bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evaluating Critical Success Factors Model of Knowledge Management
Authors: Sedighi Mohammadbashir , van Splunter Sander , Zand Fardad , Brazier Frances
Published: February 2017

Knowledge management is a critical issue in today's business world. Knowledge is considered to be one of the most strategic resources of a firm and sources of competitive advantage. This paper identifies and ranks Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for implementation of knowledge management in the Iranian Energy Sector. Using the Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method the relative quantitative weights of 8 of the major CSFs for implementation of knowledge management are identified, based on analyses with KM designers in the Iranian energy sector. The outcomes of the research designate that the critical success factors in the order of importance are: corporate culture, human and financial resources, strategy and leadership, structures and procedures, meso environmental factors, knowledge management process, macro environmental factors, technology and infrastructure.
Integration of Competing Values and Knowledge Organisational Activities in a New Model
Authors: Dastaviz Amir Hossein
Published: February 2017

In recent years, various models have been introduced in knowledge management; however, it seems that making a combination of these models can improve the performance of the models in knowledge based organisations. In this paper, two models are considered. The first one is competing values and the second one is organisational activities of knowledge management. Competing values is consisted of two exes: control and environmental interaction. The extent of control differs from high to low and the environmental interaction in the organisation varies from internal to external tendencies. These two axes form different values in the competing value model. Each organization, based on its dominated values, can trigger the organisational activities of knowledge management. This paper proposes a conceptual model that applies dominant ?competing values status and facilitates organisational activities of knowledge by integrating organisational activities of knowledge chain and competing value models. This model will enrich the knowledge management literature, especially on knowledge organisational activities, while being the basis for other researchers and authors to develop the process of organisational activities regarding organisational structure and environmental interaction.
Employer Value Proposition
Authors: Pattnaik Salila Kumar , Misra Rajnish Kumar
Published: February 2017

In a competitive global market, organizations are striving to retain the best talent by providing sustainable employer value proposition (EVP); ‘value proposition' employees perceive or expect from their employer. Although EVP is conceptually appealing, there has been little systematic effort to empirically examine the dimensions of EVP. Information technology companies are adopting strategies to provide proposition that attract and retain employees. This paper identifies the attributes of EVP from the perspective of employees working in Information Technology companies in India. A scale is developed and validated to measure EVP on a sample size of 474. EVP scale was tested for its factor structure, reliability and validity. The results indicated that EVP scale comprised of five attributes; developmental value, inspirational value, work environment value, work value, and work life balance. The finding of the research is discussed; limitations noted; recommendations for enhancing EVP in IT companies, and future research directions.
Digital Entrepreneurship in a Traditional Production Firm
Authors: Hannibal Martin , Rasmussen Erik S.
Published: February 2017

Through a longitudinal case study this paper explores the repercussions from introducing a mobile commerce platform as just another instrument in the marketing toolbox in a traditional sales-oriented firm. Findings suggest that the implementation of the M-platform in addition to its intended purpose spawns a digital business model that allows the company to change its relations to distributors, retailers and customers enabling access to direct communication with end-users. However, the emerging new business model has the potential to change the organization entirely. This paper argues that although the emerging business model was indeed a success seen from a sales-, marketing-, innovative-, and relational perspective, it was perceived as a disaster from an organizational perspective. Consequently, top management abandoned the new platform. The paper highlights the importance of not underestimating resistance in an organization when implementing a new marketing instrument such as M-commerce platforms.
What Does Culture of Higher Education Mean for Teacher Candidates?
Authors: Arslan-Cansever Belgin , Seyhan Gamze Bilir
Published: February 2017

When a university is considered as an organization, the meaning of culture to students should be investigated to have knowledge of its organizational culture. In this qualitative study, it is aimed to examine university students' perceptions of higher education culture via metaphors. Participants were 230 primary school teacher candidates enrolled in Faculty of Education, Ege University in Turkey. Researchers prepared a form to use as data gathering tool including the prompt “Higher education culture is like ... because ...”. In the study, the 5 common metaphors generated by four grades and these metaphors were freedom, youth, library, sea, and sun. Moreover, all participants generated 101 original metaphors. At the end of the analysis, metaphors were grouped into seven different categories; information environment, shaping the future, pathfinder, free, perpetual adapting itself, multi-cultural, exciting. To conclude, it could be said that most of teacher candidates have a positive perception about higher education.
A Taiwanese Empirical Study of Online Group Buying from the Perspectives of Organizational Culture and Transformational Leadership
Authors: Yang Mu-Li
Published: February 2017

