International Business Management

India has been continually attracting massive foreign investments since the opening up of its economy with a series of liberalization policies in the early 1990s. This inward FDI plays an important role in the Indian economy as a financier of her BOP. However in recent years, India has been fast emerging as an exporter of large foreign direct investment. An increasing number of Indian firms are resorting to outward investment in order to access new technologies, skills and managerial expertise etc. from the developed countries. This is a bit of an anomaly. What explains this boom in FDI from India? What have been the motivations to invest abroad? What could be its economic implications? These are the questions that generally come into mind. A large number of strategic factors and motivations along with a series of policies liberalization and financial deregulation those are undertaken since the early 1990s are supposed to be the driving forces for this outflow of FDI from India. The present article tries to address some of these issues.

This study reports the environmental performance of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), who are already certified to the ISO 14001 standard in the United Kingdom. A survey questionnaire was used and 59 SMEs responded to this study. The results show that SMEs has gained various benefits from the implementation of the standard. The ISO 14001 implementation has increased awareness among SMEs staff, improved procedure and documentation, improved management structures and upheld their image. SMEs also recorded financial savings in areas like waste recycling/reuse, energy and water consumption and legal compliance. Even though, the saving are far less than larger organizations has obtained, its shows that this standard could give more to SMEs in the longer period. Through a good environmental image and having EMS in place, SMEs have a competitive edge in the market where supply chain pressure is increasing. However, they still faced problems in terms of costs and time during the implementation processes and in maintaining the standard. These problems can be solved if they have support from the authorities, business clubs and environmental NGOs. Publicity and promotion of the benefits of ISO 14001 implementation in SMEs could encourage other SMEs to follow suit. Further incentives by the government like tax reduction and financial grants to SMEs who are certified should be considered. As financial problems still remain an obstacle for SMEs in adopting EMS, financial grants, like SCEEMAS can be useful.

Hibah or gift inter vivos is a way of distribution of the estates of a Muslim during his lifetime and have been implemented since, the existence of Islam. Notwithstanding its popularity, this long established instrument which is practised in Malaysia will not be able to provide a satisfactory and viable alternative to overcome problems if it receives a double standard treatment as compared to the civil system. The significant difference between the two is that Islamic law of hibah is a unique contract but is obviously denied the status of a contract under the civil law, particularly the Malaysian law of contracts. Following the above facts, the study seeks to compare the differences between the two concepts of gift, one which is under the Malaysian Contracts Act, 1950 and the other is hibah under Islamic law. In addition, this study will also seek to examine the problems that could arise if hibah is not recognized as a valid contract under the law of contracts.

The present study investigates the British responses after the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry. In fact, the nationalization of oil is a turning point in the study of contemporary history of Iran in that it determines its future incidents in the overt aspect the 1953 coup that terminated to collapse Prime Minister Dr. Mosaddeq from power. The British government stated the protesting reactions after the nationalization of oil. The present study investigates three main targets. In the first place, it attempts to study the British policy to put apparent calm negotiations in place by the mediation of Americans. Secondly, it elucidates that the British took another two different reactions; moreover, violence military threat as well as legal action, making a complaint against Iran to the International Court of the Justice in The Hague and to The United Nations. Thirdly, it intends to illuminate the policy of the British as the hidden agenda was to send some agents for spying inside Iran that it paved the way for further measures taken by the British, particularly to change Dr. Mosaddeq's government. Qualitative approach has been applied to examine how the British policy has affected the history of Iran. The main resource used in this study is given to the documents from archival research and several magazines as well as books. The resultant study manifests that the British not only planned to control the oil cartel circumstances in the world and to boycott Iran's oil via consultation with and through Americans but also they were the original source and effective factor in changing the domestic and foreign policies of Iran during 1953 coup.

