Archives of Business Research

Foreign Market Network and Internationalization of Domestic Firms: A Panel Data Analysis

Md. Shakib Hossain — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The primary focus of this paper is the analysis of how companies create foreign market networks in order to internationalize their domestic businesses. It also aims to identify the current foreign market networks that domestic businesses can use to pursue internationalization as well as the ways in which these networks help local businesses become global. This study makes use of longitudinal quantitative data from 1998 to 2021 from the many Fortune 500 businesses that rose to prominence on the international scene. The paper mostly uses OLS, random effect, fixed effect, poisson regression, prais-winsten, GMM, GEE, GLS, and FGLS methods to determine the outcome. Businesses use a range of common strategies, such as economic development agencies, investment promotion agencies, social networks, and industry groups, exporting, licensing, franchising, joint ventures, wholly-owned subsidiaries, strategic partners, financial institutions, and trade finance providers, supply chain partners, and international trade associations to gain access to distribution channels, reduce risk, facilitate access to market knowledge, and forge relationships with key stakeholders that help them successfully implement their internationalization strategies.

Financial Restructuring in Conglomerates - Experience of Other Countries and Lessons for Vietnam

My Linh Hoang, Manh Hung Nguyen, Thi Ha Nguyen — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Financial restructuring plays a crucial role in ensuring the long-term stability and competitiveness of conglomerates, particularly in rapidly evolving economic landscapes. This study examines case studies from Spain, Italy, and South Korea to derive valuable lessons for Vietnamese conglomerates undergoing financial restructuring. The experiences of Jazztel, the Ferruzzi Group, Daewoo, and Hyundai highlight the importance of financial discipline, strategic debt restructuring, and corporate governance reform. In Vietnam, state-owned and private conglomerates are increasingly adopting restructuring measures, including debt restructuring, divestment from non-core assets, and digital transformation. Based on international case studies and Vietnam’s current restructuring efforts, this paper provides recommendations for Vietnamese conglomerates to enhance financial resilience, optimize governance structures, and ensure sustainable growth in an increasingly competitive global market.

Management of Indigenous Knowledge and Quality Education Delivery in Public Senior Secondary Schools in Rivers State, Nigeria

Ukala Chinyere Catherine — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The study investigated management of indigenous knowledge and quality education delivery in senior secondary schools in Rivers State, Nigeria. Three objectives, three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted correlational research design. The population for this study consisted of the 313 principals in 313 public senior secondary schools in Rivers State. The sample size used for the study was 313 respondents using census sampling technique. The instruments for data collection are two self-structured questionnaires titled “Management of Indigenous Knowledge Questionnaire and Quality Education Delivery Questionnaire with 30 items. The reliability coefficient of management of indigenous knowledge was .86 and quality education delivery was .87 while utilization of indigenous knowledge was .83 and strategies to improve indigenous knowledge was .89 using Cronbach method. The research questions were answered using simple regression statistics, while t-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings among others showed that management of indigenous knowledge contributed to quality education delivery by 21.8% while the hypothesis showed that management of indigenous knowledge significantly contributed to quality education delivery in senior secondary schools in Rivers State.

Assessing Good Governance Through Financial Execution: A Comparative Analysis of the Financial Supervision Board (Cft)’s Comments on the Island Budget Execution Reports of the Public Entity of Bonaire (2018-2024)

Willem A. Cecilia — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This study explores the intersection between financial execution and governance quality in the Public Entity of Bonaire, analyzing the Financial Supervision Board’s (Cft) evaluations of budget execution reports from 2018 to 2024. Through a mixed-method approach integrating quantitative and qualitative analyses, the research identifies patterns in fiscal management, governance performance, and budget deviations, assessing their implications for administrative stability and financial oversight. A Pearson correlation analysis reveals a strong and statistically significant relationship (r = 0.879, p = 0.009) between budgetary discipline and governance effectiveness, highlighting that reduced financial deviations align with better governance outcomes. However, political instability in 2023—marked by an Island Council election in March and an Executive Council restructuring in October—exacerbated governance disruptions, leading to financial oversight failures in 2024. A comparative review of execution reports (UR1, UR2, UR3) from 2023 and 2024 further demonstrates persistent deficiencies in commitment management, administrative efficiency, and fiscal transparency. Findings confirm that governance deterioration directly correlates with financial mismanagement. Without urgent fiscal reforms and strengthened oversight mechanisms, Bonaire risks continued governance instability. The study recommends enhancing budgetary discipline, reinforcing financial reporting, stabilizing governance structures, and ensuring adherence to Cft recommendations to restore financial integrity and institutional credibility in Bonaire’s public administration.

