Business and Economics

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Accounting Benefits of ERP Systems across the Different Manufacturing Industries of SMEs
(Scientific Research, 2018-04) Goumas, Spyridon; Charamis, Dimitris; Tabouratzi, Efthalia
As a result of the ongoing economic crisis and the international market competition, Greek SMEs, particularly the ones focusing in manufacture and production, need to stay profitable by increasing efficiency, while reducing operational costs. Information collected, stored and processed by ERP systems help SMEs to reduce uncertainty, and improve operations and managerial decision-making. Manufacture SMEs could benefit from the implementation of an ERP system, as there are many aspects in the business to consider. However, most decisions are based on financial information. The current study explores the accounting benefits of implementing ERPs on manufacture SMEs, from an accounting standpoint. Findings demonstrate the difference in importance of the various accounting benefits within the different manufacturing categories.
The Adoption of the E-Banking: Validation of the Technology Acceptance Model
(Scientific Research, 2013-08) Raida, Regaieg Essafi; Néji, Bouslama
This paper is based on the technology acceptance model which has been adopted by several previous researches. The purpose of the study is to determine the factors that explain the adoption of e-banking by professional in “Business to Business” relationships. It explores the determinants of use of the Internet in the relationship between bank and firm and it validates the model in Tunisian context. This paper has tested that perceived usefulness and perceived ease determine the attitude of the use, and that attitude determines the intent to use of e-banking by means of the multiple regressions. The originality of this study is the exploration of the determinants of use of e-banking by professional in order to promote its adoption.
Advertising Influence on the Profitability of Public and Private Sector Commercial Banks
(OMICS Group, 2015-11) Riaz, S.; Furqan, M.; Siddique, S.S.
This study examines the influence of advertising on the profitability of public and private sector commercial banks over the period of 2008-2012. Bank’s profitability is measured in terms of return on equity (ROE). The data set includes yearly data for 21 banks operating in Pakistan for more than 10 years. The data has been obtained from the publications of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Financial statements of commercial banks. The regression results show the positive and significant effects of advertising expenditure on Return on equity (ROE) for private sector banks than public sector banks.
Bank Capitalisation and Stock Market Liquidity: Assessing the Evidence
(Scientific Research, 2017-10) Soliman, Alaa M.; Obi, Joseph
This paper provides both theoretical and empirical evidence for assessing the relationship between bank capitalisation and stock market liquidity. It estimates a bivariate VAR-GARCH (1.1) model to examine the linkage between bank capitalisation and stock market liquidity in Nigeria using annual data covering the period from 1986 to 2014. The findings of this paper show that bank capitalisation enables banks to give out more loans to the public and this increase in lending has a positive impact on stock market liquidity growth. The findings support the view that capitalised banks are well equipped to absorb and diversify risk, give out more loans, improve liquidity in the economy and improve stock market performance.
Behavioural Finance: A Re-Examination of Prospect Theory
(Scientific Research, 2017-08) Seth, Rama; Chowdary, Bobbur Abhilash
Behavioural finance has received a major impetus over the last two decades. In this paper, we discuss the foundations which have helped in this paradigm shift from traditional Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) to the more experimental branch of finance, namely behavioural finance. We discuss EMH in the context of its critics, and present alternative theories as well as psychological concepts that are useful in understanding behavioural finance. We conduct 3 separate experiments to test Prospect theory, a popular theory put forth by Kahneman & Tversky [1]. We conduct the experiments on a different type of respondent group than that has been used in the past. Using a relatively homogenous group well versed in probability and statistics, we find that career professionals exhibit less biases than student subjects that have been used in such experiments in the past.
Blue Economy Innovation Impact Assessment with the GMR-Europe Model
(Scientific Research, 2013-11) Varga, Attila; Hau-Horváth, Orsolya; Szabó, Norbert; Járosi, Péter
This paper introduces and applies a model system that is suitable for the impact assessment of Blue Economy innovations. Our contribution to the literature is threefold. First, we build a multi-sector computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, which provides the theoretical frame for studying the economic impacts of using waste as a production input. Second, we create an empirical methodology through which new technologies of Blue Economy can be concretely accounted for in regional input-output tables. Since Blue Economy innovations are largely built on local inputs, their effects are primarily local. Given that interregional spillovers of local impacts might also be significant, through interregional trade or migration, we applied a modelling approach that is able to follow complex spatial processes. The broader model framework chosen is the GMR-Europe model.
