Volume 14 (2019): Issue 1 (April 2019)

Trade credit, the credit extended to buyers by suppliers who let them buy now and pay later, is an important financing method for many buyers. Any policy change by buyers in accounts payable, a measure for trade credit, results in appreciation or frustration on the supplier side. Even though, such effects have been well documented in the literature, an empirical study on the subject is surprisingly lacking. As an example, a certain buyer might change the payment policy by extending or shortening the periods of the payments. We investigate how and if the payment policy change of the buyer affects the supplier’s operations, especially on the perspective of inventory of suppliers. This study further investigates how changes in a firm’s accounts payable days and accounts receivable days affect its inventory turnover days.

In this article, our main aim is to bring in discussion some of the most controversial points debated along the time on the use of the accounting estimates in financial reporting. More important, we have referred to the Exposure Draft recently closed for comment letters, which addressed some points that will follow to be transformed into several amendments to IAS 8. Our discussion is focused, especially on how professionals can make a clear distinction between changes in accounting estimates and changes in accounting policies. We try to underline the trinomial perspective of this subject, as the changes in accounting estimates impact, not only the financial statements, but can generate issues on auditing those estimates, or on using financial information output on the entity valuation models. Additionally, we try to emphasize the essential role of this distinction between changes in accounting estimates and changes in accounting policies.

Employing the lens of institutional entrepreneurship to help understand the logic of organizational change management, we conduct an analysis of the impact of Appreciative Inquiry® in a multi-unit division of a large, university-based health system. Our results indicate that, although there may have been some marginal impact in temporarily reducing an observed decline in employee commitment indicators, the program failed to sustain positive impacts over the longer term. Implications for the study of organizational change as the action of institutional entrepreneurs are briefly discussed.

It is well known that the current business world, and also the investments, today are based on the global markets expansion. Contemporary reality shows us the image of a world which is irreversibly evolving towards the businesses globalization and the companies’ internationalization. The internal markets often become overcrowded, and the companies access more profoundly the global marketplace, which not only provides a place for all competitors, but also represents a source of new advantages for all. In the context of globalization the investment activity has gained new dimensions, becoming a global one, with serious implications, which manifest itself over the national economies and also over the world economy. Starting from these premises, the present paper’s purpose is to analyze a current, important and intensely debated issue, namely, the direct foreign investments, pointing out the main elements of their historic development and highlighting their fundamental role for the economic development of a country. Thus, here are reviewed some of the indisputable benefits of direct foreign investments generated within the country – as a dynamic development engine. Beyond the beneficial effects, which unequivocally denote the importance of drawing direct foreign investments, we try to answer the question “Can be identified negative effects of direct foreign investments which affect the receiving country?”

Bad writing can affect individuals and companies alike. It can cause confusion and misunderstanding, waste important resources of time and money, erode credibility and trust. On the other hand, clear writing will increase productivity, promote goodwill, and cement relations. This article discusses some of the most common problems encountered in business writing, together with their causes and the solutions proposed in the literature. Using too many words, an abstract vocabulary, and passive constructions will obscure the message and tire the reader. Conversely, the elimination of clutter, the use of plain words and personal pronouns, and the construction of sentences with clear subjects and verbs will convey the message clearly and effectively and will make your writing stand out.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the role of different important factors responsible for CO₂ emissions increase in South Asia. Decomposition analysis has been done to see the factors which are primarily responsible for changes in CO₂ emissions. Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index is used to quantify the role of different important factors in CO₂ emissions increase during 1980 to 2014 in seven major South Asian countries - Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The analysis shows that income effect and population effect are the major determinants in the increase in per capita emissions whereas fuel intensity and in few cases, emissions intensity has a negative effect in emissions increase in most of these countries. Due to high growth potential, emerging trend and rich resource endowments, it is suggested that South Asian countries should accelerate their efforts and cooperate to reduce CO₂ emissions and energy consumption. This will help to attain sustainable economic growth in future.

The purpose of this research paper is to study the present status of e-commerce industry in Bangladesh and finding out comprehensive model based solution for the expansion of the sector spreading e-commerce all over the country. SWOT analysis has been conducted and business expansion model has been developed from the data generated from surveying to the reputed e-commerce business organizations and customers of e-commerce. Primary data has been collected from the top level management of e-commerce business organizations and e-commerce customers as interviewees while secondary data have been collected from Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission reports, relevant literature etc. This study identifies that e-commerce intermediation and channel conflict are the great problems in case of e-commerce business expansion that increases the price level of the products and services but can not reach mass people outside the mega cities as Dhaka. That is why a value chain based business expansion model has been proposed to reach the mass people of Bangladesh for inclusive e-commerce through e-commerce agent. The study will provide insights to the policy makers to work with e-commerce business expansion in the process of digitization of Bangladesh.