Role of Middle Managers in Strategic Organizational Changes: A Conceptual Review.

Nasrin Shamima — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This review examines the recent theoretical development in the changes in the organization change in terms of structural change, the role of middle managers and the execution of digitalization of organizational practices. It discusses the effectiveness of change and leadership change or transformation in the modern organization to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. This requires strategic change and the changes of the viewpoint about the role of middle managers in an organization to cope out with the uncertain and volatile external environment. Throughout the strategic change literature, conceptualization of change leadership is based on the view of top to bottom approach where, the top management has the pivotal role to design the change initiatives. In some extent, the role of mid level managers have been recognized as linker or connector while, the first line managers have always been seen as the implementers of the process, designed at the top. Moreover, volatility in external environment due to technological disruption, changing nature of using data, virtual influence over the form of organizations and digitally organic organization management outlook have rendered the sustainability question of competitive advantage in risks. Based on the deficiencies of previous literature and scope within the trends of today’s organizations, this research will investigate the prospective role of mid level managers in strategic changes of organizational design.

The Role of Technological Innovation in Economic Growth of Angola's Agricultural Sector

Augusto Lotti Joaquim Bié da Silva, Edward Lambert, Kanbiro Orkaido Deyganto — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This study investigates the impact of technological innovation on economic growth in Angola’s agricultural sector from 2005 to 2023. The research focuses on how advancements in mechanization, irrigation systems, and improved seed varieties have contributed to productivity and overall GDP growth. Given the importance of agriculture in Angola’s economy, understanding the role of technology is essential for shaping future policies and investment strategies.A quantitative research approach was employed, using regression analysis to assess the relationship between GDP growth and five key factors: access to technology, education and training, financial support, government policies, and market demand. The study relies on historical data and economic indicators, evaluating trends over nearly two decades to establish a comprehensive understanding of technological innovation’s role in economic development.The results indicate a strong positive correlation between technological innovation and GDP growth in the agricultural sector. Increased mechanization and irrigation systems significantly enhanced farm productivity, while education and financial investment played a critical role in facilitating technology adoption. However, challenges such as policy inconsistencies and infrastructure limitations hindered the full potential of technological progress.These findings suggest that targeted investments in technology, improved education programs, and financial support are necessary to sustain agricultural growth. Additionally, policy reforms should address existing regulatory barriers, ensuring a stable and supportive environment for innovation. Strengthening rural infrastructure, including roads and electricity access, would further enhance the effectiveness of technological advancements.For Angola to maximize the benefits of technological innovation in agriculture, a multi-faceted approach is needed. Policymakers should focus on sustained investment, consistent regulations, and rural development initiatives. By addressing these key areas, Angola can improve agricultural productivity, increase food security, and drive long-term economic growth.

E, S or G – What Drives Corporate Failure?

Colin Ellis — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Sustainability issues have become a core part of financial analysis, particularly over the past decade. While governance has always been recognized as a key factor in driving corporate performance, environmental and social issues have risen in prominence over this time. A natural question is which of these three factors has been most important in determining corporate failure in recent years. This paper uses data on corporate defaults and ESG assessments from a major credit rating agency to examine the relationship between businesses being unable to keep the financial promises and different environmental, social and governance considerations. It finds little sign of environmental risk driving defaults – so far – but both social and governance factors are statistically significant. While the relationships between ESG factors and defaults are likely to change over time, this analysis offers early insights against which those changes can be benchmarked.

Procurement Staff Familiarity, Organizational Incentives and Adoption of Sustainable Public Procurement in Uganda

Olema Hamiza, Mugisha Donatus, Moya Musa, Alain Vilard Ndi Isoh — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This study examined the effect of procurement staff familiarity and organizational incentives on adoption of sustainable public procurement in Uganda. The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional survey design with a quantitative approach supported by the positivism philosophy. This research used stratified sampling method to source for the 259 respondents from 790 civil servants and survey questionnaires were used to collect data. The respondents were Chief Procurement Officers, Senior Procurement Officers, Assistant Procurement Officers, Inventory Management Officers, and Assistant Inventory Management Officers from 260 central government in four regions in Uganda. Analysis was conducted using SPSS 23 and AMOS 25 statistical packages. Results have shown that procurement staff familiarity and organizational incentives have an effect on sustainable public procurement adoption. Additionally, given the need for sustainable public procurement in the diaspora and Uganda in particular, this study offers the understanding of a holistic view of sustainable public procurement from the public procurement perspective and this is relevant for the private sector players and academicians.

