September 2011
A logistic study of the Brazilian airport model and its employment at the Tancredo Neves International Airport
The objective of this article is the logistic study about the Brazilian Airport Model, justifying its importance and the impediments to the segment’s development, especially with regards to the cargo movement. As development, it is possible to evaluate the differences between the concepts of an industrial airport and the airport-cities, as complementary requirements to the national development. As a case study,...
September 2011
Understanding and approaching the cultural gap between First World leaders and their Third World workforce: An African focus
The world is characterised by political, social and economic environmental changes. Internationalisation and globalisation for instance, have brought about world competition and require managers to interact with and manage people who are culturally diverse. The aim of this qualitative research article therefore, is to discuss an appropriate and relevant way in which First World leaders can understand and approach their...
September 2011
TQM, role stressors and counterproductive behaviour: A proposed framework on strain reduction
Previous studies reveal that Total Quality Management (TQM) practices reduce the perception of role stressors among employees. Some questions nevertheless remain to be answered. This paper attempts to fill these gaps by developing a conceptual model that extends previous work done on the ‘TQM - role stressor’ relationship. The conceptual model in this paper therefore incorporates two additional, yet...
September 2011
A survey of empirical studies on management ownership
The current study reviews relationship between management ownership and firm performance with regard to empirical evidences. Although in the financial literature, management ownership is suggested for reduction of agency problem, there are contradictory view points on this suggestion. Some empirical studies show that increasing equities of managements can be responsible for better alignment of the monetary incentives...
September 2011
The commercialisation process of patents by universities
The commercialisation process of university patents and how the decisions were made to patent new scientific discoveries and to commercialise them have not been studied extensively. This paper attempts to understand in detail, the process of commercialisation of university patents from the initial scientific disclosures through patent filings to the choice of...
September 2011
A note on “A mixed integer programming formulation for multi floor layout†[African Journal of Business Management 3 (2009) 616-620]
In the aforesaid paper, some pages are omitted reluctantly and are corrected thus. In this paper, the two-floor facility layout problem with unequal departmental areas in multi-bay environments is addressed. A mixed integer programming formulation is developed to find the optimal solution to the problem. This model determines position and number of elevators with consideration of conflicting objectives simultaneously....
September 2011
A phenomenographic study investigating consumers’ conceptions of marketing in Taiwan
Consumers’ understandings of marketing are related to their product attitudes or brand image formation. However, little empirical evidence exists of what marketing means to consumers. This study documents a new term called conceptions of marketing, which refers to the beliefs and understandings held by consumers about marketing. The purpose of this research is to investigate the variation in how marketing is...
September 2011
Diffusion of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service demands: An empirical study in the Serbian market
In this paper, we consider diffusion process of new services in the residential market. We described the main influences and decision factors of new telecommunication services adoption. In order to forecast the adoption of new service, diffusion theory is applied. Building upon the Bass diffusion model, we proposed an innovative approach, which encompasses a new model for residential market potential estimation....
September 2011
Cause-related marketing and consumer behaviour in the greater eThekweni area
Cause-related marketing (CRM) is a marketing strategy in which a company’s name, brand or service is partnered with a cause or a charity. This type of link has become increasingly popular throughout the world, presenting economic and social opportunities for businesses. Various research studies in such first world countries as the United States and the United Kingdom reveal that a large proportion of consumers are...
September 2011
Supply chain management: success factors from the Malaysian manufacturer’s perspective
The purpose of this paper is to shed the light on the critical success factors that lead to high supply chain performance outcomes in a Malaysian manufacturing company. The critical success factors consist of relationship with customer and supplier, information communication and technology (ICT), material flow management, corporate culture and performance measurement. Questionnaire was the main instrument for the study...
September 2011
Dimensions of information technology infrastructure flexibility in improving management efficacy of construction industry perspective: A conceptual study
As technologies change rapidly, improved information technology (IT) products and services are released daily throughout the world. This phenomenon gives tremendous pressure on organization managers to plan, implement and adopt new technology solution in accommodating such changes. Thus, one of the most significant current discussions is IT infrastructure flexibility. Most of the studies in IT infrastructure...
September 2011
Locus of control and readiness to conjure and believe in mystical powers among small business operators in Entebbe, Uganda: A multilevel rasch rating scale model analysis
High external locus of control and readiness to conjure and believe in mystical powers has a potential in disrupting the growing small and medium enterprises in Uganda. If small business operators abdicate their responsibilities to mystical powers, it will worsen the current low survival rate of start-up businesses. In this study, we use a multilevel Rasch Rating Scale models to estimate a latent scale for locus of...
