December 2011
Critical realism and project management: Revisiting the noumenal and phenomenal
This paper is a theoretical exploration of the critical realist paradigm of Roy Bhasker in the light of project management. We present a case that the critical realist paradigm is a way forward and a mechanism to get closer to the reality in which projects are conceived and implemented. The “noumenal” world of Kant, which has previously been considered unattainable and therefore ignored from further debate,...
December 2011
Optimal capital structure decision with credit rating management
This paper examines the impact of credit rating management on determining optimal capital structure. The models capture twofold empirical behavior of credit rating management: the using of rating-linked coupon scheme and target minimum rating policy. Numerical results showed that as long as the rating at issuing time is not too low, tax shields of the rating-linked coupon debt are larger than those of standard debt with...
December 2011
Food quality standards in developing quality human capital: An Islamic perspective
Islam outlines two important standards to ensure foods consumed by Muslims are good quality, pleasant and healthy. The first is the most well-known, that is halal or lawful. The second, equally important, is tayyib or good quality. Some foods may behalal, but it may not be good (tayyib) for consumption. Therefore, food quality standards based on the concept of halalan tayyiban (lawful and...
December 2011
Human resource development: Faculty members’ psychological empowerment in Iran’s colleges
The purpose of the paper is to investigate the factors affecting faculty members’ psychological empowerment towards access to human resource development in colleges in Iran with application of structural equation modeling. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Five dimensions of psychological empowerment (that is, meaning, self determination, impact, competence and trust) were used as dependent...
December 2011
Barter trading: An empirical investigation of management practices
Barter trade is on the increase worldwide in both developed and developing countries. This study is aimed at investigating the management practices used by firms involved in barter trading in order to ensure that they take optimal advantage of benefits of barter trade and minimise its potential problems. Data was collected from 61 barter trade practitioners from the South African media industry. The findings show that...
December 2011
Income tax incentives on renewable energy industry: Case of geothermal industry in USA and Indonesia
Renewable energy is derived from natural processes that are replenished constantly. In its various forms, it derives directly from the sun or from heat generated deep within the earth. Included in the definition is electricity and heat generated from solar, wind, ocean, hydropower, biomass, geothermal resources and biofuels, and hydrogen derived from renewable resources. USA is a market leader in terms of...
December 2011
Developing a national cadre of effective leadership towards sustainable quality service delivery in South Africa
The application of the three (3) dimensional leadership competency model has the likelihood of having a positive impact on a sustainable developmental local governance framework. The purpose of the study was to explore the relevance of the Three (3) dimensional leadership competency model so as to suggest leadership traits that can be used in the enhancement of a developmental local governance framework. The lack of...
December 2011
How knowledge cooperation networks impact knowledge creation and sharing: A multi-countries analysis
Knowledge cooperation activities have gained recent popularity as a means for established firms to improve their knowledge creation and knowledge sharing performance. However, little is known about the link between knowledge cooperation relations, as no previous studies have examined the link in detail. The purpose of this study is to define and develop an understanding of the ways in which knowledge cooperation...
December 2011
Export performance and trade competitiveness of the Malaysian cocoa products
Malaysia cocoa beans have decreasing trend, on the other hand, export of cocoa products such as cocoa butter, cocoa powder and cocoa paste has increased significantly over the years, as Malaysia becomes one of the largest cocoa grinders in the world. However, continuous increase in price of cocoa may affect the Malaysian grinders industry since raw materials have become more expensive. Hence, Malaysia may have to think...
December 2011
Customer shopping experience in malls with entertainment centres in Chennai
The purpose of this paper is to assess customer shopping experience in malls with entertainment centres in Chennai. This research aims to explore the shopping experience of customers’ visit at malls with entertainment centres due to the availability of large scale entertainment centres. The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight of the role of external and internal variables in influencing the choice of...
December 2011
Financial risks in construction projects
Risks in construction projects can be defined as the probability of an event that impairs the viability of the project. This probability, perhaps, is higher than in other industries. In the construction sector, as elsewhere, various risks that affectbusiness can be identified. This paper aims to identify,...
December 2011
Entrepreneurial orientation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysian information communication technology (ICT) sector
This paper describes the unique entrepreneurial orientation of Malaysian entrepreneurs in the information communication technology (ICT) industry as they led companies in an environment that reflected entrepreneurial diversity, complicated markets and a surviving economy. The empirical work combined survey and case studies of 24 small and medium enterprises (SME), some of which have steered their organizations from...
December 2011
Multiple usages of the distributed systems with numerical calculation
The informatics society is a society in which the information, through its production and consumption, is the most important type of activity. The informatics society allows access to information and new ways of work and knowledge (Toma, 2009: 5). If within the scientific research, the interdisciplinary objective reflects the unity of the natural science, it is necessary to form a new didactic way of thinking, from...
December 2011
Applying lean six sigma to improve healthcare: An empirical study
By combining Lean thinking and six sigma (SS), lean six sigma (LSS) is a well-known methodology for providing a powerful process improvement solution. Recently, LSS has become one of the best tools for healthcare system because itdevelops core competence in healthcare that deal with crucial needs in patient care and safety. This study applies LSS to improve the medical process of acute myocardial...
December 2011
Tracing the identity of public administration in light of Minnowbrook’s echoes
As there are crucial and determining periods in the life cycle of every scientific discipline, which sometimes change the destiny of that discipline, the first Minnowbrook conference can be considered as one of these decisive events in the history of administration science. The outcome of Minnowbrook was the commencement of a dialectic conflict that gave rise to five distinct approaches as its synthesis. These...
December 2011
Exploring organizational indifference: Creating and validating a measure
The aim of this research is to explore and identify dimensions of organizational indifference and to provide a measure for measuring indifference levels in organizations for the first time in management community. Organizational indifference is a state of organizational employees in which success of an organization is not a matter for its employees and they work just for salary. To explore this state, we interviewed 32...
December 2011
Do economic incentives alter ethical attitudes to vulnerable stakeholders in developing countries? Lessons from a controlled experiment
Scholars argue that studies in business administration, more than other fields of study, expose self-interest and narrow economic assumptions. This can have negative consequences for ethical attitudes to stakeholders beyond a firm’s shareholders. To study this, we carried out a controlled experiment and examined if economic incentives affected a cohort of business students’ ethical attitudes to...
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