Showing papers in "International journal of business in 2016"

Defining, Understanding, and Addressing Big Data

Abstract: “Big Data” is an emerging term used with business, engineering, and other domains. Although Big Data is a popular term used today, it is not a new concept. However, the means in which data can be collected is more readily available than ever, which makes Big Data more relevant than ever because it can be used to improve decisions and insights within the domains it is used. The term Big Data can be loosely defined as data that is too large for traditional analysis methods and techniques. In this article, varieties of prominent but loose definitions for Big Data are shared. In addition, a comprehensive overview of issues related to Big Data is summarized. For example, this paper examines the forms, locations, methods of analyzing and exploiting Big Data, and current research on Big Data. Big Data also concerns a myriad of tangential issues, from privacy to analysis methods that will also be overviewed. Best practices will further be considered. Additionally, the epistemology of Big Data and its history will be examined, as well as technical and societal problems existing with Big Data.

Data Warehouses and Business Intelligence in Croatia: Do Managers Know How to Use Them?

Abstract: Authors of this paper were directly involved in several data warehousing and business intelligence projects that were carried out in companies in Croatia. Based on the experience from those projects, this paper presents how those solutions were implemented — and more importantly, how they were used by managers at different levels of management. Three different companies are described, including three different implemented solutions. One company was small, one was mid-sized and one was large. All had differences in ownership and education level of managers. Implementation (technical) details are omitted, but this paper shows that managers do not always see what business intelligence can do. Furthermore, it is shown that such projects do not always have to be expensive.

An Expanded Assessment of Data Mining Approaches for Analyzing Actuarial Student Success Rate

Abstract: This paper aims to maximize the profitability of a set of brand SKUs stocked at a particular retailer by optimizing the number of facings for each product. Based on the past data, a set of variables such as retail price of different SKUs, linear footage that a particular manufacturer manages from the retailer, number of facings for each SKU and volume of sales for each SKU are identified. We develop a set of models, which will measure the volumetric impact of these instances on the overall revenue dollars and volume of sales in particular. One of the major issues in this problem is the relationship between Volume of Sales Vi and the number of facings Xi. If this relationship were linear, this optimization problem could have been treated as a MIP and solved accordingly. We treat this non-linear program by an innovative approximation technique and solve the objective using a piecewise approximation function.

Procurement performance measurement in commercial banks in kenya

Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of the study was to procurement performance measurement in commercial banks in Kenya. Methodology : The study used descriptive survey design with all the commercial banks operating in Kenya as the units analysis. The study used primary data which was collected through use of questionnaires with respondents as the procurement managers in the 43 commercial banks. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Results: The results indicated that procurement performance measurements in banks are adequate. ANOVA statistics presented indicate that the overall model was statistically significant. There is a positive relationship between procurement performance measurement and internal processes, staff training, ethics and culture which through regression analysis had beta coefficients. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy : Procurement professionals should make recommendations of improving the training curriculum of procurement professionals in order to capture the important findings of the study. This will enable the inclusion of issues related to ethics and integrity into the syllabus.

Social Media Mining: A New Framework and Literature Review

Abstract: Social media has gained a lot of importance in this modern high-speed world where people sprint to save every bit of time and money. Social media, considered “big data”, is finding legitimate and practical uses in political campaigns, job applications, business promotion, professional networking, and customer service. The use of data mining social media is reshaping business models, accelerating “viral” marketing, and enabling the rapid growth of grassroots communities. In addition, organizations now rely on social media for interacting internally as well as externally. Industries from manufacturing to retail to financial services, rely ever-more heavily on the use of social media causing an exploding Social Media Mining (SMM) applications market with a growing list of software vendors and consulting firms all jockeying for position in this burgeoning market. This paper is intent on accomplishing a systematic presentation of the body of knowledge in the growing field of SMM.

Extrinsic Motivation Index: A New Tool for Managing Labor Productivity

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to provide a tool of practical significance for HR managers and firm executives. This tool, which is called Extrinsic Motivation Index (EMI), is meant to measure the extrinsic motivation of employees. By measuring employees’ extrinsic motivation, managers are able to track job satisfaction and, subsequently, implement measures aiming both to raise job satisfaction and to improve organizational commitment. In order to test the validity of the model, we apply the EMI to Faculty members at Spanish and German universities. We also carry out simulation experiments in order to to address all possible situations an organization most probably will have to deal with. The results point out significant differences in the level of motivation and commitment of Faculty members. Additionally, the analysis shows several ways in which an organization may manage job satisfaction issues according to on its level of resources.

