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Has the Town of Oak Island, N.C. Levied a Recurring, Annual Sewer District Fee/Tax against Owners of Developed and

Undeveloped Properties within the Boundaries of a Sewer District in Violation of the Equal Protection

Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?

Dr. Kay M. Poston, Francis Marion University, Florence, S.C.

Dr. Brad R. Johnson, J.D., C.P.A. (Inactive), Francis Marion University, Florence, S.C.

ABSTRACT

In a case study approach, this paper hypothesizes that the Town of Oak Island, N.C. (hereinafter, "the Town") has violated the Equal Protection Clause, U.S. Const. amend XIV, cl. 1, in executing the power of taxation that was delegated to it by the North Carolina (N.C.) General Assembly in a local act, S.L. 2004-96 (amended by S.L. 2006-54). Furthermore, after review of the facts in this case study, this paper finds that the Town created a property taxation scheme that violates such enabling legislation and the N.C. Constitution, where such scheme imposes a recurring, annual Sewer District Fee/Tax upon properties within the boundaries of a Town-established Sewer District that purportedly "could or [do] benefit from the availability of sewage treatment."(1) The authors assert that the burden of the Town's facially discriminatory property tax scheme falls by design in a predictably disproportionate way on owners of undeveloped property within the boundaries of the Sewer District. The authors also assert that there is no suggestion that N.C. has in practice adopted a system that authorizes the Town to independently fashion its own substantive taxation policy. Nevertheless, the Town has, on its own initiative, executed enabling legislation in the manner described in Part II, below, which, on its face, results in a significant and persistent disparity in the tax burden between undeveloped and developed properties within the boundaries of the Town-established Sewer District. Based upon the foregoing, the authors assert that such disparity in the Town's property tax scheme is unreasonable and confiscatory, on its face, in that such scheme unjustly discriminates against undeveloped property owners in favor of developed property owners, where such intentionally and systematically discriminatory burdening of undeveloped properties, in favor of developed properties, is hypothesized to deprive undeveloped property owners of their rights under the Equal Protection Clause, U.S. Const. amend XIV, cl. 1. 1.

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Business Drivers Influencing Adoption of EMR and ERP Systems

Dr. Prasad Bingi, Indiana-Purdue University, Fort Wayne, IN

ABSTRACT

Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are enterprise class systems that have received lot of attention due to their transformational effect not only on individual companies but also on national economies. ERP systems initially were adopted by manufacturing companies and spread to other industries including education, retail, healthcare, logistics etc. EMR systems are primarily used by hospitals to manage the patient information. These two kinds of systems have some commonalities in their structure, scope, and functionality. These systems incorporate highly integrated best in class functionality with modular structures allowing custom configurations. While these systems are appealing, effective implementations of them are challenging as they impose enormous changes to the way organizations conduct their businesses. Though the origin of these systems dates back to 1960s era, ERP systems have enjoyed a higher adoption than their cousins - EMR systems. In this article, we examine the business drivers that influence the adoption of these systems and make comparisons between them. This research brings together two streams of research for better understanding of them. Resource Planning, Enterprise applications, Health Information Technologies. Today’s business organizations are very complex, dynamic and global in nature. Managing these complex entities require capabilities that only IT can provide. Thus IT has become a backbone for enabling control and coordination of far flung parts of the organization.

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Employee-Firm Related Conflict Factors and the Strategies for Remedy: A Conceptual Framework

Dr. Frank F. Cotae, Mount Royal University, Canada

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to present and group an array of factors affecting employee related conflicts within organizations and apply conflict mediating strategies in the pursuit of a conceptual framework. The identification and grouping of such factors is seen as an imperative as the generation of a general framework which can be applied and adapted to with a certain degree of generality to organizations regardless of the industry in which they operate. We therefore identify the following clusters of factors affecting conflict: environmental, individual and firm related factors based on which we issue propositions, strategies for remedy alongside managerial implications and a follow-up course of action. We find that sustainability and corporate social responsibility to be both sources of conflict and strategies for remedy when employed by firms. Conflict theory has undergone significant changes in perspective over the past ten years; perhaps the most basic change is reflected in the emergence of the term conflict management (Rahim, 2002; Somech, Desivilya, and Lidogoster, 2009) alongside the term, conflict resolution. It has been generally accepted that a certain degree of conflict at key organizational levels – what may be termed substantive, cognitive or issue-oriented conflict – is to be tolerated for effective strategic development (Rahim, 2002; West and Noel, 2009). Extant research has also shown it is not the presence of conflict alone, but rather how an organization identifies and addresses the sources of conflict that determines whether it becomes constructive or destructive to goal achievement and strategy realization and implementation (Amason, 1996; Kurtzberg & Mueller, 2005).

