Investment Rating - The report does not explicitly state an overall investment rating for the industry or companies analyzed. Core Insights - The South Korean retail sector has seen significant growth, with online platforms driving this surge, particularly highlighted by Coupang's brand value increase of 12% to USD7.2 billion [21][22] - Samsung remains the most valuable brand in South Korea, despite a slight decline in brand value to USD82.2 billion, reflecting strong consumer loyalty and market leadership [27][53] - Naver is recognized as the strongest brand in South Korea, although its brand value decreased by 27% to USD3.3 billion, indicating challenges despite high brand familiarity [28][53] - Cantata, a premium canned coffee brand, experienced remarkable growth, with brand value nearly doubling to USD869 million, driven by strong brand metrics [29][47] - The banking sector contributes significantly to the overall brand value, with KB Financial Group's brand value increasing by 17% to USD5.4 billion, showcasing strong performance in loans and non-banking units [38][39] - The logistics sector is vital for the economy, with brands like Hyundai Glovis and CJ Logistics investing in technology to enhance efficiency [43][44] Summary by Sections Ranking Analysis - The retail sector's growth is closely tied to South Korea's booming online market, with platforms like Naver Shopping Live and Kakao Shopping Live enhancing consumer engagement [21][26] - Samsung Group has the highest Sustainability Perceptions Value at USD6.7 billion, indicating strong consumer belief in its sustainability efforts [31][32] Sector Analysis - The banking sector is the third-largest contributor to brand value, with traditional and digital banks shaping the market [38] - Hyundai and Kia are leading the automobile sector, with Hyundai's brand value increasing by 45% to USD22.9 billion, driven by innovation and market expansion [50][51] - The soft drinks sector has seen a remarkable increase in brand value, with Cantata leading the market due to the growing demand for ready-to-drink beverages [47][48]

Investment Rating - The report does not explicitly provide an investment rating for the industry Core Insights - China's GDP grew at a steady 5 percent in the first half of 2024, while retail sales increased by 3.7 percent, indicating a stable but modest growth in consumption [2][5] - Despite low consumer sentiment and a property slump, there are pockets of consumer confidence and growth in specific sectors, suggesting a nuanced market landscape [2][6] - The report challenges three common myths about Chinese consumption, emphasizing the need for a granular understanding of the market [5][11][15] Summary by Sections Economic Overview - China's GDP growth remains at 5 percent, contributing one-third of global GDP growth in 2023, with domestic consumption showing modest growth [6][10] - Retail sales growth in key consumer product categories for H1 2024 includes food at 1.0%, cosmetics at 9.6%, and foodservice at 7.9% [7] Myth 1: Chinese Consumption Crisis - The narrative of a consumption crisis is misleading; while consumer sentiment is low, the overall economic picture is not bleak, with GDP growth indicating resilience [5][19] - Some sectors, such as services and tourism, are experiencing robust growth, highlighting varied performance across different sectors [6][19] Myth 2: Decline in Luxury Goods Appetite - Chinese consumers have not lost their appetite for luxury goods; instead, they are increasingly making purchases overseas, with spending in the first half of 2024 exceeding 2019 levels [11][14] - Luxury brands are shifting focus from opening new stores to enhancing marketing efforts in response to changing consumer behavior [14] Myth 3: Foreign Companies Exiting China - The perception that foreign companies are exiting China is overly simplistic; while some companies have scaled back, many are increasing investments, particularly in the automotive sector [15][19] - Foreign brands continue to hold significant appeal among Chinese consumers, especially in premium segments, with notable growth in the sportswear sector [15][19]

