Search results for: relationship quality

Authors: Odunayo S. Faluse, Roger Telfer

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Customer relationship management is a business strategy that is centred on the idea that ‘Customer is the driving force of any business’ i.e. Customer is placed in a central position in any business. However, this belief coupled with the advancement in information technology in the past twenty years has experienced a change. In any form of business today it can be concluded that customers are the modern dictators to whom the industry always adjusts its business operations due to the increase in availability of information, intense market competition and ever growing negotiating ideas of customers in the process of buying and selling. The most vital role of any organization is to satisfy or meet customer’s needs and demands, which eventually determines customer’s long-term value to the industry. Therefore, this paper analyses and describes the application of customer relationship management operational strategies in some of the major industries in business. Both developed and up-coming companies nowadays value the quality of customer services and client’s loyalty, they also recognize the customers that are not very sensitive when it comes to changes in price and thereby realize that attracting new customers is more tasking and expensive than retaining the existing customers. However, research shows that several factors have recently amounts to the sudden rise in the execution of CRM strategies in the marketplace, such as a diverted attention of some organization towards integrating ideas in retaining existing customers rather than attracting new one, gathering data about customers through the use of internal database system and acquiring of external syndicate data, also exponential increase in technological intelligence. Apparently, with this development in business operations, CRM research in Academia remain nascent; hence this paper gives detailed critical analysis of the recent advancement in the use of CRM and key research opportunities for future development in using the implementation of CRM as a determinant factor for successful business optimization.

Keywords: agriculture, banking, business strategies, CRM, education, healthcare

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Authors: Manmeet Kaur, Madhu Vij

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The Board of Directors in a firm performs the primary role of an internal control mechanism. This Study seeks to understand the relationship between internal governance and performance of banks in India. The research paper investigates the effect of board structure (proportion of nonexecutive directors, gender diversity, board size and meetings per year) on the firm performance. This paper evaluates the impact of corporate governance mechanisms on bank’s financial performance using panel data for 28 listed banks in National Stock Exchange of India for the period of 2008-2014. Returns on Asset, Return on Equity, Tobin’s Q and Net Interest Margin were used as the financial performance indicators. To estimate the relationship among governance and bank performance initially the Study uses Pooled Ordinary Least Square (OLS) Estimation and Generalized Least Square (GLS) Estimation. Then a well-developed panel Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) Estimator is developed to investigate the dynamic nature of performance and governance relationship. The Study empirically confirms that two-step system GMM approach controls the problem of unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity as compared to the OLS and GLS approach. The result suggests that banks with small board, boards with female members, and boards that meet more frequently tend to be more efficient and subsequently have a positive impact on performance of banks. The study offers insights to policy makers interested in enhancing the quality of governance of banks in India. Also, the findings suggest that board structure plays a vital role in the improvement of corporate governance mechanism for financial institutions. There is a need to have efficient boards in banks to improve the overall health of the financial institutions and the economic development of the country.

Keywords: board of directors, corporate governance, GMM estimation, Indian banking

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Authors: Gideon Ndubuisi

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It is widely acknowledged that the quality of a country’s export matters more decisively than the quantity it exports. Hence, understanding the drivers of exported goods’ quality is a relevant policy question. Among other things, product quality upgrading is a considerable cost uncertainty venture that can be undertaken by an entrepreneur. Once a product is successfully upgraded, however, others can imitate the product, and hence, the returns to the pioneer entrepreneur are socialized. Along with this line, a government policy such as intellectual property rights (IPRs) protection which lessens the non-appropriability problem and incentivizes cost discovery investments becomes both a panacea in addressing the market failure and a sine qua non for an entrepreneur to engage in product quality upgrading. In addendum, product quality upgrading involves complex tasks which often require a lot of knowledge and technology sharing beyond the bounds of the firm thereby creating rooms for knowledge spillovers and imitations. Without an institution that protects upstream suppliers of knowledge and technology, technology masking occurs which bids up marginal production cost and product quality fall. Despite these clear associations between IPRs and product quality upgrading, the surging literature on the drivers of the quality of exported goods has proceeded almost in isolation of IPRs protection as a determinant. Consequently, the current study uses a difference-in-difference method to evaluate the effects of IPRs reforms on the quality of exported goods in 16 developing countries over the sample periods of 1984-2000. The study finds weak evidence that IPRs reforms increase the quality of all exported goods. When the industries are sorted into high and low-patent sensitive industries, however, we find strong indicative evidence that IPRs reform increases the quality of exported goods in high-patent sensitive sectors both in absolute terms and relative to the low-patent sensitive sectors in the post-reform period. We also obtain strong indicative evidence that it brought the quality of exported goods in the high-patent sensitive sectors closer to the quality frontier. Accounting for time-duration effects, these observed effects grow over time. The results are also largely consistent when we consider the sophistication and complexity of exported goods rather than just quality upgrades.

