Search results for: venture investment

Authors: Bisi S. Olawoyin

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This study attempts an exploration into behavioural finance in which the traditional assumptions of expected utility maximization with rational investors in efficient markets are dropped. It reviews prior research and evidence about how psychological biases affect investors behaviour and stock selection. This study examined the relationship between demographic variables and financial behaviour biases among public sector retirees who invested in the Nigerian Stock Exchange prior to their retirement. By using questionnaire survey method, a total of 214 valid convenient samples were collected in order to determine how specific demographic and psychological trait affect stock selection between dividend paying and non-dividend paying stocks. Descriptive statistics and OLS were used to analyse the results. Findings showed that most of the retirees prefer dividend paying stocks in few years preceding their retirement but still hold on to their non-dividend paying stock on retirement. A significant difference also exists between senior and junior retirees in preference for non-dividend paying stocks. These findings are consistent with the clientele theories of dividend.

Keywords: behavioural finance, clientele theories, dividend paying stocks, stock selection

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Authors: Emin Avcı, Çiydem Çatak

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The recent economic crisis have shown that procyclicality, which could threaten the stability and growth of the economy, is a major problem of financial and real sector. The term procyclicality refers here the cyclical behavior of banks that lead them to follow the same patterns as the real economy. In this study, leverage which demonstrate how a bank manage its debt, is chosen as bank specific variable to see the effect of changes in it over the economic cycle. The procyclical behavior of Turkish banking sector (commercial, participation, development-investment banks) is tried to explain with analyzing the relationship between leverage and asset growth. On the basis of theoretical explanations, eight different leverage ratios are utilized in eight different panel data models to demonstrate the procyclicality effect of Turkish banks leverage using monthly data covering the 2005-2014 period. It is tested whether there is an increasing (decreasing) trend in the leverage ratio of Turkish banks when there is an enlargement (contraction) in their balance sheet. The major finding of the study indicates that asset growth has a significant effect on all eight leverage ratios. In other words, the leverage of Turkish banks follow a cyclical pattern, which is in line with those of earlier literature.

Keywords: banking, economic cycles, leverage, procyclicality

Procedia PDF Downloads 245

Authors: Fernando Cabo Aseguinolaza, Víctor Bouzas Blanco, Alberto Martí Ezpeleta

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Santiago de Compostela became a stable object of literary representation during the period between 1840 and 1915, approximately. This study offers a partial cartographical look at this process, suggesting that a cultural space like Compostela’s becoming an object of literary representation paralleled the first stages of its becoming a tourist destination. We use maps as a method of analysis to show the interaction between a corpus of novels and the emerging tradition of tourist guides on Compostela during the selected period. Often, the novels constitute ways to present a city to the outside, marking it for the gaze of others, as guidebooks do. That leads us to examine the ways of constructing and rendering communicable the local in other contexts. For that matter, we should also acknowledge the fact that a good number of the narratives in the corpus evoke the representation of the city through the figure of one who comes from elsewhere: a traveler, a student or a professor. The guidebooks coincide in this with the emerging fiction, of which the mimesis of a city is a key characteristic. The local cannot define itself except through a process of symbolic negotiation, in which recognition and self-recognition play important roles. Cartography shows some of the forms that these processes of symbolic representation take through the treatment of space. The research uses GIS to find significant models of representation. We used the program ArcGIS for the mapping, defining the databases starting from an adapted version of the methodology applied by Barbara Piatti and Lorenz Hurni’s team at the University of Zurich. First, we designed maps that emphasize the peripheral position of Compostela from a historical and institutional perspective using elements found in the texts of our corpus (novels and tourist guides). Second, other maps delve into the parallels between recurring techniques in the fictional texts and characteristic devices of the guidebooks (sketching itineraries and the selection of zones and indexicalization), like a foreigner’s visit guided by someone who knows the city or the description of one’s first entrance into the city’s premises. Last, we offer a cartography that demonstrates the connection between the best known of the novels in our corpus (Alejandro Pérez Lugín’s 1915 novel La casa de la Troya) and the first attempt to create package tourist tours with Galicia as a destination, in a joint venture of Galician and British business owners, in the years immediately preceding the Great War. Literary cartography becomes a crucial instrument for digging deeply into the methods of cultural production of places. Through maps, the interaction between discursive forms seemingly so far removed from each other as novels and tourist guides becomes obvious and suggests the need to go deeper into a complex process through which a city like Compostela becomes visible on the contemporary cultural horizon.