This study examines online group-buying from the perspectives of organizational culture and transformational leadership. A convenience sampling of 400 online group-buying individuals living in Taiwan was conducted in 2011, and this yielded 300 effective questionnaires, giving a return rate of 75%. ANOVA analyses and canonical correlation were used to examine the participants' perceptions of organizational culture and the leadership of online group-buying initiators, and the relationship between these leadership behaviors and the organizational culture in their workplaces. The main findings of this study are as follows: (1) online group-buying activities occur most often in organizations with a “supportive” culture; (2) “idealized influence” is the most influential leadership behavior with regard to the perceptions of group-buying members towards group-buying initiators; and (3) the better initiators are able to perform with regard to “individual consideration” and “idealized influence,” the greater the positive effects on online group-buying activities in the organizations with “supportive” and “innovative” organizational cultures.
Influences of Organizational Culture on Knowledge Sharing in an Online Virtual Community
Authors: Liang Chaoyun , Chang Chi-Cheng , Rothwell William , Shu Kuen-Ming
Published: February 2017

The present study examined the influences and interactive effects of organizational culture, including trust, communication, and leadership, on online knowledge sharing based on social exchange theory and theories of trust, communication, and leadership. Two-hundred-ninety-seven members in three online engineering virtual communities from a knowledge management platform in a company were participants for filling in questionnaires. The results revealed that trust, communication, and leadership significantly affected online knowledge sharing. Members with high levels of trust, communication, or leadership had significantly better knowledge sharing than members with medium or low levels of trust, communication, or leadership. The results also showed a significant interactive effect of trust and communication on online knowledge sharing and a significant interactive effect of leadership and communication on online knowledge sharing, but there was no significant interactive effect of trust and leadership on online knowledge sharing. No previous studies have investigated the interactive effects of trust, communication and leadership on online knowledge sharing. That research finding is a significant contribution different from previous studies. Finally, this article offers suggestions for future research, implications of this study, and limitations of this study.
Globalization and Media's Impact on Cross Cultural Communication
Authors: Cross Doris E.
Published: February 2017

Diversity and change are key concepts facing the world, today. In the 21st century, organizational leaders recognize the importance of diverse perspectives and adaptations to changes. Globally, cultures have many definitions and difference as nations collectively strive to communicate with one another. Organizational leaders must understand the importance of cross-cultural communications in establishing trust and respect in business relationships. Doris E. Cross is an educator and researcher on diversity issues influence on organizational cultures competitive advantage. This chapter identifies factors, such as changing demographics, tumultuous economies, and workforce dynamics and effects on individual perceptions of organizational cultures.
Could Cultural Sustainability Improve Organisational Sustainability in Cloud Environments?
Authors: Soliman Fawzy
Published: February 2017

This chapter provides an explorative analysis of cultural factors critical to the sustainable organisational developments within cloud environments. The chapter examines how businesses could improve their sustainability by creating sustainable cultures. The chapter debates sustainability issues such as the relationship between organizational culture and sustainable organisational developments. The chapter provides a list of key areas for creating a sustainable culture, for instance, the Change readiness assessment, Leadership and management support, Stakeholder involvement, and Education, as well as Communication. The chapter also discusses organizational culture and the close relationships between culture and sustainability. The chapter examines the relationships when creating sustainability culture and the key factors that will influence the change process.
“Be Excellent and Do More with Less”
Authors: Evenstad Solveig Beyza Narli
Published: February 2017

It is common to think of sustainability in the context of environmental issues. However as companies are downsizing, the human dimension of sustainability, i.e. the organizational sustainability is at stake. The sole focus on cost competitiveness pushes already stressed-out employees to be excellent and do more with less at the same time. When employees are caught between such paradoxal injunctions and organizational defense routines hinder dialog, some employees develop dysfunctional coping strategies and end up being burned out. Burnout is associated with depression, lack of motivation, absenteeism, and intention to leave. It has both human and economic consequences threatening the sustainability of an organization. The study of the experience of burnout among three Information and Communication Technology (ICT) workers in Norway conducted as an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) is presented as the case and the pathological communication patterns in the organizational culture behind burnout are identified.
Relationship between Senior and Junior Researcher
Authors: Gorela Katjuša , Biloslavo Roberto
Published: February 2017