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How Culture Affects the International Diffusion of Manufacturing Practices

Dr. Samuel Kelley, Fox Financial Services

Dr. David McCalman, University of Central Arkansas, AR

Dr. Jonathan Lee, University of Windsor, Canada

ABSTRACT

The national cultures of a firm's employees is believed to moderate firm actions via altering its organizational culture following Adler and Jelinek (1986). Moderators are based on the indices of power distance (PD), uncertainty avoidance (UA), masculinity/femininity (MF), and individualism/ collectivism (IC). Based on the literature on organizational culture and technology diffusion, it is expected that the national cultures of firms will moderate the implementation and diffusion of new practices. Hofstede’s dimensions of culture are related to the implementation of the manufacturing practices of ISO 9000, TQM, JIT and other practices. Hypotheses are developed, based on the premise that practices are embedded in their culture of origin and diffuse most easily in organizations with similar cultural compositions. It is hypothesized that individual cultural variables are more important when 'soft' human aspects rather than infrastructure or strategic attributes dominate a practice, but combined cultural variables exhibit more effect when 'hard' technical aspects of a practice are more important. Nelson and Winter (1982) proposed that technology accumulates at the firm level, and through a series of incremental choices a technological trajectory is pursued by adopting changes related to their competence. Firms may encounter a superior practice but uncertainty of its benefits and institutional inertia cause firms to continue along the same path of competence building and not recognizing that a discontinuity in best practice exists (Arthur, 1989). Based on the success of an innovation, it is selected out or expanded on based on its superior practices. As it expands, it gains legitimacy and other firms in the industry attempt to copy these practices. Several historical examples outline this view. Factory organization was a key component of the industrial revolution, despite the attention given to water power and steam power to drive mills.

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The Value of Academic Group Work: An Examination of Faculty and Student Perceptions

Dr. Joanne P. LaBeouf, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Dr. John C. Griffith, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Dr. Marian C. Schultz, The University of West Florida, FL

ABSTRACT

This research examined student and instructor perceptions on group work requirements in academic coursework. Results for 330 faculty and 1,589 students were examined. The study found that most faculty believed group work had academic value, had practical work applications and group project grades reflected individual contributions. Most faculty disagreed that all students working on a group project received the same grade regardless of effort; however the majority of students expressed the opposite view. Most students also indicated they would not take a course specifically due to a group project component, but that group work provided practical applications for work and, most importantly, that grading on group projects was fair. Recommendations include future research to study effectiveness of group projects in online settings and developing processes to encourage student participation in all modalities. Motivated by business trends and urged by accrediting agencies, academic administrators have responded to the need for students to have group experience prior to entering the workforce. Several studies show positive results on group work. Su (2007), however, called for more studies using both qualitative and quantitative methods to better understand the factors that impact group learning. In support of Su’s idea, this study utilized both quantitative and qualitative methods to examine faculty (n=330) and student (n=1,589) survey responses. This research was conducted at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Worldwide campus (ERAU WW), which has over 24,000 ‘non-traditional’ working adult students located around the world (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 2013). Course terms are nine weeks long that differs from many universities and may impact this study’s results.

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The Impact of Safety and Security on Time Preference

Dr. Ze'ev Shtudiner, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel

Dr. Jeffrey Kantor, Professor, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel

ABSTRACT

Risk and Return are the traditional measures used in and for any finance decision. Other things being equal, the higher the return expected, the higher the risk one is willing to take (the lower the aversion to risk). In addition, other things being equal, the higher the return expected, the more likely that the emphasis on the present would be de-emphasized and there would be an increasing willingness to defer present benefits for future benefits. Depending upon how you count, anywhere between 5% and 15% of Jewish Israelis live in relatively high-risk (from a security point of view) areas. A productive normal business environment requires a calm environment-one that does not hamper business activity. Business productivity and success needs relatively happy customers. Israel is a land of vast differences in comfort/security levels. There are residents in certain areas that have little to no security concerns. There are also areas where people live in absolute and constant fear and then there are those in the middle-people who are accustomed to calm but these periods of calm are rather often broken as a result of intense bursts of violence from enemies. Over 1,700 people living in three areas were the subject of this study. At the one extreme are people who live in the Tel Aviv area-one of the worlds’ best cities (in terms of standard and quality of living). At the other extreme are people living in the towns and villages of Judea and Samaria where Moslems and Jews live in relatively close proximity. In these areas the risk of terror attacks is continuous. Other areas where data was collected are the large city of Ariel; close to the Gaza border and in Jerusalem.

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Estimation of the Energy Demand in Yemen: An Econometrics Model Approach 1990 – 2012

Dr. Abdulkarim Ali Dahan, Ajman University of Science & Technology, Ajman, UAE

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in Yemen during the period 1990 – 2012. The paper will also assess the impacts of changes in energy prices on aggregate energy consumption, and finally, the paper will analyze the relationship between efficiency (oil intensity of use) and total energy consumption during the same period. We used time series data to provide estimates of elasticities. Empirical results showed: (1) The impact of income on energy consumption is positive and was represented by the high elasticity. (2) The price-index has no significant effect on restraining total energy demand. (3) A significant effect of efficiency on energy consumption indicated by the high elasticity reported. The paper concludes that, both income and efficiency variables have significant impact, as expected, on the demand for energy consumption in Yemen. As these two factors increase over time, energy consumption will increase and be more efficient for use, which is consistent with the goals of economic growth and the sustainability of development in the future. The price, on the other hand, has no significant effect on restraining the demand for energy. Low energy prices will always increase its demand and bring into more inefficient use of energy, which implies that actions are essential for more sustainable development without adverse effects on national growth targets. Since the beginning of the nineties, Yemen has gone through significant structural changes in its economy.

