bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Weapons of mass instruction? The rhetoric and reality of online learning
Authors: Ennew Christine T. , Fernandez‐Young Anita 
Published: July 2006

PurposeExplores the development of online learning in UK higher education as a case study to illustrate the difficulties created by an over‐reliance on technology push and a failure to understand and respond to market needs.Design/methodology/approachDraws on a variety of published secondary sources and the authors' own experience of working with the UK e‐University (UKeU).FindingsArgues that the development of online learning as a substitute for more traditional forms of delivery has been limited. For both e‐learning in general and for the UKeU in particular, the comparatively limited adoption of online learning beyond the campus‐based model is explained by failure to understand the market and a focus on what is technologically possible rather than what customers want.Research limitations/implicationsPresents a single case study developed from secondary sources and personal experience.Practical implicationsModels of online learning that exclude any face‐to‐face contact may have limited market opportunities, but blended models offer considerable potential both on and off campus. Investments and development costs of online learning are such that reusability or recycling of learning material has to be built into the production process if the benefits are to be fully realised.Originality/valuePrevious studies of e‐learning in the UK have not been driven by a marketing perspective. This study therefore delivers valuable intelligence for marketing educators considering their own options for investing in online learning development. In general, it provides further evidence of the importance of using market intelligence to inform the development and launch of product and service innovations.
Comparative innovative business strategies of major players in cosmetic industry
Authors: Kumar Sameer , Massie Cindy , Dumonceaux Michelle D. 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe cosmetic industry is a very lucrative, innovative, and fast paced industry where product innovation is the key to success. The purpose of this paper is to present a detailed analytical (qualitative) study of cosmetic industry in the global marketplace with a focus on the four market leaders in this industry relative to their business and innovation strategies.Design/methodology/approachBusiness analyses include Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT), Porter's value chain and five forces, and financial applied to the four industry leaders.FindingsEach of these cosmetic companies is unique. They each offer something different to the industry; selling method, marketing strategy, product line, and distribution channel.Practical implicationsThe industry trends indicate that the future of cosmetics may move towards more joint ventures between drug companies, cosmetic companies and nutritional/food companies as cosmetic companies look for new ways to be innovative.Originality/valueThe research provides an in‐depth business analyses of cosmetic industry using SWOT, Porter's value chain and five forces and financial with results obtained that are generalizable to the entire cosmetic industry. Projections on the future of cosmetic industry are also presented.
The changing pattern of commercial lease terms
Authors: Hamilton Moira , Cheng Lim Lay , McCluskey William 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThis paper aims to contribute to the theory, practice and development trends in relation to commercial property leases.Design/methodology/approachThe paper utilises three key methodological approaches to the research, namely, case studies, desktop literature review and questionnaire survey analysis. This approach enables the in‐depth analysis of both primary and secondary data in relation to the wider commercial property leasing market.FindingsThe main findings from an analysis of the case study cities demonstrate clearly that office tenants are requiring shorter lease terms, more tenant break options and rent reviews to market value.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper relates to the development of commercial property leases. While the research inferences are drawn from four major cities they would nonetheless represent a similar pattern from across the UK.Practical implicationsThe findings of this paper should be of practical benefit to those involved in the drafting of commercial leases and in particular the management and leasing of commercial property.Originality/valueThis paper presents the results of original empirical research utilising data drawn from several authoritative sources. The value of the work lies in the lease patterns that have been discovered through the case studies analysis.
Unbiased estimators for mean time to failure and percentiles in a Weibull regression model
Authors: Ho L.L. , Silva A.F. 
Published: July 2006

PurposeTo present the bootstrap procedure to correct biases in maximum likelihood estimator of mean time to failure (MTTF) and percentiles in a Weibull regression model.Design/methodology/approachA reliability model is described by a Weibull regression model with parameters being estimated by maximum likelihood method and they will be used estimate other quantities of interest as MTTF or percentiles. When a small sample is employed it is known that the estimates of these quantities are biased. A simulation study varying sample size, censored mechanisms, allocation mechanisms and levels of censored data are designed to quantify these biases.FindingsThe bootstrap procedure corrects the biased maximum likelihood estimates of MTTF and percentiles.Practical implicationsA minor sample may be required if the bootstrap procedure is required to produce estimator of the quantities as MTTF and percentiles.Originality/valueThe employment of bootstrap procedure to quantify the biases since analytical expression of the biases are very difficult to calculate. And the minor samples are needed to obtain unbiased estimates for bootstrap corrected estimator.