Business Reasoning for Rapid Productization in Small Enterprises
(Scientific Research, 2014-02) Hänninen, Kai; Muhos, Matti; Kinnunen, Tuomo; Haapasalo, Harri
In order to succeed, companies must offer quality products and services, ones that are in demand. Rapid productization (RP) is a concept originating from practical challenges expanding customer preferences. RP is a process of quickly supplementing a company’s product or service offering to meet unexpected customer preferences. The objective of this study is to describe how an RP exists in small enterprises and how the use of RP is reasonable. This case study opens the RP concept by clarification of business case objectives set to start RP, analysis of RP challenges and description of business reasoning used for RP in the case companies. Products offered to customers may be a result of cooperation among many companies, while the products are modular, consisting of interlinking elements. When these types of products are well managed, it can be easy to respond to changing customer requirements. This type of RP can be the livelihood of especially small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME). However, the capability of productizing rapidly provides a significant competitive edge also for larger players.
Can Reputation Ensure Efficiency in the Structured Finance Market?
(Scientific Research, 2017-01) Elamin, Mahmoud
Structured finance products are opaque and their ratings are unverifiable. Therefore, a credit rating agency (CRA) cannot credibly fully reveal its information about the quality of a rated structured finance project. Can reputation discipline the CRA? I introduce incomplete information about the CRA’s type: With some probability, it is a truthful type that always fully reveals its information. The (updated) probability that the CRA is truthful is its reputation. With only two project types and when the CRA’s reputation is high enough, an informationally-efficient equilibrium, where investors are fully informed, exists. If firms know the true CRA type however, this existence result fails. Moreover, with more than two project types, no matter how high the CRA’s patience level or its reputation, there is no informationally-efficient equilibrium. The many project types case is clearly the relevant case. Therefore, I conclude that the fear to lose reputation is not enough deterrent in the structured finance market.
Case Study on H Corp. Software Project Risk Management with ISM
(Scientific Research, 2013-08) Wan, Jiangping; Cao, Yahui; Hou, Jiajun
The comprehensive risk management system based on the software project features of H Corp. is established, the causal relationships among risk factors are discovered, and corresponding risk structure model is built with ISM. Five original risk factors are found, including requirements analysis risk, project communication risk, schedule risk, risk of system design, and risk of project cooperation. Finally, some specific counter measures are put forward to help H Corp. improve the ability of software project risk management.
Case Study on Tacit Knowledge Management Systems within X Company
(Scientific Research, 2013-05) Wan, Jiangping; Zeng, Ming; Zhu, Yahui
Case study on tacit knowledge management system within X company includes the design of tacit knowledge management system (the recognition and acquisition of tacit knowledge), mechanisms (the factor analysis for the transition and sharing of tacit knowledge) and implementation (the sharing enterprise culture build, the effective incentive mechanism construct and the organization structure design). The evaluation system is established based on critical success factors (the recognition capability, the sharing standard, the sharing mechanism of tacit knowledge). The purpose of study is to improve tacit knowledge management system within enterprise.
CEO Pay-Performance Sensitivity: A Multi-Equation Model
(Scientific Research, 2014-08) Abraham, Rebecca; Harris, Judith; Auerbach, Joel
This study examines the variables influencing CEO compensation in the technology sector using both exclusively exogenous and interchangeably exogenous and endogenous variables. The study was confined to a single industry to isolate industry compensation practices which may be smoothed out in multi-industry studies. Multiple equations in a vector autoregressive model were used to explain compensation in recognition of the endogeneity of variables such as sales growth, stock returns and net income. Using US firms listed on the NASDAQ, we find that CEO compensation (measured separately as salary only, stock option grants only and total compensation from all sources) to be significantly explained by firm size, the ability to reduce debt, the ability to fund growth, net income and personal characteristics. CEOs are rewarded for achieving profitability. While there is an expectation of innovation in the technology sector with research and development expenditure increasing both sales and stock returns, such innovation only contributes to CEO compensation if it is translated into rising net income in an environment of debt-reduction. Further, CEOs are rewarded for implementing disruptive technology as a competitive strategy. The ability to fund growth is pertinent for the technology sector which may be restricted in its access to debt. Increases in age, tenure and the existence of celebrity status of the CEO led to increased compensation underscoring the importance of personal characteristics.
