Archives of Business Research

What Would Make Morocco an Emerging Economy?

Ahmed Naciri — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 11:40:00 +0100

Morocco is steadily progressing toward development and may well join the ranks of rich countries as early as in 2022. We perform least squares regressions on a sample of 12 components of economic freedom, for a total of 375 observations over 25 years (1995-2019). We also consider Morocco’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in USD billion, Morocco’s GDP growth as a percentage of change (pcGDP)and Morocco’s per capita GDP based on purchasing power parity (PPP) in USD for the last 25 years. The empirical evidence shows that during this period, Morocco achieved an enviable level of performance by increasing its GDP by 455%, despite the strong demographic pressures exerted by 35% population growth.[1]

However, the country’s performance in relation to some components of its economic freedom was so weak that it may end up jeopardizing this economic development momentum, as expressed by the behaviour of its pcGDP and the increase of this value over time. Morocco must introduce some fundamental changes in its economic freedom policies if it wishes to continue to progress. Fortunately, the country appears to have the determination to do so.

[1]According to the IMF, Morocco’s population grew from 26.7995 million in 1995 to 36.47 million in 2019, an increase of 36%.

GDP Movements in High and Moderate HDI Economies: An Empirical Investigation

N. M. P. Verma, Monika Gaur, Ravi Kant — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 11:40:22 +0100

Economists worldwide acknowledge the estimation and implications of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Human Development Index (HDI) as a measure of development across the globe. The analysis of GDP and its various components are still useful in order to observe the financial scenario of the economy. Since GDP does not include the various relevant components of socio-economic and environmental activities, it also does not reveal the real picture of economic progress. Several efforts have been made by economists worldwide to quantify better indicators of wellbeing. The Human Development Report, 1996, pioneered the casual relationship between economic growth and human development. There is a usual relationship between these two, because economic growth creates the basis for human development via providing financial benefits or monetary gains to the economy, provided that the formulation of rational policies and their implementation are appropriately executed.

This study tries to synthesize economic growth and human development. The research employs Spearman rank correlation and Logistic regression of high and middle human development countries across 1990 to 2017, to determine the association mentioned above. The data is from the UNDP database and various reports and articles related to human development and economic growth.Policy implication is useful.

Language Learning: Reading Comprehension, Motivation, Strategies, And Academic Achievement

Annie A. Parmis, Rose B. Bandalan, Jade C. Clerigo — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0100

This study was focused on language learning in terms of reading motivation and comprehension as well as with language learning strategies in relation to academic achievement of college students at the Visayas State University (VSU). The first set of respondents composed of forty-eight (48) Bachelor of Arts in English Language (AB-EL) students took a reading comprehension test and answered a reading motivation survey adopted from Wigfield and Guthrie (1997). The second set of respondents composed of thirty-one (31) Spch 11 (Speech Communication) students answered a survey on language learning strategies adopted from Oxford (1990). The study followed a descriptive survey design. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Spearman's Rho was also used for correlation analyses. With regard to the reading motivation and comprehension of the AB-EL students, results showed that among the 11 aspects of the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ), three of them emerged as having a significant relationship with reading comprehension. These are "challenge", "compliance" and "reading work avoidance". "Challenge" is positively correlated while "Compliance" and "Reading Work Avoidance" are negatively correlated to reading comprehension. This result implies that those who feel challenged while engaging in the reading selection have a higher level of reading comprehension. However, those who read because they are required to do so have a lower reading comprehension than those who read because they choose to do so. Also, those who tend to read to escape from work have a lower level of reading comprehension. Therefore, one's reading motivation can in a way affect his or her reading comprehension. Among the three factors that have a significant relationship with reading comprehension, "Compliance" is considered to be the most influential to students' reading comprehension. Therefore, reading to accomplish a requirement has a greater negative effect on the students' reading comprehension than reading to have an excuse to escape from work. It is disadvantageous because reading for the sake of completing or accomplishing a requirement or task is not the ideal expectation when someone reads for comprehension. Reading for comprehension embodies everything from meaning-making to experiential learning. Meanwhile, with regard to the language learning strategies in relation to the academic achievement of Spch 11 students, findings revealed that only Affective Strategies correlate with the students' academic achievement ("good" to "very good"). This implies that all the other language learning strategies covering Memory, Cognitive, Compensation, Metacognitive, and Social are independent to the respondents' academic achievement. Therefore, this study concludes that the affective factors have something to do with one's language learning strategy. Affective strategies tend to have a powerful influence on the techniques to help students control their emotions, attitude, motivation, and values, thus facilitating one's language learning.

