Corporate Governance in the Emerging Economics of the Caribbean: Peculiarities, Challenges, and a Future Pathway

Building on corporate governance research and responsible leadership theory this paper examines, through a multiple case approach, three major cases of corporate failures in the emerging economies of Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, member states of the Caribbean Community trade bloc. The paper accordingly provides valuable insights into the dynamics of corporate governance in the Caribbean and proposes a responsible leadership approach as a framework to mitigating agency-problems and addressing the changing business contexts of the region. The paper suggests that researchers and practitioners need to develop a more holistic approach towards understanding corporate governance by going beyond traditional governance mechanisms and controls, and incorporating responsible leadership levels of analysis into the equation. It also establishes that regulators, boards, management, and auditors are critical to avoiding corporate failures and that good corporate governance is fundamental to the performance and sustainability of firms and economies as a whole

Environmentally conscious behavior among Malaysians consumers: an empirical analysis

This paper aims to investigate the influence of demographic and psychographicv variables on environmentally conscious cosumer behavior (ECCB)v in the context of Malaysian consumers. A survey was developed and administered. generating a total sample of 319 respondents across the country. The preliminary results indicated that all of the variables examin ed were significantly correlated to ECCB, expert for income. Later the analysis from the regression highlighted that only age, gender and perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE)were significant predictors to ECCB. The findings confirmed that, in terms of psychographic variables, PCE has been proven to be more accurate and significant determinant than environmental concern (EC) for segmenting and explaining different segments and characteristics of pro-environmental behavior .These findings may assist Malaysian policy makers in formulating actionable decisions related to environmental education and protection.The finding also allows marketers to use marketing and awareness-raising campaigns to encourage consumers to choose environmental friendly products

Green marketing and the conscious consumers in Portugal

This study aims to understand the green consumer in Portugal by investigating their level of environmental concern and the ecological conscious consumer behaviour shown. Additionally, how they perceive the credibility of ecolabels, the characteristics they find most important in green products and, finally, what are the main obstacles to make green purchases. Furthermore, it was explored if the ecological conscious consumer behaviour in Portugal diverged by means of demographic variables (Gender, age, education, occupation and income level). An online survey was published, and 315 valid responses were gathered and analysed in the statistical program SPSS to make possible answering the research questions and hypothesis proposed for this investigation. The results obtained show that the Portuguese consumers are environmental concerned and show high ecological conscious consumer behaviour. It was concluded that women are more prone to show green behaviour than man, however, there were not found significant differences of ecological conscious consumer behaviour relatively to the other demographic variables in question. Also, the results show ecolabels to be considered credible through the eyes of green consumers in Portugal. Furthermore, environmental concern was found to have a positive impact on green behaviour, as well as the perceived credibility of ecolabels. In contrast, green barriers have a negative impact on green behaviour. Additionally, the most important characteristics of green products are identified in this paper, along with the main obstacles of green purchase.Este estudo pretende compreender o consumidor verde português, investigando o seu nível de preocupação ambiental, o comportamento ecológico consciente do consumidor. Adicionalmente, como este entende a credibilidade dos rótulos ecológicos, as características que considera mais importantes nos produtos verdes e, finalmente, quais são os principais obstáculos para fazer compras verdes. Além disso, foi explorado se o comportamento ecológico consciente do consumidor em Portugal divergia por meio de variáveis demográficas (sexo, idade, educação, ocupação e nível de rendimento mensal líquido). Foi publicado um inquérito online, tendo sido recolhidas 315 respostas válidas e posteriormente analisadas no programa estatístico SPSS, de forma a possibilitar a resposta às questões e hipóteses propostas para esta investigação. Os resultados obtidos mostram que os consumidores portugueses estão preocupados com o ambiente e apresentam um comportamento de consumo consciente do ponto de vista ecológico. Concluiu-se que as mulheres são mais propensas a mostrar comportamento ecológico do que os homens, no entanto, não foram encontradas diferenças significativas de comportamento ecológico consciente do consumidor em relação às restantes variáveis demográficas em questão. Os resultados mostram que os rótulos ecológicos são considerados credíveis aos olhos dos consumidores verdes em Portugal. Além disso, verificou-se que as preocupações ambientais têm um impacto positivo no comportamento ecológico, bem como na credibilidade percebida dos rótulos ecológicos. Em contraste, as barreiras ecológicas têm um impacto negativo no comportamento ecológico. Adicionalmente, as características mais importantes dos produtos verdes são identificadas neste documento, juntamente com os principais obstáculos à compra verde

VAT: Is it Suitable for the Caribbean Community?

