Search results for: hijab fashion business

Authors: N. Damenia, E. Kharaishvili, N. Sagareishvili, M. Saghareishvili

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Women's Employment is one of the most important issues in the global economy. The article discusses the stated topic in Georgia, through historical content, Soviet experience, and modern perspectives. The paper discusses segmentation insa terms of employment and related problems. Based on statistical analysis, women's unemployment rate and its factors are analyzed. The level of employment of women in Transcaucasia (Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan) is discussed and is compared with Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia). The study analyzes women’s level of development, according to the average age of marriage and migration level. The focus is on Georgia's Association Agreement with the EU in 2014, which includes economic, social, trade and political issues. One part of it is gender equality at workplaces. According to the research, the average monthly remuneration of women managers in the financial and insurance sector equaled to 1044.6 Georgian Lari, while in overall business sector average monthly remuneration equaled to 961.1 GEL. Average salaries are increasing; however, the employment rate remains problematic. For example, in 2017, 74.6% of men and 50.8% of women were employed from a total workforce. It is also interesting that the proportion of men and women at managerial positions is 29% (women) to 71% (men). Based on the results, the main recommendation for government and civil society is to consider women as a part of the country’s economic development. In this aspect, the experience of developed countries should be considered. It is important to create additional jobs in urban or rural areas and help migrant women return and use their working resources properly.

Keywords: employment of women, segregation in terms of employment, women's employment level in Transcaucasia, migration level

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Authors: Syed Asif Hassan, Tabrej Khan, Ibrahim Manssor Al Najar, Mohammed Nasser

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The incredible accomplishment achieved by e-commerce in consumer durable area encouraged us to implement the online e-commerce model to tap the business benefits of electronic pharmacy in Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is famous for traditional herbal medicine. The rich heritage of traditional medicine has helped the mushrooming of regional pharmaceutical industries manufacturing drugs and other therapeutic against various diseases. However, the implementation of e-commerce in pharmacy has not been employed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The electronic pharmacy (E-Pharm) is an important sector that is flourishing across the globe and providing benefits of E-Pharm to the customers and suppliers all around the world. In this context, our web-based application of electronic pharmacy is the one of its kind in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Surveys and personal interviews were used to identify key objectives of the proposed web-based portal. As per the findings of the surveys and personal interviews, following key objectives were identified: (a) The online platform will be used for ordering of prescription based medications for consumers. (b) The e-portal will provide space for pharmaceutical retailers who do not have an electronic platform to upload and sell their therapeutic products in an organized way. (c) The web portal will provide a tracking system to track the customer’s behavior like choice, offer, order, shipment, payment, etc. The web-based e-pharmacy portal will be developed using MySQL and PHP. The development of e-pharmacy web portal and e-prescription practices will not only improve the growth of electronic pharmacy but would also decrease the possibility of prescription alteration thus providing safety and improving the quality of service provided to the patient or consumers.

Keywords: e-commerce, E-Pharm, MySQL, PHP

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Authors: Nnadi Ezekiel Ejiofor

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The construction industry plays a decisive role in the healthy development of any nation. Not only large but even small construction projects contribute to a country’s economic growth. There is a need for good management to ensure successful delivery and sustainability because of the plethora of risks that have resulted in low-profit margins for contractors, cost and schedule overruns, poor quality delivery, and abandoned projects. This research reviewed Capitalization on Sustainable Risk Management. Questionnaires and oral interviews conducted were utilized as means of data collection. One hundred and ninety-eight (198) large construction firms in Nigeria form the population of this study. 15 (fifteen) companies that emanated from merger and acquisition were used for the study. The instruments used for data collection were a researcher-developed structured questionnaire based on a five-point rating scale, interviews, focus group discussion, and secondary sources (bill of quantities and stock and exchange commission). The instrument was validated by two experts in the field. The reliability of the instrument was established by applying the split-half method. Kendall’s coefficient of concordance was used to test the data, and a degree of agreement was obtained. Data were subjected to descriptive statistics and analyzed using analysis of variance, t-test, and SPSS. The identified impacts of capitalization were an increase in turnover (24.5%), improvement in the image (24.5%), risk reduction (20%), business expansion (17.3%), and geographical spread (13.6%). The study strongly advocates the inclusion of risk management evaluation as part of the construction procurement process.

Keywords: capitalization, project delivery, risks, risk management, sustainability

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Authors: Berhanu Terfa, Nengcheng C.

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The study deals with the analysis of urban expansion and land transformation of Hawass City using remote sensing data and landscape metrics during last three decades (1987–2017). Remote sensing data from Various multi-temporal satellite images viz., TM (1987), TM (1995), ETM+ (2005) and OLI (2017) were used to examine the urban expansion, growth types, and spatial isolation within the urban landscape to develop an understanding the trends of built-up growth in Hawassa City, Ethiopia. Landscape metrics and built-up density were employed to analyze the pattern, process and overall growth status. The area under investigation was divided into concentric circles with a consecutive circle of 1 km incremental radius from the central pixel (Central Business District) for analysis. The result exhibited that the built-up area had increased by 541.32% between 1987 and 2017and an extension growth types (more than 67 %) was observed. The major growth took place in north-west direction followed by north direction in haphazard manner during 1987–1995 period, whereas predominant built-up development was observed in south and southwest direction during 1995–2017 period. Land scape metrics result revealed that the of urban patches density, total edge and edge density increased, while mean nearest neighbors’ distance decreased showing the tendency of sprawl.

