African Journal of
Business Management

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Bus. Manage.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1993-8233
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJBM
  • Start Year: 2007
  • Published Articles: 4188

AJBM Articles

Can management technology reduce poverty? Some evidences from Nasarawa State, Nigeria

May 2013

Much effort has been put in by scholars and researchers in understanding the nature, dimension and consequences of poverty. Also theoretical as well as practical solutions have been suggested; specially designed projects and programmes have been put in place by successive governments to tackle the problem of poverty as well. However, the relationship between...

Author(s): Ibrahim Gerarh Umaru and Sam B.A. Tende

Value relevance of accounting information: A case of Karachi stock exchange listed companies in Pakistan

May 2013

As one of the basic components of economic growth and development in every country, the capital market is responsible for optimal allocation of capital. For the correct guidance of the decisions along the optimal allocation of capital, information has a main role and financial reports are of the most important information resources. So, in the present study, effort is on studying the effect of competition in the...

Author(s): Faisal Shahzad, Babar Zaheer and Muhammad Anees

Accumulation of human capital and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in ASEAN-3 countries (Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia)

May 2013

The event of globalization and the increasing inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) to developing countries create a potential for technology transfers and spillovers which suggest a potential for future growth of human capital, and output. There is a noticeable lack of empirical findings in the literature on the impact of FDI on the accumulation of human capital in developing countries. In this...

Author(s): Heirsh Soltanpanah and Mohammad Sharif Karimi

Planning new management approach for milk production using the SWOT and the Fuzzy AHP model: A case study in the Sistan and Baloochestan province, Iran

May 2013

This study is aimed at recognizing strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O) and threats (T) of the milk producing assembly in the Sistan and Baloochestan province and planning a new approach for the efficient management of the animal husbandry industry of the province. Ten strong points, eighteen weak points, ten opportunities and thirteen threats were considered through a survey by means of a questionnaire...

Author(s): Hamid Reza Mirzaei, Morteza Rojuee, and Amir Hossain Okhravi

The impact of work life policies, empowerment and training and development on employee performance with the mediating role of organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB)

May 2013

This study was conducted to know the factors that enhance the performance of Pakistani universities teachers. The objective of this study is to provide a roadmap for policy makers and human resource management executive to adopt such practices, which increase the performance of employee. Therefore participants of this study are both from public and private...

Author(s): Muhammad Tariq Sharif, Zeeshan Ashraf and Muhammad Aslam Khan

A framework for combating insider trading on developing stock exchanges: Evidence from the Zimbabwean stock exchange

May 2013

Stock exchanges play a vital role in any capitalist economy as they provide a secondary market where investors can buy and sell shares under orderly conditions at fair and competitive prices. This role requires stock exchange operations to be regulated in order to enhance the efficiency, transparency and full disclosure in their operations. This is particularly...

Author(s): Saungweme Percy W, Ricardo Peters and Pradeep Brijlal

An empirical investigation of downsizing: A study of banking sector of Pakistan

May 2013

Downsizing is the burning issue of today’s dynamic organizations. Organizations are shortening their staff to improve their financial performance. This bustle is not only affected its employees at their workplace but also in their private lives. This study has been conducted in order to measure whether the organizations are successful in achieving their objectives of downsizing or not. This study has been...

Author(s): Wasim Hamed, Zulfiqar Ahmad Bowra, Muhammad Aleem and Alamdar Hussain

Comparing the relationship between interest rate changes in Shariah banking system of Iran and informal USA, Britain, Australia and Japan exchange rates in the Iranian economy according to the international Fisher theory

May 2013

This study has dealt with the relationship between the informal United States dollar rate and the Islamic system based interest rate of Iran and it also has compared with the informal exchange rates of Britain, Australia and Japan. The relevant data during 1991 to 2009 have been employed to compare the results. The unit root test, Dickey-Fuller, Durbin-Watson, White tests and the least-square estimate model have been...

Author(s): Mohamadreza Abdoli and Hassan Valiyan

The interaction university-business as a factor of local development: A study of oil and gas sector of Sergipe

May 2013

This paper aims to analyze the degree of interaction between companies and universities from the perspective of research groups at the university and companies in the oil and gas sector. This study examines the process of interaction through the perception of the research groups and companies in the oil and gas sector, in order to verify the benefits generated and the difficulties experienced. Questionnaire survey was...