This paper investigates the decline of state chartered banks in the rural states Alabama, Arkansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. We use bank capital as the dependent variable for the mixed model regression analysis. We analyze both state and bank specific variables to determine which factors have more influence on bank equity capital. The findings indicate that as bank equity capital increases, the number of state chartered banks decreases. We also find that small agriculture business loans increase as equity capital increases, showing that in our sample of rural states agriculture is significant in providing a capital buffer for state chartered banks. However, we find that loans secured by farmland do not statistically influence bank equity capital.

We examine the impact of the Global Crisis on entrepreneurial aspirations and entrepreneurial attitudes. We focus on three aspiration variables (Growth Expectation early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity, New Product early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity, and International Orientation early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity), and eight attitude variables (Entrepreneurial Intention, Entrepreneurship as Desirable Career Choice, Fear of Failure Rate, High Status Successful Entrepreneurship, Know Startup Entrepreneur Rate, Media Attention for Entrepreneurship, Perceived Capabilities, and Perceived Opportunities). Our results show that, two of the attitude variables have changed significantly three years after the crisis. Entrepreneurial Intention is significantly higher in 2011 (i.e. three years after the crisis started) when compared to 2008, and Know Startup Entrepreneur Rate is significantly lower in 2011 when compared to 2008. On the other hand, we find no significant change in any of the aspiration variables.

This paper aims to provide insight into talent management and employee recognition variables, in an effort to understand if these management practices are, in a way, implemented in the Research Institutions in Qatar. It also aims to examine the link of these two constructs to employee performance and to suggest a pathway to improve the current practices, if any, in order to enhance the work performance. The sample of the study consisted of 180 full time employees who were randomly selected and surveyed using an online personalized questionnaire. The results of the empirical research uncover that talent management and employee recognition can significantly affect the level of employee performance, as well contributing to the organizational success and positioning. This study also found that talent management and employee recognition are interrelated variables that affect employee performance. Talent Management and employee performance are seen as strategic tools to implement strategic objectives and to enhance employees and organization’s performance. The study concludes with a set of recommendations for both practitioners and researchers working in Qatar and beyond. The results of the study emphasize the importance of managing employee recognition in shaping work performance. It seems to be individuals’ need for recognition, esteem and social status continues to be a higher order need irrespective of time and context. This paper is the first paper in Qatar and the Middle East that examines the role of talent management and employee recognition in shaping employee performance in the context of research institutions.

Comparing the management characteristics of business firms in different countries has been a popular research topic in business administration. In this paper, we compare the management characteristics of U.S., German, and Japanese manufacturing corporations. The findings of our study can provide valuable insights for corporate managers and global investors. We find that U.S. manufacturing corporations have the lowest liquidity risk (i.e., U.S. manufacturing firms have higher liquidity levels) compared with German and Japanese manufacturing corporations. German manufacturing corporations have the highest bankruptcy risk (i.e., German manufacturing firms have higher liability levels) compared with U.S. and Japanese manufacturing corporations. The average collection period of accounts receivable and the average payment period of accounts payable are significantly shorter in U.S. manufacturing corporations compared with their German and Japanese counterparts. Due to the extensive use of the just-in-time inventory management system in Japanese Keiretsu industry groupings, Japanese manufacturing corporations have higher inventory turnover rates (i.e., Japanese manufacturing corporations carry lower inventory levels) compared with U.S. and German manufacturing corporations. U.S. manufacturing corporations are able to earn higher operating profit margins compared with their German and Japanese counterparts because they are able to charge higher product prices to customers and/or they are able to have lower manufacturing costs. Japanese manufacturing corporations have the lowest annual sales and total assets growth rates compared with U.S. and German manufacturing corporations.

This paper aims to examine the impact of corporate governance (CG) rules using several variables—size of the board of directors, size of the audit committee, family ownership ratio, and their impact on the level of the voluntary disclosure of companies listed with Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). The study was conducted based on the annual reports of the first market that include 55 firms. Content analysis was applied to collect the required data from several sectors (financial, insurance, services, and industrial sectors) from 2016 to 2017.The results indicate a negative association among family ownership ratio, size of the audit committee, and voluntary disclosure level. However, the study shows that the size of the board of directors has a significant positive relationship with the level of voluntary disclosure. Furthermore, the results show that CG rules (size of the board of directors, size of the audit committee, and family ownership ratio) have a significant positive relationship with the voluntary disclosure level of the companies listed with ASE. In the borderline market environment, the study contributes to a theoretical understanding of the corporate governance of voluntary disclosure and the relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and voluntary disclosure. The outcomes provide empirical support for the theoretical notion that effective corporate governance plays an important role in increasing the extent of voluntary disclosure.

Over the last few decades Big Data has impetuously penetrated almost every domain of human interest/action and it has (more or less consciously) become a ubiquitous presence of day to day life. The main questions this exploratory paper seeks to address (throughout its two parts) are the following: What is the (actual) impact of Big Data on Business & Management and How can businesses (through their management) leverage the potential of Big Data to their benefit? This second part of the paper is dedicated to the investigation of the demand-side of the big data industry – by highlighting some evidences (and projections) on the impact of big data analytics on Business & Management (both at aggregate and granular level) and exploring what companies could and should do (through their management) in order to best capitalize on the opportunities of big data and avoid/minimize the impact of its threats.

