Viability Analysis of an Enterprise I

The study derives the conditions for the profitability of any enterprise. So long as all the products produced by an enterprise are sold or will be bought, in theory, there are no bounds on the profit an enterprise can make. In practice bounds exists, and it is shown that the region of profitability declines if some products are not sold or bought and that an optimal profit can still be attained in this case with proper combination of products produced

Predicting students’ intention to adopt mobile learning: A combination of theory of reasoned action and technology acceptance model

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the ability of the integration of technology acceptance model (TAM) and theory of reasoned action (TRA) to predict and explain university students’ intention to use m-learning in schools. Design/methodology/approach - In total, 487 students participated in this study. A seven-likert scale survey questionnaire which comprised of 23 items was completed by the students. Structural equation modeling was used as the statistical technique to analyze the data. Findings - The study found that the resulting model was fairly able to predict and explain behavioral intention (BI) among students in Ghana. In addition, this study found that attitudes toward use and subjective norm significantly influenced students’ BI to use mobile learning. The model explained 23.0 percent of the variance in BI, 33.8 percent in perceived usefulness and 47.6 percent in attitudes toward use. Of all the three endogenous variables, attitude had the greatest effect on BI. Originality/value - Although, the above-mentioned models have been adopted in many studies, few or none have combined TRA and TAM as a research framework to predict and explain students’ intention to use m-learning since m-learning is fairly new in educational environments. Therefore, a model that combines all constructs from TRA and TAM was proposed in this study to explore university students’ intention to use m-learning in schools

Banking Sector Developments in Emerging Markets: A Review of Recent Developments in Africa

Key to the economic transformation of developing economies is the banking sector developments. The banking sector in Africa has witnessed a steady growth in its core functional areas over the recent decades. This growth has implications on access to finance and stability in the financial system. This study reviews banking sector performance, competition, access to finance and stability in the context of sub-regional and comparator regional analysis with the view to informing and shaping policy directions. The North African economies recorded high levels of financial deepening than the rest of the regions.  With the same economic conditions like South Asia, East Asia Pacific and Latin America and Caribbean regions, African’s banking sector depth lags behind these regions.  Access to financial institutions is high in Southern African region than the rest of the sub-regions. Again, Africa records very low level of banking sector accessibility compared to its comparator regions. Moreover, the banking system in Africa is characterized by high costs, inefficiency and high margins. The banking system also exhibit high concentration and market power and relative stability than comparator regions. The North African economies exhibit low presence of foreign banks than sub-regional groupings. Keywords: Banking Sector, Efficiency, Performance, Stability, Financial Accessibility, Afric

Asset quality in a crisis period: An empirical examination of Ghanaian banks

AbstractThis paper examines the factors that account for the deterioration in the asset quality of Ghanaian banks during a period of financial crises using a unique dataset on 25 banks from 2005 to 2010. Based on system Generalized Method of Moments estimations, we find that the persistence of non-performing loans in addition to loan growth, bank market structure, bank size, inflation, real exchange rate and GDP growth are the significant determinants of banks asset quality in Ghana. The findings have implications for both bank management and regulators in emerging economies

Development of Composite Material for Wind Turbine Blades

Rapid increases in the prices of conventional turbine blade making materials as well as future sustainability issues is attracting research interest in the development of polymer composites for turbine blade applications. This study examines the suitability of using a novel bamboo fibre and recycled plastics composite developed for wind turbine blade application. Bamboo fibre was extracted from raw bamboo by chemical and mechanical processes. Recycled High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) was collected, cut into pieces, cleaned and combined with extracted bamboo fibre to form the composite. The percentage ratio of fibre content in the ten specimens ranged from 2.5% to 25%. A series of mechanical tests were conducted on the specimens, including tensile test, impact test, water absorption test and sun radiation test. Results established that as the percentage of bamboo fibre in the specimen increased, the tensile strength and impact energy also increased. Water absorption and sun radiation tests conducted on specimen X revealed no meaningful impact its mechanical properties. Hence, the most significant deduction from this study is that the specimen with 25% bamboo fibre and 75% HDPE matrix possesses the quality that qualifies it to be used as a material for wind turbine blade fabrication

