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Does The Revolving Door Lead To
Corruption Or Capture?
Dr. Glen Taylor, California
State University, East Bay, Hayward, CA
Sandy Luong, California State University, East Bay, Hayward, CA
ABSTRACT
The legitimacy of government is
undermined when the public comes to believe that elected and appointed officials
are more interested in advancing their own careers than in serving the public
interest. With apparent ease, elected officials become lobbyists, lobbyists
become government regulators, regulators become corporate executives, and
corporate executives become senior government officials. This is commonly
referred to in politics as the ‘revolving door.’ Despite its prevalence in
political circles, and despite a growing interest in understanding the causes of
corruption, in both government and private firms, this revolving door phenomenon
has received little if any attention from management scholars. In this paper, we
explore the primary economic and institutional perspectives that might explain
why and how the revolving door might in some cases lead to outright corruption,
while in other cases it might lead to more subtle forms of questionable
influence that fall short of intentional abuse of power and position but still
raise concerns that private interests are taking precedence over the public
good. Government and
industry managers and representatives seem to effortlessly move from private
sector employment to public sector employment and back again in what is commonly
referred to as a ‘revolving door.’ In 1966, the American journalist James
Deakin described the way in which lobbyists coming from government take
advantage of their work experience on Capitol Hill or the federal bureaucracy
and put it to use in specific lobbying and legal fields (Salisbury et al.,
1989).
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Market Sentiment and Momentum
Effects:A Comparative Study with the Stocks
Dr. Zi “Nancy” Ning, Delaware
State University, DE
Dr. Nicholas Gressis, OH
ABSTRACT
This study compares the
profitability of a traditional momentum strategy with directional momentum
strategies (a modified version of traditional momentum strategies) in US stock
markets. Directional momentum strategies take into consideration monthly price
changes within a quarter; past quarterly returns and the subpatterns of monthly
returns within that quarter also are considered. The typical directional
momentum strategies that select the stocks with the accelerated monthly returns
prove to be more profitable than their traditional counterparts over the 20-year
period of our study. Such investment strategies exhibit superior performances
especially during the late 1990s to early 2000s, when the US stock market
experienced what is called “irrational exuberance.” An extensive range of
literature has documented that stock prices exhibit momentum; that is,
continuation in a price direction, over three- to 12-month horizons. So what
goes up tends to keep rising and vice versa (Jegadeesh and Titman 1993, 2001;
Chan et al., 1999). Jegadeesh and Titman (1993, 2001) report that trading
strategies of buying past winners and selling past losers realized significant
positive returns over the period of 1965 to 1998, with a compounded excess
return of 12% per year. In a more recent study, Jegadeesh and Titman (2011)
reexamine the performance of the momentum strategy from 1990 to 2009. The
momentum strategy produced an average annual profit of 13.5%, even though the
strategy experienced a severe loss of 36.5% in 2009. Using data from 12 European
countries, Rouwenhorst (1998) finds that the magnitude of the momentum returns
is similar to those in US stock markets.
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The Predictive Value of
Bankruptcy Models
Dr. Gurdeep K. Chawla,
National University, San Diego, CA
ABSTRACT
The United States (US) economy
plunged into a recession in 2008, and this recession has been more severe than
other recessions in recent history. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA),
one of the chief economic indicators, fell from 12,650 on January 2, 2008, to
8,000 on January 2, 2009, representing a decline of approximately 36 percent in
a one-year period. According to BankruptcyData.com, when compared with previous
years, 2009 ranked as the third-busiest year for corporate bankruptcy filings in
the United States. BankruptcyData.com also determined that companies which
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2008 held a cumulative total of
more than $1 trillion in assets. The sudden downturn of the economy, which had
been doing extremely well, was a surprise not only to the general public, but
also to pundits and experts. Some of the usual questions included: How could
this happen overnight? Were there any early warning signs? Could the
bankruptcies of so many companies have been predicted? This paper focuses on
some of the bankruptcy models that have been developed and that are routinely
used to analyze the financial statements of companies. The bankruptcy models
were applied to the financial statements of selected companies that filed for
bankruptcy in 2009 to determine if the bankruptcies could have been predicted.
Financial data from 2007 and 2008, when these firms were going through a
difficult economic period which led to bankruptcy filings in 2009, was used to
examine the predictive value of the bankruptcy models.
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Blogging Around
the Twittersphere: Has Social Media Changed the Way A Destination is Developed?