The professional development of a young researcher is mainly influenced by the organizational culture and the relationship with academic colleagues, especially mentors. This chapter presents the results of a qualitative study conducted on a sample of 16 researchers employed in three Slovenian public universities. The study examines the senior-junior researcher relationship, as the relationship between mentor and mentee, the nature of their cooperation, and how new knowledge is generated and transmitted. In-depth semi-structured interviews and content analysis for structuring qualitative data was used. The results indicate that the professional development of junior researchers is based mostly on their independent work where the mentor guidance is only occasional. Despite the development of information and communication technology, and in particular the Social Web tools, the mentorship in the framework of higher education institutions is still based on a face-to-face relationship.
Organizational Culture and Effect on Organizational Performance
Authors: Bashayreh Anas M.
Published: February 2017

Organizational culture is an important part to be considered by dynamic organizations in order to develop some competitive advantage to ensure enhanced organizational performance. This study aims to close the gap between understanding the role of organizational culture and the effect on organizational performance among the employees in insurance companies. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between the dimensions of organizational culture and organizational performance among insurance companies operating in the Jordanian market. A sample of 240 respondents that were selected randomly from insurance companies participated in this study. Data were collected by survey questionnaire. Both descriptive and influential statistic namely frequency, mean, and multiple regression were used to analyze the data. The result shows that there is limited significant relationship between organizational expectations, encourage development, behavioral styles, and stability and communication and organizational performance. The results also showed that a significant relationship exists between policies and procedures and organizational performance. This study explored the results of the effect of organizational culture dimensions on organizational performance and to assess which organizational culture dimensions have a larger marginal impact on organizational performance. This study improved the managers' understanding on a way to improve organizational culture dimensions that have a vital impact on overall performance.
Fostering Innovation in the Midst of Organizational Change
Authors: Cook Susan L.
Published: February 2017

This chapter examines the definitional links between innovation, organizational change, organizational culture, organizational climate, and dialogic communication. In the 21st century context of nano-second change across organizations, understanding these concepts, their nexus for practical purposes, and the value of dialogic narratives help frame the “stories” of innovative processes that construct change. Current change cases such as Saturday Mail, Should We Make Cents, due process removal for Colorado public service providers, and Colorado Open Space “Nature Play” constructions are examined to apply a theoretical framework for this complex process of innovation through dialogue. An organizational tool modeled after Bingo is demonstrated as an aid in constructing and shaping the organizational change narrative while incorporating diverse dialogues in the communication process.
Modern Leadership in Singaporean and Thai Organizational Contexts
Authors: Pimpa Nattavud , Hooi Elsie
Published: February 2017

This study compares leadership traits among leaders from Singaporean and Thai organizations. It also investigates leadership styles in different cultural settings with a focus on organizational change. Data was collected by means of a series of structured in-depth interviews with leaders from a Singaporean multi-national corporation in the retail sector and leaders from a public organization in Thailand. Comparative analysis elicited the key categories of organizational culture, leadership styles and change strategies. The study demonstrates differences and similarities among Thai and Singaporean leaders with regard to leadership behaviours. Being direct, strong and knowledgeable are important for leaders who lead organization in the process of change in Thailand. Singaporean leaders, on the other hand, need to be flexible, decisive and approachable when changes are introduced to the organization. Thai staff may show unusually high deference (greng jai) towards those of senior status in the organization. Singaporean staff, however, may prefer to have an open discussion with their senior in the process of change. The results also imply, in order that organizational transition in Singaporean and Thai contexts occur as smoothly as possible, all aspects of change must be shared with staff of all levels and open for discussion.
OCTAPACE Human Resource Development Culture Impact on Bank Performance
Authors: Mahapatra Jyotirmaya , Kumar Dinesh
Published: February 2017

Initiation of economic reforms in India overwhelmed the large banks starting in 1991. Liberlaisation, privatisation, and globalisation, along with foreign direct investment exposed Indian banks to operational and credit risks. To overcome these risks, the banks have upgraded their financial, technological, and Human Resource Development (HRD) processes. The case study organization was one of the nationalized banks in India that lost its supremacy, slipping in rank from first to eighth. During the last decade, this bank adopted several HRD practices to create a strong OCTAPACE culture. As a result, the bank won several HRD awards over 10 years. This study critically reviews that bank as a single case study. Data were collected from 153 employees of the case study bank (all had completed at least 10 years of service). The focus was to examine if the OCTAPACE culture had impacted performance. The findings were that the OCTAPACE culture improved and the bank increased its financial performance without experiencing credit risk.
Embracing Organizational Trauma
Authors: Szymanski Mike , Schindler Erik
Published: February 2017