Since, the early days of independence Nigeria's fiscal operation and current account position has been characterised by deficits and imbalances. The twin deficits' hypothesis asserts that an increase in budget deficit will cause similar increase in the current account deficit. However, the findings of many studies are not in line with this assertion. It is even surprising that using the same country data produce different result. This study investigates the relationship between budget deficit and current account balance in Nigeria from 1960-2008. Ordinary least square was first explored to determine the effect of budget deficit on current account balance m Nigeria. Various diagnostic tests preceded cointegration analysis. In order to capture the short-run disequilibrium situation among the variables, namely current account balance, budget balance, investment and private savings, an error correction model was estimated as a follow up to cointegration analysis. Estimation of long-run elasticities was done from the computed autoregressive distributed lag. Thereafter Granger causality test was conducted to determine the causal relationship among the variables. Ordinary least square result show that a unit increases in budget deficit will cause 0.71 unit increase in current account balance. Bound cointegration test established a long run relationship among the variables. Evidence from the error correction model shows that 1% change in budget deficit will cause 0.67% change in current account balance. The empirical findings of this research work indicate that there is a bi-directional relationship between budget deficit and current account balance as revealed by the Granger causality test. The findings support the twin deficits hypothesis. It has also been empirically supported by Ahmadu for Malaysia and Philippines, Evan for Cambodia, Tahir and Mahbubz for Pakistan.

Empirical studies regarding the determinants of private investments in developing countries including Brazil have demonstrated the negative impact of high inflation rates on investments. However, the recent Brazilian experience clearly shows that stabilization in and of itself is not capable of recovering the investment rates. With this in mind, this study's goal is to answer with the help of econometric simulation models, the questions: what are the key-drivers to assess the Brazilian economy and what are the key-factors to bes considered when investments are made? To answer the 1st question, it was evaluated the impacts of macro-seconomic variables on private investments using a strategic bias and a long term cash management vision plan. The estimates demonstrate empirical crowding-in evidence of public investments in infrastructure over private investments. As for public investments (non-infrastructural), the researchers suggest that the crowding-in impact dislocates private investments. All these indicators were obtained as presented in the therory with the exception of the real interest rates variable (r) in which the researchers observed that the coefficient is positive and insignificant in the estimated equation.

This study examines corporate capital structure of listed construction companies in Malaysia from 2005-2009. Capital structure defines on how a firm would be able to fund its future investment projects via debt, equity or mixed. Capital structure represents both a net worth and long-term debt of the firms as the perpetual funding for firms. This study considers understanding the nature of some critical factors as independent variables, namely profitability, tangibility of assets, growth, size and non-debt tax shield on Malaysia corporate capital structure. The analysis revealed that profitability of the firm; growth opportunity and firm size had the significant relationship with dependent variable, leverage. Other than that non-debt tax shield had the significant relationship with leverage for year 2006. Finally, there was no relationship between tangibility of assets and leverage for construction companies. Capital structure is so important, it could be considered as a basis of most institutions and organizations and it is defined as the mixture of both debt and equity for financing.

This research was aimed to examine the cost setting for working abroad of Thai labourers. The study had been conducted by the qualitative approach by in-depth interview as well as employing participatory observation techniques with 25 key informants who were labour brokers of legal labour agency company and labour sub-brokers. Key informants were selected by snowball technique from 5 main provinces which have many workers abroad; UdonThani, NakhonRatchasima, KhonKaen, Chaiyaphum andNongkhai. Data collection was done during May to November 2012. Content analysis was employed for the data analysis. The results of the study indicated that the cost setting for working abroad is a main function of labour brokers who are the core of each sub-network. It is also determined by the policy of labour agency company and management cost of the sub-brokers. This cost was employed by the sub-broker in the labour broker's network to communicate to their job-seekers or customer's aboard. At the same time, the price will be set as an agreement with the labour brokers in other areas to maintain good relationship among them.

The present study is devoted to the analysis of the Russian institutional system's quality and its connection with resource abundance of the country. The key question is whether natural resources are blessing or cursing for economic growth and institutional development in Russia. On the basis of the most authoritative indexes of institutional development we analyzed the dynamics of the Russian institutions evolution, made a series of comparisons between Russia and a number of resource abundant countries regarding to their institutional quality and associated with it economic success. The aim was to identify the position of Russia among resource abundant countries with respect to the quality of institutions and its influence on economic growth in the light of the puzzling phenomenon of Natural Resource Curse (NRC). The comparison was done among the following countries: Venezuela, Russia, Mexico, Australia, Canada and Norway. The analysis, being based on the results of econometric models of several we employs in turn index-verification of NRC institutional interpretation. The results show that Russian institutions are still far from production friendly ones what does'nt contribute to effective use of its natural resources and eventually to a robust economic progress; Russia remains under embezzlement mode.