Deciding on promotions and redundancies
Authors: Furnham Adrian , Petrides K.V. 
Published: July 2006

PurposeTo examine how people weigh information when making people decisions, specifically promotion or redundancy, at work.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 183 working adults completed two questionnaires that required them to rate 16 vignettes describing hypothetical people. They were devised to give combinations of the following: two gender (male/female), two levels of ability (average/high), two levels of work experience (less than five years/ more than 15 years) and two levels of motivation (average/high). The first questionnaire required participants to rate the 16 people for possible promotion and the second for possible redundancyFindingsParticipants favoured males over females; the more over the less experienced; the more over the less able/intelligence and the more over the less motivated for promotion and to be retained rather than made redundant. Employee motivation was seen to be the most important individual difference variable in the decision making.Practical implicationsManagers have to make many people decisions such as who to promote. They usually have to balance and weigh different pieces of information about people regarding that decision. This study shows that three factors were rated as particularly important namely experience, intelligence and motivation.Originality/valueThis study appears to be the first to examine decision making through this traditional vignette methodology. While it has drawbacks it also has advantages to investigate how people weigh information about others when trying to make important people decisions.
Internal control under Sarbanes‐Oxley: a critical examination
Authors: Tackett James A. , Wolf Fran , Claypool Gregory A. 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe financial reporting requirements for publicly traded companies have undergone a significant transformation due to the passage of the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act (SOX). Companies are now required to report on the operating effectiveness of their internal controls over financial reporting. Additionally, the independent auditor is required to assess and report on the effectiveness of their client's internal controls, and they must attest to management's internal control assessment. The purpose of this paper is to examine the costs and benefits associated with Section 404 of the SOX of 2002.Design/methodology/approachQualitative analysis and deductive reasoning are used to evaluate the net benefits of Section 404 to the securities markets.FindingsQualitative analysis demonstrates that the new internal control reporting requirements have negative net benefits to the securities markets because of excessive cost and ambiguous interpretation. Elimination of formal internal control reporting is recommended.Originality/valueThis paper demonstrates that major revisions of Section 404 of the SOX are desirable for optimal allocation of resources related to financial reporting.
ARIMA model and forecasting with three types of pulse prices in Bangladesh: a case study
Authors: Hossain Zakir , Abdus Samad Quazi , Ali Zulficar 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to generate three types of forecasts, namely, historical, ex‐post and ex‐ante, using the world famous Box‐Jenkins time series models for motor, mash and mung prices in Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approachThe models on the basis of which these forecasts have been computed were selected by six important information criteria such as Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC), Schwarz's Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), Theil's R2, Theil's R2, SE(σ) and Mean Absolute Percent Errors (MAPEs). In order to examine the forecasting performance of the selected models, three types of forecast errors were estimated, i.e. root mean square percent errors (RMSPEs), mean percent forecast errors (MPFEs) and Theil's inequality coefficients (TICs).FindingsThe estimates suggest that in most cases the forecasting performances of the models in question are quite satisfactory.Originality/valueThe models developed in this paper can be used for policy purposes as far as price forecasts of the commodities are concerned.
Using analysts’ earnings forecasts for country/industry‐based asset allocation
Authors: Forbes William , Huijgen Carel 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThis paper seeks to investigate the usefulness of analysts’ earnings forecast revisions in the allocation of funds to different industries and countries. In particular, it asks whether a post analyst revision announcement drift in prices can be exploited to guide an asset allocation strategy based on industry, or country, selection.Design/methodology/approachThe methodolgy is to use monthly consensus I/B/E/S – First Call analysts’ earnings forecasts for companies listed on the main European stock markets over the period January 1987 to December 2001.FindingsIt is found that a significant post revision announcement effect for individual companies. However, the abnormal returns evaporate away as the research moves from an individual company level to an industry or country level. The paper provides two kinds of evidence which seem to cast doubt on the analysts’ ability to fully incorporate industry and country specific information into their forecasts: returns are driven more by common components than earnings forecast revisions, and company specific news reflected by the revision signal dominates industry or country news.Originality/valueLocates the origin of stock price momentum strategies in news about earnings reflected in analysts’ forecasts revisions.