The analysis factors of experential marketing, product quality, and customer satisfaction of motor bike as a main transportation mode in bandung-indonesia

Abstract: The aim of this research is to analyze factors of experiential marketing, product quality and customer satisfaction on the utilization of motorcycles as a mode of priority transportation in Bandung City There is a rapid increase in the usage of motor bike rather than cars wich has been happened from 2012 until 2014 Researcher identified this as a phenomenon This research is using path analysis method where datas from 150 respondents of motorcycle user are being collected For the sampling technique, researcher uses Random Probability Sampling As a result, we can see wich one among those factors have an influence towards motorcycles as a mode of priority transportation

A Prescriptive Stock Market Investment Strategy for the Restaurant Industry using an Artificial Neural Network Methodology

Abstract: Stock price forecasting is a classic problem facing analysts. Forecasting models have been developed for predicting individual stocks and stock indices around the world and in numerous industries. According to a literature review, these models have yet to be applied to the restaurant industry. Strategies for forecasting typically include fundamental and technical variables. In this research, fundamental and technical inputs were combined into an artificial neural network (ANN) stock prediction model for the restaurant industry. Models were designed to forecast 1 week, 4 weeks, and 13 weeks into the future. The model performed better than the benchmark methods, which included, an analyst prediction, multiple linear regression, trading, and Buy and Hold trading strategies. The prediction accuracy of the ANN methodology presented reached accuracy performance measures as high as 60%. The model also shown resiliency over the housing crisis in 2008. A Prescriptive Stock Market Investment Strategy for the Restaurant Industry using an Artificial Neural Network Methodology

Linking environmental sustainability and healthcare: the effects of an energy saving intervention in two hospitals

Abstract: Set in a real organisational setting, this study examines the challenges of implementing environmentally sustainable behaviour in healthcare. It evaluates the success of a real energy saving behaviour change intervention, based on social marketing principles, which targeted the employees of two National Health Service (NHS) hospitals. It also explores the intervention benefits for three key stakeholders: the organisation/hospitals, hospital employees and patients. A rich secondary dataset containing actual workplace behaviour measures (collected via observations) and self-reported data from employee interviews and patient questionnaires is used for this purpose. The intervention encouraged three employee energy saving actions (called TLC actions): (1) Turn off machines, (2) Lights out when not needed, and (3) Close doors when possible; which led to energy savings and carbon reduction for the two hospitals. Hospital employees reported a greater level of work efficiency as a result of engaging in TLC actions, which increased the 'quiet time' periods in both hospitals. Indirectly, employees' TLC actions also improved patients' quality of sleep (which in turn is positively associated with greater patient hospital experience satisfaction). These findings shed light on the benefits of social marketing interventions targeting energy saving behaviour change for multiple stakeholders in healthcare organisations. They also illustrate connections between environmental sustainability and social and political pillars of corporate social responsibility. Additionally, organisational culture was highlighted as a key challenge in changing practices. To encourage long-term sustainable behaviour, this study recommends a pre-intervention assessment of infrastructure and equipment, the communication of expected benefits to motivate higher involvement of employees, the need for internal green champions and the dissemination of post-intervention feedback on various energy saving and patient indicators.

The Effect of Macroeconomic Stability on Inward FDI in African Developing Countries

Abstract: In this study an attempt is made to gauge the importance of prudent macro-economic management in the location choice decision of foreign direct investors. Moreover, infrastructure availability, market size, trade liberalisation and economic development are also considered, for a set of forty three African developing countries using annual data from 1990 to 2015. The results show that better infrastructure, liberalised investment and trade regimes have significant effects on FDI inflows to the African nations. Conjectured with the host market theory hypothesis, the size of the host market positively affects inward FDI. Moreover, prudent management of macro-economy and healthy business policies manifested through stable macroeconomic indicators increases the ability of the African developing countries included in the study to receive additional Foreign Direct Investment. These findings are insensitive to the use of different proxies used for the control variables.

Trust Crisis in Islamic Banking: Empirical Evidence Using Structural Equations Modeling

