Search results for: tourists and investors

Authors: Claudia Rodriguez-Espinosa, Erika Elizabeth Pérez Múzquiz

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Since the creation of the “Pueblos Mágicos” program in 2001, a series of social and cultural events had directly affected the heritage conservation of the 121 registered localities until 2018, when the federal government terminated the program. Many studies have been carried out that seek to analyze from different perspectives and disciplines the consequences that these appointments have generated in the “Pueblos Mágicos.” Multidisciplinary groups such as the one headed by Carmen Valverde and Liliana López Levi, have brought together specialists from all over the Mexican Republic to create a set of diagnoses of most of these settlements, and although each one has unique specificities, there is a constant in most of them that has to do with the loss of cultural heritage and that is related to transculturality. There are several factors identified that have fostered a cultural loss, as a direct reflection of the economic crisis that prevails in Mexico. It is important to remember that the origin of this program had as its main objective to promote the growth and development of local economies since one of the conditions for entering the program is that they have less than 20,000 inhabitants. With this goal in mind, one of the first actions that many “Pueblos Mágicos” carried out was to improve or create an infrastructure to receive both national and foreign tourists since this was practically non-existent. Creating hotels, restaurants, cafes, training certified tour guides, among other actions, have led to one of the great problems they face: globalization. Although by itself it is not bad, its impact in many cases has been negative for heritage conservation. The entry into and contact with new cultures has led to the undervaluation of cultural traditions, their transformation and even their total loss. This work seeks to present specific cases of transformation and loss of cultural heritage, as well as to reflect on the problem and propose scenarios in which the negative effects can be reversed. For this text, 36 “Pueblos Mágicos” have been selected for study, based on those settlements that are cited in volumes I and IV (the first and last of the collection) of the series produced by the multidisciplinary group led by Carmen Valverde and Liliana López Levi (researchers from UNAM and UAM Xochimilco respectively) in the project supported by CONACyT entitled “Pueblos Mágicos. An interdisciplinary vision”, of which we are part. This sample is considered representative since it forms 30% of the total of 121 “Pueblos Mágicos” existing at that moment. With this information, the elements of its intangible heritage loss or transformation have been identified in every chapter based on the texts written by the participants of that project. Finally, this text shows an analysis of the effects that this federal program, as a public policy applied to 132 populations, has had on the conservation or transformation of the intangible cultural heritage of the “Pueblos Mágicos.” Transculturality, globalization, the creation of identities and the desire to increase the flow of tourists have impacted the changes that traditions (main intangible cultural heritage) have had in the 18 years that the federal program lasted.

Keywords: public policies, cultural tourism, heritage preservation, pueblos mágicos program

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Authors: Antoni Wibowo, Harry Pujianto, Dewi Retno Sari Saputro

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The stock market can provide huge profits in a relatively short time in financial sector; however, it also has a high risk for investors and traders if they are not careful to look the factors that affect the stock market. Therefore, they should give attention to the dynamic fluctuations and movements of the stock market to optimize profits from their investment. In this paper, we present a nonlinear autoregressive exogenous model (NARX) to predict the movements of stock market; especially, the movements of the closing price index. As case study, we consider to predict the movement of the closing price in Indonesia composite index (IHSG) and choose the best structures of NARX for IHSG’s prediction.

Keywords: NARX (Nonlinear Autoregressive Exogenous Model), prediction, stock market, time series

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Authors: Martina Perinkova, Lenka Kolarcikova, Marketa Twrda

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In Ostrava there are a lot of former post-industrial areas and areas that have gradually through conversions and their subsequent reuse. One of the largest is the national cultural monument Lower Vítkovice area where there is a large complex transformation of the former iron production. Industrial heritage today visited by tourists for entertainment, culture, history, sports and other activities. This is a unique example of reuse of technical monuments and introduction of new life into the historic area. The main task of not only find the right function and use, in terms of re integration into city life and finding a balance between history and current lifestyle, looking at the history of the area and its technical condition before reconstruction. It is not only very expensive but also time consuming. Transformations industrial monument is the result of a dialogue architect, the idea of the investor and expert opinion heritage institute.