Keywords: landscape metrics, spatial patterns, remote sensing, multi-temporal, urban sprawl

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Authors: Martha Matashu

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This study examined corporate governance and economic growth trends in Sub Saharan African (SSA) countries. The need for corporate governance arise from the fact that the day to day running of the business is done by management who in accordance with the neoclassical theory and agency theory have inborn tendencies to use the resources of the company to their advantage. This prevails against a background where the endogenous economic growth theory hold the assumption that economic growth is an outcome of the overall performance of all companies within an economy. This suggest that corporate governance at firm level determine economic growth through its impact on the overall performance. Nevertheless, insight into literature suggest that efforts to promote corporate governance in countries across SSA since the 1980s to date have not yet yielded desired outcomes. The board responsibilities, shareholder rights, disclosure and transparency, protection of minority shareholder, and liability of directors were thus used as proxies of corporate governance because these are believed to be mechanisms that are believed to enhance company performance their effect on enhancing accountability and transparency. Using panel data techniques, corporate governance and economic growth data for 29 SSA countries from the period of 2008 to 2019 was analysed. The findings revealed declining economic growth trend despite an increase in corporate governance aspects such as director liability, shareholders’ rights, and protection of minority shareholder in SSA countries. These findings are in contradiction to the popularly held theoretical principles of economic growth and corporate governance. The study reached the conclusion thata nonlinearrelationship exists between corporate governance and economic growth within the selectedSSA countries during the period under investigation. This study thus recommends that measures should be taken to create conditions for corporate governance that would bolster significant positive contributions to economic growth in the region.

Keywords: corporate governance, economic growth, sub saharan Africa, agency theory, endogenous theory

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Authors: Jiří F. Urbánek, David Král

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Small and Middle Enterprises (SME) have a specific mission, characteristics, and behavior in global business competitive environments. They must respect policy, rules, requirements and standards in all their inherent and outer processes of supply - customer chains and networks. Paper aims and purposes are to introduce computational assistance, which enables us the using of prevailing operation system MS Office (SmartArt...) for mathematical models, using DYVELOP (Dynamic Vector Logistics of Processes) method. It is providing for SMS´s global environment the capability and profit to achieve its commitment regarding the effectiveness of the quality management system in customer requirements meeting and also the continual improvement of the organization’s and SME´s processes overall performance and efficiency, as well as its societal security via continual planning improvement. DYVELOP model´s maps - the Blazons are able mathematically - graphically express the relationships among entities, actors, and processes, including the discovering and modeling of the cycling cases and their phases. The blazons need live PowerPoint presentation for better comprehension of this paper mission – added value analysis. The crisis management of SMEs is obliged to use the cycles for successful coping of crisis situations.  Several times cycling of these cases is a necessary condition for the encompassment of the both the emergency event and the mitigation of organization´s damages. Uninterrupted and continuous cycling process is a good indicator and controlling actor of SME continuity and its sustainable development advanced possibilities.

Keywords: blazons, computational assistance, DYVELOP method, small and middle enterprises

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Authors: Garba K. Adamu

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This research was carried out in the catchments of five major rivers in Kano State. The catchments have considerable Fadama lands; these include: River Gari which is located in the northwestern part of Kano state, Rivers Challawa and Watari from southernparts of Kano and Katsina states. River Tomas from the northern parts of Kano state, River Jakara which has its source from the Old Kano city, part of Central Business Districts and Industrial Estates. The study was carried out with aim of assessing the fertility status of the Fadama soils found in these major river catchments. A transect was designed to collect samples along farming villages in the five river channels for the study. The findings indicate that the soils are predominantly sandy. The bulk density values vary significantly and range from 0.98mg/m to 1.36mg/m. The pH values for all the sites studied ranges from slightly acidic to slightly alkaline. The OC ranged from low to very low in the sites. The EC ranges from 66.3µs/cm to 198µs/cm for all the sites. The mean CEC ranges from 3.864 cm/kg to 10.114 Cmol/kg. The range of values for the SAR was 0.0106 to 0.069. Nitrogen ranges from0.03 to 0.1230ppm. The range of P value fell between 9.9 to 41.1mg/kg.Ca values ranges from 1.0170 to 14.9850 and K values ranges from 4.6550 – 64.40.Mg values range from 0.1380 to 1.8580 and Zn values range from 1.0170 to 14.9850. The Fe values ranged from 15.6500mg/kg to 69.8000mg/kg. The B values range from0.2060 to13.5450. Generally, the values obtained shows a low to medium fertility levels for all the parameters tested and the areas will require the in cooperation of organic manure and chemical fertilizers to improve soil structure and supplements other macro nutrients.