Optimal asset management for pension funds
Authors: Menoncin Francesco , Scaillet Olivier 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the asset allocation problem for a pension fund which maximizes the expected present value of its wealth augmented by the prospective mathematical reserve at the death time of a representative member.Design/methodology/approachThe paper applies the stochastic optimization technique in continuous time. In order to present an explicit solution it considers the case of both deterministic interest rate and market price of risk.FindingsThe paper demonstrates that the optimal portfolio is always less risky than the Merton's (1969‐1971) one. In particular, the asset allocation is less and less risky until the pension date while, after retirement of the fund's representative member, it becomes riskier and riskier.Practical implicationsThe paper shows the best way for managing a pension fund portfolio during both the accumulation and the decumulation phases.Originality/valueThe paper fills a gap in the optimal portfolio literature about the joint analysis of both the actuarial and the financial framework. In particular, it shows that the actuarial part strongly affects the behaviour of the optimal asset allocation.
Performance evaluation considering the coskewness
Authors: Moreno David 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe paper aims to examine the performance of Spanish mutual funds between 1999 and 2003.Design/methodology/approachThe methodolgy uses the stochastic discount factor (SDF) framework across a variety of models developed in the recent asset pricing literature. This approach is a fairly recent innovation in the evaluation of investment performance.FindingsThe present work complements the research of Farnworth et al. and Fletcher and Forbes, adding a new issue to the SDF, the third co‐moment of asset returns. Recent asset pricing studies show the relevance of the component of an asset's skewness related to the market portfolio's skewness, the coskewness, and how it helps to explain the time‐variation of ex‐ante market risk premiums. It is found that the effects of adding coskewness to evaluate the performance is significant even when factors based on size, book‐to‐market and momentum are included.Practical implicationsThe omission of a coskewness factor may lead to erroneous evaluations of a fund's performance, and therefore, issues such as the persistence of performance should be revised.Originality/valueThis paper explores, for the first time, the effects of incorporating a coskewness factor in the analysis of investment performance, both in an unconditional and a conditional framework using SDF models.
Training under fire
Authors: AlMadhoun Mohammed 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe main objective of this paper is to discuss the relationship between obstacles and weaknesses facing the development of MTPs and SMEs. In recent years many management training programmes (MTPs) of an off‐the‐job nature have been established in Palestine, after the peace agreement, in order to find a solution for apparent lack of managerial strength, especially amongst SMEs.Design/methodology/approachTo demonstrate the effects of obstacles on SMEs, different but relevant sets of variables were employed. The logistic regression model was used to determine and analyse the effects of the independent variables on the dependent variables.FindingsTo a large degree the variables established the validity of the research hypothesis that “there is a relation between some obstacles and weaknesses and SMEs' development”. However, the primary data were generated through a survey of SME managers who have participated in management development training programmes in Palestine. It can be concluded quite clearly that generally there is a relationship between the acquisition of some obstacles and weaknesses and the development of SMEs. Moreover, managerial factors are prime determinants of the development, failure or survival of SMEs. Logistic regression shows that the relation between the development of SMEs and obstacles and weaknesses is significantly positive. Previous findings and research results can be used to enhance the strategic planning and hence the performance of small businesses. However, there is much to be done in terms of managerial development for greater efficiency.Originality/valueProvides trainers with a means of evaluating and assessing training and thereby improving the quality of training while it is in progress via measurement of the individual needs of managers.
HIV/AIDS: a threat to the viability of the societies it attacks
Authors: Villarreal Marcela 
Published: July 2006

PurposeTo provide a new understanding of the AIDS epidemic and its implications in order to improve the responses from governments and the development community.Design/methodology/approachThe paper briefly describes the AIDS epidemic as it relates to development and to rural development in particular, and analyses these interactions from a systems perspective, inspired by the viable systems model approach.FindingsThe paper concludes that HIV/AIDS poses a clear threat to the viability of the societies where the prevalence rates exceed a certain threshold (determined by agro‐ecological and other contextual and organisational characteristics). It shows that in order to be effective, the AIDS epidemic needs a systemic response, involving all development sectors and that responses that involve only the health sector cannot address the systemic nature of the damage the epidemic creates, once the prevalence rates go beyond the said threshold.Practical implicationsAn understanding that the epidemic may render societies non viable may move decision makers more decisively to action and an understanding of the systemic nature of the response needed may prompt an adequate organisation of this action.Originality/valueThe paper analyses the AIDS epidemic in an innovative way, contributing to the understanding of its dynamics and implications as well as to the means of addressing them. The paper is useful for policy makers, government officials and development planners to be aware of these and to take them into consideration in the design/implementation of policies, programmes and projects. It should also be of value to academics who wish to deepen their understanding of the epidemic.
