International Journal of Business Management Insight & Transformations [ISSN: 2581-4176 (online)]

Global Influence and Leadership Adaptation: The Role of US Policy in Shaping Leadership Behaviour in Developing States of the Caribbean, Africa, and Latin America

Paul Andrew Bourne, PhD, DrPH — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 05:43:51 +0000

This study examines the influence of contemporary United States (US) leadership on political and organisational leadership behaviours in developing states across the Caribbean, Africa, Latin America, and South America. US leadership, exercised through economic policy, military engagement, diplomatic strategies, and soft power mechanisms, shapes both institutional structures and normative expectations of governance abroad. Developing states often adapt leadership styles in response to US strategic interests, conditional aid, and global economic pressures, resulting in hybrid forms of authority that blend local political traditions with externally influenced practices. Using a qualitative, comparative, and narrative-analytic methodology, the current study draws on case studies, historical analysis, and policy documentation to explore the mechanisms through which US leadership impacts domestic leadership behaviour. The findings indicate that US influence fosters both adaptive innovation and dependency-driven constraints, producing leaders who emulate strategic, transactional, or coercive approaches depending on local context. Caribbean and Latin American leaders frequently exhibit populist and developmentalist adaptations, while African leaders often blend external-oriented pragmatism with traditional authority structures. This study addresses a gap in the literature concerning the global diffusion of leadership norms and the agency of developing-state actors in negotiating US influence. Implications include the need for context-sensitive leadership scholarship, recognition of structural pressures in shaping behavioural repertoires, and critical attention to the ethical dimensions of externally mediated leadership. By analysing the interplay between global leadership and local adaptation, this study contributes to understanding how hegemonic influence shapes governance and leadership behaviour worldwide.

AI-Driven Business Transformation: Strategic Adaptation, Customer Insights, and Value Creation through Intelligent Tools

Rujittika Mungmunpuntipantip, Viroj Wiwanitkit

The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has fundamentally reshaped how businesses operate, compete, and deliver value. Modern organizations are transitioning from traditional decision-making models to AI-driven frameworks that emphasize automation, predictive analytics, and customer personalization. This article explores key strategies for understanding AI business transformation trends, redesigning business models using tools like BizOnePage, and leveraging AI tools for marketing and customer analytics. It also highlights how businesses can apply AI innovation to enhance operational efficiency and create new brand value. The insights provided aim to guide entrepreneurs, managers, and professionals in strategically integrating AI into their business planning and execution.

Revisiting India’s Public Distribution System: Pathways to Food Security and Inclusive Growth: Challenges ahead

Ritu Makhija, Dr Niyati Padhi, Dr Sharad Dixit

This paper examines the role of India’s Public Distribution System (PDS) in advancing food security, poverty alleviation, and inclusive growth in a rapidly transforming economy. While India has achieved notable economic expansion, persistent challenges of hunger, malnutrition, and unequal access to resources highlight gaps in distributive mechanisms. Using secondary data from sources such as NFHS, World Bank, and policy reports, the study analyses trends in nutritional outcomes, subsidy patterns, and systemic efficiency. The findings suggest that the PDS has played a critical stabilizing role, particularly during economic shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic, by safeguarding vulnerable populations. However, issues of fiscal sustainability, targeting inefficiencies, and limited nutritional diversity constrain its effectiveness. The paper argues for a restructured, technology-driven and nutrition-sensitive PDS to strengthen its contribution to inclusive and sustainable development.

Leadership in the Informal Economy of Jamaica: Styles, Community Impact, and Gender Dimensions

Paul Andrew Bourne, PhD, DrPH

A substantial portion of Jamaica’s workforce operates in the informal economy, yet empirical research on leadership within this sector remains limited. This study integrates economic sociology and leadership theory to examine leadership styles among informal entrepreneurs, community leadership in inner-city economies, and gender dynamics within informal markets. Using a concurrent mixed methods design with 150 participants from Kingston, St Catherine, and Montego Bay, data were collected through structured surveys, semi-structured interviews, and six months of participant observation. The results indicate that relational and transformational leadership styles predominate, with informal leaders often leveraging social capital, trust networks, and community legitimacy to navigate structural and market challenges. Women demonstrated distinct leadership strategies, emphasising relational coordination, resource-sharing networks, and cooperative problem solving to overcome systemic barriers in access to finance, market space, and formal recognition. The current findings extend leadership theory beyond formal organisational contexts, highlighting the social embeddedness, adaptability, and gendered dimensions of leadership in informal economies, and provide actionable recommendations for policy interventions aimed at supporting entrepreneurship, gender equity, and community-driven economic development in Jamaica.

