Determinants of employment growth at MNEs:evidence from Egypt, India, South Africa and Vietnam

Many foreign investment operations into emerging markets are small, and are likely to have only a limited impact on the local economy. However, host governments often expect transfer of advanced technology from multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in these markets to local firms by way of inter-firm mobility of skilled labourers. The extent of such transfers would be limited, among other factors, by the size of the pool of skilled labourers that can potentially be mobile between MNEs and local firms. This, in turn, is determined by employment growth at the MNEs. We develop an empirical specification that models this employment growth, by drawing on both the economics and international business literature. This model is then estimated using firm-level data from four emerging markets. We find that wholly owned foreign direct investment operations have higher employment growth, while local industry and institutional characteristics moderate the growth effect. This suggests that policies encouraging foreign investors to set up in form of joint ventures may not actually raise the benefits for the host economy.

Determinants of entry mode choice of MNCs in emerging markets:evidence from South Africa and Egypt

It is now stylized that the importance of foreign direct investment for developing countries and emerging markets arises from the impact of the presence of multinational corporations (MNCs) in the host country on the productivity of local firms, by way of technology diffusion and competition. There is also general agreement that the extent of technology transfer by an MNC to a developing country affiliate depends on the extent of its control on the local affiliate and that, in turn, the extent of this control depends on the mode of entry of the MNC into the host country. However, the existing literature is based on the experience of developed countries and as such does not contribute to the literature on development economics. This article addresses this lacuna using unique firm-level data from South Africa and Egypt. Our results indicate that the determinants of entry mode choice not only differ between developed and developing countries, but also among developing countries. They also bring into question the role of MNCs in fostering productivity growth in developing countries.

Introducing International Accounting Standards to an emerging capital market:Relative familiarity and language effect in Egypt

The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of relative familiarity and language accessibility on the International Accounting Standards (IASs) disclosures when IASs are first introduced in an emerging capital market. The study focuses on the annual reports of listed non-financial companies in Egypt when IASs were first introduced. The method used applies a disclosure index measurement to a sample of listed company annual reports and evaluates relative compliance with IASs in relation to corporate characteristics. The results show that for relatively less familiar requirements of IASs, the extent of compliance is related to the type of audit firm used and to the presence of a specific statement of compliance with IASs. A lower degree of compliance with less familiar IASs disclosure is observed consistently across a range of company characteristics. Consideration of agency theory and capital need theory would lead to prior expectation of a distinction in disclosure practices between different categories of companies. The results were, therefore, counterintuitive to expectations where the regulations were unfamiliar or not available in the native language, indicating that new variables have to be considered and additional theoretical explanations have to be found in future disclosure studies on emerging capital markets. © 2003 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

Measuring accounting disclosure in a period of complex changes:the case of Egypt

Significant changes in accounting disclosure are observed in periods of economic change such as those relating to emerging capital markets and programs of privatization. Measurement of the level of accounting disclosure should ideally be designed to capture the complexity of change in order to give insight and explanation to match the causes and consequences of change. This paper shows the added interpretive value in subdividing the disclosure checklist to reflect the requirements of national accounting regulations, the location of disclosure items in the annual report, and limitations on the availability of regulations in official translation to the local language. Defining targeted disclosure categories leads to significance testing of specific aspects of changes in accounting disclosure in the Egyptian capital market in the 1990s. Strong correlation of disclosure with the presence of majority government ownership of the company and the relative activity of share trading supports the applicability of political costs and capital need theories, respectively. The relation between International Accounting Standards (IASs) disclosure and the type of audit firm points to additional theoretical explanations, including relative familiarity with the legislation and compliance features identifiable with the emerging capital market. The approach described in this paper has the potential for enhancing understanding of the complexity of accounting change in other emerging capital markets and developing economies.

Children’s access to beneficial information in Arab states: Implementation of Article 17 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates

In theory, the multiple platforms and transnational nature of digital media, along with a related proliferation of diverse forms of content, make it easier for children’s right to access socially and culturally beneficial information and material to be realised, as required by Article 17 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Drawing on data collected during research on children’s screen content in the Arab world, combined with scrutiny of documents collated by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which monitors compliance with the CRC, this paper explores how three Arab countries, Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates, presented their efforts to implement Article 17 as part of their periodic reporting on their overall performance in putting the CRC into effect. It uncovers tensions over the relationship between provision, participation and protection in relation to media, reveals that Article 17 is liable to get less attention than it deserves in contexts where governments keep a tight grip on media, and that, by appearing to give it a lower priority, all parties neglect the intersection between human rights in relation to media and children’s rights.

CIL 3.14147.5 – Trilingual dedication to the dei patriei and the Nile by C. Cornelius Gallus, first prefect of Egypt

Photographs and notes by A.E. Gordon