Higher Learning Institutions (HLI) are playing an increasingly important role towards development of Malaysia by providing a range of services which includes providinga new generation of skilled leaders who are highly competent in order to cope with the changes and competitive situations in educational environments, such as universities. As such to demonstrate the utility of the Emotional Intelligence (El) in higher education, this concept study focuses on the influence of El on job performanceamong academic leaders in research universities in Malaysia. The researchers argue that El is asignificant predictor of job performance. Its focus was on academic leaders' El in improving their job performance in educational institutions and research universities in Malaysia. At the end, some operating performance tasks by academic leaders in higher education institutions are presented.

The study aims to explore different factors of emotional intelligence and investigate the relationship between factors of emotional intelligence and variables like gender, schooling and age. The relationship between different factors of emotional intelligence and academic performance of engineering students is also examined. Students (N = 177) attending an engineering institution filled the questionnaire. The instrument used for data collection is considered to be reliable as Cronbachs alpha for the instrument is 0.752. The data is analyzed using various statistical tools like factor analysis, Monte Carlo parallel analysis, t-test, Mean, Standard deviation, ANOVA and Regression analysis. Based on factor analysis 32 components are categorized into 5 factors: Emotional management, awareness, negative outlook, non-verbal messages and positive outlook. The findings revealed that gender of the college students makes significant influence on emotional management and non-verbal messages whereas background of the college students makes significant influence only on non-verbal messages but does not influence other factors. Whereas schooling of the college students does not significantly influence any of the factors of emotional intelligence. Academic performance of engineering students is found to be independent of factors of emotional intelligence.

In order to grow and sustain in the globalized economy, organizations need to maximize the performance of their employees. Performance appraisal is a universal human resource management practice. Educational institutions are not in the exception. In an educational institution, teacher's performance has a strategic role and they influence the performance of students and the reputation of the university. But in our country the practice of performance appraisal system is not very familiar with the educational institutions. Only a few leading private universities of Bangladesh are observed to use the tool of performance appraisal but here the evaluation is conducted mostly by the students. The management and the higher authority of the universities are not conscious about accurate application of performance appraisal tools and techniques. The aim of this study is to evaluate the importance and effectiveness of the Performance Appraisal system to increase performance and motivation of the academics in the universities. A sample of hundred respondents was drawn from both the public and private universities and cluster, stratified and convenient sampling techniques were used to collect data by using a structured questionnaire from various levels of respondents. Teachers have shown a mixed feeling about student evaluations. Data analysis showed that the university teachers don't see their performance appraisal system accurate and fair because the outcomes are not being used for making decisions on promotion, training and development of the employees. So, the management should review the appraisal system of the universities and outcomes, so that all the components of their job are evaluated and rewarded.

In competitive and uncertain world, companies including banks behavior towards risk greatly affect their performance. This study assays the effect of ownership structure on bank risk-taking behavior from 1388 until the end of 1392. The population of the study is the accepted banks in Tehran Stock Exchange. Variables needed to use the Software Excel calculated and then through multiple regressions, using Eviews Software and Fisher F test research hypotheses were tested. With this study it was foundthat managerial ownership is positive and significant effect on the degree of risk-taking by banks. Moreover, it was found that Franchise value (the bank) and the ratio of fixed assets to total assets have a negative impact on bank risk-taking. The results show that equity and bank size have no effect on the bank's risk taking.

Regulating and determining the mobile wholesale access prices or interconnection charges is one of the effective remedies of national authorities on SMP mobile network operators. This study endeavours to explain the use of asymmetric wholesale access pricing regulation by national telecom network regulators to eliminate inequalities between mobile operators that are caused by exogenous factors and try to guess the further price regulations of Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA) in Turkish mobile communications market. As the policy maker in European Union, the Commission recommends the use of symmetrical charges if there is not any justification that necessitates asymmetry. Hence, NRAs plan to implement symmetric wholesale prices for all of the operators after a transitory period of asymmetries. It is found that the trend of MTRs in Turkish mobile communications market indicates ICTA's tendency to implement symmetrical interconnection charges in coming years parallel to European Commission recommendations.

Program Educational Objective (PEO) is a long-term performance which measured after the graduates work for >3 years. It is important to measure the achievement of a university in producing high quality graduates who are equipped with a variety of technical and generic skills. One method to measure the PEO is to conduct the questionnaire with respect to the background of a former university graduates who are called alumni. A website has been constructed to facilitate the respondents to answer some questions in the questionnaire and further analysis results are automatically generated. The results obtained are displayed in an different annual range and overall performance which varying according to the parameters that have been determined. The data obtained were analyzed using two approaches such as average and percentage achievement.