September 2011
Environmental quality as an important dimension of customer satisfaction in apartment industry
This study aims to determine the dimensions of customer satisfaction. For this purpose, researchers developed a model by taking an experiential view. In this article, a standard questionnaire was used for collecting the data and, the authors report a comparative study that was conducted on two samples of real customers at apartment industry (low income and high income) in Iran. The results from a low income sample...
September 2011
An evaluation of the investors overreaction to the past financial function criteria: Iranian evidence
One of the assumptions of the Efficient Market Hypothesis is that logical reaction of investors to known and available data cause the cost of invested wealth to approach to its main cost. How ever the experience shows that the behavior of investors in capital market has not always been correct and market cooperators shows overreaction to new data. The aim of present a study determining whether the investors have...
September 2011
Optimal pricing for internet service providers: Fuzzy geometric programming model
An internet service provider (ISPs) normally purchases a bandwidth from a vendor and allocates it to different services. The primary concern is to maintain a quality service and, at the same time, maximize the profitability. This paper presents a mathematical model to find the optimal pricing strategy for an internet service provider when the primary concern on many pricing strategies is the absence of historical data...
September 2011
Perceptual gap and anatomy of investment risk decisions
Mutual funds put forward a way out to investors to approach maximum number of financial securities and get a well-diversified portfolio. Investors are lured by mutual fund investment because along with small savings they neither have sufficient expertise nor the means for diversification. The value added services offered by mutual funds during last decade has definitely lured the untapped investors. Although, investors...
September 2011
Earnings management and the auditing value in China
Auditing has been identified as an area of immense importance for the development of China's stock market. Auditing not only provides reliable information for users, but, more importantly, it must coordinate the potential interests among the public, central and local state, and the nation. This study investigates the association between the auditing value and earnings management risk (EMR) induced by security...
September 2011
Impact of organizational commitment on job satisfaction and employee retention in pharmaceutical industry
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between employee retention, job satisfaction, perceived supervisory support and compensation by considering the organizational commitment as mediating variable in pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan. For this purpose, primary data collection method was used. A total of four hundred and fifty (450) questionnaires were sent to employees of six pharmaceutical...
September 2011
Optimal order quantity under advance sales and permissible delays in payments
In order to attract more customers, it is a common practice for retailers to provide advance sales, for example, Maxim’s Bakery in Hong Kong, Amazon.com, Movies Unlimited and Toys R Us. Similarly, suppliers often allow their retailers a permissible delay in payment in order to increase sales. Advance sales and trade credit policies provide numerous benefits for companies, including gaining additional...
September 2011
The students’ degree of preference for residence hall facilities and amenities, study of a developing country
The main purpose of this study was to explore the degree of university residence hall students’ preferences for some facilities and amenities. With a case study of a developing country, this paper also aimed to determine whether the mean score of these preferences differed significantly with regard to students’ gender, nationality, race and study level. Structured questionnaires were administrated to 850...
September 2011
An empirical study on factors that affect the transition time between capability maturity model integration (CMMI) levels in Saudi Arabia
During recent years, software process improvement (SPI) has been more concerned by a software industry. Numerous studies have been made in development of SPI standards and models, or to identify factors that affect SPI success. However, these studies did not provide answers to questions about the factors that affect the transition time between capability maturity model integration (CMMI) levels, and why there are...
September 2011
On the exchange rates behavior by PPP: A test on Malaysian ringgit and US dollar
Exchange rates are important to innumerable economic activities and the exchange rate behavior has long been at the top of the list of research agenda in international finance. This article is another test of the Relative Purchasing Power Parity (RPPP) to explain exchange rate behavior in short terms. The study examine the relative form of Purchasing Power Parity theory with recent monthly exchange rate data of US...
September 2011
The Effect of tourism web page design on browser's attitude and visit intention
This study investigated the influence of different types of web page design on browsers’ attitudes, figured out if information-processing styles play moderating roles, and examined the relationship between attitude towards the web page and visit intention. This research specifically designed three web pages, created in different types, words only, pictures only, and a combination of words and pictures. Respondents...
September 2011
Evaluation of corporate social responsibility performance standards
Based on a global corporate social responsibility (CSR) standards, a comparative framework have been produced in order to evaluate corporate social performance in national level. The nine CSR standards are UN Global Compact, Global Reporting Initiatives guidelines, Ethibel Sustainable Index, Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Global 100, FTSE4Good, Accountability Rating, SA8000 and World Business Council for Sustainable...