Keywords: post-industrial area, cultural monument, conversions

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Authors: Thanawit Buafai, Siyathorn Khunon

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This paper aims to explore the satisfaction levels of tourism product components on the island of Samui by studying the cultural dimension relationships of Hofsted’s classic theory. Both the six Hofsted cultural dimensions and tourism production satisfaction measures have been of interest worldwide. Therefore, the challenge of this study is to re-confirm previous research results in the ever-changing current contexts of the modern globalized business era. Self-rated questionnaires were employed to collect data from six nationalities of tourists in Samui, totaling 386 samples. The reliability of this research methodology was 0.967. Correlation was applied to analyze the relationships. The results indicate that Masculinity is significantly related to tourism destination satisfaction for every factor, while the other five cultural dimensions are related to some factors of tourism satisfaction. Surprisingly, tourist satisfaction toward the bar/restaurant factor is significantly correlated with all six cultural dimensions.

Keywords: cultural dimensions, tourism products, Samui, Thailand

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Authors: Yakup Uslu

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The purpose of this study is to reveal how the Turkish soap operas effect the image of Turkey in the Middle Europe. In last decades, Turkish soap operas have been shown on TV in the middle European countries. A research based on face to face questioning was done in February and June 2014 in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The participants were seven women and six men from the Czech Republic, 8 women and 6 men from Slovakia. According to results of the research, the Turkish image has been changed substantially after broadcasting the soap operas. In general, the Turkish soap operas have had positive effects on the image of Turkey. The other result of the study shows that most of the people in Slovakia and Czech Republic want to come to Turkey as tourists and want to visit the places where the soap operas have been shooted.

Keywords: Turkish soap operas, image of Turkey, Slovakia, Czech Republic

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Authors: Mehdi Ghaemi

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Within the current paper, there is an attempt to examine the legal system that overrules economic stability and legitimate expectations of foreign investment rights. Studies show that Meeting the legitimate expectations of foreign investment is one of the rights and privileges which obviously are to be benefited from by all types of foreign investments. The legitimate expectations of foreign investors are protected and structured strongly with the help of international investment laws. The body of international investment laws is faced with multiple challenges with respect to the legitimate expectations of foreign investments, including the Economic stability and the public interest of the host country, the attitude of the host country towards the legitimate rights and privileges of the foreign investment, the ways to meet and to control those expectations, and also the assessment of the regulations of the host country which would affect the investing bodies within different circumstances.

Keywords: foreign investment, legitimate expectations, regulating investments, international investment

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Authors: Maria Ilyushkina

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The article addresses the problem of translating vocative texts with intertextual references and describes the influence of language on how knowledge and meaning are developed in the field of advertising. The starting point of the article takes advertisements from the sphere of tourism and the way we choose, translate, and interpret intertexts. The article focuses on the perception and understanding of the information in printed texts advertising recreational facilities and services for tourists as the target audience by representatives of other cultures and the knowledge intertexts convey. The authors argue that intertextuality complicates translation leading to knowledge asymmetries. Studying typical communicative failures is considered to be of great importance, allowing for improvement in the practice of translation in the sphere of advertising as well as preventing the fallacious transfer of knowledge when translating foreign intertexts.

Keywords: advertising, translation, intertext, Russian culture, knowledge asymmetries, tourism, vocative texts

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Authors: Rattakorn Poonsuph

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Technological innovation plays a crucial role in virtual healthcare services. A growing number of telehealth platforms are concentrating on using digital tools to improve the quality and availability of care. As a result, telehealth represents an opportunity to redesign the way health services are delivered. The research objective is to discover a new business model for digital health services and related industries to participate with telehealth solutions. The business opportunity is valuable for healthcare investors as a startup company to further investigations or implement the telehealth platform. The paper presents a digital healthcare business model and business opportunities to related industries. These include digital healthcare services extending from a traditional business model and use cases of business opportunities to related industries. Although there are enormous business opportunities, telehealth is still challenging due to the patient adaption and digital transformation process within a healthcare organization.

