Impact of innovativeness, risk-taking, and proactiveness on export performance in a developing country: evidence of qualitative study

Purpose This study aims to explain the effect of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) dimensions on firms’ export performance. The study has considered three dimensions of EO: innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking. Export performance has been measured through multifaceted determinants: financial, strategic and satisfaction levels of exporting firms. Design/methodology/approach To explain the association between such determinants, qualitative face-to-face, in-depth interviews were conducted with the respondents from the apparel manufacturing companies of Bangladesh. The study has also applied a content analysis technique to explore and triangulate the descriptions of EO dimensions on performance. Findings The research results reveal that EO has a meaningful explanation of export performance from the lived experience of the respondents. The study has also found frequent explanations and indicators about the association of innovativeness and proactiveness on export performance, but the risk-taking dimension has revealed no effects. Research limitations/implications The research has different implications on theoretical, managerial and policy-making aspects of EO and export performance. Nevertheless, the findings are based on the opinions of a small sample of entrepreneurs and high-level managers. Thus, it is important to test the generalizability of these findings in future research using a larger sample. Originality/value This study indicated product, process and market creation innovativeness. Risks related to product innovation, new market entry and politics are considered for risk-taking measures, while proactive innovation, technology and new market searching are used for measuring proactiveness. Additionally, multifaceted performance determinants have been applied to evaluate export performance. Hence, this study is a unique qualitative analysis with important theoretical, practical and methodological implications

Assessment of physicochemical parameters for the drinking water quality in the vicinity of Nawabshah City, Sindh, Pakistan

Quality of water may differ according to the geography of the region, due to that the quality of water is big concern worldwide, because majority of disease caused by the poor quality of drinking water. Subsequently realizing the significance of drinking water quality with in the central part of the Sindh province, this research work was carried out to assess the drinking water quality within the Nawabshah city, where the single source of supply water is the Gajrawah after the conventional treatment through the open ponds. In this study seven physicochemical parameter were investigated and laboratorial investigations demonstrated that the pH values were found with the WHO limits, TDS & EC values were found within the acceptable limits, except in one residential area, Turbidity was also high at all the locations only one area (Marium road colony) was found within the standards, furthermore, the hardness was present in all the samples at all the locations, which indicate that the water supplied to public was hard in nature. In addition to that Temperature and Dissolved Oxygen were found safe and within the limits and it was concluded that the water supplied to residents of the inspected areas were found not fit for drinking and it is suggested that the water supply, should be improved and essential steps should be taken to treat the water

Effectiveness of coffee husk ash and coconut fiber in improving peat properties

Peat is a well-known problematic soil associated with poor engineering properties because its engineering with low shear strength, highly compressible, high moisture content. The characteristics make it unsuitable for construction in its natural stage. Thus, this study determines the soil properties of untreated peat soil and assesses the changes in strength of the treated peat soil using the admixture of Coffee Husk Ash (CHA) and Coconut Fibre (CF). The percentage of CF used is 0.50%, 0.75% and 1.0% meanwhile the percentage of CHA used was 5%, 6%, and 7% by the weight of the soil sample. The peat soil for this study were retrieved from Mardi Pontian in Johor. Soil properties such as moisture content, bulk density, and the Atterberg limit have been tested. The result of the Standard Proctor test in this study determined the Optimum Moisture Content and Maximum Dry Density of soil samples. The strength of these samples has been determined by using the Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS). The physical properties for untreated peat soil with the moisture content of 250%, organic content about 77%, the specific gravity was in the range of 1.48–1.8. The Atterberg limit for liquid limit is 230. The compaction test results has shown decrement in maximum dry density (MDD) but an increase in strength with the addition of CHA and CF in peat soil. According to the findings, 0.5% of Coconut Fiber improves the engineering properties of peat soil (CF)

Erosion risk index: Correlation of ROM-scale and Mackintosh Probe at Sungai Langat tributary

The assessment of soil erosion risk has been widely studied, and various methods have been established. However, most of the methods require extensive field and laboratory works that are time-consuming. The previous literature mainly focused on utilizing the existed empirical models like USLE and its derivatives. The establishment of empirical correlation can increase the efficiency to estimate the potential of soil erosion in a shorter time. This study was performed to develop an empirical correlation between the number of blows per unit penetration (M-value) obtained from Mackintosh Probe test and ROM-scale number from soil particle size distribution analysis. Both tests were conducted at three different points at one of Sg. Langat tributary riverbank nearby Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi. The soil at each location was analyzed at three different layers, from 0 m to 1.5 m with intervals of 0.3 m and 0.5 m for Mackintosh Probe test and ROM-scale, respectively. The result indicates that ROM-scale umber is inversely proportional to M-value with a coefficient of determination of 0.5885

Permodelan keupayaan tenaga serapan bagi tiub pelindung laga menggunakan kaedah unsur terhingga

Kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengkaji prestasi penyerap tenaga dan kelakuan runtuhan pada pelindung laga apabila berlaku perlanggaran. Pelindung laga dapat mengurangkan tahap kecederaan kepada pemandu dan penumpang kenderaan semasa berlaku kemalangan. Berdasarkan kepada kajian lepas, kebanyakkan perbincangan dijalankan adalah dalam mampatan sepaksi. Namun, mampatan sipi kurang dibincangkan. Pada masa yang sama, kurang kajian pada tiub hibrid dalam struktur pelindung laga. Model simulasi tiub pelindung laga dibina dengan menggunakan unsur terhingga ANSYS/LS-DYNA dengan mampatan kuasi-statik. Tiub pelindung laga menggunakan keluli berketahanan tinggi sebagai lapisan dalam dan bahan komposit pada lapisan luar. Bahan komposit yang digunakan adalah e-kaca/epoksi dan karbon/epoksi. Perubahan mampatan nisbah sipi yang digunakan adalah 0.00, 0.25, 0.50 dan 0.75. Perubahan sudut susunan komposit yang terlibat adalah [+30º/-30º/+30º], [+45º/-45º/+45º] dan [+60º/-60º/+60º] dengan ketebalan lapisan 0.5, 0.8 dan 1.0 mm. Manakala, perubahan nisbah elips yang digunakan pada tiub keluli adalah 0.5, 0.7, 1.0, 1.3 dan 1.5. Selain itu, jenis sentuhan algoritma yang digunakan adalah "automatic surface to surface contact", "contact automatic single surface", "contact eroding single surface" dan "contact tiebreak surface to surface" pada jasad tegar, tiub keluli dan lapisan komposit. Kesan perubahan ketebalan, jenis dan sudut susunan lapisan komposit terhadap prestasi tenaga serapan dan kelakuan runtuhan beransur dipertimbangkan dalam kajian. Kajian ini menunjukkan tiub hibrid menghasilkan prestasi tenaga serapan yang lebih baik berbanding tiub keluli kosong. Selain itu, didapati jenis komposit karbon/epoksi menghasilkan keputusan yang lebih baik berbanding dengan komposit e-kaca/epoksi terhadap prestasi penyerapan tenaga