Investment Rating - The report does not explicitly provide an investment rating for the industry Core Insights - The transition towards sustainable development in India is expected to significantly alter economic activities and labor markets, impacting the demand for skills and creating both green and brown jobs [6][10] - Green jobs account for approximately 5.9% of total employment in India, while brown jobs represent about 4.6% [15][43] - The Skill Council for Green Jobs (SCGJ) has been established to identify green jobs and the necessary skills for these occupations, focusing on sectors such as renewable energy, waste management, and construction [13][15] Summary by Sections Introduction - Climate change is a critical issue affecting various aspects of well-being, prompting the need for sustainable development strategies [10] - The transition to sustainability will create new job opportunities while potentially displacing existing brown jobs [11][12] Measuring Green and Brown Jobs - Green jobs are defined as those that positively impact the environment, while brown jobs are associated with pollution-intensive industries [17][18] - The report employs a task content approach to measure green and brown jobs, which focuses on the specific tasks performed within occupations [20][23] Data and Definitions - The analysis utilizes data from the 2019-20 Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), which is nationally representative and includes detailed labor market information [28][30] - The SCGJ's national definition of green jobs includes 44 specific occupations, while brown jobs are classified based on Vona et al.'s (2018) taxonomy [23][25] Patterns and Trends in Employment - Green jobs are predominantly found in construction (39%), manufacturing (21%), and agriculture (14%), while brown jobs are mainly concentrated in manufacturing (53%) and construction (30%) [49][51] - The percentage of green jobs has increased from 5% to 6% over the past decade, indicating a positive trend in sustainable employment [47] Worker Characteristics - Green and brown jobs are primarily held by younger, male workers, with green jobs showing a significant wage premium compared to brown jobs [15][64] - The gender disparity is notable, with 78% of green jobs and 79% of brown jobs occupied by men [65]

Investment Rating - The report does not explicitly provide an investment rating for the industry. Core Insights - The paper investigates the impact of unexpected demand shocks on worker compensation, revealing that these shocks lead to higher average wages, particularly benefiting high earners within firms [2][9][39] - It highlights the role of managerial skill in the distribution of revenues from demand shocks, indicating that firms with highly skilled managers tend to share revenue windfalls more unequally among workers [10][40] Summary by Sections Introduction - The study aims to understand how firm-level revenue shocks affect wage setting and the mechanisms behind wage differentials across firms and workers [6][9] Data - The analysis utilizes a rich dataset from private sector firms in Portugal from 2006 to 2018, combining firm census data, export transactions, and employer-employee panel data [7][15][16] Methodology - A new methodology is proposed to identify unexpected demand shocks at the firm level, using forecast errors in GDP growth of export markets [20][21] Results - Unexpected demand shocks significantly impact sales, employment, investment, and average wages, with larger effects observed for negative shocks [9][32] - The analysis shows that wage increases occur mainly in the form of higher base wages and overtime pay, indicating a sharing of unexpected revenue with workers [10][33] - The distribution of wage increases is highly unequal, favoring higher earners within firms [39] Managerial Skill - The report examines how managerial skills influence the distribution of revenues from demand shocks, finding that firms with skilled managers tend to have better management practices and higher wage distributions for top earners [40][41][46]

Industry Overview - The study focuses on the financial distortions in capital markets between state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private-owned enterprises (POEs) across 24 European countries from 2010 to 2016 [2] - SOEs have subsidized access to debt and equity compared to POEs, with a 1 percentage point increase in government stake reducing the implicit average finance cost by 0.01 percent [6][7] - The removal of SOEs from the market could lead to aggregate productivity losses of up to 40 percent due to their superior technical efficiency in some sectors [2] Core Findings - Targeted reforms that shut down poorly performing SOEs lead to aggregate total factor productivity (TFP) gains of up to 15 percent in every country [2] - Reforms that remove distortions before reallocating resources toward more productive firms can increase productivity by up to 83.7 percent [2] - SOEs are prevalent across competitive industries, with 70% operating in sectors like food, construction, and hospitality, typically dominated by private firms [6] Financial Distortions and Productivity - SOEs benefit from lower debt issuance costs and direct budget support, which distorts finance, innovation, and resource allocation [6] - The methodology used to measure financial frictions shows that SOEs face lower costs of finance, with a 1 p.p. increase in government shareholding reducing the cost of finance by 0.01% for non-publicly listed firms [11] - Publicly listed SOEs, however, face higher costs of accessing finance compared to non-listed SOEs [11] Sector-Specific Insights - The largest subsidies for SOEs occur in industries critical to the economy, such as financial services, electricity, water, and information and communications [11] - The fiscal burden of SOE financial subsidies ranges from 0.001% to 0.955% of GDP for the year 2016, with Slovenia experiencing the highest subsidy cost [11] Counterfactual Reforms - Shutting down all SOEs leads to productivity losses in some countries (e.g., Bosnia and Herzegovina with a 40% decline) and gains in others (e.g., Ukraine with a 35% increase) [12] - Targeted reforms that close only poorly performing SOEs result in TFP gains across all countries, with the highest gains in Germany (14.1%), Ukraine (11.1%), and Montenegro (8.4%) [14][86] - Combining targeted SOE reforms with financial market reforms that eliminate distortions can lead to TFP gains ranging from 26.6% in Austria to 85.5% in Ukraine [92] Data and Methodology - The study uses a novel firm-level database and implements Whited and Zhao's (2021) methodology to infer financial distortions [6][8] - The analysis leverages fixed-effect regressions to assess the role of state ownership in the cost of finance, controlling for firm size, age, productivity, and country-sector fixed effects [10] - The methodology assumes a CES production function to capture sector-wide financial frictions and firm-specific wedges [7][8]

