Investigating the role of electronic customs system on export development from the point of view of experts and exporters in Gilan province

Academic Thesis for Master's Degree

Field: Business Management Orientation: International

Abstract

Customs as a commercial gateway has long played a significant role in foreign trade and, as a result, the economy of countries. Therefore, according to the key topic of the relative advantage of the ever-increasing expansion of trade, creating suitable grounds for the expansion of global trade is inevitable, and this itself requires the existence of appropriate customs with this huge volume of goods exchanges. The importance of the role of customs is to such an extent that its speed and efficiency is considered as a criterion for evaluating the foreign trade activities of any country or even the macroeconomics of that country. For this reason, customs automation is a vital part of any trade facilitation program. Electronic customs will actually improve the trade facilitation situation by shortening the time required for export and import and reducing the number of documents and costs of export and import.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the role of electronic customs on The development of exports is from the point of view of experts and exporters in Gilan province. The questionnaire used in this research is a researcher-made questionnaire and it contains 20 questions, with the help of which, using a 5-point Likert scale, the knowledge of the statistical sample has been measured. The validity of the questionnaire was examined by referring to the supervisor and the professors of the department and the technician, and their opinions were applied. The reliability of the questionnaire was 0.913 using Cronbach's alpha method by spss21 software, which is greater than 0.75, indicating that the questionnaire has the required reliability.

This research from the objective point of view; practical and based on the collection of descriptive data; It is survey type. Inferential tests have been used, binomial statistical test for hypothesis testing, multiple regression and Friedman's Nonparametric Variance Analysis test have been used to rank the benefits and opportunities of electronic customs for the development of export of goods and services. Keywords: customs, foreign trade, electronic customs, trade facilitation, export. Chapter First

Generalities of the research

1 Introduction

The growth of commercial activities and market development in comparison with production activities in recent decades has caused companies and large economic institutions in the world to make huge investments in the field of commercial services and use the best and most modern facilities to gain benefits and attract more customers. In the discussion of trade, which is considered as one of the important foundations of economic growth of any country, equipping and developing infrastructure such as border crossings, airports, ports, wharves, and customs is extremely important, and for this reason, various countries of the world, especially those with extensive water borders, have paid special attention to the strengthening and development of the mentioned places. In this regard, the simultaneous development of entry and exit areas and customs offices as the two main pillars of trade development has been the key to the success of industrialized and advanced countries in the field of foreign trade. Countries such as: Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Germany, South Korea, the United States and the United Arab Emirates, which are at the top of the world in terms of the volume of trade exchanges, have been able to achieve superior positions only through the development and equipping of their ports and customs. In our country, despite the existence of very suitable places and the possibility of preparing them for increasing commercial and economic activities, including long maritime and land borders, and being adjacent to a large number of countries in both sectors, i.e. the entry and exit points of goods, especially ports and customs, the speed of growth and development of infrastructure is very slow in terms of quantity and quality, and the changes and developments created to meet the needs of the business community and align with technological advances have been insignificant; This is despite the fact that our country, due to its special geographical location, has always been the focus of merchants from the East and West of the world since thousands of years ago, and its location on the Silk Road is also a confirmation of this (Specialized Customs Affairs Journal, 2013, p. 7). Due to this method, merchants are able to offer their products and services full-time to all buyers around the world regardless of geographical boundaries and nations.. Many people think that e-commerce is limited to buying and selling over the Internet, while this is only a small part of e-commerce, and this concept now covers a wide range of different commercial and economic aspects. It is easy to include any commercial and financial activity between institutions and individuals in the field of electronics (Spardani, 2012, p. 4). Considering the many developments that have occurred in the field of electronic commerce and the convergences that have occurred in the direction of globalization, especially in commercial and economic fields, creating harmony with the conditions and atmosphere of international trade is one of the current requirements of our country. One of these trends of globalization of trade with regard to the network-oriented economy of the future is the issue of carrying out the process of exporting goods and services electronically. Considering the items mentioned in the third and fourth five-year economic, social and cultural programs of the country in relation to the development of non-oil exports, the strategy of leapfrogging exports and the expansion of the use of communication and information technology in the economy, commerce and trade in order to facilitate trade and reduce the gap with the international economy and the items mentioned in the twenty-year vision of the country, including achieving the first economic, scientific and technological position in the Southwest Asia region (including Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Middle East and neighboring countries) with an emphasis on the software movement and production of science, rapid and continuous economic growth, relative improvement of income level and reaching employment", on the one hand, and the electronic maturity of international trade and exchange processes in global markets, on the other hand, the country of Iran must provide the necessary infrastructure and platforms for the implementation of electronic commerce in all sectors and sub-sectors of the country. Increasing the volume of exports and foreign exchanges of the country is the use of new methods and tools for exchanges, marketing and electronic sales. With a systemic, strategic and all-round view, it is obvious that in order to achieve such capability and capability at the level of global exchanges, our country must provide the capital, technical, managerial, legal and legal platforms and provide all the necessary components and sub-sectors to electronicize the export processes and achieve the goals of the export leap strategy (Hasanqolipour and Sharifi, 2014, p. 63). Because electronic customs is the use of electronic business in customs offices to meet their administrative and service needs, as well as to better meet the needs of stakeholders participating in international trade and transportation and increasing commercial competition from faster clearance of goods, increasing income and security and border protection (Karbasian, 2013, p. 2).   

1-2 statement of the problem

The increase in the volume of trade exchanges at the world level is surprising and stunning, and the facilitation of global trade is the inevitable reality of today's competitive economy, and this important thing will be realized under the influence of new science and technology (Gourchian and Karbasian, 2006, p. 52). Heavy tariffs or non-tariffs on goods have been in order to maintain and develop the country's economic situation. But with the emergence of huge changes in the field of production, including advanced technologies in the diversification of the production process and production factories due to the multinationalization of companies and international mergers, as well as in the field of international communication, such as the creation of a global network, the construction of very strong and advanced communication tools, and finally the globalization of the economy and other developments that have caused the name of the global village to come to mind, the customs of countries have also realized their new and changing role and are trying to adapt to these changes. (Saee and Nakhai, 2018, p. 4).

In the context of today's business environment, governments should focus on improving business competitiveness. Commercial competitiveness includes gaining a competitive advantage in the cost, time and quality of the country's exports, as well as increasing the efficiency in entering the necessary inputs for domestic industries. Improving business competitiveness requires a comprehensive view of the country's overall business development strategy. Business development strategy is defined as a comprehensive approach to the development and expansion of sustainable business flows that are appropriate and efficient at different stages of the country's economic development. Meanwhile, trade facilitation is known as one of the pillars and main components of the comprehensive strategy of trade development (Karami, 2013, p. 35).