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Why have so many firms in emerging economies internationalised quite aggressively in the last decade? What competitive advantages do these firms enjoy and what are the origins of those advantages? A distinguished group of international business scholars tackle these questions and more based on a shared research design.

Using detailed trade and firm-level financial data, the authors demonstrate, for example, that while links between finance and competitiveness are strong, they are not uniform across sectors and countries. This book examines the link between finance and competitiveness at the macro and sectoral levels in seven different countries: Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Africa, and Tunisia, and investigates key international issues, such as the evidence of the impact of exchange rate variability on trade, patterns in bank lending, and trade openness and development.

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are frequently exposed to a variety of difficulties during global epidemic crises like coronavirus (COVID-19), which may even threaten their lives. The purpose of this study explores the influencing factors of Taiwan’s companies between small and medium-sized enterprises and micro-enterprises on the choice of the cross-border e-commerce platform. The findings are defined as taking into account small and medium-sized businesses and microenterprises when choosing cross-border e-commerce through a literature review and an examination of secondary data among the 10 participating businesses through interviews in various regions and business sectors in Taiwan. In this case we used study-based research, which included five small, medium-sized, and micro-enterprises, as well as five cross-border e-commerce projects and the company’s management senior officers. According to the study’s emphasis on the economic, social, technological, and legal aspects of various firms, these factors lead to a variety of decisions regarding the best cross-border e-commerce platform. The case study approach was utilized in this investigation to confirm the consideration of micro-and small-sized businesses that took part in cross-border e-commerce project counseling. This study summarizes five types of enterprises with different capabilities: product enhancement, marketing enhancement, cross-border potential, knowledge-based enhancement, and cross-border start-up. According to the results, it was found that different enterprise capabilities will affect the choice of cross-border e-commerce platforms. These five capabilities also have different types of consideration factors; among them, SMEs pay attention to marketing, pricing, market analysis, culture, customer service, payment, logistics, certification, taxation, etc. In addition to theoretical implications, this research also gives small and medium enterprises and micro-enterprises practice when choosing cross-border e-commerce platform, as well as suggestions for future research.

The majority of developing countries in the Global South are evidently rich in natural resources, but paradoxically blighted by excruciating poverty and conflicts. This paradox of deprivation and war in the midst of plenteous resources has been the subject of great debate in international political economy in contemporary history. This book contributes to the debate by examining the underlying structures, actors and contexts of rentier politics and how they often produce and aggravate conflicts in the various extractive economies and regions of the Global South. The book critically explores the theories of rentier economies and natural resource conflicts, as well as the practical ramifications of rentier politics in the Global South with all their resonance for political economy and security in the Global North. Contents: Extractive economies and conflicts in the global South: re-engaging rentier theory and politics, Kenneth Omeje; Rentier politics, extractive economies and conflict in the global South: emerging ramifications and theoretical exploration, Usman A. Tar; Anatomy of an oil insurgency: violence and militants in the Niger delta, Nigeria, Michael Watts; Nationalization versus indigenization of the rentier space: oil and conflicts in Nigeria, Ukoha Ukiwo; Greed or grievance? Diamonds, rent-seeking and the civil war in Sierra Leone (1991-2002), John M. Kabia; Politics and oil in Sudan, Peter Woodward; São Tom nd Príncipe: the troubles of oil in an aid-dependent micro-state, Gerhard Seibert; Rentier politics and low intensity conflicts in the DRC: the case of Kasai and Katange provinces, Germain Tshibambe Ngoie and Kenneth Omeje; Thugs' paradise, agencies' guinea pig and the natural resource intrigue: the civil war in Liberia, T. Debey Sayndee; Resource exploitation, repression and resistance in the Sahara-Sahel: the rise of the rentier state in Algeria, Chad and Niger, Jeremy Keenan; Oil sovereignties in the Mexican Gulf and Nigerian Niger delta, Anna Zalik; Extractive resources and the rentier space: a South American perspective, Julia Buxton; Rentier states and war-making: the United Arab Emirates and Iraq in comparative perspective, Rolf Schwarz; Rethinking the rentier syndrome: oil and resource conflict in the Persian Gulf, Dauda Abubakar; Index. Kenneth Omeje, University of Bradford, UK