Keywords: telehealth, Internet hospital, HealthTech, InsurTech

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Authors: Pinar Temocin

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Although the Akkuyu nuclear power project has been in the planning the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in the Mersin Province of Southern Turkey, recent events have increased its visibility in the Turkish debate. The Fukushima accident, the 2010 nuclear deal with Russia followed by several consequent nuclear revelations of administrative deficiencies, and waste issues all spurted widespread protests across Turkey and have polarized the nation into two camps; supporters and detractors. Those who support a nuclear Turkey include energy entrepreneurs, local investors, and technical experts who are heavily involved in paving the way for the realization of a nuclear project. Civil society activists and environmentalists overwhelmingly oppose the nuclear program. This study focuses on the latter, analyzing how groups opposing nuclear power plants (NPPs) have framed the Akkuyu nuclear project as a dangerous, risky, disadvantageous, and irrational policy choice.

Keywords: nuclear energy, anti-nuclear movements, environmentalists, civil society, Turkey

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Authors: Janet Jeanne B. Comia, Camille R. Del Rosario, Ma. Janzen A. Dizon, Jacob Russell A. Gooh, Patricia Ann S. Muli

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The researchers conducted the study in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro.There is a substantial lack of research regarding this place as a destination for tourism as well as its potentials. The researchers aspired to determine how the locals perceive the tourism development in the province in terms of activities, attractions, as well as tourist influx. The main instrument used in the study is the interview method to get more in-depth information regarding the subject. The results showed that attractions and activities greatly increased. There has been a very evident ascent in the number of tourists, foreign and local, visiting the place leading to an increase in tourist influx. Results also presented that tourist congestion is moderate and manageable. It has been observed as well that the town lacked tourism-related merchandise available for tourist consumption and the same can be said for the accommodation and lodging facilities in the destination.

Keywords: tourism development, tourism activities, tourist attractions, tourist influx

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Authors: Eldah Ephraim Buba, Amina Bata Zoaka, Aishatu Ibrahim

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This study appraised maintenance practices in selected tourist attractions in Bauchi state, Nigeria. Four tourist attractions were used for the research. Checklists were used to assess operations and repairs maintenance practices in the different attractions. The study carried out personal assessment thrice in six months without prior knowledge of the staff in charge for operational maintenance. Records of repairs maintenance from the attractions maintenance unit for a period of ten years were assessed using the checklists. The findings of the study show that operations maintenance was not adequately carried out in the four tourists attractions. Repairs maintenance was carried out in Yankari game reserve and safari, but repairs maintenance was poor in the other three attractions. The study therefore, recommends that adequate maintenance should be practiced in tourist attractions to expand the lifespan of the facilities and also encourage tourist patronage.

Keywords: appraisal, maintenance, practices, tourist attraction

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Authors: Shubham Banerjee

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The paper focuses on, how the business model of the Indian multi brand ecommerce industry is unstable and is headed towards an e-commerce bubble burst. Due to multiple players in the industry and little or no product differentiation, the Indian multi brand ecommerce industry has turned into an oligopoly market where there is hardly any brand loyalty of the customers. Companies have been rapidly increasing their selling cost in the forms of discounts and advertisements to retain and grow its customer base. This is resulting into higher revenues, but is driving the companies further away from their break-even point. With close to half a decade into the industry, none of the companies have been able to generate profits. With private investors losing patience and devaluing companies, the paper will throw light on how the multi brand e-commerce industry will change in the coming years.

Keywords: bubble burst, finance, multi brand ecommerce, product differentiation, private investor

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Authors: Mohammad Q. M. Momani

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The objective of this study is to examine whether the value relevance of ownership structure changed as the Amman Stock Exchange market conditions changed. Using data from 2005 to 2014, the study finds that the performance of portfolios that contain firms with concentrated ownership structure declines significantly during the post-crisis period. These portfolios exhibit poor performance relative to portfolios that contain firms with dispersed ownership structure during the post-crisis period. The results argue that uninspired performance of the Amman Stock Exchange during the post-crisis period, increased the incentives for controlling shareholders to expropriate. Investors recognized these incentives and discounted firms that were more likely to expropriate.

Keywords: value relevance, ownership structure, portfolio performance, Jordan, ASE

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Authors: A. Oliveira-Brochado, R. Silva, C. Paulino

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The aim of this paper is to use an experiential view of wine tourism to develop a battery of items that can potentially capture the overall Douro Valley experience from the tourist’s perspective. The Douro Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage region located in Portugal, was the target of this study. The research took a mixed approach using both qualitative and quantitative designs. Firstly, we combine the literature review on service quality scales with a content analysis of five in-depth interviews with winery managers and a focus group with wine tourists to identify the main dimensions of the overall tourism experience and to develop a battery of items for each dimension. Eight dimensions of the overall wine tourism experience came out, as follows: winery service and staff, winery facilities, winery service, wine product, wine region environment, wine region accessibilities, wine region´s offerings, and the wine region and winery reputation.