Classification of Malaria-Infected Cells Using Convolutional Neural Networks: An Image-Based Microscopic Approach to Aid Diagnosis

Sat, 22 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This study investigates the use of convolutional neural networks to automatically detect malaria-infected cells in blood smear images, offering an alternative to manual diagnosis, which depends on specialized professionals and adequate infrastructure. Manual diagnosis is time-consuming and prone to human errors, especially in malaria-endemic regions with limited resources. Automated approaches based on convolutional neural networks provide a promising solution to optimize the diagnostic process and improve access to rapid treatment in remote areas. The research evaluates the performance of different convolutional neural network architectures for malaria diagnosis, following the Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining methodology to structure preprocessing, modeling, and model evaluation. Preprocessing involved normalization and data augmentation techniques to enhance sample quality and diversity. Two architectures were compared: a customized convolutional neural network designed to balance computational efficiency and accuracy, and an adapted VGG16, recognized for its advanced image feature extraction capabilities. Both models were trained and evaluated using a robust dataset of blood cell images. The customized network achieved 95.6% accuracy, outperforming similar models in the literature and demonstrating its practicality for low-resource settings. It also exhibited high precision, recall, and F1-score, ensuring reliable and balanced classification of infected and healthy cells. This approach reduces reliance on specialists and advanced equipment, making malaria diagnosis more accessible and efficient. The findings position the customized convolutional neural network as a viable solution for automated malaria diagnosis, combining simplicity with high performance and offering significant potential for improving healthcare in endemic regions.

The Controlling Role of Corporate Governance in Enhancing Firm Value through Human Resource Accounting in the Manufacturing Sector: Evidence from Nigeria

Odewusi, Oyetola O., Adegbie, Folajimi Festus, Nwaobia, Appolos N. — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Firm value is a critical determinant of shareholder wealth maximization and investor confidence. However, many manufacturing firms in Nigeria have not fully integrated human resource accounting (HRA) and corporate governance into their operational strategies, leading to suboptimal firm value. This study investigated the controlling role of corporate governance in enhancing firm value through human resource accounting in Nigeria’s manufacturing sector. The study employed an ex post facto research design and utilizes secondary data from 28 manufacturing firms listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) between 2009 and 2023. Multiple regression analysis is used to evaluate the impact of HRA on firm value and the moderating effect of corporate governance. Human resource accounting has significant effect on FV of quoted firms in Nigeria (Adj.R²= 0.237, F(14, 371) = 257.99, p <0.05), Corporate governance has significant controlling effect on FV of quoted firms in Nigeria (Adj R2 = 0.255, F(14, 369) = 329.38, p <0.05). The study concluded that Human resource accounting, corporate governance enhanced Firm Value of quoted firms in Nigeria. The study recommended that policymakers and regulators enforce global best practices in corporate governance and human resource management to enhance firm value in Nigeria’s manufacturing sector.

Exploring the Emerging Careers: Opportunities Beyond Traditional Career Paths in a Gig Economy

Kalpana Solanki — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Making a feasible career choice plays a key role in career goal advancement and achievement for all the professionals. This research study aims to explore the new career opportunities which are different from the traditional careers. This research will use a qualitative data through primary (interviews) and secondary data collection. This research is an attempt to explore the feasibility of the modern career choices beyond the traditional career paths and their viability as a full time long term career choice by aspirants.

Effect of Monetary Policy on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in East African Countries: The Moderating Impact of Institutional Quality

Masengesho, Esther Josiane, Dada, Samuel, Ogboi, Charles — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The majority of developing countries have heavily relied on foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows over the past years due to the gap between domestic savings and investment. Studies on the interactive effect of monetary policy and institutional quality (IQ) on FDI inflows are still scanty in East African countries. This study examined the effect of monetary policy (monetary policy rate (MPR), exchange rate (ER), reserve requirements (RR)) on FDI inflows in East African Countries with a special focus on the moderating impact of institutional quality. A fixed effect model was applied to analyse panel data spanning from 2003 to 2022. The results showed that incorporating institutional quality into the relationship between monetary policy and FDI inflows marginally improves the model's explanatory power from 56 percent to 57 percent with the interaction of IQ and monetary policy variables suggesting that institutional factors contribute to understanding FDI dynamics. The findings revealed a positive relationship between, IQ and MPR-IQ interaction and FDI inflows, though it was not strong. The results further showed a negative but weak relationship between ER-IQ interaction and FDI inflows. Thus, it is concluded that IQ slightly mitigates the negative impact of MPR on FDI, suggesting that strong institutions create a stable environment that offsets the deterrent effect of higher interest rates. Additionally, though IQ enhances stability, exchange rate fluctuations continue to undermine investor confidence. It is therefore recommended that Policymakers consider a holistic approach, focusing on structural reforms and stable macroeconomic policies to boost investor confidence and attract FDI.