Preface

Global trade is constantly moving and adjusting with the business ecosystem. Advances in technologies, virtualizations of economic activities and business transactions, the openness of transnational borders, regional trade blocs, and worldwide business reforms have facilitated the integration of both small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and multinational corporations (MNCs) into the global trading network. Digitalization has made it easy to order a product from a foreign market and have it delivered right to customers' doors. Accelerated trade among countries has moved from exchanges of raw materials and finished goods to intermediate components of trade-in, value-added products, and services. Though international trade is dominated by trade in goods, the service sector is becoming a more and more important part of international trade. There are, however, different kinds of trends that accelerate or impede global trade. The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously disrupted the global supply chain and forced many firms and countries to reorient their businesses towards local or regional markets. Industry 4.0 is another cyber-physical system (CPS) that is also transforming business activities, especially manufacturing industries, with huge implications for the global value chain. Another important project that is transforming the international business ecosystem in Asia, Europe, and Africa is China's trillion-dollar project called the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI is likely to impact greatly on global trade, even though the project has many critics who doubt its contribution to developing and emerging countries with weak financial strength.

Global trade today is operating within a rapidly changing ecosystem. This book addresses this emerging phenomenon and explores how business firms can navigate this uncharted territory. It includes ten chapters organized into two sections: "Emerging Trends in the International Business Arena" and "Managing Global Trade Under New Context" written by authors from across the globe.

Section 1: Emerging Trends in the International Business Arena

In Chapter 1, Edward Asiedu examines the potential effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the agenda for free trade in Africa, both in the short and long term. Specifically, the chapter explores the trading environment of firms in Africa and highlights the challenges faced when implementing a trade agreement in the middle of a pandemic.

In Chapter 2, Muhammad Mohiuddin, Md. Samim Al Azad, Selim Ahmed, Slimane Ed-Dafali, and Mohammad Nurul Hasan Reza explore the evolution of Industry 4.0, how this new technological framework will create values for firms and consumers, and how we can use it for a firm's competitiveness and save it from the fallout of its development.

In chapter 3, Ismahene Yahyaoui evaluates empirically the impact of ICT and economic growth on CO2 emissions of Tunisia and Morocco for the period

between 1980-2018, based on the Auto-Regressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) analysis. Findings demonstrate that ICT and economic growth affect positively and significantly the CO2 emissions in the short and long term both in Tunisia and Morocco.

In Chapter 4, Kiryl Rudy explores how developing countries like Belarus can protect themselves from the debt trap emanating from infrastructural investment under the Belt and Road Initiative of China. He shows that proper scrutiny of proposed infrastructure projects, better credit terms through negotiation, increasing FDI from China, and joint industrial ventures can help developing countries avoid the dept trap phenomenon.

In Chapter 5, Jelilov Gylych, Abdullahi Ahmad Jibrin, Bilal Celik, and Abdurrahman Isik explore how the short-run impact of oil price fluctuation on the monetary instrument takes place. Specifically, they analyze the role of the exchange rate, inflation, and interest rate and how they respond to shocks in oil price.

In Chapter 6, Sung Jin Kang and Seon Ju Lee investigate the impact of FDI on the trade of the East Asian economic transition countries, namely China, Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Vietnam, employing FDI flow and FDI stock data separately. The authors find that there are complementary effects between FDI and trade.

Section 2: Managing Global Trade Under New Context

In Chapter 7, Maria Alejandra Madi elaborates analysis of the complex drivers that shape corporate diplomacy competencies and strategies and the potential results of corporate diplomacy in a global trade scenario that has been deeply affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Among her key findings, the author finds that the Brazilian experience after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic shows that the role of corporate diplomacy as a business tool of governance to defend sectorial interests might be crucial to normalize trade flows.

Globalization has created accelerated cross-border mergers and acquisitions as well as mobility of human resources across the globe. In Chapter 8, Chang-Howe Wenjia explores the integration process during and after mergers and acquisitions where one firm (Chinese) has a dominant position in comparison with another (Western firm). This chapter analyzes the human resources integration process in pre-and post-acquisition to determine critical success factors and presents a framework that determines the success or failure factors and the actions required.

In Chapter 9, Yanghua Zhou analyzes what kind of regional cultures and institutions have an impact on employee satisfaction and motivation in MNCs. Findings show that Japanese expatriates working in the United States, Singapore, and Indonesia had a greater degree of job satisfaction than those working in cultural regions such as China, Taiwan, and Australia.

In Chapter 10, Phindile Chili and Noluthando Matsiliza focus on the importance of quality standards for SMEs. They studied the enforcement and compliance of quality standards in small business practices and found that there is a relationship between the adoption of quality standards and business excellence and that government has a role to ensure the compliance of statutory quality management systems.

**V**

This book presents interesting and timely topics that readers will find important for understanding the dynamics of the global business environment in an era of rapid changes in technology and a worldwide pandemic, as well as how businesses will

> **Muhammad Mohiuddin** Department of Management,

> > School of Management,

**Md. Samim Al Azad** Post-doctoral Fellow,

World School of Business, World University of Bangladesh,

Laval University, Quebec, Canada

**Selim Ahmed**

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Head,

Tianjin University of Technology,

Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chain on International Business,

Laval University, Quebec, Canada

**Jingbin Wang**

Tianjin, China

Dean,

evolve in a hopefully COVID-free future.

This book presents interesting and timely topics that readers will find important for understanding the dynamics of the global business environment in an era of rapid changes in technology and a worldwide pandemic, as well as how businesses will evolve in a hopefully COVID-free future.
