围等因素的影响并进而在相当程度上影响着企业竞争力的提升。区位选择对企业竞争力的相关影响,从现阶段全球大公司总部迁移的趋势中得到体现。     

How to change other people's institutions: discursive entrepreneurship and the boundary object of competition/competitiveness in the German banking sector

Abstract

The paper explores recent public debates about the structure of the financial system in Germany. It pays particular attention to their symbolic-strategic dimension, that is, to attempts by several institutional entrepreneurs to reformulate the criteria of organizational legitimacy, concentrating on the sense-making and legitimization processes involved in institutional persistence or change. The paper discourse-analyses a campaign by institutional entrepreneurs – mainly representatives of commercial banks – who attempted to homogenize the criteria of organizational legitimacy in the German banking sector by questioning the fundamentals of the three-pillar system and the non-commercial banks. Institutional entrepreneurs are understood as discursive entrepreneurs whose actions refer to institutionalized generalizations of value. In the case of the financial sector in Germany, it was the generalized value of competition/competitiveness that served as a discursive device to legitimize the attempts of commercial banks to alter the institutional structure.     

The gender politics of economic competitiveness in Malaysia's transition to a knowledge economy

Abstract

Many academic commentators have pointed to how the widening and deepening of a neoliberal reform agenda in Southeast Asia has brought about the end of developmental forms of state governance and the emergence of less directly market interventionist states pursuing economic ‘competitiveness’. In this paper, I note how notions of competitiveness are increasingly fused with ideas regarding the contribution of gender equity and women's empowerment to national economic success. However, drawing upon a case study of Malaysia, this paper highlights how government policies stressing both the marketisation of social reproduction and the need to expand women's productive roles are constantly brought into tension with embedded social structures. Such an emphasis is essential to any understanding of the role of the Malaysian state in economic development – a role that has been fundamentally shaped by a localised politics of ethnicity. The paper draws upon examples from government policy-making that conceptualise women as key workers in the emerging knowledge-driven economy and as microentrepreneurs driving pro-poor economic growth and illustrates how such policies are brought into tension with traditionalist discourses concerning the appropriate role of women in society.     

我国城市商业银行竞争力实证研究

随着金融体制改革的不断深入,我国商业银行面临很多的机遇,同时遇到新的挑战。本文运用因子分析法,对我国16家城市商业银行的竞争力状况作了综合评价和排名,并且分别比较16家城市商业银行各自的竞争优势。结果显示,城市银行的竞争力主要依靠整体水平的提高来实现,而且规模水平在竞争力中占极大的比重,风险管理能力次之。因此,规模水平和风险管理能力是制约商业银行竞争力提高的主要瓶颈。     

数字经济时代的新型国际竞争北大核心

数字竞争力是数字经济时代塑造新型国际关系和国际体系的核心力量。数据作为新型生产要素和数字竞争力的核心要素,不仅加速了数字企业竞争力的形成,同时也为新型数字巨头的垄断创造了必要条件。值得重视的是,数字企业在给国家科技研发带来积极影响的同时,其垄断本身也给市场竞争和社会公平带来了负面问题,导致出现全球性数字寡头反垄断的难题。因此,需要在国际竞争的大背景下,进一步认识反垄断和技术保护的关系,并在保障数字科技企业核心竞争力中进行反垄断,提升国家数字竞争力和维护国家数据安全,进而强化国家在国际体系中的数字权力地位。