Keywords: assessment, Fadama soils, fertility status, river catchment

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Authors: Roien Qiam, Shoshi Mizokami

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Parking demand in the Central Business District (CBD) has enlarged with the increase of the number of private vehicles due to rapid economic growth, lack of an efficient public transport and traffic management system. This has resulted in low mobility, poor accessibility, serious congestion, high rates of traffic accident fatalities and injuries and air pollution, mainly because people have to drive slowly around to find a vacant spot. With parking pricing and enforcement policy, considerable advancement could be found, and on-street parking spaces could be managed efficiently and effectively. To evaluate parking demand and making parking policy, it is required to understand the current parking condition and driver’s behavior, understand how drivers choose their parking type and location as well as their behavior toward finding a vacant parking spot under parking charges and search times. This study illustrates the result from an observational, revealed and stated preference surveys and experiment. Attained data shows that there is a gap between supply and demand in parking and it has maximized. For the modeling of the parking decision, a choice model was constructed based on discrete choice modeling theory and multinomial logit model estimated by using SP survey data; the model represents the choice of an alternative among different alternatives which are priced on-street, off-street, and illegal parking. Individuals choose a parking type based on their preference concerning parking charges, searching times, access times and waiting times. The parking assignment model was obtained directly from behavioral model and is used in parking simulation. The study concludes with an evaluation of parking policy.

Keywords: CBD, parking demand forecast, parking policy, parking choice model

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Authors: Haleden Chiririwa, Sandile S. Gwebu

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The coatings industry is a million dollar business, and it is easy and inexpensive to set-up but it is growing very slowly in developing countries, and this study developed a paint formulation which gives better quality and good application properties. The effect of rheology modifiers, i.e. non-ionic polymers hydrophobically-modified ethoxylated urethanes (HEUR), anionic polymers hydrophobically-modified alkali soluble emulsions (HASE) and hydroxyl ethyl cellulose (HEC) on the quality and properties of water-based paints have been investigated. HEC provides the in-can viscosity and increases open working time while HASE improves application properties like spatter resistance and brush loading and HEUR provides excellent scrub resistance. Four paint recipes were prepared using four different thickeners HEC, HASE (carbopol) and Cellulose nitrate. The fourth formulation was thickened with a combination of HASE and HEC, this aimed at improving quality and at the same time reducing cost. The four samples were tested for quality tests such viscosity, sag resistance, volatile matter, tinter effect, drying times, hiding power, scrub resistance and stability on storage. Environmental factors were incorporated in the attempt to formulate an economic and green product. Hydroxyl ethyl cellulose and cellulose nitrate gave high quality and good properties of the paint. HEC and Cellulose nitrate showed stability on storage whereas carbopol thickener was very unstable.

Keywords: properties, thickeners, rheology modifiers, water based paints

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Authors: Najlae Bendou, Jean-Jacques Lilti, Khalid Elbadraoui

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In this paper, we examine stock market integration of emerging markets around the global financial turmoil of 2007-2008. Following Pukthuanthong and Roll (2009), we measure the integration of 46 emerging countries using the adjusted R-square from the regression of each country's daily index returns on global factors extracted from the covariance matrix computed using dollar-denominated daily index returns of 17 developed countries. Our sample surrounds the global financial crisis and ranges between 2000 and 2018. We analyze results using four cohorts of emerging countries: East Asia & Pacific and South Asia, Europe & Central Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Middle East & Africa. We find that the level of integration of emerging countries increases at the commencement of the crisis and during the booming phase of the business cycles. It reaches a maximum point in the middle of the crisis and then tends to revert to its pre-crisis level. This pattern tends to be common among the four geographic zones investigated in this study. Finally, we investigate the determinants of stock market integration of emerging countries in our sample using panel regressions. Our results suggest that the degree of stock market integration of these countries should be put into perspective by some macro-economic factors, such as the size of the equity market, school enrollment rate, international liquidity level, stocks traded volume, tax revenue level, imports and exports volumes.

Keywords: correlations, determinants of integration, diversification, emerging markets, financial crisis, integration, markets co-movement, panel regressions, r-square, stock markets

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Authors: Kharaishvili Eteri

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The article highlights the importance of small and medium-sized enterprises in achieving the goals of sustainable development of the economy and increasing the well-being of the population. The opinion is put forward that it is necessary to adapt the activities of small and medium-sized firms in Georgia to sustainable business models. Therefore, it is important to identify the challenges that will ensure compliance with the goals and requirements of sustainable development of small and mediumsized enterprises. Objectives. The goal of the study is to reveal the challenges of sustainable development in small and medium-sized enterprises in Georgia and to develop recommendations for strategic development opportunities. Methodologies The challenges of sustainable development of small and medium-sized enterprises are investigated with the following methodology: bibliographic research of scientific works and reports of organizations is carried out; Based on the grouping of sustainable development goals, the performance indicators of these goals are studied; Differences with respect to the corresponding indicators of European countries are determined by the comparison method; The matrix scheme establishes the conditions and tools for sustainable development; Challenges of sustainable development are identified by factor analysis. Contributions Trends in the sustainable development of small and medium-sized enterprises are studied from the point of view of economic, social and environmental factors; To ensure sustainability, the conditions and tools for sustainable development are established (certified supply chains and global markets, allocation of financial resources necessary for sustainable development, proper public procurement, highly qualified workforce, etc.); Several main challenges have been identified in the sustainable development of small and medium-sized enterprises, including: limited internal resources; Institutional factors, especially vague and imperfect regulations, bureaucracy; low level of investments; Low level of qualification of human capital and others.

Keywords: small and medium-sized enterprises, sustainable development, conditions of sustainable development, strategic directions of sustainable development.