Keywords: exports, export quality, export sophistication, intellectual property rights

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Authors: Sajjad Farahani, Wilkistar Otieno, Xiaohang Yue

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This paper develops a model for the optimal disposition decision for product returns in a remanufacturing system with limited recoverable inventory capacity. In this model, a constant demand is satisfied by remanufacturing returned products which are up to the minimum required quality grade. The quality grade of returned products is uncertain and remanufacturing cost increases as the quality level decreases, and remanufacturer wishes to determine which returned product to accept to be remanufactured for reselling, and any unaccepted returns may be salvaged at a value that increases with their quality level. Accepted returns can be stocked for remanufacturing upon demand requests, but incur a holding cost. A Markov decision problem is formulated in order to evaluate various performance measures for this system and obtain the optimal remanufacturing policy. A detailed numerical study reveals that our approach to the disposition problem outperforms the current industrial practice ignoring quality grade of returned products. In addition, we identify conditions under which this improvement is the highest.

Keywords: green supply chain management, matrix geometric method, production recovery, reverse supply chains

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Authors: Tahereh Talebi, Reza Ghomashchi, Pejman Talemi, Sima Aminorroaya

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Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of p-type Bi₂Te₃ material has been accomplished, and a high quality crack-free thick film has been achieved for thermoelectric (TE) applications. TE generators (TEG) can convert waste heat into electricity, which can potentially solve global warming problems. However, TEG is expensive due to the high cost of materials, as well as the complex and expensive manufacturing process. EPD is a simple and cost-effective method which has been used recently for advanced applications. In EPD, when a DC electric field is applied to the charged powder particles suspended in a suspension, they are attracted and deposited on the substrate with the opposite charge. In this study, it has been shown that it is possible to prepare a TE film using the EPD method and potentially achieve high TE properties at low cost. The relationship between the deposition weight and the EPD-related process parameters, such as applied voltage and time, has been investigated and a linear dependence has been observed, which is in good agreement with the theoretical principles of EPD. A stable EPD suspension of p-type Bi₂Te₃ was prepared in a mixture of acetone-ethanol with triethanolamine as a stabilizer. To achieve a high quality homogenous film on a copper substrate, the optimum voltage and time of the EPD process was investigated. The morphology and microstructures of the green deposited films have been investigated using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The green Bi₂Te₃ films have shown good adhesion to the substrate. In summary, this study has shown that not only EPD of p-type Bi₂Te₃ material is possible, but its thick film is of high quality for TE applications.

Keywords: electrical conductivity, electrophoretic deposition, mechanical property, p-type Bi2Te3, Seebeck coefficient, thermoelectric materials, thick films

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Authors: Safa Lazzem, Faouzi Jilani

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The aim of this research is to investigate the impact of diversification strategy on the nature of the relationship between leverage and accrual-based earnings management through panel-estimation techniques based on a sample of 162 nonfinancial French firms indexed in CAC All-Tradable during the period from 2006 to 2012. The empirical results show that leverage increases encourage managers to manipulate earnings management. Our findings prove that the diversification strategy provides the needed context for this accounting practice to be possible in highly diversified firms. In addition, the results indicate that diversification moderates the relationship between leverage and accrual-based earnings management by changing the nature and the sign of this relationship.

Keywords: diversification, earnings management, leverage, panel-estimation techniques

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Authors: Gisele Mah, Paul Saah

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The rising rates of inflation are hindering economic growth in developing nations. Hence, this study investigated the effects of inflation rates on the economic growth of South Africa using the secondary time series data from 1987 to 2022. The main objectives of this study were to investigate the long run relationship between inflation and economic growth, and also to determine the causality direction between these two variables. The study utilized the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds test of co-integration to investigate whether there is a long-run relationship between inflation and economic growth. The Pairwise Granger causality approach was employed to determine the second objective, which is the direction of causality. The study discovered only one co-integration relationship between our variables and it was between inflation and economic growth. The results showed that there is a negative and significant relationship between inflation and economic growth. There appeared to be a positive and significant relationship between economic growth and exchange rate. The interest rates have shown to be negative and insignificant in explaining economic growth. The study also established that inflation does Granger cause economic growth which is given as GDP. Similarly, the study discovered that inflation Granger causes exchange rates. Therefore, the study recommends that inflation should be decreased in South Africa, in order for economic growth to increase. Contrary, this study recommends that South Africa should increase its exchange rates, in order for economic growth to also increase.

