December 2011
Air emission from ship driving force for next generation marine technological and policy change: A review
The main and auxiliary machineries that move a ship are considered the heart of the ship. Climate change, ozone depletion and global warming that has been recognized as threat of this generation, is linked to ship machineries. This, in a reciprocal manner, is driving the wave of change in policy and technological change for newly built and existing ship. The current challenges being faced are the balance...
December 2011
Reexamination of capital asset pricing model (CAPM): An application of quantile regression
Capital asset pricing model (CAPM) plays a very important role in risky asset evaluation. This paper tries to explore the important aspect in CAPM, which is perfect linear relationship assumption between return and market portfolio risk and further discusses the application of CAPM. Empirical evidence shows that the model in ordinary least squares (OLS) supports the positive relationship between...
December 2011
Evaluating the impact of marketing strategy on customer satisfaction through game theory: A mathematical model and empirical research
This study attempts to develop a theoretical model and associated method for researching the impact of marketing strategy on customer satisfaction. It also examines the indirect effects of a marketing strategy on consumer satisfaction via the price and service quality. To clarify, it employs the concept of natural logarithms and the Lagrange function to develop a conceptual model and form an optimal marketing...
December 2011
A novel decision approach on selecting alliance partners of supply chain in photovoltaic industry
Speeding up the development of green and renewable energy in order to reduce the consumption of petroleum is a worldwide issue that is very critical, crucial and urgent. Photovolatic industry is one of the most important green industries which need urgent attention. Helping the photovoltaic industry to upgrade the operation result is a highly valuable endeavor. Strategic alliance is the most efficient and...
December 2011
The role of women in peacemaking, conflict and rehabilitation management in Elele, Ikwerre Local Government of Rivers State, Nigeria
The basic energies common to all human beings have been directed in such a way that men seek power and women protect men from the consequences of excessive power. At the close of every war, destroyed communities have been rebuilt, and much of the physical labour of rebuilding is often heaped on women. Another activity traditionally expected of women is conflict resolution, since it is troublesome to go...
December 2011
Consumer loyalty in mobile telephony
The main aim of this work was to analyze the effect of satisfaction and word-of-mouth (WOM) communication on consumer loyalty, as well as to explore the link between loyalty and WOM in mobile telephony. In order to test the hypotheses proposed in this study, a causal model was applied using a sample of 257 consumers. The results obtained confirmed the existence of a significant and positive relationship...
December 2011
Access and the use of computers in secondary schools: Clarifying a lucid paradox
When discussing access, it is imperative to consider not only the access educators have to the use of computers in the classrooms, but the access they need in order to prepare lessons, to find new knowledge and to plan their lessons at their own time. The present study surveyed a sample of 1528 heterogeneous secondary schools educators of which 812 responded. The results provided a detailed summary of...
December 2011
Supplier selection process with analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) algorithm
Supplier of a company increases its own economic strength and profitability. Speed of production, quality and cost of the product are some of the main goals of the companies to optimize. The multi-criteria aspect of the decision process of a company, including the supplier selection, increased the complexity of the management process. In this study, the methods for selection of suppliers for a company located...
December 2011
The impact of financial crisis on profitability, asset turnover and state aid in SMEs
The role of small and medium companies (SMEs) in Spain in terms of economicsand job creation is highly relevant in order to escape from the global financial crisisin which the world is immersed. This paper seeks to examine and quantify the impact of this crisis in the Spanish...
December 2011
Leadership potential as a key factor in the success of managers in companies of Ulyanovsk Region
Modern economy is the economy of information and knowledge, resulting in increasing speed of changes occurring in it; accordingly, it requires new tools and approaches to industrial activity. In conditions of high degree of uncertainty in the environment and in order to enhance their role, the entire staff and not only the top management become the protagonists in the organization. Thanks to the skills,...
December 2011
Corporate tax rate as a determinant of systematic risk: Evidence from Pakistani cement sector
The main purpose of this study is to find the influence of corporate tax rate on systematic risk with three more variables (leverage, return on assets and market value of equity) by using cement sector data of Pakistan. This study used fifteen cement manufacturer data from 2004 to 2009 and fixed effect panel data random regression model. The result showed that corporate tax rate is not a determinant of...
December 2011
Accessing innovativeness of distance learners toward their readiness in embracing technology
The accelerating technological development nowadays requires distance learners to be ready in embracing new technological tools that are to be used in facilitating their learning environment. For such learning condition to occur, characteristics and potential of distance learners in responding to technology need to be identified. This research study attempted to access their innovativeness in embracing new...
December 2011
Customer perceptions of cellular phone services, attributes and factors influencing selection/preference
The study assessed customer perceptions of cellular phone services (five), attributes/features (twelve) and factors (four) impacting on selection/preference. The empirical study was undertaken in KwaZulu-Natal and comprised of 476 cell phone subscribers, drawn using the multi-stage sampling technique. Data was collected using a self-developed, closed-ended, precoded questionnaire, the reliability of which was...