Reassessing the Poverty Measurement in Jamaica: A Critical Examination of the Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions 2022 and the Case for a Multidimensional Alternative Framework

Paul Andrew Bourne, PhD, DrPH

This study critically examines the conceptualisation and measurement of poverty in Jamaica through the lens of the Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions (JSLC) 2022 framework, interrogating whether the prevailing consumption-based approach adequately captures the lived realities of deprivation in a contemporary Caribbean society (Planning Institute of Jamaica [PIOJ] & Statistical Institute of Jamaica [STATIN]). The JSLC, jointly administered by the Planning Institute of Jamaica and the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, has historically defined poverty through household consumption expenditure relative to a nationally determined poverty line, distinguishing between overall poverty and extreme food poverty. While this monetary framework has facilitated longitudinal comparisons and informed policy development since 1988, emerging socioeconomic complexities, including vulnerability, inequality, and non-monetary deprivation, raise questions regarding its continued relevance. Empirical evidence indicates declining poverty rates in recent years; however, a significant proportion of Jamaicans remain vulnerable to poverty, highlighting structural fragilities not fully captured by income or consumption measures. This paper employs a critical analytical approach, integrating theoretical perspectives on poverty measurement with empirical insights from the JSLC, to evaluate the strengths and limitations of Jamaica’s current framework. It argues that the existing model, while statistically robust, is conceptually narrow and insufficiently reflective of multidimensional deprivation. Consequently, the study proposes a multidimensional poverty index tailored to the Jamaican context, incorporating indicators such as housing quality, access to healthcare, education, employment security, and social vulnerability. The findings suggest that transitioning toward a multidimensional framework would provide a more holistic and policy-relevant understanding of poverty, enabling more targeted and equitable interventions aligned with Jamaica’s development goals.

Dynamic Macroeconomic Determinants of Missing and Returned Persons in Jamaica: An ARIMAX Time-Series Approach

Paul Andrew Bourne, PhD, DrPH.

This study examines the dynamic relationship between macroeconomic conditions, violence intensity, and disappearance outcomes in Jamaica using annual data from 2018 to 2024. Missing persons, returned persons, and net unresolved cases are modelled as functions of GDP per capita, unemployment, inflation, poverty, and homicide rates within a macro-structural framework grounded in strain theory and social disorganisation theory. Descriptive analysis and exploratory time-series regression results indicate that economic instability and elevated homicide rates are positively associated with missing persons and net unresolved accumulation, while economic expansion is associated with improved return performance and reduced disappearance burden. The findings further suggest that periods of labour market contraction, inflationary pressure, and high violence correspond with increased systemic vulnerability and reduced institutional recovery capacity. Although the short time horizon limits full dynamic ARIMAX estimation, the empirical patterns demonstrate consistent structural relationships between macroeconomic instability and disappearance dynamics. The study contributes to the literature by integrating disappearance incidence and recovery outcomes within a unified econometric framework and highlights the importance of coordinated economic stabilisation and violence reduction policies to improve institutional effectiveness and social protection.

Preliminary Study on Price Tool Management and the Effects on Business Activities-A Qualitative Study with Business Owners from Indonesia

Fiona Surja

The growth of e-commerce has made price management an important issue for online businesses. Pricing systems have become popular due to their ability to automate price decisions, monitor competitions, and use artificial intelligence to gain advantages over competitors. However, pricing systems face issues related to technology, distrust from customers, and ethics. This paper looks at the effect of pricing systems that use AI on business processes and explores how business owners view their strengths and weaknesses. For this study, a qualitative method was used through six open-ended questions conducted online through Google Forms. The respondents were three business owners in Indonesia, who run online and offline businesses. They responded to questions concerning their experience with price management systems. It is shown that companies face issues in implementing price management systems, such as fast changes in prices, lack of structured data, technical problems, lack of finances, and distrust towards automation. Despite some scepticism, the participants viewed AI as a helpful tool rather than a threat, but highlighted the risks of over-automation, loss of control by humans, price wars, and increasing difference between big and small businesses. Price also plays a lesser role than what people think when selling goods or services.