Keywords: inflation rate, economic growth, South Africa, autoregressive distributed lag model

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Authors: Ben Salah Nahla

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The problem of water in Tunisia affects the quality and quantity. Tunisia is in a situation of water shortage. It was estimated that 4.6 Mm3/an. Moreover, the quality of water in Tunisia is also mediocre. In fact, 50% of the water has a high salinity (> 1.5g/l). There are several parameters which affect water quality such as sodium, fluoride. An excess of this parameter may induce some human health. Furthermore, the mining basin area has a problem of industrial waste. This problem may affect the water quality of the groundwater. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to assess the water quality in Basin Mining and the impact of fluorine. For this research, some water samples were done in the field and specific water analysis was implemented in the laboratory. Sampling is carried out on eight drilling in the area of the mining region. In the following, we will look at water view composition, physical and chemical quality. A physical-chemical analysis of water from a survey of the Mining area of Tunisia was performed and showed an excess for the following items: fluorine, sodium, sulfate. So many chemicals may be present in water. However, only a small number of them immediately concern in terms of health in all circumstances. Fluorine (F) is one particular chemical that is considered both necessary for the human body, but an excess of the rate of this chemical causes serious diseases. Sodium fluoride and sodium silicofluoride are more soluble and may spread in animals and plants where their toxicity largest organizations. The more complex particles such as cryolite and fluorite, almost insoluble, are more stable and less toxic. Thereafter, we will study the problem of excess fluorine in the water. The latter intended for human consumption must always comply with the limits for microbiological quality parameters and physical-chemical parameters defined by European standards (1.5 mg/l) and Tunisian (2 mg/l).

Keywords: water, minier basin, fluorine, silicofluoride

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Authors: Rahime Hülya Öztürk

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Along with the development of globalization, the relationship between economic, politic and commercial behaviors became unlimited. The liberalization of capital has many advantages for countries, but it also has some disadvantages. In these disadvantages the most important one is corruption. Especially in Developing Countries and Underdeveloped countries, corruption is very extensive. Corruption causes inefficient use of resources and promotes income inequality. Especially in the transition period of economies corruption increases and sometimes governments don’t interfere. To fight against corruption domestic and international measures are taken. Corruption is an economic problem, but it also has social and moral effects. The aim of this study is to define the relationship between corruption and income in Independent Turkish State. In the first part of the study, the concept of corruption is examined. In the second part of the study, information about The Independent Turkish Republic is given. In the third part of the study, country’s relationship between corruption and income is analyzed with panel data analysis.

Keywords: corruption, income, independent Turkish Republic, distribution of income

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Authors: Mohammad Hossein Ranjbar, Mahdi Bagheri, B. Shivaraj

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This study attempts to investigate the relationship between stock market of Iran and GCC countries stock exchanges. Eight markets were included: the stock market of Iran, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Oman. Daily country market indices were collected from January 2005 to December 2010. The potential time-varying behaviors of long-run stock market relationship among selected markets are tested applying correlation test, Augmented Dick Fuller test (ADF), Bilateral and Multilateral Cointegration (Johansen), and the Granger Causality test. The findings suggest that stock market of Iran is negatively correlated with most of the selected markets in the whole duration. But contemporaneous correlations among the eight selected markets are increased positively in period of financial crises. Bilateral Cointegration between selected markets suggests that there is no integration between Tehran stock exchange and other selected markets. Among other markets, except the stock market of Dubai and Abu Dhabi as a one pair, are not cointegrated in whole, but in duration of financial crises integration between selected markets are increased. Finally, investigation of the casual relationship among eight financial markets suggests there are unidirectional and bidirectional causal relationship among some of stock market indices.