Fair value accounting is an essential feature of International Financial Reporting Standards. Even though, this accounting method did not spark the financial crisis, it did enhance its impact. As a consequence of the financial crisis the IASB amended IAS 39 to override the fair value recognition. The amendments to IAS 39 & IFRS 7 permitted reclassifications of the categories held for trading and available for sale, some of which had explicitly been forbidden prior to the amendment. Critics argue that these modifications to IAS 39 made, it possible to camouflage losses of hundreds of billions of euros. The main goal of this study is to evaluate the amendment to IAS 39 & IFRS 7 by conducting a survey of the banking sector. Furthermore, fair value accounting in general is critically discussed.

The purpose of this study was to study the phenomenon of financial management of Baitul Mal (BMA) in Aceh Provincial Government (Pemda Aceh) and determine the financial management model of Aceh Provincial Government. This study was conducted in Aceh Provincial Government. The study was conducted by qualitative method by collecting data using Focus Group Discussion (FGD) of institution and informants. The study was analyzed using NVIVO Software Version 1. The study showed that to manage the finances of BMA, Aceh Provincial Government must immediately reform the legislations, organizational structure and administration to create good financial management to realize transparent and accountable financial management. There were three steps in reforming the financial management of BMA. First, there should be a legal compromise and comprehension as well as seriousness of central and local governments. Second, BMA should manage the finances by considering local wisdom as the only province based on Islamic Sharia. Third, BMA should be made into Regional Public Service Agency (BLUD) which is more flexible in financial management so that the operation of BMA doesn't depend on budget and realization. If the model is realized, muslims will be victorious.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the integration of resource-based view and dynamic capability to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. The case study of 3 petroleum industries was selected purposively by considering in resources involvement. The semistructured individual depth interview with 3 supervisors responding in strategic planning and management were employed for gathering data.

This study is a type of associative studies causality is ex-post facto by using the technique of path analysis (path analysis). This research was conducted in the courses of Management Faculty of Economics with a limited number of population amounted to 278 students. Further sampling technique implemented in a manner proportional random sampling, so the sample of 164 respondents was obtained. The results showed that locus of control, positive and significant effect on entrepreneurial intentions of students of management courses, State University Makasar Economics Faculties, locus of control and a significant positive effect on student learning outcomes management courses, State University Makasar Economics Faculties, need for achievement is not positive and significant effect intentions towards entrepreneurship students management courses, state university Makasar economics faculties, need for achievement is not positive and significant effect on student learning outcomes management courses, State University Makasar Economics Faculties, learning outcomes and a significant positive effect on entrepreneurial intentions of students of management courses, State University Makasar Economics Faculties, locus of control indirect effect on entrepreneurial intentions through learning outcomes, need for achievement is not the direct and indirect effect on entrepreneurial intentions through learning outcomes. In this study, variations in locus of control, need for achievement and the learning outcomes are able to explain the variation in entrepreneurial intentions by 63.4% and the remaining 36.6% is explained by variables outside the model study. In line with the findings of the research that has been raised and then in an effort to increase entrepreneurial intentions, it is advisable to understand the importance of growing and optimizing the characteristics of students who are oriented locus of control as one of the internal factors in the learning process of entrepreneurship courses, so that students can change the mindset of job seekers into job creators.

Tourism is one of the most important industries in the economy and it has grown not only in Malaysia but also worldwide. In Malaysia, the statistics in 2009 showed tourists' arrivals was over 23.6 million people in which their presence contributes to the economy. However, this sector generates both positive and negative impacts. This study was conducted to identify factors that encourage returning visitors and visitors' perception of the impact of tourism on environmental sustainability of coastal areas. The study was conducted at Pantai Cahaya Bulan (PCB) in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia. A total of 40 visitors were selected as respondents in the survey and questionnaires were used as instruments. The results showed that tourism activities do have an impact on PCB. One the positive impact is tourism activity increases the local socio-economic whereas the negative impact, it affects on the environmental sustainability such as cleanliness of the beach