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Authors: Priscilla Adoley Moffat

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One common element of African cultures is gender role socialization. This is a significant component of African cultures because gender roles are considered in these cultures, to define males and females and distinguish males from females. Various studies have established the impact of gender role socialization on individuals, on activities of individuals, including business activities, and on society, in general. This study further examined the effect of gender role socialization on the marketing of gendered products. The study sought to establish whether gender role socialization affects marketing, particularly word-of-mouth marketing, of gender-specific products. For a comprehensive examination of the influence of gender role socialization on word-of-mouth marketing of gendered products, 2150 respondents (1075 males and 1075 females), comprising 550 students of Marketing from various Ghanaian universities/colleges and 1600 other individuals (100 from each of the 16 regions of Ghana, representing the various cultures) were randomly sampled and interviewed. The study found that females are more willing to market male products than males when tasked to market female products. Also, females are more efficient in marketing male products than males in marketing female products. Again, most female audiences feel uncomfortable or embarrassed and are less receptive when approached by a male marketer of female products. Then, the study found that the fear of stigmatization is a major influencer of males’ negative attitude towards marketing of female products and that female marketers of male products, however, suffer less or no stigma. Aside from its addition to the literature on the impact of gender role socialization on marketing and, for that matter, the influence of socialization on marketing, the findings of the study are useful to multinational companies, which become better informed in their strategy when assigning marketing roles, especially in Africa.

Keywords: gender, socialization, marketing, gendered, role, Ghana

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Authors: Yasin Tadayonrad

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Most of the supply chain networks have many nodes starting from the suppliers’ side up to the customers’ side that each node sends/receives the raw materials/products from/to the other nodes. One of the major concerns in this kind of supply chain network is finding the best schedule for loading /unloading the shipments through the whole network by which all the constraints in the source and destination nodes are met and all the shipments are delivered on time. One of the main constraints in this problem is loading/unloading capacity in each source/ destination node at each time slot (e.g., per week/day/hour). Because of the different characteristics of different products/groups of products, the capacity of each node might differ based on each group of products. In most supply chain networks (especially in the Fast-moving consumer goods industry), there are different planners/planning teams working separately in different nodes to determine the loading/unloading timeslots in source/destination nodes to send/receive the shipments. In this paper, a mathematical problem has been proposed to find the best timeslots for loading/unloading the shipments minimizing the overall delays subject to respecting the capacity of loading/unloading of each node, the required delivery date of each shipment (considering the lead-times), and working-days of each node. This model was implemented on python and solved using Python-MIP on a sample data set. Finally, the idea of a heuristic algorithm has been proposed as a way of improving the solution method that helps to implement the model on larger data sets in real business cases, including more nodes and shipments.

Keywords: supply chain management, transportation, multiple-multiple network, timeslots management, mathematical modeling, mixed integer programming

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Authors: Elhem Zaatir, Taher Hamza

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Several governments seek to implement gender parity on boards, but the results of doing so are not clear and could harm corporations and economies. The present paper aims to investigate the relationship between women’s presence on boards and firms’ performance in the context of the French listed firms during the quota period. A dynamic panel generalized method of moment estimation is applied to control the endogenous effect of board structure and reverse the causality impact of the financial performance. Our results show that the impact of gender diversity manifests in conflicting directions, positively affecting accounting performance and negatively influencing market performance. These results suggest that female directors create economic value, but the market discounts their impact. Apparently, they are subject to a biased evaluation by the market, which undervalues their presence on boards. Added to that, our results confirm a twofold nature of female representation in the French market. The effect of female directorship on firm performance varies with the affiliation of the directors. In other words, the positive impact of gender diversity on return on assets primarily originates from the positive effect of non-family-affiliated women directors on market performance rather than on the effect of family-affiliated women directors on ROA. Finally, according to our results, women’s demographic attributes namely the level of education and multiple directorships strongly and positively impact firm performance as measured by return on assets (ROA). Obviously, women directors seem to be appointed to the business case rather than as token directors.

Keywords: corporate governance, board of directors, women, gender diversity, demographic attributes, firm performance

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Authors: Hari Krishna Ayyappa, Reenu Singh

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Rising population and restricted land for development has led towards the growth of vertical buildings and small complexes. It provides many possibilities to change the shape and size of internal space in addition to the social impacts on the commercial spaces. With the increased volatility of necessities of people, the need for mental and physical comfort has continuously increased. . Living in a small space musts minimalist and space- saving cabinetwork results to sustain mortal good. This paper attempts to explore the Influence of Using Minimalist Furniture on the Efficiency of the commercial Space interiors by means of the variable resulting from preceding studies based on literature. A literature review was conducted on research articles to understand the contributing variables in a well designed small commercial spaces. A questionnaire survey was conducted to understand the layout of small commercial spaces with respect to Environmental impact, material, Design elements, Modern approach, Layered lightings, and colours. The problem of small spaces can be resolved by some ways; it's still needed for cabinetwork to develop to be more innovative to accommodate small living spaces. Since cabinetwork is a necessity and not luxury, everybody is in need of it. The spatial factors affecting overall satisfaction at a detailed position were bandied. The variable helped in proposing design ideation and mock ups to explore improved interiors. This paper concludes that most of the principles of the minimalist approach have been overlooked at, which had an impact on the space efficiency in commercial spaces like storage rooms, office area, retail stores, restaurants, and other spaces where business is conducted.

