Search results for: non financial companies

Authors: Abdelghani Boudiaf

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The profusion of studies relating to the concept of organizational learning shows the importance that has been given to this concept in the management sciences. A few years ago, companies leaned towards ISO 9001 certification; this requires the implementation of the quality management system (QMS). In order for this objective to be achieved, companies must have a set of skills, which pushes them to develop learning through continuous training. The results of empirical research have shown that implementation of the QMS in the company promotes the development of learning. It should also be noted that several types of learning are developed in this sense. Given the nature of skills development is normative in the context of the quality demarche, companies are obliged to qualify and improve the skills of their human resources. Continuous training is the keystone to develop the necessary learning. To carry out continuous training, companies need to be able to identify their real needs by developing training plans based on well-defined engineering. The training process goes obviously through several stages. Initially, training has a general aspect, that is to say, it focuses on topics and actions of a general nature. Subsequently, this is done in a more targeted and more precise way to accompany the evolution of the QMS and also to make the changes decided each time (change of working method, change of practices, change of objectives, change of mentality, etc.). To answer our problematic we opted for the method of qualitative research. It should be noted that the case study method crosses several data collection techniques to explain and understand a phenomenon. Three cases of companies were studied as part of this research work using different data collection techniques related to this method.

Keywords: changing mentalities, continuing training, organizational learning, quality management system, skills development

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Authors: Joaquim Rubens Fontes-Filho, Felipe Buchbinder, Marcelo Desterro

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The study aims to identify the effects of an economic recession on the compensation of executives of listed companies. Market-based and labor environment explanations have received particular attention, both to explain the reasons for a growth in this compensation and to indicate that they may increase agency problems rather than mitigate them. In this sense, labor forces, especially related to the market for executives, contribute to defining the terms of compensation packages and represent a significant external control mechanism to moderate agency problems, but may be of little effect if the executives are entrenched and concentrate enough power to have a say in his/her compensation. Based on a five-year data panel related to executive compensation in 250 listed companies in Brazil, we examine whether the economic recession in the last two years produced any impact in this compensation, controlling for the sector and level of governance of the company.

Keywords: agency problems, executive compensation, control mechanisms, corporate governance

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Authors: Yawen Xia, Rubi Yang, Jing Zhao

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By using the Reputation Risk Index (RRI) to measure company environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities, this research studies firms’ ESG comovement with their industry and local peers. This comovement is attenuated during the Covid-19 pandemic. Further analysis shows that corporate governance plays an important role in comovement decrease. We classify companies by region (city, state, region) and industry and calculate the average RRI of companies of the same type. We run separate regressions to test 1) industry comovement; 2) local comovement; 3) Covid-19 pandemic and reputation risk comovement; 4) corporate governance and reputation risk comovement. Our findings are consistent with previous literature that companies follow their industry and local counterparts in engaging in irresponsible activities and reducing ESG engagement. We speculate Covid shock led to a reduction in social activities and information sharing among enterprise managers, and comovement between enterprises, as a result, decreased during the pandemic.

Keywords: ESG, Covid, peer pressure, local comovement, corporate governance

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Authors: Syed Abdul Rehman Khan

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In today’s world, information sharing plays a vital role in successful operations of supply chain; and boost to the profitability of the organizations (end-to-end supply chains). Many researches have been completed over the role of information sharing in supply chain. In this research article, we will investigate the ‘how information sharing can boost profitability & productivity of the organization; for this purpose, we have developed one conceptual model and check to that model through collected data from companies. We sent questionnaire to 369 companies; and will filled form received from 172 firms and the response rate was almost 47%. For the data analysis, we have used Regression in (SPSS software) In the research findings, our all hypothesis has been accepted significantly and due to the information sharing between suppliers and manufacturers ‘quality of material and timely delivery’ increase and also ‘collaboration & trust’ will become more stronger and these all factors will lead to the company’s profitability directly and in-directly. But unfortunately, companies could not avail the all fruitful benefits of information sharing due to the fear of ‘compromise confidentiality or leakage of information’.