Abstract: This paper studies the trust crisis of the Islamic banking industry through a comparative approach. While Islamic banking harks back to the maxims stemming from Islamic law (i.e., poverty alleviation, equitability, and social justice), little is known about its failure in terms of trust. This paper is a first attempt to model the variables explaining the trust crisis by comparing Saudi Arabian and Tunisian Islamic banking industries. The empirical design is based on a questionnaire analyzed using structural equations modeling. The empirical findings show that the trust is heterogeneously assessed in the two cultural contexts. Various measures can be enforced to strengthen the trust in Islamic banks in both countries. Examples of interesting measures are related to Islamic products development and favorable regulatory reforms that need to be 'unleashed' to maintain the trust and sustain the competitiveness and growth of Islamic banks. JEL Classifications: G1, G21, Z1 Keywords: Islamic banking; trust; cross-cultural study; structural equations modeling; Saudi Arabia; Tunisia I. INTRODUCTION Although the Islamic financial system is still in its embryonic stage, Islamic banks are growing at a high, steady rate. The financial instruments and services of Islamic banks are gaining popularity (1) despite the legal environments that are not heavily supportive in all marketplaces. Although the fraction of the Islamic industry's assets that are compliant to shari'ah (Islamic law) relatively to some of the largest banks in the world (e.g., Citigroup, HSBC, Barclays Bank, BNP Paribas) is very small, it is growing rapidly (Ariss, 2010). Chapra (2012) argues that Islamic banks must collect resources from a large scale and make them available to a larger scale such that social problems like poverty and unemployment can be alleviated. The financial instruments and services offered by Islamic banks should hypothetically be in line with the maxims of shari'ah. Indeed, such instruments could be legally tradable only when they are free of riba (2) (i.e., usury or interest), do not contain gharar (complexity and/or information asymmetry), maysir (gambling), and are halal (i.e., permissible). The specificities of Islamic banks' instruments and services are supposed to have a social responsibility in terms of poverty alleviation and economic welfare. The review of previous studies related to Islamic banking reveals three approaches. The first approach is based on the comparison between Islamic and conventional banks (Chong and Liu, 2009; Ariss, 2010; Al-Ajmi et al., 2011). The second approach explores the analysis of Islamic finance's tradable instruments (e.g., Ebrahim and Rahman, 2005; Bouchard, 2009; Walkshausl and Lobe, 2012). The third approach deals with regulation and institutional issues (Karim, 2001; El-Hawary et al., 2007). The success of financial institutions depends, among other factors, on the degree of trust, either interpersonal or institutional (Gatfaoui, 2003). Several dimensions exist in the literature (Moorman and Zaltman, 1992): (i) cognitive (trust): when the trust is based on the knowledge of others; (ii) affective (confidence): when it is based on feelings toward others; (iii) conative (reliance): when it is part of organizational routines (Pluchart, 2010). The latter dimension of trust is designed as a process (Levicki and Bunker, 1996) which is sequential and represents "the expectations that are within a community governed by an honest and cooperative regular behavior, based on shared standards by other members" (Fukuyama, 1994). Several studies focused on explaining the process of building a strong trust in financial institutions. However, very few studies were interested in the process and the corresponding determinants of losing trust in the case of Islamic banks. In fact, Ajili and Ben Gara (2013) argue that loosing trust in Islamic banks can be explained in terms of a weak legal framework, the fear of Islamic connotation activities, the low adaptation of customers with Islamic financial products, the lack of information and the lack of specialists/experts in the Islamic finance industry. …

Loss Profit Estimation Using Temporal Association Rule Mining

Abstract: Temporal association rule mining is a data mining technique in which relationships between items which satisfy certain timing constraints can be discovered. This paper presents the concept of temporal association rules in order to solve the problem of classification of inventories by including time expressions into association rules. Firstly, loss profit of frequent items is calculated by using temporal association rule mining algorithm. Then, the frequent items in particular time-periods are ranked according to descending order of loss profits. The manager can easily recognize most profitable items with the help of ranking found in the paper. An example is illustrated to validate the results. KEywoRdS ABC Classification, Data Mining, Inventory Management, Loss Profit, Temporal Association Rule Mining

Is Your New Product Really Boosting our Sales? An Econometric Model to Quantify the Cannibalization Effect

Abstract: Recent years have experienced an exponential growth in the use of weblogs as a marketing tool. With this surge in blogs used as marketing tools, the question remains: how credible are blogs as a source of consumer information? How do consumers perceive the credibility of blogs from different sources when making purchase decisions and product evaluations? The primary objective of the present study is to assess validity and reliability of a set of Semantic Differential scales purported to measure perceived credibility of blogs posted by corporations. Confirmatory factor analysis via LISREL8.5 package was used to obtain appropriate statistics for convergent validity, Discriminant validity, and composite reliability. In general, the scales used to measure the two hypothesized factors (source credibility and content credibility) for each type of blog achieved a satisfactory level of construct validity.

Managing strategic change at geothermal development company in kenya

Abstract: Purpose: This research project aimed at investigating the management of strategic change at Geothermal Development Company. Methodology : This study adopted a case study since the unit of analysis was biased to one organization that is GDC. Face to face interviews were carried out. Permission from the organization was sought and consent from individual heads of divisions was also requested through a formal letter. The data obtained from the interview guide was analyzed qualitatively. Results: From the study, the researcher found that GDC change management as a critical decision making for the institution. In addition leadership in GDC strongly influences change. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy : Management should address the challenge of insufficient resources to facilitate strategy implementation. The management of GDC should also be forecasting on the long term strategic change and minimize creation of short term forecasts that requires change that will not take them to the forecasted long term objectives.