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Using the International Internal Auditing Standards (IIA's) in the Public Universities in Jordan

Dr. Audeh Ahmad Bani-Ahmad, Al Al-Bayt University, Jordan

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to identifying the public Jordanian universities using the standards of internal audit International. In Jordan, there are nine universities that are defined as public universities. To achieve the objective of the study; a questionnaire was designed and distributed on the internal auditors in these universities. Twenty eight questioners (n=28) were included in the study and obtained data were analyzed using SPSS where. Results revealed that Jordanian public universities are applying the international standards of internal audit where quality standards are the most frequently used. Even so that the implementation standards comes with a high degree, while the performance criteria are not used in these universities, and also there are some difficulties that limit their use, but moderately. The study recommends increasing the use of international standards of internal audit in the public Jordanian universities, and private performance standards, bringing together the efficiency of the internal control devices in these universities. The primary focus of the universities and their presidential offices is to provide the public and private sectors with distinguished human capital. Even so those Jordanian public universities are financially and administratively independent institutions; still they apply a governmental accounting system and receive financial support to cover a major part of their financial and administrative activities. Considering the fact that they are non-profit organizations, other financial resources are available including tuition and registration fees from the parallel academic programs as well as some investment activities.

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Factors Affecting the Adoption of Electronic Government in State of Kuwait

Dr. Abdullah. S. AL-Owaisi, Ministry of Commerce and Trade, Kuwait

ABSTRACT

The objective of this research is to determine factors affecting the adoption of e-government implementation and usage in Kuwait. An empirical case study using an interview-based research agenda is adopted. After reviewing the literature on e-government, the paper firstly proposes a conceptual model, which is consequently used to determine empirically in Kuwait, the key factors affecting e-government implementation and usage from organizational, technological, social, and political perspectives. The present paper introduces a comprehensive overview of barriers facing the implementation & usage of e-government in Kuwait. Electronic government is defined as the use of information and communication technology, particularly the internet, as the means to improve government administration efficiency and deliver services to citizens, business, and other entities (carter & Belanger, 2005; UN e-government survey, 2008). When analyzing the extent literature on e-government, different studies have identified various factors that impact implementation & usage (weerakkody et al., 2007; Irani et al., 2007; Chen et al., 2006; Gichoy a., 2005; Chercu & Lee, 2005; Refaat, 2003; Moon, 2002). A common argument that has also surfaced in the literature is that e-government offers many benefits and can potentially offer opportunities to developing countries (Ndou, 2004; Kurunanada and Weerakkody, 2006; Irani et al., 2007). Yet although the benefits of electronic services are well documented, the implementation of e-government has faced many challenges in both developed & developing countries.

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The Factors Required to Accounting and the Process of Accounting in Turkey

Dr. Huseyin Cetin, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey

ABSTRACT

In the world of globalization, the economies continuously change at both national and international levels and improve its growth. Day by day, the financial structures of managements and institutions and the financial operations that they meet change and develop. The needs of information that those having a relation with some financial events that increase its growth and variety, also with a management cause that the accounting operations in managements are made, changed, and developed. ‘Accounting’ and all other concepts that people use are the concepts emerging necessarily or casually. The concepts emerging casually now wait for the day when they will serve for a purpose. In this study, in order to show that the accounting for which foundation is ‘recording’ has not casually emerge; it has come out to fulfill people’s needs of information. It is a concept that changes and develops in the aspect of needs and how these needs shape the accounting applications under a dense pressure. It has been given the information related to the concept of accounting, the factors necessitating to the development of accounting, and the process of accounting in the world and Turkey with broad strokes. While the definitions about the accounting are defined, the concepts of accounting, which indicate the assets of a management and the resources from which these assets are obtained, starts by the process of recording of financial events related to a management, are defined. The result derived from these definitions form an opinion on accounting, is a process occurring in the managements. With this, housewives, villagers, city-dwellers, teachers, students, civil servants, and similar persons and groups that are not a management have got some assets and debts.

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The Relationship Between Consumers’ Need for Uniqueness and Market Mavenism

Zana Civre, University of Primorska and University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

ABSTRACT

The present paper aims to expand the knowledge of a psychological concept - consumers’ need for uniqueness (CNFU) and its role in the decision-making process in consumer behavior. The concept of CNFU derives from Snyder and Fromkin’s (1977) theory of uniqueness, which posits that many consumers have a need to be at least slightly special or even unique. Moreover, uniqueness is a motivating factor that influences some consumers to become market mavens (Goldsmith, Clark and Goldsmith, 2006), who are highly involved in the marketplace and are experts who like to provide marketplace information about a multitude of products and services to other consumers (Feick and Price, 1987; Clark and Goldsmith, 2005). Following this view, in the present paper the relationship between CNFU and market mavenism in a tourism context was empirically tested among 235 young adults in Slovenia. The results of the study reveal that there is a positive relationship between CNFU and market mavenism in terms of two dimensions of CNFU: creative choice counter-conformity and unpopular choice counter-conformity. Therefore, marketers in tourism need to be aware that consumers who have a desire to be special or unique are also market mavens, who are consequently influencing the purchasing decisions of other consumers. The objective of this paper is to highlight the importance of the CNFU concept in relation to market mavenism. The relationship between constructs was tested in tourism context.