In this study, the researchers offer an analysis of the basic concepts of innovation management such as the "innovation", "innovation process", "diffusion of innovations" (the spread of innovation), "commercialization" and others. It should be noted that innovation management performs stage of preparation and implementation of innovative changes and consists of interconnected periods/phases, forming a single, integrated whole administrative impact on the overall efficiency and cost-effectiveness of commercial enterprises. Have "kinds of innovations and their classification". In the study of innovation management features of great importance. Innovation management can be successful, provided long-term study of innovation that is necessary for their selection and use. Innovation, having such a feature as a long lag time from invention to implementation of the commodity markets, will be successful in the implementation of the individual, it is inherent in innovation management-strategies. Actual competitive advantage of businesses on the product market depend on a number of general and specific factors but in spite of their diversity, it can be argued that the most important are the factors determining the conditions of administration (management) selection of commercial enterprise development strategy and particularly its implementation process.

Consumers have started to realize that their purchasing behavior can cause a huge impact to the environment as there is a worldwide concern on environmental degradation issues such as global warming and pollutions. Green is now in the mainstream of modern businesses. Therefore being socially, responsible by offering green (environmentally friendly) products and services should be the practices of any companies that wish to sustain a competitive advantage in today's business world. This study is to investigate on the factors that would influence the green purchase behavior of Penang's green volunteers who are participating in any environmental related activities and also the importance of these factors in terms of their ranking. About 7 variables were used in this study including social influence, self-identity, ecological affect, environmental label, environmental knowledge, environmental attitude and environmental concern. It is found that social influence, environmental concern, green product knowledge (one dimension in environmental knowledge), specific environmental knowledge (one dimension in environmental knowledge), environmental label and income level are having significant impact to green purchase behavior of green volunteers in terms of their ranking of importance.

Delay and failure to complete applications for the distribution of inheritance estate is not an isolated phenomenon in the society. Factors contributing to this problem are due to the attitude of legal heirs and the weaknesses of the estate administration process in the country. The risk of failure of settlement of the estate may invite a variety of negative implications from the legal, economics, religious and social aspects. This study examines some of the negative consequences resulting from the failure and delay in distribution of inheritance estate and suggests that it is necessary to organize the community to plan ahead in property management. However, the findings show that people in this country lack the inclination to plan carefully the distribution of wealth, especially in planning ahead. As a result, they become fully dependent on the Inheritance System of division of property after death that is Faraid. Thus, the public perception that the property can be distributed through the Faraid System must be promptly corrected. Instead, planning the distribution of property during one's lifetime such as through gift inter vivos or gift mortis causa must be enhanced in order to avoid this problem because it is clearly detrimental to the Muslim community.

The integrity of halal product is highly demanded by Muslim consumers worldwide. As there is no unified understanding on the halal concept that meets universal standard, some countries may place different concern on the level of halal integrity. Markets with high sensitivity on halal issues might demand high level of halal integrity to be integrated in the product. This scenario might force the exporting firms to adapt its marketing strategy so as to meet their expectation of halal qualities and also to secure its halalness from any potential risk of cross-contaminations. Based on pilot survey with 51 halal exporters, the study found that there is a significance influence of halal integrity on product adaptation strategy. However, there is no significance difference on mean scores for halal integrity and product adaptation strategy among product categories and market segments. The findings have given some thoughts on the development of export marketing strategy in the context of halal industry.

Presented study deals with an impodant topic of the strategic management more than ever recent in changing business environment of last years. There were thoroughly selected and comidered 15 broadly recognizedmanagement tools (BCG, BSC, EFQM, IS0 9000, IS0 14000, Kaizen, KPI, Lean, MBO, PEST(LE), Poder's five forces, Six Sigma, SMART, SWOT and TQM) and their possible economic impact on appreciated economic indcator Economic Value Added (EVA) was researched. The examined data base counting 677 Czech and Slovak business enterprises was collected by university questionnaire research. Data was categorized and different groups of enterprises were compared regarding their trends in EVA using dfference analysis method. The result brought cognition that EVA is mostly positively influenced by Kaizen, Six Sigma, MBO and Lean management tools. Surprisingly, less significant or even negative impact yield quality management systems as EFQM, TQM, IS0 14000 and IS0 9000 series. Results are interpreted discussed and compared with professional literature.

The study investigated how supervisor support, job clarity, employee training and performance appraisal could enhance job satisfaction amongst nurses. The 200 questionnaires were distributed out of which 167 were received back. A total of 14 were discarded and 153 were taken for final results. The data analysis outlined that supervisor support and job clarity did not show any significant relationship with nurses' job satisfaction. Interestingly, HR factors including employee training and performance appraisal concluded a positive and significant relationship with nurses' job satisfaction.