Informal Economy: Case Study of Street Vendors in Bangkok

Abstract: Street vending is one of the informal economy activities which are considered significant to Thai people in the economic and the day-to-day social life. It is believed that the street vendorsforma group of the poor and uneducated people. With the increased numbers of the street vendors occupying space on public sidewalks especially in central business districts, it becomes unclear whether street vending continues as a solution to unemployment for access labors. This research attempts to study and analyze types of street vendors in Bangkok under the informal economy framework. The debate on the heterogeneous informal economy has categorized into four schools; the dualism, the structuralism, the legalism and the voluntarism. The examination also embodies with market concept with Porter’s Five Forces of Competitive Position Model analysis and the interviews with the street vendors in three case study areas: Inner zone (Pathumwan district – the sidewalk on the opposite side of Siam Paragon mall), Middle zone (Ramkhamhaeng district – the sidewalk on the opposite side of Ramkhamhaeng University) and Outer zone (Minburi district – the sidewalk on Sriburanukit Road).The result indicates that most of street vendors in Siam square are voluntarily chosen to make a living in vending on a sidewalk and tend to take it as a long-term occupation even though they can be in formal wage employment. Moreover, average income and positive attitude towards self-employment are the important factors that drive them to operate street vending businesses. Meanwhile, street vending is often a family enterprise in Ramkhamhaeng area and most vendors do not wish to transform their businesses into the formal sectors. Whereas the survey conducted in Sriburankit Road reveals that almost all of street vendors migrated from other provinces and were previously paid as the unskilled workers in formal sectors. They moved to informal trades because of the uncertainty of employment in the mainstream sectors and the inconsistent income with knowledge support of friends and relatives from the same hometown. In particular, the result reveals a common pattern that street vending is the very first occupation of some group of vendors and they will continue to engage in this activity. Thus, it is important for the government to design optimal policy which not only integrates informal workers into the formal economy but also monitors the enforcement of regulations on the modern informal economy.

The Role of Creative Courses in Entrepreneurship Education: A Case Study in Indonesia

Abstract: There is a growing need of opportunity-driven entrepreneurs for Indonesia's economy. Although number of business units in Indonesia is huge, about 20% of population, they mostly are necessity-driven, micro-small sized producing little value to the market. Through its School of Business and Management in collaboration with its Faculty of Art and Design, ITB develops an MBA program in Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship in cooperation with Goldsmiths, University of London in UK. Its curriculum is (1) designed to meet an MBA educational standard, (2) especially focused to develop 'right brain' capability through creativity, design, art, and culture classes, and (3) strongly intended to nurture students in their business creation and start-up processes through mentoring by entrepreneurs. Three creative courses are developed: (1) Design Thinking, (2) Art, Design, and Culture, and (3) The Contextual Nature of Creativity. These courses develop creative and innovative thinking to create high value products/services to the market and expose students with the richness of Indonesia's art and cultural products. JEL Classifications: 01, 02 Keywords: creative, cultural, curriculum, education, entrepreneurship I. INTRODUCTION Entrepreneurs are the engine of an economy. They are needed to create added values to the market. The more added values are created, the bigger economy is. Roles of entrepreneurs in Indonesia are even instrumental in providing employments and reducing poverty, two big problems Indonesia is currently facing. The number of business units in Indonesia is more than 50 million, about 20% of population. If every business is run by an entrepreneur, Indonesia should have at least 20% entrepreneurs of its population. It is a huge number, and if it is true, Indonesia should have been in a much better position economically. Despite of this high number, Indonesia's economy is struggling in assuring wealth to its population, even still burdened by unemployment and poverty. Looking at the number into the details, less than 5% of the business units are medium-large sized. More than 95% are categorized as micro-small businesses. If informal businesses are included, this figure reaches about 99% of all businesses. Informal, micro-small businesses strongly dominate Indonesia's economy. Though they absorb the majority of labor force, these informal, micro-small businesses are producing low added values individually. Labor productivity in this sector is about Rp 12 millions each year per worker in average, only enough for living survival. Entrepreneurs in this sector typically are those who are forced to run businesses due to limited employment. This type of entrepreneurs is coined 'necessity-driven or survival' entrepreneurs. They are lack of big dream, clear vision, and future plan in growing their businesses further. Furthermore, the necessity-driven entrepreneurs have usually limited access to resources, technologies, and knowledge to develop their creativity and innovation capabilities in order to produce high added values. Efforts and supports to develop their capabilities have been implemented since many years ago. Results are not significant in making them grow from micro to small, from small to medium size businesses. Year by year, the figure is typically still unchanged, which is at least 95% of businesses are informal, micro-small sized. Entrepreneurs need to be creative and innovative in order to compete and grow their businesses. By growing, entrepreneurs produce more values to the market and to the society. They are finding an opportunity, and always looking for, often creating, new opportunities. This type of entrepreneurs is called "opportunity-driven" entrepreneurs. They are typically more educated, formally and informally, and always eager to acquire new knowledge. They have more capabilities and access to resources, technologies, and networks to grow their business further. …

Business Intelligence and Analytics Research: A Peek Inside the Black Box

Abstract: The tremendous growth of data of all forms has led to an increase in research on the uses and outcomes of Business Intelligence and Analytics BI&A. Much of the current research however, focuses on the technological aspects. The process of decision making with data is treated more or less like the proverbial black box. If one is to better understand how BI&A can help managers make informed decisions, then more effort is needed to explore the decision making process. This paper argues that decision-making in organizations is enacted by a sociotechnical system in which human information processing forms the key constraint. By considering the stages of cognition and the use of rules-based versus heuristic-based decision making, the paper identifies a number of core questions related to the contribution of a BI&A system to the decision making process in organizations.