Sharon Kiely, Limerick
Institute of Technology, Ireland
Annie Cowhey, Limerick
Institute of Technology, Ireland
Dr. Noelle O’Connor, Limerick
Institute of Technology, Ireland
Dr. Sinead O’Leary, Limerick
Institute of Technology, Ireland
ABSTRACT
The development of
Web 2.0 which facilitated the creation of social media technologies has
revolutionised the way destinations brand themselves. Social media has enabled
customers to generate and share their own content over the internet. This new
source of information has changed the way a destination’s identity, image and
brand is formed as consumers now play an important role in the development of
these destination aspects through the use of social media technologies. This
study investigates the impact social media is having on a destination and tries
to establish if this new platform has changed the way a destination is
developed. Findings from the case study analysis show that destinations such as
Ireland are recognising that consumers are now co-creators of their marketing
activities, and are embracing different social media strategies in order to
effectively strengthen their brand. However, examples utilised throughout the
paper illustrate that other destinations such as Italy are failing to
acknowledge the significant role that social media is playing in destination
development. With respect to that, this conceptual paper will try to determine
if a social media presence is required for the development of today’s
destinations. It is imperative for Destination Management Organisations (DMO) to
consider Information and Communication Technology (ICT) when developing a
destination brand (Buhalis and Law, 2008).
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IT Intellectual Property
Rights - Employee's Software Side Projects
Ashley Coleman, University
of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, MO
Dr.
Mustafa Kamal, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, MO
ABSTRACT
During the Industrial Revolution
in America, courts drew from the legal traditions of common law and created a
doctrine of “shop rights,” and applied in the absence of an express written
agreement. Under this doctrine, whatever inventions were made at work stayed at
work, and whatever inventions were made at home stayed at home. Shop rights
also allow an employer to claim any innovation the employee creates while on
company time and using company resources. Later in the 20th century, employers
increasingly required that all employees assign to the employer any inventions
they might make. ‘Massachusetts Model’, as it was called, impled that every
creative thought of the employee is company property. Courts favored employment
contracts to the words and even if the contract stated so, an ex-employee was
compelled to continue assigning his inventions even after leaving the company.
In 1977 came the “Minnesota model,” which offered both the employer and employee
some measure of protection without either being unfairly disadvantaged. 20th
century saw the explosive growth of software industry and software applications
started to become integral part of all businesses. This gave birth to the new
workforce of ‘knowledge worker’ like programmers, software developers, etc. The
laws originally applied to employee inventions were naturally extended to
knowledge workers that create / develop software bringing them under the
umbrella of the above-mentioned doctrines and principles. In the absence of a
formal written agreement between the employer and employee, certain rules may
apply to code innovation / software development.
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Human Resource Policies on
Workplace Safety: A Case for Incorporating Anti-Bullying Measures
Dr. Bernadette Baum, National
University, San Diego, CA
ABSTRACT
Human resource managers are tasked
with many duties concerning the safety and welfare of an organization’s
employees, not least of which includes keeping the workplace free from unlawful
activity. A recent challenge facing human resource managers involves behavior
from coworkers or supervisors commonly known as bullying. Because no legislation
currently exists to protect employees from bullying in the workplace, human
resource managers are left to consider ways of dealing - or not dealing - with
the consequences bullying. This paper outlines the need for workplace
protections against the adverse impact of disruptive behaviors on the working
environment in light of the increasing problem of workplace bullying. In the
absence of anti-bullying legislation, the paper proffers an argument in favor of
preventive measures in the form of human resource policies and training to be
implemented in an effort to mitigate potential liability for the employer and,
more importantly, foster a healthier working environment for all employees. It
features suggestions for a code of conduct to be considered as part of an
education and training program against workplace bullying. The author draws on
15 years of experience as an employment law practitioner and counselor to human
resource managers, as well as over 12 years teaching experience in the area of
legal aspects of human resource management.
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A Regime Switching Approach
to Analyzing Bank Non-Performing Loans in Barbados
Tiffany Grosvenor, Central Bank
of Barbados
Kester
Guy, Central Bank of Barbados
ABSTRACT
A frequently used metric
associated with bank vulnerability is the non-performing loans ratio (NPLs), and
many studies have analyzed and developed frameworks for forecasting this
variable. The primary critique against many of the previous work is the failure
to account for the nonlinearities inherent in the relationship between bank NPLs
and the economic cycle. As a result the generalized conclusions on the linkage
between NPLs and gross domestic product (GDP) may be misguided, especially when
prudential rules impose natural asymmetries that may cause the association to
change along different phases of the economic cycle. This study therefore,
reexamines the relationship between NPL and GDP for Barbados using a regime
switching approach. In doing so, the authors analyzed bank-impacts from a mix of
macroeconomic and idiosyncratic data under different regimes to determine
whether NPL outcomes across regimes and across institutions are homogenous.
Further, the authors examined whether changes in systemic vulnerabilities are
driven by all banks or only a subset. Answers to these critical problems,
therefore provides a valuable framework that guides the authorities in
developing appropriate policies to help strengthen the banking sector against
systemic failures. The overall findings suggest that a non-linear approach to
analyzing the NPL-GDP nexus is valid, but the relationship is not homogenous
across institutions in different regimes.
