August 2011
Public works programmes as a tool to address unemployment and skills shortages among the youth in South Africa
There are over a billion young adults between the ages of 15 and 24 years in the world. It is estimated that 85% of these young working-age adults live in developing countries which offer few opportunities for productive work. One of the greatest challenges facing the world and South Africa is to enhance the skills level of young people in developing countries. Young people in South Africa account for approximately 60%...
August 2011
Knowledge management performance measurement: A review
This paper presents a review on performance measurement of knowledge management (KM). The purpose of this paper is to provide an overall picture of the various types of approaches for KM performance evaluation. Different tools or models published in the literature are described and compared, and research directions are discussed. Future development directions for KM performance evaluation identified from this review...
August 2011
The elements of organizational culture which influence the maintenance of ISO 9001: A theoretical framework
ISO 9001 is a quality management system that was employed world wide by manufacturing and government entities. There were a massive number of ISO 9001 certifications that had been issued to organizations which successfully implemented ISO 9001. ISO 9001 certified organization should maintain its certification effectively because it can help organizations improve their performance. Despite the massive number of ISO 9001...
August 2011
Modeling an increase in recreation specialization investments as a strategy to grow a tourism destination
This paper explores the question of how recreation specialization affects the development of a tourism destination over time. We formulate the development process as an optimal control problem by adjusting specialization investments for the purpose of either attracting more tourists or discouraging tourists from visiting. Our research suggests investment strategies for two types of tourism destination consistent with...
August 2011
National development and student politics in Bangladesh
Student politics is one of the ignored areas in the international scholarly debate. In the late 1960's to early 1970's, some authors made some contributions in the context of South America and Africa. In 1968, Altbach also made very little contribution on the Indian student politics and its impact on development. The institutions of HE (higher education) in southern Asia is experiencing a high volume of student...
August 2011
The moderating role of composites of cultural values in predicting adolescents’ influence on family purchase decisions: A study of Asian cases
The role of adolescents in family purchase decision making was explored by means of a survey and related instruments administered to a sample of teenagers in India, South Korea, and Taiwan. The findings suggest that adolescents’ characteristics (such as the perceived importance of a product to the adolescent) may be more predictive of their self-perceived influence on family purchase decisions than the tactics...
August 2011
Globalisation and the challenges of unemployment, income inequality and poverty in Africa
There is an urgent need to re-investigate the functional relationship between globalisation, unemployment, income inequality and poverty in Africa. Unemployment accelerates the level of income inequality and poverty within a given society. In spite of the beautiful slogans associated with it, the current globalisation seems to have aggravated the problem of unemployment, the corollary of which is endemic income...
August 2011
Assessment of university students’ financial management skills and educational needs
The main aim of this study is to assess university students’ financial management skills and financial education needs. Data were collected among Malaysian public and private university students. Samples were selected using multi stage stratified sampling techniques. A total of 11 universities were randomly selected for the study and 350 questionnaires (300 for in campus and 50 for off-campus students) were...
August 2011
The uncertain probabilistic weighted average and its application in the theory of expertons
A new model for dealing with decision making under risk by considering subjective and objective information in the same formulation is here presented. The uncertain probabilistic weighted average (UPWA) is also presented. Its main advantage is that it unifies the probability and the weighted average in the same formulation and considering the degree of importance that each case has in the analysis. Moreover, it is able...
August 2011
An evaluation of the investors overreaction to the past financial function criteria: Iranian evidence
One of the assumptions of the efficient market hypothesis is that logical reaction of investors to known and available data cause the cost of invested wealth to approach to its main cost. However the experience shows that the behavior of investors in capital market has not always been correct and market cooperators shows overreaction to new data. The aim of this study is to determine whether the investors have assigned...
August 2011
Developing an optimal operation model with two competing models for retailers to explore customers shopping preferences
This study highlights the optimal operation model for retailers to use in exploring the effect of customer loyalty and service quality on customer shopping preference. It offers a more profound understanding of the value of customer service and innovation in generic operation skills in international retailers (IR). This research uses the Likert and Semantic differential scale methods through the MTMM...
August 2011
A supply chain model with defective items and disposal cost in a just-in-time (JIT) environment
Previous studies in the issue of supply chain models with imperfect quality assumed the defectives could be sold at lower unit price by the end of the inspection process and the lot-for-lot delivery policy was employed. However, in practice, defective items may have no salvage value but may need additional disposal cost to process them. The beginning of the printed circuit board (PCB) industry in Taiwan provides a...