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Effects of Forced Responses and Question Display Styles on Web Survey’s Completion Rate

Dr. Chatpong Tangmanee, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Phattharaphong Niruttinanon, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

ABSTRACT

A web survey has gained remarkable acceptance, especially among social science researchers. Previous studies have examined factors contributing to a completion rate. However, virtually no empirical work has examined the effects of forced responses and question display styles together on a web survey’s response rate. The current study attempted to fill this gap. Using a quasi experiment approach, we obtained 778 unique responses to six (i.e., 3 levels of forced responses x 2 styles of question display) comparable web questionnaires of identical contents. The analysis confirmed that (1) the effect of forced responses on the completion rate was statistically significant at a 0.05 level but (2) the effect of question display on it was not significant. In addition to extending the theoretical insight into factors contributing to a web survey’s completion rate, the findings have offered recommendations to enhance the completion rate in a web survey project. Online questionnaires are tools social science researchers have adopted to gather data from samples through major web browsers. The increasing number of publications have addressed issues on how to implement a survey using online questionnaires because they have certain advantages and limitations (Reips, 2002; Reips, et al., 2007). Compared to the offline counterpart, online questionnaires offer three major advantages. They include (1) a small amount of error in recording the collected data into a file since the data were saved as soon as a sample responded to questionnaire items, (2) quick data analysis and data collection processes because of the Internet’s worldwide accessibility, and (3) a cost-justified survey on a general topic since researchers could reach a large group of targeted sample.

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The Effect of Management Information Systems Use Level and Innovation Skill on Business

Performance: A Research on Konya Techno Parks

Dr. Ahmet Diken, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey

Emine Nihan Cici Karaboga, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey

ABSTRACT

In the world of globalization, the economies continuously change at both national and international levels and improve its growth. Day by day, the financial structures of managements and institutions and the financial operations that they meet change and develop. The needs of information that those having a relation with some financial events that increase its growth and variety, also with a management cause that the accounting operations in managements are made, changed, and developed. ‘Accounting’ and all other concepts that people use are the concepts emerging necessarily or casually. The concepts emerging casually now wait for the day when they will serve for a purpose. In this study, in order to show that the accounting for which foundation is ‘recording’ has not casually emerge; it has come out to fulfill people’s needs of information. It is a concept that changes and develops in the aspect of needs and how these needs shape the accounting applications under a dense pressure. It has been given the information related to the concept of accounting, the factors necessitating to the development of accounting, and the process of accounting in the world and Turkey with broad strokes. Innovation has an active role in creating demand and supply realization. Innovation is a better business performance for the business, an effective tool in developing effective innovativeness, competition strategies and competitive advantage (Vossen, 1998:89). Innovation is about the processes, products, organization structures, administrative-management systems, organization structures and marketing methods in business (Al-Ansari, Altalib and Sardoh, 2013: 2). Innovation takes an active role in creating demand and actualizing supply. An innovation is the actualization of a new or important product (goods or service) or a process in internal applications, workplace organization or foreign relations, a new marketing method or a new organizational marketing (OECD and Eurostat, 2006).

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Political Discourse and Its Relationship to Education in Developing Countries and

the Developed: A Comparative Analysis

Dr. Wafa Own, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Human rights for the many reinforce humanity and the sense of value for the individual, and the most important of these rights is the right to education. where he makes an individual knows himself, and is aware of the nature of the society in which they live, and thus affected and affects it; So why education is a luxury, then current rapid development, and does not understand it and deal with it improves not matched ;, but it will lag a lot (Koicher, and Mathura 2000.15). This is because the education the most powerful way to educate a people, and mass culture is that you move the educational model of cultural format to another (Jeddle, 2002.305). It can be said that these authors did not have an issue with education, as most of the world's governments are trying to develop education to be able to face the global challenges. There has largely been agreement between the world's countries since the 1990's that education for all is a reality that can take advantage of the knowledge industries created by the contemporary scientific and technological revolution. So it was not without a political speech, whether in developing countries or developed countries, that signal from near or far about education, and its importance, and development, but not the educational issues that concern the country. The importance of education as a strategic goal can be careful to achieve, and the approach to education in the political discourse of the country to another, and from one community to another, each according to his view of education, and the degree of need him, in some states seen the goal of education to get out of illiteracy, teaching reading and writing, while the goal in other countries how to reach space, and control of the universe.

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Fostering Academic Entrepreneurship in Taiwan: A Survey of Academic Patent Inventors

Dr. Phil Yihsing Yang, National Taichung University of Education, Taichung, Taiwan

Ding-Li Lin, National Taichung University of Education, Taichung, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

Academic research institutions have been increasingly in protecting, transferring, and commercializing their research findings and intellectual property rights, but little work has been done in understanding academic entrepreneurship from the lens of academic patent inventors. In order to examine the factors in fostering academic entrepreneurship, we argued that the levels of institutional, organisational, networking and individual need to be concerned together. Based on the Patent Database of the National Science Council in Taiwan, 524 academic entrepreneurs who invented patents in Taiwanese higher educational institutions were identified and surveyed. Two hundred and forty-one respondents were collected with a 46% response rate. Four key factors in fostering academic entrepreneurship were identified through a factor analysis. The paper is concluded that four dimensions evidently shape fostering academic entrepreneurship: institutional level (i.e. entrepreneurial legitimacy), organizational level (i.e. entrepreneurial support), entrepreneurial network, and individual level (i.e. entrepreneurial orientation). With the development of a knowledge-based economy, academia has become the engine of regional economic development (Chrisman et al., 1995; Etzkowitz, 2003). Many technical entrepreneurs (often from university backgrounds) have founded high-tech start-ups, and play an important role in employment creation (Mowery and Ziedonis, 2002).