Keywords: collaboration, information sharing, risk factor, timely delivery

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Authors: Dimitrios J. Dimitriou, Maria F. Sartzetaki

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Transport infrastructures are high-cost, long-term investments that serve as vital foundations for the operation of a region or nation and are essential to a country’s or business’s economic development and prosperity, by improving well-being and generating jobs and income. The development of appropriate financing options is of key importance in the decision making process in order develop viable transport infrastructures. The development of transport infrastructure has increasingly been shifting toward alternative methods of project financing such as Public Private Partnership (PPPs) and hybrid forms. In this paper, a methodological decision-making framework based on the evaluation of the financial viability of transportation infrastructure for different financial schemes is presented. The framework leads to an assessment of the financial viability which can be achieved by performing various financing scenarios analyses. To illustrate the application of the proposed methodology, a case study of rail transport infrastructure financing scenario analysis in Greece is developed.

Keywords: rail transport infrastructure, financial viability, scenario analysis, rail project feasibility

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Authors: Gururaj Bhajantri

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Financial sector is the backbone of any economy and it plays a crucial role in the mobilisation and allocation of resources. One of the main objectives of financial sector is inclusive growth. The constituents of the financial sector are banks, and financial Institutions, which mobilise the resources from the surplus sector and channelize the same to the different needful sectors in the economy. Micro Small and the Medium Enterprises sector in India cover a wide range of economic activities. These enterprises are divided on the basis of investment on equipment. The micro enterprises are divided into manufacturing and services sector. Micro Service enterprises have investment limit up to ten lakhs on equipment. Hairdresser is one who not only cuts and shaves but also provides different types of hair cut, hairstyles, trimming, hair-dye, massage, manicure, pedicure, nail services, colouring, facial, makeup application, waxing, tanning and other beauty treatments etc., hairdressing salons provide these services with the help of equipment. They need investment on equipment not more than ten lakhs. Hence, they can be considered as Micro service enterprises. Hairdressing salons require more than Rs 2.50,000 to start a moderate salon. Moreover, hairdressers are unable to access the organised finance. Still these individuals access finance from money lenders with high rate of interest to lead life. The socio economic conditions of hairdressers are not known properly. Hence, the present study brings a light on the role of financial institutions in promoting hairdressing salons. The study also focuses the socio-economic background of individuals in hairdressings salons, problems faced by them. The present study is based on primary and secondary data. Primary data collected among hairdressing salons in Davangere city. Samples selected with the help of simple random sampling techniques. Collected data analysed and interpreted with the help of simple statistical tools.

Keywords: micro service enterprises, financial institutions, hairdressing salons, financial sector

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Authors: Pavel Porubiak, Lukas Kudlacek

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Introduction Transplant tourism is a controversial method of obtaining an organ, and that goes all the more for a country such as China, where sources of evidence point out to the possibility of organs being harvested illegally. This research aimed at listing the individual countries these tourists come from, or which medical companies sell transplant related products in there, with China being used as an example. Materials and methods The methodology of scoping study was used for both parts of the research. The countries from which transplant tourists come to China were identified by a search through existing medical studies in the NCBI PubMed database, listed under the keyword ‘transplantation in China’. The search was not limited by any other criteria, but only the studies available for free – directly on PubMed or a linked source – were used. Other research studies on this topic were considered as well. The companies were identified through multiple methods. The first was an online search focused on medical companies and their products. The Bloomberg Service, used by stock brokers worldwide, was then used to identify the revenue of these companies in individual countries – if data were available – as well as their business presence in China. A search through the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was done in the same way. Also a search on the Chinese internet was done, and to obtain more results, a second online search was done as well. The results and discussion The extensive search has identified 14 countries with transplant tourists to China. The search for a similar studies or reports resulted in finding additional six countries. The companies identified by our research also amounted to 20. Eight of them are sourcing China with organ preservation products – of which one is just trying to enter the Chinese market, six with immunosuppressive drugs, four with transplant diagnostics, one with medical robots which Chinese doctors use for transplantation as well, and another one trying to enter the Chinese market with a consumable-type product also related to transplantation. The conclusion The question of the ethicality of transplant tourism may be very pressing, since as the research shows, just the sheer amount of participating countries, sourcing transplant tourists to another one, amounts to 20. The identified companies are facing risks due to the nature of transplantation business in China, as officially executed prisoners are used as sources, and widely cited pieces of evidence point out to illegal organ harvesting. Similar risks and ethical questions are also relevant to the countries sourcing the transplant tourists to China.

