October 2011
Causes and effects of economic crisis in history
The economic crisis which started in the U.S. (one of the biggest economies of the world) has spread all over the world. Wavelength made it global by affecting financial market. We analyzed crisis under three main titles in this study: Firstly, we studied economic crisis in history; secondly, we analyzed causes of recent global crisis; and thirdly, we analyzed the effects of financial crisis on developed and...
October 2011
Intra-organizational communication and leadership: An interactive approach
Since both communication within the organization and leadership are two key elements in attaining organizational goals, they are key determinants and are of vital importance in terms of the organization’s current achievement and efficiency, and its future position. The present study, which inquires the relationship between intra-organizational communication and leadership through an interactive...
October 2011
Word of mouth communication and some consumption habits among Iranian consumers
Word of mouth (WOM) is becoming increasingly recognized as an important form of promotion. The present paper seeks to explore the factors that are likely to enhance chances that receivers of positive word of mouth might be influenced by such information or situations. Infact, the purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between word of mouth communication and some consumption habit among...
October 2011
Analysing the consumer market microstructure in South Africa by means of a consumer financial vulnerability survey: Uncovering the predictors of financial vulnerability
As with many developing countries, the consumer macrostructure of South Africa is beset with a number of serious problems including high levels of poverty, a very unequal income distribution, negative personal saving rates and high personal gearing ratios. A consumer financial vulnerability study conducted in 2009 showed that South Africans are generally financially vulnerable, thus confirming these problems...
October 2011
Observing the dependence between dynamic indicators of investment profitability - Relative net present value and internal rate of return
This paper presents part of the results of a research in the field of investment planning processes in the economy of the Autonomous Province (AP) of Vojvodina, between 2003 and 2008. The relationship between two dynamic indicators of project profitability: Net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR) is observed and its existence is determined using valid statistical methods. Key...
October 2011
The impact of collaboration or collaborative behaviour on the level of internal integration: Case study of Slovenian retailers and motor vehicle repair companies
Collaboration or collaborative behaviour presents an important aspect of company success that may also be visible in the way the level of internal integration is percepted. Due to the fact that successfully implemented internal integration is linked to the success of the company, influencing factors need to be further explored. As such, collaboration is a known factor that influences the level of internal...
October 2011
A social capital perspective of knowledge management: A philosophical and scientific outlook
Nowadays, knowledge management (KM) is viewed as the "Third Millennium's Paradigm." Social, along with scientific and economic realms, are most affected by knowledge-related developments. Knowledge management is in many ways the catalyst to man's entry into the post-industrial society. The present article sheds light on knowledge management from a social capital perspective. A number of...
October 2011
The influence of product contagion effect on consumer evaluation: The moderating role of cognitive style
Contagion theory stated that consumer product perceptions can be affected by a transfer of properties from one object to another. This study was performed using candy and bitter gourd as the experimental sources. Moreover, we employed 233 students to participate in two experiments and used a 2 × 2 × 2 + 1 between-subjects design to measure the contagion effect. This research focused on how...
October 2011
Identification of key positioning factors in the retail sector: A conjoint analysis approach
In the highly competitive retail environment, the success of retail companies deeply depends on their achieved levels of customer satisfaction. In order to create superior value and competitive advantages in the marketplace, retailers must understand the customers’ desires, needs and behavior, and at the same time satisfy them more efficiently than the competition. Therefore, measuring consumer...
October 2011
Need to implement the environmental ethics to protect the society: A study on global perspectives for sustainable development
Environmental ethics is one of the most important modern environmental conservation and sustainable development tools and involves in the early history of human civilizations. It has already been a global issue due to its implications in the development discoursed. But most of the people in the underdeveloped and developed countries people are not aware about its importance. Considering the environmental...
October 2011
Operating cost control strategies for airlines
The purpose of this study is to explore the ranking of international airlines operating cost control strategies based on empirical studies of an international full-service airlines operation in Taiwan. Cost control has become more and more important for airlines in recent years, especially after the dramatic increases in crude oil prices that began in 2008, as well as the on-going global financial crisis that...
October 2011
Management skills and entrepreneurial success of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the services sector
This study attempts to analyze the contribution of entrepreneurs in terms of their management skills towards the success of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the services sector in Malaysia. The methods used are descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation, stepwise regression procedures and t-test. The data for the study were collected through mail questionnaires sent out to selected entrepreneurs of...
October 2011
Survey of the relation between organizational structure and informational overload in commercial units: A case study of Iran tractor manufacturing company
Increasing mass information is one of uppermost puzzles for managers who forced to confront with them. On one hand there is also deficient correct information. They may find it difficult to determine which information constitutes corporations’ strategic sources and lead to assets. But that is the question, what a proper solution is. Partly related to design and performance of management information...