Organizational trauma is traditionally associated with negative effects on organizational behavior and performance. In this chapter the authors seek to answer the question how organizational trauma, and in particular near-death experiences, can positively influence organizational culture in the long term. In doing so, the authors briefly review the recent literature on organizational trauma and near death experiences, and discuss how these negative traumatic experiences can turn into prosocial organizational behaviour. The authors then present three case studies to illustrate how an organization can manage to incorporate near death experiences into its organizational culture in a positive way.
Appropriate Leadership Style in Knowledge Management System (KMS) Building
Authors: Bencsik Andrea
Published: February 2017

Building up a knowledge management system is a commonly arising challenge in managing organizations. Leaders need to change their leadership style in order for their organization to be successful, in accordance with the requirements of building and operating a knowledge management system. The aim of this chapter is to sketch the necessity of the change and the right leaders' behavior. The author shows the relationships residing in the background of the elements that are in close connection with the suitable leadership style: EQ, competence, organizational culture, trust, communication, and employees' commitment and satisfaction. During this chapter readers will be led logically across the connections of the above-mentioned elements and, at the end, a figure summarizing the connections closes the chapter.
Raising the Bar
Authors: Hurst Robin R. , Lloyd Julia Tucker , Miller Jennifer C.
Published: February 2017

This chapter provides a case study describing the process of using theory in practice in implementing higher level evaluation of training initiatives within one unit of a global financial services organization. The organization has used Kirkpatrick's level one and two evaluations for many years to evaluate training. This case describes the first time a level three evaluation was used, covering why it was necessary, the process for developing, as well as the outcomes of the evaluation. This chapter also describes the influence of organizational culture in the decisions made in the implementation of the evaluation strategy.
Understanding and Managing Organisational Culture and Justice
Authors: Muraina Kamilu Olanrewaju , Muraina Monsuru Babatunde
Published: February 2017

This chapter highlights the importance of education for the development of excellence, expertise and knowledge leading to overall development in economy cannot be undermined. It focused on the understanding and managing organisational culture and justice: implications for higher education institutions. Organizational culture plays a critical role in creating a work environment where employees are committed and contribute to the success of the organization. Justice is a subjective and descriptive concept, in that it captures what individuals believe to be right, rather than an objective reality or a prescriptive moral code. As defined here, organizational justice is a personal evaluation about the ethical and moral standing of managerial conduct. Research has shown that employees appraise three families of workplace events. They examine the justice of outcomes (distributive justice), the justice of the formal allocation processes (procedural justice), and the justice of interpersonal transactions they encounter with others (interactional justice). Over the years, universities worldwide have come under increasing pressures to adapt to rapidly changing social, technological, economic and political forces emanating from the immediate as well as the broader post-industrial external environments. The unprecedented growth, complexity and competitiveness of the global economy with its attendant socio-political and technological forces have been creating relentless and cumulative pressures on higher education institutions to respond to the changing environment.
Advocating Entrepreneurship Education and Knowledge Management in Global Business
Authors: Kasemsap Kijpokin
Published: February 2017

This chapter reveals the perspectives of advocating entrepreneurship education and knowledge management (KM) in global business, thus describing the theoretical and practical concepts of network economy, sharing economy, entrepreneurship education, and KM; the empirical studies of entrepreneurship education and KM in the network economy and the sharing economy; the significance of entrepreneurship education in global business; and the significance of KM in global business. The achievement of entrepreneurship education and KM is crucial for modern organizations that seek to serve suppliers and customers, improve business performance, facilitate competitiveness, and obtain routine success. Thus, it is essential for modern organizations to explore their entrepreneurship education and KM applications, develop a strategic plan to investigate their advancements, and respond to entrepreneurship education and KM needs of customers. Applying entrepreneurship education and KM has the potential to enhance organizational performance and achieve strategic goals in the digital age.
Cultural Management for Multinational Enterprises
Authors: Zuber Christian , Pfohl Hans-Christian
Published: February 2017

Due to the dynamics in international business, it has become increasingly complex for the Multinational Enterprise (MNE) to find a balance between worldwide standardisation of operational processes and the usage of local advantages. The foreign subsidiary's managers and employees are stuck in the middle of environmental requirements, defined by the parent company on the one hand and the local social environment on the other hand. To ensure organizational efficiency in foreign subsidiaries, the rising conflict between corporate and country cultural characteristics can be solved through active cultural management. This chapter describes fundamentals of culture on corporate and country level and deduces a framework for cultural management. Furthermore, strategies are presented to close the gap between a subsidiary's external requirements and the internal implementation.
The Role and Value of Diversity to Learning Organizations and Innovation
Authors: Lopuch Viviane S. , Davis Daniel Cochece
Published: February 2017