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Implementation of Corporate Governance Rules and Procedures in Lebanese Firms

Dr. Walid Elgammal, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon

Tony Assad, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon

Lilas Jurdy, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon

ABSTRACT

This study aims to evaluate the degree of disclosure implementation of corporate governance rules in developing/emerging nations by studying the Lebanese case. Few research works have been conducted regarding the implementation of corporate governance rules by Lebanese firms. The study includes a summary of past and current developments of corporate governance in emerging countries. In particular, it focuses on the important developments in Lebanon regarding the disclosure of corporate governance practices as well as the framework of regulatory practices, aiming to assess the score of corporate disclosure among leading Lebanese firms. Data for the study is generated through a questionnaire that complies with the United Nations corporate governance check-list. The questionnaire was distributed to a sample of managers of 30 leading Lebanese firms. The results of this research overlap with past researches done on emerging countries which suggest that the degree of corporate governance disclosure in these countries is relatively low, hence calling for more regulations-enforcement to the implementation of corporate governance rules. The results are significantly important indicators to the low level of implementation of corporate governance procedures in Lebanon. The study also highlights the low level of implementation of corporate governance rules in emerging countries other than Lebanon, and sheds light on the existence of a serious problem which is the deficiency of awareness in developing nations regarding the necessity and the benefits of corporate governance, added to a lack of regulatory agencies enforcing governance rules.

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The Tourism Crisis in Post January 25^th Egypt

Mary Shoukry Hanna, The American University in Cairo, Egypt

ABSTRACT

This research focuses on the impact of the Arab Spring on the tourism sector in post-revolutionary Egypt, particularly after January 25th, 2011. Political upheaval has resulted in serious downfalls in the tourism industry and hard implications on the living conditions of tourism business owners and workers. This study assesses the consequences of certain government policies that added to the challenges that different tourism stakeholders have been facing post-revolution. It reveals the impact of the ensuing security lapse as well as the international reaction towards Egypt and their negative consequences on the tourism sector. At the end, it provides some recommendations based on the literature and tourism authorities to promote tourism in Egypt. As one of the main economic sectors in Egypt, tourism has been greatly affected by the Arab Spring, in general, and the January 25, 2011 revolution, in particular. The great drop in travel and tourism since 2011 has had a dramatic effect on visitor exports, GDP, and employment. Since the Egyptian revolution in January 25, 2011, the severity of these problems have intensified and others have emerged. This research will attempt to address the issues facing the tourism industry in Egypt and evaluate tourism policies as well as other government policies that directly or indirectly impact tourism. Interviews were conducted with stakeholders in the tourism industry to identify the extent to which they have been affected, what problems they have been facing, as well as their responses to these political events while trying to run their business. The interviewees include representatives from hotels, travel agencies, Nile cruises, as well as one of the prominent Egyptian tourism organizations representing the tourism private sector.

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Assessing Productivity Through Value Added Measurement: A Costa Rican Business Case Study in a Cooperative

Ronald Leandro Elizondo, Tecnologico de Costa Rica, Costa Rica

Elías Calderon Ortega, Tecnologico de Costa Rica, Costa Rica

Dr. Alejandro Masis Sanchez, Tecnologico de Costa Rica, Costa Rica

ABSTRACT

In 2010 the Inter-American Development Bank found that Latin America has diminished competitiveness due to stagnant productivity in companies. There is a gap between the companies in the region compared to others worldwide that has been increasing. This situation has affected their profitability and thus ability to achieve a sustainable comparative advantage. In order to become competitive, it´s important to measure the contribution of inputs in the transformation process into goods or services and the generation of wealth to the company; this is called “Value Added Productivity”. This concept allows a firm to diagnose which inputs are contributing most or least to welfare, which can lead to a better and more sustainable management. Value added is determined from financial statements of the firms. Value added productivity measures can be used to assess current or historical evolution of firm goals through a variety of indicators. Welfare can be improved by addressing physical, environmental or financial inputs. The contribution of this paper is to demonstrate through an example in Costa Rica how the process works and how it can help firms make better decisions. According to the Inter-American Development Bank (2010), in the last 15 years Latin America has been facing a declining trend in competitiveness due to stagnant productivity in companies. Within the global comparative scenario, the gap of the companies in the region with respect to others worldwide has been increasing. Productivity is, traditionally known as a relationship between the efficiency and effectiveness of transforming resources into goods or services, in other words creating more from less. But this myopic I definition is just the tip of the iceberg.

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Promoting Tourism After a Terrorist Incident: Review and Recommendations

Kaie-Chin Chung, Taoyuan Innovation Institute of Technology, Taoyuan, Taiwan, R.O.C.