Purpose The adoption of e-commerce in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is a much researched topic in developed and developing nations. The application of mobile devices, and social media networks (SMNs) such as Facebook has revolutionalised the e-commerce adoption process in SMEs. However, research into this area is still developing and there is a dearth of knowledge on how SMEs in developing countries enact and apply this phenomenon. The purpose of this paper is to explain how e-commerce entrepreneurship using SMN is conceptualised and applied in SMEs, and to highlight factors that influence this e-commerce innovation. Design/methodology/approach An interpretive and qualitative case study approach was adopted as a methodological foundation in a firm pseudo-named, myBot. The study employed the contextualism theory as a meta-theoretical framework to conceptualise and analyse the e-commerce entrepreneurship process in the firm. The study employed face-to-face semi-structured and unstructured interviews with the manager as primary means of obtaining in-depth information. Further information was obtained through website content analysis and document analysis of the firm’s reports and observations. Findings The results unearth a socially constructed feature of e-commerce entrepreneurship that draws from myBot’s manager’s innovative ability to use Facebook and e-mail to increase sales through its niche market. Factors that propelled e-commerce entrepreneurial activities using Facebook include trust, commitment and innovativeness. Research limitations/implications The revelation of this study may have changed due to the dynamic changes in the information and communication technology industry and how these are employed in a particular country and region of the world. Thus, results may not be generalised to other contexts. The study has a methodological limitation as it only had one informant who could respond to the study questions. Practical implications The study provides a practical application of using the contextualism theory to analyse e-commerce entrepreneurship in SMN. Social implications The application of e-commerce using SMNs such as Facebook widens the scope of tools that SMEs may use. Originality/value The study provides a theoretical lens into the understanding of an e-commerce entrepreneurship process using a contextualism theory. The paper showcases how e-commerce using Facebook can be portrayed in a developing country context.

E-business benefit both large and small businesses. However, the aggregate cost of successful online trading, including initial and recurring costs, continues to pose a great challenge to micro-enterprises. For these willing businesses, the result is a mere web presence and for some, the thought of trading online is a no-go area. Using a multi-case study qualitative approach, this study adopts the technology-organisation-environment theoretical lens to explore empirically the strategies used by e-retail microbusinesses to potentially advance their e-business adoption. The findings revealed the actual cost of adoption, the technology-organisation-environment strategies in use to lower the cost barrier, and how the pursuit of the cost barrier simultaneously lowers some adoption barriers outside the cost factors. The study also highlighted the intrinsic idiosyncratic nature of small firms’ ecosystems, and the fact that government resources and services provided by companies, both private and public, could effectively reduce the costs associated with e-business adoption.

E-commerce has the potential to address problems in the agricultural supply chain and support the implementation of rural revitalization strategies. Previous research has largely focused on the business models of rural e-commerce platforms, but has not examined the mechanisms by which they can optimize and reconfigure the agricultural supply chain. This study aims to fill this gap through a case study of Tudouec, a potato e-commerce platform in Inner Mongolia, China. The study employs a single-case study method and utilizes data from interviews, fieldwork, and secondary sources. The findings show that Tudouec is a multi-functional platform offering technical support, warehousing, logistics, supply chain finance, and insurance, among other services. It not only serves as a multi-channel information management platform, but also enhances supply chain capabilities through the interaction of information flow with capital and material flows. This rural e-commerce model addresses the limitations of traditional agricultural models and promotes poverty reduction and rural revitalization. The study’s main contribution is in demonstrating the potential for the Tudouec model to be applied to other agricultural products and in other developing countries.

Sustainability in fashion e-commerce has attracted the attention of researchers because of its negative impact on the environment. After the advent of social media, sustainable fashion e-commerce is further challenged by the success of marketing practices and their impact on consumer behaviors. As a result, this study aims to positively affect consumer behaviors using social media texts in sustainable fashion marketing. It took a sustainable fashion brand named OnTheList as a case study, and examined its Facebook posts based on the mixed analysis of text mining and ANOVA. The results show that sustainability-related texts have a positive impact on consumers’ liking and commenting behaviors, and price-related texts positively affect consumers’ sharing and commenting behaviors. However, consumer behaviors are not significantly affected by social media texts related to brands and products. As such, the study contributes to the theoretical and managerial implications of current sustainable fashion e-commerce, especially in developing countries.

The literature on tobacco has traditionally focused on health effects, public policies for tobacco control, and smoker profiles. However, there is a notable gap in understanding the supply chains and industry practices within the tobacco market. This paper addresses this gap by examining the structure of the tobacco market in Lebanon. Using an exploratory qualitative research approach, this paper maps the tobacco supply chain in Lebanon and investigates the interactions among various stakeholders, including key policymakers, regulators, researchers, and industry experts, as well as their underlying interests. Lebanon is a compelling case study due to its high smoking prevalence, the presence of a state-owned tobacco monopoly (the Regie Libanaise de Tabacs et Tombacs (Regie)), and the ongoing financial crisis that has affected various sectors, including the tobacco industry. The findings reveal three key issues: a complex political economy centered around monopolization and conflicting interests, the absence of a clear national strategy on tobacco leading to ineffective policy formulation, and inefficient tobacco cultivation practices requiring reforms for sustainable agricultural development. To address these issues, it is proposed to foster a more competitive and revenue-efficient tobacco market through the dissolution of the Regie monopoly via horizontal and vertical integration. This includes adopting an excise-specific tax on domestically manufactured tobacco goods and optimizing sales taxes on locally traded items. Secondly, expanding antitrust laws to encompass the tobacco industry and introducing legislative measures for fees and taxes are recommended to create an enabling environment for competition and revenue generation. Thirdly, reforming tobacco cultivation practices requires abolishing the current cultivation licensing framework, offering financial compensation to existing license holders, and supporting farmers in transitioning to alternative crops.