Muhammad Mahboob Ali

Comparative Positioning Of Small And Medium Enterprises In Bangladesh, Thailand And The Philippines

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a significant role in the nation’s economic development process. SMEs provide job opportunities, create wealth, promote modernization and contribute to technological changes. The Asia-Pacific Region is foreseen to be the next economic boom. A comparison of SMEs in Bangladesh, Thailand and the Philippines on their SMEs Landscape, Banking sector, Non-Banking sector and Capital Markets would give a picture of which strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats these countries face. The time period of the study is from August 2016 to January 2017. Based on the secondary sources of data, the research was conducted to examine real scenarios. The study aimed at getting information whether each country would have any benchmark to attain the best practices. The study found that SMEs credit and repayment schemes in these countries need to be gradually improved. Through proper utilization of SMEs, these countries can alleviate poverty and attain economic progress. Unfortunately, the informal sector of these countries is playing a large role. It should be transformed to formal sector by financial inclusion. This can be achieved by setting up SMEs in the formal sector .The creation of employment along with poverty reduction in the formal sector will enhance economic growth as well as fulfill the basic needs and create empowerment of people. Community banking is suggested to be introduced for accumulating micro-savings and allocating, distributing setting up SMEs in the formal sector through micro investment under the umbrella of community banking. Further, under the regional cooperation flagship of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Bangladesh and Thailand may work in collaborative manner in the SMEs sector. The Philippines may join the regional body of BIMSTEC and collaborate with SMEs at the regional level. This may lead to achieve some goals of sustainable development goals (SDGs). SMEs can work more rigorously for lower income group people to improve their living standard. The further research on these three countries can consider primary sources of data to find out the way to implement community bank for transforming micro savings to micro investment for removing income inequality, disparity and attaining social justice.

A poor country clothing the rich countries: case of garment trade in Bangladesh

The ready-made garment industry of Bangladesh is one of the largest formal manufacturing sectors. It has played a key role in the country’s process of industrialisation, empowerment of women, export oriented development and growth. Workers from poor socio-economic backgrounds are working in the garment industry. Their health, safety and working conditions are very poor and not protected. There is a lack of regular inspection and compliance with local law in buildings and factories. This led to the collapse of the eight story Rana Plaza building in the capital Dhaka on the 24th of April 2013, “killing 1,100 workers and 2,500 injured”2. The main aim of the study is to assess the impact of Rana Plaza Tragedy, where RMG workers make garments for multinational brands of Australia, Europe and USA, and the advantage which took these companies of the absence of labour laws, workplace health and safety standards, building standards, long working hours and low wages in Bangladesh. The study used both primary and secondary data including related case studies. The practical application of the study is to develop formal ethical, labour-law, health and safety standards for a factory worker; construction; institutions and courts for monitoring the supplier’s behaviour onshore and large multinational firms offshore. The study recommends to protect the rights of women workers who are sowing garments for the fashion conscious consumers from the developed countries. Future research will explore inclusive growth for workers and how to stimulate inclusive sustainable business for export led garment industry. these garments from developed countries should start a campaign of ethical purchase of RMG from those countries who provide health, safety measures, do not exploit women and children and follow the international labour law and construction standards, similar to the campaigns where carpets woven by children are banned for export market and likewise coffee and tea which is grown and picked by exploiting children and women labourers. Stiglitz pointed out that globalization has enhanced the opportunities for success, but it has also posed new risks for developing countries. The rules of the game have been designed for the most part by the advanced industrial countries, or more accurately, by special interests in those countries, for their own interests, and often do not serve well the interests of the developing world, and especially the poor [20]. Further, the Bangladesh Government needs to work in cooperation with the local factory owners and key stake holders in Bangladesh, multinational garment sector, International Labour Organisation, World Bank, World Trade Organisation and the European Union to develop and implement the new amendments to the labour laws, collective bargaining, workplace health and safety training, on the spot inspections, building construction standards to ensure safe and secure work environment in order to prevent future tragedies in the RMG industry and protect the garment workers rights particularly women. Because, they are not only the wage/ bread earners to provide finance, food, clothing and shelter to their families and the key foreign exchange earner for the owners of the garment factory and the economy, but also on whom the multinational companies depend to produce /sew RMG under pressure, in a timely manner, to international market standards to meet the demands of the ever growing fashion industry in the developed world. these garments from developed countries should start a campaign of ethical purchase of RMG from those countries who provide health, safety measures, do not exploit women and children and follow the international labour law and construction standards, similar to the campaigns where carpets woven by children are banned for export market and likewise coffee and tea which is grown and picked by exploiting children and women labourers. Stiglitz pointed out that globalization has enhanced the opportunities for success, but it has also posed new risks for developing countries. The rules of the game have been designed for the most part by the advanced industrial countries, or more accurately, by special interests in those countries, for their own interests, and often do not serve well the interests of the developing world, and especially the poor [20]. Further, the Bangladesh Government needs to work in cooperation with the local factory owners and key stake holders in Bangladesh, multinational garment sector, International Labour Organisation, World Bank, World Trade Organisation and the European Union to develop and implement the new amendments to the labour laws, collective bargaining, workplace health and safety training, on the spot inspections, building construction standards to ensure safe and secure work environment in order to prevent future tragedies in the RMG industry and protect the garment workers rights particularly women. Because, they are not only the wage/ bread earners to provide finance, food, clothing and shelter to their families and the key foreign exchange earner for the owners of the garment factory and the economy, but also on whom the multinational companies depend to produce /sew RMG under pressure, in a timely manner, to international market standards to meet the demands of the ever growing fashion industry in the developed world.

Chinese renminbi, Mexican peso U.S. dollar exchange rates and their competitive positions in export markets

Since, in the NAFTA era, the Mexican economy is much more advanced in the manufacturing sector than those of other Latin American countries, Mexico competes directly with China for U.S. imports. This study empirically investigates the behavior of the Mexican peso/Chinese yuan, Mexican peso/U.S. dollar, and Chinese yuan/U.S. dollar real exchange rates to determine whether the exchange rate policies serve as contributing factors to the subpar performance of the Mexican economy. The empirical findings suggest that the Mexican, Chinese, and U.S. real exchange rates, over the sample period, prove consistent with predations of the purchasing power parity theory; therefore, exchange rate policies may not be a contributing factor to the poor performance of the Mexican economy.

Agribusiness potentials for Bangladesh an analysis

Bangladesh cannot sustain long-run economic progress without having a strong agricultural sector accompanied by a dynamic agribusiness sub-sector. This study has been undertaken as an exploratory study to assess the role and significance of agribusiness in Bangladesh along with the current status and future potentials. Various institutional and other weaknesses and challenges were deemed to exist in the country that prevents full realization of the potentials of this industry. At a general level, the paper recommends various structural, institutional, and market-friendly policy reforms accompanied by infrastructural developments in order to encourage entrepreneurship, innovation, and investments along with better and more effective strategic management of this sector. Such reforms are expected to promote better utilization of scarce resources to promote a strong, dynamic, and sustainable agribusiness sector that would be able to contribute substantially to industrialization and economic development of the country.