Keywords: materials, modern approach, space efficiency, tall commercial buildings

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Authors: Joshua Loiselle

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This paper discusses the challenges engineering teams face in conducting Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) studies. This paper focuses on the specific topic of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of FMEA studies. Modern economic needs and increased business competition require engineers to constantly develop newer and better solutions within shorter timeframes and tighter margins. In addition, documentation requirements for meeting standards/regulatory compliance and customer needs are becoming increasingly complex and verbose. Managing open actions and continuous improvement activities across all projects, product variations, and processes in addition to daily engineering tasks is cumbersome, time consuming, and is susceptible to errors, omissions, and non-conformances. FMEA studies are proven methods for improving products and processes while subsequently reducing engineering workload and improving machine and resource availability through a pre-emptive, systematic approach of identifying, analyzing, and improving high-risk components. If implemented correctly, FMEA studies significantly reduce costs and improve productivity. However, the value of an effective FMEA is often shrouded by a lack of clarity and structure, misconceptions, and previous experiences and, as such, FMEA studies are frequently grouped with the other required information and documented retrospectively in preparation of customer requirements or audits. Performing studies in this way only adds cost to a project and perpetuates the misnomer that FMEA studies are not value-added activities. This paper discusses the benefits of effective FMEA studies, the challenges related to conducting FMEA studies, best practices for efficiently overcoming challenges via structure and automation, and the benefits of implementing those practices.

Keywords: FMEA, quality, APQP, PPAP

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Authors: Alma Lucero Ortiz, Mario Gomez

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Technological advances contribute to the well-being of humanity by allowing man to perform in a more efficient way. Technology offers tangible advantages to countries with the adoption of information technologies, communication, and the Internet in all social and productive sectors. The Internet is a networking infrastructure that allows the communication of people throughout the world, exceeding the limits of time and space. Nowadays the internet has changed the way of doing business leading to a digital economy. In this way, e-commerce has emerged as a commercial transaction conducted over the Internet. For this inquiry e-commerce is seen as a source of economic growth for the country. Thereby, these research aims to answer the research question, which are the main variables that have affected the development of e-commerce in Mexico. The research includes a period of study from 1990 to 2017. This inquiry aims to get insight on how the independent variables influence the e-commerce development. The independent variables are information infrastructure construction, urbanization level, economic level, technology level, human capital level, educational level, standards of living, and price index. The results suggest that the independent variables have an impact on development of the e-commerce in Mexico. The present study is carried out in five parts. After the introduction, in the second part, a literature review about the main qualitative and quantitative studies to measure the variables subject to the study is presented. After, an empirical study is applied through time series data, and to process the data an econometric model is performed. In the fourth part, the analysis and discussion of results are presented, and finally, some conclusions are included.

Keywords: digital economy, e-commerce, econometric model, economic growth, internet

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Authors: Omer Altaf, Liam Wotherspoon, Rolando Orense

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The Wairau Plains are located in the north-east of the South Island of New Zealand in the region of Marlborough. The region is cut by many active crustal faults such as the Wairau, Awatere, and Clarence faults, which give rise to frequent seismic events. This paper presents the preliminary results of the overall project in which liquefaction-induced ground damage maps are developed in the Wairau Plains based on the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment NZ guidance. A suite of maps has been developed in relation to the level of details that was available to inform the liquefaction hazard mapping. Maps at the coarsest level of detail make use of regional geologic information, applying semi-quantitative criteria based on geological age, design peak ground accelerations and depth to the water table. The next level of detail incorporates higher resolution surface geomorphologic characteristics to better delineate potentially liquefiable and non-liquefiable deposits across the region. The most detailed assessment utilised CPT sounding data to develop ground damage response curves for areas across the region and provide a finer level of categorisation of liquefaction vulnerability. Linking these with design level earthquakes defined through NZGS guidelines will enable detailed classification to be carried out at CPT investigation locations, from very low through to high liquefaction vulnerability. To update classifications to these detailed levels, CPT investigations in geomorphic regions are grouped together to provide an indication of the representative performance of the soils in these areas making use of the geomorphic mapping outlined above.

Keywords: hazard, liquefaction, mapping, seismicity

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Authors: Stephan Printz, Kristina Lahl, René Vossen, Sabina Jeschke

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Strategic investment decisions are characterized by high innovation potential and long-term effects on the competitiveness of enterprises. Due to the uncertainty and risks involved in this complex decision making process, the need arises for well-structured support activities. A method that considers cost and the long-term added value is the cost-benefit effectiveness estimation. One of those methods is the “profitability estimation focused on benefits – PEFB”-method developed at the Institute of Management Cybernetics at RWTH Aachen University. The method copes with the challenges associated with strategic investment decisions by integrating long-term non-monetary aspects whilst also mapping the chronological sequence of an investment within the organization’s target system. Thus, this method is characterized as a holistic approach for the evaluation of costs and benefits of an investment. This participation-oriented method was applied to business environments in many workshops. The results of the workshops are a library of more than 96 cost aspects, as well as 122 benefit aspects. These aspects are preprocessed and comparatively analyzed with regards to their alignment to a series of risk levels. For the first time, an accumulation and a distribution of cost and benefit aspects regarding their impact and probability of occurrence are given. The results give evidence that the PEFB-method combines precise measures of financial accounting with the incorporation of benefits. Finally, the results constitute the basics for using information technology and data science for decision support when applying within the PEFB-method.