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Impact on Survivors of
Downsizing: A Generational Comparison
Dr. Yvonne Phelps, University of
Phoenix
ABSTRACT
This quantitative research study
examined the impact of downsizing on survivors; specifically, it explored the
attitudes of those who remain in the organization after a downsizing event
through data comparison based on gender and age cohort. A survey was conducted
of 200 white-collar, private-sector employees who survived corporate downsizing
of 10 percent or more within companies of 500 to 5,000 employees from 2008
through 2012. Job satisfaction and organizational commitment postdownsizing were
evaluated and compared between genders and Gen X and Baby Boomer cohorts. A
strong correlation was found between organizational commitment and job
satisfaction. No significant difference in reported organizational commitment or
job satisfaction was found between either the gender or age cohort.
When organizations
experience a decline in revenue, leaders often resort to downsizing the
workforce to balance the difference between revenue and expenses. Since 2008,
the U.S. economy has been affected by mass layoffs as a result of the recession
that began in 2007, at which time the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS,
2007) reported nearly 1 million workers were involved in layoffs. By September
2008, the number of layoffs was the largest since September 2001 (BLS, 2009).
The BLS (2011) reported layoffs in February 2011 of 130,818 workers. While
downsizing an organizational workforce can be an effective cost-reduction
measure, the results can have collateral negative effects such as slow response
to new opportunities, poor public relations, increased hiring costs and
training, and damaged employee morale (De Meuse & Marks, 2003).
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A Study of Multiple Reference
Effects in Brand Commitment
Dr. Zui Chih Lee, Susquehanna
University, PA
Dr. Dauw Song Zhu, National Dong Hwa
University, Hualien, Taiwan
Dr. Mark Heuer, Susquehanna
University, PA
Su-Yan Liu, National Dong Hwa
University, Hualien, Taiwan
ABSTRACT
Customer satisfaction and
service evaluation studies have applied reference effects by examining
Expectancy-disconfirmation paradigm. This study is planned to explore the
interaction relationship between expectancy-disconfirmation, alternative
attractiveness, and self-image congruity. The framework of multiple reference
effects in brand evaluations adopted the theoretical insights from regret theory
and self-image congruity theory. An empirical study of two shoe companies
including other-object and self-based reference points contributes significantly
to consumer satisfaction evaluations. Self-image congruity has a significant
impact on both satisfaction and brand commitment. Consumers’ intuitive
evaluation behavior, shaped by comparisons to multiple points, has been
motivated research interests for several years. Specifically, the
expectancy-disconfirmation model has indicated consumers’ evaluation based on
the gap between customers’ expectation and their post consumption satisfaction.
Across social psychology, consumer behavior, and service satisfaction,
researchers have identified three major types of referents: focal-object,
other-object, and self-based as follows. A focal-object referent has been
applied to measure consumers’ existing expectations about the focal product or
service object of their evaluation. Disconfirmation affects satisfaction about
the focal object when a consumer compares the perceived performance of the focal
object with his or her previous expectations (Oliver 1980; Tse & Wilton, 1988).
Another-object referent helps consumers compare the performance of an
alternative with the focal object (Ping, 1993; Rusbult, 1980).
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Be Prepared: Barter Could Be
Coming to your Neighborhood
Dr. William R. Smith, PCM,
Pepperdine University, CA
Dr. David L. Ralph, Pepperdine University, CA
Dr. Stacy M. P. Schmidt,
California State University, Bakersfield, CA
ABSTRACT
Anecdotal reports indicate that the
use of barter and barter-like transactions is a growing phenomenon in almost
every region of the world in both consumer and business markets. While large
transactions involving major defense and infrastructure expenditures often
capture the attention of governments and media outlets, this old-fashioned form
of exchange appears to be growing in usage across all types of industries and
sizes of businesses. Would companies, especially small and medium enterprises (SME’s),
be well-served to anticipate growth in demand for barter-based exchanges and
develop a facility in conducting business in this manner? Could this knowledge
become a competitive advantage as less knowledgeable competitors struggle to
gain experience in the use of barter? It’s not surprising to hear
reports of increasing usage of consumer-based barter from recession-ravaged
European Union countries such as Spain and Greece or developing African
countries (e.g., Makkas 2012, Adams 2012). However, these anecdotal reports of
the re-emergence of barter and barter-like exchanges are increasing in number in
North American economies as well (e.g., Kouremetis 2012). “Barter can be
readily applied to all types of businesses seeking to improve their inventory
management of tangible products as well as intangible services” (Mardak, 2002).
According to Spring (2013) “barter allows businesses to exchange services to
help keep up cash flow”. In 2009 (Truitt), the barter industry had grown to
over an $8 billion industry. Visiting the web site for classified ads called
Craigslist leads one to find a category for “barter” under the general category
of “For Sale.”
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Inflation Convergence of Euro
Countries: A Nonlinear Perspective
Dr. Burcu Kıran, Department of Econometrics, Istanbul University, Istanbul
ABSTRACT
The main objective of this study is
to test inflation convergence of eight Euro countries over the period from
January 1999 to October 2011 by using two-regime threshold unit root estimation
procedure. For this purpose, inflation differentials with respect to Euro area
average are constructed. According to the obtained results, it is found that the
inflation differential series belonging to Belgium-Euro area, France-Euro area,
Ireland-Euro area, Italy-Euro area, and Spain-Euro area are nonlinear processes,
while the inflation differential series belonging to Germany-Euro area, the
Netherlands-Euro area, and Portugal-Euro area are not. Another finding of this
study is that there is strong evidence of stationarity for all the inflation
differential series, except Ireland-Euro area, implying inflation convergence.