Keywords: wine tourism, Douro region, survey, wineries, experience

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Authors: Yi-De Liu

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Destination branding is a popular practice adopted by many cities in the context of intensified tourism competition. However, branding for major event is a relatively new domain in the studies of destination marketing. Based on a case study of Liverpool as the 2008 European Capital of Culture, the aim of this paper is to explore the effectiveness of the key branding campaign - the ‘Look of the City’ programme. This study looks at quantitative data collected from on-street face-to-face survey. 611 questionnaires were distributed to and collected from local residents, visitors from the immediate hinterland, domestic tourists and overseas visitors. The analysis is done, first by investigating respondents’ impression on the Liverpool 08 brand and the branding campaign, and then by exploring the effects of campaign. The positioning of Liverpool compared with other similar cities is addressed in the end. The final section extracts lessons from this empirical investigation.

Keywords: destination branding, major event, European capital of culture, Liverpool

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Authors: Hammad Riaz, Abubakr Saeed

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Environmental Management System (EMS), i.e., ISO 14001 helps to build corporate reputation, legitimacy and can also be considered as firms’ strategic response to institutional pressure to reduce the impact of business activity on natural environment. The financial outcomes of certifying with ISO 14001 are still unclear and equivocal. Drawing on institutional and market learning theories, the impact of ISO 14001 on firms’ market performance is examined for Chinese firms. By employing rigorous event study approach, this paper compared ISO 14001 certified firms with non-certified counterpart firms based on different matching criteria that include size, return on assets and industry. The results indicate that the ISO 14001 has been negatively signed by the investors both in the short and long-run. This paper suggested implications for policy makers, managers, and other nonprofit organizations.

Keywords: ISO 14001, legitimacy, institutional forces, event study approach, emerging markets

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Authors: Stephen Miller

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The act of applying game mechanics and dynamics (which have been traditionally used in video games) into business applications is being widely trialed in an effort to make conventional business software a bit more participative, fun and engaging. This new trend, named ‘gamification’ has its believers and of course, its critics who still need convincing that the concept is an effective and beneficial business tool worthy of investment. The literature reveals that user engagement of business intelligence (BI) tools is much lower than expected and investors are failing to get a good return on their investment (ROI). So, a software prototype will be designed and developed to add gamification to a BI tool to determine its effect upon the user engagement levels of test participants. The experimental study will be evaluated using the comprehensive User Engagement Scale (UES) to see if there are improvements in areas such as; aesthetics, perceived usability, endurability, novelty, felt involvement and focused attention. The results of this unique study should demonstrate whether or not ‘gamifying’ a BI tool has the potential to increase an individual’s motivation to use BI software more often.

Keywords: business intelligence, gamification, human computer interaction, user engagement

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Authors: Kamlesh Shashikant Dave

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The global financial crisis is rooted in the sub-prime crisis in U.S.A. During the boom years, mortgage brokers attracted by the big commission, encouraged buyers with poor credit to accept housing mortgages with little or no down payment and without credit check. A combination of low interest rates and large inflow of foreign funds during the booming years helped the banks to create easy credit conditions for many years. Banks lent money on the assumptions that housing price would continue to rise. Also the real estate bubble encouraged the demand for houses as financial assets .Banks and financial institutions later repackaged these debts with other high risk debts and sold them to worldwide investors creating financial instruments called collateral debt obligations (CDOs). With the rise in interest rate, mortgage payments rose and defaults among the subprime category of borrowers increased accordingly. Through the securitization of mortgage payments, a recession developed in the housing sector and consequently it was transmitted to the entire US economy and rest of the world. The financial credit crisis has moved the US and the global economy into recession. Indian economy has also affected by the spill over effects of the global financial crisis. Great saving habit among people, strong fundamentals, strong conservative and regulatory regime have saved Indian economy from going out of gear, though significant parts of the economy have slowed down. Industrial activity, particularly in the manufacturing and infrastructure sectors decelerated. The service sector too, slow in construction, transport, trade, communication, hotels and restaurants sub sectors. The financial crisis has some adverse impact on the IT sector. Exports had declined in absolute terms in October. Higher inputs costs and dampened demand have dented corporate margins while the uncertainty surrounding the crisis has affected business confidence. To summarize, reckless subprime lending, loose monetary policy of US, expansion of financial derivatives beyond acceptable norms and greed of Wall Street has led to this exceptional global financial and economic crisis. Thus, the global credit crisis of 2008 highlights the need to redesign both the global and domestic financial regulatory systems not only to properly address systematic risk but also to support its proper functioning (i.e financial stability).Such design requires: 1) Well managed financial institutions with effective corporate governance and risk management system 2) Disclosure requirements sufficient to support market discipline. 3)Proper mechanisms for resolving problem institution and 4) Mechanisms to protect financial services consumers in the event of financial institutions failure.

