Australia mining exports seek less dependence on China

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Iron Ore ◽  
Liquid Hydrogen ◽  
Chinese Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Australian Economy ◽  
Trade Sanctions ◽  
Steel Sector

Significance In 2020, China’s trade sanctions cost the Australian economy AUD19bn (USD14.5bn), with coal exports hit particularly hard. Iron ore exports have largely escaped sanctions so far, as China’s steel sector remains dependent on Australian shipments, but diversification efforts are becoming more important. Impacts Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board has proved itself willing to block mining investments by Chinese firms. Chinese companies aim to reduce dependence on Australian iron ore through investments elsewhere, notably in West Africa. Mining giant Fortescue is working on a business model for supplying liquid hydrogen to Japan.

Prospects for West Africa in 2018

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Burkina Faso ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Ivory Coast ◽  
Economic Recovery ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Counter Terrorism ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Terrorism Preparedness

Subject Prospects for West Africa in 2018. Significance Ruling coalitions will emphasise economic recovery (Nigeria) and foreign investment gains (Ivory Coast), while fragile transitions beckon for post-conflict states (Sierra Leone). Militant terrorist threats are plaguing countries across the region (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Nigeria), heaping added pressure on ruling alliances to improve counter-terrorism preparedness.

Chinese firms face changing competition in Myanmar

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Chinese Population ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
Chinese Firms ◽  
Regional Economic ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Ethnic Chinese ◽  
Economic Diplomacy

Significance Myanmar's new government needs foreign investment to pay for development, creating fresh opportunities for China. However, attitudes to foreign investment within Myanmar's government and populace are shifting. Impacts Myanmar's ethnic Chinese population, perhaps currently numbering 2.5 million, will grow. Medium term, securing the energy pipelines traversing Myanmar will be a linchpin for China's regional economic diplomacy. Protests against large-scale Chinese projects could diminish the NLD's hold on local socio-environmental activists' loyalty.

Iron ore prices are vulnerable to lower Chinese growth

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Ore ◽  
The West ◽  
Content Type ◽  
On Demand ◽  
The Us ◽  
Steel Sector ◽  
Us Dollar

Significance The steelmaking ingredient was barely affected by the pandemic in March-April 2020 and gained 72% over the year. The main suppliers stepped up production and China-bound shipments rose to record levels. Underscoring the commodity’s dependence on demand by China’s steel producers, the slowdown in other economies has not affected the market. Impacts Crucially, iron ore appears to be excluded from a raft of curbs on imported Australian commodities adopted by Beijing. Australia’s Fortescue, the world’s fourth-largest producer, will raise capacity at Port Hedland by 25% to 220 million tonnes per year. Prices of iron ore futures in China tend to gain in response to positive vaccine news in the West, supporting the market. China's draft plan for the steel sector to 2025 shows it is considering building two or more "globally significant overseas iron ore mines". The renminbi rose by more than 6% versus the US dollar in 2020, making iron ore more affordable for China; this is likely to continue.

Australia

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Ville
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Capital Markets ◽  
Business Groups ◽  
Business Group ◽  
Modern History ◽  
Resource Base ◽  
Australian Economy ◽  
Diversified Portfolio

Business groups have been limited in number and influence for most of Australia’s modern history. Several entrepreneurs managed a diversified portfolio of interests, and business families often cooperated with one another, but this rarely took the form of a business group. When the Australian economy diversified into manufacturing from its initial narrow resource base, multinational corporations formed a dominant presence. Governments built infrastructure but did not facilitate groups. Maturing capital markets negated the need for in-house treasuries. Business groups temporarily dominated the corporate landscape for several decades towards the end of the twentieth century, but their business model was flawed in relation to the Australian environment and most failed to survive the downturn of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Sustainable life cycle offers through cooperation

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Selberherr
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Construction Sector ◽  
Content Type ◽  
New Business ◽  
Societal Level