As the convergence of inflation rates was incorporated as one of the
requirements to admit a prospective country as a full member of the European
Monetary Union (EMU), the issue of inflation convergence within European
countries has received considerable attention during the last decade. In the
1992 Maastricht Treaty, the convergence condition for inflation rates is defined
as follows: The inflation rates of individual members should not be more than
one and a half percent higher than the average of the three lowest inflation
rates in the European Monetary System (EMS).
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Mobile Commerce Acceptance
Determinants Among South African Consumers: Does Gender Matter?
Nobukhosi Dlodlo,
Vaal University
of Technology, Republic of
South Africa
Chengedzai Mafini,
Vaal University
of Technology, Republic of
South Africa
ABSTRACT
The purpose of the study was to
validate the determinants of mobile-commerce acceptance and establish the
existence of any gender-based difference towards m-commerce acceptance among
South African consumers. A survey was conducted with the aid of a structured
self-administered questionnaire with a view to collect primary data from a
sample consisting a cross –section of 204 consumers based in the Vaal area of
Southern Gauteng, South Africa. Reliability of the survey instrument was
ascertained using Cronbach Alpha values. Content validity was established
through pre-testing the questionnaire prior to the main survey. Convergent
validity was established through inter-dimensional correlation analysis.
Statistical and practical significance were established through t-tests and
Cohen’s D measures. There were positive correlations among the five m-commerce
acceptance dimensions, namely; technology application (TA); perceived ease of
use (PEOU); perceived enjoyment (PE); perceived usefulness (PU) and subjective
norms (SN). Cronbach Alpha values ranged between 0.714 and 0.898, thereby
indicating high internal consistency among the sub-scales as well as within the
entire survey instrument. Correlation
coefficients ranged between .164 and .677 at both the p<0.01 and p<0.05
significance levels (2 tailed test) indicating
very high levels of association among the sub-scales.
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Effects of Scale Display
Formats, the Number of Variables per Display and Styles of
Grid Lines on Line
Graph Visualization in Response to Difficult Business Queries
Dr. Chatpong Tangmanee, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
Prapapak Jiradnunyakul, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
ABSTRACT
One of the well-known data analysis
and presentation techniques, a line graph is adopted in various fields to
portray a relationship between variables. The graph’s appropriate formats are
critical if viewers must visualize the graph in order to deal with difficult
business queries. However, research in the Thai context examining effects of
scale display formats (i.e., conventional or unconventional), the number of
lines per display (i.e., one, three or six) and styles of grid lines (i.e.,
rough or fine) on line graph visualization in response to abstract questions is
rare. The current study intends to fill this gap.A lab experiment in which 360
Thai undergraduates in a business school were recruited in random to visualize
12 conditions of comparable line graphs in response to thirteen difficult
queries (2 scale formats x 3 numbers of lines per display x 2 styles of grid
lines) confirms that (1) the effect of the numbers of lines per display on
visualization is statistically significant but (2) the effects of grid lines,
scale display formats or the interaction effects of these three factors are not
significant. In addition to extending insight into issues of information
visualization in the particular context of Thai line graph readers, graph
developers could apply the findings to enhance readers’ graph visualization.A
line graph is well known in numerous disciplines (Tan & Benbasat, 1993; Katz,
2008; Kosslyn, 2006; Kumar & Benbasat, 2004). The wide acceptance is a result of
graph readers’ capability in decoding quantitative data presented in the graph
(Cleveland & McGill, 1985; Glazer, 2011). According to Kosslyn (2006), a line
graph has three major components: framework, content and label.
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Country Specific Political Risk
Indices and Economic Growth
Dr. Hussein Zeaiter, Lebanese American University,
Lebanon
Dr. Raed
El-Khalil, Lebanese American University, Lebanon
ABSTRACT
The interrelationship between
corruption and democracy and their impact on economic growth is the main subject
of this paper. This study utilize country specific risk index in order to test
the relationship between three variables: democracy, corruption, and economic
growth. Unbalanced panel
data is used for 146 countries over the period 1984 - 2009.
The results show that corruption has a negative impact on economic growth in
countries with high democratic risk and no impact in countries with low risks.
However, with the same classification, democracy has negative significant impact
on growth in countries with low corruption and no impact on countries with high
corruption. The effect
of democracy and corruption on economic growth per capita GDP has long been
studied. Democracy is expected to trigger economic growth, and corruption is
expected to decrease in democracies. However, many democratic countries have low
economic growth whereas many non-democracies experience high economic growth.