Keywords: compostela, literary geography, literary cartography, tourism

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Authors: Miroslav Čulík, Petr Gurný

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This paper is aimed at the financial assessment of the hard coal mining in a given region by real option methodology application. Hard coal mining in this mine makes net loss for the owner during the last years due to the long-term unfavourable mining conditions and significant drop in the coal prices during the last years. Management is going to shut down the operation and abandon the project to reduce the loss of the company. The goal is to assess whether the shutting down the operation is the only and correct solution of the problem. Due to the uncertainty in the future hard coal price evolution, the production might be again restarted if the price raises enough to cover the cost of the production. For the assessment, real option methodology is applied, which captures two important aspect of the financial decision-making: risk and flexibility. The paper is structured as follows: first, current state is described and problem is analysed. Next, methodology of real options is described. At last, project is evaluated by applying real option methodology. The results are commented and recommendations are provided.

Keywords: real option, investment, option to abandon, option to shut down and restart, risk, flexibility

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Authors: Zakariya B. H., Idris M. I., Jungudo M. A.

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High energy consumptions of urban settlements in Nigeria are escalating due to strong population growth and migration as a result of crises. The demand for lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (LHVAC) is becoming higher. Conversely, there is a poor electricity supply to both rural and urban settlement in Nigeria. Generators were mostly used in Nigeria as a source of energy for LHVAC. Energy efficiency can be defined as any measure taken to reduce the amount of energy consumed for heating ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC), and house hold appliances like computers, stoves, refrigerators, televisions etc. The aim of the study was to minimize energy consumption in building through the integration of energy efficiency and renewable energy in building sector. Some of the energy efficient buildings within the study area were identified, the study covers there major cities of Nigeria namely, Abuja, Kaduna and Lagos city. The cost of investment on the energy efficiency and renewable energy was determined and compared with other fossil energy source for conventional building. Findings revealed that the low energy and energy efficient buildings in Nigeria are cheaper than the conventional ones. Based on the finding of the research, construction stake holders are strongly encouraged to abandon the conventional buildings and consider energy efficiency and renewable energy in buildings.

Keywords: energy, efficiency, LHVAC, sustainable development

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Authors: Arnaud Deshais

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The supply chain industry has integrated the need for supplier Diversity and Inclusion (D&I), mostly from an ethical and moral argument. In addition, in some countries, it is also a legal requirement for companies reaching a certain size. As a matter of fact, a lot of successful companies have developed a Corporate Social Responsibility Program that encourages diversity and inclusion in the supply chain, such as building strong relationships with minority owned businesses (women, LGBT, veterans, etc.). Outside ethical and legal perspectives, it is also worth researching the economic and financial benefits of pursuing such efforts. Through surveys of purchasing and supply chain managers in their current roles as well as review of some case studies on supplier based D&I programs, it becomes apparent that a financial return on investment is to be expected as well for companies who make a concerted effort to grow their D&I programs. The study explores the levers to increase shareholder value and business efficiencies. Finally, the research highlights the competitive advantage related to a broad minority based supplier network. The benefits manifest themselves in the areas of competitiveness, innovation, and collaboration. The economic reward ends up being at the forefront of those programs while being an opportunity for organizations to become 'a good citizen'.

Keywords: diversity, inclusion, purchasing, supplier

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Authors: Vichada Chokesikarin

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The study aims to determine which factors account for customer satisfaction and to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and business success, in particular, context of the information understanding of hostel business in Pranakorn district, Bangkok and the significant element of entrepreneurship in tourism industry. This study covers 352 hostels customers and 61 hostel owners/managers nearby Khao San Road. Data collection methods were used by survey questionnaire and a series of hypotheses were developed from services marketing literature. The findings suggest the customer satisfaction most influenced by image, service quality, room quality and price accordingly. Furthermore the findings revealed that significant relationships exist between entrepreneurial orientation and business success; while competitive aggressiveness was found unrelated. The ECSI model’s generic measuring customer satisfaction was found partially mediate the business success. A reconsideration of other variables applicable should be supported with the model of hostel business. The study provides context and overall view of hostel business while discussing from the entrepreneurial orientation to customer satisfaction, thereby reducing decision risk on hostel investment.

Keywords: customer satisfaction, ECSI model, entrepreneurial orientation, small hotel, hostel, business performance

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Authors: Haymanot Gebre-Amlak, Selamawit Gebre-Amlak

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Since its original declaration in the 18th century, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels's Communist Manifesto has become one of the most influential political tracts. Socialism is a political path that leads towards communism by fostering a cooperative economy through the creation of cooperative enterprises, common ownership, state ownership, or shared equity. The ultimate objective of communism is to bring everyone working toward the same collective goal of a healthy, happy, and free society. The European establishment of 19-century colonial rule over the continent of Africa reinforced inflows of European investment and forced a profound change in the operation of labor and land markets. The colonial era and forced labor schemes in Africa lasted for several decades. When exiting from colonialism, these African countries were attracted to socialism’s ideology to bridge the social gap and freedom to their society. In this paper, we compare a pre and post socialist ideology and the impact in various African countries. We analyse the different aspects, which led to inconsistent outcomes. Our finding indicates that while they have some facets in common, each African country had a unique interpretation and influence from the socialist ideology.

