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

Table of Content: 18 January 2011; 5(2)

January 2011

Project portfolio management implementation review

  Project portfolio management implementation is a complex phenomenon among others within the project portfolio management as a new concept of the management science. The phenomenon is considered first, as a phase of the overall project portfolio management process, and then as a specific projects itself. There are also considerations of the project portfolio management implementation specific requirements,...

Author(s): Biljana Madic, Vlastimir Trujic and Ivan  Mihajlovic

January 2011

Managing generational diversity at the workplace: expectations and perceptions of different generations of employees

  The behaviours, attitudes, and work values of three generations of employees may be influenced by their historical, economic, social, and cultural experiences. Work tensions and conflicts are inevitable if the Baby Boomer, generation X, and generation Y employees fail to understand and accept the unique and different characteristics of each group, and to embrace their similarities. If employees from one group...

Author(s): Tay Angeline

January 2011

Constraints and potentials of handicraft industry in underdeveloped region of Malaysia

  The main purpose of this study is to identify the constraints and potentials faced by handicraft industry in a peripheral and underdeveloped region of Malaysia. The study was carried out in the Districts of Kota Bharu and Tumpat in the State of Kelantan, Malaysia, and targeted the entrepreneurs and workers in the silverware and batik handicraft enterprises, and also villagers who were not directly involved in...

Author(s): Marof Redzuan and Fariborz Aref

January 2011

Human capital development role of Human Resource (HR) during mergers and acquisitions

  The need for corporate firms to gain competitive advantage in a highly competitive global environment has necessitated the adoption of innovative strategies, one of them being mergers and acquisitions. Selden and Colvin (2003) have stated that 70 - 80% of acquisitions fail, meaning that they create no wealth for the share owners of the acquiring company. Schmidt (2003) has identified five major roadblocks to...

Author(s): Yasmeen Rizvi

January 2011

The impact of mobile phone and economic growth in developing countries

  The articulation of this paper is to examine key issues of a mobile phone facing sub-Saharan Africa to a country's technological progress and is capable of generating knowledge-driven economic growth, improve productivity and raise quality. The main objectives of this paper are considerable evidence that new forms of telecommunication can bring both macroeconomic benefits accruing to national economies...

Author(s): Ghirmai T. Kefela

January 2011

Historical research on corporate governance: A bibliometric analysis

  Bibliometric analysis provides historical information on research of trend and performance. A publication analysis was carried out using the related literature in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) from 1992 - 2008, collected from the web of Science databases of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). Articles of such literature were concentrated on the analysis by the scientific output and...

Author(s): Chiung-Yao Huang, and Yuh-Shan Ho,

January 2011

Ethical perceptions: Do they differentiate in respect to demographics, impact satisfaction and subsequent word of mouth?

  Competitive advantage and longstanding survival of the banking sector do not depend only on market oriented service production but also on winning public confidence. The crucial condition of winning public confidence is to comply with ethical standards. In this respect, the main aim of this study is to determine the perceived ethical quality of commercial banks from the viewpoint of small and medium...

Author(s): Okan Veli Åžafakli

January 2011

Dynamic capabilities, collaborative network and business model: An empirical analysis of Taiwan HTC Corporation

  In the era of hypercompetition in knowledge and technology, the unique capability of high technology industry that is built upon conventional resource-based theory no longer suffices for its operation. Therefore, how companies make use of dynamic capabilities and collaborative network is the primary focus of this study. The study discovers that: 1. In terms of competitive advantages in the high technology...

Author(s): Chi-Ho Chiou

January 2011

The effects of quality management applications on automotive authorized sales and service firms

  This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the ISO 9000 QMS on automotive authorized sales and service organizations. The effects of ISO 9000 QMS applications on the training activities and employee relations are evaluated through determined items separately for the both types of organizations having ISO 9000 certificate. Then, the states of customer relations are compared in the organizations with and...

Author(s): Suleyman Semiz

January 2011

A study of the impact and application of cause-corporate brand alliance on Taiwan’s tourist amusement industry

  The use of CRM as a marketing platform, which can not only increase financial gains, but also enhance the company’s image of bearing social responsibility, and hence its reputation, is studied. The purpose of this study is to mainly investigate the effects of pre-image (pre-reputation) of the corporation (cause) and alliance fit to the cause on the alliance, as well as on the new image (post-reputation)...