Keywords: financial crises, Middle East, stock market integration, Granger Causality test, ARDL test

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Authors: S. Forughi, A. De Zoysa, S. Bhati

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The present study focuses on the environmental performance of the companies in the electricity-producing sector and its relationship with their financial performance. We will review the major studies that examined the relationship between the environmental and financial performance of firms in various industries. While the classical economic debates consider the environmental friendly activities costly and harmful to a firm’s profitability, it is claimed that firms will be rewarded with higher profitability in long run through the investments in environmental friendly activities. In this context, prior studies have examined the relationship between the environmental and financial performance of firms operating in different industry sectors. Our study will employ an environmental indicator to increase the accuracy of the results and be employed as an independent variable in our developed econometric model to evaluate the impact of the financial performance of the firms on their environmental friendly activities in the context of companies operating in the Australian electricity-producing sector. As a result, we expect our methodology to contribute to the literature and the findings of the study will help us to provide recommendations and policy implications to the electricity producers.

Keywords: Australian electricity sector, efficiency measurement, environmental-financial performance interaction, environmental index

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Authors: Zohreh Hajiha

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Culture affects the ability of the organization in expressing and achieving the goals. Organizational culture influences the selection of instruments applied in the management of organizations. All the instruments applied in organizations to control, promote and create innovations are influenced by organizational culture. This research studies organizational culture based on the cultural model of Muijen and its relationship with applying management accounting innovations in Iranian listed firms. Management accounting innovations of this study include activity-based costing, activity-based management, balanced scorecard, target costing, standard costing, quality costing, Kaizen costing and dimensions of organizational culture include support orientation, innovation orientation, rules orientation and goal orientation. 105 questionnaires were sent to financial executives of production companies and 73 questionnaires were returned. The findings show that there is a significant difference between organizational culture of firms that have applied management accounting innovations and those which have used these innovations less. Also, dimensions of support orientation and culture goal orientation are the highest in groups that apply management accounting innovations. The findings suggest that proper organization culture could promote the use od management accounting tools in Iranian firms.

Keywords: organizational culture, innovation, management accounting, muijen model

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Authors: M. Kamal, Y. Wang, R. Kennon

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Quality Function Deployment is a useful tool in product development with the application of voice of customer. In this paper, it aims to be applied as a product development tool in redesigning fashion and textile product. The purpose of these studies is to apply the effective use of Voice of Customer in redesigning cultural fashion product. The data collection from Voice of Customer or consumers’ feedback might help the producer to improve the quality of merchandise ahead. Voice of Customer could give a specific detailing for quality which needs to be redesigned according to customers’ requirements. Meanwhile, the next objective is to differentiate design specifications and characteristics using House of Quality. In product designing phase, it is very important to distinguish each specification and characteristic which translated from Voice of Customer to House of Quality matrix. This matrix would help designers to development according to qualities that customer wants for the better and successful product in the market. It is hope this research would indicate the customers’ requirements and production team idea might be measured and translated to a systematic data. The specific technical data could be planned ahead with specific design details as well. This could be a sustainable approach for a traditional product which could control the material that they use and sustain the quality as the past production. As a conclusion, this study would benefit the Small Medium Enterprises design team or the designers to style an item from customers view with organised projection of the product. The finding also could assist designers or batik producers’ to recognise specific details Batik sarong from consumers as well as in in advertising and marketing strategy plan.

Keywords: house of quality, Malaysia batik sarong, quality function deployment, voice of customer

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Authors: Gilang Maulana, Dhika Rahma Qomariah, Yasin Fadil

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Purpose: This research meant to measure the magnitude of the influence of the quality of the presentation to the targeted audience perception in catching information presentation. Design/Methodology/Approach: This research uses a quantitative research method. The kind of data that uses in this research is the primary data. The population in this research are students the economics faculty of Semarang State University. The sampling techniques uses in this research is purposive sampling. The retrieving data uses questionnaire on 30 respondents. The data analysis uses descriptive analysis. Result: The quality of presentation influential positive against perception of the audience. This proved that the more qualified presentation will increase the perception of the audience. Limitation: Respondents were limited to only 30 people.

