ABSTRACTThis paper documents rapid growth in private investment in agrifood‐tech startups in South America. Over the 15 year period 2007–22, nearly US$10 billion flowed into 547 startups via more than 1100 business deals. The real annualized growth rate of 52% in such investment has gone largely unnoticed. The South American agrifood‐tech ecosystem is heavily concentrated in Brazil and Argentina, which together account for 75% of the population of startups. Likewise, the ten largest deals over this period account for 48 percent of all investments; the median investment in South American agrifood tech is modest, roughly US$100,000. Pre‐farm gate technologies captured over 42% of the deal flow but only 15% of the total capital invested. By contrast, investments at the consumer‐facing end of the agrifood value chain, into on‐demand delivery startups, represent 51% of all investments in the region but only 8% of the deal flow. Just 46% of firms raised two or more funding rounds over the 15‐year period. Multivariate regression models show that country‐year‐level macroeconomic, financial and agricultural indicators fail to explain much variation in private capital investments in South American agrifood tech. Drawing on key informant interviews, we identify some of the main barriers to and accelerators of adoption and uptake at scale of agrifood technologies in South America.
nar. 1931, absolvent Vysoké školy ekonomické, obor zahraniční obchod. V letech 1955-1961 pracoval ve Strojexportu, v letech 1961-1983 ve Strojimportu a poté opět ve Strojexportu. Od roku 1989 zastával funkci vedoucího konjunkturního a cenového odboru VÚVEV.
Сформированный и развитый человеческий капитал является основой развития социально-экономических систем любого уровня. При этом эффективность деятельности субъектов экономических отношений напрямую зависит от кадровой составляющей их экономического потенциала, ведь ответственный, квалифицированный и мотивированный персонал является основой успешной реализации управленческих решений, реализации стратегий развития, соблюдения экономической безопасности субъекта. В свою очередь, если все без исключения проблемные вопросы мотивации персонала к достижению целей организации, как субъекта экономических отношений, решаются на микроуровне, то есть во внутренне-организационном среде, то проблемы формирования ответственности и квалификации наемных работников напрямую зависит от приобретенной ими образования. Указанное актуализирует роль и значение системы высшего образования, которая уже на протяжении более чем двадцати лет стала не привилегией наиболее одаренных, а настоящим источником квалифицированных кадров для всех сфер, секторов и отраслей национальной экономики, как системообразующей звенья процесса формирования человеческого капитала субъектов экономической, прежде всего, производственно-коммерческой деятельности. Последнее предопределяет приоритетность развития именно субъектов предоставления образовательных услуг в сфере высшего образования, как субъектов и объектов инвестиционной деятельности с учетом дуалистического характера источников и результатов инвестиций. Formed and developed human capital is the basis for the development of socio-economic systems at any level. At the same time, the effectiveness of the activities of subjects of economic relations directly depends on the personnel component of their economic potential, because responsible, qualified and motivated personnel is the basis for the successful implementation of management decisions, the implementation of development strategies, compliance with the economic security of the subject. In turn, if all the problematic issues of personnel motivation to achieve the goals of the organization, as a subject of economic relations, are solved at the micro level, that is, in the internal organizational environment, then the problems of forming the responsibility and qualifications of employees directly depend on the education they have acquired. This actualizes the role and importance of the higher education system, which for more than twenty years has become not a privilege of the most gifted, but a real source of qualified personnel for all spheres, sectors and branches of the national economy, as a system-forming link in the process of forming the human capital of economic entities, primarily industrial and commercial activities. The latter determines the priority of the development of the subjects of providing educational services in the field of higher education, as subjects and objects of investment activity, taking into account the dualistic nature of the sources and results of investment.
Oil and gas projects inherently require significant sums of capital investments. Uncertainty in the global financial climate, coupled with volatile commodity prices and unrelenting cost escalations, is contributing to the risk of a world-wide credit crunch. In an ever-tightening capital market, investors are forced to compete globally for equity amidst rising costs of capital and an unprecedented demand for accountability by capital providers. Despite tough economic times, Australia has remained one of the world’s leading centres for raising capital for global oil and gas exploration and development exploits. Many players increasingly access Australia’s liquid capital markets to fund emerging oil and gas ventures in locations including Africa, Asia and the Americas. Australia has conducive regulatory and fiscal rules, which make it an attractive holding company jurisdiction to locate either global or regional oil and gas headquarters. There are, however, many aspects of Australia’s fiscal rules that are often overlooked and can prove costly for the global tax effectiveness of investing through Australia and the flow-on impact on global after-tax funding costs in a capital-constrained environment. This peer-reviewed paper seeks to canvass the following: overview of Australia’s holding company tax regime, including Australia’s participation exemption, branch profits exemption and controlled foreign company rules; accidental permanent establishment risks for Australian entities operating abroad; treatment of equity-raising costs; cost allocations for management, technical services and head office support; funding of foreign operations and subsidiaries; holding intellectual property rights and conducting research and development in Australia versus abroad; and Australia’s arm’s length rules.