Learning organizations are environments promoting individual and team learning capabilities. Learning organization concepts, embraced by a growing number of organizations throughout the world, are strategies for competing in dynamic economic environments. Globally, leaders across varying industries continue to strive to build learning organizations that improve effectiveness and possess an ability to continuously evolve. Learning organizations depend on effective communication, a chief component of leadership influence. They also require thinking from as many perspectives as possible, in order to change and grow in response to anticipated and existing external pressures. These perspectives emerge from the variety of experiences coming from diverse individuals, and leaders must recognize these as critical resources in organizations' ability to learn, manage change, and facilitate innovation. This chapter explores learning organization variables, arguing that diversity and leadership communication are important co-factors in successfully implementing learning organization principles leading to innovation.
Fuzzy Approaches and Analysis in Image Processing
Authors: D Ezhilmaran , M Adhiyaman
Published: February 2017

Fuzzy set theory originates to a great extent of interest among the researchers in past decades. It is a key tool to handle the imperfect of information in the diverse field. Typically, it plays a very important role in image processing and found the significant development in many active areas such as pattern recognition, neural network, medical imaging, etc. The use of fuzzy set theory is to tackle uncertainty in the form of membership functions when there is an image gray levels or information is lost. This chapter concerns the preliminaries of fuzzy, intuitionistic fuzzy, type-2 fuzzy and intuitionistic type-2 fuzzy set theory and its application in the fingerprint image; furthermore, the contrast enhancement and edge detection are carried out for that with the assistance of fuzzy set theory. It is useful to the students who want to self-study. This chapter composed just to address that issue.
Exploring Image and Video Steganography Based on DCT and Wavelet Transform
Authors: Chantrapornchai Chantana , Preechasuk Jitdumrong
Published: February 2017

Steganography is one of the techniques used to communicate secret data through the cover media such as images, videos, audio, texts etc. In this work, we consider the algorithms of steganography based on DCT and wavelet transform. The aspects of media quality after hiding the information in the digital media are considered. Particularly, we compare the performance of the prototype algorithms, representing the DCT and wavelet-based image steganography algorithms respectively, using the PSNR, capacity, robustness and accuracy aspects. For video steganography, with various wavelet transforms, we compare the quality of the derived information, when frames are dropped and the effects of payload is studied. The application of using such steganography algorithm which can embed multiple messages, each of which requires a separate key is proposed. The application can estimate the capacity used and capacity remains for the given cover image and texts.
Zernike-Moments-Based Shape Descriptors for Pattern Recognition and Classification Applications
Authors: Raj Alex Noel Joseph , Mahesh Vijayalakshmi G. V.
Published: February 2017

This chapter presents an analysis on Zernike Moments from the class of orthogonal moments which are invariant to rotation, translation and scaling. The chapter initially focuses on the review of Zernike moments as 1D, 2D and 3D based on their dimension and later investigates on the construction, characteristics of Zernike Moments and their invariants, which can be used as a shape descriptor to capture global and detailed information from the data based on their order to provide outstanding performance in various applications of image processing. Further the chapter also presents an application of 2D Zernike Moments features for plant species recognition and classification using supervised learning techniques. The performance of the learned models was evaluated with True Positive Rate, True Rejection ratio, False Acceptance Rate, False Rejection Ratio and Receiver Operating Characteristics. The simulation results indicate that the Zernike moments with its invariants was successful in recognising and classifying the images with least FAR and significant TRR.
A New Image Encryption Method Based on Improved Cipher Block Chaining with Optimization Technique
Authors: Krishnamoorthy Kuppusamy , Jeyabalu Mahalakshmi
Published: February 2017

Security of images in transmission medium is most prime issue found in literature. Encryption of images is a way to secure it from unauthorized access. The authors in this chapter insist on the encryption of images via block ciphers. Block ciphers works simultaneously as well as on chunks. In this chapter, an encryption method using improved cipher block chaining is proposed to encrypt RGB color images. For every encryption methodology, key generation process is the most important phase. The authors proposed sub-optimal key generation algorithm and this nature inspired optimization technique reveals complex keys, remains very useful for decision making in dynamic environment. Key generation is crafted as complex with this mathematical model that overcomes the predicament key problem exists in existing methods and upgrades quality of encryption. Results of the proposed algorithm show the efficiency and its resistance against various cryptanalytic attacks.
Evaluation of Image Detection and Description Algorithms for Application in Monocular SLAM
Authors: Urrea Claudio , Solar Gabriel
Published: February 2017