Previous scholarly work (Obayelu, 2007 and Shera, 2011) on the topic indicates
that in democratic countries, there was no effect on economic growth. Obayelu
(2007) showed that despite that Nigeria is a democracy, corruption exists and,
it is rooted from terrible socio-cultural and political situations. Due to the
paper the major challenge was to cure the causes of this terrible situation. In
addition, despite the fact that Turkey is a democratic country, it faced
corruption scandals Gillespie (2006).
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Saudi Arabian Sukuk Market: Recent Trends and Development
Mohammed Waleed Alswaidan,
University of Portsmouth, UK
ABSTRACT
After the recent financial crisis
impact on the financial industry, the risk factor of each financial instrument
is the critical measurement for investors. Thus, fixed income securities such as
Bonds or Sukuk (Islamic Bonds) addressed the option for lower risk investment.
Sukuk is considered as a dynamic investment instrument and has been developed
over the recent past. It is catching the investors’ interest due to its unique
features. This paper attempts to follow the trends and developments in the Sukuk
market in Saudi Arabia as it is the heart of the Islamic world. The paper
provides a comparison between returns and duration of the Saudi Arabian Sukuk
Market against the Global Sukuk Market. Results found that the Sukuk market in
Saudi Arabia is the dominant trend of investors in the market and has
consistency of positive returns over the period after the recent financial
crisis lead to speed up the development in the Sukuk industry around the world.
Since the developments and changes in the financial industry over recent
decades, Islamic finance found itself the major player with rapid growth over
its sectors. It has evolved to become one of the most
dynamic and fastest developing business areas in global finance
(Pock, 2007), which is currently growing at between 10-15% each year (Ainley,
Mashayekhi & Hicks, 2007), and the value of Islamic finance assets in the world
have been estimated to reach over one trillion US dollars by the year 2012 (Mansor
& Bhatti, 2011). In particular, after the recent financial crisis which started
in the summer of 2007, it can be seen clearly that the expansion of Islamic
finance has increased its position around the world.
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Testing Validity
of the Purchasing Power Parity: Evidence from MENA Countries
Dr. Nilgun Cil Yavuz, Head of
the Department of Econometrics, Istanbul University, Istanbul
ABSTRACT
This paper investigates the
validity of the purchasing power parity theory for MENA countries by using
univariate
and panel unit root tests with and without structural breaks.
The results of the unit root
test which does not allow structural breaks show the importance of the breaks
and give that each of the real exchange rates of selected MENA countries are
non-stationary. Furthermore, the panel LM test supports these results. By
allowing structural breaks in LM testing strategy, we find the evidence of
purchasing power parity for Jordan and Turkey. The
purchasing power parity (PPP) theory is the one of the oldest and controversial
theory in the determination of the exchange rate. First articulated by scholars
of the Salamanca school in sixteenth century, simple empirical proposition of
the purchasing power parity is that once converted to a common currency,
national price levels should be equal. On the other hand, the modern origins of
purchasing power parity trace to the debate on how to restore the world
financial system after its collapse during World War I. The Swedish economist
Gustav Cassel promoted the use of PPP as a means for setting relative gold
parities and treated PPP as a practical empirical theory. Basically, he used
inflation differentials to calculate the exchange rate changes needed to
maintain PPP (Rogoff, 1996). Purchasing Power Parity asserts that the exchange
rate change between two currencies over any period of time is determined by the
change in the two countries' relative price levels.
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A Study of
Interpersonal Influences and Opinion Leader’s Expertise on Purchase
Decision of
Fashion Goods: A Cross-Cultural Study
Dr. Pongsiri Tejavibulya, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Somkiat Eiamkanchanalai, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
ABSTRACT
This study aims to
measure the influence of opinion leaders towards purchase decisions of opinion
seekers through opinion leader’s expertise, and interpersonal forces of tie
strength and perceptual homophily. This study also seeks further explanation
from cross-cultural dimensions. This findings show that the influence of opinion
leaders towards purchase decision of opinion seekers do not have equal weighting
on the purchase decision due to opinion leader’s expertise and interpersonal
forces. It is also found that varied level of influence on purchase decisions is
due to cultural background. Collectivists are influenced by opinion leaders more
than individualists. Thus, marketing academics and marketing managers should
find that different cultural background may require different marketing. As
such, they can utilise this study to plan a more suitable and effective
marketing strategy. Many
studies have shown that opinion leadership is in many markets the single
strongest factor causing a purchasing decision, e.g. Bansal and Voyer, 2000 [1];
Kohli, 1989 [2]; Webster, 1988 [3]. However, it has actually not received
adequate attention in previous literature. In particular, there has been
surprising little research conducted that has examined the effect of social
influences on the receiver’s purchase decisions across cultures. The importance
of social influences has been exemplified in a classic consumer behaviour
theory, Theory of Reasoned Action by Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) [4], which
specifies that individuals’ behavioural intentions are predicated by their own
internal attitudes and their motivation to comply with others.
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Increasing the
Effectiveness of Succession in the Family Business: Suggestions from
Outperforming Successors
Markus Baur, University of
Latvia, Riga
ABSTRACT
Research concerning succession
in family-held businesses is not new. Many attempts have been made to further
advance the understanding of this very important phase for family businesses.