September 2011
Integrating codesign into new product innovation: Consumer-driven online game optiomization design
This article issues an introductory argument that codesign techniques can bridge theory and practice for online game designs, by providing content and methodological knowledge that guides the design process. To address the complexity and challenges of online game designs, a game designer should adopt new approach that is suitable for individual consumers and rely on consumer codesign efforts to transform users’...
September 2011
Measuring the impact of multiplier, to determine the Keynesian model of income, in open economy, in the context of Pakistan
The main objective of this study is to measure the impact of Keynesian four sector open economy multiplier model in the context of Pakistan's economy and to suggest to the government how the size of multiplier could be increased. For this purpose, 19 years time series data have been collected for different components of the aggregate demand function of the Keynes model. Stationarity of the data was checked by...
September 2011
Transformational leadership, employee engagement and performance: Mediating effect of psychological ownership
In this study, we examined the relationship between transformational leadership, employee engagement and employee performance. Furthermore the mediating effect of psychological ownership in the dimensions of self-efficacy, belongingness, self-identity and accountability are studied in the relationship of these variables with employee performance. The empirical findings of data, collected through questionnaires from...
September 2011
Financial competitiveness evaluation on sporting goods listed enterprises: A China study
The sporting goods listed enterprises faces more severe financial challenges in the global financial crisis. An effective approach for evaluating the financial competitiveness level is essential for meeting this challenge to improve the sustainable competitiveness of the sporting goods production industry. This approach starts from setting up a coherent conceptual and analytical framework covering different aspects,...
September 2011
A (data envelopment analysis) DEA-based systematic approach for selection of strategic alliance candidates: Case by the biotechnology industry
Enterprises become more and more difficult to maintain success in the highly competitive environment. This is the reason why many enterprises start searching for strategic alliance partners to strengthen their competitive advantage. However, facing a future of uncertainty, choosing the suitable partner of strategic alliance has become a difficult task. Based on data envelopment analysis and heuristic techniques, this...
September 2011
Technology portfolio modeling in hybrid environment
Technology portfolio selection is one of the critical decision making process for any manager. This paper considers a fuzzy mixed portfolio selection with random fuzzy return and new hybrid algorithm approach for solving it. Fuzzy set theory is applied to model uncertain and flexible information. Since traditional technology evaluation methods is often unable to consider vague data gathered from environment, in this...
September 2011
Analyzing performance of investment companies listed in the Tehran stock exchange by selected ratios and measures
This paper tried to analyze the performance of the investment companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange that had active portfolio management from 2006 to 2010 by Sharp, Treynor, and Sortino ratios. For more profound study of their performances, this research used some of the measures, including turnover, liquidity, size and diversification of portfolio. After gathering needed test data and relevant statistical...
September 2011
To the promotion of work life quality using the paradigm of managerial coaching: The role of managerial coaching on the quality of work life
In the past, the examination of quality of work life (QWL) and its effect on the organizational performance has been considered so much and many investigations have been done. In new paradigms in which the development of human resources and organizational goals are considered instead of using them for achieving the organizational goals, the QWL has been defined through new indices, which according to Hayrol et al....
September 2011
The effects of Iranian consumers’ buying tendencies on utilitarian and hedonic shopping value
This study investigates the effects of Iranian consumers’ buying tendencies including variety-seeking, compulsive and impulsive buying tendencies and price sensitivity on utilitarian and hedonic value as influencing factors on shopping experience for Manto and Shirt shoppers in the Iranian market. The main constructs were identified from the literature and then the relationships between them were tested. A...
September 2011
The perceived service quality, satisfaction and behavioural intent towards cellphone network service providers: A generational perspective
The importance of providing customers with quality services in order to satisfy them and encourage future purchases is well documented in literature. Yet, the cellphone network provider industry of South Africa seems to be riddled with service quality problems. This study aims to determine different generations’ perceived service quality of services and satisfaction levels with services provided by cellphone...
September 2011
Value at risk: Evidence from Pakistan Stock Exchange
The impetus of this work comes from the October 2008 crisis, termed Tsunami of the Financial Markets, which stems from a small problem in US real estate market. It has been observed that this type of events occurs once in a century. To the Green Span, ex-chief of the US Fed, the financial models that have been trusted in the past rendered absurd in the wake of this snowball effect. The study tries to find how the margin...
September 2011
Entrepreneurial motivation as a determinant of South American firm consolidation
The aim of this study is to analyze the determinants of entrepreneurial consolidation in South America. To analyze the entrepreunirship phenomenon in South America and the determinants of start-up consolidation, this study uses logistic regressions and analyses of variance with a sample of 10,018 interviewees, gathered during 2002 to 2006, under the framework of the global entrepreneurship monitor (GEM) project. Men,...