Keywords: quality of presentation, presentation, audience, perception, semarang state university

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Authors: Nnedum Obiajuru Anthony Ugochukwu, Ezechukwu Emmanuel Ntomchukwu

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The research investigated the importance of marketing and customer relationship management in post-consolidated banks in achieving success and survival in the face of intense competition and global economic meltdown. The problem lies in the fact that during the pre-consolidation era in the banking industry in Nigeria, banks were comfortable transacting their businesses from their armchairs. Little attention was paid to marketing by banks as a veritable means of achieving and consolidating their profit position. This situation, no doubt sustained because banks were more or less currency exchange centers where customers buy and sell foreign exchange which was highly demanded, but in very short supply. Today, deregulation and consolidation of banks in Nigeria have tremendously increased the tempo of activities in the banking industry, and competition has become very severe among banks. The weak link in the success of post-consolidated banks in Nigeria is the utter neglect, and light or unserious consideration of customer relationship marketing by banks. Armchair banking which banks have been practicing has no regard for marketing as a means to survival. However, in order to survive, post-consolidated banks must take relationship marketing and customer relationship management seriously especially in the face of the current global economic crisis. This paper aims at exploring the role of marketing in building and managing customer relationships as a means to survival in post-consolidation banking in Nigeria.

Keywords: marketing, customer relationships, banking sector, Nigeria

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Authors: Qiuling Xie, Shanliang Zhu, Zongdi Sun

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In this paper, we analyzed the correlation relationship among PM2.5 from other five Air Quality Indices (AQIs) based on the grey relational degree, and built a multivariate nonlinear regression equation model of PM2.5 and the five monitoring indexes. For the optimal control problem of PM2.5, we took the partial large Cauchy distribution of membership equation as satisfaction function. We established a nonlinear programming model with the goal of maximum performance to price ratio. And the optimal control scheme is given.

Keywords: grey relational degree, multiple linear regression, membership function, nonlinear programming

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Authors: Patrick Velte

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Sustainability reporting has become a central element of modern corporate governance practice. This paper is the first to recognize supervisory board independence, sustainable expertise and gender diversity in two European two tier countries and their impact on sustainability reporting quality. For a sample of 188 German and Austrian companies which are listed at the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt and Vienna Stock Exchange for the business years 2012-2013, descriptive findings show that CSR reporting quality is still low in both countries. Furthermore, multiple regressions state that independent and female members in the supervisory board do have a positive impact on CSR reporting quality in Germany and Austria. However, the existence of sustainable experts in the supervisory board both in Germany and Austria shows a positive but insignificant impact. Our findings suggest that the current European corporate governance regulations can be a useful instrument to increase the quality of modern CSR reporting for the stakeholders.

Keywords: sustainability reporting, corporate governance, gender diversity, board independence

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Authors: Shady Gamal Aziz Shehata

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Difficulty in defining construction quality arises due to perception based on the nature and requirements of the market, the different partners themselves and the results they want. Quantitative research was used in this constructivist research. A case-based study was conducted to assess the structures of positive attitudes and expectations in the context of quality improvement. A survey based on expert opinions was analyzed among construction organizations/companies operating in the construction industry in Pakistan. The financial strength, management structure and construction experience of the construction companies formed the basis of their selection. A good concept is visible at the project level and is seen as the most valuable part of the construction project. Each quality improvement technique was expected to increase the user's profits by improving the efficiency of the construction project. The Survey is useful for construction professionals to evaluate current construction concepts and expectations for the application of quality improvement techniques in construction projects.

Keywords: correlation analysis, lean construction tools, lean construction, logistic regression analysis, risk management, safety construction quality, expectation, improvement, perception

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Authors: A. Llopis Alvarez, D. Muller-Eie

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Participatory GIS (geographic information systems) are designed for community mapping exercises in order to produce spatial representations of local knowledge. Ideally, participatory GIS caters to public participation through the use of spatial data in order to increase community-led policy-and decision-making. Having defined a spatial object, such as a neighborhood, subjective mapping involves attaining a description of the spatial, physical, social and psychological characteristics of that spatial object. This paper highlights an emerging appreciation of the subjective component, particularly in spatial analyses. The beliefs, feelings, and behaviors associated with an urban area reflect its sense of place for an individual or a group. It is important therefore to understand what types of beliefs, emotions, and behavioral patterns are relevant to particular resident, groups and urban scales. In this sense, resident’s emotional attachment to their urban areas motivates civic engagement and facilitates awareness of its strengths and its problems. Similarly, subjective perceptions act in complex ways to influence the formation and maintenance of social identity and quality of life. This paper reports on findings from a case study of immigrant population in Norwegian cities, their residential conditions and their relationship to quality of urban life. Cognitive mapping methodologies are used in this study to understand local perceptions of urban qualities. Thus, measures to alleviate disadvantages and improve quality of urban life are more likely to be effective when they are informed by an understanding of a place as constructed by those who live in it, meaning their subjective perceptions about it.