The Product and Timing Effects of eWOM in Viral Marketing

Abstract: I. INTRODUCTIONWord of mouth (WOM) has long been used to promote products or to criticize competitors (Jacobson, 1948; Katz and Lazarsfeld, 1955). Its impact on sales and diffusion of new products was first reported to be positive in Arndt's (1967) study. In recent years, the development of social network and social media has further helped the spread of WOM via the Internet. Thus eWOM has been suggested as "free sales assistant" of online sellers (Chen and Xie, 2008). It is critical for firms to identify proper opinion leaders for seeding eWOM in order to generate favorable buzz effectively towards their products.It has been noted that consumers have shown a tendency of using eWOM in finalizing their buying decisions (Guernsey, 2000). Studies have revealed that consumers tend to consult with eWOM more than advertising because they trust their peers more than firms that sell products (Bao and Chang, 2014b; Piller, 1999). Thus, firms that receive favorable eWOM will likely enjoy a better chance for sales increase (Chevalier and Mayzlin, 2006; Chung, 2011). eWOM is an important source of information for consumers to make purchase decisions. Given the user-generated nature of eWOM, how can firms better utilize such eWOM to their advantage? As a hybrid between traditional advertising and consumer word of mouth, eWOM can be initiated by firms as a campaign and implemented by consumers for marketing communications (Godes and Mayzlin, 2009). For an eWOM marketing campaign to be successful, it is critical to consider the behavioral characteristics of target consumers and the seeding strategy for selecting opinion leaders (Hinz et al., 2011). The purpose of this study is to identify eWOM opinion leaders and to examine the product and timing effects of such opinion leaders' eWOM on product sales.II. VIRAL MARKETING VIA OPINION LEADERSIn a viral marketing campaign, firms select a small number of consumers as opinion leaders to disseminate information (Hinz et al., 2011). To be effective in such campaign, firms must first identify key opinion leaders, and then let key opinion leaders to communicate the information with followers via mass media (Iyengar, Van den Bulte, and Valente, 2011). Key opinion leaders are consumers who provide information and leadership to others in making their consumption decisions (Childers, 1986). Given the opinion leaders' behavioral tendency and ability to influence purchase decisions of followers, a firm can benefit from effective use of such opinion leaders in order to assist potential customers for shaping their buying decisions in favor of the firm's products. A theoretical basis for viral marketing is the two-step interpersonal communication process that involves target opinion leaders (Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet, 1948). For example, by using fashion-related magazines as a mass media, firms can benefit from the use of target opinion leaders in women's clothing fashion who tend to read such magazines (Summers, 1970). However, how can firms identify proper opinion leaders for effective viral marketing? Based on the nature of eWOM, we review the literature on opinion leader and WOM related to viral marketing and propose hypotheses for studying the relationships between opinion leaders' eWOM and sales.Rogers and Cartano (1962) summarized three methods of identifying opinion leaders: (1) self-designation, i.e., asking consumers to identify whether and to which extent they are opinion leaders; (2) sociometric method, i.e., using social network to compute network centrality and other network structure related measures; (3) key informant method, i.e., asking consumers whom they listen to. The self-designation method seems to be the most popular method in marketing literature due to the survey proposed by King and Summers (1970), while the key informant method is also used in recent studies (Nair, Manchanda, and Bhatia, 2010). The main finding is that, self-designated and peer-nominated opinion leaders influence the choices of their followers. …

Text Mining to Identify Customers Likely to Respond to Cross-Selling Campaigns: Reading Notes from Your Customers

Abstract: This paper reports on the results of extracting useful information from text notes captured within a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to segment and thus target groups of customers likely to respond to cross-selling campaigns. These notes often contain text that is indicative of customer intentions. The results indicate that the notes are meaningful in classifying customers who are likely to respond to purchase multiple communication devices. A Naive Bayes classifier outperformed a Support Vector Machine classifier for this task. When combined with structured information, the classifier performed only marginally better. Thus, customer service notes can be an important source of predictive data in CRM systems.

Influence of succession planning practices on performance of kenya power limited company

Abstract: Purpose: The general objective of the study was to determine influence of succession planning practices on performance of Kenya Power Limited Company. Methodology: The study adopted a descriptive research design. The target population was 1000 employees of KPLC. The sample size was therefore 100 employees of KPLC. Primary data was collected through the administration of the questionnaires. The raw data obtained from the field was coded, scrutinized and then organized and edited to enhance accuracy and hasten analysis using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) to produce graphs and tables in descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation and inferential statistics used both correlation and regression analysis. Correlation was used to find out the variables inter-relation while regression was used to find out the strength between the independent and dependent variable. Simple regression was used to determine whether the specific variables together can predict a given research gap. Results: The findings revealed a positive relationship between the career development, training, performance appraisal, organizational structure and the performance KPLC. Policy recommendation: The study recommended that large manufacturing firms should also invest more in research and development, training, networking and innovation

