Volume 16 (2020): Issue 4 (December 2020)

This paper examines digital finance usage in the UK, US, India and Nigeria. Using data from the global financial development indicators, the findings reveal that the UK and US have higher digital finance usage than India and Nigeria. The US has higher credit card usage compared to the UK while the UK has higher debit card usage compared to the US. Also, Nigeria has higher debit card usage than India. The findings also show that higher debit card usage is correlated with higher domestic credit to the private sector in the US and Nigeria. Higher credit card usage is correlated with lower domestic credit to the private sector, lower private credit by deposit money banks, and fewer remittances to the UK. The implication of the findings is that policy makers in developing countries should develop the digital finance and payment systems in their countries to close up the wide gap in digital finance adoption between developing and developed countries.

This paper presents a theoretical and empirical outlook on different aspects of various cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology including the evolution of digital tokens and how they widely affect the financial markets, organizations, banks, governments via analyzing the characteristics and current history of cryptocurrencies alongside with blockchain technology. The choice of this topic was motivated by the fact that the virtual money concept and blockchain technology are utterly new phenomena. This new technology is completely decentralized making the subject worthy of scientific research.The paper solely focuses on analyzing how cryptocurrencies currently affect the financial markets and the future trends of these virtual tokens in the global economy. The study is keen to further examine the impact of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on international fund transfers. Literature review and case study with up-to-date data has been included in the analysis. The following results have been obtained: cryptocurrencies offer a wide range of features such as faster, cheaper and more secure cross-border money transfers that can also provide anonymity. Most crypto tokens are highly volatile due to their nature and various other factors. Cryptocurrencies could provide more beneficial options for users on cross border transfers compared to traditional methods of fund transfers. Cryptocurrencies might have the potential to replace paper money and gain mainstream recognition throughout the world. The study sheds light onto current and future trends of cryptocurrencies and blockchain. It is outlined for the crypto, financial, economic field.

Businesses in the twenty first century are characterized by persistent changes, uncertainties and undue pressure to meet demands and increase productivity. For women entrepreneurs, they are expected to combine this with the statutory responsibility of taking care of their children, families and home front. Managing these different roles and responsibilities usually influences the business performance and family life and may impact their service delivery. Hence, the study examined the impact of work-life balance on service delivery among women entrepreneurs in south-western Nigeria. A total of 379 respondents were selected from a population of 25,122 members of the Nigeria union of tailors in Lagos, Oyo and Osun state using multistage sampling techniques. Primary data was collected through the use of a structured self-administered questionnaire and a structural equation model (SEM- PLS) was adopted for the analysis. The result shows work demands, wellbeing, family workload and spousal support with coefficients 0.219, 0.101, 0.061 and 0.563. The study also found that every unit change of work-life balance would lead to a 0.792 unit change in service delivery. Therefore, the study concludes that work-life balance contributes significantly to the service delivery of women entrepreneurs. The study recommends that women entrepreneurs should effectively manage their work and family roles, ensure creativity and flexibility in their work domains and seek support to enable them to deliver efficient service and achieve overall performance in their business.

Violation of the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) in a specific market may lead to construction of bubbles which is a signal of inefficiencies. Although speculative bubbles soon decay, if they exist for a long time, they will lead to financial crises. Early warning systems (EWSs) are designed to quickly alert the market to crises. Under EMH, the logarithm of price is a martingale process. Thus, it is necessary to use a suitable EWS tool for violation of martingale properties of the logarithm of asset prices. In this paper, using the auto-regressive (ARTA) models, and assuming Markov structure between financial random variables, the conditional means are formulated as a simple regression. Then, using the recursive formula for least square estimates of regression parameters, the hypothesis of variables being martingale is tested. This approach leads to a probability index which serves as an EWS. Then, throughout two real data sets, it is seen that the results of the study are applicable to construct EWS for detecting stock market crashes as well as exchange rate market crises. A discussion section is proposed. Finally, based on these results, conclusions are given.

The objective of the paper is to examine value creation in private higher education. The results of the research are to be applied in reasonable structuring of study programs and courses and for creating profitable business and marketing strategies for private universities. From a student perspective, higher education is a project that must generate a positive net present value. In the pre-investment and investment phases, students see cash outflows and opportunity costs. In the third phase, the project generates benefits that take the form of cash inflows from employment or doing business in the relevant field. The value of the study program from the perspective of a private university is produced by the present value of the future cash flows generated by the investment in the study program and its administration and operation. The main cash inflows are created by tuition revenues and the main cash outflows are brand-related investments and personnel costs. The market equilibrium occurs when the value of a degree program from the perspective of a private university corresponds to the total aggregate net present value of a degree program at a private university from a student perspective.

The main objective of the activity is to solve a financial simulation in such a way that the student learns to work in a team through organizational and planning skills, results orientation and responsibility, as it happens in the business world. The methodology used to implement this activity is Flipped Classroom, considering that it is the most appropriate for the students to acquire the skills that allow them to advise the management team of a company. The activity takes place in a consulting project in which a company requests advice from our students to make an investment decision. The company needs to acquire a transport element and wants to know the financial, accounting and tax consequences that could be derived from making the investment through two different financing instruments: financial leasing or renting. The results of the evaluation carried out by the students show significant satisfaction in the acquisition of competences, given that 60% consider that the activity has been highly beneficial in their learning.

Agriculture is neither the largest nor the most effective segment of the Polish economy. However, since its importance goes beyond purely numerical characteristics, it is justified for the State to support it. What is important in this regard, however, is a kind of balance. These measures cannot be a substitute for initiatives to strengthen its financial efficiency and increase its productivity. The key question therefore becomes to what extent agricultural support through financial instruments improves the performance of this sector of the Polish economy and how neutral it remains for it, while burdening public finances. In view of the above, the purpose of this article is to examine the productivity and financial efficiency of agriculture in Poland using the FADN methodology based on agricultural accounting. The structure of the article has been subordinated to the achievement of the intended research objective. The article starts with an introduction to the issues of financial efficiency and productivity in agriculture. Next, there is a presentation of agriculture and its characteristics as a segment of the Polish economy. Further presented and discussed are the data and methodology used in the study and studies on the productivity and financial efficiency of agriculture in Poland. In the final part of the article, the authors seek to analyse the impact of public transfers on market effects and discuss the modernisation of Polish agriculture and improvement of rural infrastructure. In a sense, the whole analysis closes with a summary containing the most important findings of the studies carried out.

The article discusses the problems of commercial banks related to the coping with abrupt changes in activities organization due to quarantine and moving to partially remote work. The theoretical considerations concerning psychological capital role at organization operating under the unstable conditions are given and hypothesis regarding psychological capital, its individual components, leadership, leadership styles (types) and the overall effectiveness of the organization are formulated. Empirical evidence which proves formulated hypothesis is presented. Concepts of psychological health and psychological competences are presented. The research conducted shows that the psychological capital of financial institutions employees being monitored during COVID-19 quarantine at Spring 2020 is positively correlated with the impact of transformational leadership on the organization effectiveness.