Author(s): Wen-Chin Tsao and Yu-Hua Chen

January 2011

Designing a model for evaluation of knowledge management level in industrial organizations of Iran (Auto industry)

  In today's world, knowledge is the only way of gaining wealth in organizations and societies. Natural and human investments may result in wealth only when coordinated and incorporated with knowledge investments. Knowledge, information, spiritual assets, specialization, and occupational qualifications are the required instruments for gaining wealth, and those societies deprived of such instruments are...

Author(s): Keyvan Shahgholian and Hamid Hajihosseini

January 2011

Performance of extreme value theory in emerging markets: An empirical treatment

  This paper investigates the performance of extreme value theory (EVT) with the daily stock index returns of four different emerging markets. The research covers the sample representing the Serbian (BELEXline), Croatian (CROBEX), Slovenian (SBI20) and Hungarian (BUX) stock indexes using the data from January 2006 – September 2009. In the paper, a performance test was carried out for the success of...

Author(s): Vladimir Djakovic, Goran Andjelic, and Jelena Borocki

January 2011

Factors affecting user's online shopping behavior: Integrating the constraint-based and dedication-based relationship perspectives

  The influence of dedication-based relationships on post-adoption behavior in recent information systems continuance literature has been explored in detail. However, such is not the case for constraint-based relationships. This study aims to examine the relationship between the antecedents and consequences of both dedication-based and constraint-based factors on information systems post-adoption using online...

Author(s): Su-Chao Chang and Chi-Min Chou

January 2011

Organizational inertia and change portfolio: An analysis of the organizational environment in developing countries

The purpose of this research is to develop a framework to cope with organizational inertia in the context of the developing countries. In contemporary organizational theory, inertia is considered as a major contaminating factor which could have adverse impacts upon the effectiveness of organizational change. Since organizational inertia is considered as a major barrier to a dynamic portfolio for change, this paper aims...

Author(s): Abdul Majid, Muhammad Tanweer Abdullah Muhammad Yasir and Naila Tabassum

January 2011

Sub-cultural business negotiation: A Taiwanese and Japanese-Chinese case study

  The purpose of this study was to reach the following objectives through a questionnaire survey: 1. understand the patterns of business negotiation in Taiwanese and Chinese-Japanese merchants, 2. understand the sub-cultures in Taiwanese and Chinese-Japanese merchants and their influences on negotiations, and 3. analyze the variables and determine the key factors influencing the different types of conflicts...

Author(s): Lieh-Ching Chang

January 2011

Mobile advertising: An investigation of factors creating positive attitude in Iranian customers

  The rapid proliferation of mobile phones along with the technological developmenthas created a whole new marketing medium named mobile advertising. This research investigates the influencing factors in creating positive attitude toward mobile advertising through a survey among Iranian mobile users. The results, conducted on 652 mobile phone users, showed that personalization, informativeness, irritation,...

Author(s): Faraz Saadeghvaziri and Hamid Khodadad Hosseini

January 2011

The identification of personnel director’s competency profile through the use of the job competence assessment method

  This research was based on the McClelland/McBer job competence assessment method. The major purpose of this study was to construct a competency model for superior personnel directors of Taichung County public elementary schools in Taiwan. This paper adopted questionnaires to identify competencies for 48 personnel directors in Taichung County in Taiwan. The researchers divided these samples into two groups....

Author(s): Ruey-Gwo Chung and Chien-Yao Wu

January 2011

Institutionalization and corporate entrepreneurship in family firms

  This study investigates the relationship between institutionalization factors and corporate entrepreneurship in Turkish family firms. The data was obtained from the responses of 244 managers in family firms. The results show that there were significant relationships between the dimension of institutionalization and the dimension of corporate entrepreneurship. While automation affects all dimensions (risk...

Author(s): Mustafa Fedai ÇavuÅŸ and Yeter Demir

January 2011

The impacts of industry-specific factors and country-level characteristics on corporate financing decisions - Evidences from Asian countries

  The present study re-examined corporate financing choices in terms of either pecking order or tradeoff predictions and compared the leverage over industries and across countries. Data was drawn from the database of Compustat in nine Asian countries, including Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan. The financing decisions of firms across Asian countries did not...

Author(s): Jian-Fa Li, Yih-Bey Lin, and Kuang-Hua Hsu

January 2011

Modeling and forecasting tourist traffic in the Mauá and Alba Posse Harbors

  The regional integration between bordering countries possesses fundamental obstacles for people’s locomotion, for example, physical access (bridges and highways are required) and authorizations of custom house officers. The obstacles imposed on individuals who intend to cross Uruguay River, in the border of Brazil and Argentina, limit the tourist flow. This research permits, through an analysis of time...