Investment Rating - The report does not explicitly provide an investment rating for the industry analyzed Core Insights - The paper introduces the concept of "jobless development," highlighting that productivity growth in many emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) is often negatively correlated with changes in the employment-to-population ratio [4][8][26] - It emphasizes significant differences in steady-state employment-to-population ratios across countries, particularly for women, where fewer legal protections correlate with lower employment ratios [4][9][30] Summary by Sections Introduction - The report discusses the dynamics of GDP per capita and its components, emphasizing the importance of the employment-to-population ratio in understanding economic development [8] - It contrasts the development trajectories of South Korea and India, noting that while both experienced GDP growth, South Korea saw an increase in employment ratios, whereas India experienced a decline [8][9] Methodology and Data - The analysis employs a two-stage methodology: first estimating steady-state employment ratios and then examining the correlation with institutional and policy factors [9][13] - The dataset includes 160 countries from 1960 to 2019, focusing on 103 EMDEs for the period 2000-2019, utilizing various data sources including the World Bank and ILO [22] First-Stage Regression Results - The results indicate that slower productivity growth and faster working-age population growth are associated with increases in employment-to-population ratios [23][24] - The analysis reveals that higher initial employment ratios correlate with slower increases in these ratios, suggesting conditional convergence towards country-specific steady-state levels [27][28] Second-Stage Regression Results - The second-stage analysis identifies several correlates of steady-state employment ratios, including trade openness, access to finance, and labor market flexibility [36][39] - It highlights that while few factors correlate with higher aggregate employment ratios, many are associated with higher non-agricultural employment ratios [36][37] Correlates Identified in the Literature - The report discusses structural factors influencing steady-state employment levels, such as trade openness, infrastructure investment, and labor market policies [37][39][40] - It notes that greater access to finance can stimulate investment and employment growth, while restrictive labor laws may hinder employment in the formal sector [40][42]

Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Policy Research Working Paper 10926 Effective Fuel Price in Reducing Emission Intensity A Panel Analysis for Brazil Ayan Qu Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment Global Practice & Africa Region September 2024 Public Disclosure Authorized Policy Research Working Paper 10926 Abstract This paper studies how effective an incremental change in the price of fuel, a proxy for fuel carbon tax, is in reducing the emission intensity ...

Investment Rating - The report does not explicitly provide an investment rating for the industry Core Insights - The report highlights a mixed landscape in B2B payment practices in the United States, with 46% of companies reporting no change in customer payment behavior, while one-third, particularly in the steel/metals sector, note faster invoice payments compared to the previous year [7][16] - Late payments remain a significant issue, with half of all B2B invoices currently overdue, impacting working capital management, and bad debts averaging 8% of all B2B credit sales [7][16] - Companies are increasingly adopting strategic risk management frameworks, with 15% more businesses leveraging credit insurance compared to the previous year [7][16] Summary by Sections B2B Payment Risk Management - Companies in the US report varied B2B customer payment behavior, with 46% indicating no change and one-third noting faster payments, particularly in the steel/metals sector [7] - Late payments from B2B credit transactions are a major issue, with half of all invoices overdue and bad debts averaging 8% [7] - The main reasons for late payments include administrative inefficiencies and invoice disputes, with overdue invoices typically turned into cash 20 days past due [7] Looking Ahead - There is a mixed outlook for US businesses, with 50% anticipating an increase in insolvencies, particularly in the steel/metals sector, while the chemicals sector is more optimistic [16][20] - 53% of companies expect an improvement in B2B customer payment behavior, especially in the steel/metals and electronics/ICT sectors [17][20] - Concerns about economic conditions, cybersecurity threats, and market saturation are prevalent among businesses, with 40% citing economic conditions as a top concern [20][29] Key Figures and Trends - 67% of companies used invoice financing, 65% utilized trade credit, and 52% relied on bank loans over the past 12 months [9] - 40% of businesses reacted to late payments by delaying payments to their suppliers, while 55% focused on maintaining stable Days-Sales-Outstanding (DSO) [7][16] - 69% of companies expect a surge in demand for their products and services in the coming months, particularly in the steel/metals and electronics/ICT sectors [20]