Author(s): Suzana Leitão Russo, Felipe Andrade Martins, José Ricardo Santana, Iracema Machado de Aragão Gomes

Firms’ characteristics and forward-looking information in management commentaries of Italian listed companies

May 2013

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between firms’ characteristics and the level of forward-looking information in management commentaries of Italian listed companies. The firms’ characteristics investigated in the study are their size, profitability and leverage. The methodology of the study is content analysis of management commentaries of the Italian companies listed on the FTSE...

Author(s): Elisa Menicucci

Factors affecting economic prosperity of rural families in the South Khorasan Province (Iran)

May 2013

The present study was applied in nature and was carried out in a survey method. The purpose of the study was to analyze factors affecting economic prosperity of rural families in the South Khorasan province. The total population of this study was all of the rural families in that province. The information was collected through the questionnaire and was analyzed with a logistic regression model. The results indicated...

Author(s): Seyyed Mohsen Nasiraei, Seyed Jamal F Hosseini and Homayoun Farhangfar

Interactions on sustainability requirements in the South African Table Grape industry: The position and challenges of actors on the supply side

May 2013

International supply chains have mainly been addressed in literature from a demand side perspective. This article addresses sustainable development issues from a supply side perspective. The paper is based on exploratory research done in the supply chain of Table Grapes in South Africa. The objective of this research is to get an understanding on the functionality of the chain as a whole by identifying the specific...

Author(s): Walter Vermeulen, Peter Ras and Claribel Muller

Management of schools: Teachers’ involvement in decision making processes

May 2013

Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. The purpose of this study is therefore to establish effects of insignificant teacher’s participation in the management of teaching load allocation in the Gweru District of Zimbabwe. The study adopted an interpretive...

Author(s): Newman Wadesango and Anass Bayaga

Cross-industry determinants of capital structure: Evidence from Pakistani data

May 2013

This study was conducted to know the factors that enhance the performance of Pakistani universities teachers. The objective of this study is to provide a roadmap for policy makers and human resource management executive to adopt such practices, which increase the performance of employee. Therefore participants of this study are both from public and private sector universities. Questionnaire was distributed among the 200...

Author(s): Waseem Anwar

Product stage and packaging features adopted by small scale industries in Uttarakhand, India

April 2013

  The development of business skills to enable the establishment and successful operation of Small scale Enterprises constitutes a major priority and pre-requisite for rapid economic growth in India. The product manufactures by small scale industries generally satisfy the need of their customers directly. A product is any want-satisfying attribute a consumer receives in exchange. The product benefits could be...

Author(s): Gajendra Singh    

Outsourcing and Vision 2030: An analysis into Kenya’s new economic frontier

April 2013

  Vision 2030 is Kenya’s new blue print that aims at transforming the country into a middle income country by the year 2030. One of the identified sectors that will catalyst the achievement of Vision 2030 is Business Process Offshoring (BPO). Thousands of jobs are expected to be created in this sector whose strength is expected to come from a well trained manpower, Information Communication Technology...

Author(s): XN Iraki    

Improvement of renewable energy supply forecasts: The case of Taiwan renewable industry

April 2013

Grey theory is one of the new mathematical theories born out of the concept of the grey set. It is an effective method used to solve uncertainty problems with discrete data and incomplete information. In this paper, an improved grey GM (1, 1) model, using a technique that combines residual modification with the Markov chain model, is proposed. This paper employs the annual supply value of Taiwan renewable industry as...

Author(s): Chia-Chi Sun

Recognizing organizational variables affecting organizational health of Iranian agricultural colleges

April 2013

  The aim of this study was to recognize organizational variables affecting organizational health of Iranian agricultural colleges. Organizational health has a positive role on organizational effectiveness; hence improving organizational health through management mechanisms in which some effective organizational variables were recognized and used as an important issue. This was a descriptive–analytic...

Author(s): Mostafa Moradi Kafraj, Ehsan Gholifar, and Ahmad Rezvanfar

Factors responsible for the rising trend in teenagers’ online purchases

April 2013

Previously, the field of e-commerce was only interested in doing business with organizations and adults. However, recently online business owners started to focus on teenagers because the numbers of teenagers that go online increases day by day. If compared to adults, teens usually spend much more time using the internet. Thus, the website designers started to focus on designing e-shopping portals for teenagers. Teens...

Author(s): Doaa M. Bamasoud and Ab Razak Che Hussin

A heuristic algorithm for determining the production batch size and the idle time for minimizing makespan

April 2013

In this paper, a heuristic algorithm has been presented with the aim of determining the quantity of the best batch size for minimizing the makespan of a production system in order to meet the demands of a specified period for a product. This algorithm calculates the time required for fulfilling each of the requisite operations for producing a batch size by taking into account the standard time for fulfilling the...