Keywords: cost-benefit analysis, multi-criteria decision, profitability estimation focused on benefits, risk and uncertainty analysis

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Authors: George-Anokwuru Chioma Chidinma Bernadette

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This paper investigated the effect of trade liberalization on domestic private investment in Nigeria from 1981 to 2020. To achieve this objective, secondary data on domestic private investment, trade openness, exchange rate and interest rate were sourced from the statistical bulletin of Nigeria’s apex bank. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique was used as the main analytical tool. The ARDL Bounds test revealed the existence of long run association among the variables. The results revealed that trade openness and exchange rate have positive and insignificant relationship with domestic private investment both in the long and short runs. At the same time, interest rate has negative relationship with domestic private investment both in the long and short runs. Therefore, it was concluded that there is no significant relationship between trade openness, exchange rate, interest rate and domestic private investment in Nigeria during the period of study. Based on the findings, the study recommended that government should formulate trade policies that will encourage the growth of domestic private investment in Nigeria. To achieve this, government should ensure consistency in trade policies and at the same time strengthen the existing policies to build investors’ confidence. Also, government should make available an investment-friendly environment, as well as monitor real sector operators to ensure that foreign exchange allocations are not diverted. Government should increase capital investment in education, housing, transportation, agriculture, health, power, road construction, national defense, among others that will help the various sectors of the economy to function very well thereby making the business environment friendly thereby enhancing the growth and development of the country.

Keywords: trade openness, domestic private investment, ARDL, exchange rate

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Authors: Asghar Zamani, Mostafa Falahmorad

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Virtualization is established to combine and use the unique capabilities of employees to increase productivity and agility to provide services regardless of location. Adapting to fast and continuous change and getting maximum access to human resources are reasons why virtualization is happening. The distance problem is solved by information. Flexibility is the most important feature of virtualization, and information will be the main focus of virtualized companies. In this research, we used the Covid-19 opportunity window to assess the productivity of the companies that had been going through more virtualized management before the Covid-19 in comparison with those that just started planning on developing infrastructures on virtual management after the crises of pandemic occurred. The research process includes financial (profitability and customer satisfaction) and behavioral (organizational culture and reluctance to change) metrics assessment. In addition to financial and CRM KPIs, a questionnaire is devised to assess how manager and employees’ attitude has been changing towards the migration to virtualization. The sample companies and questions are selected by asking from experts in the IT industry of Iran. In this article, the conclusion is that companies open to virtualization based on accurate strategic planning or willing to pay to train their employees for virtualization before the pandemic are more agile in adapting to change and moving forward in recession. The prospective companies in this research, not only could compensate for the short period loss from the first shock of the Covid-19, but they could also foresee new needs of their customer sooner than other competitors, resulting in the need to employ new staff for executing the emerging demands. Findings were aligned with the literature review. Results can be a wake-up call for business owners especially in developing countries to be more resilient toward modern management styles instead of continuing with traditional ones.

Keywords: virtual management, virtual organization, competitive advantage, KPI, profit

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Authors: Fanny Soulard

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Today work environment is more multicultural than ever: spatial limits have been blown out, encouraging people and ideas mobility all around the globe. Indeed, opportunities to design with culturally diverse team workers, clients, or end-users, have become within everyone's reach. We enjoy traveling to discover other civilizations, but when it comes to business, we often take for granted that our own work methodology will be generic enough to federate each party and cover the project needs. This paper aims to explore why, by skipping cultural awareness, we often create misunderstandings, frustration, and even counterproductive design. Tree lighting projects successively developed by a French lighting studio, a Vietnamese lighting studio, and an Australian Engineering company will be assessed from their concept stage to completion. All these study cases are based in Vietnam, where the construction market is equally led by local and international consultants. Core criteria such as lighting standard reference, service scope, communication tools, internal team organization, delivery package content, key priorities, and client relationship will help to spot and list when and how cultural diversity has impacted the design output and effectiveness. On the second hand, we will demonstrate through the same selected projects how intercultural intelligence tools and mindset can not only respond positively to previous situations and avoid major clashes but also turn cultural differences into a key added value to generate significant benefits for individuals, teams, and companies. By understanding the major importance of including a cultural factor within any design, intercultural intelligence will quickly turn out as a “must have” skill to be developed and acquired by any designer.

Keywords: intercultural intelligence, lighting design, work methodology, multicultural diversity

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Authors: Sajedeh Salehi, Marco Giacalone

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This paper examines the role of existing online dispute resolution (ODR) mechanisms and their effects on ameliorating access to justice – as a protected right by Art. 47 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights – for consumers in EU. The major focus of this study will be on evaluating ODR as the means of dispute resolution for Business-to-Consumer (B2C) cross-border small claims raised in e-commerce transactions. The authors will elaborate the consequences of implementing ODR methods in the context of recent developments in EU regulatory safeguards on promoting consumer protection. In this analysis, both non-judiciary and judiciary ODR redress mechanisms are considered, however, the significant consideration is given to – obligatory and non-obligatory – judiciary ODR methods. For that purpose, this paper will particularly investigate the impact of the EU ODR platform as well as the European Small Claims Procedure (ESCP) Regulation 861/2007 and their role on accelerating the access to justice for consumers in B2C e-disputes. Although, considerable volume of research has been carried out on ODR for consumer claims, rather less (or no-) attention has been paid to provide a combined doctrinal and empirical evaluation of ODR’s potential in resolving cross-border small e-disputes, in EU. Hence, the methodological approach taken in this study is a mixed methodology based on qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (surveys) research methods which will be mainly based on the data acquired through the findings of the Small Claims Analysis Net (SCAN) project. This project contributes towards examining the ESCP Regulation implementation and efficiency in providing consumers with a legal watershed through using the ODR for their transnational small claims. The outcomes of this research may benefit both academia and policymakers at national and international level.