Convergence of the Unmanned Aerial Industry
(Scientific Research, 2017-02) Chamata, Johnny Elie
Industry convergence—the merger of previously unrelated industries—is a model that has had a strong influence on various industries and received substantial attention among practitioners over the past years. Despite this, industry convergence has received little attention in the field of unmanned aircraft. As the unmanned aircraft industry is still in the infancy stage, exploring the industrial status may contribute to the technology’s body of knowledge and may be useful for entrepreneurial decision making. Thus, this research paper investigates the degree to which the unmanned aerial vehicle sector represents an example of industry convergence and predicts the consequences built upon it. The investigation is based on the convergence theory and evidence from the unmanned aerial systems industry is provided to support theoretical foundations. Conclusions show that unmanned aerial technology is converged to an undefined extent and the author calls for further related empirical research.
Corruption and Economic Growth: The Case of EMCCA
(Scientific Research, 2017-08) Ondo, Assoumou
This article analyzes the relationship between corruption and economic growth in the countries of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (EMCCA). To our knowledge, there are no works dealing with the direct relations between the two variables in such a framework. For this purpose, we use panel data econometrics to show that over the period 2005 to 2015, corruption has favored economic growth in the CEMAC member countries by “grazing” the administrative burdens that impede access basic public services (water, electricity, public hospitals and public schools), the creation and development of private enterprises.
The Crude Oil Price Influence on the Brazilian Industrial Production
(Scientific Research, 2017-04) de Salles, Andre Assis; Almeida, Pedro Henrique Acioli
The oil price is a relevant variable for economic policy makers in countries where this commodity is the main energy source as well as in other countries where crude oil is not the only energy source. The sudden variations in the crude oil price cause direct influence in the national economies bringing changes in foreign trade, investments and productive activities. Therefore, the crude oil market is very important for the economic development. Furthermore, crude oil is directly or indirectly present in all productive activities. This way the crude oil market is related to the industrial production indicators. Many researches aim at establishing the stochastic process that can represent the movements of macroeconomic indicators through the oil price returns or variations that have been done in recent years. The purpose of this work is to study the relationship between crude oil prices and selected industrial production indicators of the Brazilian economy. To do that this work carried out cointegration and causality tests, from VAR estimations, and impulse response analysis. The data used in this study is monthly macroeconomic indicators, mentioned above, and the Brent crude oil type price negotiated in the London Market. All data used is in US$. The period of the sample used is from January 2002 to October 2015.
Determinants of Oil Futures Prices
(Scientific Research, 2016-08) Abraham, Rebecca; Harrington, Charles
This study is directed at predicting the determinants of oil futures prices. We evaluate commodity pricing with oil occupying a special position due to highly inelastic demand. Given the sudden fall in oil prices, there is theoretical and practical interest in identifying the determinants of falling oil prices. While the popular press dwells on oversupply in production as the principal determinant of price declines, we examine additional predictors including call option sales and put option purchases along with the Canadian dollar-US dollar exchange rate and news of future oil prices. Intraday call and put options on NYMEX oil futures were examined. Call and put option prices of 1 - 7 month-maturities, along with exchange rates, the supply of oil and news of oil prices were regressed on oil futures prices. A trading strategy was tested based on the thesis that in a period of price declines, options traders seek to profit by selling call options and purchasing put options. While oversupply of oil was the most important determinant of oil prices, trader speculation through put buying and call selling exacerbated the decline in oil prices. Call and put option prices explained oil futures prices for options of 1 - 4 month maturities. The supply of oil was significant in predicting oil futures prices in all future time periods. This was followed by the Canadian dollar-US dollar exchange rate which was significant in predicting oil prices 1, 2, 3 and 6 months into the future. Finally, news of forthcoming events affecting oil prices predicted oil futures prices 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 months in advance.
