Global Reach. Global Knowledge.

2009

Global Capital and National Institutions: Crisis and Choice in the International Financial Architecture

Alfaro, Laura
October 2009

All managers face a business environment in which international and macroeconomic phenomena matter. International capital flows can significantly affect countries' development efforts and provide clear investment opportunities for businesses. During the 1990s and early 2000s, the world witnessed an explosion in capital flows at the global level. Gross foreign assets and liabilities stood at two or three times GDP for many countries, as compared to just two decades ago. This explosive growth, especially in emerging markets, has been fueled both by changes in world politics (e.g., the end of the Cold War, collapse of the Soviet Union, shifting political climate in China, and political changes in Latin America and Asia) and advances in technology. Private capital flows-debt finance, equity capital, and foreign direct investment (FDI)-became larger than current and past official capital flows. This new era of foreign capital mobility has also been characterized by low interest rates in industrial countries, growing external imbalances in the U.S. economy, and the rise of China, all of which posed new challenges to policy management. In 2009, the global economy remained mired in a deep crisis following the subprime meltdown in the U.S. The situation was also a true testimony of how intertwined individual economies had become over the years. The effect of policies to deal with the ongoing global crisis and new policy choices remain to be seen. Understanding these phenomena-the determinants of capital flows, the effects of foreign capital on host countries, the impact of exchange-rate movements, and the genesis of financial and currency crises-is a crucial aspect to making informed managerial decisions. The cases in this book have been designed to give students an appreciation of the critical role of institutions and policies in affecting patterns of international capital flows and the abilities of government to manage them effectively. The case studies are tied together by two broad themes: (1) the determinants and effects of international capital, and (2) policy-makers' management of these flows. The cases approach these themes by exploring institutional detail in deep local context. The cases expose students to recent key events that have shaped the way economists think about these subjects. The events covered have a clear global perspective as the cases are set in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, as well as the United States. The cases also cover events that occurred during the last three decades as not only do they affect the business environment that managers face today but they also hold important lessons. An important feature the cases reveal is the cyclical nature of international capital flows. Global Capital and National Institutions: Crisis and Choice in the International Financial Architecture is composed of three intellectual segments: (1) Determinants and Effects of International Capital Flows, (2) Policies and Strategies for Harnessing the Benefits of Financial Globalization, and (3) Challenges and Policies of Large Economies. Chapter I presents a detailed overview of the cases and readings in the module and relates the cases included to the main patterns of international capital flows in the last thirty years. Finally, the chapter also presents the key insights from the field of international economics covered in the cases as well as the current state of debate among policy-makers.

Are Licensing Markets Local? An Analysis of the Geography of Vertical Licensing Agreements

Book Chapter in Bio-Pharmaceuticals in Location of Biopharmaceutical Activity

Alcácer, Juan, John Cantwell, and Michelle Gittelman
March 2009

As the value chain of the pharmaceutical industry disaggregates, upstream discovery is increasingly carried out by small research-specialized firms while downstream development, testing, and marketing is conducted by global pharmaceutical firms. Licensing plays an important role in this emerging division of labor. Alcácer and his co-authors theorize that, similar to markets for upstream inputs such as scientific knowledge, proximity also may matter for licensing, which they conceptualize as downstream end markets for small biotechnology firms. They examine whether co-location affects the likelihood of vertical licensing transactions between biotechnology firms and global pharmaceutical firms. Discussions with industry executives indicate that large firms search globally for in-licensing opportunities and that licensing transactions should not be sensitive to the geographic locations of the transacting parties. However, an analysis of compounds developed by small biotechnology firms licensed to global pharmaceutical firms suggests that licensing transactions are more likely to occur between firms located in the same geographic area. The results point to the possibility that licensing markets are sensitive to the proximity of the partners and that despite global search processes by multinationals in the pharmaceutical industry, licensing markets are localized.

2008

Learning in Environmental Policymaking and Implementation

Book Chapter in Strategic Environmental Assessment
for Policies: An Instrument for Good Governance, edited by Kulsum Ahmed and Ernesto Sanchez-Triana.

Ebrahim, Alnoor S. May 2008

This paper explores how "learning" occurs in the context of environmental policy formulation and implementation. Rather than viewing policy learning as a rational and technocratic process, the emphasis here is on the political and institutional contexts within which opportunities for policy learning emerge. In particular, opportunities for policy learning are examined with respect to: a) agenda or priority-setting on environmental issues; b) stakeholder access and representation in policy formulation; and c) accountability in implementation. Examples are drawn from the experiences of South Africa and Brazil. Several preliminary factors are identified that may enhance policy learning, while acknowledging the constraints of bounded rationality and relationships of power. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, 2008

2007

The Empire in One City? Liverpool's Inconvenient Imperial Past

Book chapter in Return to Imperial Trade? John Holt & Co (Liverpool) Ltd. as a Contemporary Free-Standing Company, 1945-2006

Decker, Stephanie
September 2007

John Holt & Co is one of a group of unlikely survivors from the imperial era: medium-sized firms that continue to trade between Europe and Africa and whose continued existence is only rarely commented upon. The Liverpool-based John Holt & Co with its Nigerian subsidiary John Holt PLC is an interesting case for a pilot study because the company returned in 2001 to an organizational form that is known as free-standing company in the historical literature on imperial business. These companies only had a small head office in the metropolitan country, often in major port cities or the capital, which supervised the operations in another, normally less developed, country, where all business and investment took place. Although frequently associated with imperialism, there is reason to believe that John Holt is not an isolated case of a company assuming this form. Holt and others function as intermediaries between global business, which rarely invests in small African markets and where commercial practices are often complicated, heavily based on personal contacts, and incompatible with the structures of large multinationals.

Manchester: Manchester University Press, forthcoming

A Gentler Captialism: Black Business Leadership in the New South Africa

Book chapter in Business Solutions for the Global Poor: Creating Social and Economic Value, edited by V. Kasturi Rangan, John A. Quelch, Gustavo Herrero, Brooke Barton

Hill, Linda A., and Maria Farkas
September 2006

John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2007