Remittances, ICT and Pension Income Coverage: The International Evidence

This study examines the impact of remittances and information and communication technology (ICT) on pension at the country level. Our empirical evidence, based on data from 96 countries, indicate a significant non-linearity between remittances, ICT and pension income coverage. First, we find a convex relation between remittances and pension income coverage, indicating that increases in remittance, initially decreases pension income coverage, but as remittance increases beyond a certain point, so too does pension income coverage. This inflection point, where the effect of remittances turns from negative to positive, is estimated to be around 3.09% of GDP. Second, we document a concave relationship between ICT (i.e. mobile subscription and internet penetration) and pension income coverage. An increase in ICT results in increased pension income coverage. However, when ICT reaches a certain point, any further increase is associated with lower pension income coverage. The estimated optimal point is found to be around 140.14 subscriptions (per 100 people) for mobile phone and 27.93 (per 100 people) for internet penetration, respectively. Other implications are discussed

Fabrication and Testing of a Low-Cost Wind Turbine Blade using Bamboo Reinforced Recycled Plastic

Wind energy, as a sustainable energy option is gaining research attention due to its price competitiveness relative to conventional energy sources. This study presents the fabrication and testing of a low-cost wind turbine blade using bamboo fibre with recycled plastic. Bamboo fibre was extracted from raw bamboo and combined with adequately conditioned Recycled High-Density Polyethylene (RHDPE) to form a composite which is 25% bamboo fibre and 75% RHDPE. The composite materials was then used to fabricate a turbine blade which was tested and the results compared with typical performance indices for a turbine blade made of fibre glass for comparative analysis. The turbine blades were installed at a height of 10 meters at the test site and monitored. Results showed the energy per unit cost (kWh) for the composite material was lower than that of the glass fibre with a life cycle of 107 for glass fibre and 106 cycles for the bamboo plastic. Stress and deformation analysis showed a higher value for glass fiber compared with the composite material. It can be deduced that composite material matrix possesses the desired properties and energy per unit cost ratio for consideration in building wind turbine blades

Reputational risks in banks: A review of research themes, frameworks, methods, and future research directions

Reputation is an important factor for long-term stability, competitiveness, and success of all contemporary organizations. It is even more important for banks because of their systemic role in a modern economy. In this study, we present a review of the current body of literature regarding reputational risks in banks. Using the systematic literature review method, 35 articles published from 2010 to 2020 are reviewed and analyzed. It was found that only developed countries (i.e., the United States and Europe) have been actively contributing to research on reputational risks in banks, suggesting that reputational risks management of banks has not gained the global attention it deserves. Additionally, issues of mitigation of reputational risks are identified as the most frequently studied research theme with a paucity of research on measurement, determinants, and implications of reputational risks at both micro and macro levels. Furthermore, it was noticed that reputational risk management frameworks are still underdeveloped. In theory, this review should help with a strong conceptualization of reputational risks management in banks and guide further research

Elections, Political Connections and Cash Holdings: Evidence from Local Assemblies

We examine the relationship between elections, political connections, and cash holdings in Ghanaian local assemblies. Using a panel dataset of 179local assemblies over a period 2012 to 2017, a panel regression and the generalized method of moments estimation techniques was employed for the analysis. We find that local assemblies hold less cash during election years, which suggests that election may be one of the potential factors to mitigate agency conflict in weak governance environment. Further, we demonstrate that local assemblies that have political connections hold less cash; however, political uncertainty makes these entities conducive to agency problems than their non-connected peers because they hold more cash. Additional analysis indicates that one year prior to elections, managerial conservatism kicks-in and leads managers to hold more cash in local assemblies that have political connections, which continues and becomes more pronounced in election years. Our results have implications for regulations on the cash management practices of local assemblies