The results of new experiments on the detection and description of images for an EKF-SLAM monocular application are employed in order to obtain a dispersed set of features without related data association problems. By means of different detectors/descriptors, the number of features observed and the ability to observe the same feature in various captures is evaluated. To this end, a monocular vision system independent of the EKF-SLAM system is designed and implemented using the MatLab software. This new system allows for—in addition to image capture—the detection and description of features as well as the association of data between images, thus serving as a priori information to avoid incorrect associations between the obtained features and the map of an EKF-SLAM system. Additionally, it enables the evaluation and comparison of the precision, consistency and convergence of various algorithms.
A Novel Approach of Human Tracking Mechanism in Wireless Camera Networks
Authors: Gandhi Usha Devi
Published: February 2017

The sensing power of traditional camera networks for efficiently addressing the critical tasks in the process of cluster – based target tracking of human, such as measurement integration, inclusion/exclusion in the cluster and cluster head rotation. The Wireless Camera Networks efficiently uses distribution friendly representation and methods in which every node contributes to the computation in each mechanism without the requirement of any prior knowledge of the rest of the nodes. These mechanisms and methods are integrated in two different distributed schemas so that it can be implemented in the same mean time without taking into the consideration of cluster size. Thus, the experimental evaluation shows that the proposed schemes and mechanisms drastically reduce the energy consumption and computational burden with respect to the existing methodology.
Expert System through GIS-Based Cloud
Authors: Sevugan Prabu , Purushotham Swarnalatha , Chandran Ajay
Published: February 2017

Enthusiasm for accuracy farming practices and advances is becoming quickly all through the agrarian world. The accuracy farming can make utilization of the current methods, for example, GPS (Global Positioning System) innovation, GIS (Geographical Information System) innovation, RS (Remote Sensing) innovation and ES (Expert System) innovation et cetera, with a specific end goal to separate the agribusiness specialized measures among plots to acquire the better peripheral advantage of economy and environment. The study demonstrates to those generally accepted methods to utilize GIS (Geography Information System), Data mining and Web innovations in the rural master choice framework. This security with mass storage is satisfied by using GIS cloud server. This chapter discuss with an Integrated Geographic Information System with ES using Cloud Computing.
Working Capital Financing by Banks in Small Enterprises
Authors: Hossain Md. Mosharref , Ibrahim Yusnidah
Published: February 2017

Among all the economic players, small enterprises (SEs), by number, dominate the whole world business segment. However, it is a very common problem for SEs, in every economy either developed or developing, to get access into formal financial sector. Working capital can be treated as the life blood for SEs to be operated. But unfortunately, most of the small enterprises face serious problem while obtaining such loan from banks. On the other hand, banks face a lot of problems to finance working capital to SEs. Therefore, this chapter intends to identify the problems faced by SEs in obtaining and by banks while financing working capital. A total of 413 small enterprises were interviewed through a structured questionnaire administrated directly by the researchers and selected purposively from the capital city (Dhaka) of Bangladesh. The major findings indicate that about 72% small enterprises got the access into banks for working capital loan although all of them face a lot of problems while obtaining such loan from banks. To identify the problems and challenges faced by banks while financing working capital to SEs, 34 commercial banks' officials working in SME department were interviewed through questionnaire and selected purposively based on their high involvement into SME sector lending. Bankers encountered different problems and challenges related to working capital financing in SEs. Based on the survey findings, a good number of solutions have been formulated for policy initiatives.
Understanding and Adoption of E-Finance in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Developing Countries
Authors: Scholtz Brenda , Koorsse Melisa , Loleka Siyasanga
Published: February 2017

The lack of access to finance is hindering growth and development to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), particularly in developing countries. Access to finance can be facilitated by ICT and e-finance, which can reduce the cost of financial services and increase access to international markets. However, in spite of the potential benefits of e-finance, developing countries have been reported to be lagging behind in terms of e-finance adoption as compared with developed nations. The reason for non-adoption could be due to barriers such as lack of ICT infrastructure, data privacy and security concerns. The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the extent of understanding and adoption of e-finance by SMEs. A survey of SMEs in two developing countries, South Africa and Bangladesh, was conducted. The results of the survey revealed that access to financial products and services was the highest rated benefit of e-finance to respondent SMEs, whereas regulatory environment and policy was the highest rated barrier.
The Role of Value Co-Creation on Brand Image
Authors: Jayapal Pravina , Omar Azizah
Published: February 2017