Keywords: mapping methodologies, participatory GIS, perceptual maps, public participation, spatial analysis, subjective perceptions

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Authors: É. Kónya, E. Szabó, I. Bata-Vidács, T. Deák, M. Ottucsák, N. Adányi, A. Székács

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Spice paprika is a major spice commodity in the European Union (EU), produced locally and imported from non-EU countries, reported not only for chemical and microbiological contamination, but also for fraud. The effective interaction between producers’ quality management practices and government and EU activities is described on the example of spice paprika production and control in Hungary, a country of leading spice paprika producer and per capita consumer in Europe. To demonstrate the importance of various contamination factors in the Hungarian production and EU trade of spice paprika, several aspects concerning food safety of this commodity are presented. Alerts in the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) of the EU between 2005 and 2013, as well as Hungarian state inspection results on spice paprika in 2004 are discussed, and quality non-compliance claims regarding spice paprika among EU member states are summarized in by means of network analysis. Quality assurance measures established along the spice paprika production technology chain at the leading Hungarian spice paprika manufacturer, Kalocsai Fűszerpaprika Zrt. are surveyed with main critical control points identified. The structure and operation of the Hungarian state food safety inspection system is described. Concerted performance of the latter two quality management systems illustrates the effective interaction between internal (manufacturer) and external (state) quality control measures.

Keywords: spice paprika, quality control, reporting mechanisms, RASFF, vulnerable points, HACCP

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Authors: Guebli Abdelkader, Zerf Mohammed, Mekkades Moulay Idriss, BenGoua Ali, Atouti Nouredinne, Habchi Nawel

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The paper aims to show the influence of angles in the results of triple jump. Whereas our background confirms that a series of motions are characterized by complex angles in the properties phase (hop, step, and jump) as a combination of the pushed phase on ultimate phases in the result. For the purpose, our results are obtained from the National Athletics Championship 2013, which was filmed and analysis by the software kinovea. Based on the statistical analysis we confirm: there is a positive relationship between angle of the leg, hip angle, angle of the trunk in the collision during (hop, step, and jump), and there is a negative correlation to the angle of the knee relationship in a collision during.

Keywords: kinematics variables, the triple jump, the finale results, digital achievement

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Authors: Probir Kumar Banerjee

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Though the revised DeLone and McLean (DM) model of IS success is found to be effective at the individual level of analysis, there is lack of consensus in regard to its effectiveness at the organisational level. This research reviews the DM model in the light of business/IT alignment theory and supporting literature, and suggests its reconceptualization. Specifically, arguments are made for augmenting it with business process quality. Business process quality, it is argued, captures the effect of intent to use, use and user satisfaction interactions, thus eliminating the need to capture their interaction effects in explaining organisational IS success. It is also argued that ‘operational performance’ driven by systems and business process quality, and higher order measures of organisational performance tied to operational performance are appropriate measures of ‘net benefit’. Suggestions are made for reconceptualisation of the other constructs and an adapted model of organisational IS success is proposed.

Keywords: organisational IS success, business/IT alignment, systems quality, business process quality, operational performance, market performance

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Authors: Kamyar Kabirifar, Majid Azarniush, Behbood Maashkar

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A proper house is a suitable residential area which provides comfort, proper accessibility, security, stability and permanence of structure, enough lighting, Proper initial infrastructures and ventilation for its inhabitants and the most important of all, it should be proportional to the family’s financial power. Saving energy and making optimal usage of it and also taking advantage of stable energies are the bases of green buildings. Making green building will help the health of a person living in it and in its surrounding. It will support the people and provoke their satisfaction. Not only it will bring about the raise of level of the quality of life for building inhabitants, but also it will cause the promotion of quality level of life of the people living in the surrounding area and the society.

