Search results for "Economic system"

Finnish–Chinese investment negotiation: power positioning and search for common ground

2018

This article explores what kind of a role ‘the rise of China’ plays in negotiation and searches for common ground between Finnish and Chinese representatives in the context of Chinese investment, t...

Producing social mobility. Class and Travel in the Romanian Novel 1901-1932

2020

The present article addresses the Romanian novelistic production between 1901 and 1932 in the attempt of identifying a series of patterns regarding the protagonists’ social mobility. Starting with the most mentioned destinations throughout the novels, I analyse how and why the different social classes travel and try to determine the landmarks between which they dispute their physical presence, on the one hand, and their aspirations, on the other. On this basis, the second part of the article conducts a quantitative analysis of the major means of transport in the period – the train, the tramway, the coach/carriage, the automobile, the aeroplane, the ship, and the waggon – and attempts to pin…

Co-operative wineries: Temporal solution or efficient firms? The Spanish case during late Francoism, 1970–1981

2015

Part of economic theory has regarded co-operative firms as useful tools for dealing with market failures during periods of economic contraction, but also as suffering severe efficiency problems during periods of growth. The main aim of this article is to test this hypothesis in the case of Spanish co-operative wineries during the years of late Francoism. In order to do this, the balance sheets of 75 co-operative firms from the 1970s have been subject to financial-ratio analyses. The main conclusion is that these firms were inefficient due to their excessive financial debt. The Spanish Francoist government promoted their creation and granted financial aid – for their value as social and econ…

The Development of Territorial Cohesion Policies in Latvia

2011

Abstract This article examines how territorial cohesion policies have taken shape in Latvia in response to European debates on the subject. It argues that the conceptualization of territorial cohesion in Latvia is closely linked to the country's historical development path and primarily reflects national concerns with social cohesion. While Latvian national and regional level institutions rely on open processes of policy-making and stakeholder involvement, which were developed during the period of post-soviet transition when the country's planning system and regional policy approach were reformulated, the same open and consultative approach is not always evident during the drafting or consi…

DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES IN REGIONS OF LATVIA

2021

For successful economic transition to the new stage of development improvements in business environment, as also the entrepreneurswho are ready to start your own business and to set up new companies. One of the main challenges the EU Member States face isthe need to boost their level of entrepreneurship and to become more competitive in the global market. That was one of the mainobjectives set by the Lisbon European Council, in March 2000, with a view to improving the Union’s performance in terms of employment,economic reform and social cohesion. Entrepreneurship is not only a driving force in the creation of new jobs, but it alsoincreases and enhances competitiveness and growth, personal f…

EU Cohesion Policy (Open Access)

2016

COMPLEMENTARITY BETWEEN LOCAL KNOWLEDGE AND INTERNATIONALIZATION IN REGIONAL TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS

2006

Trade, foreign direct investment, and inter-regional R&D spillovers facilitate competition, the spread of knowledge, and the adoption of more advanced technologies, which in turn hastens total factor productivity (TFP) growth. The spread of these efficiency gains from internationalization requires a sufficient local knowledge to enable them to be adapted to the domestic productive environment. Thus, higher local knowledge and internationalization will lead to TFP growth, and the greater the complementarity between variables the higher the TFP growth. We test the complementarity hypothesis using Spanish regional data over the period 1980–1995 in which both regional local knowledge and intern…

University Mergers in Finland: Mediating Global Competition

2014

University mergers have become a common strategy for increasing global competitiveness. In this chapter, the authors analyze the implementation of mergers in Finnish universities from the perspective of social justice as conceived within Finland and other Nordic countries.

Left-Authoritarians and Voter Turnout in West European Countries

2017

Parties with a left profile on economic issues and an authoritarian profile on socio-cultural issues have been largely absent from the supply side of the typical post-World-War-II policy space of West European democracies. As a result, citizens with economically left and socio-culturally authoritarian policy positions have faced difficulties in identifying parties that match their preference bundle. Building on previous inquiries into the party preferences of left-authoritarians, this study hypothesizes that the cross-pressures left-authoritarians typically encounter when looking for a party that matches their preferences translate into an overall lower likelihood to turn out to vote in nat…

Institutional Path Dependence in Competitive Dynamics: The Case of Paper Industries in Finland and the USA

2016

Prior research on competitive dynamics has failed to offer tools to understand distorted patterns of competition that emerge from distinct institutional and historical contexts. Our analysis suggests that a joint effect of institutional rules, governance structures, and shared cognition plays a pivotal role in firm-level competitive behavior and capability development. We show how globally significant market positions can result from specific institutional arrangements between firms and governments, especially if coupled with interfirm contractual commitments. Our results call for more attention to these interfirm commitments that are built on formal rules and governmental support, but whos…