Keywords: China, illegal organ harvesting, transplant tourism, organ harvesting technology

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Authors: Phakit Treesukol

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The purpose of this investigation is to ascertain Internet users’ behaviours towards companies’ public relations activities on social networking sites. In order to conduct a study of Internet users’ behaviour, data was collected using the quota sampling method from a total of 100 Internet users who are members of SNS and used the Internet during the period 10 December 2009 to 9 January 2010. An online self-administrated questionnaire was distributed through Facebook, Hi5 and Twitter to Internet users by using snowball sampling technique. Results of the study showed that the majority of the respondents were using social networking sites with the main purpose to contact their friends. Presently, most of the respondents were not regularly receiving companies’ public relations activities on social networking sites. The highest frequency of survey responses by the respondents was for hiding or deleting information introducing new products or services from companies on SNS also as well.

Keywords: media uses and gratification, online activities, public relations activities, social networking sites

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Authors: Yueh Hsiu Giffen Cheng, Teng Jung Wang

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According to the study of British national advisory council on creative and cultural education（NACCCE, what the present and the future need awesome innovative and creative people from the perspective of commercial human resources. Therefore, we can know from above, creativity plays an important role in today’s enterprise indeed. Besides, many companies are aimed at developing team work as their main goal, so “creativity” and “teamwork” become more and more important factors to succeed and team creativity also turn into an important issue gradually. Then, the study takes in-depth interviews of design companies’ leaders and uses self-designed questionnaire regarding affecting team creativity to conduct cross-analysis. The results show that for those creative-oriented integrated design companies, their design strategies don’t begin until data collection and their scripts are usually the best way to inspire creativity. Besides, passing down a legacy of experiences are their common educational training. Most important of all, their organizational resources and leaders can assist all the team to learn and grow effectively and the good interaction between the leader and the member can also bring work flexibility and efficiency. In short, the leader’s expectation of members’ performance can cause them to encourage each other to progress. Moreover, the analysis of questionnaire indicates that members who are open-minded and leaders who have transformational leadership style can both help to establish a good team interaction. Furthermore, abundant resources and training system are also good approaches to establish a harmonious relationship. Finally, through integrating the outcomes of interviews and questionnaires, we can infer that those integrated design companies’ circumstances of design progress are mainly from their leaders’ guidance. In addition, the analysis of design problems are focused on their creative strategies and their scripts and sketches can also inspire their creativity. In sum, the feature of all team is influenced by 4 factors: leaders who have transformational leadership style, open-minded members, flexible working environment, resources and interactive relationship. Ultimately, the study hopes that the result above can apply to the design-related industries or help general companies elevate the team creativity.

Keywords: creativity, team creativity, integrated design companies, design process

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Authors: Mary Moner Botros Fanawel

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Many companies use the statistical tool named as statistical quality control, and which can have a high cost for the companies interested on these statistical tools. The evaluation of the quality of products and services is an important topic, but the reduction of the cost of the implantation of the statistical quality control also has important benefits for the companies. For this reason, it is important to implement a economic design for the various steps included into the statistical quality control. In this paper, we describe some relevant aspects related to the economic design of a quality control chart for the proportion of defective items. They are very important because the suggested issues can reduce the cost of implementing a quality control chart for the proportion of defective items. Note that the main purpose of this chart is to evaluate and control the proportion of defective items of a production process.

Keywords: model predictive control, hierarchical control structure, genetic algorithm, water quality with DBPs objectives proportion, type I error, economic plan, distribution function bootstrap control limit, p-value method, out-of-control signals, p-value, quality characteristics

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Authors: Sadia Bibi, Karim Ullah

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Islamic banks have excess liquidity, which needs proper management to earn a high rate of return on them to remain competitive. However, they lack assets-backed avenues and rely on a few sukuks, which led them to liquidity management issues. Financial engineering comes forward to innovate and develop instruments for the requisite financial problem. Still, they face many challenges, explored in the context of liquidity management in Islamic banks. The rigorous literature review shows that Shariah compliance, competition from the conventional banks, lack of sufficient instruments, derivatives are still not accepted as legitimate products, the inter-bank market being less developed, and no possibility of lender of last resort is the six significant constraints to financial engineering for liquidity management of Islamic banks. To further explore the problem, a multiple case study strategy is used to extend and develop the theory with the philosophical stance of social constructivism. Narrative in-depth interviews over the telephone are conducted with key personnel at treasury departments of selected banks. Data is segregated and displayed using NVivo 11 software, and the thematic analysis approach identifies themes related to the constraints. The exploration of further constraints to financial engineering for liquidity management of Islamic banks achieves the research aim. The theory is further developed by the addition of three more constraints to the theoretical framework, which are i) lack of skilled human resources, ii) lack of unified vision, and iii) lack of government support to the Islamic banks. These study findings are fruitful for the use of the government, regulatory authorities of the banking sector, the State Bank of Pakistan (Central Bank), and the product design & development division of Islamic banks to make the financial engineering process feasible and resolve liquidity management issues of Islamic banks.