August 2011
The effects of equities on organizational performance in Chinese professional baseball league
The paper introduces indices to measure the concepts of internal, employee, and external equities in social psychology. The unbalanced panel data of Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) for the year 1990 to 2007 are employed to examine the relationships between salary dispersions and corresponding performance. The empirical evidence shows that payroll has a significant and positive effect on team performance. It...
August 2011
Sustainable economic development: A perspective from ICT loops in developing nations
A green technoeconomic paradigm (TEP), based on emerging information and communication technologies (ICT), has been proposed as a basis for feasible models for sustained, environmentally friendly economic growth in developing nations. There has been very little discussion of cyber security, which is a major shortcoming in such models. Given the borderless world that such an ICT based paradigm promotes, the pursuit of...
August 2011
Customer relationship management in small-medium enterprises: The case of science and technology parks of Iran
CRM (customer relationship management) has been increasingly recognized as a business strategy to effectively understand, manage, and sustain customer relationship with advanced information and communication technologies. Rapid development of customer relationship management applications have seen the trend that more and more SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) are seeking to implement CRM in order to survive and...
August 2011
A study of the effect of information technology on internal auditing: Some Iranian evidence
The main object of the current study is to review the effect of information technology (IT) on internal auditing and the main question of the study is: How is the effect of information technology on internal auditing and each of its aspects including planning, internal control, investigation and reporting? The results of the study reveal that IT helps its users improve their performance. IT enables its users perform...
August 2011
The relationships between achievement focused motivation and critical thinking
The aim of this research is to address general relationships between achievement focused motivation and critical thinking. Survey method has been used in the research. In this research, regression analysis has been done. The study sample included a total of 772 students in Turkey, attending the Faculties of Education, Atatürk University (216 students), Cumhuriyet University (110 students), Firat University (331...
August 2011
Reinvestigating the relationship between exchange rate uncertainty and private investment in Iran: An application of bounds test approach to level relationship
This paper re-examines the effects of exchange rate uncertainties on investment for the period of 1960 to 2007 by using annual data and applying bounds test approach to cointegration in the Iranian economy. There are many unusual policy changes and external shocks, resulting in the occurrence of multitude breaks in Iranian macroeconomic variables. As standard unit root tests, such as Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and...
August 2011
The effect of website quality on consumer emotional states and repurchases intention
Although, website features can significantly affect consumers’ emotional responses, very little is known about how website quality predicts consumer emotions. Because of the increasing importance of online shopping, finding a successful method for inducing consumers’ repeat purchase intention is critical to the survival of online service providers. Using the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) paradigm as a...
August 2011
Selection criteria of recruitment for information systems employees: Using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method
The information systems (IS) department is made up of employees in different information technology/information system (IT/IS) skills. Recruitment should therefore use different selection criteria for personnel in different roles. This study used the IT/IS skills examined in past literature as guidelines for recruitment. Expert review and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) were then used to analyze the selection...
August 2011
Assessment system based on fuzzy scoring in European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) business excellence model
There are a few popular business excellence models that provide standard criteria against which an organization can measure its performances. European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) is the most popular one. The organizational self-assessment process is an admissible system in the area of Total Quality Management (TQM). Most specialists concur to the description of self-assessment that is presented by the...
August 2011
An empirical evidence of factors in equity selection process in Malaysia
This paper examined the factors influencing equity selection process and its association with expected and actual return. This study incorporated neutral information, accounting information, social relevance and advocates’ recommendations. A total of 199 usable questionnaires were collected by using snowball and convenience sampling. Descriptive study, factor analysis, correlation analysis and multiple regression...
August 2011
Decision framing and critical success factors of new product development
In the current business word, developing a new product successfully is a factor for growth and survival of companies, and deficiency in product development process especially in small medium size enterprises which possess limited resource will have disappointing consequences. In order to present a solution for each of the product development problems, scholars have introduced some critical success factors. These...
August 2011
Is laughter, as the best medicine, the remedy for crisis’ pain? Use of humor in marketing communications
Surrounded by staggering world-wide economic crisis and country specific financial burden, Turkish consumers feel pinched and marketers face the challenge to find a way to attract their attention to make them buy what they provide. In tough times, is humor the remedy for marketers? This paper aims to find an answer to this question and it examines the impact of humor in advertising. Alongside its advantages, humor also...
August 2011
Who is she? The Turkish Cypriot female entrepreneur
This study has provided empirical evidence related to the activity of female entrepreneurs in North Cyprus, in particular, concentrating on their personal profile, characteristics of their business, the motivation behind their choice of becoming a business owner, and their measures of business success. The study instrument used to collect primary data from the respondents was a four-part cross-sectional structured...