October 2011
The dark side of employee behavior: An explanation of factors instigating organizational politics
Organizational politics is becoming a nightmare for the employers, especially in developing countries because of its devastating effects on the achievement of organizational objectives. The culture specific reasons of the development of organizational politics posed a great challenge to behavioral sciences experts and made it necessary to study the reasons why employees engage in organizational politics. This...
October 2011
The effects of interpartner resource alignment and absorptive capacity on knowledge transfer performance
Against a background of increasing international competition and rapid technological change, universities and industry have often engaged in collaboration as a means of improving cross-unit transfers of their resources, capabilities, and knowledge. Following this frontier, this study examines the effects of university and firm interpartner resource alignment and absorptive capacity on knowledge transfer...
October 2011
Key role of strategic human resource management (SHRM) in advancing the degree of team learning
Strategic human resource management (SHRM) is the main concern of the managers who are expanding their business at global level. It provides new avenues for the promotion of team learning in the organization. The significance of SHRM in advancement of team learning behaviour is still to be emphasized by scholars and academicians. Less emphasis is laid on the analysis of key role of SHRM in advancing degree of...
October 2011
Factors affecting ethical perceptions and attitudes of managers
Ethics as a regulator of human relations always has a significant importance. In order to achieve ethical behavior criteria, and dominant of ethical principles in employees’ behaviors, effective factors on employees’ ethical behaviors, specifically managers in organizations, should be identified. In this study, impact of demographic variables (such as age, gender, and education) and presence of...
October 2011
Big five personality factors and other elements in understanding work stress of Turkish health care professionals
Work stress has been a vital issue for the past decades in healthcare setting as well as the role of personality in stress. The purpose of this study is to improve the understanding of the effect of personality and other related elements (individual characteristics and work environment) on work stress based on a cybernetic framework. In order to define work stress, the framework points out individual characteristics,...
October 2011
A framework for project portfolio selection with risk reduction approach
The ever-increasing penetration of projects necessitates effective management of multiple projects. Project portfolio management (PPM) is one of the modern project management tools that is utilized for strategy implementation in project-based organizations. This technique includes the following processes: Identification, categorization, evaluation, selection, prioritization, portfolio balancing, and...
October 2011
The dynamics of financial literacy within the framework of personal finance: An analyses among Turkish University Students
Poor financial choices could have a number of negative consequences for young people. Financially illiterate graduates might be subject to various financial or judicial enforcements, such as bankruptcy, mortgage crises or financial frauds. In order to protect young adults from the costly consequences of financial illiteracy, the evaluation of financial literacy must be analyzed for transforming them into...
October 2011
The strategy of Busan Port for Northeast Asia hub port
With the center of the world economy moving to Northeast Asia, areas including China, Northeast Asia areas are witnessing dynamic economic activities taking place together with the revitalization of exchanges. Accordingly, the logistics network and infrastructure are being expanded with the increase in demand for international logistics, and each country is going all out for developing their country into a...
October 2011
The determinants of blog site selection by student-bloggers in Taiwan
What factors influence bloggers to choose a particular blog site, and what reasons do they cite when making their choice, in order of priority? This study develops a multiple-criteria- decision-making (MCDM) model and applies analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to advance our understanding of the processes involved in blog site selection from the perspectives of student-blogger. The results provide insight for...
October 2011
Assessing Taiwan financial holding companies’ performance using window analysis and Malmquist productivity index
Performance evaluation is the important approach for enterprises to give incentive and restraint to their operators and it is also an important channel for enterprise stakeholders to get the performance information. The purpose of this study is to analyze current evaluation system for Taiwan Financial Holding Companies. This research tries to measure the performance on thirteen financial holding companies in...
October 2011
Study of organizational socialization and its relationship on employees’ performance
Today, managers consider several strategies for improving their employee performance. One strategy is to implement socialization for newcomers. The aim of socialization is to teach the organization’s values, norms, and special behavior patterns to newcomers. It is important for individuals to learn and demonstrate the behavior that is desirable for the organization. Despite necessary performance...
October 2011
Do the results of information transparency reflect firms’ accounting quality?
This work mainly uses the information in financial statements from Taiwanese listed firms from the start of 2006 to the end of 2009 to build a proxy of accounting quality. Discriminant and correlation analyses are used to discuss whether the information transparency results announced by the Information Transparency and Disclosure Rankings System maintained by the Securities and Futures Institute properly...