Keywords: financial engineering, liquidity management, Islamic banks, shariah compliance

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Authors: Maria Bashutkina

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In seeking to identify marketing factors that influence company’s performance, product management as well as new technology configuration, this study adopts resource based theory and applies it to the Swiss watchmaking companies. This paper presents results of qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews with CEO and marketing managers among watchmaking companies. This paper provides empirical evidences illustrating the link between the use of dynamic marketing capabilities and competitive advantage. We also present a set of propositions that outline how dynamic marketing capabilities could benefit product management and technological change in the Swiss independent watchmaking company, revealing competitive advantage in the highly competitive and turbulent market.

Keywords: dynamic marketing capabilities, luxury marketing, resource based theory, product management, Swiss watchmaking

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Authors: Edward Chamisa, Colin C. Smith, Hamutyinei H. Pamburai, Abdul C. Abdulla

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South Africa (SA) adopted International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for listed firms effective 1 January 2005. However, it was not until 2011 that substantial financial reporting enforcement changes were introduced, which were meant to ensure compliance with IFRS. This innovative setting allows us to examine the value relevance of accounting amounts during the (1) pre-IFRS adoption period (2002-2004); (2) post-IFRS adoption, but pre-enforcement changes period (2006-2010); and (3) post-enforcement changes period (2011-2012). The results show that accounting amounts were most value relevant in the post-enforcement changes period (R2, 75.5%) compared to both the pre-IFRS adoption period (adjusted R2 is 24.3%) and the period after IFRS adoption but before enforcement changes (adjusted R2 is 37.5%). Also, during the 2008 financial crisis, the equity book value per share was significantly value relevant (at 1%) but not earnings per share, whereas before the crisis, the opposite was true. We make two important contributions to the literature. First, we identify SA as an innovative setting that allows researchers to examine separately the effects of IFRS adoption and enforcement changes on capital markets and accounting quality. This is a departure from prior studies that are dominated by the European Union setting, where IFRS adoption occurred contemporaneously with enforcement and other regulatory changes. Second, we provide preliminary findings which suggest that while the adoption of IFRS seems to have improved the financial reporting quality of accounting amounts of SA listed firms, its impact appears to be limited unless combined with effective enforcement.

Keywords: international financial reporting standards (ifrs), ifrs adoption, financial reporting enforcement, value relevance, price model, equity book value, earnings per share

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Authors: Ashenafi Beyene Fanta, Daniel Makina

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Economic theory predicts that finance promotes economic growth. Although the finance-growth link is among the most researched areas in financial economics, our understanding of the link between the two is still incomplete. This is caused by, among others, wrong econometric specifications, using weak proxies of financial development, and inability to address the endogeneity problem. Studies on the finance growth link in South Africa consistently report economic growth driving financial development. Early studies found that economic growth drives financial development in South Africa, and recent studies have confirmed this using different econometric models. However, the monetary aggregate (i.e. M2) utilized used in these studies is considered a weak proxy for financial development. Furthermore, the fact that the models employed do not address the endogeneity problem in the finance-growth link casts doubt on the validity of the conclusions. For this reason, the current study examines the finance growth link in South Africa using data for the period 1990 to 2011 by employing a generalized method of moments (GMM) technique that is capable of addressing endogeneity, simultaneity and omitted variable bias problems. Unlike previous cross country and country case studies that have also used the same technique, our contribution is that we account for the development of bond markets and non-bank financial institutions rather than being limited to stock market and banking sector development. We find that bond market development affects economic growth in South Africa, and no similar effect is observed for the bank and non-bank financial intermediaries and the stock market. Our findings show that examination of individual elements of the financial system is important in understanding the unique effect of each on growth. The observation that bond markets rather than private credit and stock market development promotes economic growth in South Africa induces an intriguing question as to what unique roles bond markets play that the intermediaries and equity markets are unable to play. Crucially, our results support observations in the literature that using appropriate measures of financial development is critical for policy advice. They also support the suggestion that individual elements of the financial system need to be studied separately to consider their unique roles in advancing economic growth. We believe that our understanding of the channels through which bond market contribute to growth would be a fertile ground for future research.