The proliferation of SMEs in Malaysia shows that a better understanding on this SMEs are needed. Even though the SME market is booming, these SMEs face difficulties in sustaining in the constantly evolving marketplace. In order to continuously flourish in this industry, the firms should understand the role of value co-creation in improving their market performance. The lack of value co-creation implementation has been found to act as a barrier for these SMEs. Moreover, SMEs are identified to have issues in establishing a strong brand image through value co-creation. Therefore, the book chapter develops a conceptual framework to improve the understanding on the contribution of value co-creation in the development of stronger brand image and greater market performance.
Innovation Culture as a Mediator Between Specific Human Capital and Innovation Performance Among Bumiputera SMEs in Malaysia
Authors: Hanifah Haniruzila , Halim Hasliza Abdul , Ahmad Noor Hazlina , Vafaei-Zadeh Ali
Published: February 2017

SMEs in Malaysia are dominated by Bumiputera that represent more than 50% of the Malaysian SME's population. However, there are many challenges faced by Bumiputera SMEs such as limited skilled workers, lack of creativity and knowledge. In this point of view, considering the specific human capital approach, the value, uniqueness, creativity, innovativeness and proactiveness are the most relevant features for innovation performance. To have an excellent innovation performance is to have an innovative culture where entrepreneurs needs to have creative employees which simultaneously improve the innovation performance in Bumiputera SMEs. This study focuses mainly on owner-manager of Bumiputera SMEs. It provides useful pointers to entrepreneurs and policy makers on the importance of specific human capital, innovative culture and enhancing innovation performance in Bumiputera SMEs.
Outward Foreign Direct Investment as a Corporate Social Responsibility Challenge
Authors: Szegedi Krisztina , Fülöp Gyula , Bereczk Ádám
Published: February 2017

Corporate Social Responsibility has developed rapidly in the last decades, and its role has increased due to the new challenges of the global economy, as companies need a positive reputation in order to obtain a “social license to operate”. The aims of this study are: (1) to describe the concepts of corporate social responsibility and Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI), focusing on the relationship between them, (2) to introduce the main CSR risks and opportunities of OFDI, and (3) to summarize the possible solutions for addressing CSR-related risks in OFDI activities. Our study indicates that zero tolerance of corruption is a strategic objective of investing companies. Prevention and mitigation of human rights violations are ethical obligations and in the business interest of corporations. Companies face significant social, environmental, and economic risks, as well as risks to their reputations, because of their supply chains.
The Role of Governance on Outward Foreign Direct Investment in Emerging Market Economies
Authors: Gök Adem
Published: February 2017

Emerging market economies have clear deficit in governance infrastructure and also have an increasing trend in the amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) outflows compared with advanced countries. Hence the main issue of the study is to identify the determinants leading to the increase in FDI outflows with special emphasize given to the role of governance infrastructure. Thus, the aim of the study is to analyze the effect of governance infrastructure together with other control variables on FDI outflows in emerging market economies. It is found that improvement in all measured aspects of governance infrastructure leads to increase in FDI outflows from emerging market economies and governance infrastructure, human capital and physical infrastructure are base factors for MNCs taking outward FDI decision from emerging market economies. It is also found that FDI outflows from emerging market economies are not market or efficiency seeking; instead they are resource, labor or finance seeking.
Outward Foreign Direct Investment in Post-Transition Economy
Authors: Dorożyński Tomasz , Kłysik-Uryszek Agnieszka , Kuna-Marszałek Anetta
Published: February 2017

Recent two decades witnessed unprecedented changes in the economies of Central and Eastern Europe. Accelerated economic growth following systemic transformations, globalisation and liberalisation and EU integration visibly intensified international capital flows, including foreign direct investment (FDI). Intense internationalisation of an economy is usually perceived as a positive process, which – in general – gives an opportunity to accelerate growth and strengthen competitiveness. Therefore the authorities of an economy try to support FDI flows by implementing different incentives. The main goal of the chapter is to show the scale and scope of outward foreign direct investments (OFDI) of Polish companies in the light of economic transformation experience and authorities support. The chapter is organized as follows: first it presents Poland's path from centrally planned state to developed, competitive economy. Secondly, the focus is laid on support offered to companies undertaking OFDI ventures and finally on the scale and scope of Poland's outward investments.
Trade and FDI Between the Czech Republic and Portugal
Authors: Novotná Lenka , Martins Inês , Moreira António
Published: February 2017