Determinants of Vertical Integration: Investment Efficiency, Product Differentiation and Firm Size
(Scientific Research, 2018-04) Yamawake, Toshiyuki; Yamoto, Shigetsune; Goi, Hoe Chin; Lee, Dong-Joon
This study examines the determinants of Merger and Acquisition (M & A) when manufacturing firms integrate with retailing firms. We examine a manufacturing duopoly in which each upstream firm sells the output to its exclusive retailing firm. In sequence of the timing of game, the strategic variables are set as Research and Development (R & D) investment, wholesale price by manufacturing firms and sales volume by retailing firms. The study concludes that degree of investment efficiency, product differentiation, and market size play important roles in vertical integration. Our conclusion shows that if product differentiation becomes greater, the vertical integration increases. Secondly, if the market size becomes larger, the vertical integration increases. Thirdly, the vertical integration increases when investment efficiency becomes higher. Our theoretical findings are also supported by the empirical results with the listed Japanese company data from 1996 to 2016.
The Dilemma of Incumbents in Sustainability Transitions: A Narrative Approach
(MDPI AG - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 2015-12) Augenstein, Karoline; Palzkill, Alexandra
In the context of the larger sustainability discourse, “sufficiency” is beginning to emerge as a new value throughout Western societies, and the question asked in this article is: Can we observe and conceptually identify opportunities to link successful business strategies of incumbents to principles of sufficiency? Thus, how feasible is sustainable entrepreneurship for incumbents? In this paper, a conceptual approach is developed combining insights from sociology, transition research, management and sustainable entrepreneurship research with a focus on narratives as a translation mechanism in situations where tensions emerge between corporate narratives and unexpected societal trends, e.g., the emergence of sufficient lifestyles. It will be shown that even though these are still a niche phenomenon, a focus on corporate narratives is an important element in understanding the role of incumbents in transitions to sustainability.
Diving Deep in Employee Training to Understand Employee Engagement
(OMICS Group, 2015-12) Ahmed, U.; Phulpoto, W.; Umrani, W.A.; Abbas, S.I.
Human resource practices have prominently influenced employee behaviors and outcomes at work. This conceptual paper proposes motivations to explore employee training in depth to understand how its key component including need assessment, design, trainer, delivery, and evaluation can significantly contribute towards fostering post-training employee engagement. The paper has tried to model an opportunity for practitioners to understand how apart from other employee outcomes like motivation, commitment and performance; post-training work well-being can be also be enhanced through employee training function through maximum capitalization of the employee training components.
Does Innovative Financing Increase the Firm Performance? An Empirical Investigation of Indian Manufacturing Firms
(Scientific Research, 2016-04) Vunyale, Narender; Raja, Nemi; Krishnankutty, Raveesh
The firms mobilizing resources using innovative debt from market reduce dependence on the traditional banking and financial institutions. The firms raising resources by directly approaching public have some incentive to do so, i.e., innovative firms will be able to better plan commitments of future cash outflow and inflow, increase the borrowing capacity, save taxes, etc. to create higher value to the shareholders. In this paper we have made an attempt to test whether such innovative firms’ performance is higher than other firms. We also tried to understand if more variety of instruments helped create better value of share in the market for such firms.
Economics of Offshore IT Outsourcing: An International Trade Perspective
(Scientific Research, 2013-11) Bordoloi, Bijoy; Powell, Anne
In recent times, offshore outsourcing of Information Technology (IT) products and services, including software development and maintenance activities, has been an issue of much controversy in the United States, with popular sentiment being against outsourcing in the mass media. Is offshore outsourcing really bad for the US economy? If yes, why did so many US companies, including IT companies, start outsourcing to begin with and still continue to do so? For that matter, why doesn’t the federal government simply ban it as a national policy? To provide some possible answers to these questions, this paper examines the issue of offshore outsourcing from the perspectives of international trade theory and the unique cost characteristics of “information goods”.

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