Keywords: bond market, finance, financial sector, growth

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Authors: Nayoma Ranawaka

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The demand for the high quality internationally comparable financial information has been increased than ever with the expansion of economic activities beyond its national boundaries. Thus, the necessity of converging accounting practices across the world is now continuously discussed with greater emphasis. The global convergence to International Financial Reporting Standards has been one of the main objectives of the International Accounting Standards Setting Board (IASB) since its establishment in 2001. Accordingly, Sri Lanka has adopted IFRSs in 2012. Among the other standards as a newly introduced standard by the IASB, IFRS 13 plays a pivotal role as it deals with the Fair Value Accounting (FVA). Therefore, it is valuable to obtain knowledge about the consequences of implementing IFRS 13 in Sri Lanka and compare results across nations. According to the IFRS Jurisdictional provision of Sri Lanka, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka has taken official steps to adopt IFRS 13 by introducing SLFRS 13 with de jure convergence. Then this study was identified the de facto convergence of the SLFRS 13 in measuring the Fair Value of Financial Instruments in the Sri Lankan context. Accordingly, the objective of this study is to explore the consequences to financial reporting by implementing SLFRS 13 on measuring the financial instruments. In order to achieve the objective of the study expert interview and in-depth interviews with the interviewees from the selected three case studies and their independent auditor were carried out using customized three different interview guides. These three cases were selected from three different industries; Banking, Manufacturing and Finance. NVivo version 10 was used to analyze the data collected through in-depth interviews. Then the content analysis was carried out and conclusions were derived based on the findings. Contribution to the knowledge by this study can be identified in different aspects. Findings of this study facilitate accounting practitioners to get an overall picture of application of fair value standard in measuring the financial instruments and to identify the challenges and barriers to the adoption process. Further, assist auditors in carrying out their audit procedures to check the level of compliance to the fair value standard in measuring the financial instruments. Moreover, this would enable foreign investors in assessing the reliability of the financial statements of their target investments as a result of SLFRS 13 in measuring the FVs of the FIs. The findings of the study could be used to open new avenues of thinking for policy formulators to provide the necessary infrastructure to eliminate disparities exists among different regulatory bodies to facilitate full convergence and thereby growth of the economy. Further, this provides insights to the dynamics of FVA implementation that are also relevant for other developing countries.

Keywords: convergence, fair value, financial instruments, IFRS 13

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Authors: Saad Saeed Althiabi

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This paper discusses the corporate positioning and how it became popular as a way to systematize production because of the unique manner in which incorporation legalized organizers to secure financial capital through locking it in. The power to lock in capital comes from the fact that a corporate exists as a separate legal entity, whose survival and governance are separated from any of its participants. The law essentially creates a different legal person when a corporation is created. Although this idea has been played down in the legal learning of the last decades in favor of the view that a corporation is purely something through which natural persons interrelate, recent legal research has begun to reassess the importance of entity status. Entity status, under the law and the related separation of governance from input of financial capital through the configuration of a corporation, sanctioned corporate participants to do somewhat more than connect in a series of business transactions.

Keywords: corporate law, entity status, locking in capital, financial capital

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Authors: Shu-Han Hsu, Jiho Yoon, Chwen Sheu

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With the rapidly growing of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency, various industries which include tourism has added in cryptocurrency as the payment method of their transaction. More and more tourism companies accept payments in digital currency for flights, hotel reservations, transportation, and more. For travellers and tourists, using cryptocurrency as a payment method has become a way to circumvent costs and prevent risks. Understanding volatility dynamics and interdependencies between standard currency and cryptocurrency is important for appropriate financial risk management to assist policy-makers and investors in marking more informed decisions. The purpose of this paper has been to understand and explain the risk spillover effects between six major cryptocurrencies and the top ten most traded standard currencies. Using data for the daily closing price of cryptocurrencies and currency exchange rates from 7 August 2015 to 10 December 2019, with 1,133 observations. The diagonal BEKK model was used to analyze the co-volatility spillover effects between cryptocurrency returns and exchange rate returns, which are measures of how the shocks to returns in different assets affect each other’s subsequent volatility. The empirical results show there are co-volatility spillover effects between the cryptocurrency returns and GBP/USD, CNY/USD and MXN/USD exchange rate returns. Therefore, currencies (British Pound, Chinese Yuan and Mexican Peso) and cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Tether, Litecoin and Stellar) are suitable for constructing a financial portfolio from an optimal risk management perspective and also for dynamic hedging purposes.