Purpose – Sustainable buildings bear enormous potential benefits for clients, service providers, and our society. To release this potential a change in business models is required. The purpose of this paper is to develop a new business model with the objective of proactively contributing to sustainable development on the societal level and thereby improving the economic position of the service providers in the construction sector. Design/methodology/approach – The modeling process comprises two steps, the formal structuring and the contextual configuration. In the formal structuring systems theory is used and two levels are analytically separated. The outside view concerns the business model’s interaction with the environment and its impact on sustainability. The inside view focusses on efficient value creation for securing sustainability. The logically deductively developed business model is subsequently theory-led substantiated with Giddens’ structuration theory. Findings – The relevant mechanisms for the development of a new service offer, which creates a perceivable surplus value to the client and contributes to sustainable development on the societal level, are identified. The requirements for an efficient value creation process with the objective of optimizing the service providers’ competitive position are outlined. Research limitations/implications – The model is developed logically deductively based on literature and embedded in a theoretical framework. It has not yet been empirically tested. Practical implications – Guidelines for the practical implementation of more sustainable business models for the provision of life cycle service offers are developed. Social implications – The construction industry’s impact requires it to contribute proactively to a more sustainable development of the society. Originality/value – This paper analyzes the role for the players in the construction sector in proactively contributing to sustainable development on the societal level. One feasible strategy is proposed with a new business model, which aims at cooperatively optimizing buildings and infrastructures and taking the responsibility for the operating phase via guarantees.

Factors influencing the shaping of shared services business models

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anton Joha ◽  
Marijn Janssen
Keyword(s):  
Business Model ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Customer Orientation ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Single Type ◽  
Shared Services ◽  
Unified Framework ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Governance Processes

Purpose – Shared services are often viewed as a single type of business model but in reality, shared services can be organized in different ways. The goal of this research is to understand the factors influencing the shaping of shared services business models. Design/methodology/approach – Inductive case oriented research is conducted by investigating three different types of shared services arrangements using Al-Debei and Avison's unified framework for business models. Findings – A total of 12 different factors were identified that influence the shape of shared services business models including the path dependency, legal/regulatory driver, customer orientation, target segment, strategic importance, ICT/business orientation, IT governance structure, change strategy, degree of outsourcing, integration potential, economic rationale and the business value. Research limitations/implications – The level of customization and standardization can influence the potential benefits that can be gained from bundling services and it is important to understand the factors that influence this dimension. Practical implications – The appropriate configuration of these factors can be helpful to design shared services arrangements with a balanced degree of standardization and customization. The choices regarding the configuration of these factors could result in a more or less effective functioning business model and could influence the governance processes and mechanisms that need to be put in place. Originality/value – There is no prior research that addresses the shared services business model from a holistic perspective and this research provides a first conceptual model for shared services business models.

The new retail model: global reach demands omni-channels

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume Do Vale ◽  
Isabelle Collin-Lachaud ◽  
Xavier Lecocq
Keyword(s):  
Business Model ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Transformation Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
New Business ◽  
Business Cases ◽  
Established Firms ◽  
New Consumer ◽  
Global Reach

Purpose To cope with online competitors and new consumer behaviors, retailers need to hybrid digital and physical offerings to implement an omni-channel business model. This constitutes a digital transformation of the traditional business model. However, business cases on how traditional retailers are shifting from multi-channel to omni-channel retailing are lacking. This paper aims to explore the different issues and organizational paths during the transformation of a business model. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on a qualitative multiple case study of five retailers with a global reach currently implementing an omni-channel business model. Findings This research sheds light on three main issues encountered by retailers and the different underlying decisions when moving toward an omni-channel business model. The first relates to revenue attribution across channels, which involves rethinking traditional key performance indicators to give incentives to stores when promoting digital offers. The second issue concerns the supply chain decisions associated with cross-channel operations. The third issue relates to the delicate balance between global reach (digital channel) and local reach (specific store) for communication on social media and marketing decisions on pricing. This study provides empirical evidence about the variety of choices that retailers make to cope with the issues during the implementation of an omni-channel business model. Originality/value This work explores the issues faced by established firms when moving toward a new business model that is the hybridization of two existing business model managed separately. It provides comprehensive and clear illustration of how to manage such a business model transformation process that can be used by both business strategy practice and academic research.

South African government’s GBV plans may disappoint

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
South African ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Structure ◽  
National Strategic Plan ◽  
The Government ◽  
Gender Based

Significance Although President Cyril Ramaphosa has publicly committed to increase funding to combat what he calls South Africa’s “second pandemic”, there is a lack of transparency in how the government disburses funds linked to its National Strategic Plan (NSP) on Gender-based Violence and Femicide. Impacts Civil society groups will increase pressure on the government to make expenditure on GBV programmes more transparent. A new private-sector fund to contribute to the NSP has received strong early support, but its management structure is opaque. High levels of GBV will not only have significant humanitarian and social costs but may deter much-needed foreign investment.