Keywords: African politics, socialism in Africa, African history, Africa

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Authors: Lala Rukh, Muhammad Abbas Choudhary, Saddam Akber Abbasi

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In Pakistan, the privatization of major sector of the national economy i.e. power, telecom, and gas is very strongly advocated since 80s. With varying degree of progress made in these sectors, it has been the government’s approach that the privatization accelerates the sectorial growth, increases operational efficiency and attracts the foreign investment and is of special significance for developing economies. The gas sector was not an exception and the privatization in this sector has moved through various stages during this time within the realms of socio-political agenda. This paper presents the overview of the gas sector in the country. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) Ordinance and privatization commission policy position as depicted in the press briefings provides philosophical foundations to the privatization and sectorial restructuring in this paper. The role of the major players from privatization perspective is discussed with special reference to the importance of natural gas sector. The case study further discusses the economic regulations that are being adopted by utility regulators in Pakistan and elsewhere in the world and some issues that the Regulatory Authority will be concerned are outlined. Major operators in the gas sector including Oil & Gas Development Corporation (OGDC), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), Sui Southern Gas Pipelines Limited (SSGPL) is also presented.

Keywords: privatization, economic regulation, OGDCL, SSGCL, SNGPL

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Authors: Yasmine Essafi Zouari, Aya Nasreddine

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Following a long inflationary period from the post-war era to the mid-1980s (+10.1% annually), France went through a moderate inflation period between 1986 and 2001 (+2.1% annually) and even lower inflation between 2002 and 2016 (+1.4% annually). In 2022, inflation in France increased rapidly and reached 4.5% over one year in March, according to INSEE estimates. Over a long period, even low inflation has an impact on portfolio value and households’ purchasing power. In such a context, inflation hedging should remain an important issue for investors. In particular, long-term investors, who are concerned with the protection of their wealth, seek to hold effective hedging assets. Considering a mixed-asset portfolio composed of housing assets (residential real estate in 150 Grand Paris communes) as well as financial assets, and using both correlation and regression analysis, results confirm the attribute of the direct housing investment as an inflation hedge especially particularly against its unexpected component. Further, cash and bonds were found to provide respectively a partial and an over hedge against unexpected inflation. Stocks act as a perverse hedge against unexpected inflation and provide no significant positive hedge against expected inflation.

Keywords: direct housing, inflation, hedging ability, optimal portfolio, Grand Paris metropolis

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Authors: Christoph Speer

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Decentralized ventilation systems should combine a small and economical design with high aerodynamic and thermal efficiency. The Counter Flow Heat Recovery Fan (CHRF) provides the ability to meet these requirements by using only one cross flow fan with a large number of blades to generate both airflows and which simultaneously acts as a regenerative counter flow heat exchanger. The successful development of the first laboratory prototype has shown the potential of this ventilation system. Occurring condensate on the surfaces of the fan blades during the cold and dry season can be recovered through the characteristic mode of operation. Hence the CHRF provides the possibility to avoid the need for frost protection and condensate drain. Through the implementation of system-specific solutions for flow balancing and summer bypass the required functionality is assured. The scalability of the CHRF concept allows the use in renovation as well as in new buildings from single-room devices through to systems for office buildings. High aerodynamic and thermal efficiency and the lower number of required mechatronic components should enable a reduction in investment as well as operating costs. The rotor is the key component of the system, the requirements and possible implementation variants are presented.

Keywords: CHRF, counter flow heat recovery fan, decentralized ventilation system, renovation

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Authors: R. M. Chandler, A. J. Stringer

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In adults, short bursts of high-intensity exercise (intensities between 80-95% of maximum heart rates) increase cardiovascular and metabolic function without the time investment of traditional aerobic training. Similar improvements in various health indices are also becoming increasingly evident in children in countries other than the United States. In the United States, physical education programs have become shorter in length and fewer in frequency. With this in the background, it is imperative that health and physical educators delivered well-organized and focused fitness programs that can be tolerated across many different somatotypes. Perhaps the least effective lag-time in a US physical education (PE) class is the first 10 minutes, a time during which children warm up. Replacing a traditional PE warmup with a 10 min high-intensity excise protocol is a time-efficient method to impact health, leaving as much time for other PE material such as skill development, motor behavior development as possible. This supplemented 10 min high-intensity exercise increases cardiovascular function as well as induces favorable body composition changes in as little as six weeks with further enhancement throughout a semester of activity. The supplemental high-intensity exercise did not detract from the PE lesson outcomes.