August 2011
Developing activities of learning organizations in primary schools
The research question has been stated as “what are the activities that aim to develop a learning organization in primary shcools?” The aim of this research is to figure out what types of activities have been conducted to develop a learning organization in primary schools. A descriptive scanning model research has been designed. Examination of the reports and records, review of literature and interview...
August 2011
Relationships among budgeting control system, budgetary perceptions, and performance: A study of public hospitals
The environmental uncertainty of medical industry was raised from the medical expenditure controlled by the government and the third party payers. This circumstance had forced hospital managers to learn management accounting. Budgeting control system was among the most popular mechanisms used by managers to contain costs and improve performance. However, budgeting control system could not achieve effectiveness in...
August 2011
Employment equity issues in the Cape Town advertising industry: A black economic empowerment perspective
Black economic empowerment and employment equity aims to enable black people in South Africa make a noteworthy contribution to the local economy by irreversibly altering the racial profile of management echelons and all employment levels. The advertising industry has been criticised for its slow empowerment advancement and were investigated for allegations of racism. The aim of this study was to explore the challenges,...
August 2011
The significance of research and development (R&D) and innovation to high-tech industry from the total quality management (TQM) perspective
Despite the national quality awards (NQAs) categories that reflect properly the total quality management (TQM) concept, the relative importance of these evaluation criteria may have different influence on different industries due to various characteristics of industries. Therefore, this research makes an attempt on probing the impact of each Taiwan National Quality Awards (TNQA) evaluation category, particularly,...
August 2011
Elucidating leisure constraints and experience, satisfaction and revisiting willingness among tourists to Dong-Shi Fisherman’s Wharf in Taiwan
This study explores exactly how leisure constraints and experiences, satisfaction and revisiting willingness are related among tourists to Dong-Shi Fisherman’s Wharf in Taiwan. Five hundred questionnaires are sent out. Of 500, a response rate of 81% was received. Statistical methods of t test, one-way ANOVA and path analysis of LISREL are used for analysis. Results indicate that tourists differ in...
August 2011
The effects of employee empowerment on achievement motivation and the contextual performance of employees
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of perceived employee empowerment on achievement motivation and performance of employees. For this purpose, the data gathered from employees of public and private banks operating in Ankara have been analyzed, applying statistical techniques and methods. The analysis of the research data has revealed that the perceived employee empowerment had a positive impact on...
August 2011
A stabilization analysis of the introduction of Taiwan 50 Index Futures and Taiwan Top 50 Tracker Fund on the underlying spot market Dar-Hsin Chen1, Ssu-Min Lai1*, and Li-Chih Lin2
The objective of this paper is to examine whether derivatives trading leads to destabilization effects of the underlying markets. We employ Taiwan-listed stocks and partition the sample into Taiwan 50 index constituents and non-Taiwan 50 stocks. The sample period covers from January 2001 to December 2004. Subsequently, we divide the observed period into three sub-periods and use a covariance regression model and the...
August 2011
Corporate social performance, financial performance and market value behavior: An information asymmetry perspective
This specific study is based on the slack resource theory, good management theory, singling theory and agency theory. Moreover, this paper estimates an interactive equation structural model, based on above discussed theories that relates corporate financial performance (CFP), corporate social performance (CSP), and market performance (MP) regarding to the firm’s share value and relative debt level. The...
August 2011
Individual entrepreneurship capacity and small and medium enterprises (SME) performance: A human and organizational capital approach
This paper adds to the eclectic framework of entrepreneurship, through the evaluation of the impact of human capital and organizational capital determined by the entrepreneur on SME performance. The use of the stepwise method provides the selection of significant variables that have an impact on small and medium enterprises (SME) performance. When non-economic performance is considered, regarding human...
August 2011
Reporting practices of Malaysian public universities: The extent of accountability disclosure
The study intends to evaluate the extent to which Malaysian public universities disclose accountability information in their annual report and on their website. It also compares the degree of annual report and website disclosure between established and new universities in Malaysia. Content analysis was undertaken using the disclosure index that was developed based on the items listed in the Malaysian Government Treasury...
August 2011
An expanded Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) model based on AR and causality of multi-nation stock market volatility for TAIEX forecasting
For common people, stock investing is one popular way to manage their property. As Information Technology (IT) has risen in recent years, every security company has analyzed computer systems for their customers by developing their own investing. Taiwan is an island nation, and the economy relies on international trade deeply. The fluctuations of international stock markets will impact Taiwan stock market to a certain...