The purpose of the present study is to discuss and assess the state of performance management within the Brazilian public sector and to suggest the logical framework as a tool to improve resource management in the public sector in Brazil. This is a theoretical study based on literature review. Management performance is undoubtedly, a great challenge in Brazil and in particular for Brazilian public organizations. The implementation of the cycle of performance management in the Brazilian federal public administration has become a legal and administrative necessity. However, these organizations lack the tools or theoretical models of analysis to ensure effectiveness. There is an urgent need for a paradigm shift towards the professionalization of performance management in Brazilian public organizations. The logical framework implies the professionalization of the Brazilian performance evaluation, considering external factors (inefficient public management) and internal (bureaucratic organizational culture). The systems for assessment of effective performance in Brazilian public organizations, in general have not yet materialized in the public sector. As limitations and implications, the study is theoretical andempirical research to test the results is required. The findings can be used to enhance performance management systems with in the Brazilian public sectors and therefore, increase citizen satisfaction. It is believed that, this study will contribute in questioning the performance management in public institutions in general and in the Brazilian one in particular, in which the effectiveness of services rendered is relative to meeting the expectations of citizen-users.

This study extends the explanation of consumer socialization theory to parents using mothers as proxy. Elements of personality are incorporated (operationalized as adolescent socialization types) to isolate the pertinent adolescent socialization types that discern the highly-from lowly consumer socialized mothers. Via binary logistic regression analysis, findings from adolescents' perspective revealed that the most discerning traits that differentiate the highly consumer socialized mothers from the least consumer socialized mothers are the adolescents' levels of agreeableness and need for body resources. On the contrary, mother's were not susceptible to any of the adolescent personality traits.

This study examined various countries' efforts in adopting and implementing e-Government initiatives concerning their 24/7 business. The study also focused on examining the literature related to the adoption and diffusion of information system. In addition, this study reviewed the e-Government concepts in informative society and specially focused on the government adoption in Asia. These factors investigated some of the strategic and technical challenges and risk factors that affected the development of e-Government. Moreover, this study offered some suggestions to overwhelm the consequences of this difficulties. Some of these factors must be identified correctly and considered their risk factors as they controlled the success or failure of the adoption of the e-Government.

The purpose of this study is to propose a conceptual model which would provide a better understanding on how social influences through the effect of peer communication could interplay with materialism to capture the effect of young adults adoption of technological innovation in their life. This study provides a brief review on the theories associated with the adoption of technological innovation, as well as some important empirical findings to support the model of this study. Based on a review of established studies this study re-examined the relationship between peer communication and the adoption of technological innovations and propose that young adults interaction with their peers have significant positive effect in their adoption of technological innovation.

Innovation is a primary concern of industry and logistics services are constantly seeking ways to innovate in order to gain competitive advantage revolutionary. Green innovations can have a major impact in reducing the environmental burden of the industry, particularly in terms of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. From this context, it is evident, there is a need for integrating green innovations in logistics. The purpose of this survey is to find out as to what extent the logistics managers perceived the green innovation and environmental impact on their logistics activities. The preliminary survey was conducted on logistics companies in Malaysia based on proportionate random sampling. The study found that 76.9% among the responding firms considered technology is an important tool in mitigating the environmental in logistics services. In summary, logistics service providers must find innovative ways to improve their technologies to be in green credentials. It is believed that green innovation in logistics is a promising area of study and practice that have the potential to provide significant benefits to the firm and the society at large.

This study presents an approach for determining the key barriers and Critical Success Factors (CSF's) in adopting Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology in healthcare. This approach replaces the traditional rule of thumb or experiences based judgement currently being used which may lead to many poor and costly decisions. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to prioritize the barriers and CSF's and Delphi Method was employed to collect data from RFID consultants and IT managers. The study centred around Indonesian and Malaysian hospitals. The results of the study suggest that business barriers are considered to have a more impact than technology barriers. A sub-component of the business barrier which is a lack of information is the most important items within the sub-category of business barrier. On the other hand, strategic factor is considered to be more critical than management and operational factors. Top management support and the commitment of leadership is not only the most important sub-component withm the strategic factor and also overall it is the most important CSF related with RFID adoption in healthcare.