Keywords: cardiovascular fitness, high intensity interval training, high intensity exercise, pediatric

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Authors: Chang Liu, Rui Xing, Liyan Tang, Guohong Wang

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Entrepreneurial actions are based on entrepreneurial decisions. The quality of decisions influences entrepreneurial activities and subsequent new venture performance. Uncertainty of surroundings put heightened demands on the team as a whole, and each team member. Diverse team composition provides rich information, which a team can draw when making complex decisions. However, team heterogeneity may cause emotional conflicts, which is adverse to team outcomes. Thus, the effects of team heterogeneity on team outcomes are complex. Although team heterogeneity is an essential factor influencing entrepreneurial decision-making, there is a lack of empirical analysis on under what conditions team heterogeneity plays a positive role in promoting decision-making quality. Entrepreneurial teams always struggle with complex tasks. How a team shapes its teamwork is key in resolving constant issues. As a collective regulatory process, team reflexivity is characterized by continuous joint evaluation and discussion of team goals, strategies, and processes, and adapt them to current or anticipated circumstances. It enables diversified information to be shared and overtly discussed. Instead of hostile interpretation of opposite opinions team members take them as useful insights from different perspectives. Team reflexivity leads to better integration of expertise to avoid the interference of negative emotions and conflict. Therefore, we propose that team reflexivity is a conditional factor that influences the impact of team heterogeneity on high-quality entrepreneurial decisions. In this study, we identify team heterogeneity as a crucial determinant of entrepreneurial decision quality. Integrating the literature on decision-making and team heterogeneity, we investigate the relationship between team heterogeneity and entrepreneurial decision-making quality, treating team reflexivity as a moderator. We tested our hypotheses using the hierarchical regression method and the data gathered from 63 teams and 205 individual members from 45 new firms in China's first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. This research found that both teams' education heterogeneity and teams' functional background heterogeneity were significantly positively related to entrepreneurial decision-making quality, and the positive relation was stronger in teams with a high level of team reflexivity. While teams' specialization of education heterogeneity was negatively related to decision-making quality, and the negative relationship was weaker in teams with a high level of team reflexivity. We offer two contributions to decision-making and entrepreneurial team literatures. Firstly, our study enriches the understanding of the role of entrepreneurial team heterogeneity in entrepreneurial decision-making quality. Different from previous entrepreneurial decision-making literatures, which focus more on decision-making modes of entrepreneurs and the top management team, this study is a significant attempt to highlight that entrepreneurial team heterogeneity makes a unique contribution to generating high-quality entrepreneurial decisions. Secondly, this study introduced team reflexivity as the moderating variable, to explore the boundary conditions under which the entrepreneurial team heterogeneity play their roles.

Keywords: decision-making quality, entrepreneurial teams, education heterogeneity, functional background heterogeneity, specialization of education heterogeneity

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Authors: T. Wanyama, B. Far

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Automatic irrigation systems usually conveniently protect landscape investment. While conventional irrigation systems are known to be inefficient, automated ones have the potential to optimize water usage. In fact, there is a new generation of irrigation systems that are smart in the sense that they monitor the weather, soil conditions, evaporation and plant water use, and automatically adjust the irrigation schedule. In this paper, we present an agent based smart irrigation system. The agents are built using a mix of commercial off the shelf software, including MATLAB, Microsoft Excel and KEPServer Ex5 OPC server, and custom written code. The Irrigation Scheduler Agent uses fuzzy logic to integrate the information that affect the irrigation schedule. In addition, the Multi-Agent system uses Open Platform Connectivity (OPC) technology to share data. OPC technology enables the Irrigation Scheduler Agent to communicate over the Internet, making the system scalable to a municipal or regional agent based water monitoring, management, and optimization system. Finally, this paper presents simulation and pilot installation test result that show the operational effectiveness of our system.

Keywords: community water usage, fuzzy logic, irrigation, multi-agent system

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Authors: Okorowo Cyril Agochi

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The Niger Delta Region of Nigeria is home to about 20 million people and 40 different ethnic groups. The region has an area of seventy thousand square kilometers (70,000 KM2) of wetlands, formed primarily by sediments deposition and makes up 7.5 percent of Nigeria's total landmass. The notable ecological zones in this region includes: coastal barrier islands; mangrove swamp forests; fresh water swamps; and lowland rainforests. This incredibly naturally-endowed ecosystem region, which contains one of the highest concentrations of biodiversity on the planet, in addition to supporting abundant flora and fauna, is threatened by the inhuman act known as gas flaring. Gas flaring is the combustion of natural gas that is associated with crude oil when it is pumped up from the ground. In petroleum-producing areas such as the Niger Delta region of Nigeria where insufficient investment was made in infrastructure to utilize natural gas, flaring is employed to dispose of this associated gas. This practice has impoverished the communities where it is practiced, with attendant environmental, economic and health challenges. This paper discusses the adverse environmental and health implication associated with the practice, the role of Government, Policy makers, Oil companies and the Local communities aimed at bring this inhuman practice to a prompt end.