A Five-Factor Asset Pricing Model: Empirical Evidence from Egypt

Abstract: (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)I.INTRODUCTIONOne of the most debatable topics in financial literature is identifying determinants of stock returns. The literature has progressed from a single-factor model to multi-factor models. Currently, there is practical evidence that stock returns can be determined by a combination of several risk factors rather than one sole factor. Both institutional and individual investors in Egypt use different variables in the stock selection process. These variables include, but are not limited to price-based ratios (e.g., book-to-market equity, earnings-to-price, sales-to-price and dividends-to-price ratios), investment factors (e.g., investment-to-assets and assets growth ratios), prior returns (momentum and reversal), profitability ratios, leverage ratios and liquidity factor.With a large variety of variables, determining a well specified asset pricing model, to explain variations in stock returns, becomes very complicated and confusing. The choice of a model based on risk factors or firm characteristics becomes unclear to both academics and practitioners in Egypt.The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), developed independently by Sharpe (1964) and Lintner (1965), is the first model built to determine the expected rate of returns on risky assets. An essential argument is on the sole role of the systematic risk in the model. Researchers notice that different patterns of stock returns are not explained by the CAPM; they are called anomalies. But none knows whether they are actual anomalies or a result of an incomplete model being tested for market inefficiencies. The most prominent anomalies are firm size (Banz, 1981; Reinganum, 1981; Fama and French, 1992, 1993, 1996), earnings-to-price (Basu, 1977; Ball, 1978; Reinganum, 1981; Fama and French, 1992), book-to-market equity (Rosenberg et al., 1985; Chan and Chen, 1991; Fama and French, 1992, 1993, 1996), leverage (Bhandari, 1988; Fama and French, 1992), momentum (Jegadeesh and Titman, 1993; Rouwenhorst, 1998, 1999), liquidity (Amihud and Mendelson, 1986; Datar et al., 1998; Amihud, 2002; Chan and Faff, 2005), dividend-to-price (Zhang, 2007; Al-Mwalla et al., 2010) and asset growth (Chen and Zhang, 2009; Fama and French, 2014). Despite the fact that the CAPM is widely used by market practitioners in Egypt, it has come under attack from several directions. First, recent research testing weak form efficiency in the Egyptian stock market shows that stock prices do not completely reveal all historical information, thus rejects the random walk hypothesis (Al-Jafari and Altaee, 2011). Therefore, the CAPM, which is based on an efficient market assumption, does not fit well in an inefficient stock market. Second, the Egyptian market index EGX30which is weighted by market capitalization and adjusted by free float for the most active 30 companies-cannot be regarded as a good representative of the securities universe. EGX30 is concentrated around different securities, e.g. Commercial International Bank (CIB) represents 35.75% of EGX30 index market capitalization as of the end of July 2015 (Egyptian Stock Exchange website).Therefore, the Egyptian market index may not be a good representative of the mean-variance efficient portfolio. Third, during market downturn (when the market return is lower than the risk free rate), market risk premium reports a negative sign, providing unreasonable results. Consequently, it seems clear from the previous studies that beta does not tell the whole story of risk. There seems to be risk factors affecting stock returns beyond the onedimensional measurement of market sensitivity. Therefore, market practitioners attempt to add an arbitrary value to the risk free rate to determine their required rate of return. The motivating point is that, there is no supporting theory to rationalize the choice of the variables to be incorporated in the CAPM in addition to beta.The latest study on the Egyptian stock market (Shaker and Elgiziry, 2014) evaluates different asset pricing models, namely the CAPM, Fama and French threefactor model (thereafter, FF3 model), momentum-augmented FF3 model, Liquidityaugmented FF3 model and momentum and liquidity-augmented FF3 model. …