Relationship of water landscapes with the social fabric as a case study: The Peloponnese peninsula

Mon, 15 Jun 2020 11:41:20 +0100

The object of the research is to highlight the water areas, creating a cultural network in the Peloponnese peninsula. What are the tools to approach a landscape that can help interpret, read, and manage a site?

The research methodology was based on geographical features and the selection of sections on the map, linking them to create a cultural network model. Due to the large and rich diversity of water bodies, it was deemed necessary to select five different water landscapes in four different prefectures of the peninsula, looking for different-characteristic forms of water. The Anavalos wetland in Argolida, the river Ladonas in Arcadia, the springs of Lerni in Argolida, the lake Stymfalia and Doxa in Corinth and the Stygos Waters in Achaia were selected as case studies.

Through this process, a complete picture emerged in all networking sites. The interviews and personal contacts with the competent social bodies resulted in a comprehensive and more substantial understanding of the issue. Also important was the creation of a questionnaire-experiment, which took place in the Peloponnese, giving very important results-conclusions about the knowledge-views, residents-citizens, the peninsula and the relationship-contact they have with wetlands and their knowledge in relation to mythology.

Water has the potential to gain social and political weight, to bring the citizen face to face with the responsibility he has, to manage the environment with respect and consistency, to discover it, if he utilizes it and finally to highlight it as a model of sustainable development.

Socio-economic Comparison of Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea: Implications for Doing Business

Ayhan OZER, Mingyang Li, Fatima Diadhiou, Likun Fu, Niels Vanthillo — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 11:41:44 +0100

Both South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore are part of an exclusive group called ‘The Asian Tigers’. They are high-income economies that offer some of the world’s best living conditions and most competitive business environments. In the following paper, the history, socio-economic environment and industry of Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea will be compared and relevant differences highlighted. Through our research, we hope to provide a comprehensive summary for everyone with an interest in conducting business in Asia.

Effect Of Processing, (Boiling, Frying and Roasting) On The Nutrient, Antinutient And Phytochemical Composition Of Two Varieties Of Cocoyam

NKEIRUKA OLY-ALAWUBA, Idam Prosper Uzochukwu — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 11:42:10 +0100

The importance of food processing in enhancing nutrients contained in foods, cannot be overemphasized. The study evaluates the effect of different processing methods (boiling, frying and roasting), on the nutrient, antinutrient and phytochemical compositions of two varieties of cocoyam, (Colocasia antiquorum and Xanthosoma sagittifolium ).

Anti-nutrients are chemical compounds evolved by plants for their defence, among other biological functions. Anti-nutrients reduce the maximum utilization of nutrients (especially proteins, vitamins and minerals), thus preventing optimal exploitation of the nutrients present in food and decreasing the nutritive value.

Cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta) is a non-indigenous species, widely grown in the subtropical parts of Africa, as a traditional food crop. Cocoyam makes a significant contribution to the diet of local people in Nigeria, where it is easily available.

Cocoyam varieties (X.sagittifolium and C.antiquorum), were harvested from the farm, cleaned and divided into three equal parts, (those to be boiled, fried and roasted). Thereafter, were subjected to different processing techniques before analysis. Standard assay methods were used to analyse for antinutrients, nutrients and phytochemical composition.

The proximate and mineral composition of the Cocoyam varieties revealed improved values in some nutrients. Phosphorus improved (from 52.36mg/g to 65.39mg/g) Calcium (21.mg/g to 26.02mg/g), sodium (41.66 to 52.34mg/g), magnesium (11.66mg/g to 13.4mg/g), iron, (from 2.72mg/g to 5.72mg/g).

