ERP customization failure: Institutionalized accounting practices, power relations and market forces

Purpose: This paper examines a detailed case study of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) customization failure in an Egyptian state-owned company (AML) by drawing on new institutional sociology and its extensions. It explains how ERP customization failure is shaped by the interplay between institutionalised accounting practices, conflicting institutions, power relations and market forces. Methodology/Approach: The research methodology is based on using an intensive case study informed by new institutional sociology, especially the interplay between conflicting institutions, power relations and market forces. Data were collected from multiple sources, including interviews, observations, discussions and documentary analysis. Findings: The findings revealed that the inability of the ERP system to meet the core accounting requirements of the control authorities (the Central Agency for Accountability) was the explicit reason cited for the ERP failure. The externally imposed requirements of the Uniform Accounting System and planning budgets were used to resist both other institutional pressures (from the Holding Company for Engineering Industries) and market and competitive pressures. Research limitations: There are some limitations associated with the use of the case study method, including the inability to generalize from the findings of a single case study, some selectivity in the individuals interviewed, and the subjective interpretation by the researchers of the empirical data. Practical implications: The paper identifies that the interplay between institutional pressures, institutionalised accounting practices, intra-organizational power relations, and market forces contributed to the failure to embed ERP in a major company. Understanding such relationships can help other organisations to become more aware of the factors affecting successful implementation of new ERP systems and provide a better basis for planning the introduction of new technologies. Originality/value of paper: This paper draws on recent research and thinking in sociology, especially the development and application of new institutional sociology. In addition, the paper is concerned with ERP implementation and use and management accounting in a transitional economy, Egypt, and hence contributes to debate about exporting Western accounting practices and other technologies to countries with different cultures and different stages of economic and political development. Classification: Research paper/ case stud

Variation in the Response of Seed and Embryonic Axes to Incubation Temperature Gradients during Seed Treatments in Pearl Millet and Sorghum

Incubation temperature during the presowing soaking of seeds plays a significant role in determining the rate and characteristics of post-treatment germination. Three experiments were conducted on sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L Moench) and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L. R. Br.) genotypes to determine the influence of constant, alternating, ascending and descending temperature regimes on germination characteristics of seeds after treatment. Incubation temperatures ranging from 10 to 35C were applied as well as alternating the magnitude and range of day/night temperatures. A third experiment tested a 3-day temperature gradient and its impact on germination and seedling characteristics. All three incubation temperature regimes were combined with various hormonal and mineral seed soaking treatments to test for possible interactive effects. Temperature did not affect the final germination percentage of seeds but influenced the germination rate. Constant temperatures of 20 or 25C induced higher germinative capacity than alternating or constant temperatures of higher or lower magnitude. Increasing the variance in day/night temperature reduced the rate of germination. Incubating seeds during soaking treatments at a constant 20C for 3 days yielded better germination characteristics than a thermal gradient of 25/20/15C. An 8 g l1 NaCl treatment induced greater plumule (shoot) growth than non-treated counterparts and treating seeds with GA3 or salts improved germination characteristics and synchrony of treated seed lots

Pemeriksaan Tersangka Oleh Penyidik Berdasarkan Kitab Undang-undang Hukum Acara Pidana

Penelitian ini berjudul, pemeriksaan tersangka oleh penyidik berdasarkan kitab undang-undang hukum acara pidana dengan rumusan masalah yaitu bagaimanakah bentuk pemeriksaan tersangka oleh polisi penyidik dalam KUHAP dan apakah faktor penghambat dalam pemeriksaan tersamgka oleh Polisi penyidik dalam KUHAP. Adapun tujuan penelitian ini yaitu untuk mengetahui bentuk pemeriksaan tersangka oleh polisi penyidik dalam KUHAP dan untuk mengetahui faktor penghamabt dalam pemeriksaan tersamgka oleh Polisi penyidik dalam KUHAP. Metode penelitian yang digunakan yaitu Penelitian hukum dapat dibedakan dalam penelitian yang bersifat normatif dan doktrinal. Penelitian normatif adalah penelitian peraturan Perundang-undangan. Penelitian doktrinal adalah penelitian terhadap asas-asas hukum, pandangan-pandangan para sarjana hukum, literatur hukum dan kegiatan perbandingan hukum. Dalam hasil penelitian bahwa bentuk pemeriksaan tersangka oleh polisi penyidik dalam KUHAP adalah mempergunakan sistem pemeriksan “akuisatur”, dimana sitersangka diproyeksikan sebagai subjek hukum dan bukan sebagai objek pemeriksan. Yang menjadi objek pemeriksaan adalah kesalahan atau perbuatan yang disangkakan kepada tersangka

Private Universities of Bangladesh: A Study on Service Quality, Customers’ Perceptions and Satisfaction