September 2011
An empirical study on the causes of business failure in Iranian context
Business discontinuation is an important feature of dynamic economies, and entries and exits of businesses are closely connected. A majority of entrepreneurship literature have focused on successful ventures, therefore, little is known about why ventures fail. Previous studies showed significant inter-country differences in SME failure rates, while most researches on business failure have been conducted in developed...
September 2011
Using greedy clustering method to solve capacitated location-routing problem
This paper introduces a new heuristic method to solve the location-routing problem (LRP). Facility location problem (FLP) and vehicle routing problem (VRP) are considered simultaneously in the LRP. The problem selects the location of depot(s) to be established among a set of potential sites. On the other hand, the allocation of customers to depot(s), and the distribution routes between the customers and depot(s) are...
September 2011
The relationship between cultural intelligence and group effectiveness in Mobarakeh steel company
Today's environment creates a growing way for organizations to perform their functions through teams and groups. Organizations want to hire individuals who can perform better in groups and frequently adjust with people from various cultures and handle intercultural communications. People need to know other cultures and interact with people from other cultures. Consequently, they need cultural intelligence. The...
September 2011
Factors of cross-buying intention - bancassurance evidence
The question of why bank customers decide to cross-buy and to enhance their relationship with a bank has received scant attention in the literature, and has not been appropriately investigated in prior studies. The first purpose of this study is to address this research gap by developing and assessing an objective research model to weigh the factors that affect intention of cross-buying insurance in banks. The second...
September 2011
Ownership structure and dividend policy: Evidence from Iran
Ownership structure is an influential factor on firm policies. One of these policies is dividend policy. Therefore, a significant relationship between ownership structure and dividend policy is expected. This paper examined the relationship between dividend policy and ownership structure in Tehran Stock Exchange from 2000 to 2007. In this study, four regression models were used. Institutional ownership was negatively...
September 2011
Exploring the efficiency of international tourism development in an emerging market
This work combines several analytical techniques, including data envelopment analysis (DEA) models and the canonical analysis model, in order to shed new light on the relative efficiency of international tourism development. This study analyzes the international tourism development in the 31 regions of China. For the analysis, we take the following inputs into consideration: the number...
September 2011
Is Moral Intensity Applicable to Natural Environment Issues?
Previous research about moral intensity has mostly centered on ethical issues related to people, with relatively less exploration of ethical decisions related to the natural environment. Therefore, this study investigated perceptions toward three aspects of business environmental ethics, including natural ecology definition, business ecological role and business environmental protection; as well as the relationship...
September 2011
Improving supply chain performance: The strategic integration of lean and agile supply chain
By emergence of new areas of business in which change is an inevitable feature, it is difficult to survive and succeed in the manufacturing systems. In other words, business environment changes and today's work which results from changes in customer needs leads to uncertainty in parameters. Therefore, it is necessary for supply chain to be flexible in decision making while encountering these uncertainties. For...
September 2011
Impact of locus of control, changes in work load and career prospects on organizational commitment of employees of life insurance companies during merger and acquisition
This paper explores employee organizational commitment in the process of merger and acquisition. A case study of a life insurance merge and acquisition case in which the acquiring company was a local life insurance firm and the acquired company was a foreign-owned insurance company in Taiwan is used. The present study explored two issues: (1) whether employees of the acquiring company and the acquired company perceived...
September 2011
Does proactive green logistics management improve business performance? A case of Chinese logistics enterprises
Sustainability is a subject of growing interest in business and environmental management. Many previous studies have emphasized the trade-off between economic activities such as manufacturing and its effect on the environment. Moreover, previous studies have mainly focused on manufacturing enterprises; however, no study has yet to cover the logistics sector. This study fills these gaps by testing the...
September 2011
The influence of the emotional intelligence on self monitoring
Self monitoring is an ability to consciously observe and regulate one’s own behaviour. Incorporating self monitoring in today’s research and practice is beginning to yield a better understanding of how organizational processes are substantially affected by individual issues of how they are seen by others. Especially in service industries, the effect of outcome of interactions of the employees with the...
September 2011
Applying the extended theory of planned behavior to predict the intention of visiting a green hotel
The study herein describes the use of the extended theory of planned behavior (TPB), together with the additional variable of past behavior, to investigate the intentions of individuals to visit green hotels in Taiwan. The aims of the present study were threefold: i) to use the extended TPB to identify the factors that affect customers’ intentions to visit a green hotel; ii) to investigate the effect of past...