August 2011
Quality awards and excellence models in Africa: An empirical analysis of structure and positioning
This study analyses the internal dimensions of African quality awards and excellence models, comparing these distinctions to one another and to both the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) and the European Foundation for Quality Management Excellence Model (EFQM EM). The empirical analysis revealed similarities and differences both among them and with respect to the aforementioned major awards. The...
August 2011
The effect of corporate brand dominance, involvement and corporate associations on attitudes toward new product development
This study investigates the moderating role of corporate brand dominance and involvement in the relationship between corporate associations and attitudes toward new product. An experiment design using two version of advertisements are developed to manipulate the corporate brand dominance. A skincare product manufactured by a Taiwan petrochemical company was used in the study. The results indicate that both...
August 2011
Prime and sub-prime factors of employee’ voluntary turnover in boom phase of industry: Empirical evidence from banking sector of Pakistan
The implied debate relating turnover and its factors may be old but the present study takes a new route towards the understanding of turnover by employees. Banking industry of Pakistan passed through its boom phase in the last decade and along side encountered with much turnover unexpectedly. For this study we selected employees who changed their job during boom phase of industry. This paper first investigated the prime...
August 2011
The relationships between person-organization fit, psychological climate adjustment, personality traits, and innovative climate: Evidence from Taiwanese high-tech expatriate managers in Asian countries
The primary objective of this study is to integrate basic theoretical background to define and develop a new research framework in order to investigate the relationships between person-organization fit (POF), psychological climate adjustment, personality traits, and innovative climate. This study surveyed 432 Taiwanese high-tech expatriate managers in Asian countries. The results of this study are summarized as follows:...
August 2011
Exploring relationship drivers’ toward loyalty card programs
Retail loyalty programs are normally used as a mechanism to develop a retailer-consumer relationship. Retailer had clear relationship drivers, yet little research examines consumers’ relationship drivers towards loyalty program. To address this gap, this article investigates the true reason of why consumers engage in relationship with retailers through loyalty programs. A qualitative study involving six focus...
August 2011
An evaluation of the present status of the certificate in school business management
By almost any measure, most South African public schools, and especially schools in the Western Cape, have under-performed academically. For a number of years, there has existed a wide degree of consensus among education stakeholders, and particularly in government, that the problems in our schools extend beyond mere academic under-achievement. Principals need to be occupied with the tasks of managing and leading...
August 2011
Why firms do not adopt SaaS
The development of cloud computing has promoted Software as a Service (SaaS) as another option for firms to adopt IT services. Many studies have confirmed the advantages of SaaS, while seldom conducted case studies on the implementation of SaaS. This research investigated the Top 2000 firms of Taiwan and constructed a research structure based on task/technology fit (TTF), joint benefit, and relationship viewpoints for...
August 2011
How to classify the types of inter-organizational relationships in manufacturing firms
This study empirically examined the relationships among types of inter-organizational relationships (IORs), degrees of inter-organizational learning, trust and collaboration, and appropriate forms of IORs control devices in manufacturing firms. Based on the usage levels of inter-organizational information systems (IOSs) and traditional communication media (TCM) as well as the amount of transaction and management...
August 2011
Comparison of customer relationship management systems perceptions among container shipping companies in Vietnam and Taiwan
The goal of this study is to compare perceptions of customer relationship management (CRM) among Vietnamese and Taiwanese maritime transport service providers, and specifically container shipping companies. The study uses the t-test and factor analysis to analyze major differences in CRM usage between the shipping industries in Vietnam and Taiwan, and determines the perceived importance of CRM services employing...
August 2011
Capital structure and financing decision -evidence from the four Asian Tigers and Japan
This paper examines the relative importance of the Modigliani-Miller theorem, the trade-off theory, the pecking order theory and the market timing theory in the financing decisions of the firms for the Four Asian Tigers (Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan) and Japan. According to our findings, although several elements impact on capital structure temporarily, firms from all countries rebalance their leverage...
August 2011
Service quality, customer satisfaction in technology-based universities
To achieve the twin objectives of satisfaction and loyalty, service quality in the university sector needs to be evaluated from both the internal (customers) and external (service providers) perspectives. Against this background, this article reviewed issues involved in service quality in universities from the customer satisfaction and attachment points of view, taking students as primary customers, especially in...
