Effectiveness of HRD for developing SMEs in South Asia

Today South Asia is host to a large youth bulge which is entering the labor market every year posing challenging questions for the national governments in the context of employable skills, space for entrepreneurship, innovation and economic freedom. SME sector provides an opportunity for the young to exercise their ideas and ideals. However a prerequisite for the young to be innovate is the how countries produce and retain a high end human capital. This study provides a review of national socio-economic policies in South Asian region - which answer such challenges.human resource development, small and medium enterprises, economic growth, competitiveness

Studies in the Language and Metre of Modern Stressed Verse

It is possible to establish that the lowest unit in modern verse written in stressed metre is the half-line of two, or more exceptionally three, stresses, and that a majority of these half-lines are grammatically and/or semantically self-contained. This unit provides a useful tool, firstly for defining more closely the nature of stressed verse, and secondly for detailed comparison of different works. The corpus chosen for analysis consists mainly of works by T.S. Eliot (Four Quartets, Murder in the Cathedral, The Family Reunion, and The Elder Statesman), but Auden's The Age of Anxiety and Murphy's The Cleggan Disaster are also included, and finally there is an experiment in historical comparison with samples from Piers Plowman and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. All the half-lines of the corpus are subjected to metrical analysis, the results of which are presented in Volume II (Appendix A). This forms the basis of the detailed classification of metre in Volume I, which also contains a grammatical classification of all the half-lines that can be defined as self-contained, and then a comparison of the metre and grammar of the half-line with special reference to line length, anacrusis, and rising rhythm. The results of the thesis are to show that certain features of stressed verse are likely to be linguistically conditioned, e.g. the grammatical types used in the half-line, and their normal length in syllables, whereas other features like rising rhythm and three-stress half-lines are more probably stylistically conditioned. Such stylistic effects are especially noticeable in The Cleggan Disaster, Murder in the Cathedral, and Four Quartets. Middle English alliterative verse, in both linguistic and stylistic conditioning, seems to be remarkably similar to Modern English stressed verse

Working in ministries or public organizations in Saudi Arabia : A study of career development and job satisfaction of the Saudi Arabian middle managers

Career development and job satisfaction studies carried out in developing countries are very limited in number. Saudi Arabia is one of those developing countries which appeared on the political scene quite recently, but striving hard to develop its human resources due to its heavy dependence on expatriate labour to initiate and execute its development plans. The genesis of the study began when General Civil Service Bureau officials noticed a large movement of employees from ministries to other sectors (i.e. public organizations and the private sector). The purpose of this dissertation is to examine and analyze the factors behind this movement and relate this to the studies of career development and job satisfaction. The position of government organizations in Saudi Arabia is rather unique. Most of their employees are drawn from Universities due to the regulations of the GCSB of compelling them to work in ministries for a period equivalent to that spent in their University education until graduation. This situation has prevented such graduates from choosing their own occupations and seem to hinder their career development. As a consequence, this study, not only analyzes career development and job satisfaction in Saudi Arabia, but (v) job satisfaction in Saudi Arabia, but also makes a comprehensive evaluation of economic, social and organisational environments which seem to have an effect of the occupational choice of the Saudis. We take the assumption that the ideology of free occupational choice is not properly applied in Saudi Arabia due to some cultural variables (e.g. nepotism and strong family ties). Hence, this thesis will develop a definition of the concept of occupational choice and career development and the process of personnel flow and the ways in which such movement can be influenced within the Saudi context. The study will be primarily concerned with middle managers in two types of organization - government ministries and public organizations. This will hopefully give a profile of the Saudi situation as far as occupational choice, career development and job satisfaction are concerned

Water catchment area and management method

Due to critical and obvious effect of the wastewater comes from the industry, agriculture and industrial activity nearby the dam has led to environmental issues in Sembrong dam, Kluang Johor which caused negative impacts to the biological, chemical and physical properties of water river environments. The dam itself contained a large number of algae which caused the blocking of sunlight, could not enter directly to the water surface and it threatening to the aquatic life. The dam also traps sediments, which are crucial for maintaining physical progressions and habitats of the dam. The chapter introduce “G.E.T” formula as management method to overcome the pollution problems. The implementation of “G.E.T” formula is basically to improve the urban environmental condition as key for urban policy and environmental management. Sustainable management and utilisation of resources is a guidance in pursuing the development of agricultural and forestry activity at dam area

The Mediating Role of Marketing Innovation Between Internal Social Media Utilization and Business Performance of Smes in Saudi Arabia

Purpose: The usage of social media (SM) by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) received relatively less attention and the findings in the literature are mixed in terms of the effect of SM on SME performance. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of SM utilization on SME business performance (SMEBP) in Saudi Arabia.   Theoretical Framework: Based on the resource-based view, this study proposed that SM internal utilization (SMIU) affects positively the SMEBP and marketing innovation (MI). MI is expected to affect the SMEBP and mediate the effect of SMIU on SME performance (profitability (PR) and business growth (BG).   Design/Methodology/Approach: The population of this study is the SMEs in Al-Riyadh city in Saudi Arabia. A simple random sampling is deployed. The data was collected using a questionnaire. A total of 451 respondents representing SMEs participated in this study.   Findings: The finding was derived using Smart PLS version 4. The findings showed that SMIU affected positively PR and BG of SME and MI. MI affected positively the PR and BG of SME and mediated partially the effect of SMIU on PR and BG of SME.   Research practical Implication:  Decision makers are advised to deploy SM more effectively and to create a rewarding culture for innovative ideas to improve performance.   Originality/Value: This study helps to enhance the understanding regarding the role of marketing innovation and social media internal usage in improving the performance of SMEs in emerging economies