Keywords: FIIs, BSE, sensex, global impact

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Authors: Javid Zarei

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International buyback contracts are a type of contract service. These kinds of contracts are the most important instrument for attracting foreign investors in accordance with Iran's laws. These contracts have been the basis of commercial and economic relations between Iran and foreign companies for about 30 years. The legal structure of this type of contract has gradually evolved, so today, an advanced generation of it under the title of Iran Petroleum Contract is being used in the industry of Iran. This article has analytically examined the issue of Iran's commercial contracts in the oil industry and contracting services and allocated sections to examine the strengths and weaknesses of these oil contracts. Also, this research is an attempt to examine and compare the Concession regime with the Buyback contracts, each of which is derived from the common law legal system and the Islamic legal system, respectively.

Keywords: buyback contracts, concession regime, ownership, common law legal system, Islamic legal system of Iran

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Authors: Osamah A. Alsayegh

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This paper contributes to the literature by updating the analysis of the impact of the recent oil prices fall on the renewable energy (RE) industry and deployment. The research analysis uses the Renewable Energy Industrial Index (RENIXX), which tracks the world’s 30 largest publicly traded companies and oil prices daily data from January 2003 to March 2016. RENIXX represents RE industries developing solar, wind, geothermal, bioenergy, hydropower and fuel cells technologies. This paper tests the hypothesis that claims high oil prices encourage the substitution of alternate energy sources for conventional energy sources. Furthermore, it discusses RENIXX performance behavior with respect to the governments’ policies factor that investors should take into account. Moreover, the paper proposes a theoretical model that relates RE industry progress with oil prices and policies through the fuzzy logic system.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic, investment, policy, stock exchange index

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Authors: Parvaneh Ziviar Pardehei, Esmaeil Hossinnejad

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In this research, the tourism climate index Miczcofski (TCI) and to assess climate Trjvng Piranshahr city tourism is discussed. The index is a systematic way to evaluate the climatic conditions for tourism. To calculate the parameters of mean monthly maximum temperature, minimum relative humidity, average daily relative humidity, rainfall, sunshine and the wind speed are used. In the months of April, July, August and September of comfort there in December, January, February and March, the nerve is cold comfort factor. Baker calculation method showed that during spring and summer cooling environment, mild, pleasant, and comfortable Byvklymay there. TCI results suggest that the months of April to July are top rated and best climatic conditions in terms of comfort to the tourists. In general, indices used in this paper show that the months of April to October is the best time for tourism in the city Piranshahr.

Keywords: tourism, climate, Piranshahr city, TCI indicators and trjvng

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Authors: Belhouchet Selma, Ben Amar Anis

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We examine the impact of COVID-19 transmission, containment measures, and vaccination growth on daily stock market returns for the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) from January 22, 2020, to August 31, 2021, more than a year and a half after COVID-19. For this objective, we use panel pooled ordinary least squares regressions. Our findings indicate that the spread of the pandemic has a negative impact on the daily performance of the world's seven main stock markets. Government measures to improve stock market returns are no longer successful. Furthermore, our findings demonstrate that immunization efforts in G7 nations do not increase stock market performance in these countries. A variety of robustness tests back up our conclusions. Our findings have far-reaching implications for investors, governments, and regulators not only in the G7 countries but also in all developed countries and all countries globally.