With the collapse of communism, some former communist States of Eastern Europe managed to muddle through their way to a market economy and entered the European Union. This brought about the acceleration of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) among the European economies and accelerated the globalization process. Although there is plenty of research on FDI and trade among countries, the aim of this chapter is to analyze how trade between Portugal and the Czech Republic have evolved over form 2000 until 2015. The chapter seeks to complement previous studies on FDI and trade as Portugal and the Czech Republic are part of the European Union, but have had different historical, cultural, and economic paths. The main conclusion of the chapter is that trade between both countries has grown significantly. The main reason affecting trade between both countries is the economic unrest Portugal has been through since 2008.
Outward Foreign Direct Investment in Emerging Economies
Authors: Demir Ahmet Oğuz , Moiz Muhammad
Published: February 2017

Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) has been utilized by developed economies to enter developing markets for competitive advantages. However, recent boom in OFDI from emerging economies has prompted the question as to why these economies are investing abroad? A modest amount of literature exists regarding China and India, however, Turkey being an emerging economy has been largely untapped when it comes to determinants of OFDI. This study uses the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) to find host and home country factors which have led to OFDI from Turkey to their top 10 investment destinations for the past 10 years. The host country factors found to be significantly correlated with Turkish OFDI are innovation (Netherlands and Russia), technological readiness (Russia and UK), labor market efficiency (Netherlands), infrastructure (Netherlands), domestic market size (Germany), and exports (UK). The home factors found to be significantly correlated with Turkish OFDI are infrastructure and domestic competition.
The Nexus Between Institutional Quality and Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in South Asia
Authors: Chowdhury Mohammad Ashraful Ferdous
Published: February 2017

South Asia is one of the world's fastest growing regions, averaging 6.7 percent annual increases in real GDP over the past decade. However, South Asia's FDI inflows as a share of GDP are the lowest of all developing regions, averaging less than 2 percent in 2000-11(World Bank, 2013). Institutional quality is one of the factors that determine the volume of FDI inflow in any country. This study covers the data of three sampled countries of South Asia provided by the World Bank for the period 2003-2014. By using both static and dynamic models, this study reveals that regulatory quality and the political stability have significantly positive impact on the FDI inflow into each of the three countries. For Robustness, this study also employs dynamic heterogeneous panel approaches like Pool Mean Group (PMG) and found that institutional quality factors are significantly relevant to the FDI. As a policy implication, the regression results indicate that during the process of reform, the relation between FDI and institutional quality warrants a certain amount of attention.
A Modeling Framework to Capture the Intra-Household Consumption Behavior
Authors: Kumar Manoj
Published: February 2017

Quantitative models in marketing typically focus on the household as the unit of analysis while ignoring the individual family members' behavior and behavioral interactions among household members. However, knowledge of such intra-household behavioral interaction enables marketers to target their communications more effectively. In this paper, the author proposes a modeling framework to capture the intra-household behavioral interaction based on family members' actual consumption behavior over time. The author develops a model to capture multiple agents' simultaneous choice decisions over more than two choice alternatives. This is extremely difficult with other previously developed modeling approaches. We apply the proposed model to a context of family member's television viewing, and simultaneously model whether TV is on, which type of programs is playing and which family member(s) is (are) watching. The proposed model allows us to estimate the individual's intrinsic preference and the extrinsic preference from a joint consumption with other members. These estimates allow us to test several alternative group decision-making heuristics that may operate in those joint consumption occasions and conduct managerially useful counterfactual simulations.
Knowledge Presentation in a Virtual Learning Group Context
Authors: Yu Chia-Ping
Published: February 2017

This study examines how learners present their knowledge in the e-learning environment. This study adopted concept-mapping technology to observe fifty-four learners. There are two findings: first, the learners frequently employed relationships and examples, which assisted them in making connections between new and old knowledge throughout the learning process, thereby allowing them to acquire knowledge; however, they seldom used hierarchies and cross-links. Second, their knowledge presentation styles remained fixed while engaging in various tasks ranging in from the simple to the complex. Based on our findings, for instructors, it is crucial to consider the style of knowledge presentations made by learners because these presentations can the effectiveness of information technology on learning performance. For system designers, the systems should be designed to provide greater flexibility by increasing the opportunities for learner autonomy. Moreover, this study would encourage learners to apply critical thinking skills when reflecting upon their current knowledge.