Keywords: natural combustion, emission, environment, flaring, gas, health, Niger Delta

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Authors: Andrea Paltrinieri, Alberto Dreassi, Stefano Miani, Alex Sclip

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The financial crises caused a collapse in prices of most asset classes, raising the attention on alternative investments such as Sukuk, a smaller, fast growing but often misunderstood market. We study diversification benefits of Sukuk, their correlation with other asset classes and the effects of their inclusion in investment portfolios of institutional and retail investors, through a comprehensive comparison of their risk/return profiles during and after the financial crisis. We find a beneficial performance adjusted for the specific volatility together with a lower correlation especially during the financial crisis. The distribution of Sukuk returns is positively skewed and leptokurtic, with a risk/return profile similarly to high yield bonds. Overall, our results suggest that Sukuk present diversification opportunities, a significant volatility-adjusted performance and lower correlations especially during the financial crisis. Our findings are relevant for a number of institutional investors. Long term investors, such as life insurers would benefit from Sukuk’s protective features during financial crisis yet keeping return and growth opportunities, whereas banks would gain due to their role of placers, advisors, market makers or underwriters.

Keywords: sukuk, zero beta asset, asset allocation, sukuk market

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Authors: Rodrigo Buaiz Boabaid

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Tokenization of Blue Bonds is an emerging Green Finance tool that has the potential to scale Blue Carbon Projects to fight climate change. This innovative solution has a huge potential to democratize the green finance market and catalyze innovations in the climate change finance sector. Switzerland has emerged as a leader in the Green Finance space and is well-positioned to drive the adoption of Tokenization of Blue & Green Bonds. This unique approach has the potential to unlock new sources of capital and enable global investors to participate in the financing of sustainable blue carbon projects. By leveraging the power of blockchain technology, Tokenization of Blue Bonds can provide greater transparency, efficiency, and security in the investment process while also reducing transaction costs. Investments are in line with the highest regulations and designed according to the stringent legal framework and compliance standards set by Switzerland. The potential benefits of Tokenization of Blue Bonds are significant and could transform the way that sustainable projects are financed. By unlocking new sources of capital, this approach has the potential to accelerate the deployment of Blue Carbon projects and create new opportunities for investors to participate in the fight against climate change.

Keywords: blue bonds, blue carbon, tokenization, green finance

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Authors: Keith Dominic T. Li

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The soaring prices of residential properties in Hong Kong has become a social problem that even the middle class is having dif?iculties in purchasing homes. In making policies to curb the prices, it is important to determine the factors that contribute to the property in?lation. Many researches attribute this in?lation to macroeconomic factors especially the interest rate. However, it is important to remember that Hong Kong is under a Currency Board system which makes its interest rate exogenously determined. This research aims to show the signi?icance of the money supply on Hong Kong residential property prices in post-1997 Asian Financial Crisis period. Using money supply data, macroeconomic fundamentals, and demographic variables from 2000Q1 to 2013Q2, the factors contributed to residential property price in?lation are estimated to calculate the share of each explanatory variable in disparity. It is found that the Hong Kong property market is mainly driven by investment and that the in?lation on Hong Kong residential property prices can explained by the increase in the Hang Seng Index and in the money supply M2.

Keywords: real estate, Hong Kong, property market, monetary economics, monetary policy

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Authors: Diego Sánchez, Sandra M. Aguilar, José F. Gómez, Gustavo Montaño, Laura P. Otero, Carlos V. Rey, José A. Martínez, Juliana Robles, Jorge E. Burgos, Juan S. López

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Bogota is making efforts towards urban resilience through Nature-based Solutions (NbS) incorporation in public projects as a climate change resilience strategy. The urban renovation project on the Alhambra square includes Green Infrastructure (GI), like Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) and Urban Trees (UT), as ecosystem services (ES) boosters. This study analyzes 3 scenarios: (1) the initial situation without NbS, (2) the expected situation including NbS in the design and (3) the projection of the second one after 30 years, calculating the ecosystem services, the stormwater management benefits provided by SUDS and the cultural services. The obtained results contribute to the understanding of the urban NbS benefits in public spaces, providing valuable information to foster investment in sustainable projects and encouraging policy makers to integrate NbS in urban planning.