The different processing methods used, especially boiling, had a diverse effect in reducing the levels of tannin, phytate, oxalate, phenols, cyanogens, saponins, flavonoids and alkaloids in relation to the other processing methods. Boiling for 30minutes was also found to be highly effective in reducing the anti-nutrient content in both varieties of cocoyam. (Tannin reduced from 0.62mg/100g to 0.15mg/100g; Phytate, from 1.83mg/100g to 0.12mg/100g and Oxalate, from 2.99mg/100g to 0.13mg/100g respectively). Alkaloid concentration decreased from 1.44mg/100g to 0.10mg/100g. Processing was effective in substantially reducing the cyanogens to low levels, from 1.44mg/100g (in raw Xanthosoma sagittifolium) to 0.07mg/100g (in boiled).

The result of the study showed that some, nutrients contained in food crops, could be improved and made more available to the body, through the application of some processing methods.

Analysis on the influencing factors of spatial correlation of haze pollution in North China

Linshan Wang, Chuanming Liu, Yang Xi — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 11:42:34 +0100

Based on the AQI daily data of Northern China from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2018, this paper uses nonlinear Granger causality test technology to identify the spatial correlation of haze pollution, and from the perspective of relational data, adopt Quadratic Assignment Procedure (QAP) to investigate the influencing factors of the spatial correlation of haze pollution in northern China. This study finds that：(1) QAP correlation analysis shows that geographical distance matrix, difference in the development level of the tertiary industry and difference in the green space area of urban construction are correlated with haze pollution. (2) QAP regression analysis results show that geographic distance matrix, economic development level and environmental regulation level can explain why the adjustment factor of spatial correlation of haze pollution is 2.6%. The influence of geographical distance matrix on the spatial correlation network of haze pollution within the range of 0~300km has passed the significance test, which indicates that haze pollution has broken through the geographical proximity effect, and more distant cities also have spatial correlation of haze pollution.

Effects of Market Orientation, strategies and actions on SMEs’ Performance during fragile economic conditions

Irene Samanta, Meletios I. Niros, Yannis A. Pollalis — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 06:42:14 +0100

Purpose –The purpose of this research is to unveil effective SME marketing actions and strategies in terms of performance during post-crisis era of fragile economic conditions. This paper further examines the effects of IT Marketing Infrastructure (ITMI) on both performance and Customer Equity Drivers (CEDs). Last, but not least, indirect effects of Market Orientation (MO) on Performance are also researched.

Design/methodology/approach – A personal interview survey was conducted in Greece using a structured instrument deriving from adjusted items of past research. A systematic random sample of 242 SMEs was collected from major Greek cities and a wide range of industries.

Findings – Findings unveiled that the same actions applied by large companies, also work for SMEs/VSEs. In addition, ITMI enable smaller firms to apply marketing strategies required to achieve higher Marketing Performance. However, MO is the key for excessive performance. Nevertheless, the indirect effect of MO on the relationship between marketing strategy and OP is negative, illustrating a need of strategic focus for SME.

Research limitations/implications – Despite survey presents certain trends and inference, it lacks qualitative data such as sentiments that are of equal importance in SME research.

Practical implications – This research facilitates SMEs to decide on effective actions against fragile economic conditions to achieve higher performance. In addition, it demonstrates the need to bolster chain value through ITMI. In specific, ITMIs forge core capabilities to apply CEDs that result in greater MO and Performance. Moreover, MO is proven to be a key factor to sustain higher levels of Performance when applying either a RE or a VE strategy.

Originality/value – In spite of the existence of research of effective actions and strategies during recessions, there is lack of SMEs research regarding fragile economic conditions after recessions or crises. ITMI and MO will facilitate SMEs to apply CEDs and sustain higher Organizational Performance.

