March 2015

The methodological profile of scientific publications on public transparency: An analysis of the African scenario

This study seeks to analyze the methodological profile of scientific publications completed on public transparency within the context of the African continent. The following are the specific objectives of this study: to present the research methods commonly utilized in academic investigation concerning public transparency in Africa, to survey compilation of a sample of articles on public transparency contained in the...

Author(s): Belchior Pedro Cole, Maurício Vasconcellos Leão Lyrio, Sérgio Murilo Petri and Rogério João Lunkes

March 2015

Effects of microfinance services on the performance of small and medium enterprises in Kenya

The Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) sector in Kenya has grown tremendously over the last two decades but its growth is characterized by low productivity and survivalist enterprises. The sector is however very strategic in providing future employment for the economy. This paper reviews the effects of microfinance services on the performance of MSMEs using an explanatory research design. The study...

Author(s): Irene Rotich, Charles Lagat and Japhet Kogei

March 2015

Scrutinising the effectiveness of customer loyalty programmes: A study of two large supermarket chains in South Africa

There is a worldwide trend toward loyalty marketing, and companies are implementing loyalty strategies aimed at cultivating strong relationships with their customers. Due to this increased importance and relevance that is attached to loyalty programmes, most retailers have been committed to sustaining customer loyalty and cultivating an enduring and favoured relationship with customers who are expected to regularly...

Author(s): Justin Beneke, Simon Blampied, Ryan Cumming and Justin Parkfelt

March 2015

Value-at-risk in times of crisis: An analysis in the Brazilian market

The present study aimed at evaluating the predictive ability of the models of market risk estimation in times of financial crises. To this end, models were tested to estimate the financial indicator Value-at-Risk (VaR) applied to the daily returns of the BM&FBovespa, the Ibovespa index. Traditional models and those based on the Extreme Value Theory (EVT), considered as two types of distribution, the Generalized...

Author(s): Luiz Eduardo Gaio, Tabajara Pimenta Junior, Fabiano Guasti Lima and Carlos Alberto Grespan Bonacim

March 2015

Interdependence between GCC stock market and oil prices and portfolio management strategies under structural breaks

This paper empirically investigates the interdependence between GCC stock market and oil price by considering structural breaks in conditional volatility. The univariate and multivariate GARCH models are extended by including structural breaks which are determined endogenously by using ICSS algorithm proposed by Inclan and Tiao. Empirical results indicate that the inclusion of structural breaks in the model...

Author(s): Nizar Harrathi and Ahmed Almohaimeed