Author(s): Maria Emília Camargo and Suzana Leitão Russo

January 2011

Corporate social responsibility and universities: A study of top 10 world universities’ websites

  There is a growing interest in social responsibility of the corporations among academicians and practitioners. Companies now are not only expected to be responsible to their shareholders but to society in general. Universities, as the centers of knowledge generation and sharing, play a very important role in solving world’s problems by ensuring a sustainable tomorrow. However, it is questionable whether...

Author(s): Mehran Nejati, Azadeh Shafaei, Yashar Salamzadeh and Mohammadreza Daraei

January 2011

Demutualization of stock exchanges in Pakistan: Challenges and benefits

  Demutualization is a process of segregation of ownership, management and trading membership in an exchange. Studies show that demutualization is a mechanism which minimizes the conflict of interest by reducing the overbearing influence of the members on the affairs and management of the exchange. The Government has initiated demutualization process in Pakistan as part of the capital market reforms program....

Author(s): Sarah Ahmed, Babar Zaheer Butt and Kashif-Ur-Rehman

January 2011

Orchestrating innovation networks in e-tourism: A case study

  In the traditional perspective of industrial policy, technology becomes the main driver for economic innovation. Innovation-Networks literature, while rich in descriptions of innovation dynamics and typologies, is mostly technology focused. A recent and growing literature sees how non-technological innovations are becoming crucial (for instance, learning by doing) and the tourism sector is not an exception in...

Author(s): Beatriz Plaza, Catalina Galvez-Galvez and Ana Gonzalez-Flores

January 2011

Development strategies for a coastal resort in Southern Mozambique

  As part of a long-term monitoring project studying coastal development, a number of rapid scan field surveys and project interventions were conducted in Ponta do Ouro, at the southern border of Mozambique. Here we report on four issues in support of sustainable development: 1. tourism, 2. water supplies, 3. biodiversity and 4. governance. In our tourism study, we interviewed tourists and managers, and placed...

Author(s): Mark R. Jury, P. Cuamba and P. Rubuluza

January 2011

Soft system modeling in transportation planning: Modeling trip flows based on the fuzzy inference system approach

  Transportation planning is one the most important problems of urban management systems. Meanwhile, modeling trip flows between metropolitan zones is vital to a successful transportation planning. Due to importance of the problem, different models have been developed in recent years but because of the complex nature of the problem that deals with human behavior and existence of different independent variables...

Author(s): J. Jassbi, P. Makvandi, M. Ataei and Pedro A. C. Sousa

January 2011

Ownership structure and performance of firms: Empirical evidence from an emerging market

  The study examines the relationship between ownership structure and performance of the listed companies in an emerging South Asian market. Performance of the firms has been quantified by using market based measures as well as accounting based measures. Marris Ratio and Tobin’s Q represents the market based measures of companies’ performance whereas Return on Equity and Return on Investment...

Author(s): Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah Safdar Ali Butt and Mohammad Mohtasham Saeed

January 2011

Does protecting intellectual property rights matter for trade? The case of China’s exports to ASEAN-5

  This paper examines the impact of intellectual property rights protection on China’s exports to the ASEAN-5 countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Panel analysis was used to examine empirically the effects of intellectual property rights protection, foreign direct investment (FDI), market size and real exchange rates in ASEAN-5 on China’s exports. Empirical...

Author(s): Siew-Yong Yew, Chen-Chen Yong, Kee-Cheok Cheong and Nai-Peng Tey

January 2011

Export-led growth hypothesis: Multivariate rolling window analysis of Pakistan

  Most of the empirical works have focused on the causal relationship between exports and economic growth in the case of Pakistan, whereas terms of trade have been neglected. This paper investigates the nature of relationship between the exports, terms of trade and economic growth by using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach and rolling window regression method. The empirical findings indicate...

Author(s): Qazi Muhammad Adnan Hye and Masood Mashkoor Siddiqui

January 2011

Economic determinants of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in commodity producing sector: A case study of Pakistan

  This study examines the major economic determinants of FDI inflows in commodity-producing sector of Pakistan, by using time series data (quarterly) covering the period of 1996Q1-2008Q4. Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) test has been used to check the sationarity of the data. In this study, Co-integration and Error Correction Model (ECM) are used for estimation. Results reveal that Gross Domestic Product (GDP),...