Author(s): Taghizadeh Houshang and Honarpour Amir

A study on the effect of intellectual capital and organizational learning process on organizational performance

April 2013

  Today, the nature of business is facing some important and critical challenges and changes that have changed organizations' economic activities greatly. Issues such as competition expansion, advances in information technology, the changes to organizational structures, and economic units' attempt to land on a pioneer rank have made continuous improvement of organizational performance inevitable....

Author(s): Hosein Habibi Badrabadi and Taghi Akbarpour

Designing a fuzzy model for decision support systems in the selection and recruitment process

April 2013

  Today, most companies require skilled and experienced staff in their firms, but they encounter problems in identifying the necessary personnel to recruit. However, there is lack of a system that has the capability of integrating the needs of organizations in this field. A case study is Iran Khodro Company, Iran's largest car maker which has always been faced with these problems. Based on this study,...

Author(s): Sabina Mirzaei Nobari and Davood Hosein Zadeh

Indonesian small medium enterprises (SMEs) and perceptions on Halal food certification

April 2013

This paper reports on a study of entrepreneurs of small medium enterprises (SMEs) in food business in Indonesia and their perception of the halal certification process as currently adopted by Indonesia. A total of 102 usable questionnaires were analysed using SPSS to search for the mean score for each of the information on Halal certification process (HFC 1 to HFC 3). HFC 1 was regarding their perceptions towards market...

Author(s): Mohani Abdul, Hashanah Ismail, Mazlina Mustapha and Hadri Kusuma

Microfinancing in Pakistan: Growth prospects and poverty reduction strategy

April 2013

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are globally considered as a distinctly effective way to make the living standard of the people better. The purpose of conducting this research study is to investigate the growth prospects of microfinance programs in Pakistan to eradicate poverty. The microfinance program has been operative in Pakistan since October 1972 in one form or the other. It was first launched by the then...

Author(s): Rizwana Bashir, Shafiq-ur-Rehman and Atif Hassan

Impact of work and family involvement on work-family conflict of non professional Igbo Nigerian employees

April 2013

This study aimed at examining the impact of work and family involvement in work-family conflict. Two hundred self selected non professional Igbo workers (95 males and 125 females) participated in the study. Carlson, Kacmar and William’s 18-item work-family conflict scale was used to assess workers’ experience of work-family conflict. In addition, Job involvement and family involvement questionnaires were...

Author(s): Amazue, Lawrence O.

Strategic management practices and corporate entrepreneurship: A cluster analysis of financial and business services firms in South Africa

April 2013

As emerging economies become more market-based, it is necessary for reformed enterprises to undergo an entrepreneurial transformation at the organizational level in order to adapt to the transitioning institutional environment and maintain competitiveness in both local and global markets. This study combines the research domains of strategic management and corporate innovation by examining the impact of strategic...

Author(s): McEdward Murimbika and Boris Urban

Profitability and resource-use efficiency in poultry egg farming in Ogun State, Nigeria

April 2013

Profit maximization which is one of the common objectives of business enterprises is grossly dependent on how best productive resources are harnessed. In the light of this, this study was carried out to determine the profitability and resource use efficiency of poultry egg farmers in Ogun State, Nigeria. Primary data were obtained with the aid of structured questionnaire from a cross section survey of 120 farmers drawn...

Author(s): Afolabi O. I., Adegbite D. A., Ashaolu O. F. and Akinbode S. O.

The economy of distribution centers: The case of large retail networks in Brazil

April 2013

Large retail chains have revolutionized their logistics systems by positioning distribution centers (DC) close to urban centers. The primary objective was to be a prompt supplier for the nearby stores; another was to comply with the increasing traffic problems, which restrict the access of large trucks to urban retailers, while the last objective would be associated with a broader spectrum of reasons, called...

Author(s): Rodrigues, Elizabeth Freitas and Pizzolato, Nélio Domingues

Strategies for scheduling jobs in an identical parallel machine production environment

April 2013

This paper addresses an identical parallel machine environment present in industry. In such an environment, no machine can execute more than one job at the same time. Each job is characterised by a release date that reflects the instant that the processing is able to start. There are no compatibility constraints between job and machine, so that each machine can perform any job. There are no precedence constraints or...

Author(s): Maciel Manoel Queiroz and André Bergsten Mendes

Environment CSR initiatives of manufacturing units in India – An empirical study

April 2013

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns into their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis. Especially, manufacturing firms in developing countries such as India the world’s 'manufacturing floors' – are under heavy scrutiny from many parties. This paper is an effort to research...