Keywords: quality of life, green building, environment pollution, sick building

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Authors: Ahmad Masduki Bin Selamat, Kang Chia Yang

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The International Standard Organization (ISO) is an international consensus on good management practice. It is derived from the Greek word “isos” meaning equal. ISO is aimed to give organization guidelines on what bring quality management system that leads to continuous improvement. The need of quality product is essential these days, especially in the manufacturing and service sectors. The requirement to produce good product is demanded, hence the certification of ISO enables the company to gain the trust from the public. Due to this, organizations whether government or private sectors in Malaysia are going for the ISO certification. However recently there has been an introduction of Islamic standard known as Islamic Standard Institute 2020 (ISI 2020). The ISI standards emphasize more on values that should be in the employees’ mind. By possessing good values, employees will work only for the betterment of the company. Currently only the feelings of being paid for the job exist in the employees’ mind. The non-Malays like Chinese and others, which comprise 40% of the sample size, are not aware about the existence of any Islamic quality system. As for the Malay managers, they support the Islamic quality systems. For them such values are encouraged by religion. By imitating religion, Allah promises a better life in this world and hereafter. Even though ISI 2020 is still new but the majority of Malays would support the need of Islamic quality system. Our findings suggest that integration of these two-quality systems running parallel would bring a better result.

Keywords: International Standard Organization (ISO), Islamic standard, quality, ISI 2020

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Authors: Chiedza Lebogang Gutu, Nester Rufaro Manuwa, Jean-Marie Mbuya

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In Johannesburg, Metropolitan customer expectations in the hospitality industry have rapidly been increasing which has lead to the need of improving service quality to help satisfy customer expectations. Businesses need to make sure that customer expectations are met, or find ways to control customer expectations. Therefore the purpose of the study is to investigate how customer expectations of services in bed and breakfast establishments affect the perceived quality of service. A quantitative approach was used through random sampling to collect descriptive and correlation study between customer expectations and perceived quality. Findings of the study indicated that customers at bed and breakfast generally expect a clean, friendly and safe environment that has a homely feel, while they are away from home. In addition, findings of the study also emphasised that the age-groups between 20 and 35 are more likely to travel, for business and vacation purposes, staying for more or less 3, have high expectations towards modern facilities and extras in the room such as coffee machines, and are more concerned about the service being provided quickly and right, and taking extra care to deal with problems promptly.

Keywords: Customer satisfaction, Service quality, Bed and breakfast, Customer retention

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Authors: Jose Flores, Nadia Gamboa

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A proper water quality management requires the establishment of a monitoring network. Therefore, evaluation of the efficiency of water quality monitoring networks is needed to ensure high-quality data collection of critical quality chemical parameters. Unfortunately, in some Latin American countries water quality monitoring programs are not sustainable in terms of recording historical data or environmentally representative sites wasting time, money and valuable information. In this study, multivariate statistical techniques, such as principal components analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), are applied for identifying the most significant monitoring sites as well as critical water quality parameters in the monitoring network of the Jequetepeque River basin, in northern Peru. The Jequetepeque River basin, like others in Peru, shows socio-environmental conflicts due to economical activities developed in this area. Water pollution by trace elements in the upper part of the basin is mainly related with mining activity, and agricultural land lost due to salinization is caused by the extensive use of groundwater in the lower part of the basin. Since the 1980s, the water quality in the basin has been non-continuously assessed by public and private organizations, and recently the National Water Authority had established permanent water quality networks in 45 basins in Peru. Despite many countries use multivariate statistical techniques for assessing water quality monitoring networks, those instruments have never been applied for that purpose in Peru. For this reason, the main contribution of this study is to demonstrate that application of the multivariate statistical techniques could serve as an instrument that allows the optimization of monitoring networks using least number of monitoring sites as well as the most significant water quality parameters, which would reduce costs concerns and improve the water quality management in Peru. Main socio-economical activities developed and the principal stakeholders related to the water management in the basin are also identified. Finally, water quality management programs will also be discussed in terms of their efficiency and sustainability.

Keywords: PCA, HCA, Jequetepeque, multivariate statistical

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Authors: Mohammad Mushir Khan, C. Satyanarayana

Abstract:

Education is considered as one of the prime bottlenecks in the economic growth of India. The Ministry of Human Resource & Development, Government of India has, therefore, given special attention to this issue and the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in Higher Education has increased marginally during last five years, with the efforts and various policy decisions like Right to Education (RTE) and other fee reimbursement schemes, initiated by the State Governments. But still this is one of the lowest, if assessed at the global level. It is true that the GER has improved but the survey reveals that the quality has been badly affected. This paper tries to assess the impact of lack of quality education in various sectors that affects Indian Economy and thereby signifies the need of immediate policy decision at the government level. It is to be noted that in higher education, science, management, engineering and technology plays vital role as far as shaping country’s economy is concerned and as such the quality needs to be addressed, particularly, in these streams. The paper, after carefully studying lots of survey reports and other government/ non-government documents recommends measures to be initiated by the Central Government, on priority, for improving quality of education. The quality up-gradation in higher education single handedly provides real fuel to the India’s growth Engine, as it has potential to touch each and every sector that strengthens country’s economy.

