Corporate tax avoidance is an aspect of tax haven activity that is under significant scrutiny by the international community. This lies in the belief that corporations should pay their fair share,...Show moreCorporate tax avoidance is an aspect of tax haven activity that is under significant scrutiny by the international community. This lies in the belief that corporations should pay their fair share, and that tax competition serves to lower overall corporate taxation. The narrative in host countries is often within the realm of job creation and economic performance, which this thesis seeks to look into and explore. Does the host country of capital flight and profit shifting actually benefit on a socioeconomic basis or are they merely being affected by the financial curse? This study seeks to explore these concepts by applying them to two tax competitive jurisdictions in the EU, Malta and Ireland, in order to explore the validity of the aforementioned political rhetoric or whether the two countries are experiencing wealth inequality due to the influx of FDI via competitive taxation.Show less
This research has identified relevant financial reforms in Japan and its effects on vertical keiretsu networks. It utilized a literature review to investigate vertical keiretsu networks, financial...Show moreThis research has identified relevant financial reforms in Japan and its effects on vertical keiretsu networks. It utilized a literature review to investigate vertical keiretsu networks, financial deregulation, and keiretsu networks’ contemporary relevance. Moreover, it utilized three different case studies focused on 1) foreign direct investment, 2) changing corporate finance methods, and 3) vertical keiretsu networks. The results show that especially financial deregulations in the period ’96–’06 have affected Japan’s financial markets and vertical keiretsu networks. It demonstrated how the financial reforms have increased foreign direct investment and diminished the role of Japan’s banking industry. It demonstrated that successful vertical keiretsu networks such as Toyota and Honda continue to pursue strong buyer-supplier relationships in the form of cross-shareholding, while at the same time they adopted a market-based global sourcing strategy and utilized the international financial markets. Financial deregulation increased keiretsu networks’ foreign ownership ratios, affected their intra-network cross-shareholding, and led all ‘parent’ firms to adopt market-based purchasing strategies. Therefore, the research claims that financial deregulation forced vertical keiretsu networks to change their ways by ‘hybridizing’ their business model, and that the networks seem to continue to exist as a relevant form of industrial organization in Japan, despite its drastically changing economic landscape.Show less
