International Journal of Business and Economic Development

International business has grown rapidly in recent years as companies seek to take advantage of expanding supply chain opportunities. As companies enter into contracts to take advantage of engineering, production, and cost reduction capabilities of the global supply chain, they may be creating a foreign currency exchange rate risk. The purpose of this research was to determine the EUR/USD exchange rate risk within a relatively short time frame such as in 60-day accounts receivable and if using currency options to hedge this risk would be financially beneficial on a transactional basis. The quantitative study examined the 60-day EUR/USD exchange rate fluctuation and the use of currency call options to hedge the risk associated with EUR/USD currency fluctuations.  The researcher analyzed 13 years of historical EUR/USD currency data and 10 years of actual EUR call options premiums for this research paper.  The researcher concluded that the variability of the EUR/USD over 60-days does pose financial risk to a company.  The study also found that using currency call options to hedge this 60-day exchange rate risk resulted in an overall transactional financial loss as compared to no hedging.  However, research studies have shown that the use of hedging instruments to smooth financial results may result in lower overall financing costs which could offset the hedging transactional costs.  This study did not address the benefits of the use of hedging to smooth financial results or obtain other related financial benefits.  The researcher recommends that a firm should recognize the exchange rate risks it may be establishing within 60-day EUR or USD payable contracts and develop an appropriate hedging strategy. 

The proportion of household debt to disposable income is high in South Africa, signifying over-indebtedness which reduces the welfare of households. High debt leads to low savings, negatively impacting economic growth. This paper presents the determinants of household debt distress in South Africa and comes up with recommendations on how to manage household debt.  The objectives are achieved through systematic literature review. Findings suggest that households are over-indebted because of several reasons. They lack necessary finance management skills and proper protection from predatory practices by lenders. Household indebtedness is also caused by the rising cost of living which leads to low household disposable income and savings, high interest rates, misfortunes and adverse trigger events and income inequalities.  Education, age and being a recipient of a social grant all have positive and negative impacts on household indebtedness. Findings also suggest that female-headed households, renting households, large households, urban based households, households with a mortgage and households where the head is not working, is sick or disabled are more likely to be over-indebted. A framework is presented with recommendations on how household debt can be effectively managed in South Africa. Upskilling in finance management can help improve the way households manage their finances. Moneylending institutions should avoid predatory lending and disclose vital information affecting household borrowing decisions. A downward review of interest rates on debt is necessary with a balance between profitability and sustainability of loan repayments.  Consumption insurance on loans is recommended to cushion debt distressed households.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical and analytical framework by explaining the sustainable livelihoods framework and farming system model from a sustainable point of view. The author studied over 200 publications downloaded using the electronic database search of EBSCO through UNISA online library in June 2018. Keyword combinations of ‘land’, ‘tenure’ and ‘sustainable use’ were used to search for peer-reviewed journal articles published in English from January 1980 to May 2018. The article examines most relevant literature to consolidate the necessary theoretical and analytical foundation in analysing individual and group motivations towards sustainable land management practices. The literature review affirmed that a comprehensive theoretical and analytical framework is scant to empirically analyze the determinants of sustainable land management practices. To partially fill this knowledge gap, the paper provided a generic analytical framework that gives insight not only on pre-decisional processes, but also on post-decisional processes of continued and sustained use of conservation technologies. The analytical framework is developed by combining the sustainable livelihoods framework with the farming system model. It is concluded that the economic theory of property rights may not be adequate as a model to guide land tenure studies and policy. It is recommended that a holistic approach and comprehensive analytical framework is vital for research and development endeavours to ensure sustainable land management practices.

This paper analyzes national and global statistical data and reports to investigate the status of women in the workforce subsequent to the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, identify issues, and propose a path forward. The disproportionate adverse effects of the pandemic included higher unemployment rates among women and greater job losses within female dominated industries and women owned businesses as compared with men, and health challenges heightened by pandemic-related stresses. Further, the responsibility for compensating for the sudden removal of accessible childcare services which followed school and daycare disruptions and closings nationwide, overwhelmingly fell to women—whether they were single or married. Some analysts report that the pandemic served to reassert the unequal division of labor in the household between men and women. Researchers have posited that the pandemic’s impact will retard women’s progress in the workforce for decades if not generations. Strategies for counteracting these effects must entail targeted measures focused on promoting women’s re-entry in the workforce including: the normalization of flexible work schedules to foster a more balanced home and work-life for women, increased family leave for mothers and fathers, more quality and affordable childcare as well as more onsite childcare facilities to meet employees’ needs.

The study examines the relationship between some key macroeconomic indicators in Nigeria and the external sector. During the period under review, it was discovered that crude oil had a lion’s share of Nigeria’s export earnings and the international demand for the country’s non-oil exports was unimpressive due to the development of synthetic alternatives, discriminative tariffs and new entrants in the global market (Central Bank of Nigeria, 2008). Consequently, most of the research on this topic hinged their framework on shocks from the oil sector (see Lukman and Olomola, 2016). In contemporary times, however, the contribution of crude oil to Nigeria’s gross domestic product has been dwindling. As at 2019, the entire oil and gas industry contributed less than 10% of Nigeria’s gross domestic product (Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), 2019). There was the need to examine the external sector from a more comprehensive approach and framework. Therefore, this study evaluated the impact of shocks from Nigeria’s terms of trade and major foreign stock market index on macroeconomics in Nigeria. The methodology adopted for this study is the vector autoregressive technique, impulse response function and the error variance decomposition method. The findings show that the gross domestic product, price level and interest rate respond strongly in the short run (1-2 years), gradually fluctuates in the medium term (3-5 years) and become stable in the long run (6-10 years) due to shocks from the Dow Jones index and Nigeria’s terms of trade. Thus, intervention policies should focus on mitigating the impact of external sector shocks on macroeconomics in the short and medium terms when the impact is enormous.

This study sought to find out the management practices employed by multinational companies in controlling the financial and tax risks they are exposed to. It also assessed the management practices used by multinational companies in the recent financial crisis. This study is relevant since multinational companies located in developing countries operate under different business environments. Hence, multinational companies in developing countries should control financial risk by using management practices conducive for the environment they operate in. Chevron Corporation was used as a case study. Data were obtained from its annual financial statement published on their website covering the period of year 2009-2018. Based on the result of the Stepwise regression analysis we identified the significant predictors in conditions of the economic environment to estimate the corporate prosperity and profitability measure of Chevron Corp.