This research examined the impacts of intellectual capital on innovation capability leading to sustain competitive advantage in the context of Thailand industrials. Using the resource-based view of the firms, interconnections of the intellectual capital components and innovation capability were created as ways of understanding sustain competitive advantage. The model was tested using data collected from survey of 62 across different Thailand industrials and statistics based on regression analysis. The variables in model were measured by a number of scale items. Both reliability and validity were demonstrated. Regression analysis showed that components of intellectual capitals (human, structural and relational capital) have positive impacts on innovation capability and innovation capability positively affects sustain competitive advantage. These findings will help managers to design and manage intellectual capitals to enhance the innovation capability in the organization and to increase sustain competitive advantage.

The study describes the methodological approaches to the essence of advertising effectiveness. Theoretical and methodological basis of advertising activity evolution is given and its specificity in various stages of operation is determined. It is substantiated that advertising as it changes in the social and historical conditions and the development of commodity production transformed from a special type of information in the field of advertising as a specific market segment with a developed infrastructure. Supplemented and refined classification of advertising as a system of education is based on different criteria. The features display advertising in a modification of the competition, consisting of individualization advertising and changing its forms; the interactive nature of advertising; the concentration of the individual segments of the advertising market. The factors and methodological approaches of the effectiveness of advertising are determined.

Banjarmasin is a city crossed by several rivers. It makes the river transport becomes one of alternative transportations. In the development, the interest in the river transport is decreasing. One of the reasons is due to the influence of lifestyle that is the changing attitudes toward the river transport. This research is intended to obtain what kind of lifestyle affecting the interests in river transport. The analysis used two models of Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach; they are Second Order Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Full Latent Variable Model. The river transports which become the objects of the research are the existing river transport and planned river transport suited to the will of the users. The results of the analysis obtained that the trip maker in addressing both the existing and planned river transports are influenced by the prestige, reputation, arrogance, skepticism and social status as well as the influence from their relatives and from the environment of the trip makers. There is a shift to a more supportive attitude towards the planned river transport.

Today electronic banking is going to be a very important and integral part of banking system. It also, has a great effect on performance and efficiency of banking system. To achieve an efficient banking, there have to be some knowledge and information about the effective criteria related to the system. Therefore, this study was conducted using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to find what criteria are important to electronic banking system. First a pair-wise comparison matrix was developed and sent to the bank staff of bank Saderat. Afterwards, the responses were gathered and analyzed in expert choice software and finally the responses were combined to calculate the importance weight of the criteria. According to the results, the criterion security and reliability had the highest value (0.282) criterion satisfaction of costumers had the value of 0.228, the criterion training had the value of 0.211 and the criterion awareness had the value of 0.175 which are the most important criteria, respectively. The other two criteria, quality and quantity and convenience had the value of 0.064 and 0.040, respectively and thus are not so important to the system. As a conclusion, the result of this study can be helpful to managers when deciding to use electronic systems in their banking system.

The aims of the study are: First to study components of the support of government, components of the competitive environments and components of the success for implementation. Second to study the relationship among the support of government, competitive environments and the success for implementation. This study used quantitative method and utilized the questionnaires. Data were collected 338 respondents who are the sole proprietorship e-commerce entrepreneurs. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and confirmatory factor analysis. The results show that the components of the support of government, the findings revealed that the policy and support of government was focused at the highest priority, followed by laws related to e-commerce, respectively. Components of the competitive environments, the findings revealed that the competitive environments of competitors was focused at the highest priority, followed by bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, respectively. Components of the success for implementation, the financial was found the most important components of the success for implementation, followed by learning and growth, customers and internal process, respectively. The relationship show that the support of government has a positive relationship with the success for implementation and the competitive environments has a positive relationship with the success for implementation. The support of government has a positive relationship with the success of implementation at the highest priority followed by the competitive environments.

Organizational performance has been commonly used in the business world todayto mean indicate an improvement in the organizational activities that could increase its performance indicator. Thus, the organizational performance has become the major concern of the previous scholars and has further taken a special place amongorganizations. Thus, the aim of this study is to discuss the causal relationship between HRM practices and organizational performance using affective commitment andemployee retention as the mediating variables between HRM practice and organizational performance based on the existing literature review. It is also found that affective commitment mediates between HRM practices and organizational performance. Due to the fact that organizational performance to maintain a better Key Performance Indicator (KPI), its unique quality in human resources management cannot be over-emphasized. Any organization that fails to improve its performance will lack competitive advantage.