Keywords: blockchain, co-volatility effects, cryptocurrencies, diagonal BEKK model, exchange rates, risk spillovers

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Authors: Josip Visković, Josip Arnerić, Ante Rozga

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Based on the fact that volatility is time varying in high frequency data and that periods of high volatility tend to cluster, the most successful and popular models in modelling time varying volatility are GARCH type models. When financial returns exhibit sudden jumps that are due to structural breaks, standard GARCH models show high volatility persistence, i.e. integrated behaviour of the conditional variance. In such situations models in which the parameters are allowed to change over time are more appropriate. This paper compares different GARCH models in terms of their ability to describe structural changes in returns caused by financial crisis at stock markets of six selected central and east European countries. The empirical analysis demonstrates that Markov regime switching GARCH model resolves the problem of excessive persistence and outperforms uni-regime GARCH models in forecasting volatility when sudden switching occurs in response to financial crisis.

Keywords: central and east European countries, financial crisis, Markov switching GARCH model, transition probabilities

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Authors: Omar Farahat Hassanein, A. Samer Ezeldin

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The construction industry is a very dynamic field. Every day new technologies and methods are developing to fasten the process and increase its efficiency. Hence, if a project uses fewer resources, it will be more efficient. This paper examines the recycling of concrete construction and demolition (C&D) waste to reuse it as aggregates in on-site applications for construction projects in Egypt and possibly in the Middle East. The study focuses on a stationary plant setting. The machinery set-up used in the plant is analyzed technically and financially. The findings are gathered and grouped to obtain a comprehensive cost-benefit financial model to demonstrate the feasibility of establishing and operating a concrete recycling plant. Furthermore, a detailed business plan including the time and hierarchy is proposed.

Keywords: construction wastes, recycling, sustainability, financial model, concrete recycling, concrete life cycle

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Authors: S. P. Singh

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This paper measures technical and scale efficiencies of 40 Indian sugar companies for the period from 2004-05 to 2013-14. The efficiencies are estimated through input-oriented DEA models using one output variable—value of output (VOP) and five input variables—capital cost (CA), employee cost (EMP), raw material (RW), energy & fuel (E&F) and other manufacturing expenses (OME). The sugar companies are classified into integrated and non-integrated categories to know which one achieves higher level of efficiency. Sources of inefficiency in the industry are identified through decomposing the overall technical efficiency (TE) into pure technical efficiency (PTE) and scale efficiency (SE). The paper also estimates input-reduction targets for relatively inefficient companies and suggests measures to improve their efficiency level. The findings reveal that the TE does not evince any trend rather it shows fluctuations across years, largely due to erratic and cyclical pattern of sugar production. Further, technical inefficiency in the industry seems to be driven more by the managerial inefficiency than the scale inefficiency, which implies that TE can be improved through better conversion of inputs into output.

Keywords: DEA, slacks, sugar industry, technical efficiency

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Authors: Stephen Gerome

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This study examines the translation and use of metaphors in the realm of public safety discourse and intends to shed light on a continuing problem in cross-cultural communication. Metaphors can cause problems not only within languages but also in interlingual communication. The use and misuse of metaphors may hinder the ability to adequately communicate prevention efforts and, in some cases, facilitate and allow financial crime to go undetected. The use of lexicalized metaphors in communications by political entities, journalists, and legal agents in communications regarding law, policy making, compliance monitoring and enforcement as well as in adjudication can have negative consequences if misconstrued. This study provides examples of metaphor usage in published documents in a corpus linguistic study that compares the use of lexicalized metaphors in this discourse to shed light on possible unexpected consequences as well as counterproductive ones.

Keywords: translation, legal, corpus linguistics, financial

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Authors: Sabur Mollah, Asma Mobarek

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This study aims to explore the endogenous relationship between Shari’ah governance and board governance for Islamic banks to identify complementary or substituting relationship between these governance parameters. By using a sample of 161 Islamic Banks from 24 countries for the period of 2005-2013, we show an endogenous relationship between Shari’ah Supervisory Board (SSB) and Board of Directors (BoD). In this relationship, SSB and BoD complement each other. We also show that this complementary relationship between SSB and BoD helps enhance both management and asset quality, but mitigates capital adequacy, earnings, and liquidity in Islamic banks. The study has important implications for financial stability in the Islamic banking system.