October 2011
Stock returns and inflation: An autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) econometric investigation on Ghana
This study examines whether generalized Fisher hypothesis, which says that there is a positive relationship between stock market returns and inflation rate holds for Ghana, over the period of the first quarter of 1998 to the fourth quarter of 2007 (1998 q1 to 2007 q4). The empirical methodology uses autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) cointegration technique to detect possible long- and short-run...
October 2011
South African students’ perceptions of Facebook: Some implications for instructors
The Facebook phenomenon has revolutionised communication patterns especially among students and youths. Young adults increasingly integrate Facebook into their daily lives. The commonly used features include chatting, uploading personal profiles, exchanging notes and study material. Several factors (for example, real-time interactive messaging, 3G mobile telephony, faster and cheaper Internet access)...
October 2011
Developing a business failure prediction model for cooperatives: Results of an empirical study in Spain
The use of statistical models to predict business failures has received considerable attention in recent decades. However, very few studies have been devoted to predicting failures of cooperative societies, which play an important social and economic role in many sectors and possess certain characteristics that distinguish them from investor-owner companies. This paper develops a statistical business failure...
October 2011
Analysis of the factors affecting customers’ purchase intention: The mediating role of perceived value
Present economic situation has escorted the companies to the worst competitive era, so in this scenario, the focus of the consumer goods manufacturing companies is on customer purchase intention for capturing the major chunk of consumer market. The aim of this study is to explore the factors affecting the customer purchase intention. The main focus of this study is to measure the mediating effect of customer...
October 2011
Robust models for the utilization of public bus transport services in Malaysia
Unless public transportation is efficient, affordable, clean, comfortable and convenient, people would otherwise resort to drive to their destinations. The increased in the number of private vehicles on the road in Malaysia testifies to the preference of driving to work or places of leisure for many reasons. It could also quite easily point to the ailing public transport industry save for a few developed...
October 2011
The effects of environmental regulations on green supply chains
This study examined the impact of the environmental regulations on green supply chain management. Specifically, what firms must address to comply with regulations and how firms deal with requests or requirements from their customers, as well as the impositions they place on their suppliers. The study conducted a case study that includes six manufacturing companies from the computer industry in Taiwan and...
October 2011
Factors influencing international students’ choice towards universities in Malaysia
This paper is aimed to determine factors influencing international postgraduate students in choosing university in Malaysia. Factors such as programs offered, fees, promotion, facilities, prominence, environment, convenience, and scholarship were utilized. A total of 135 international postgraduate students were involved in this study through a direct survey. The percentage technique to extract the information...
October 2011
The perceptions of employees towards working with HIV/AIDS infected and affected co-workers: A case of food services industry in Eastern Cape, South Africa
Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), remains a major blow to the prosperity of many companies. Studies have shown that employees suffering from the disease are prone to stigma and discrimination. It is however imperative for the management to come up with intervention measures that can accommodate infected employees, so that they can feel part of the...
October 2011
What lurks beneath leadership ineffectiveness? A theoretical overview
The impact of effective leadership practices on various aspects of organisational success is a well-researched area in the domain of leadership and management. There is, however, only a small amount of research available that focuses on those aspects that constitute ineffective leadership, which, in turn, contributes to organisational failure. Research suggests that there is a tendency in the literature,...
October 2011
Marketing mix (7P) and performance assessment of Western fast food industry in Taiwan: An application by associating DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) and ANP (Analytic Network Process)
To cope with consumer’s behavioral change, the number of fast food has increased year by years, from 260 stores in 1995 to more than 700 stores today, the growth is more than three times. There are even four or five fast food stores in one kilometer, which shows its severe competition state. In such severe competition environment, some fast food stores might stand out but some fast food stores have to...
October 2011
Extrapolation of long-term risk-free interest rates: A case study for the Taiwan insurance market
This study constructed a risk free term structure based on the Taiwan government bond market, with maturities of up to 120 years. In Taiwan, only government bonds with maturities of up to 30 years could be observed. Additionally, the short-term interest rate also has had spurious volatility and caused the GARCH volatility models to be difficult to converge in the estimation of long-term volatility levels....
October 2011
Quality improvement: Reducing real-time inventory errors through quality control circles
In recent years, with improving living standards in China and people’s enhanced awareness of self-protection, the requirements of medical services have been raised which has seen medical complications such as medication errors rise. To prevent medication errors, hospital pharmacies must improve their technical standards, the service process and the quality of their drug dispensing. Therefore, reducing...
October 2011
An exploratory case study of governance practices for information technology (IT) projects in a government-linked company
This paper analyses and presents a case study on information technology governance (ITG) practices in a government-linked company (GLC) by looking at the ITG process, accountability and the desirable behaviours of information technology (IT) at the project level of the organization. The study reveals a number of important findings in the context of ITG implementation at the project level. As far as ITG...