However, only few authors have let the successor to be in the spotlight.
This paper summarizes the results of a dissertation aimed to identify
propositions for effective succession in family businesses by exploring the
perspectives of outperforming successors. Based on the framework of systems
theory and a qualitative research approach, 13 successful cases of mediumsized
family firms have been studied. For this purpose, problem-centered interviews
with outperforming successors in the close-to-boarder-area of Austria, Germany,
and Switzerland have been conducted. The paper shortly introduces the
fundamental theoretical background and the applied research design before
outlining a variety of suggestions derived from the results and findings of the
work addressing primarily prospective successors. The family business can be
approached by using several different theoretical lenses. Amongst others, the
resource-based explanatory approach (i.a. Habbershon & Williams, 1999, Peteraf,
1993), the life-cycle approach (i.a. May & Koeberle-Schmid, 2012, Gersick et
al., 1997), the principal-agency theory (i.a. Dyer, 2006, Jensen & Meckling,
1976). and the systems theory (i.a. Simon, 2012, Wilms, 2008). have provided
valuable frameworks to investigate on the family business. The resource-based
explanatory approach and principal-agency theory have advanced the field
especially to explain performance distinctions compared to non-family-held
businesses.
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Illumination of Mission
Statements of Public and Private Universities in Turkey: A Content Analysis
Ozlem Araci, Istanbul Technical
University
ABSTRACT
Universities encounter various
pressures and conflicts in their environment. Satisfying all pressures is
impossible for universities and they need to make choice. In that case, mission
has potential to direct universities when they need to decide basic and
strategic situations. This study assesses the mission of public and private
universities in Turkey. Aim of the study is revealing differences between
missions of public and private universities based on the content analysis and
frame their strategic focuses. For that purpose, mission of 101 public
universities and mission of 50 private universities were examined and three
judges evaluated the content of the mission statements. Also reliability
analysis was implemented to judges’ assignment themes to the categories.
Conclusions supported that “serving to society” is the most mentioned statements
for both public and private universities in Turkey and private universities use
“being international” statement as much as “serving to society”. This study may
serve as a reference point for universities who will develop or change their
mission for the future of the university. Knowledge society transforms the
society into the knowledge based from industry based. Universities role ascends
in the knowledge society. They contribute to production and dissemination of
scientific knowledge and technologies.
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The Influences of Type of
Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives and
Donation Situation on Consumer
Responses
Dr. Yimin Zhu, Sun Yat-sen
University, Guangzhou, China
Dr. Miao Zhao, Roger Williams
University, Bristol, RI
ABSTRACT
This study compares consumers’
responses to firms’ donations made through different corporate social
responsibility initiatives (philanthropy vs. cause-related marketing (CRM)) and
under different donation situations (disasters vs. ongoing causes). Our results
suggest that 1) philanthropy type of donation generates more positive consumers’
attitude toward a firm, evaluation of the firm’s donation motivation, and
purchase intention of the firm’s products than CRM; 2) donations made to
disasters, compared to ongoing causes, will evoke more positive attitude,
evaluation, and purchase intention; and 3) When donations are made to ongoing
causes, the differences in consumer responses diminish between philanthropy and
CRM. The paper concludes with discussions and managerial implications.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives have been identified as a key
to success (Lichtenstein et al. 2004) since it is considered an effective
marketing tool to build and differentiate corporate image (Barnes and
Titzgibbons 2001; Cheron, et al. 2012) and improve customer attitude (Lii and
Lee 2012; Nan and Heo 2007). Every year, a great amount of money is donated to
innumerable causes through various CSR initiatives such as philanthropy,
cause-related marketing, employee volunteerism, and other innovative programs
(Lichtenstein, et al. 2004).
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Equity Premium Puzzle:
Evidence from Turkey
Dr. Sinem Derindere Koseoglu,
Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey
ABSTRACT
This paper attempts to find out
if there is an equity premium puzzle in Turkey for the period 2003-2010 based on
the standard general equilibrium model which was followed by Mehra and Prescott
(1985). In the USA, historical data of equity markets showed that the equity
risk premiums were too high and could not been explained by the standard general
equilibrium model and Mehra and Prescott (1985) entitled this phenomenon Equity
Premium Puzzle (EPP) for the first time. Then several researchers have estimated
the same high equity risk premium for many countries and confirmed the EPP for
their economies. In this study, the equity premium has been calculated as 9.37 %
by historical data of Turkey, whereas it should be 3.15% according to the
estimations based on standard general equilibrium model. The equilibrium of
9.37% is much higher than the theoretical equity premium of 3.15%. In addition,
the standard general equilibrium model implied that the relative degree of risk
aversion coefficient of Turkey is 30.5848 which is much higher than the Mehra
and Prescot’s (1985) boundary level 10. Therefore, it has been concluded that
there is the EPP in Turkey for the period 2003-2010. Fama (1965, 1970), Mossin
(1966), Sharpe (1967), Lintner (1965, 1969) and Black et.al. (1972) all
illustrated that assets with higher risks have higher returns. Therefore,
because stocks are riskier than bonds or T-bills, investors require higher
premium for this additional risk and this is identified as equity premium.