Keywords: ecosystem services, nature-based solutions, stormwater management, sustainable urban drainage systems

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Authors: Indrani Gupta, Leena Vachasiddha, Rakesh Kumar

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Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai intends to undertake Mumbai Sewage Disposal (MSDP) for improvement of environment in and around Mumbai city. Sewage generated from the city currently gets partly into the inadequate collection system for treatment and the rest into nearby marine water body through drains. This paper addresses the cost benefit analysis of MSDP works for better compliance of sewage treatment and disposal. Cost benefit analysis indicates that the investment in sewage treatment is economically beneficial and will provide immense social, environmental, health and economic benefits. Monetary values of positive benefits such as avoided health costs, enhanced fish catches and improved tourism have been quantified. The total capital cost of the project is estimated to be about INR 51,510 million and operation and maintenance cost is about INR 2240.6 million per year. The cost benefit analysis indicates that a benefit of about 25,882 million per year can be achieved due to the implementation of this project. Other than these benefits, better marine ecosystem quality; higher property cost; improved recreational opportunities were not included because of lack of information.

Keywords: waste water treatment, cost-benefit analysis, health, tourism, fisheries

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Authors: Betek Cecilia Kunseh, Musampa Christopher

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Despite significant investment and important progress, access to safe potable water continues to be one of the most pressing challenges for rural communities in O R Tambo District Municipality. This is coupled with the low income of most residents and government's policy which obliges municipalities to supply basic water usually set at 6 kilolitres per month to each household free of charge. During the research, data was collected from three local municipalities of O. R. Tambo, i.e. King Sabata Dalindyebo, Mhlontlo and Ingquza Hill local municipalities. According to the result, significant differences exist between the sources of water in the different local municipalities from which data was collected. The chi square was use to calculated the differences between the sources of water and the calculated critical value of the District Municipality was 18.77 which is more than the stipulated critical value of 3.84. More people in Mhlontlo Local Municipality got water from the taps while a greater percentage of households in King Sataba Dalindyebo and Ingquza hill local municipalities got their water from the natural sources. 77% of the sample population complained that there have been no improvements in water provision because they still get water from natural sources and even the remaining 33% that were getting water from the taps still have to depend on natural sources because the taps are most of the time broken and it takes a long time to fix them.

Keywords: availability, water, sources, supply

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Authors: Dina Alfreahat, Zoltan Sebestyen

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Safety is considered as one of the project’s success factors. Poor safety management may result in accidents that impact human, economic, and legal issues. Therefore, it is necessary to consider safety and health as a project success factor along with other project success factors, such as time, cost, and quality. Organizations have a knowledge deficit of the implementation of long-term safety practices, and due to cost control, safety problems tend to receive the least priority. They usually assume that safety management involves expenditures unrelated to production goals, thereby considering it unnecessary for profitability and competitiveness. The purpose of this study is to introduce, analysis and identify the correlation between the orientation of the public safety procedures of an organization and the public safety standards applied in the project. Therefore, the authors develop the process and collect the possible mathematical-statistical tools supporting the previously mentioned goal. The result shows that the adoption of management to safety is a major factor in implementing the safety standard in the project and thereby improving safety performance. It may take time and effort to adopt the mindset of safety orientation service development, but at the same time, the higher organizational investment in safety and health programs will contribute to the loyalty of staff to safety compliance.

Keywords: project management perspective, safety orientation, safety performance, safety standards

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Authors: Kageeporn Wongpreedee, Bongkot Phichaikamjornwut, Duangkhae Bootkul

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The technique of stone in place casting had been established in jewelry production for two decades. However, the process were not widely used since it was limited to precious stones with high hardness and high stabililty at high temperature. This experiment were tested on tourmaline which is semi-precious gemstone having less hardness and less stability comparing to precious stones. The experiment were designed into two parts. The first part is to understand the phenomena of tourmaline under the heating conditions. Natural tourmaline stones were investigated and compared inclusions inside stones tested at temperature of 500 °C, 600 °C, and 700 °C. The second part is to cast the treated tourmaline with ion-implanation under the stones in place casting conditions. The results showed that stones were able to tolerate as much as at 700 °C showing the growths of inclusions inside the stones. The second part of this experiment were compared tourmaline with ion-implantation and natural tourmaline using on stones in place casting process at different stone setting types. The results showed that the cracks and inclustions of both treat and natural tourmaline with stones in place casting were propagate due to high stress of metal contractions. The stones with ion-implatation were more likely tolerate to cracks and inclusion propagations inside the stones.