October 2011
Impact of some contextual factors on entrepreneurial intention of university students
Entrepreneurship has captured the attention of both scholars and policy makers during the last decades. The main reason of this concern is the growing needs for entrepreneurs who accelerate economic development through generating new ideas and converting them into profitable ventures. Entrepreneurial activities are not only the incubators of technological innovation but also provide employment opportunity and increase...
October 2011
The influence of compensation system design on employee satisfaction
For years, small and medium enterprises have been the bases of economic development in Taiwan. However, with restricted domestic economic development, increasing manpower cost and severe pressure from the international operational environment, small and medium enterprises are now facing many obstacles due to inferior capacities. Many owners of small and medium enterprises have expressed the opinion that...
October 2011
International entrepreneurial strategies in Asia: Taiwanese digital content companies in China
This paper investigated Taiwan-based digital content companies’ operation in China and examined their international entrepreneurial strategies. Based on the classification of Schuler and Jackson’s (1987) business strategies and the theory of the ‘life cycle model’, this study selected two Taiwan-based digital content companies (Wang...
October 2011
Extracting key performance indicators (KPIs) new product development using mind map and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) methods
In an era focusing on performance management, finding the right key performance indicators (KPIs) can aid the implementation of company goals. By monitoring and managing these indicators, the effects of prevention, continual improvements, and innovations are achieved to shape the core competitiveness. This study used the Delphi method to interview 18 field experts. Through their rich experiences and ideas,...
October 2011
Investors’ power and the dividend cost minimization model: Which one better explains the dividend policy in Pakistan?
This paper posits that the relevance and indeed the assumptions of the dividends cost minimization model are restricted to those countries where shareholders rights are well protected. Alternatively, we propose an “investor power” hypothesis, which is closely akin to the La Porta et al. (2000) “outcome hypothesis”. Our hypothesis states that the determining factor of dividends payout...
October 2011
An investigation of the factors effective on the compliance behavior of the tax payers in the VAT system: A case study of Qazvin tax affairs general department
In all current nations, individuals reject new taxes and any increase in the dimensions of existent taxes and resist against them. Meanwhile, attention could be devoted to the examination of tax payers’ behavior as a very important ramification of the research on the issues of tax and tax collection. The present article aims at investigating the compliance behavior of the tax payers in the VAT (value...
October 2011
The differences in approaching management by managers of different gender: An example from Serbia
The new role of man in the working process is oriented towards employee development, creating motivational climate, individual motivation, flexibility and changes. All these factors in great manner contribute towards maintaining good conditions for creating a new style of leadership where a woman has a completely different position. The aim of this paper is to examine the attitudes of managers of both genders...
October 2011
Learning and development premise in entrepreneurial orientation for employees in an Indian context
World over post recession organisations are continuing to explore and focus on newer methods and approaches to harness the potential of employees within the organisation and ultimately towards organisational growth per se by the dictum of intrapreneurship. Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has emerged as an important facet towards strategic management and of entrepreneurship literature for the past two...
October 2011
Dimensions and antecedents of long-term orientation in firm-supplier relationships
This paper studies dimensionality and antecedents of long-term orientation in firm-supplier relationships. Drawing from a sample of 106 firm-supplier relationships in the field of logistics, long-term orientation is found to be a bi-dimensional construct. This study identifies one dimension linked to the desire to maintain a relationship that is expected profitable and another associated with...
October 2011
Using simplified drum-buffer-rope for re-entrant flow shop scheduling in a random environment
The traditional simplified drum buffer rope (SDBR) does not consider the application of re-entrant flow shop (RFS) in a random environment which might involve variable processing times and machine breakdowns. This paper proposed a weighted layer production buffer and weighted production buffer to monitor the status of the buffer deviation when applying SDBR in a RFS with non-deterministic parameters. The...
October 2011
The perception of travel agents in Taiwan regarding travel website and training needs for adopting E-commerce
Due to the popularity of the Internet and World Wide Web, many business sectors including the travel industry have benefited from the new virtual trade platform called E-commerce. The purpose of this study was to analyze the perceptions of travel agents in Taiwan regarding the important elements of constructing a travel website for E-commerce, and to assess the training history and needs of Taiwanese travel...
October 2011
A model to create high-tech start-ups from the academic environment: The case of Peking University (PKU) and Tsinghua University (THU)
The aim of this paper is to propose a feasible high-technology start-up model for Chinese universities through “university-industry linkages” by conducting analysis of Peking University (PKU) and Tsinghua University (THU). PKU and THU have created numerous high-tech start-ups based on knowledge transfer and intellectual patents’ application, thereby researching viable ways to drive the links...
