User Rating:  / 0

INTERNATIONAL TRADE THEORY

ABSOLUTE ADVANTAGE:

In 1776, Adam Smith questioned the prevailing Mercantilist ideas on trade and developed the theory of Absolute Advantage. Smith reasoned that if trade were unrestricted, each country would specialize in those products in which it had a competitive advantage. Each country’s resources would shift to the efficient industries because the country could not compete in the inefficient ones. Through specialization, countries could improve their efficiency because 1) labor could become more skilled by repeating the same tasks, 2) labor would not lose time in switching among production of different products, and 3) long production runs would provide incentives for the development of more efficient working methods.

Natural Advantage:

A country may have a natural advantage in some products because of climate or other natural resources (labor, minerals, etc.).

Acquired Advantage:

In manufactured goods, countries usually have acquired an advantage in either their product or process technology.

Resource Efficiency Example:

Figure 5.2 illustrates how the United States has an absolute advantage in wheat, while Sri Lanka has an absolute advantage in tea. By the U.S. specializing in wheat production and Sri Lanka specializing in tea production, the global production of tea and wheat can be increased.

Read more: MGT520 - International Business - Lecture Handout 21

User Rating:  / 0

Related Content: MGT604 - VU Lectures, Handouts, PPT Slides, Assignments, Quizzes, Papers & Books of Management of Financial Institutions

Role of Investment Banks

Investment banks

It helps companies and governments (or their agencies) raise money by issuing and selling securities in the capital markets (both equity and debt).

Almost all investment banks also offer strategic advisory services for mergers, acquisitions, divestiture, or other financial services for clients, such as the trading of derivatives, fixed income, and foreign exchange, commodity, and equity securities.

Trading securities for cash or securities (i.e., facilitating transactions, market-making), or the promotion of securities (i.e., underwriting, research, etc.) is referred to as "sell side."

The "buy side" constitutes the pension funds, mutual funds, hedge funds, and the investing public who consume the products and services of the sell-side in order to maximize their return on investment. Many firms have both buy and sell side components.

Organizational structure of an investment bank

The main activities and units

The primary function of an investment bank is buying and selling products both on behalf of the bank's clients and also for the bank itself. Banks undertake risk through proprietary trading, done by a special set of traders who do not interface with clients and through Principal Risk, risk undertaken by a trader after he or she buys or sells a product to a client
and does not hedge his or her total exposure. Banks seek to maximize profitability for a given amount of risk on their balance sheet.

Read more: MGT604 - Management of Financial Institutions - Lecture Handout 28