Keywords: stone in place casting, tourmaline, ion implantation, metal contraction

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Authors: Ali Ahmad AlGassim

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The objective of this study is to explore the local community perceptions toward the impact of tourism from the COR theory perspective. The current study used qualitative methods and purposive sampling to engage informants. Data was collected using an online survey with closed-ended and open-ended questions from 57 informants living in Al-Jufa Village, and then data was analysed using content analysis. The findings showed that COR theory help explains the residents’ perception of the threat and stress of losing resources. The findings showed the residents feel stressed about losing resources, such as lands, houses, heritage, sociocultural and Islamic values, as well as job and investment opportunities if the village is developed for tourism. Findings also present that one group of residents declared rejections and aiming to resist the development if it takes place, and they will not allowing foreigners to come and live in the village. The findings also show that this stress and strain can be alleviated by allowing residents to participate in the development. Finally, the residents of Al-Juhfa showed a high level of feeling of ownership towards their resources.

Keywords: perception of threat, effect of tourism, COR theory, local community, impact of tourism, Saudi Arabia

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Authors: Fereshteh Darash

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Reflective tax management corresponds to the Agency Theory since it determines the motivation of managers for tax management actions and short-term and long-term consequences. Therefore, selection of tax strategy contributes to the tax and financial position of the firm in the future. The aim of the present research is to evaluate the effect of tax management components on risk-taking of firms listed in Tehran stock exchange by using regression analysis method. Results show that tax effective rate, tax risk and tax planning have no significant effect on the firm's future risk. Results suggest that stakeholders assess the effective tax rate and delay in tax payment in line with their benefits. They tend to accept the higher risk cost for reduction of tax payments and benefits of higher liquidity in current period. Hence, effective tax rate and tax risk have no significant effect on future risk of the firm. Moreover, tax planning yields no information regarding the predictability of the future profits and as a result, it has no significant effect on the future risk of the firm since specific goals of financial reporting are in priority for the stakeholders and regardless of the firm’s data analysis, they take investment decisions and they less intend to purchase the stocks in a rational manner.

Keywords: tax management, tax effective rate, tax risk, tax planning, firm risk

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Authors: Faris Algarni

Abstract:

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia adopted a new law of e-commerce on July 10, 2019, which is the first Saudi law regarding e-commerce. The practice of e-commerce has been started in Saudi Arabia a few years ago with no specific rules to govern e-commerce in the Kingdom. The adoption of the law raises the concern of the ability of the law to provide real protection to both the investors and the customers. Based on that, this article seeks to respond to some questions related to the protection of investors of e-commerce in Saudi Arabia, using a quantitative method through questionnaires to gather primary data. The study tried to find the impact of adopting a new Saudi law of e-commerce on the protection of the investors from the point of view of those investors. By answering this main question, this article provides an answer to the question of whether there is a need to reform the Saudi law of e-commerce to convince existing and potential foreign investors to invest in the Kingdom through e-commerce. Questions were put to the respondents to determine their level of satisfaction with the Saudi law of e-commerce and what reforms to that system would enhance the attractiveness of the Kingdom as an investment environment for e-commerce investors, based on the information gathered and the analysis of them. A key finding is that the law of e-commerce is a core factor in the decision of investors to continue investing in the e-commerce market in Saudi Arabia. A subsequent finding is that some of the respondents are not fully satisfied with the new law and think that the law provides more protection to the customers than the investors. So, they are suggesting some legal reforms to be implemented in the bylaw of e-commerce, which is not adopted yet in order to attract them to continue investing in the Kingdom.

Keywords: e-commerce, law, investors, protection, Saudi Arabia

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Authors: Victoria Brennan, Andrea Mallaburn, Linda Seton

Abstract:

Science outreach programmes connect school pupils with external agencies to provide activities and experiences that enhance their exposure to science. It can be argued that these programmes not only aim to support teachers with curriculum engagement and promote scientific literacy but also provide pivotal opportunities to spark scientific interest in students. In turn, a further objective of these programmes is to increase awareness of career opportunities within this field. Although outreach work is also often described as a fun and satisfying venture, a plethora of researchers express caution to how successful the processes are to increases engagement post-16 in science. When researching the impact of outreach programmes, it is often student feedback regarding the activities or enrolment numbers to particular science courses post-16, which are generated and analysed. Although this is informative, the longevity of the programme’s impact could be better informed by the teacher’s perceptions; the evidence of which is far more limited in the literature. In addition, there are strong suggestions that teachers can have an indirect impact on a student’s own self-concept. These themes shape the focus and importance of this ongoing research project as it presents the rationale that teachers are under-used resources when it comes to considering the design of science outreach programmes. Therefore, the end result of the research will consist of a presentation of an ‘optimum’ model of outreach. The result of which should be of interest to the wider stakeholders such as universities or private or government organisations who design science outreach programmes in the hope to recruit future scientists. During phase one, questionnaires (n=52) and interviews (n=8) have generated both quantitative and qualitative data. These have been analysed using the Wilcoxon non-parametric test to compare teachers’ perceptions of science outreach interventions and thematic analysis for open-ended questions. Both of these research activities provide an opportunity for a cross-section of teacher opinions of science outreach to be obtained across all educational levels. Therefore, an early draft of the ‘optimum’ model of science outreach delivery was generated using both the wealth of literature and primary data. This final (ongoing) phase aims to refine this model using teacher focus groups to provide constructive feedback about the proposed model. The analysis uses principles of modified Grounded Theory to ensure that focus group data is used to further strengthen the model. Therefore, this research uses a pragmatist approach as it aims to focus on the strengths of the different paradigms encountered to ensure the data collected will provide the most suitable information to create an improved model of sustainable outreach. The results discussed will focus on this ‘optimum’ model and teachers’ perceptions of benefits and drawbacks when it comes to engaging with science outreach work. Although the model is still a ‘work in progress’, it provides both insight into how teachers feel outreach delivery can be a sustainable intervention tool within the classroom and what providers of such programmes should consider when designing science outreach activities.