“Enabling circular business models in the fashion industry: the role of digital innovation”

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Phuc Hong Huynh
Keyword(s):  
Business Model ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Chain Model ◽  
Fashion Industry ◽  
Digital Innovation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Radical Innovations

PurposeDigital innovation and circular business model innovation are two critical enablers of a circular economy. A wide variety of digital technologies such as blockchain, 3D printing, cyber-physical systems, or big data also diverges the applications of digital technologies in circular business models. Given heterogeneous attributes of circular business models and digital technologies, the selections of digital technologies and circular business models might be highly distinctive within and between sectorial contexts. This paper examines digital circular business models in the context of the fashion industry and its multiple actors. This industry as the world’s second polluting industry requires an urgent circular economy (CE) transition with less resource consumption, lower waste emissions and a more stable economy.Design/methodology/approachAn inductive, exploratory multiple-case study method is employed to investigate the ten cases of different sized fashion companies (i.e. large, small medium-sized firm (SME) and startup firms). The comparison across cases is conducted to understand fashion firms' distinct behaviours in adopting various digital circular economy strategies.FindingsThe paper presents three archetypes of digital-based circular business models in the fashion industry: the blockchain-based supply chain model, the service-based model and the pull demand-driven model. Besides incremental innovations, the radical business model and digital innovations as presented in the pull demand-driven model may be crucial to the fashion circular economy transition. The pull demand–driven model may shift the economy from scales to scopes, change the whole process of how the fashion items are forecasted, produced, and used, and reform consumer behaviours. The paths of adopting digital fashion circular business models are also different among large, SMEs and startup fashion firms.Practical implicationsThe study provides business managers with empirical insights on how circular business models (CBMs) should be chosen according to intrinsic business capacities, technological competences and CE strategies. The emerging trends of new fashion markets (e.g. rental, subscription) and consumers' sustainable awareness should be not be neglected. Moreover, besides adopting recycling and reuse strategies, large fashion incumbents consider collaborating with other technology suppliers and startup companies to incubate more radical innovations.Social implicationsAppropriate policies and regulations should be enacted to enable the digital CE transition. Market patterns and consumer acceptances are considered highly challenging to these digital fashion models. A balanced policy on both the demand and supply sides are suggested. The one-side policy may fail CBMs that entail an upside-down collaboration of both producers and consumers. Moreover, it is perhaps time to rethink how to reduce unnecessary new demand rather than repeatedly producing and recycling.Originality/valueThe pace of CE research is lagging far behind the accelerating environmental contamination by the fashion industry. The study aims to narrow the gap between theory and practice to harmonise fashion firms' orchestration and accelerate the transition of the fashion industry towards the CE. This study examines diverse types of digital technologies in different circular business models in a homogeneous context of the fashion industry with heterogeneous firm types.

Business model innovation canvas: a visual business model innovation model

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuran Jin ◽  
Shoufeng Ji ◽  
Li Liu ◽  
Wei Wang
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Innovation Process ◽  
Theory Model ◽  
Business Model Innovation ◽  
Mass Selection ◽  
Unified Framework ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Innovation Model ◽  
First Time

PurposeMore and more enterprises have realized the importance of business model innovation. However, the model tools for it are still scarce. There is a clear research gap in this academic field. Therefore, the aim of this study is to put forward a visual business model innovation model.Design/methodology/approachThe scientific literature clustering paradigm of grounded theory is used to design business model innovation theory model (BMITM). BMITM and the business model innovation options traced back from 870 labels in the grounded process are integrated into a unified framework to build the business model innovation canvas (BMIC).FindingsBMIC composed of three levels and seven modules is successfully developed. 145 business model innovation options are designed in BMIC. How to use BMIC is explained in detail. Through the analysis of innovation hotspots, the potential business model innovation directions can be found. A new business model of clothing enterprises using 3D printing is innovated with BMIC as an example.Research limitations/implicationsCompared with the previous tools, BMIC owns a clearer business model innovation framework and provides a problem-oriented business model innovation process and mechanism.Practical implicationsBMIC provides a systematic business model innovation solution set and roadmap for business model innovation practitioners.Originality/valueBMIC, a new tool for business model innovation is put forward for the first time. “Mass Selection Customization-Centralized Manufacturing” designed with BMIC for the clothing enterprises using 3D printing is put forward for the first time.

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