October 2011
Investigating the predictability of sales and costs using financial statement items of companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange
The main purpose of business entities is earning income and the most important factor in survival of business entities is sales revenue. Thus, the forecasting of sales and costs ofbusiness entities become an important issue. The aim of this study is to investigate the ability of financial statement items in forecasting sales and costs of companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange...
October 2011
The future challenges of local authorities in Malaysia: A case study in Seberang Perai, Penang
Local authorities nowadays are faced with many challenges in running their business with rapid development in social, economic and politics as well. The ability to overcome current issues and the readiness to face future challenges are estimated differently between one local authority and another. Local authorities whom are equipped with strong finance, visionary leadership, systematic strategic and action...
October 2011
Re-investigating the effect of individual determinant, external factor and firm characteristics on small firm performance during economic downturn
There have been inconsistent with regard to the different entrepreneurial factors that influence firm performance particularly in the normal time. However, during economic downturn or turbulent, it is believed and expected that the three major characters (entrepreneur, environment and firm) in the economic that are actively involved in entrepreneurial activities would be badly and negatively affected. Despite...
October 2011
Employment issues among Malaysian Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) graduates: A case study
In the 21st century, there has been a growing concern about the role of higher education institutions and how well they are satisfying the employers’ needs. Malaysian Prime Minister mentioned that only 23% of the workforce was highly skilled in year 2010. This percentage is much lower, compared with other developed countries. It was stressed that, there is a need to improve the composition of...
October 2011
Effectiveness of information security awareness methods based on psychological theories
Effective user security awareness campaign can greatly enhance the information assurance posture of an organization. Information security includes organizational aspects, legal aspects, institutionalization and applications of best practices in addition to security technologies. User awareness represents a significant challenge in the security domain, with the human factor ultimately being the element that is...
October 2011
A study of the relationship among experience value, destination image and place attachment
Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) suggest that consuming experiences are derived from consumers’ perceived value. This type of consumers depends on sensations, emotions and enjoyments to form their experiences. Hence, consumers’ destination image and place attachment determine their destination choice. The aim of this study is to understand the relationships between experience values, destination...
October 2011
Competitive abilities and students’ entrepreneurial behaviour:The research results from Serbia
Stimulating enterprising behaviour of the young is especially important in transitional countries faced with recession. The ambience where young people can be stimulated to start their own business is not developed enough in Serbia. Possible solutions can be education and encouragement of the young to start and perform their own business. In this study, analyses on the necessity of implementing a modern...
October 2011
Impact assessment of ISO 9000 series on the organizational performance: Empirical evidence from small and medium enterprise (SME) sector of Pakistan
The importance of quality management in SME Sector of Pakistan as being catalyst for economic development is undeniable. Nevertheless it is unfortunate that despite this implication, little research is undertaken to comprehend the complex nature of SME. The purpose of this research is to measure impact of ISO 9000 certification on organizational performance of SMEs in Pakistan. The effect of five dimensions...
October 2011
The influences of national cultural constructs on marketing studies
This comparative study examines empirically, the influences of the national cultural constructs individualism-collectivism (IC) and power distance index (PDI) on marketing studies by examining the students’ learning experience and the ways in which these factors impact the students’ learning performance in the context of the marketing management studies. The study utilized a qualitative research...
October 2011
The application of cause and effect diagram in the oil industry in Iran: The case of four liter oil canning process of Sepahan Oil Company
Manufacturing is currently being used as a continuous quality improvement tool, providing a planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating framework for the quality improvement measures on a sustainable basis. A cause-and-effect diagram, also known as an Ishikawa diagram or fishbone diagram, is often used in quality management in manufacturing industries. Fishbone diagram (also known as Ishikawa diagram)...
October 2011
What factors motivate the analysts’ stock recommendation in a small emerging market? Evidence from Sri Lanka
The purpose of this research is to determine the criteria used by the analysts for stock recommendation, identification of certain key factors which are useful for individual investors. According to the Modigliani-Miller theorem, the factors which affect dividend and capital gain could also influence investors. The regression analysis was used to identify the factors which influence the analysts’ stock...
October 2011
Household food demand in Pakistan: Does demand specification matter?
A levels version of Barten's general model is developed and used to undertake functional form tests for household food demand in Pakistan. The model is estimated using data from the Household Integrated Economic Survey of Pakistan. Food products are categorized into eight groups: cereals, fruits and vegetable, milk and dairy products, meat and poultry, cooking oil, tea, sugar and other food products. The model is...
Advertisement
Advertisement