ABSTRACT

The primary purpose of the present study is to aim at conducting a survey of literatures on terrorism and tourism in order to identify certain useful findings that can be regarded as references for tourism operators and destination marketers in the developing countries to manage and develop their tourism markets. Although tourism industry leaders have limited abilities in preventing political violence in advance, they can implement certain precautionary and useful mechanisms to minimize or avoid the occurrence of such events. If a violence takes place, tourism will inevitably be hindered. However, through the conveyance of the clear safety condition of the local destination, the establishment of a good local destination image, and the conduct of effective marketing to tourist groups, the recovery time from a crisis can be further reduced and lessened. In such, they are able to ensure the local people and economy to gain benefit from the tourism operations. Tourism is a major economic drive for local economies in every region of the world. However, it has become an increasingly important component of economic growth in developing nations. Tourism can represent a lucrative source of important income for a low-income nation, especially one with limited commodity resources and industrial base (Dredge, 2006; Devine and Devine, 2011). Thus, while tourism is a significantly part of many economies, it has the potential to deliver disproportionally large benefits to low-income economies. Over the past two decades, many factors have contributed to make tourism an increasingly attractive investment for developing nations where growing a tourism sector presents unique challenges for leaders in both the private and public sectors.

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The Web-Based Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting: A Research on the CSR

Reporting Levels of Companies Traded at the Borsa Istanbul (BIST)

Professor Raif Parlakkaya, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey

Dr. Huseyin Cetin, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey

Murat Kocyigit, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey

ABSTRACT

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which gains importance recently and becomes widespread gradually, is based on the presupposition that companies have obligations against environment and community affected from their actions in addition to their economic responsibilities. Companies need to report the information related to their CSR activities. As the dimensions of economic, environmental, and social activities of companies in the CSR reports are indicated, the CSR reporting is performed by the annual activity reports or by such special reports as CSR Report or Sustainability Report (SR). The CSR reporting has big differences in contents and volume. While some companies put very extensive reports into practice, some of them form short reports that include only some significant points. Nevertheless, some companies do not perform any CSR reporting application. In this study, it is examined the CSR reporting levels of 33 of the first 100 companies in the list of “ISO 500”, which are traded at the Borsa Istanbul, and researched the relationship between various characteristics of companies and their volumes of CSR reports. By the statistical analysis, it concludes that the CSR applications and the CSR reporting levels of the companies under the research are not in a desired level. By the conscious of social responsibility is developed, the understanding that accepts the unique responsibility of companies as “maximizing its profits” gives its place to the understanding that companies have social and environmental responsibilities in addition to their economic responsibilities. CSR directly affects the popularity and the reputation of companies/brands with its preferableness.

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Examining The Impact of Income Tax Incentives to Corporate Performance in Asia-Pacific

Food and Agriculture Industry

Hanggoro Pamungkas, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia

Maya Safira Dewi, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia

Martin Surya Mulyadi, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia

ABSTRACT

Food and agriculture industry is one of the most essential industry in most country. Furthermore, in Asia-Pacific for Australia, Indonesia and New Zealand, it is one of its major industry. Development of food and agriculture industry must be supported by government through government policy. Government policy could be in form of investment policy or tax policy. This paper will specifically address the issue of income tax incentives to support the development of food and agriculture industry in Australia, Indonesia and New Zealand. This research used stock return to measure corporate performance, and EGARCH econometric model is used for the statistic test. Statistical test show that income tax incentives play an important role with different magnitude to corporate performance in Australia, Indonesia and New Zealand. Major conclusion could be made from this research that income tax incentives is a major determinant to corporate performance and investment decision of food and agriculture industry in Australia, Indonesia and New Zealand. Food and agriculture industry is one of the most essential industry in most country. Recent meetings of WTO Ministerial in Bali last December discussed issues in food and agriculture industry, and in that meetings they specifically dealt with food-stock holding and benchmark price. This deal underlined how important government and inter-governmental support for an industry, specifically food and agriculture industry. New policy is (are) issued by government to support the development of certain industry, which could be in form of investment policy and tax policy.

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The Effect of the Financial Crisis on the Relation Between the Egyptian GDR’s and Their Underlying Stocks in Egypt

Dr. Ahmed Sakr, Arab Academy for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Egypt

Yahia El Halaby, Arab Academy for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Egypt

ABSTRACT

This research examines the relationship between the behavior of the prices of the Egyptian GDR's in London and their underlying stocks in Egypt, and whether the previous financial crisis of 2008 showed any difference in the price behavior of these securities. There were 10 stocks tested that represent 3 main sectors which are; the financial sector, the telecom sector and the constructions sector. We found that there is a strong direct relationship between the Egyptian GDR's and their underlying stocks in Egypt and that this relation was maximized during the crisis of 2008 and it appears most in the financial and telecom sector. The acceleration in the globalization of markets over the past years is not only represented by the free flow of goods and services, but also by the international liberalization of capital flow. This helped companies in emerging markets to obtain listings on American and European Exchanges through the issuance of American Depository Receipts, ADR's, and Global Depository Receipts, GDR's. These may include firms going public for the first time (Global Initial Public Offering), or firms that are already public deciding to list their equity in a foreign market (Nyvltova, 2006). On the other hand, the trend of the rising correlation among global markets affected the trust of investors in the international globalization negatively. Those investors appeared in the late 1980's and the early 1990's when the long period of international equity performance began. This period witnessed lower overall returns with little reduction in portfolio volatility (Srivastava, 2007).