Investment Rating - The report does not explicitly provide an investment rating for the industry Core Insights - The report highlights ongoing financial struggles for businesses in Canada, particularly due to poor B2B payment practices, with significant concerns about rising insolvencies in the coming year [3][14] Summary by Sections B2B Payment Risk Management - Almost half of the surveyed companies report no change in the landscape of poor B2B customer payment behavior, with 25% noting a further deterioration [7] - An average of 46% of B2B invoices are overdue, with bad debts averaging 6% of all B2B invoices, particularly affecting the energy/fuel sector [7] - Companies are experiencing delays in turning overdue invoices into cash, averaging one month beyond the due date, with agri-food and consumer durables sectors facing the longest delays [7] Key Figures and Charts - 50% of companies rely on trade credit, 48% on invoice financing, and 47% on bank loans to meet short-term financial needs [13] - 42% of B2B sales are currently transacted on credit, an increase from the previous year, with 52% maintaining unchanged payment terms [7] Looking Ahead - 55% of businesses anticipate worsening insolvency levels, particularly in the energy/fuel sector, while 30% expect improvements in debt collection efficiency [14] - 65% of companies expect a surge in demand for products and services, especially in the consumer durables sector, with 46% anticipating improved profitability [14] - The primary concern for businesses is the impact of environmental and sustainability regulations, particularly in the energy/fuel industry [14]

B2B Payment Practices in North America (USMCA) - 49% of companies report no significant change in B2B payment behavior, especially in Mexico, while one-third of businesses, notably in the US, report quicker invoice payments [8] - Late payments currently affect around half of all invoices issued by North American businesses in B2B trade, with bad debts averaging 6% of all credit sales [8] - 35% of companies across North America respond to poor payment practices by delaying payments to their own suppliers, while deferring investment plans is another strategy, especially in Canada [8] - Approximately 45% of all B2B sales by North American companies are transacted on credit, an increase from the previous year, notably in Canada [8] - Around 55% of companies focus on maintaining debt collection efficiency to stabilize Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), with improvements reported in Mexico but deterioration in Canada [8] B2B Payment Risk Management - Administrative challenges faced by B2B credit customers in their payment processes are cited as the main reason for late payments, particularly among US businesses [8] - Customer cash flow issues contribute significantly to payment delays for almost one-third of companies, primarily in Mexico [8] - Companies are shifting away from in-house retention of customer credit risk, with 40% of Canadian and Mexican businesses using trade credit insurance, compared to 23% in the US [8] - Factoring is popular in Canada, where 46% of businesses use it as a credit management tool [8] Economic Outlook and Insolvency Trends - 48% of companies, primarily in Canada, anticipate an increase in insolvencies during the coming months, while 49% expect the insolvency trend to remain stable, especially in Mexico [15] - 45% of companies in North America expect Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) to remain stable, while 38% anticipate improved debt collection efficiency, notably in the US [15] - 67% of companies across North America expect a surge in demand for their products and services, with optimism particularly evident in Mexico [15] - Only 48% of businesses are positive about the prospect of improved profitability in the year ahead, with economic uncertainty being a key concern [15] Financing and Cash Flow Challenges - 57% of companies used trade credit as a main source of financing during the past 12 months, followed by invoice financing (52%) and bank loans (49%) [14] - 35% of companies report slowing down payments to suppliers due to late payments from B2B customers, while 31% face difficulties in meeting financial obligations [13] - 28% of companies delay paying bills and/or staff, and 25% report increased borrowing costs and reliance on short-term financing [13] Future Concerns and Strategic Adjustments - The main concerns for businesses in North America include economic conditions (36%), cybersecurity challenges (34%), and environmental and sustainability issues (31%) [20] - Market saturation and financial constraints are pressing challenges, with many businesses experiencing a lack of working capital and difficulty in accessing finance [15] - Companies are exploring diversified approaches to credit risk management, including trade credit insurance and factoring, to navigate the complex and challenging environment [8]