Keywords: educational partnerships, science education, science outreach, teachers

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Authors: Samir Srairi

Abstract:

This paper investigates the impact of the internal corporate governance on bank performance by constructing a corporate governance index (CGI) for 27 Islamic banks operating in five Arab Gulf countries. Using content analysis on the banks’ annual reports for 3 years (2011-2013), the index construction uses information on six important corporate governance mechanisms, namely board structure, risk management, transparency and disclosure, audit committee, Sharia supervisory board and investment account holders. The results demonstrate that Islamic banks adhere to 54% of the attributes addressed in the CGI. The most frequently reported and disclosed elements are Sharia supervisory board followed by board structure and risk management. The findings related to countries revealed that only two countries, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, possess a higher level of CGI. Our regression results provide evidence that Islamic banks with higher levels of corporate governance report high operating performance measured by return on assets and net interest margin. Finally, as of the effect of internal and external factors, we identified four variables that were associated with bank performance, namely size, equity, risk and concentration.

Keywords: governance mechanisms, corporate governance index, bank performance, Islamic banks, GCC countries

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Authors: Warda Ajaz

Abstract:

This study uses the ‘Community Capitals Framework’ (CCF) to develop a community resilience index that can serve as a useful tool for measuring resilience of communities in diverse contexts and backgrounds. CCF is an important analytical tool to assess holistic community change. This framework identifies seven major types of community capitals: natural, cultural, human, social, political, financial and built, and claims that the communities that have been successful in supporting healthy sustainable community and economic development have paid attention to all these capitals. The framework, therefore, proposes to study the community development through identification of assets in these major capitals (stock), investment in these capitals (flow), and the interaction between these capitals. Capital based approaches have been extensively used to assess community resilience, especially in the context of natural disasters and extreme events. Therefore, this study identifies key indicators for estimating each of the seven capitals through an extensive literature review and then develops an index to calculate a community resilience score. The CCF-based community resilience index presents an innovative way of operationalizing the concept of community resilience and will contribute toward decision-relevant research regarding adaptation and mitigation of community vulnerabilities to climate change-induced, as well as other adverse events.

Keywords: adverse events, community capitals, community resilience, climate change, economic development, sustainability

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Authors: Hubert Pun

Abstract:

When a manufacturer outsources the production of a product, it distributes its intellectual property (IP) into a supply chain that it may not be able to fully control. An IP agreement between a manufacturer and its suppliers is a popular solution to address the challenge of supplier-copycatting. The goal of this paper is to examine the impact of copycatting, from both the supplier and third-party firms, and the effectiveness of an IP agreement. Specifically, we use a game-theoretic approach to examine a system where a manufacturer outsources to a supplier. The supplier and a third-party firm decide whether or not to enter the market with copycat products while the manufacturer selects the level of marketing investment. The manufacturer can reduce the threat of supplier-copycatting by signing an IP agreement. We find that the manufacturer can be worse off from signing an IP agreement with its supplier, even if the IP agreement is costless and perfectly enforceable. We show that a manufacturer can deter copycat products through vertical integration and IP agreements and we outline the instances where each method is preferred. Furthermore, we find that the manufacturer may choose not to invest in quality improvements as a copycat deterrence strategy. We show that the supplier can benefit from the manufacturer’s decision to sign an IP agreement and that the supplier and the consumers can benefit from government regulations against copycat products. Our paper demonstrates the strengths and limitations of various copycat deterrence strategies when a supplier and third-party may produce copycat products.

Keywords: coopetitive supply chain, copycat, government regulation, intellectual property

Procedia PDF Downloads 164