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Achieving Competitive Advantage through Clusters: A Conceptual Model

Nigar Cagla Mutlucan, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey

ABSTRACT

Though the roots of the cluster concept can be traced back to Alfred Marshall’s 1890 classic, the Principles of Economics, it was Michael Porter who drew attention to its importance. There are some studies that try to explore the underlying relationships between clusters and firm performance, but few of them investigate the firm-level characteristics that lead to performance differences. The present paper proposes a theoretical model that examines the relationships between several constructs and firm performance, namely business ties, support ties, entrepreneurial orientation and strategic learning capability, while being moderated by the cluster construct. Michael Porter brought the concept of cluster under the limelight with his Diamond Framework (1990); clusters form one of the four elements of the Diamond, namely related and supporting industries. Nowadays, scholars from many different fields, such as economics, social sciences and strategy, and also business practitioners and policy makers study clusters. However, the review of the cluster literature shows that scholars from several schools of thought assume that all cluster firms are homogeneous; therefore, little attention was paid to firm-level characteristics that may help firms create and defend competitive advantages through clusters. There are some studies that investigate the effects of firm size and age on the relationship between clusters and firm performance, and also some studies that examine the firm resources that differentiate high-from low-performing cluster-firms (Kukalis, 2010; Wennberg & Lindqvist, 2010; Zhang & Li, 2008; McCann & Folta, 2011; Liao, 2010). Saric (2012) states that the cluster literature remains unclear about the mechanisms that produce benefits for individual firms within the clusters.

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New Approaches for Flow Shop Scheduling

Dr. Anis Gharbi, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia

Dr. Mohamed Labidi, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Only scant attention has been paid for the flow shop environment where the job sequence has not to be the same for all the machines. This paper presents the first attempt to device specific adjustment procedures for this strongly NP-hard problem. Our experimental study shows that the proposed procedures provide promising results in terms of lower bound improvement. In this paper, we focus on the following scheduling problem: A set of n jobs (1,...,n) has to be processed on a set of m machines M1,M2,...,Mm in that order. That is, each job has to be processed first on machine M1, then on machine M2, and so on until performing its last operation on machine Mm. Each operation Oij (i=1,...,m and j=1,...,n) requires an integer and deterministic processing time pj. The objective is to find a feasible schedule which minimizes the makespan. We also make the following common assumptions: I. Each job can be processed at most on one machine at the same time. II. Each machine can process only one job at a time. III. No preemption is allowed. IV. All jobs are independent and are available for processing at time zero. V. The machines are continuously available. In studying flowshop scheduling problems, it is usually assumed that the sequence in which each machine processes the jobs is identical on all machines. A sequence of this type is called a permutation sequence. Almost all of the research has been focused on the development of procedures to obtain permutation schedules.

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Service Quality of Dental Health Care: Top of Patients’ Priorities from Perspective of Turkish Culture

Dr. Tulin Ural, Mustafa Kemal University-Tayfur Sokmen Campus, Hatay, Turkey

ABSTRACT

This study aims to expose more important service quality factors of dental healthcare services from perspective of Turkish culture, and assess relationship between service quality factors and patient satisfaction. Furthermore, the study reports the development process of a short scale for measurement service quality in routine clinical practice. The study was conducted at Research and Practice Hospital of Mustafa Kemal University located in Hatay, Turkey. Over a 10-day period, data collection took place in the area where patients waited for dental treatment. A total of 206 patients were personally asked to participate in the survey. A self-administrated questionnaire was used in this process. The results show that service quality structure has four factors encompassing 11 elements, namely, “physical environment of hospital”, “staff characteristics”, “interaction between hospital staff and patient”, and “administration process”. All four factors influence significantly to patient satisfaction. The quality of interaction between patient and hospital staff has stronger effect on satisfaction relative to other factors. Dental healthcare services are crucial because a large part of public have suffered from many dental illnesses in Turkey. Health Education and Healthy Manpower Situation Report prepared by Health Ministry (2010) has declared that dental health of 85% of public is disordered, dental illnesses are common, and losses of country’s economy have received higher level.

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The Role of Responsible Awareness of Tourists

Petra Zabukovec Baruca, University of Primorska, Slovenia

ABSTRACT

The present paper is based on the concept of responsibility in tourism from the point of view of responsible consumer behaviour; the aim is to consider the question of the suitability of responsible consumer behaviour that is currently gaining importance in the context of sustainable tourism development. Modern forms of responsibility in tourism (e.g., sustainable tourism, ethical tourism, eco-tourism, green tourism) have emerged as a response to tourism stakeholders in global economic, social and environmental issues during the past ten years. Such forms of tourism coming to the fore are attempts to take responsibility for the impacts that tourism has on the social, economic and natural environment (Goodwin & Pender, 2005). Changes are intrinsic to human civilisation and in the modern world changes are occurring more rapidly than ever before. The need for a response in tourism’s consumers is apparent as well, and they appear to be growing more and more aware of their responsibility for social and cultural problems and have a responsible attitude (Mihalič, 1996; Urry, 2001; Shaw & Clarke, 1999; Harrison et al., 2005). Understanding tourists’ needs and having a clear picture regarding the tourist will be a prerequisite for tourism providers in the future in order for those in the industry and the surrounding societies to survive and prosper (Yavas and Babakus, 2005). In this vein, the paper investigates the role of responsible awareness of tourists and their attitude to the environment and society of destinations. Thus, an empirical study was conducted among 71 hotel guests in one of the most popular touristic areas on the Adriatic Sea in Slovenia. The results of the study show a positive relationship between guests' levels of moral responsibility and their actual responsible behaviour when staying in a hotel.