Keywords: access to justice, consumers, e-commerce, small e-Disputes

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Authors: Habte Tadesse Likassa, Bacha Edosa

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Customer’s satisfaction was very important thing that is required for the existence of banks to be more productive and success in any organization and business area. The main goal of the study is assessing and identifying factors that influence customer’s satisfaction in West Shoa Zone of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (Holeta, Ginchi, Ambo, Gedo and Bako). Stratified random sampling procedure was used in the study and by using simple random sampling (lottery method) 520 customers were drawn from the target population. By using Probability Proportional Size Techniques sample size for each branch of banks were allocated. Both descriptive and inferential statistics methods were used in the study. A binary logistic regression model was fitted to see the significance of factors affecting customer’s satisfaction in this study. SPSS statistical package was used for data analysis. The result of the study reveals that the overall level of customer’s satisfaction in the study area is low (38.85%) as compared those who were not satisfied (61.15%). The result of study showed that all most all factors included in the study were significantly associated with customer’s satisfaction. Therefore, it can be concluded that based on the comparison of branches on their customers satisfaction by using odd ratio customers who were using Ambo and Bako are less satisfied as compared to customers who were in Holeta branch. Additionally, customers who were in Ginchi and Gedo were more satisfied than that of customers who were in Holeta. Since the level of customers satisfaction was low in the study area, it is more advisable and recommended for concerned body works cooperatively more in maximizing satisfaction of their customers.

Keywords: customers, satisfaction, binary logistic, complain handling process, waiting time

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Authors: Santosh Kumar Sharma, Imran Ahmed Khan

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Context: In the field of management education, it has been observed that students often have discrepancies between their career anchors and their chosen domain of specialization. This misalignment creates challenges for students during their summer internships and job placements in the corporate sector. The outcome is that some students opt to change their career track or even leave the management profession altogether. This situation poses a significant concern in terms of the overall human capital in the industry. However, there is a notable lack of substantial literature addressing this specific context. Therefore, this current study aims to contribute to the global discourse on management education and its impact on human resource management. Research Aim: The objective of this study is to analyze the deviation between career anchors and domain specialization in the context of management education in India. Methodology: This study adopts an exploratory approach. Data is collected from a substantial sample of post-graduate students who are currently pursuing management education from a renowned business school in India. The data collection process is followed by a descriptive analysis. Findings: The findings of this research contribute to the professional development of management students by highlighting the significance of aligning career anchors with their chosen domain of specialization. This alignment is crucial for enhancing human capital, which in turn impacts various factors within the Indian economy. Theoretical Importance: This study addresses the gap in the existing literature by exploring the relationship between career anchors and domain specialization in management education. By shedding light on this issue, it contributes to theoretical knowledge in the field and provides insights into the importance of career alignment within the management profession.

Keywords: management education, specialization, human resource management, India

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Authors: Asim Majeed, Anwar Ul Haq, Ayesha Asim, Mike Lloyd-Williams, Arshad Jamal, Usman Butt

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This study aims to investigate the impact of data leak of M&S customers on digital communities. Modern businesses are using digital communities as an important public relations tool for marketing purposes. This form of communication helps companies to build better relationship with their customers which also act as another source of information. The communication between the customers and the organizations is not regulated so users may post positive and negative comments. There are new platforms being developed on a daily basis and it is very crucial for the businesses to not only get themselves familiar with those but also know how to reach their existing and perspective consumers. The driving force of marketing and communication in modern businesses is the digital communities and these are continuously increasing and developing. This phenomenon is changing the way marketing is conducted. The current research has discussed the implications on M&S business performance since the data was exploited on digital communities; users contacted M&S and raised the security concerns. M&S closed down its website for few hours to try to resolve the issue. The next day M&S made a public apology about this incidence. This information was proliferated on various digital communities and it has impacted negatively on M&S brand name, sales and customers. The content analysis approach is being used to collect qualitative data from 100 digital bloggers including social media communities such as Facebook and Twitter. The results and finding provide useful new insights into the nature and form of security concerns of digital users. Findings have theoretical and practical implications. This research will showcase a large corporation utilizing various digital community platforms and can serve as a model for future organizations.