Author(s): Kavitha Shanmugam

Competition in a company’s product market and the quality of financial reporting (Evidences in Iran)

April 2013

As one of the basic components of economic growth and development in every country, the capital market is responsible for optimal allocation of capital. For the correct guidance of the decisions along the optimal allocation of capital, information has a main role and financial reports are of the most important information resources. So, in the present study, effort is on studying the effect of competition in the...

Author(s): Mohammad Reza Shoorvarzi and Fatemeh Karami

Re-examining the revival of online group buying mechanisms

April 2013

In commercial environments consumers with limited order size can aggregate their demand through a group buying mechanism allowing them to enjoy the benefits of a wholesale deal. In electronic commerce, group buying was first introduced in the late 90s. Researchers in various fields conducted studies showing the business viability of the group buying model and it was even regarded as the shopping method for the 21st...

Author(s): Hossein Sharif

Calculating the best cut off point using logistic regression and neural network on credit scoring problem- A case study of a commercial bank

April 2013

Credit scoring is a method used to estimate the probability of default or becoming delinquent of a loan applicant or existing borrower. There are several methods used for scoring, such as traditional statistics models like probit and logistic regression, data mining approaches and also artificial intelligence algorithms. In this paper, two high-usage methods on real data of legal customers of a commercial were used, and...

Author(s): Mehrnaz Heidari Soureshjani and Ali Mohammad Kimiagari

A model for evaluating cloud-computing users’ satisfaction

April 2013

Cloud computing is a new discussion in enterprise information technology (IT). It is becoming popular in terms of distributed technology in some companies. It helps managers who intend to setup a business in cyberspace not to use high capital to buy computers, software and hire staff who are experts; instead, they can run their business with low cost. Cloud computing also helps users pay for their use of services...

Author(s): Nazanin Pilevari, Abbas Toloei and Maryam Sanaei

A systematic analysis of group-buying website as a system and a tool

April 2013

The growing popularity and development trajectory of group-buying are comprehensively examined in this paper. We argue that group-buying, which is a new phenomenon in electronic commerce, can be analyzed from the perspective of system and technology. Using the qualitative data of group-buying websites in the USA and China, we make comparisons between various group-buying website models. Our analysis reveals that the...

Author(s): Lu Yin and Lu Liu

A distance consensus method to aggregate viewpoints of different stakeholders for design alternative selection

April 2013

Concept selection methods are commonly used throughout industry to determine which among several alternatives should be further developed. Choosing between different concept design alternatives is a complex task because of the presence of multiple conflicting criteria, multiple stakeholders which have diverse viewpoints, and incomplete information. A manufacturer should also pay attention to processes from the viewpoint...

Author(s): S. M. Ali Khatami Firouzabadi

The labor market in the Brazil - Uruguay axis: A survey study regarding the conditions at border regions

April 2013

The objective of this article is to present a debate about the labor market in the Brazil-Uruguay Axis. The study is qualitative, using the case study technique and analyzed by means of content analysis. The results point towards an important debate in regard of work relations at the Brazil-Uruguay border emphasizing a concern for improving labor conditions; more positions and the need for qualification of...

Author(s): Carolina Freddo Fleck and Valmiria Carolina Piccinini

Dynamics of family buying decision and mediation of conflict resolution

April 2013

This study aims at developing a comprehensive theoretical framework for dynamics of family buying decision (FBD) based with mediation of conflict resolution. The basic purpose is to build a conceptual model including the spousal involvement in family purchase decision and their conflict that arise in decision which lead to either joint or autonomous decision and finally arriving at a final decision with the help of...

Author(s): Jamshed Khan Khattak and Kiran Raza

Multi-objective project management by fuzzy integrated goal programming

April 2013

Regulating conflicting goals with the usage of all related resources through organization is the main work of project management (PM). In this paper, the issue of evaluating the conflicting goals tradeoffs of projects was to develop a plan that the decision-maker can use to shorten their total completion time and minimize the increasing project total cost. The study showed that the total project cost minimization...

Author(s): Yu-Ko Chung

A study of cost efficiency of Indian commercial banks- An impact of mergers

April 2013

This paper investigates the cost efficiency of Indian public and private sector banks over the period 1990-2008 with unbalanced panel data by employing non-parametric data envelopment analysis technique (DEA). In this paper, an attempt is also made to examine the determinants of cost efficiency of banks by employing panel data least square regression model. The study found that private sector banks are more efficient...

