Purpose: The current paper assesses the effects of export product structure on the economic growth in transition economies. Design/methodology/approach: The preferred estimation methods are Pedroni/Kao panel cointegration, along with FMOLS and Granger causality tests. The employed dataset corresponds to 11 transition economies over the period of 1997-2017. Findings: The results of empirical estimation showed that manufactured exports are not always the source of high economic growth as suggested by a vast literature. It appeared that the growth in transition economies has a higher response to the changes in exports of primary goods rather than manufactures. Practical Implications: Considering current trade patterns and the high demand elasticity attached to manufactured exports, the study concludes that selected transition economies should incorporate somewhat balanced trade policy fostering both exports of primary commodities and manufactures, where earnings from commodities should be facilitated to support rise of manufactures as it exhibits larger demand and potential to deploy technology/knowledge spillovers, thus, further complement economic growth. Originality/value: The paper represents valuable addition to the empirical literature concerning the exports and economic growth, especially for the selected sample corresponding to the remaining transition economies after massive transformation in 2004/2007 when several European states successfully completed the transition process.

From the very beginning of its rebirth after leaving the Soviet Union, Georgia embarked on a transition to a free market economy and linked its fate to western culture. Since then, strengthening the private sector, creating an attractive investment climate, promoting trade liberalization and above all else fostering exports are the main concerns of the country. Thus, as an export-oriented country, close examination of the Georgian export performance is of great importance. Besides the decomposition of general export trends for the period of 2008-2017, this paper applies Balassa index of revealed comparative advantage (RCA) to identify the key export sectors with comparative advantage and correspondingly with higher growth potential; By this shaping the export promotion policy to prioritize those sectors as the main drivers to increase export earnings. Furthermore, the study employed export product diversification index to gauge the convergence degree of Georgian exports structure by products to the structure of the world; as it significantly affects the resistance of a country towards the trade shocks caused by a price instability of the exported commodities. Eventually, the EU-Georgia trade relationship will be assessed through the trade intensity index to check whether the value of trade between the EU and Georgia is corresponding to the expectations based on their importance in world trade. The results show the comparative advantage for nine products (HS4) that account for -60%- of total exports including all the major sectors of Georgian export production. The diversification degree of export products improved over the last decade but still very poor, thus, it is unlikely for Georgia to resist the external trade shocks in case of a price instability of the exported commodities. Furthermore, despite the removal of the main trade barriers between EU and Georgia, it appears that the bilateral trade relationship is characterized by a low-intensity pattern, meaning that there is much to trade between the partners. The problem of low-intensity can be linked to the lack of accessible export-related information that limits the ability of the new entrants to survive. As a result, discouragement of new firms to become exporters limits the diversification of export basket, which in turn negatively affects the level of trade intensity between the trade partners and decreases the potential trade benefits of bilateral agreements.

Foreign direct investment is believed to enhance long-term economic growth of a country through knowledge spillovers and technology transfers. This paper is an empirical attempt to check the effects of the foreign direct investment (FDI) on the economic growth (GDP) of Turkey. The paper uses time span from 1980 to 2017 for statistical analysis. Johansen co-integration and Granger causality tests were applied for empirical analysis. The results of the tests confirmed the presence of the co-integration between GDP and FDI as it was expected from the beginning. Furthermore, Granger causality test showed the unidirectional causality from FDI to GDP.

The present study is a critical appraisal of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the certain type of the industry players who manage to conceal their detrimental core businesses behind CSR façade. Accordingly, the paper explores existing controversies between theoretical understanding and practical implementation of CSR, as well as the failure of the legal framework concerning CSR reporting. The paper suggests the following as a remedy for the existing problems: denotational refinement of CSR from versatile to explicit, inclusion of constructive criticism through NGOs, the inception of common framework vis-à-vis CSR reporting, and ranking/monitoring of companies by third-party organizations.

This paper aims to justify the validity of the export-led growth hypothesis (ELG) for the transition economy like Georgia. The ELG theory implies the acceleration of an economic growth through the market openness in exchange for market expansion. The concept of the work lies in the following assumptions: Firstly, as a transition country, Georgia should prioritize private sector driven and export-led growth economy and secondly, the European integration process is the unprecedented opportunity for Georgia regarding export market expansion. The paper covers the time from 1990 to 2016; Engle-Granger cointegration and Granger causality tests were employed to trace the validity of the ELG hypothesis. The results confirmed the existence of at least one cointegration vector, as well as the bidirectional causality between economic growth and export, thus landed support on the validity of the ELG hypothesis regarding Georgian economy.