Keywords: Shari’ah Supervisory Board, Boards of Directors, Islamic banking, financial stability

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Authors: Sedigheh Zarei

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The aim of this research is to identify the key factors in shipping company’s port selection in order to providing their requirement. To identify and rank factors that are play the main role in selecting port for providing the ship supplies. At the first step, Data were collected via Semi-structured interviews, The aim was to generate knowledge on how shipping company select the port and suppliers for providing their needs. 37 port selection factors were chosen from the previous researches and field interviews and have been categorized into two groups of port's factor and the factors of services of suppliers companies. The current study adopts a questionnaire survey to the main shipping companies' operators in Iran. Their responses reveal that level of services of supplying companies and customs rules play the important role in selecting the ports. Our findings could affect decisions made by port authorities to consider that supporting the privet sections for ship chandelling business could have the best result in attracting ships.

Keywords: ship supplier, port selection, ship chandler, provision

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Authors: Vered Holzmann, Ramzi Halabi

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The current research investigates motivators and barriers to high-tech entrepreneurship in the Israeli-Arab Community. With the aim to exploit the capacity of Israel as a 'start-up nation', we identify the most important aspects to promote integration of Israeli-Arab entrepreneurs in high-tech startups and business companies, thus impact the socio-economic status of the Arab community in Israel. We reviewed the literature on the role of high-tech and entrepreneurship in the Israeli economy, the profile of the Israeli-Arab community with regard to education and employability, and the characteristics of minority entrepreneurship to understand entrepreneurs' intentions, their incentives to choose the entrepreneurial route on one hand and the obstacles that they face on the other hand. Based on the literature review, we conducted an integrated study that included a survey among 73 Israeli-Arabs involved in high-tech entrepreneurship and 16 semi-structured interviews with Israeli-Arab and Jewish entrepreneurs and leaders in the high-tech industry. We analyzed the data to explore personal and social motivating factors to entrepreneurship as well as educational and socio-economical barriers for entrepreneurship. Three major elements were found to be the most influential on Arab high-tech entrepreneurship in Israel: education, financial resources, and strategic-institutional support. The relationship between education and employability that is well-known with regard to general education, requires two additional aspects in the field of high-tech entrepreneurship: education of technology and engineering, and education of business and entrepreneurship. The study findings reveal that the main motivation factors for entrepreneurship are development of creative ideas and improvement of the socio-economic status, while financial-related factors and lack of institutional and governmental support are perceived as impediments to entrepreneurial activities. Financing difficulties are mainly derived from discriminating financial environment and lack of professional networking. The relationship between entrepreneurship and economic growth seems to be clear and simple; thus it is a national interest to encourage entrepreneurship among the Arab community, and especially high-tech entrepreneurship which has a significant role in the economic growth of Israel.

Keywords: high-tech industry, innovation management, Israeli-Arab community, minority entrepreneurship, motivating factors and barriers

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Authors: Hussaini Bala

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There are different opinions in the literature on the relationship between Audit Committee characteristics and earnings management. The mix of opinions makes the direction of their relationship ambiguous. This study investigated the relationship between Audit Committee characteristics and earnings management of listed food and beverages Firms in Nigeria. The study covered the period of six years from 2007 to 2012. Data for the study were extracted from the Firms’ annual reports and accounts. After running the OLS regression, a robustness test was conducted for the validity of statistical inferences. The dependent variable was generated using two steps regression in order to determine the discretionary accrual of the sample Firms. Multiple regression was employed to run the data of the study using Random Model. The results from the analysis revealed a significant association between audit committee characteristics and earnings management of the Firms. While audit committee size and committees’ financial expertise showed an inverse relationship with earnings management, committee’s independence, and frequency of meetings are positively and significantly related to earnings management. In line with the findings, the study recommended among others that listed food and beverages Firms in Nigeria should strictly comply with the provision of Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) and SEC Code of Corporate Governance on the issues regarding Audit Committees. Regulators such as SEC should increase the minimum number of Audit Committee members with financial expertise and also have a statutory position on the maximum number of Audit Committees meetings, which should not be greater than four meetings in a year as SEC code of corporate governance is silent on this.

Keywords: audit committee, earnings management, listed Food and beverages size, leverage, Nigeria

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Authors: Maja Sajdak

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The aim of this article is to identify the measures companies undertake in order to adapt to the environment as well as discussing their diversity and effectiveness. The research methods used in the study include an in-depth analysis of the literature and a case study, which helps to illustrate the issue in question. Referring to the concept of agility, which is firmly embedded in the theory of strategic management and has been developed with the aim of adapting to the environment and its changes, the paper first examines different types of adaptation measures for companies. Then the issue under discussion is illustrated with the example of the company Hortimex. This company is an eminent representative of the world’s leading manufacturers of food additives and ingredients. The company was established in 1988 and is a family business, which in practice means that it conducts business in a responsible manner, observing the law and respecting the interests of society and the environment. The company’s mission is to develop a market in Poland for the products and solutions offered by their partners and to share their knowledge of additives in food production and consumption.