September 2011
Role of rural production cooperatives in developing non-oil exports of West Azerbaijan province, Iran
One of the important functions of rural production cooperation is non- oil exportsthat is effective in decreasing dependency to gained incomes of oil. The main purpose of this research is to study about role of rural production cooperation in development of non- oil exports in west Azerbaijan province. It is an applied research and the methodology is correlation. Questionnaire is the main instrument in this...
September 2011
Behavioral approach to portfolio selection: The case of Tehran Stock Exchange as emerging market
Behavioral finance is the study of the influence of psychology on the behavior of financial practitioners and the subsequent effect on markets. In this paper, concepts of behavioral finance are surveyed and then the portfolio selection model in framework of behavioral finance theories is presented and compared with the Mean-Variance rational pattern. Historical data of TEDPIX for 10 years has been used and separated to...
September 2011
The functional relationship between mentoring relationship, employee development and organisational success
The dynamic relationship, such as mentoring relationships, has led to achievements and success in organisations. Within the current financial constraints and skills shortages, the successes within small groups, such as mentoring relationships, warrant investigation. This case study investigated the success of mentoring relationships in the pulp and paper industry of South Africa. The purposes of the mentoring programme,...
September 2011
Consumers’ attitudes towards different product category of private labels
This research attempted to investigate the consumer perceptions on product quality, price, brand leadership and brand personality towards convenience goods and shopping goods based on international private labels (IPLs) and local private labels (LPLs). Data were collected outside the entrances of the main rail station of Taipei, Taiwan. A systematic sampling was adopted and 254 questionnaires were eventually collected....
September 2011
The determinants of board size and composition: Evidence from Taiwan banks
Using panel data on banks publicly listed in Taiwan over 1997 to 2008, this paper examines the determinants of board size and composition in an environment where most banks have concentrated ownership and investor protection is weak. The result shows that board size and composition reflect the bank-specific and ownership characteristics. First, bank size and bank age are the key determinants of banks’ board size....
September 2011
Monetary union for the development process in the East African community: Business cycle synchronization approach
This paper empirically examines the suitability of monetary union in East African community members namely, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, on the basis of business cycle synchronization. This research considers annual GDP (gross domestic product) data from IMF (international monetary fund) for the period of 1980 to 2010. In order to extract the business cycles and trends, the study uses HP...
September 2011
Open business models: A case study of system-on-a-chip (SoC) design foundry in the integrated circuit (IC) industry
In the global IC industry, business models have evolved into design foundry models and manufacturing foundry service models over the past twenty years. The concept of system-on-a-chip (SoC) refers to integrating all components of a computer or other electronic system in a single integrated circuit (IC). Due to the increasing complexities of SoC devices, it is impossible for one IC design house to have the...
September 2011
Firm characteristics and voluntary disclosure of graphs in annual reports of Turkish listed companies
The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between firm characteristics and the voluntary disclosure level of graphs in annual reports of Turkish companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE). The firm characteristics used in the study are auditor size, ownership structure, firm performance (profitability), and firm size. The methodology of the study is content analysis of annual reports of...
September 2011
How after-sales service quality dimensions affect customer satisfaction
An understanding of the effect of after-sales services in satisfaction and post behavioural intentions is important to services marketing managers because it allows them to differentiate their offering substantially, in a way that strengths the relationship with their clientele in the short, as well as in the long run. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of after-sales services on customers’...
September 2011
An empirical investigation into the extent of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty at big retail stores in King William’s Town, South Africa
The study investigates customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in four big retail stores in King William’s Town, South Africa. Customer satisfaction and loyalty are factors impacting on the performance of firms. Data was collected through self administered questionnaires. Mall intercept was used as the survey method. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, T-test, ANOVA and chi square goodness of fit...
September 2011
Identifying the challenges related to policymaking institutions for entrepreneurship formal education in Iran
In this paper, we are going to determine how the institutions play important role in policy making for entrepreneurship education in universities of Iran. So, after a brief review on literature, research analytical model is extracted by pointing out theoretical basics and research dimensions. In the meantime, the way to test the model, initializing the dimensions and concepts, models of performing the research project,...
September 2011
Understanding the mediating effect of cognitive and emotional satisfaction on customer loyalty
Studies have proven that businesses have to incur new and additional cost in order to attract new customers as compared to retaining existing customers. Retaining loyal customers are crucial as they eventually contribute to the increase in business organization’s revenue and are more likely to occur in a form of word-of-mouth (WOM). In the compound and vibrant Malaysian home computer retail market today, customer...
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