Volume 28 (2018): Issue 3 (September 2018)

The paper explores the association between economic competitiveness and inclusive development in 101 economies based on data provided by the 2018 World Economic Forum reports. Coefficients of ranks correlation and cluster analysis are used in this view. The values of Competitiveness Index and of Inclusive Development Index delivered by the 2018 World Economic Forum reports are considered. Economic competitiveness and inclusive development are positively associated in our sample of 101 economies and the correlation is stronger in the emerging countries as in the group of advanced economies. Among the advanced economies the mean scores of GCI and IDI are higher than in the group of emerging countries showing a better coordination of economic and institutional factors driving competitivity as well as inclusiveness. Countries belonging to a geographical region/continent/economic group are not grouped in the same cluster, emphasizing disparities among countries at regional/continental/economic group level. In the group of emerging economies, the disparities regarding competitivity and inclusiveness are lower than those among the advanced economies, the clusters are closer to one another and they are more homogeneous. Greater competitivity and economic performance can generate socioeconomic inequity that should be corrected through appropriate economic and social policy measures aimed to lead to wider distrbution of income and social inclusiveness.

This paper provides a conceptual analysis of government debt servicing in Zimbabwe from 1980 to 2015. The mounting debt burden arising largely from nonconcessionary foreign loans since the 1980s, and the economic hardships that characterise the country beginning the late 1990s, caused dreadful public debt servicing challenges. Thus, the paper discusses the public debt service reforms and policies; trends; and problems in Zimbabwe over the review period. In the paper, it was identified that between 1983 and 1997, the government’s debt servicing costs were growing exponentially, resulting in liquidity challenges. However, between 1998 and 2015, the country had plunged into public debt service overhang, with public debt servicing liabilities exceeding the country’s foreign exchange earnings. Notwithstanding the various public debt servicing reforms to boost domestic revenues, Zimbabwe, as many other developing countries, still faces a number of debt servicing problems. Among others, these include: high government debt, low industrial and export competitiveness, narrow revenue base and subdued investor confidence. The paper recommends the government of Zimbabwe to undertake the following measures, among others, aimed at either boosting or expanding the revenue base: (i) improving tax enforcements; (ii) mobilising the informal sector; and (iii) expanding the productive capacity of public entities.

Pakpak Bharat Regency is an area with the lowest Gross Regional Domestic Product and Income percapita from 33 regency/city in North Sumatera Province. Because of this problem, to be important to know how the base sectors can improve the economy of Pakpak Bharat Regency. In this research, the study aims: (1) To know the base sectors in the economy of Pakpak Bharat Regency (2) To know the sector clasification of Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) in Pakpak Bharat Regency (3) To know how the base sectors effect the Gross Regional Domestic Product of Pakpak Bharat Regency. The data used in this study is secondary data and readings related to research. The tests used in this study are Klassen Typology, Location Quotient, and Least Square test. The research finds that: (1) the economics of Pakpak Bharat Regency is divided into several quadrants, is advanced and rapidly growing sectors (Quadrant I), advanced but depressed sectors (Quadrant II), potential sector (Quadrant III), and lagging sector (Quadrant IV). (2) sectors classified as advanced sectors in Quadrant I and Quadrant II (amounting to 4 sectors) are basic sectors in Pakpak Bharat Regency with LQ>1. (3) there is a positive and significant influence between the base sector on the GRDP of Pakpak Bharat Regency.

Using efficient marketing strategies for understanding and improving the relation between vendors and clients rests upon analyzing and forecasting a wealth of data which appear at different time resolutions and at levels of aggregation. More often than not, market success does not have consistent explanations in terms of a few independent influence factors. Indeed, it may be difficult to explain why certain products or services tend to sell well while others do not. The rather limited success of finding general explanations from which to draw specific conclusions good enough in order to generate forecasting models results in our proposal to use data driven models with no strong prior hypothesis concerning the nature of dependencies between potentially relevant variables. If the relations between the data are not purely random, then a general or flexible enough data driven model will eventually identify them. However, this may come at a high cost concerning computational resources and with the risk of overtraining. It may also preclude any useful on-line or real time applications of such models. In order to remedy this, we propose a modeling cycle which provides information about the adequacy of a model complexity class and which also highlights some nonstandard measures of expected model performance.

Culture is a concept with different meanings, which is in close contact with the business world as well. Its influence on managerial activities within current organizations cannot be questioned, especially in the existing political, economic and social context. Nowadays, one of the specific ways of formulating and implementing strategies at the level of companies is related to the change of organizational culture. This paper aims to highlight, from a managerial perspective, the way in which the existing strategies at the organizational level are influenced by different cultural contexts. Sometimes strategy can be considered as a variable determined and constrained by the culture in which it is defined. It is not limited to the reflection and expression of culture but rather influences and changes it.