Keywords: adaptation measures, agile enterprise, flexibility, unanticipated changes

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Authors: Luis A. Paipa-Galeano, Yavar Jarrah-Nezhad, César A. Bernal-Torres

Abstract:

This paper presents a case study of four companies in an emerging economy to identify the key success factors and barriers to sustaining continuous improvement practices. The study analyzes the empirical evidence and compares it to the literature review to provide insights for companies looking to increase their maturity level in this area. The five success factors identified are the availability of resources, commitment and support from management, participation of employees in identifying tasks to improve, clear and realistic objectives for continuous improvement, and the existence of a leader or responsible for continuous improvement. The major barriers to success are a lack of alignment between the organization’s strategic objectives and continuous improvement objectives, a lack of motivation in the team, and resistance to change. The paper concludes with recommendations for companies to reduce the risk of improvement failure and increase their maturity level in continuous improvement.

Keywords: emerging economies, Kaizen, continuous improvement sustainability, maturity model

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Authors: Amir Sattari

Abstract:

For newly produced houses and energy renovations, an energy calculation needs to be conducted. This is done to verify whether the energy consumption criteria of the house -to reach the energy targets by 2020 and 2050- are in-line with the norms. The main purpose of this study is to confirm whether easy to use energy calculation software or hand calculations used by small companies or individuals give logical results compared to advanced energy simulation program used by researchers or bigger companies. There are different methods for calculating energy consumption. In this paper, two energy calculation programs are used and the relation of energy consumption with solar radiation is compared. A hand calculation is also done to validate whether the hand calculations are still reasonable. The two computer programs which have been used are TMF Energi (the easy energy calculation variant used by small companies or individuals) and IDA ICE - Indoor Climate and Energy (the advanced energy simulation program used by researchers or larger companies). The calculations are done for a standard house from the Swedish house supplier Fiskarhedenvillan. The method is based on having the same conditions and inputs in the different calculation forms so that the results can be compared and verified. The house has been faced differently to see how the orientation affects energy consumption in different methods. The results for the simulations are close to each other and the hand calculation differs from the computer programs by only 5%. Even if solar factors differ due to the orientation of the house, energy calculation results from different computer programs and even hand calculation methods are in line with each other.

Keywords: energy calculation, energy consumption, energy simulation, IDA ICE, TMF energi

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Authors: Odile Amoncou, Djedje-Kossu Zahui

Abstract:

The integration of a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) approach within a company appears nowadays as a fundamental system of response to the different problems that threaten our planet. The abusive exploitation of natural resources, social inequalities, discrimination and poverty are some examples. Thus, faced with these different global problems, each company must include in its operating system measures or actions with the aim not only of achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but also for the improvement of its performance and its brand internationally. The objective of this article is to assess the implementation of CSR by telecommunication companies. It is our belief that given its high energy consumption and proximity to society, the telecom sector must pay particular attention to environmental and social issues. Our study examines the CSR of three Ivorian telecom operators, namely ORANGE CI, MOOV Africa and MTN, by applying a series of performance indicators related to CSR management. We hope that our study will raise awareness about sustainability issues for all other Ivorian companies but also sub-Sahara African companies in general in order to encourage CEOs to make CSR concept a top priority.

Keywords: CSR, telecom, SDGs, cote d’Ivoire

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Authors: Oussedik Lydia, Zaouani-Denoux Souâd

Abstract:

In an economic context characterized by intense competition and the impact of new technologies, companies have a constant need to adapt to the environment and the changes imposed. This situation leads companies to take training actions to develop employees’ required skills. Further, training is considered as a strategic lever for the company's growth. Accordingly, an increasing number of companies are adopting training to ensure continuous employees qualification. Thus, the aim of this research is to understand the process of training engineering occurring in the context of a company's continuous training, which will help to identify the gaps that can hinder or promote the development of employees' knowledge and skills. The research methodology is based on a mixed-method approach. Interviews and questionnaires are implemented to collect qualitative and quantitative data. The study results can help managers to identify gaps at each stage of training design. Finally, the research findings provide important information to help design a training plan to support the development of employees' knowledge and performance.

Keywords: training engineering, training needs, training plan, competences, continuing training, perception

Procedia PDF Downloads 115