Author(s): Pardeep Kaur and Gian Kaur      

Identifying educational services quality using quality function deployment model (QFD) and, analytic hierarchy process (AHP)

April 2013

Using new methods of quality engineering in service industries in recent decades has grown dramatically. These industries than goods industries have special features. Particularly considering that higher education in developing countries is a serious quality problem, to improve this situation it is essential that quality tools are used. Quality function development (QFD) is one of modern engineering methods based on the...

Author(s): Houshang Taghizadeh and Pegah Mohamadi

Identification in organization: Role of individual’s self-concept orientation and identification motives

April 2013

The self-concept orientation of individuals to achieve multiple targets of organization identification- coworker, workgroup and organizational identification is evaluated with mediating role of individuals associated motives. The study sample is consisted of 74 educational specialists from renowned universities of Pakistan. Result shows that, Self-concept orientation has a positive but insignificant impact...

Author(s): Tooba Shafaat, Tahir Masood Qureshi, Syed Tahir Hajazi, Aslam Khan and Hassan Rasool Azeemi

Human capital causative model: Mediating effect of high-performance work system

April 2013

This cross-section field study survey was aimed at exploring the antecedents of high performance work system and the role of high performance work system in predicting the overall perceived organizational performance. Organizational commitment, relational coordination and conflict resolution skills relationship with perceived organizational performance was proposed to be mediated by high performance work system. The...

Author(s): Noreen Ghafoor and Tahir Masood Qureshi

A comprehensive framework for knowledge management system life cycle

April 2013

Development life cycles are useful for developing systems since they offer methodologies and models. Although, there are different models or methodologies to develop systems with different purposes, but there is no such comprehensive or complete one for knowledge management systems. The reason may be the complexity and the variety of related topics in knowledge management, which is an interdisciplinary field. This paper...

Author(s): Nazim Taskin, Jacques Verville and Ahmad Al-Omari

Application of six sigma and Mahalanobis-Taguchi system in the optimal design of LCD alignment film process

April 2013

  Six Sigma is to introduce define, measure, analyze, improve, control (DMAIC) in manufacturing process to improve product quality and reduce defect products. At the improvement stage, the Mahalanobis-Taguchi system, given its capability of classification and feature selection, is integrated to reduce the redundant testing items in the testing procedure, and provide a test flow of better economic benefits. The...

Author(s): Jui-Chin Jiang and Tai-Ying Lin

Effect of corporate alienation on managerial decision making: An analytical perspective

April 2013

This study revolves around the core process of decision making in an organization keeping on board the middle management tier which is involved mostly in decision making. In every passing day more and more mangers are coming across different personal problems; and even with strong academic qualifications and flair towards offering their best they are finding no place for themselves in this busy and dynamic corporate...

Author(s): Rana Zamin Abbas, Muhammd Rizwan Junaid, Muhammad Razzaq Atharand Zulfqar Ahmad

The big five personality traits and their relationship with work engagement among public sector university teachers of Lahore

April 2013

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the big five personality traits and work engagement among public sector university teachers of Lahore.  The subjects of the study were 399 teachers, 237 male and 161 female. They were selected randomly from all public sector universities of Lahore. In this study, Big Five Inventory (BFI) was used to measure various dimensions of personality...

Author(s): Nayyar Raza Zaidi, Rana Abdul Wajid, Farheen Batul Zaidi, Ghazala Batul Zaidi and Mohammad Taqi Zaidi

Strategies for scheduling jobs in an identical parallel machine production environment

April 2013

This paper addresses an identical parallel machine environment present in industry. In such an environment, no machine can execute more than one job at the same time. Each job is characterised by a release date that reflects the instant that the processing is able to start. There are no compatibility constraints between job and machine, so that each machine can perform any job. There are no precedence constraints or...

Author(s): Maciel Manoel Queiroz and André Bergsten Mendes

Psychological career meta-competencies in relation to job embeddedness among human resource employees

April 2013

In this study the psychological career resources, adaptability and hardiness (as a composite set of psychosocial career meta-competencies) of a convenience sample of 355 early-career human resource professionals were investigated in relation to their job embeddedness by means of a quantitative survey design. The sample consisted predominantly of black (92%) and female (71%) participants employed at managerial and staff...

Author(s): Nadia Ferreira and Melinde Coetzee

An investigation of the relationship between productivity indices and systematic risk based on the capital asset pricing model (among accepted companies in Tehran stock market)

April 2013

Systematic risk (beta) is one of the most effective factors in predicting the appropriate required rate of returns of portfolios. By understanding the systematic risk of usual portfolios of various companies, investors will be able to consider financial investment more confidentially. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between productivity indices (operating leverage, financial leverage, combined...

Author(s): Seyed Reza Hasani

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