This study examines the relationship between affective-social competencies, satisfaction from quality of work and organizational citizenship behavior of Iranian nurses as a structural equation model. The population included all Iranian nurses in the public and private hospitals. By random cluster sampling method 152 nurses were selected. The instruments included affective-social competencies scale, quality of researching life scale and organizational citizenship behavior scale. The results of statistical evaluations in exploration showed that: There was a significant and positive relationship between nurses affective-social competencies and their organizational citizenship behavior. There was a significant and positive relationship between nurses affective-social competencies and their satisfaction from quality of work. Nurses affective-social competencies via their satisfaction from quality of work has a significant and positive relationship with their organizational citizenship behavior.

The World faces many changes and challenges very day. Particularly in field of education, it changes rapidly. Educational institutions are upgrading their level of education by adopting new teaching methodologies, policies and new technology implementation. These implications have impact on Indian technical educations. All technical education institutions are focusing on high performance of the students. This can be achieved by increasing the performance of the faculties. However, highly satisfied faculties show high performance. This study mainly aims to find the impact of the organizational climate factors on job satisfaction. Anna University affiliated engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu randomly selected for the study. Survey method was employed to collect the data. The finding of the present study showed that organizational climate having effect on job satisfaction of the teaching faculties in Anna University affiliated engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu.

This study examines the role of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on real GDP per capita convergence among lower-middle income West African countries. Employing panel unit root (Im, Pesaran and Shin) and Pedroni panel cointegration model on annual data spanning 1986-2013, the study seeks to establish whether there exists a long run relationship between FDI and income convergence as measured by annual deviations of economies from the group averages. Results emanating from the study indicate that there is no long run relationship between FDI and per capita income convergence among the countries.

This study provides an overview of the research in the field of agency theory and corporate governance. This research is aimed to extend existing research contributes to the agency theory literature and particularly, the growing body of literature of corporate governance mechanisms. The agency theory suggests that corporate governance can reduce agency costs which in turn leads to improved firm performance. The problem that occurs is known as the principal-agent problem where two parties, the principal and the agent. The separation of ownership and control in the open financial system can result in the agency problem between management and shareholders. The separation of control and ownership in corporations has caused agency problems and a series of corporate governance mechanisms have been implemented to mitigate them. The primary objective of corporate governance can play an important role in minimizing the agency problem and ensuring that management's interests are aligned with those of shareholders. The agency theory implies that the board of directors is elected to manage the potential conflict of interests between management and shareholders.

Researchers identify integration and devolution as two paradoxical elements of Human Resource Management (HRM). Integration is related with centralization of HRM and linking HRM strategies with business strategies. HR professionals are responsible for integrating HRM that is widely referred as strategic HRM. On the other hand, devolution is the involvement of line managersto take administrative or technical HRM decisions. Thus, both HR professional and line managers are found agents for HRM and performing differing HRM. However, both agents need to cooperate each other in performing their contradictory HR tasks. For strategic contribution, HR managers need to work with line managers for understanding business strategy and aligning HR strategy with them. Conversely, line managers require HR managers assistance and support in developing line competency to perform administrative HRM consistently. The present study reviews extant literatures on integration and devolution and accumulates the scattered comments on HR-line relationship. HR professionals and line managers are found to work in a partnership relation while performing differing HRM. Moreover, this study contributes to relate agency theory as a theoretical basis for creating partnering relation between HR professionals and line managers

This study examines the Zombie theory which claims the survival of low-productivity firms in Japan has prevented economic recovery since, the bursting of the financial bubble in the late 1980s. The existence of so-called "zombie firms" is one reason for the stagnation of the Japanese economy because they prevent more productive companies from gaining market share and thus, reduce productivity gains for the overall economy. This theory easily results in the neoclassical policy statement that is the government should not intervene the natural process of firms' metabolism. So, "doing nothing" is the best way to improve macroeconomic performance. However if the bankruptcy of one firm affects others in its network, this argument does not hold because networked firms can become embroiled in a bankruptcy chain. This study assesses the validity of Zombie theory using computer simulations within a network economy setting. It finds that governmental policies to save bankruptcy candidates improve macroeconomic performance in a network economy. In other words, governmental intervention can be effective in this kind of economy by preventing the propagation of a bankruptcy chain that may embroil high-performing firms.