Keywords: higher education, economy, accreditation, industry, technology

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Authors: Arti Bakhshi, Remia Mahajan

Abstract:

Social networking sites have evolved with great pace and India has been no exception. Facebook is the top most rated social networking site (SNS) in India. Though this site is mostly used by younger generations, the popularity of this site is increasing among all masses and classes. The current paper explores gender differences in motivations for the use of Facebook. Of the sample (N=556), 229 male and 327 female Facebook users from India were asked to rate the motivations for the use of Facebook from ‘most preferred’ to ‘least preferred’. The five motivations studied were- time passing, information, relationship development, relationship maintenance and trend following. The cross tab chi square analyses revealed significant differences in three out of five motivations between male and female Facebook users, namely time passing, relationship development and trend following. Female Facebook users rated ‘time passing’ as a more preferred motivation in comparison to male Facebook users, while male users rated ‘relationship development’ and ‘trend following’ motivations as more preferred in comparison to female Facebook users. Suggestions for future research are discussed.

Keywords: facebook, gender, motivations, social networking sites

Procedia PDF Downloads 463

Authors: Hilal Al Shamsi, Abdullah Almutairi

Abstract:

Introduction: As primary healthcare centres play an important role in implementing Saudi Arabia’s health strategy, this paper offers a review of publications on the quality of the country’s primary health care. With the aim of deciding on solutions for improvement, it provides an overview of healthcare quality in this context and indicates barriers to quality. Method: Using two databases, ProQuest and Scopus, data extracted from published articles were systematically analysed for determining the care quality in Saudi primary health centres and obstacles to achieving higher quality. Results: Twenty-six articles met the criteria for inclusion in this review. The components of healthcare quality were examined in terms of the access to and effectiveness of interpersonal and clinical care. Good access and effective care were identified in such areas as maternal health care and the control of epidemic diseases, whereas poor access and effectiveness of care were shown for chronic disease management programmes, referral patterns (in terms of referral letters and feedback reports), health education and interpersonal care (in terms of language barriers). Several factors were identified as barriers to high-quality care. These included problems with evidence-based practice implementation, professional development, the use of referrals to secondary care and organisational culture. Successful improvements have been implemented by other systems, such as mobile medical units, electronic referrals, online translation tools and mobile devices and their applications; these can be implemented in Saudi Arabia for improving the quality of the primary healthcare system in this country. Conclusion: The quality of primary health care in Saudi Arabia varies among the different services. To improve quality, management programmes and organisational culture must be promoted in primary health care. Professional development strategies are also needed for improving the skills and knowledge of healthcare professionals. Potential improvements can be implemented to improve the quality of the primary health system.

Keywords: quality, primary health care, Saudi Arabia, health centres, general medical

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Authors: Jamal Ayour, Mohamed Benichou

Abstract:

Fruit quality is one of the main concerns of consumers, producers, and distributors. The evolution of apricot fruits undergoes a strong acceleration during maturation, and the rapidity of post-harvest evolution of the ripe fruit is particularly selective in the apricot. The objective of this study is to identify new cultivars with an interesting quality as well as a better yield allowing a more prolonged production over time. The evaluation of the fruit quality of new apricot cultivars from the Marrakech region was carried out by analyzing their physical and biochemical attributes during ripening. The results obtained clearly show a great diversity of the physicochemical attributes of the selected clones. Also, some genotypes of apricots showed contents of sugars, organic acids (vitamin C) and β carotene significantly higher than those of the most famous varieties of Morocco: Canino, Delpatriarca, and Maoui. Principal component analysis (PCA), taking into account the maturity stage and the diversity of cultivars, made it possible to define three groups with similar physicochemical attributes. The results of this study are of great use, particularly for the selection of genotypes with a better quality of fruit, both for consumption or industrial processing and with important contents of physicochemical attributes.

Keywords: apricot, acidity, carotenoids, color, sugar, quality, vitamin C

Procedia PDF Downloads 314