December 2011
Entrepreneurial orientation and competitive advantage: The mediation of resource value and rareness
This study examines how entrepreneurial orientation (EO), resource attributes, and the competitive advantage of firms are related. Resource attributes refer to the value and rareness of resource–capability combinations, and are proposed to mediate the relationship between EO and the competitive advantage of firms. Based on data collected from 201 public firms in Taiwan, the statistical results show that...
December 2011
Empirical comparison of conventional methods and extreme value theory approach in value-at-risk assessment
This study examines how entrepreneurial orientation (EO), resource attributes, and the competitive advantage of firms are related. Resource attributes refer to the value and rareness of resource–capability combinations, and are proposed to mediate the relationship between EO and the competitive advantage of firms. Based on data collected from 201 public firms in Taiwan, the statistical results show that...
December 2011
The family social capital impact in practices of learning, change and innovation in entrepreneurial family businesses
Family businesses are found in the economies all over the world; they constitute a significant number of enterprises. Recent studies understand their special features from the perspective of social capital, differentiating the approach usually used in studies in Brazil. Therefore, we add a set of variables that are involved in this type of business, allowing the association of family business theme with the...
December 2011
An empirical study on comparing total quality management (TQM) items of national quality award applicants in Slovenia
The purpose of this paper is to study the differences in total quality management (TQM) items of the companies taking part in Slovenian national quality award - Slovenian business excellence prize (SBEP) and other large companies in Slovenia. This paper reports on the research findings of a study conducted in 110 large Slovenian companies regarding their approach to systematic quality improvement process. The...
December 2011
Do tournaments have efficient incentive effects on portfolio managers? A comparative study of close-end funds and open-end funds in China
This paper examined the influence of relative performance ranking on portfolio managers’ risk adjustment strategy by a comparative study of extreme close-end funds and open-end extreme funds in China. Firstly, it demonstrates that both of them have similar risk adjustment strategy. Portfolio managers who are interim losers are not likely to increase fund risk levels in the latter part of the assessment...
December 2011
Measuring job satisfaction, motivation and health issues of secondary school teachers in Pakistan
This study was carried out in twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi of Pakistan focusing on teachers of both public and private secondary schools. The study identifies the factors affecting teachers overall job satisfaction by conducting two studies with a total sample comprised 523 teachers. This study was an extension of teacher 2000 project and the same survey instrument was used here. Study-1 with a...
December 2011
Factors affecting tax compliance behaviour in self assessment system
This paper attempts to provide results of a study on the importance of tax knowledge in determining tax compliance behavior in self assessment system (SAS) in Malaysia. SAS have become the key tax administrative approach in developed countries including the USA, UK and Australia. This approach emphasizes both the tax payers’ responsibility to report their income and to determine their own tax liability....
December 2011
A fuzzy chance constraint multi objective programming method in data envelopment analysis
In recent years, fuzzy set theory has been used as a way to quantify imprecise and vague data in data envelopment analysis models. In this study, we will attempt to approximate the relative efficiency by an imprecise value and increase the power of discrimination between efficient units. For this reason, we propose a chance constraint multi objective programming. Subsequently, a...
December 2011
Evaluating organizational culture with metaphors
Following through Morgan’s (2006) prepositions, this study aims to examine organizational culture by using metaphors. For this goal, metaphors drawn by 24 staffs working at the Physical Education and Sports Department were used to make a qualitative analysis on cultural structure of the department. The results indicated that all eight metaphors proposed by Morgan (2006) (that is, machine, organism,...
December 2011
Deliberate strategy and the tangible link to performance: Lessons from South African higher education
The notion of deliberate versus emergent strategy has long been debated. However, researchers have failed to show which method will bring about an increase in organisational performance, which is the bottom line for business organizations. The study proposes that higher education institutions (HEIs) can be regarded as businesses, and thus, also have to be concerned about their performance within competitive...
December 2011
Moderating effects of employee gender and organizational tenure in competency-performance relationships
This study investigates the moderating effect of two socio-demographic variables which are employee gender and organizational tenure in competency-performance relationship. Data was gathered from 210 Malaysian employees at the Department of Agriculture. To test the moderating effects, two hypotheses were raised and tested. Theoretical model and hypothesis in this study were tested using moderated multiple...
December 2011
Examining qualitative factors influencing on business-to-customer websites using fuzzy methods: Comparison of Iran with developed countries
This study investigates the moderating effect of two socio-demographic variables which are employee gender and organizational tenure in competency-performance relationship. Data was gathered from 210 Malaysian employees at the Department of Agriculture. To test the moderating effects, two hypotheses were raised and tested. Theoretical model and hypothesis in this study were tested using moderated multiple...
December 2011
Designing the model of customer agility and competitive activity
Firms in today’s world face great environmental turbulence due to ever-evolving competition, changing technology, fluctuating demand, disruption in the supply chain caused by man made or natural disasters, etc. High levels of environmental turbulence can paralyze a firm’s operations. Actually competitive activity of the firmin this environments depends on the firm’s ability...
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