This paper provides a comprehensive and cohesive analysis of the likely effects of a Continental Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) in six African countries. Our analysis considers four incremental liberalisation scenarios. The first scenario consist in the elimination of tariffs for agricultural goods. In the second scenario we add the elimination of tariffs on manufactured goods. The third scenario adds a fifty percent reduction in NTMs. Our last scenario considers also a thirty percent reduction in transaction costs associated with time. This last scenario helps to illustrate the important role complementary policies may play in the integration process. We find that the trade, growth and welfare gains for each African country as a consequence of the implementation of a CFTA would depend on the modalities of trade liberalisation. We also find that the CFTA would lead to asymmetric changes in trade patterns among African countries and within countries across sectors. Finally, we find that the short-run impacts of CFTA are generally very small while the long-run impacts are instead positive. However, there is heterogeneity in the welfare effects in a given country and across countries.
The purpose of this paper is to examine performance measurement through the current key performance indicators’ (KPIs’) best practices applied by Swiss small and medium industries (SMIs) active in discrete manufacturing. The methodology used for this study was mainly based on the completion of an online survey that was statistically analyzed with a focus on the main KPIs used to assist senior management in industrial decision making. This quantitative survey was completed with qualitative analysis. Our survey allowed us to produce new information about the Swiss SMIs’ experience of financial dashboards. Thus, we have determined the essential and shared KPIs for SMIs’ management, and we propose a minimum standardized dashboard that firms could complete with their own indicators. The dashboard model we proposed was integrated in an ERP system and are currently offered out-of-the-box for the ERP system’s users.