Author(s): Muhammad Zahid Awan, Bakhtiar Khan and Khair uz Zaman

January 2011

An analysis of anger management in terms of attachment styles

  The purpose of this study was to investigate anger management with respect to attachment styles. The participants were 445 (229 females and 216 males, between 16 - 18 years old) adolescents. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients and multiple regression analysis were used. As a result of the study, it was found that there was a positive relationship between secure attachment style and trait anger,...

Author(s): Emel Arslan, Ramazan Arı, Coşkun Arslan

January 2011

Performance measurement in Romanian public hospitals

  The performance measurement into the public healthcare system represents the link between the achievement of its major objectives and the available resources. This study is based on a synthesis of ideas on this topic published into the professional literature, on the regulations drawn up by national and international accounting regulators, by accounting professional bodies and also by the entities of the...

Author(s): Aurelia Ştefănescu, Eugeniu Ţurlea and Daniela Artemisa Calu

January 2011

Sustainability of the current account deficit in Turkey

  In this study, the long term sustainability of the Turkish current account deficit was investigated using the autoregressive distributed lag approach for the period of January 2000 to June 2010. Results showed that the current account deficit of Turkey was sustainable in the weak form, but not in the strong form for the period analyzed.   Key words: Current account, exports, imports,...

Author(s): Özgür Polat

January 2011

Moderating effect of organizational climate on the relationship of organizational support and service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors

  This research aims to verify the effect of Organizational Climate (OC) on service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) and explore whether organizational climate generates a moderating effect that affects the relationship between organizational support and service-oriented OCB. A total of 2,869 questionnaires filled by personnel in the service industries were returned. Results indicate that the...

Author(s): Jennifer Shu-Jen Lin and Shu-Cheng Lin

January 2011

Spam influence on business and economy: Theoretical and experimental studies for textual anti-spam filtering using mature document processing and naive Bayesian classifier

    Spam is unsolicited bulk messages sent indiscriminately. According to Wikipedia and Cisco report, more than 31 trillion spams have been sent in 2009. These spam or “junk mails” can involve various kinds of messages such as commercial advertising, pornography, viruses, doubtful product, get rich quick scheme or quasi legal services. In this paper, a direct attention has...

Author(s): A. A. Zaidan, N. N. Ahmed, H. Abdul Karim, Gazi Mahabubul Alam and B. B. Zaidan

January 2011

Automatic stabilizers vs. discretionary fiscal policy in Euro area countries

  Within this study, we have used the reaction function model of the fiscal policy to study the behaviour of the governments in the Eurozone’s countries. The analysis methodology was that of the dynamic panel, in which we have included the first twelve countries of the Eurozone. The studied period was 1990 to 2009, and the used data series were those of the European Commission (2009). The estimates made...

Author(s): Marin Dinu, Cristian Socol, Marinas Marius and Aura Gabriela Socol

January 2011

A study of three organizational paradigms which make important contributions to contemporary management

  Organizational economics makes important contributions to management theory. The focus of structural contingency theory is on the phenomena of the economy that is significant on organizational management theory and other new paradigms of organizational theories. However, the theory of organizational economics has hardly taken the multiple disciplines of organizational behavior, strategy and theory, but is...

Author(s): José G. Vargas Hernández, and Mohammad Reza Noruzi,

January 2011

A study of the key success factors of the ecotourism industry in Taiwan

  The Taiwanese ecotourism sector is starting to develop. Significant challenges lie in the balance between achieving a competitive sector whilst maintaining a sustainable resource. Taking the Taiwan ecotourism industry as the field of research, a set of possible key success factors in the ecotourism industry was developed based on Porter’s value chain (Porter, 1985). The key success factors in this...

Author(s): Meng Shiunn, Lee, Ya Han, San and Yu Ru, Hsu

January 2011

Estimating the effect of stochastic health on employment, hours of work, and saving decisions

  The object of this paper is to examine the empirical relationship between individuals’ perceived health uncertainty, labor inputs, and saving decisions. Most existing empirical studies treat health status as a known variable to individuals, thereby omitting health uncertainty in context of labor market outcomes. We distinguish our study by assuming a precautionary motivation for risk-averse individuals,...

Author(s):   Chiang-Ming Chen and Kuo-Liang Chang