The Efficiency of the GIPS Sovereign Debt Markets during Crisis

Abstract: (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)I. INTRODUCTIONThe efficient market hypothesis has been the cornerstone of asset pricing since the early to mid-1960s, developed through prominence articles such as Malkiel (1962) and Fama (1965, 1970). However as suggested by Fakhry and Richter (2015), the efficient market hypothesis relies on some untestable assumptions and models like perfectly competitive markets and rational risk averse profit maximising market participants. Hence as suggested by Ball (2009), there have been many criticisms from policy makers and academics, especially in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Conversely, the momentum in the 1990s of behavioural finance also highlighted the issues surrounding the efficient market hypothesis. Essentially the efficient market hypothesis is difficult to test, however as Fakhry and Richter (2015) suggest it is possible to test the efficiency of the market through the use of the Shiller volatility test as derived by Shiller (1981a)The GIPS (in essence the Greek, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish) markets have deep-rooted structural and imbalance issues in their economies as highlighted by Landesmann (2013) and Gros (2012) among others. Conversely, the GIPS markets are also at the centre of the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis. For these reasons, it would be interesting to test the impact of the crises on the efficiency of the GIPS sovereign debt markets.As we are testing the efficient market hypothesis, we start this paper with a short review of the tests and empirical evidence of market efficiency. The next section gives methodology of the empirical test. Section III presents the data and empirical results and Section IV concludes.II. REVIEW OF THE TESTS OF THE EFFICIENT MARKET HYPOTHESISIn testing the efficient market hypothesis, we need to test whether markets follow the random walk model and prices incorporate information immediately. The variance ratio tests of Lo and MacKinlay (1988) allow the testing of the random walk model, the influencing assumption in the weak form efficient market hypothesis. However, a key factor is as stated by Fama (1970); any test of the efficient market hypothesis involves a joint hypothesis of the equilibrium expected rates of returns and market rationality. Thus, there is a need to review the variance bound test of Shiller (1979) and LeRoy and Porter (1981) which states any excess volatility in the price of any asset is the result of inefficient markets as argued by Shiller (1992). This would mean that in a rational market, fundamental information is not the driving force of the price and inefficiency in the market drives the price away from the long-term equilibrium.As stated by Bollerslev and Hodrick (1992) past empirical evidence suggests that there is a difference between short and long horizons with short horizons displaying only minor violations of the efficient market hypothesis while with long horizons, large proportions are more predictable based on the price variance being largely explainable by past prices alone. Of course, this does not mean that markets are inefficient. A possible explanation is that the price variations could be due to time varying risk premium. However, as Poterba and Summers (1988) argue the magnitude of the variability is too large, to be explained by the rational pricing theory. The evidence from the long horizon tests seem to point at an overlapping issue suggesting the statistics are better estimated with an alternative asymptotic distribution as derived by Richardson and Stock (1989), although, as Bollerslev and Hodrick (1992) state this problem could also be overcome by using the vector auto-regression method.The concept of the volatility tests is a comparison of the variability of prices with the variability of the future cash flows. The basic argument is that in an ideal world, future cash flows should determine the behaviour of prices today; therefore, as Shiller (1992) argues, any excess volatility is evidence of inefficient markets. …

Exploiting Business Intelligence for Strategic Knowledge Management: A German Healthcare Insurance Industry Case Study

Abstract: In the German healthcare industry, Business Intelligence systems play a crucial role. For one major health insurance company discussed here as an alias-AK Healthcare, the deployment of Business Intelligence applications has supported sustained growth in turnover and market share in the past five years. In this article, these tools are classified within an appropriate conceptual framework which encompasses the organisation's information infrastructure and associated processes. Different components of the framework are identified and examples are given-systems infrastructure, data provision/access control, the BI tools and technologies themselves, report generation, and information users. The use and integration of Business Intelligence tools in the strategy development process is then analyzed. Finally, the key functions and features of these tools for strategic knowledge management are discussed. Research findings encompass system access, report characteristics, and end-users profiles and capabilities.

Business Model Innovation in Different Strategic Networks

Abstract: As the value chain in most industries experienced reconfiguration, firms needed to collaborate and actively engage in a particular strategic network to sustain their business through collaborative innovation, which often resulted in a new business model. The objective of business model innovation is to create and deliver more value to consumers while capturing value for the members of the network. Different characteristics of a strategic network impact the value as the output of business model innovation. However, there has been little research on this different strategic network in relation to business model innovation. This paper aims to figure out the differences of business model innovation in three types of strategic networks: vertical value nets, horizontal value nets, and multidimensional value nets. This research describes how network members innovate business models to enhance value. A cross-case analysis and strategic recommendations are also provided. JEL Classifications: 03, MI Keywords: business model; business model innovation; network; value capture; value creation; value delivery I. INTRODUCTION With the business landscape continuously changing and competition steadily increasing, business model innovation (BMI) is now happening in many companies. It is practiced to help companies stay ahead of competition, because it could bring out potential unidentified sources of value (Zott and Amit, 2010) and increase the value for the customer and all of the business's stakeholders (Najmaei, 2011; Teece, 2010). Strengthening the competitive advantage of the business (Fu et al., 2006) and attracting different customers (Markides, 2006) are other reasons for innovating business models. Previous research on BMI mostly focused on a single firm's perspective (e.g., Amit and Zott, 2012; Mitchell and Coles, 2004; Teece, 2010). However, the single-firm perspective can no longer explain new forms, structures, and value activities (Wu and Zhang, 2009). Many industries face value-chain reconfiguration (Kartseva et al., 2004), forming complex linkages that create a 'value network' (Bovet and Martha, 2000). Shuman and Twombly (2010) emphasize that an organization's ability to innovate and grow would be hampered if it lacks the ability to collaborate with the network. Thus, to gain the benefit of BMI activity, the network perspective needs to be incorporated (Fu et al., 2006; Zott and Amit, 2010). Collaboration of actors usually supported by each actor's different expertise and their unique capability (Shuman and Twombly, 2010). Collaboration creates and captures value within the network (Hamel, 2000). This would be realized when actors in the network combine their resources in co-creating the markets (Vargo and Lusch 2007). The members are also able to innovate new activity, gain access to complementary assets, and form a governance structure that reduces the costs or risks of innovative activity (Rasmussen, 2007). Research on BMI from the network perspective is growing (e.g., Bask et al., 2010; Nenonen and Storbacka, 2010; Palo and Tahtinen, 2011; Wu and Zhang, 2009). However, there is little research focusing on the management of BMI in different types of networks. The majority of research in networked-based Business Model Innovation (BMI) has focused on a general type of network (e.g., Fu et al., 2006; Gordjin, 2001; Palo and Tahtinen, 2011) and defining its business model design, regardless of the different network characteristics and members' business model. Moreover, broad-spectrum framing is required for networks in the search for innovating a business model. Thus, this research aims at addressing this knowledge gap by developing a conceptual model describing the dimensions of BMI from the network perspective and examining the practice of BMI in different networks. This paper is organized as follows: It starts by describing the conceptual model development of BMI from the network perspective. …