August 2011
Optimized classification approach to modeling an expert system for selecting stock portfolio
An expert system for automatically selecting stock portfolio is presented. The expert system involved Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) model, the VPRS-index clustering / classification method, and Variable Precision Rough Set (VPRS) theory. The GRA model is applied to consolidate the 53 financial indices into six financial ratios (Grey Relational Grades (GRGs)) for each stock item. The VPRS-index method is used to...
August 2011
The impact of globalisation on higher education: Achieving a balance between local and global needs and realities
The business world has changed dramatically over the last decade to address the reality of globalisation in the sphere of business. However, most universities have remained intact as local universities servicing local needs of citizens studying at their closest universities. For instance, a small number of universities have managed to attract students from other provinces, countries and regions. The question...
August 2011
Role of agricultural extension and education on rural women’s trends toward micro-credits programs
Since credit organizations have formed the base of people’s participation, it is a good opportunity to use these communities to develop training-extension activities. So, it is better that special programs at different extension areas, such as agriculture, ranching, family health, housekeeping economy and other courses according to the conditions of the regions and rural women’s needs, should be...
August 2011
A fuzzy-based decision model application on strategic management
In this article, the objective is to demonstrate the effects of different decision styles on strategic decisions and likewise, on an organization. The technique that was presented in the study is based on the transformation of linguistic variables to numerical value intervals. In this model, the study benefits from fuzzy logic methodology and fuzzy numbers. This fuzzy methodology approach allows us to examine the...
August 2011
An structural equation modeling (SEM) evaluation of the statistical adequacy of the strategic management model
This paper attempts to confirm the adequacy of the strategic management model using the structural equation modeling (SEM) method. The model adopted the resource-based view (RBV) approach to identify competitive strength. The RBV method states that organizations with the right resources coupled with the appropriate management skills and capabilities will develop competitive strength and organizational performance....
August 2011
The taxonomy of knowledge management strategies in manufacturing firms: Use of target costing and IT infrastructure
Based on the usage levels of target costing systems (TCS) and information technology (IT) infrastructure, this study aimed to develop a framework useful for classifying four types of knowledge management (KM) strategies in manufacturing firms: explorative, exploitative, mixed and negative. We adopted a multi-methodological approach by mixing both qualitative and quantitative methods. Before developing a framework,...
August 2011
Maintaining satisfactory performance of expatriates: The effects of culture and conflict management style
The study presents a conceptual framework that links culture (that is, power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity), and conflict management styles (that is, problem-solving, compromising, forcing, and legalistic), to identify their impact upon satisfaction of expatriates and their job performance. The sample size comprised of 193 Japanese senior managers working in Taiwan. LISREL 8.52 was used...
August 2011
Impact of organizational innovation on success of cost management techniques in value creation: Evidence from manufacturing sector of Pakistan
Manufacturing sector of Pakistan has shown weak performance in the last decade, and could not achieve the targets that could move the country toward economic development. Many factors have been held responsible for this sluggish performance. This paper focused on the cost inefficiency of manufacturing sector in creating value through effective cost management techniques. The study intended to explore one of the...
August 2011
The impact of female university students’ acceptance towards agriculture contract farming on Malaysian economy
The emergence of agriculture contract farming as one of the recent agriculture branches has promised a lot of potential for income generating. However do the youths, as the pillar of this country accept this contract farming as one of their potential occupations? The focus of this study is to determine specifically the female youth acceptance towards...
August 2011
The relationship between people-related total quality management (TQM) practices, job satisfaction and turnover intention: A literature review and proposed conceptual model
The purpose of this paper is to establish a conceptual model to examine the different dimensions of people-related TQM practices and its relationship with job satisfaction and turnover intention. The theory of total quality management (TQM) principles and the concept of job satisfaction and turnover intention provide as preliminary points to construct the integrated conceptual model, connecting TQM practices, job...
August 2011
Resource-based determinants of performance in the Tanzanian commercial banking subsector
The purpose of this paper is to examine the resource-based performance determinants for commercial banks in Tanzania. The focus of the paper is on how financial performance of the commercial banks in the country is attributable to bank-specific resources. The paper compared the influence of different tangible and intangible bank-specific resources on bank profitability using a survey of 17 top commercial bank executives...
August 2011
Financial leverage and systematic risk
The aim of this study is the effect of financial leverage in the systematic risk of listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange. In this study, financial leverage (FL) as independent variables and systematic risk (β) as the dependent variable is considered. While significant at ≤ 0/05 H0 hypothesis, is rejected. Otherwise, there is no other adequate reason for rejecting...
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