Contemporary systems and cybernetics
Authors: Rudall Brian H. 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce innovative systems that are currently being developed worldwide. They include reviews of Artificial life machines; Poker‐playing “bots”; Advanced systems to harness a human's electrical field; “smart beer mat”; computer vision surveillance system; robotic systems for gastric surgery; future combat systems.Design/methodology/approachGeneral review and survey of selected research and development topics.FindingsIllustrates the multi‐and trans‐disciplinary nature of cybernetics and systems. Aims to further research and development activity.Practical implicationsThe choice of reviews provides an awareness of the current trends in these areas of endeavour but are necessarily selective.Orginality/va1ueThe reviews are selected from a global database and give a studied assessment of current research and development initiatives.
A study of the effects of pigments and fillers on the properties of anticorrosive paints
Authors: Kalendova A. , Veselý D. , Kalenda P. 
Published: July 2006

PurposeTo investigate the properties of coatings containing various types of fillers from the point of view of their physical‐mechanical properties and anticorrosive properties.Design/methodology/approachResearch used fillers of different types varying in morphology and/or chemical composition; these were then compared with selected pigments and zinc phosphate, an anticorrosive pigment. The following parameters were observed for all of the fillers and pigments: oil absorption, CPVC value, density, extract pH, specific surface, particle size, and water‐soluble substances. The morphology of particles was observed by means of an electron‐scanning microscope. The coatings of these fillers and pigments were formulated on an epoxy resin binder basis cured with a polyamine hardener. The coatings prepared were subjected to the measurement of physical‐mechanical properties such as hardness and deepening resistance, flex resistance, adhesion to steel, and the gloss of the coatings. The coatings containing the fillers and pigments studied underwent corrosion tests in a condenser chamber and in a salt‐spray cabinet.FindingsThe results obtained through the tests allowed the selection of the optimum filler for an epoxy coating with barrier anticorrosive properties. As per respective findings, some fillers in these coatings of significant thickness can be comparable to their zinc phosphate counterparts.Research limitations/implicationsThe anticorrosive properties of the coatings studied can also be tested in paints by means of atmospheric exposure, for instance, with the aid of a Florida test.Practical implicationsThe findings are helpful towards applications in the formulations of anticorrosive coatings of significant thickness that offer an effective barrier mechanism.Originality/valueThe research presents the results of the properties of a whole range of industrially employed fillers and pigments contained in paints. Based on this study, the formulation of steel protecting coatings can be optimised.
A study of rosemary oil as a green corrosion inhibitor for steel in 2 M H3PO4
Authors: Bendahou M. , Benabdellah M. , Hammouti B. 
Published: July 2006

PurposeTo evaluate the effect of natural rosemary oil as non toxic inhibitor on the corrosion of steel in H3PO4 media at various temperatures.Design/methodology/approachThe oil was hydro‐distilled. The oil was used as inhibitor in various corrosion tests. Gravimetric and electrochemical techniques were used to characterise the corrosion mechanism.FindingsChromatographic analysis by GC showed that the oil was rich in 1,8‐cineole. The oil was a good inhibitor. But, its efficiency decreased with temperature.Research limitations/implicationsThe inhibition efficiency increased with the concentration of the natural oil to attain 73 per cent at 10 g/l. Good agreement between the various methods explored was observed. Polarisation measurements showed that rosemary oil acted essentially as a cathodic inhibitor.Practical implicationsThe efficiency of the oil increased with the concentration but decreased with the rise of temperature in the 298‐348 K range. The natural oil could thus be used in chemical cleaning and pickling processes.Originality/valueThe originality of this work is the finding of a safe and cheap inhibitor from natural plants.