Eddison Walters Modern Economic Analysis Theory: Building on the Eddison Walters Risk Expectation Theory of The Global Financial Crisis of 2007 and 2008

Eddison T. Walters — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 06:42:27 +0100

The results of several recent studies called the analysis of economic data from the United States real estate industry preceding the Global Financial Crisis of 2007 and 2008 into question. Advancement of technology is a disruptive force throughout the economy today. The speed at which technology continues to evolve has resulted in significant changes throughout the entire economy around the world. As technology continue to evolve, there is no question technology disruption will continue to occur. Economist can no longer rely solely on backward looking historical data when conducting economic analysis. The evolution of the global economy require an understanding of the impact of advancement in technology occurring throughout the economy as researcher conduct analysis of data to draw conclusions. The result of recent studies led to the development of “Eddison Walters Modern Economic Analysis Theory”. Data analysis suggesting the false conclusion of the existence of a real estate bubble in the United States real estate market preceding the Global Financial Crisis of 2007 and 2008 was presented in Walters and Djokic (2019). Nonlinear regression analysis for correlation of variables in Walters (2019) resulted in 194.041 Mean Dependent Variable, 0.989 Adjusted R-square, 5.908 Square Error of Regression, and 488.726 Sum-of-Square Residual for the independent variable of “advancement in technology”, and the dependent variable of “home purchase price” preceding the Global Financial Crisis of 2007 and 2008. Walters (2019) concluded advancement in technology was the most significant factor causing home prices to increase preceding the Global Financial Crisis of 2007 and 2008. Overwhelming evidence led the researcher to conclude, the failure to consider the impact of advancement in technology in data analysis was the most significant error responsible for causing data analysis distortion leading to the false conclusion of the existence of a real estate bubble preceding the Global Financial Crisis of 2007 and 2008 (Walters, 2020). The researcher proposed “Eddison Walters Modern Economic Analysis Theory” in the current study. The goal of the new theory is to prevent potential error in data analysis resulting in data distortion due to the failure to consider the impact of advancement in technology on the data when conducting economic research in the future.

Poverty In Indonesia: Critical Review

Syech Idrus, Lia Rosida — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 06:42:53 +0100

This article critically review the information regarding poverty issues in Indonesia, by unravelling the causes and impacts of poverty and its aggregates comprising rural poverty, women and poverty, as well as other social indicators. This review article based on data provided in secondary resources shows that Asian Financial crisis in 2008 was regarded as the greatest intrusion of economic stability, rendering more adverse poverty incidences in Indonesia. Although Indonesia could slowly recover from the crisis, poverty remains problematic for certain groups and women in some particular areas especially rural areas. Moreover, despite several policies have been stipulated to deal with poverty such as Rural Development Program and Social Safety Net, some poverty elements related to social capital such as education, employment and health need to be improved. Thus, Indonesian government should pay more attention to improve the quality of the provisions and policies, assuring the beneficial contribution to Indonesian citizens’ welfare.

Dividend Behaviour of Quoted Companies of the Douala Stock Exchange Market, Cameroon

Daniel Akume Akume, Godfrey Njimanted, Ivan Yakum — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 06:39:13 +0100

For over sixty years now, finance researchers have concentrated on conducting studies on dividend behaviour as well as its determinants in different countries in the world.Some have exploited the effects of dividend payout on the performance of quoted companies with particular interest on current and previous levels of dividends as it is also the case with the level of profits, most of which give divergent conclusions. It is based on the above that this study was designed to examine the determinants of dividend behaviour ofquoted companies in the Douala Stock Exchange market using the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) regressiontechniques based on secondary quarterly data from the Douala Stock ExchangeReports. The findings reveals thatearnings per share, the previous level of dividend and capital structure determine the current dividend behaviour in the Douala stock exchange market.While the previous level of dividend serves as a central bench mark when deciding on the dividend policy, increases in earnings per share and/or decrease in debt to equity ratio have potentials of significantly increasing dividend per share. Based on this finding, it is strongly recommended that policy measure by the government or corporate management aimed at providing and controlling a consistent pattern of dividend payment should take the previous level of dividends into consideration and should also pay special attention to earnings per share and capital structure of the listed companies.Therefore the capital structure which must be tilted towards indigenous equity should be put in place to avoid excessive capital flight.

Reward System as a Strategy to Enhance Employees Performance in an Organization

Felix Francis, Clifford Tizhe Oaya Zirra, Mambula I Charles J. — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 06:39:38 +0100

This research paper is about reward system as a strategy to enhance employee’s performance in an organization. The research means this needs of an organization and its employee, their low productivity behavior and therefore the way this behavior are often change through reward to enable their performance boost the organization needs. The research was administered through constructive analysis from different articles that base on reward system. Descriptive and exploratory research designs were used for the purpose of this research work. The study observed that there is positive relationship between rewards and employees performance, productivity and retention in an organization. However, rewards system, in an organization should be designed with a constructed strategies that need to be a neighborhood of organization‘s culture.