However, how large should the equity premium need to be?
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Lean Management Adoption Level
in Middle Eastern Manufacturing Facilities
Dr. Raed EL-Khalil, Lebanese American University,
Beirut, Lebanon
Dr. Maya
F. Farah, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon
ABSTRACT
Lean manufacturing (LM) process,
also known as Toyota Production System (TPS) or lean management, provides tools
and methods that focus on eliminating waste and adding value to assembly and
manufacturing operations. The success achieved by Toyota Motors through the
implementation of lean has fascinated every company in the world and inspired it
to follow its footsteps. This paper focuses on examining the degree of lean
production implementation in Middle Eastern manufacturing plants and its impact
on operational metrics. In addition, it shows the relationship between lean
dimensions and operational outcomes. This research has utilized a questionnaire
that is based on a similar research conducted on US, Chinese, and Indian
industries. The survey was altered to fit the Middle Eastern industry. The
companies surveyed are located in three different Middle Eastern countries,
namely, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. The survey was given to 318 manufacturing
companies out of which 96 responses were considered usable. The lean dimensions
that the survey examined include” the 7 wastes, 5S’s, standardization, total
productivity maintenance (TPM), supplier related (performance), problem-solving,
statistical process control (SPC), Total quality management (TQM), setup time
improvement or reduction, pull system (based on demand), and customer
requirement or need. The result for implemented dimensions of lean indicates
that while most of the respondents have scored between 40-59% levels, only very
few are above 60% levels, and none of the companies has scored above 89%
implementation levels.
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Impact of
Textile Imports on the Competitiveness of the Textile Industry in Ghana
Dr. Kofi Poku, Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
Mariama Zakari, Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
ABSTRACT
Under the Import
Substitution Industrialization (ISI) policy in the 1960s, Ghana’s textile
industry which had many firms, enjoyed blanket government protection including
high import duties and import quotas. The advent of trade liberalization to
overcome the limitations and resultant adverse effects of the ISI Strategy in
the 1980s brought in its wake a shrunken number of domestic textile companies
where barriers to trade were either removed completely or reduced
significantly. This represented a paradigm shift towards market based
competition where firms no longer operated under protective barriers. Thus,
forcing firms to compete in both domestic and export market on the basis of
their own efficiencies with a consequence of free flow of goods across countries
but arguably, a damaged industry with mass unemployment. This study was
designed to examine the impact of textiles imports on the competitiveness of the
Ghanaian textile industry. Using quantitative data obtained from Ministry of
Trade and Industry, Ghana Statistical Service, Customs Excise and Preventive
Service, as well as IMF’s World Development Indicators from 1975-2002, imports
were observed to have positive correlation with output growth as well as growth
in productivity. It was observed that output started to fall long before trade
liberalization, whereas output recovery started after liberalization. This
indicated that, there may be other variables of interest that might have caused
output decline.
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Improving Economics of
Thermal Desalination Process Through Energy Analysis and Optimization
Dr. Fahad S. Al-Mubaddel,
King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
ABSTRACT
For an arid country like Saudi
Arabia, the quest for more fresh water never ends. The country has adopted the
multi stage flash distillation (MSF) process as the prominent process for the
production of fresh water. Nevertheless the process is complex, costly and
energy intensive. Consequently, energy analysis has evolved to be a useful tool
for the optimization of the thermal process. Benefits are not limited to the
reduction in energy consumption. Several energy optimization projects resulted
in a decrease in unit product cost, an elongation of the service life of the
plant through the conservation of its material of construction and an increase
in profit margin generated by the process. The simulation of five plant
configuration types (namely, Single Stage Flash distillation, Multi-Stage Flash
distillation and three types of Multi-Effect Distillation) was run using HYSYS.
The various runs established the energy utilization of the various processes.
The results of the various HYSYS runs were then fed to Super Target software
program. The program was developed by Linnhoff-March [9], which contains a suite
of pinch-technology programs that provide fundamental insights to heat recovery
options in a process, which then results in lower operating costs or reduced
capital cost by auditing energy consumption or emission. The program was used to
find and calculate the maximum possible heat recovery and to compare the
existing design with targets.
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Why Do Department Chairs
Suffer the Most in Higher Education Hierarchy?
Dr. Sinem Vatanartıran, Bahcesehir University, Turkey
Dr.