Study on IL-2 and CA 15-3 level as combined biomarkers in monitoring chemotherapeutic response among invasive breast cancer patients

In Malaysia, breast cancer is the most frequent type of disease among women. This study was designed to determine the clinical usefulness of carbohydrate antigen (CA 15-3) and interleukin 2 (IL-2) levels as combined biomarkers in monitoring breast cancer patient’s response to chemotherapy. Ethical approval was obtained to recruit patients with histologically confirmed invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) attending Oncology Clinic at Advanced Medical and Dental Institute. Whole blood was collected from 10 IDC breast cancer patients’ pre and post primary chemotherapy. Plasma was separated from the whole blood to determine the CA 15-3 level and IL-2 level using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) pre and posttreatment. In addition, the histological findings, tumour stage and other patients’ data were obtained from the medical record. Findings showed that IL-2 had borderline significant changes between pre- and post-chemotherapy (p = 0.074) whereas for CA 15-3, there was insignificant differences of CA 15-3 level between pre and post-chemotherapy (p > 0.05). It was noted that only CA 15-3 level had significant correlation with tumour size. This study demonstrates that IL-2 level requires further investigation in a larger sample size to correlate its potential use as combined biomarker with CA 15-3 in monitoring response to chemotherapy

The Role of Environmental Policy in Influencing Governance and Sustainability Practices Among Nigerian Quoted Companies: A Proposed Framework

Purpose: This study aimed to introduce a moderator to strengthen the relationship between institutional factors and corporate managers’ immersion as governance attributes toward firms’ sustainability initiatives.   Theoretical framework: A proposed model based on the developed hypothesis was formulated based on empirical and theoretical facts to support the concepts of institutional and legitimacy theories.   Design/methodology/approach: The research uses a quantitative method that examines the quoted companies rated and ranked by Nigeria’s World CSR Consensus rating, including all Financial and Non-Financial sectors. It also assesses the companies’ roles in encouraging friendly environmental practices.   Findings: The consequence of this report shows that Just 26 corporations have occupied a position on corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, with Access Bank having the highest significant value of 99% and UAC Nigeria Plc having the lowest value of 1%. Additionally, only 90 out of 156 Nigeria’s publicly traded firms have been assessed and recognized by CSRHUB, having the lowest percentage.   Research, Practical & Social implications: since there are no standard ways of enhancing the institutional factors and corporate managers’ immersion rapport to add to the body of knowledge, Environmental Policy is proposed and recommended as essential in shaping future planning and sustainability practices.   Originality/value: To strengthen and increase the sustainability practices success of these firms, they must pay more attention to the environmental policies and the factors that influence them. Further studies might consider improving the research by analyzing the variables in the proposed model based on the hypothesis formulated and the time-variant

Direction of future research in EWOM: issues of credibility, format and impact

Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is an important tool for getting necessary useful information about a product or service. Although the concept of eWOM has attained substantial attention from the researchers, there are certain avenues of eWOM which have not been investigated thoroughly. The goal of this study is to highlight some of such avenues of eWOM where future researchers can focus on. For this purpose, three issues of eWOM were selected which are credibility of eWOM, format of eWOM and impact of eWOM. In recent years, credibility has become one of the most important issues regarding eWOM considering the widespread practice of counterfeit or fake online opinions. Format of eWOM is another important area because studies related to eWOM mostly focused on text-based eWOM. However, eWOM can be shared in different forms like text-based, video-based, mixture of text and visual etc. Very few studies have been undertaken to look into these diverse formats of eWOM. Impact of eWOM on different outcomes is the most extensively researched topic in eWOM literature. Despite this fact, impact of eWOM on some of the marketing related outcomes have received minimum attention from researchers as well as produced contradictory findings. Discussions about all three selected aspects of eWOM in this study shows the current state of literature as well as highlight the relevant literature gaps. Finally, some prospective research areas related to eWOM are presented which can be utilized by future researchers

Millennials' Response Toward Luxury Fashion Brands: The Balance Theory’s Perspective

The mushrooming growth of luxury brands has been evidenced worldwide, especially among developing countries such as Malaysia. Despite Malaysian consumer confidence slowing due to uncertainty about the economic conditions, the demand for luxury brands is still expected to rise. Interestingly, a significant rise in the demand for luxury brands has been observed in the millennials group. This study examines the relationship of electronic word-of-mouth and the country of origin’s image on millennials' attitudes toward luxury brands and the intention to purchase luxury fashion brands. The study among 333 millennials revealed that the country of origin’s image has both direct and indirect effects on the intention to purchase luxury fashion brands. Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) was found statistically insignificant in explaining the intention to purchase, but eWOM had a significant relationship on intention to purchase through its mediation effect of the attitude toward luxury brands. Accordingly, the findings found support for the balance theory. The results also suggest that the owners of luxury brands should carefully manage the country of origin because it will affect the overall brand image, as perceived by consumers. Limitations and future directions of the study are also included at the end of the article

COMPETITION, DIVERSIFICATION, AND STABILITY IN THE INDONESIAN BANKING SYSTEM

We examine the impact of competition and portfolio diversification on banking stability for conventional and Islamic banks in Indonesia. We find that the Islamic banking sector is less stable, when compared to the conventional banking sector. Competition in the banking sector reduces stability, while diversification enhances it. We find that competition negatively impacts the Islamic banks, but diversification has no impact on these banks. An interesting finding is that competition and diversification complement each other in enhancing the stability of the Indonesian banking sector. These findings carry an important policy implication for the banking sector of Indonesia