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This article explores the Arab Fair that took place in Jerusalem in 1933 and in 1934 from the economic and political perspectives. It foregrounds the reasons and results of the absence of a continuously held international trade fair by Arabs in Palestine within the schema of Mandatory Palestine in particular and of the post-Ottoman Balkans and Middle East in general. Although it was successful in bringing businesspeople from various parts of the Arab World together, the lack of official support, broad participation, international recognition, and promotional efforts abroad, as well as strong Zionist propaganda campaigns against it, adversely affected the progress of the Arab Fair, and it did not take place after 1934. Unlike most other post-Ottoman states where collaboration between business groups and political elites gave rise to international fairs in the interwar period, Palestinian Arabs could not enjoy any official endorsement from the British to organize and sustain such a business gathering. In contrast with the Arab Fair, the Levant Fair in Tel Aviv in the same period grew in size and popularity and evolved into an international spectacle thanks to the contribution of Zionist leaders, enterprises, business associations, and journalists in and outside Palestine and the considerable support of the British and other colonial governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research study analyzes the dimensions of corporate social responsibility of the chambers of commerce from Colombia and Venezuela. The methodology applied is quantitative and descriptive with a nonexperimental and cross-sectional design. Data are analyzed by using the Kolmogorov-Smirnoff test, variance (ANOVA), Tukey's various ranges test, and Student's t-test. The population sample consists of the chambers of commerce from the cities of Barranquilla (Colombia) and Maracaibo (Venezuela). The results show absence of statistically significant differences between external and internal social responsibility in the population sample, categorized as moderately pessimistic. It is concluded that even when the dimensions of corporate social responsibility can be applied in a dependent and independent manner, according to the organization's needs and its environment, they affect the business strategy's outcome and its social, environmental, and economic impact, influencing the organization's competitive capacity and strategic management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study raised from the need to analize the different chambers of commerce from the perspective of the institutional theory. The principal objective of this research is to determine, in a first attempt, the correspondence that exists between the compliance of the institutional function of the chambers of commerce and the impact generated on the growth in the business sector in the Queretaro municipality, through the reflection of the businessmen. The present investigation is classified as an exploratory study. For this condition it is precise to use a methology of qualitative character through phenomenology. To be able to define the effects the sample group it establishes the use of a not probabilistic model of sequencial judgement until a categorical saturation can be dertermined. A semistructural interview has been used as a recolection tool of information; members that have been contacted in business sector has been with the owners or general managers of micro and small businesses of the second and third sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper proposes a sample survey to discover and to point out the state of Documentation Centres of Italian Chambers of Commerce, which are very different one from each other, even if they belong to the same institutional framework. The differences consist in the territory and in the context in which they are grafted, in the entity and in the use of financial resources, in the objectives that are marginally related to economic and commercial aspects. Through the analysis of services and resources, this contribution highlights the characteristics of the libraries in this bibliographic area on one side, and identifies the strengths and common problems of the documentation reality in corporate bodies and companies on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As environmental regulations increase, industry associations play a growing role in representing their respective members. This role has been documented in many industrialized countries but less so in emerging economies. In this study, we investigate the level of corporate environmentalism exhibited by member firms of two industry associations operating in Trinidad and Tobago. Using a two-stage Heckman regression that corrects for the endogeneity introduced by self-selection bias in the evaluation of voluntary choices, our findings indicate that firms that are members of the foreign-originated American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago appear to show stronger corporate environmentalism than those belonging to the locally formed Chamber of Commerce. Enhanced institutional pressures from these respective industry associations, peers and competitors within associations, access and exposure to best practices, networking opportunities and service bundling may explain these differences. These results suggest that environmental policy makers in emerging economies may be able to leverage foreign-originated industry associations to promote stronger corporate environmentalism. Policy makers may need to consider how to encourage local chambers to emulate the some of the institutional conditions of foreign-originated ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From an initial foundation in London in 1776, Trade Protection Societies grew in numbers to reach a peak of about 120 in 1910. They provided inter-business and some consumer credit assessment, debt management and recovery. From the 1850s they coordinated activities through a national association that covered Britain and Ireland. The societies were processing millions of credit assessments for thousands of members in the 1960s, reaching over 100,000 assessments per day in the 1980s. They provided a voluntary institutional base drawing on networks of mutuality, supplying information between members and societies that was judged privileged by the Courts. This offered transaction costs advantages for the high frequency, short duration activity provided, and hedged against the risks of complex Court actions. They became a large-scale mechanism to encourage honouring of commitments, thus underpinning the trust necessary across an increasingly geographically integrated economy. Their evolution demonstrates the importance of city size and regional centres, with diffusion down the city rank-size distribution. However, some smaller centres, mainly in resorts, also developed TPSs. The spatial process linked individual traders and the smallest places into a national system of credit management. By the 1920s smaller TPSs became difficult to sustain and were taken over or became branches of the larger societies; but overall membership continued to increase. True consolidation occurred after 1971 when demand exploded after the removal of credit controls, with unit costs pressed down, leading to de-mutualisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates the existence of spatial markets for business advice services. A large sample of 3245 client–advisor links is investigated using GIS software. Seventy per cent of links are less than 25 km in extent, 93% are to the nearest local business centre, and only a few are with hinterlands or areas peripheral to main centres. The maximum reach of market areas varies by advisor type, averaging only 25–40 km for chambers of commerce and public sector advice services such as Business Link. The maximum reach is 48 km for accountants and banks, and increases to 64 km for customers and suppliers and 74 km for consultants. A threshold for regional level services in major centres can be identified, which ranges from 12,000 to 24,000 businesses in size, depending on advisor type. Service sector firms are generally more localised than manufacturing, and local sourcing of advisors generally declines with firm size and size of business centre. Regional differences are relatively small, but Scotland, Yorkshire and Humberside are the most self-contained for advice, whilst London and the South-East are the least self-contained. This is a contrast to earlier findings by O’Farrell and others. The paper demonstrates a hierarchical and spatial market structure for business advice services that is similar to that in retailing, with firm size and advisor type being the primary influence on differences in demand, and with regional centres most distinct from local centres of supply. Intense localised sourcing of advice from customers and suppliers does not appear to be frequent. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Focuses on the perception of local chambers of commerce regarding the urban growth coalition. Theory of urban politics; Correllation between the politician and the developmental coalition; Differences in coalitional spheres between central cities and surburban areas.