The higher education sector of Bangladesh is divided as private and public sectors in terms of the initiative of establishment. All of them are autonomous where the public universities are owned by the government and the private universities have been developed by the private sector. As the private universities produce services and sell it to the students by a comprehensive marketing effort, we can treat their services as a part of marketing. In this study, we tried to show the quality of services and the subsequent perception and satisfaction level of the stake holders regarding services are being provided by the private universities along with some recommendations to improve their service quality. For primary data, we interviewed 500 students and their guardians, teachers and staffs of private universities and also some famous educationists of Bangladesh though out Dhaka city through the cluster sampling of probability method; and we also used much enriched secondary sources of data. As our targeted readers are the mass people of the country

Research and development in science and technology in GCC countries: role of information centres and libraries

This research study identifies the role of library and information centres at the major science and technology related universities and research institutes in the six GeC countries i.e. Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, in relation to the institutes/organisations research and development activities. It also had a comparative aspect in that it examined information resources and information services available in the institutes/organisations under study with users perceptions on the effectiveness and efficiency of library and information services. A survey research design utilizing questionnaires was chosen as the most appropriate and effective method for gathering the data needed with intensive interviews with academe, Deans/Directors of Library Information Centres and R&D personnel to answer the study's research questions. The different populations were queried including the Chief Executives of institutes/organisations, Deans/Directors of Library and Information Centres and selected R&D personnel associated with them. It was found that in spite of large library collections and a number of de-centralised library systems in all the universities, information services available to the R&D personnel were inadequate. The fmdings of this investigation provided the means for the development of the proposed regional and national library/information network systems for successful library and information services model presented in this study. As an alternative a GeC infonnation subsystem GCC-SIST has been recommended along with emphasis on an electronic information system

Time-resolved reflectivity technique: improvement and applications

A new method for determination of the reflectivity of Si in different phase transitions during pulsed laser irradiation is presented in this paper. This method is applied on TRR spectra of crystalline silicon (c-Si) in a medium of oxygen and amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si: H). Time resolved reflectivity (TRR) measurements on silicon has been made during pulsed XeCl excimer laser irradiation (308 nm, 28nm FWHM) in a medium of oxygen. The samples were irradiated in the energy density range 400−100mJ/cm2. The reflectivity was measured with a probe He-Ne laser (632.8 nm). Depending on the energy density of the excimer pulse, heating, melting and resolidification of the surface were monitored by TRR spectra. From these measurements we were able to determine the melting threshold energy density for c-Si, depending on the energy densities, time of melting and maximum reflectivity have been measured. TRR spectra of a sample with 3μm thick a-Si layer for first shot of measurements were calibrated. A series of a-Si: H samples of the same thickness (0.34 μm) irradiated with a constant energy density 450mJ/cm2 and the three consecutive TRR spectra of the irradiated samples were calibrated

Capital structure and debt maturity: Evidence from listed companies in Saudi arabia

This study examines the determinants of capital structure in general and the determinants of corporate debt- maturity in particular for 56 listed companies in Saudi Arabia. To achieve this objective the study was set to test a number of hypotheses regarding the determinants of capital structure and debt maturity. These hypotheses were related to the effects of profitability, growth opportunities, asset maturity, size, liquidity and age. Total debt ratio was found to be positively and significantly related to the percentage growth in total assets and negatively and significantly related to liquidity and asset structure. Growth opportunities variable was found to be positively and significantly related to long - term debt and was negatively and significantly related to short term debt. The relationship between asset maturity and long term debt was found to be negative and significant. Therefore, there is no support of the hypothesis that debt maturity decreases as the proportion of growth potentials increase. Size was found to be positively and significantly related to long term debt and negatively and significantly related to short term debt implying that larger firms borrow on long term and small ones borrow on short term. Profitability, age liquidity appeared to have no statistical significance on the different types of debt. The implications of these results have been examined and future research directions have been suggested

Modelling and characterization of cell collapse in aluminium foams during dynamic loading

Plate-impact experiments have been conducted to investigate the elastic–plastic behaviour of shock wave propagation and pore collapse mechanisms of closed-cell aluminium foams. FE modelling using a meso-scale approach has been carried out with the FE software ABAQUS/Explicit. A micro-computed tomography-based foam geometry has been developed and microstructural changes with time have been investigated to explore the effects of wave propagation. Special attention has been given to the pore collapse mechanism. The effect of velocity variations on deformation has been elucidated with three different impact conditions using the plate-impact method. Free surface velocity (ufs) was measured on the rear of the sample to understand the evolution of the compaction. At low impact velocities, the free-surface velocity increased gradually, whereas an abrupt rise of free-surface velocity was found at an impact velocity of 845 m/s with a copper flyer-plate which correlates with the appearance of shock. A good correlation was found between experimental results and FE predictions