We live in a world characterised by speed owing mainly to technology. Everything happens at a faster pace, from the way production and consumption takes place to the way the environment is degrading. Henceforth, sustainable development appeared in response to these consequences. However, considering that we are discussing the topic of sustainable development for over three decades now, it is probably time to bring it forward in another way and try to better understand it through opposing perspectives. Therefore, the present paper explores differing views on the discussed topic, and analyses sustainable development in relation to other similar terms, trying to provide a clear meaning of the concept. More, it looks to provide a own interpretation of sustainable development, and intends to bring forward some of the most popular and disputing models surrounding it.

The activity-based costing (ABC) systems emerged as a management accounting innovation in the mid-1980s in response to dissatisfaction with traditional management accounting techniques and heightened international competition. Although ABC provides many advantages for managerial decision making, ABC tends to be outdated due to its limitations and is substituted by the time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) systems. TDABC requires estimates of only two parameters: how much it costs per time unit of capacity to supply resources to activities and how much time it takes to perform each activity. TDABC allows incorporation of variation in the time demands made by different types of processes and consequently the representation of all possible combinations of activities that a process performs. This paper uses TDABC to calculate marketing costs and describes TDABC as a useful technique to reduce marketing resource costs and to support effective marketing decision making in various contexts such as marketing processes restructuring, marketing mix choices, customer profitability and price differentiation for customer classes.

This paper includes an introduction to the concept of spreadsheet optimization and modeling as it specifically applies to combinatorial problems. One of the best known of the classic combinatorial problems is the “Traveling Salesman Problem” (TSP). The classic Traveling Salesman Problem has the objective of minimizing some value, usually distance, while defining a sequence of locations where each is visited once. An additional requirement is that the tour ends in the same location where the tour started. Variants of the classic Traveling Salesman Problem are developed including the Bottleneck TSP and the Variation Bottleneck TSP.

The banking system has undergone several transformations since its beginning up to now, some as a result of adapting to customers’ requirements that have become increasingly sophisticated, and others as a result of the economic and political contexts that have passed, which again – have required its adaptation. Regardless of the situation, the banks have undergone a large digitization process, a process that is now in progress and which in the coming years can cause a significant change in the banking we knew about 10-15 years ago. Through this paper, I propose to analyse the situation of the banking system in terms of adapting to these challenges, at the level of Romania, in the context of the current situation at global and European level, in order to highlight both the progress achieved and the gap in comparison to the other countries, much more competitive from this perspective.

The utility of performance measurement and management system can be said to have been proven, but the problem faced by both the theoreticians and practitioners is to set the right performance indicators. Developed models are tools that managers can use to measure and manage performance, but they need to be tailored to the context. Also, the trend towards using non-financial performance indicators makes it very difficult for managers to design a performance measurement and management system because it involves the integration of qualitative and non-quantitative variables and a profound understanding of the internal and external environment of the company.

This paper is to develop a measurement scale for perceived construction project success to be used for management studies in construction project context. First, a systematic literature review was conducted. A questionnaire was administrated to a sample of 108 construction projects and 47 (44%) questionnaires were received. Exploratory factor analysis was carried out and required steps were followed in the process to establish validity and reliability of the measurement scale. Initially nine criteria with 25 items which can be used for evaluating and driving construction projects were found. Results of factor analysis reveal seventeen measurable items which were loaded on three dimensions/factors. Practitioners can use these criteria as a guiding framework for monitoring and driving their construction projects. This scale will be instrumental for those who are aspired to do research in construction project context. This study may be the first to discuss a measurement scale for construction project success with the viewpoints of Sri Lankan construction professionals. Also this scale has attempted to go beyond the traditional criteria and emphasize the requirement of having a long term perspective. This study add to the body of knowledge of project success criteria and construction project management.

In today’s hyper competitive banking arena, banking institutions are focusing on improving service quality. Providing excellent quality of service is important in creating and sustaining competitive advantage in the banking industry of Mauritius due to intense competition between local and international banks. Hence, the paper explores the impact of Service Quality (SQ) Dimensions on customer satisfaction. Using the SERVQUAL model, the paper seeks to examine the impacts of reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangible aspects on customer satisfaction in banks of Mauritius. A sample of 200 banking customers was randomly selected and data were analyzed through SPSS version 22. The SERVQUAL model has been found as reliable factors and appropriate tool to measure, evaluate, support, and improve the quality of services in banking industry. Results indicated that all five service quality factors have significantly positively influenced customer satisfaction in banks. Regression analysis was also conducted and depicted that empathy is a significant predictor of customer satisfaction among the five SQ dimensions.