Browse by: "N"

New nanomaterials offer promising avenues for future innovation, which can contribute towards the sustainability and resource efficiency of the tyre industry. Yet uncertainty over environmental health and safety (EHS) risks appears to be a main and continuous concern for the development of new nanomaterials in tyre production, even for those closest to market. Lack of sector-specific guidance represents a major gap.

Bank lending is the most common source of external finance for many SMEs and entrepreneurs, yet has proven challenging to newer, innovative and fast growing companies, as well as to those undertaking important transitions in their activities or seeking to de-leverage and improve their capital structures.

This report maps a broad range of external financing techniques to address diverse needs in varying circumstances, including asset-based finance, alternative debt, hybrid instruments, and equity instruments. It further highlights key enabling factors for their development, discusses major market trends and obstacles to SME uptake, and suggests some key areas of policy action to overcome challenges to market development.

New patterns of globalisation are accelerating the internationalisation of industry and reshaping industrial structure at the global level. Rapidly growing cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and strategic alliances are distinctive features of globalisation in the current era. They have become common paths to internationalising business operations, research and markets, together with traditional forms of trade and investment. An overwhelming share of foreign direct investment (FDI) is now in the form of M&As rather than greenfield investment, as firms shelve earlier diversification and expansion strategies and focus on core competencies. Strategic alliances are also a powerful mechanism for industrial restructuring on a global basis.

This book presents the latest trends and drivers of globalisation in major OECD countries and their implications for industrial performance and government policies. It analyses regional as well as sectoral trends, including in telecommunications, automobiles, steel, pharmaceuticals, airlines and financial services. Growing alliances for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) electronic commerce, and globalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are assessed. A Statistical Annex presents data through 2000.