Keywords: Digital, communities, performance, dissemination, implications, data, exploitation

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Authors: Christina Wainikka, Besrat Tesfaye

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Several of the countries in the Baltic Sea region are ranked high in international innovations rankings, such as the Global Innovation Index and European Innovation Scoreboard. There are however some concerns in the performance of different countries. For example, there is a widely spread notion about “The Swedish Paradox”. Sweden is ranked high due to investments in R&D and patent activity, but the outcome is not as high as could be expected. SMEs in Sweden are also below EU average when it comes to registering intellectual property rights such as patents and trademarks. This study is concentrating on the protection of utility model. This intellectual property right does not exist in Sweden, but in for example Finland and Germany. The utility model protection is sometimes referred to as a “patent light” since it is easier to obtain than the patent protection but at the same time does cover technical solutions. In examining statistics on patent activities and activities in registering utility models it is clear that utility model protection is scarcely used in the countries that have the protection. In Germany 10 577 applications were made in 2021. In Finland there were 259 applications made in 2021. This can be compared with patent applications that were 58 568 in Germany in 2021 and 1 662 in Finland in 2021. In Sweden there has never been a protection for utility models. The only protection for technical solutions is patents and business secrets. The threshold for obtaining a patent is high, due to the legal requirements and the costs. The patent protection is there for often not chosen by SMEs in Sweden. This study examines whether the protection of utility models in other countries in the Baltic region provide SMEs in these countries with better options to protect their innovations. The legal methodology is comparative law. In order to study the effects of the legal differences statistics are examined and interviews done with SMEs from different industries.

Keywords: baltic sea region, comparative law, SME, utility model

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Authors: Jacob Medupe

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Life as we know it has changed since the global outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and business as usual will not continue. The human impact of the COVID-19 crisis is already immeasurable. Moreover, COVID-19 has already negatively impacted economies, livelihoods and disrupted food systems around the world. The disruptive nature of the Corona virus has affected every sphere of life including the culture and teaching and learning. Right now the majority of education research is based around classroom management techniques that are no longer necessary with digital delivery. Instead there is a great need for new data about how to make the best use of the one-on-one attention that is now becoming possible (Diamandis & Kotler, 2014). The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated an environment where the South African learners are focused to adhere to social distancing in order to minimise the wild spread of the Corona virus. This arrangement forces the student to utilise the online classroom technologies to continue with the lessons. The historical reality is that the country has not made much strides on the closing of the digital divide and this is particularly a common status quo in the deep rural areas. This will prove to be a toll order for most of the learners affected by the Corona Virus to be able to have a seamless access to the online learning facilities. The paper will seek to look deeply into this reality and how the Corona virus has brought us to the reality that South Africa remains a deeply unequal society in every sphere of life. The study will also explore the state of readiness for education system around the online classroom environment.

Keywords: virtual learning, virtual classroom, COVID-19, Corona virus, internet connectivity, blended learning, online learning, distance education, e-learning, self-regulated Learning, pedagogy, digital literacy

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Authors: Alexander Rosenblatt

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The musical culture of the city of Los Angeles, as it is seen today, developed not without the influence of outstanding musicians who came from Europe during the period between the world wars. The combination of European modernist ideas with American musical culture, which differed in many ways from European musical culture, led to unique results. During the 1920s and even more so in the 1930s, members of the Austrian-German artistic intelligentsia, particularly those of Jewish origin who felt insecure in their homeland, began to look for a safer place. The United States has become such a place for many, and many of them chose the second largest metropolis—Los Angeles. The most notable figure in this group was the modernist composer Arnold Schoenberg. Other famous musicians were conductors Otto Klemperer and Bruno Walter. The study focused on how these people acclimated to a city whose culture and business revolved around film production; what place the conductors Klemperer and Walter occupied in the city, state, and country; how Schoenberg, whose musical style was little understood by the American public, was able to realize himself; what path he took when he was accepted to two universities as a professor of counterpoint and composition; and whether he revised his own views on the development of Western music. Another aspect was the study of how the composer’s memory was preserved in the universities where he taught. The study is based primarily on materials found in four libraries of two universities located in Los Angeles, UCLA and USC, during my tenure as a visiting scholar at USC Thornton School of Music (August 2023), to be completed during my upcoming visit there in August-September 2024, as well as on interviews with people active in efforts to keep Schoenberg’s memory alive on the USC Campus.

Keywords: los angeles, filmmaking, immigrant musicians, arnold schoenberg, otto klemperer, bruno walter

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Authors: Subodh Nath Patel, Raja Raman, Mananshi Adhikary, Jitendra Mathur, Sandip Bhattacharyya

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The composition adjustment by sealed argon bubbling–oxygen blowing (CAS-OB) process is a process designed for adjusting steel composition and temperature during secondary metallurgy. One of the equipment in the said process is a snorkel or bell, fixed to a movable bracket. Snorkel serves the purpose of feeding ferroalloys into the liquid metal simultaneously removing gases to the gas cleaning system through its port at its top. The bell-shaped snorkel consists of two parts. The upper part has an inside liner, and the lower part is lined on both side with high-alumina castable reinforced with 2% stainless steel needles. Both the parts are coupled with a flange bolt system. These flanges were found to get buckled during operation, and the gap was generating between them. This problem was chronic since its. It was expected to give a life of 80 heats, but it was failing within 45-50 heats. After every 25-30 heats, it had to be repaired by changing and/or tightening its nuts and bolts. Visual observation, microstructural analysis through optical microscopes and SEM, hardness measurement and thermal strain calculation were carried out to find out the root cause of this problem. The calculated thermal strain was compared with actual thermal strain; comparison of the two revealed that thermal strain was responsible for buckling. Finite element analysis (FEA) was carried out to reaffirm the effect temperature on the flanges. FEA was also used in the modification in the design of snorkel flange to accommodate thermal strain. Thermal insulation was also recommended which increased its life from 45 heats to 65 heats, impacting business process positively.

Keywords: CAS OB process, finite element analysis, snorkel, thermal strain

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