The Caribbean Community is in transition, moving toward a liberalized trade environment with low tariffs. Tax reform is at the forefront of the policy response since traditional sources of tax revenue such as import duties are on the decline. This paper evaluates the suitability of the VAT to countries of the Caribbean Community. We examine theoretical arguments, practical experiences of the Caribbean with the VAT and the economic and tax characteristics of the Caribbean. We conclude by supporting VAT implementation in the Caribbean Community. This paper also reflects a comprehensive survey of tax reform efforts in the Caribbean.Value Added Tax; Caribbean Community

Hybrid spatial Gillespie and particle tracking simulation

Motivation: Cellular signal transduction involves spatial-temporal dynamics and often stochastic effects due to the low particle abundance of some molecular species. Others can, however, be of high abundances. Such a system can be simulated either with the spatial Gillespie/Stochastic Simulation Algorithm (SSA) or Brownian/Smoluchowski dynamics if space and stochasticity are important. To combine the accuracy of particle-based methods with the superior performance of the SSA, we suggest a hybrid simulation. Results: The proposed simulation allows an interactive or automated switching for regions or species of interest in the cell. Especially we see an application if for instance receptor clustering at the membrane is modeled in detail and the transport through the cytoplasm is included as well. The results show the increase in performance of the overall simulation, and the limits of the approach if crowding is included. Future work will include the development of a GUI to improve control of the simulation. Availability of Implementation: www.bison.ethz.ch/research/spatial_simulations. Contact: [email protected] or [email protected] Supplementary/Information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics onlin

Establishment of computational biology in Greece and Cyprus: Past, present, and future.

We review the establishment of computational biology in Greece and Cyprus from its inception to date and issue recommendations for future development. We compare output to other countries of similar geography, economy, and size—based on publication counts recorded in the literature—and predict future growth based on those counts as well as national priority areas. Our analysis may be pertinent to wider national or regional communities with challenges and opportunities emerging from the rapid expansion of the field and related industries. Our recommendations suggest a 2-fold growth margin for the 2 countries, as a realistic expectation for further expansion of the field and the development of a credible roadmap of national priorities, both in terms of research and infrastructure funding

The OBO Foundry: Coordinated Evolution of Ontologies to Support Biomedical Data Integration

The value of any kind of data is greatly enhanced when it exists in a form that allows it to be integrated with other data. One approach to integration is through the annotation of multiple bodies of data using common controlled vocabularies or ‘ontologies’. Unfortunately, the very success of this approach has led to a proliferation of ontologies, which itself creates obstacles to integration. The Open Biomedical Ontologies (OBO) consortium has set in train a strategy to overcome this problem. Existing OBO ontologies, including the Gene Ontology, are undergoing a process of coordinated reform, and new ontologies being created, on the basis of an evolving set of shared principles governing ontology development. The result is an expanding family of ontologies designed to be interoperable, logically well-formed, and to incorporate accurate representations of biological reality. We describe the OBO Foundry initiative, and provide guidelines for those who might wish to become involved in the future

ISMB/ECCB 2009 Stockholm

The International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB; http://www.iscb.org) presents the Seventeenth Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB), organized jointly with the Eighth Annual European Conference on Computational Biology (ECCB; http://bioinf.mpi-inf.mpg.de/conferences/eccb/eccb.htm), in Stockholm, Sweden, 27 June to 2 July 2009. The organizers are putting the finishing touches on the year's premier computational biology conference, with an expected attendance of 1400 computer scientists, mathematicians, statisticians, biologists and scientists from other disciplines related to and reliant on this multi-disciplinary science. ISMB/ECCB 2009 (http://www.iscb.org/ismbeccb2009/) follows the framework introduced at the ISMB/ECCB 2007 (http://www.iscb.org/ismbeccb2007/) in Vienna, and further refined at the ISMB 2008 (http://www.iscb.org/ismb2008/) in Toronto; a framework developed to specifically encourage increased participation from often under-represented disciplines at conferences on computational biology. During the main ISMB conference dates of 29 June to 2 July, keynote talks from highly regarded scientists, including ISCB Award winners, are the featured presentations that bring all attendees together twice a day. The remainder of each day offers a carefully balanced selection of parallel sessions to choose from: proceedings papers, special sessions on emerging topics, highlights of the past year's published research, special interest group meetings, technology demonstrations, workshops and several unique sessions of value to the broad audience of students, faculty and industry researchers. Several hundred posters displayed for the duration of the conference has become a standard of the ISMB and ECCB conference series, and an extensive commercial exhibition showcases the latest bioinformatics publications, software, hardware and services available on the market today. The main conference is preceded by 2 days of Special Interest Group (SIG) and Satellite meetings running in parallel to the fifth Student Council Symposium on 27 June, and in parallel to Tutorials on 28 June. All scientific sessions take place at the Stockholmsmässan/Stockholm International Fairs conference and exposition facility