Publications & Documents

This review analyses regulatory barriers to competition in the logistics sector in Indonesia, with the goal of helping the government make regulation more pro-competitive while fostering long-lasting growth. This report is based on a competition assessment of laws and regulations conducted by the OECD in the framework of the project 'Fostering Competition in Asean'. Besides developing recommendations to promote the competitive and efficient functioning of markets under review, this report also includes estimates of how the implementation of certain recommendations could impact the economy. An OECD Competitive Neutrality Review of Small-package Delivery Services in Indonesia was launched together with this study.

The Impact of Regulation on International Investment in Finland examines what drives FDI into Finland and which domestic regulatory aspects may discourage foreign investment. The report analyses trends in FDI flows towards Finland and other Nordic-Baltic countries and discusses the benefits of foreign investment for the Finnish economy. It provides a comparative overview of the regulatory frameworks in force in Finland and its Nordic-Baltic peers, outlining both economy-wide and sector-specific findings, and explores how changes in these regulatory frameworks are linked to changes in FDI inflows in the region. Foreign investors’ views on Finland’s business environment complement these findings. The report underlines potential areas for reform and suggests policy actions that could further improve Finland’s investment climate and contribute to attracting and retaining more FDI, while also strengthening its positive impact.

This report analyses the structural characteristics of China’s shipbuilding industry, notably through comparison of other major shipbuilding economies. Building upon previous reports drafted in 2008 and 2011, it aims to analyse China’s shipbuilding sector from a holistic and multidisciplinary perspective (e.g. the interconnection between trade, competition, monetary, financial, fiscal and industrial policies), with a particular emphasis on government support measures. Key findings from these analyses suggest that: 1) China’s shipbuilding industry has been labelled as a strategic industry, which may equally explain China’s intention to move up the shipbuilding value chain, 2) State-owned conglomerates hold a lot of influence in China’s shipbuilding industry, 3) Government support to the Chinese shipbuilding industry is alleged to have contributed to global excess capacity.

The impact of consumer data on competition in online markets is gaining attention from competition agencies across the globe. Effective competition should theoretically drive better outcomes for consumers in terms of higher levels of privacy and control of personal data, but this is not always the case in practice, especially when consumers do not or cannot actively manage their privacy options. There are questions about whether the possession of consumer data raises barriers to entry and what remedies could best address such concerns, among others. This Going Digital Toolkit note discusses competition issues and identifies innovative ways that competition agencies are addressing related challenges. It also assesses some of the ways in which jurisdictions are improving co-operation between agencies with responsibilities across competition, privacy and data protection, and consumer policy and enforcement.

Digital technologies are transforming the environment in which firms compete online. While this change has delivered wide-reaching benefits for consumers, it has also given rise to potential competition concerns. One such area of concern relates to conglomerate mergers, which occur between firms that are neither product market competitors nor in a supply relationship. This Going Digital Toolkit note describes how merger control, and in particular the review of conglomerate mergers, can be an effective tool for making online markets more competitive.

This review analyses regulatory barriers to competition in the logistics sector in Brunei Darussalam, with the goal of helping the government make regulation more pro-competitive while fostering long-lasting growth. This report is based on a competition assessment of laws and regulations conducted by the OECD in the framework of the project 'Fostering Competition in Asean'. Besides developing recommendations to promote the competitive and efficient functioning of markets under review, this report also includes estimates of how the implementation of certain recommendations could impact the economy. An OECD Competitive Neutrality Review of Small-package Delivery Services in Brunei Darussalam was launched together with this study.

Despite potentially tremendous benefits, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) lag in the digital transformation. Emerging technologies, as diverse as they are, offer a range of applications for them to improve performance and overcome the size-related limitations they face in doing business. However, SMEs must be better prepared, and stakes are high. SMEs make the most of the industrial fabric in many countries and regions, they create jobs (most jobs sometimes) and are the cement of inclusive and sustainable societies. The SME digital gap has increased inequalities among people, places and firms, and there are concerns that the benefits of the digital transformation could accrue to early adopters, further broadening these inequalities. Enabling SME digitalisation has become a top policy priority in OECD countries and beyond. The report looks at recent trends in SME digital uptake, including in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. It focuses on issues related to digital security, online platforms, blockchain ecosystems, and artificial intelligence. The report identifies opportunities, risks of not going digital, and barriers to adoption. It looks to concrete policy action taken worldwide to speed the SME transformation and raises a series of considerations to advance the SME digital policy agenda.

This paper uses firm-level data analysis to assess the extent, and the economic and policy implications of state-owned enterprises (hereafter SOEs) in the shipbuilding sector. Even though the available data appears to be limited in certain respects, one of the paper’s key findings demonstrates that SOEs occupy a significant share in global ship completions, but are likely to operate with lower profitability rates and to be more highly leveraged than private enterprises. This report also presents a number of guiding principles to assess SOEs’ behaviour and their potential impact on the shipbuilding market, such as good corporate governance frameworks and the principle of competitive neutrality. To provide a concrete comparative analysis of SOEs and their private counterparts, the paper examines a case-study comparing the Chinese central state-owned enterprise CSIC and its private counterpart Yangzijiang Shipbuilding.

This review analyses regulatory barriers to competition in the logistics sector in the Philippines, with the goal of helping the government make regulation more pro-competitive while fostering long-lasting growth. This report is based on a competition assessment of laws and regulations conducted by the OECD in the framework of the project 'Fostering Competition in Asean'. Besides developing recommendations to promote the competitive and efficient functioning of markets under review, this report also includes estimates of how the implementation of certain recommendations could impact the economy. An OECD Competitive Neutrality Review of Small-package Delivery Services in the Philippines was launched together with this study.