B. Cagla Garipagaoglu, Bahcesehir University, Turkey
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to
investigate the experiences of middle level managers at higher education
institutions in ways of managing relationships at the both end of the hierarchy
chain. This study focused on accounts of department chairs and the study design
was based on qualitative study with the aim of reflecting department chairs’
experiences and thoughts on the challenges of being a middle level manager. 13
department chairs from two foundation universities in Turkey were interviewed.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data. Data was analyzed by
content analysis method. Their experiences about the challenges of managing the
relationships in the hierarchy chain were categorized under the following four
themes: 1) building working relationships with upper echelon, 2) building
working relationships with the department staff, 3) building working
relationships with other department chairs, and 4) the role of the middle
manager. Academicians
generally have two career paths when they enter the academic world. In the
former one, they may decide to continue only as an academician and in the
latter; they may decide to undertake a role at the administration. Many of them
appear to be reluctant to take over an administrative post with the intention of
allocating more time on research and teaching activities (Hacıfazlıoğlu, 2010a;
Hart, 1993). While climbing up the ladder of administration, academic
administrators generally pass through the path from being a department chair,
which may be followed as being a Dean or even a President in the future.
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Perceptions of Saudi Tourist
about Tourism to Egypt
Dr. Osama A. Abdelkader,
University of Dammam, Saudi Arabia
ABSTRACT
This research paper aims to
explore the impact of some variables, upon both positive & negative perceptions
of Saudi tourists about tourism to Egypt, and their decisions to visit Egypt for
tourism. The research based on a questionnaire, which was prepared after
reviewing a number of literatures and semi-structured interviews. The validity
of survey instrument and the reliability of the gathering data were tested. In
total 346 respondents responded to the questionnaire. The research shows the
recent good situation of Saudi perceptions about tourism to Egypt. Research
confirms that three variables have significant impacts upon negative perception
of Saudi tourists about tourism to Egypt. Finally, research finds that positive
perceptions have the stronger influence on the decisions of Saudi tourists
comparing with the negative perceptions. The paper is a useful source for
understanding the Saudi tourists and their perception about tourism to Egypt. It
helps in situation analysis of Egyptian inbound tourists from Saudi Arabia. This
paper provides useful information for improvement of the Egyptian inbound
tourism. It offers a practical help to tourism planners and marketers in Egypt
to understand the perceptions of Saudi tourists about Egyptian tourism.
According to the available literature review, this research is the first of its
kind in this area. In the last decades, tourism has become an important
alternative for economic development for many countries.
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The Local Innovation
Networks: An Explorative Study of Success Cluster
Dr. Gilda Antonelli,
University of Molise, Italy
ABSTRACT
The present study
is an explorative paper on the local development network supporting innovative
startups. It is based on 15 famous networks cases collected in different
countries and chosen among the most famous ones referred both in the literature
and in the economic press. I have used these 15 cases to formulate interesting
hypothesis on how networks form and on the characteristics of the actors
supporting this creation.
By observing and analyzing the
networks, I developed a three-stage network model, using Larson & Starr model
(Larson & Starr, 1993). I then obtained a spin out network’s life cycle that
allowed me to place the case studies in the different stages and formulate my
hypotheses. I noticed that all cases showed a focal role played by one of the
actors that changed depending on the stage the network was leaving. The
spin-off phenomenon is very common in the USA, although its origins can be
traced back to the 19th century in Germany, when three pupils of the famous
chemist von Liebig set up the Basf & Hoechst Company. Silicon Valley and Boston
areas developed when numerous researchers and scientists left their laboratories
to set up businesses. In the United States the demarcation between basic and
applied research ceased to exist in the Fifties when Universities began to
support Professors who not only created knowledge, but also applied it. Both in
the United States and in Europe this has led to the creation of contextual
networks by different players who linked with one another to support the
creation of new spin offs. Information travels in the network without difficulty
and allows each player to reach his aim.
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University Accounting
Education and Employment: Survey on Non-Accounting Business Graduates
Mei-Hsiu Tsai, National
Taichung University of Science & Technology, Taichung, Taiwan
ABSTRACT
The purposes of this study are:
(1) survey current accounting education by obtaining comments from chairmen of
non-accounting (but business-related) departments, (2) realize the first jobs of
those non-accounting (but business-related) major graduates, (3) ask whether
business executives of SME are more inclined to employ accounting major
graduates for their accounting jobs, and whether non-accounting major graduates
can meet their professional work performance in the accounting field, and (4)
analyze the important knowledge for accounting and non-accounting (but
business-related) courses required by business executives so as to improve the
university accounting education for non-accounting departments between teaching
and employment. This study finds that small and medium enterprises (SME) prefer
to employ accounting majored graduates as accountants. It is tend to believe
that those non-accounting majored graduates who in favor of being accountants
was because there were more job opportunities, can be accumulated more
experience in business practice, especially for their poor English, for English
is not necessarily required in accounting jobs. On the prospect of business
practice, executives believe that non-accounting majored graduates from
university can satisfied their requirement of works. In terms of curriculum,
executives in SME suggest that non-accounting majored students should enhanced
following courses to meet their need in the careers: Tax Laws, Financial
Accounting, Financial Statement Analysis, Tax Accounting, Computer Application,
English, Financial Management , International Trade, and Business Law. In the
commercial and industrial environment of Taiwan, accounting function has been
polarized.
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