Inculcating Employability Skill Sets in Undergraduates Through Employability Embedded Courses: Students Experience Anatomisation

Mon, 29 Jun 2020 06:40:01 +0100

Embedding employability skill sets into management education is important yet the experience student stakeholder gains on employability embedded courses remains unclear. We examine undergraduate student experience of the learning outcomes of work-related employability course. The survey results suggest mode of delivery and problems encountered with the course content are factors that sum up their total experiences. The results also indicate a triad consisting of difficulty of the course content, student’s work experience and satisfaction with the course content are strongly associated in determining students’ experiences. We discuss the implications of these findings for employability embedded curriculum development theory and practice.

Artificial Neural Network Approach for Business Decision Making applied to a Corporate Relocation Problem

David A Sanders, Malik Haddad — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 06:40:29 +0100

This paper presents a new Artificial Neural Network approach to making a business decision. A corporate relocation problem is considered as an example for a business decision and the new approach is applied to select a city for corporate relocation and to rank a set of potential alternatives. Selecting the location of corporate real estate can be key to optimizing an organization’s success. This is the first time Artificial Neural Networks have been used for this sort of business application. The Neural Network behaved satisfactorily and provided 91.76% accuracy when tested against randomly generated test sets. Five potential cities were considered: New York City, Washington D.C. Atlanta, Los Angeles and Portland. Decision makers identified six criteria: Financial Considerations Employee Availability, Support Services, Cultural Opportunities, Leisure Activities, and Climate. A suitable city is recommended that provides an appropriate solution and the outcome of the new approach is also used to rank potential cities based on their suitability.

The impact of market drops is different for investors before and after retirement

Greg Samsa — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 06:40:51 +0100

As applied to investing for and during retirement, the popular financial press has promulgated two memes about the impact of market drops: (1) for those investing for retirement market drops aren’t problematic; and (2) for those in retirement market drops are. We use simulation to illustrate the logic behind these memes, to demonstrate that they are mostly but not entirely true, and finally to restate them more precisely. Although sequence of returns risk is not present during the accumulation phase as an investor plans for retirement, it can have a significant (and perhaps underestimated) impact during retirement. This, however, can place the retiree in a predicament – namely, settle for lower returns and lower distributions during retirement or gamble on stocks. However, it does not necessarily imply that retirees must abandon the expected returns associated with stocks, because of the ability to write deep-in-the-money covered call options, which harvest the expected market return (but no more than this) with limited variability.

Blockchain in Healthcare

Jan Veuger — Sun, 05 Jul 2020 13:25:40 +0100

Healthcare is a key factor in deciding people's physical and mental well-being, which is why it is often widely recognized as a major contributor to the economy of a country. The quality of society's healthcare system and facilities is considered one of the most important factors in the development of a country. Today almost all medical records are stored in an Electronic Healthcare Record (EHR) system which improves access to clinical data intended to streamline costs. However, EHRs are essentially non-portable and kept on the networks where they were created mainly for purposes of interoperability, security, and liability. This results in a loss of medical quality for the patient and a rise in healthcare costs as the sharing of information between multiple healthcare facilities, spread around different places, is highly dependent on the patient who is not known as the data owner and might not be aware of such treatments obtained.
The objective of this article was to investigate is Blockchain relevant to the healthcare system and benefits when it was applied to the medical sector. Considering if Blockchain can help patient be the owner and have the control of their medical records. With its functions and effectiveness, Blockchain could be the key to change the current health system. While it is not yet a 100% perfect technology, what Blockchain offers can help the healthcare system develop or at least alleviate problems that are occurring.

Valuing of Liquidity Investment Value

Yuriy V. Kozyr — Sun, 05 Jul 2020 13:26:54 +0100

This paper provides a solution to the problem of investment choice between cash and income-generating assets and also describes a possible approach to valuation the relative and absolute value of liquidity in such a situation.