Journal Press India®
The team of FOCUS is thankful to its readers and authors for their continued support and patronage in making FOCUS a constructive forum for sharing new and insightful ideas in international business. This issue of FOCUS is an amalgam of new and emerging issues such as China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative and Blue Ocean Strategy as well as issues which have always deserved attention in IB literature such as Regional Trade Agreements, FDI and economic growth, and the role of different factors in investment growth.
The paper by Dr. S. P. Sharma and Mr. Rohit Singh discusses the contemporary issue of China’s OBOR initiative and its ramifications for India. There are serious concerns that have been expressed by India over this initiative, which is believed to have significant economic and geopolitical implications for Asia. The paper discusses the intentions of China behind this initiative while also laying down recommendations for India to tackle this issue. In view of the importance of Regional Trade Agreements for trade potential of countries, the paper by Ms. Rinku Mancoha
examines the impact of two significant RTAs of India, SAARC and APTA, on its trade potential by employing panel data regression on an augmented gravity model for 23 Asian countries which are India’s trading partners. The results indicate that both the trading blocs are facilitating India’s trade flows. China and Korea are found to dominate intra-APTA exports and India’s intra-SAARC exports are gaining more strength with passage of time.
A number of papers in this issue focus on the foreign investment aspect of international business. The paper by Dr. Ishfaq Ahmad Thaku examine the nexus of economic growth, trade openness and foreign direct investment (FDI) for India and China. The results reveal support for both export-led and FDI-led economic growth hypothesis in India, whereas in China support was found only for FDI-led growth hypothesis. However, in short-run support for export-led growth was found only in case of China. Another interesting paper by Ms. Neha looks into the role of taxation for FDI inflows and stock and examines if the impact differs across high, middle and low income countries. The tax environment is not found to be a significant determinant but variations are found across countries with different income levels. Mr. Prateek Kumar Bansal and Mr. Om Prakash Agrawal, in their paper on foreign institutional investment, study the relationship between the FII capital flows and the volatility of Indian stock market. Using GARCH model and other techniques, they find that there is strong relationship between the FIIs and the stock market return. Another paper by Mr. Shukrant Jagotra and Ms. Deepika Kamboj examine the pertinent considerations for Electric Vehicles adoption. They conclude that while power utilities need to stress on building charging infrastructure, planning renewable capacity additions and reducing charging time, the automakers should focus on increasing investments in R&D, developing or acquiring EV expertise, and raising awareness among others to increase EV penetration.
This issue includes an interesting case study by Dr. Kawal Gill and Ms. Panya Baldia that focuses on the legal and economic analysis of ‘The European Communities – Regime for Importation, Sale and Distribution of Bananas Case’, a landmark judgement in WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body’s history. The paper analyses trade data to arrive at its conclusions on the legal rationale behind the verdict while also scrutinizing the sectoral as well as overall economic impact of the case on the parties to the dispute.
The review paper in this issue by Dr. Piyush D. Chadarava focuses on the concept of ‘Blue ocean strategy’ which highlights the importance of reconstruction of market boundaries which make competition irrelevant. The review of literature enables an understanding different framework and tools that can be applied in current business, to come out from competition and sail in an uncontested market.
We hope this issue of FOCUS offers an interesting and insightful reading by addressing diverse and contemporary themes in international business. We continue to look forward to feedback and suggestions from our readers and thank our authors for their valuable contribution.
Dr. Niti Bhasin
Editor