Keywords: COVID-19, G7 stock market, containment measures, vaccination

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Authors: V. Iakovoglou, G. N. Zaimes, M. P. Arraiza Bermúdez-Cañete, J. L. García, M. C. Giménez, C. Calderón-Guerrero, F. Ioras, I. Abrudan

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A new fast growing trend in tourism is ecotourism, in which tourists visit natural ecosystems under low impact, non-consumptive and locally oriented activities. Through these activities species and habitats are maintained and typically, underdeveloped regions are emphasized. Ecotourism provides a great alternative, especially for rural and undeveloped area. At the same time, despite its many benefits, it also poses many risks for the naturally protected areas. If ecotourism is practiced improperly degradation and irreversible damages could be the unwanted result. In addition, the lack of MSc programs in the field of Ecotourism in Europe makes it a necessity to be developed. Such an MSc program is being implemented with the lead partner the Technical University of Madrid. The entire partnership has six Universities, seven SMEs and one National Park from seven different countries all over Europe. The MSc will have 10 educational modules that will be available online and will prepare professionals that will be able to implement ecotourism in a sustainable way. Only through awareness and education a sustainable ecotourism will be achieved in the protected areas of Europe.

Keywords: ERASMUS, MSc program, protected Areas, sustainability

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Authors: David Amoah Oduro

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In the ever-evolving terrain of international business, a profound revolution is underway, guided by the swift integration and advancement of disruptive technologies like digital analytics. In today's international business landscape, where competition is fierce, and decisions are data-driven, the essence of this paper lies in offering a tangible roadmap for practitioners. It is a guide that bridges the chasm between theory and actionable insights, helping businesses, investors, and entrepreneurs navigate the complexities of international expansion into sub-Saharan Africa. This practitioner paper distils essential insights, methodologies, and actionable recommendations for businesses seeking to leverage digital analytics in their pursuit of market entry and expansion across the African continent. What sets this paper apart is its unwavering focus on a region ripe with potential: sub-Saharan Africa. The adoption and adaptation of digital analytics are not mere luxuries but essential strategic tools for evaluating countries and entering markets within this dynamic region. With the spotlight firmly fixed on sub-Saharan Africa, the aim is to provide a compelling resource to guide practitioners in their quest to unearth the vast opportunities hidden within sub-Saharan Africa's digital desert. The paper illuminates the pivotal role of digital analytics in providing a data-driven foundation for market entry decisions. It highlights the ability to uncover market trends, consumer behavior, and competitive landscapes. By understanding Africa's incredible diversity, the paper underscores the importance of tailoring market entry strategies to account for unique cultural, economic, and regulatory factors. For practitioners, this paper offers a set of actionable recommendations, including the creation of cross-functional teams, the integration of local expertise, and the cultivation of long-term partnerships to ensure sustainable market entry success. It advocates for a commitment to continuous learning and flexibility in adapting strategies as the African market evolves. This paper represents an invaluable resource for businesses, investors, and entrepreneurs who are keen on unlocking the potential of digital analytics for informed market entry in Africa. It serves as a guiding light, equipping practitioners with the essential tools and insights needed to thrive in this dynamic and diverse continent. With these key insights, methodologies, and recommendations, this paper is a roadmap to prosperous and sustainable market entry in Africa. It is vital for anyone looking to harness the transformational potential of digital analytics to create prosperous and sustainable ventures in a region brimming with promise. In the ever-advancing digital age, this practitioner paper becomes a lodestar, guiding businesses and visionaries toward success amidst the unique challenges and rewards of sub-Saharan Africa's international business landscape.

Keywords: global analytics, digital analytics, sub-Saharan Africa, data analytics

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Authors: Qitao Xie, Qingquan Zhang, Xiaofei Zhang, Di Tian, Ruixuan Wen, Ting Zhu, Ping Yi, Xin Li

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Inspired by the recent movement of digital currency, we are building a question answering system concerning the subject of cryptocurrency using Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT). The motivation behind this work is to properly assist digital currency investors by directing them to the corresponding knowledge bases that can offer them help and increase the querying speed. BERT, one of newest language models in natural language processing, was investigated to improve the quality of generated responses. We studied different combinations of hyperparameters of the BERT model to obtain the best fit responses. Further, we created an intelligent chatbot for cryptocurrency using BERT. A chatbot using BERT shows great potential for the further advancement of a cryptocurrency market tool. We show that the BERT neural networks generalize well to other tasks by applying it successfully to cryptocurrency.