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An Exploratory Study of Implementing PLM System Based on Adaptive Structuration Theory

Dr. Wen-Hsiung Wu, Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Lung-Ching Fang, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, Taiwan, R.O.C.

ABSTRACT

Based on adaptive structuration theory (AST), this study is to propose a technology adaptation model and conducts a case study in which a kind of advanced information technology (AIT), namely product lifecycle management (PLM) system, is implemented in a motorcycle company for new product development (NPD). Given the complications associated with PLM, process theory is applied to predict the impact of PLM on the aspects document access, as well as information and knowledge sharing. These three aspects of appropriations have caused corresponding types of discrepancy events based on interactions among PLM technology, organizational environment, and team structure. This study also illustrates the adaptive methods and emergent structures resulting and performance outcomes from these discrepancy events. Finally, the implications of this study are discussed. Adaptation when implementing information technology (IT) to enterprises has lately become a crucial research issue (Majchrzak et al., 2000; Allport and Kerler, 2003; Poole and DeSanctis, 2003), as the appropriateness of adaptation directly influences its performance (e.g. reduced productions costs). Based on the structuration school, DeSanctis and Poole (1994) proposed adaptive structuration theory (AST) and its application to advanced information technology (AIT). AIT, such as collaborative system or group decision support system (GDSS), enables multiparty participation in organizational activities through complex information management. The AST describes that the dimensions of organization environment, AIT, and team structure affect social interaction process (i.e. appropriation process); moreover, the impact of interaction process on the outcomes of decision making performance and emergent structure through the appropriation process of AIT. In sum, the nature of AST stresses the importance of group interaction processes in determining group outcomes (Poole and DeSanctis, 1990).

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An Examination of How the Government Handles Crisis Scenarios in Saudi Arabia:

The Need for Saudi Arabia to Reduce Its Oil Dependence

Shrouk Saleem Alburj, Park University, Kansas City, MO

ABSTRACT

Since 1930, managers and company owners have been interested in in-depth knowledge and understanding of how organizations work. In the beginning, it was thought that the most important was the work itself: the lines of work, production, quantities, resources, etc. But over time, scholars and experts began to realize that without human capital, organizations do not have any sense. That is why throughout these years, theorists have developed many models about how to evaluate organizations thorough different perspectives/lenses/ approaches. Organizations are complex organisms that have not only material resources, but also human resources. Saudi Arabian government is an example of absolute monarchy. This is not the way of Islamic way of governance but being claimed as Islamic absolute monarchy. There is no role of family kingdom, or any single assent to the highest position. Islam has the role of caliph who is one among the commoner and is believed to have complete knowledge of the Islamic sharia i.e. Islamic law. The ruling of the caliph is taken as standard for all Islamic countries while the present governance of Saudi Arabia has its effect only on Saudi nationals and the absolute power is held by the King who is head of the State as well head of the Government. His words are final though before making any decision the King consults the other princes and Clergies (Ulema). But, ultimately the decision of the King matters and it is final. The major post of the government is held by the Royal Family and this has led to dissent among the population recently in 2011 which was curbed by force.

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Momentum Profits in the UK Stock Market

Dr. David Morelli, Kent Business School, University of Kent, Kent, UK

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the existence of momentum profits in the UK stock market by examining a number of different trading strategies across short, intermediate and long term time horizons. The paper attempts to explain such momentum profits by examining the role of book-to-market equity, size and analyst coverage. The findings from this paper show significant momentum profits in UK securities. An explanation for such momentum profits can be given by book-to-market equity and analyst coverage with both being found to be significant determinants of momentum profits. Momentum profits are found be negatively related to book-to-market equity and analyst coverage, whereas no clear relationship is shown with respect to size. Over the years there has been much interest with respect to developing investment strategies based upon the predictability of future security prices. Momentum trading strategy is one such strategy based upon examination of past security prices. Momentum trading strategy is based upon the assumption that securities that have performed well in the past will continue to perform well in the future. Thus the strategy would be to buy securities that have historically performed well and sell those that have underperformed. Momentum trading strategies are based on positive serial correlation. There have been many studies examining past price behaviour in an attempt to try to predict future security returns. Jegadeesh and Titman (1993) and Connad and Kaul (1998) on examining the US stock markets found evidence of momentum profits over an intermediate term horizon. Further studies by Rouwenhorst (1998) and Doukas and McKnight (2005) examining a number of European stock markets both found evidence supporting the existence of momentum profits. Studies on the UK stock markets by Clare and Thomas (1995) and Liu et al. (1999) produced some evidence of momentum profits at the intermediate and short term horizon.

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