Employer Branding for Talent Attraction in the Indonesian Mining Industry

Abstract: I. INTRODUCTIONAs companies realized t h a t human capital is one of the most important keys in achieving a company's goal, there is a competition among them in getting top talents called t he 'war for talent'. This situation exists due to the short availability of skilled talent (Mosley , 2015), and it is worst in some particular fields like science, mathematics, and engineering. One of the industries that faces a skill shortage situation is the mining industry. This industry, where high skill talents are needed, is facing a Greybeard Phenomenon - a term for describing the condition of aging professional workforce and gender imbalance that exist in the mining industry (Gibson and Scoble, 2004). This phenomenon, along with the high demand on the mining sector, has created a skill shortage in mining industry (Bloomberg, 2014) and triggered a competition for talent attraction between the firms in the mining industry.In Indonesia, where 133,000 more engineers are needed every year (Kompas, 2014), the high-skill-shortage in mining industry also existed. It is compounded by the small amount of university in Indonesia that offer mining related programs. From these limited universities, only small number of well-known university are considered as the potential talent pool by the industry. This situation may create a "war for talent" between the firms in mining industry within this limited talent pool. Therefore, in order to win the competition over high-skilled talents, these firms need to develop some strategies.One of the suitable strategies in the war for talent is employer branding. Increasingly, many organizations are setting their budget and developing a program for this employer branding (Backhaus and Tikoo, 2004; Davies, 2008). Mosley (2015) also states it is the time for employers to strengthen their brand in order to compete effectively in the war for talent. By implementing an effective employer branding strategy, a company can gain more flexible and time effective recruitment, reduce the recruitment cost, and get a better quality of applicants (Heilmann et al., 2013). It also can be a tool o f communication for the work environment, so the external people know what it is like to work for an organization (Love and Singh, 2011).Then what is employer branding? The term employer branding w a s firstly used by Simon Barrow and Tim Ambler on the Journal of Brand Management in December 1996. They defined it as "the package of functional, econo mic, and psychological benefits provided by the employment and identified with the employing company" (Heilmann et al., 2013, p.285). It is like the "traditional" recruitment but aimed for a long-ter m goal. Employer branding cuts across the specialism of traditional human resource, then becomes an umbrella program for them (Edwards, 2010). The main objectives of employer branding are talent attraction and employee retention. Thus it is highlighting the offering that companies propose in order to attract the potential talents, called as the dimensionality of employer branding.On the first study of employer branding, Ambler and Barrow (1996) have constructed three dimensions of employer branding: (1) the functional dimension, (2) the economic dimension, and (3) psychological dimension. Then, Berthon et al. (2005) developed a scale based on Ambler and Barrow's (1996) and proposed five dimensions of employer branding that include interest value, social value, economic value, development value, and application value. These five dimensions have since been used as the base of several studies in employer branding (Alniacik et al., 2014; Zhu et al., 2014), which then propose the dimensions on various contexts. However, a specific study in mining industry ha s n o t e x i st e d in the context o f Indonesia. Thus, this paper is aimed to analyze the employer branding concept in the mining industry in Indonesia.II. LITERATURE REVIEWA. Employer BrandingBranding is a marketing activity that creates a "name, term, design, symbol, or any feature" on a product to make a differentiation from other similar products (Bennet, 1998). …

Development of Smart Cities in India – Dream to Reality

Abstract: Cities are engines of growth that would be driving India’s transformation into a developed economy. With India set to become the youngest country in the world by 2020 requiring 10 to 12 million new jobs every year, the government has initiated The Smart Cities Mission to promote large scale planned urbanisation to create conducive atmosphere for promoting accelerated growth and development. As India embarks on this journey to create engines of growth to drive the country’s development this paper outlines the path for making this dream a reality. The paper puts forward strategies for planned urbanisation, guidelines for smart city development and elaborates on the toughest summits to peak in this quest to transform urban India.