Keywords: bidirectional encoder representations from transformers, BERT, chatbot, cryptocurrency, deep learning

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Authors: Uzoma Emmanuel Igboji

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The study investigates the effects of cash flow position on corporate performance in the manufacturing sector of Nigeria, using multiple regression techniques. The study involved a survey of five (5) manufacturing companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The data were obtained from the annual reports of the selected companies under study. The result shows that operating and financing cash flow have a significant positive relationship with corporate performance, while investing cash flow position have a significant negative relationship. The researcher recommended that the regulatory authorities should encourage external auditors of these quoted companies to use cash flow ratios in evaluating the performance of a company before expressing an independent opinion on the financial statement. The will give detailed financial information to existing and potential investors to make informed economic decisions.

Keywords: cash flow, financing, performance, operating

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Authors: Mahdi Azizzadeh, Ali Nabizadeh

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This paper investigates whether ownership structure has significant effects on dividend policy and the percentage of cash dividend payout ratio in Iranian companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. We use a sample of 300 firm-years for 2010-2014. Results indicate that there is no significant relationship between family ownership and/or institutional ownership and dividend policy. Furthermore, there is no significant relationship between dividend policies in family-owned firms with high or low institutional ownership. However, our empirical test shows that family firms with a low level of institutional investors distribute more cash dividends on average than family firms with a high level of institutional ownership.

Keywords: family ownership, institutional ownership, dividend policy, dividend payout ratio

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Authors: Zakaria S. G. Hegazy, Walid M. A. Ahmed

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This paper examines the dependence structure of Islamic stock markets on Bitcoin’s realized volatility components in bear, normal, and bull market periods. A quantile regression approach is employed, after adjusting raw returns with respect to a broad set of relevant global factors and accounting for structural breaks in the data. The results reveal that upside volatility tends to exert negative influences on Islamic developed-market returns more in bear than in bull market conditions, while downside volatility positively affects returns during bear and bull conditions. For emerging markets, we find that the upside (downside) component exerts lagged negative (positive) effects on returns in bear (all) market regimes. By and large, the dependence structures turn out to be asymmetric. Our evidence provides essential implications for investors.

Keywords: cryptocurrency markets, bitcoin, realized volatility measures, asymmetry, quantile regression

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Authors: Yuri Katz, Kun Liu, Arunram Atmacharan

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Due to illiquidity, mispricing on Credit Markets is inevitable. This creates huge challenges to banks and investors as they seek to find new ways of risk valuation and portfolio management in a post-credit crisis world. Here, we analyze the difference in behavior of the spread-to-maturity in investment and high-yield categories of US corporate bonds between 2014 and 2023. Deviation from the theoretical dependency of this measure in the universe under study allows to identify multiple cases of mispriced credit risk. Remarkably, we observe mispriced bonds in both categories of credit ratings. This identification is supported by the application of the state-of-the-art machine learning model in more than 90% of cases. Noticeably, the ML-driven model-based forecasting of a category of bond’s credit ratings demonstrate an excellent out-of-sample accuracy (AUC = 98%). We believe that these results can augment conventional valuations of credit portfolios.

Keywords: credit risk, credit ratings, bond pricing, spread-to-maturity, machine learning

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Authors: Zanjbeel Tabassum

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The main purpose of any economic investment is to get profit at the end. As the investment in large organizations bears complexities, investors are influenced to invest in small or medium enterprises. With the increase of global competition in terms of quality and productivity, these small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are trying to convert to modern production practices using Six Sigma. But this concept is still lacking in Pakistani SMEs. There are some critical success factors which influence the successful implementation of Six Sigma. Through this paper, an attempt has been made to identify various CSF for successful implementation of Six Sigma in Pakistani SMEs with the help of a structured survey. On the basis of responses to the questionnaire, factor analysis is performed on the selected critical success factors (from literature) to prioritize the critical factors and those are rated by calculating descriptive statistics. This paper will provide a base for Pakistani SMEs and future researchers working in six sigma implementation and help them to prepare a road map to eradicate the hurdles in six sigma implementation.

Keywords: critical success factors, SMEs, Six Sigma, CSF

Procedia PDF Downloads 252