ECONOMIC & DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERICTICS, SOCIAL CAPITAL AND DEMAND FOR LIFE INSURANCE: EVIDENCE FROM CENTRAL REGION OF SRI LANKA

This paper presents findings of the determinants of demand for life insurance in the central region of Sri Lanka.  It is a novel study in the sense that it incorporated social capital as a determinant of demand for life insurance. Primary data has been collected through random sampling and the logistic model was used to examine the determinants of the demand for life insurance. Results confirmed that gender, income, trust and social capital has significant effect on demand for life insurance in the study area. Income and trust came out positive contributors of life insurance demand. However, it is worthy to note that although income has a positive effect on life insurance demand but its odds ratio makes it less important factor to influence demand for life insurance. Gender has deteriorated effect on demand for life insurance indicating that male household head less likely to purchase life insurance. Similarly, social capital also has a negative impact on demand for life insurance. Other determinants like age, religious status, working status, and education, has not significant effect on life insurance demand. Policies are recommended on research findings

The causal relationship between SME sustainability and banks’ risk

This study aims to examine the influence of banks’ credit to SMEs on non-performing loans. Many studies find that access to financial sources has become an obstacle to the growth and sustainability of SMEs. This study uses theoretical and empirical approaches to support the study’s hypothesis. Data are presented for 15 banks in Palestine, covering the period 2006 to 2016.The study uses empirical techniques regarding to examine the relationship between the variables. Evidence shows that encouraging banks to lend more money to SMEs through the use of a guarantee fund could decrease their risk. Thus, enhancing credit to SMEs could improve the growth and sustainability of these firms. The study recommending policymakers and bank’s managers could develop their strategies according to SME’s needing. Therefore, enhancing the growth in these firms and reducing the bank’s risk. Furthermore, adopting the guarantee funds in developing countries could decrease the bank’s risk, thus lending more to SME. The value of this paper comes from the importance of SME in the economic growth and development sustainability. Therefore, there is a need to convince banks to enhance SME credit through a guarantee fund and that extending this type of credit would positively influence banks’activities

CREDIT CARDS AS A DETERMINANT OF SOCIAL CAPITAL: A STUDY OF RATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF URBANISED CONSUMERS

This study intends to develop a theoretical framework to show credit card usage as a determinant of social capital of people who are living in urban societies in developing economies. Data were instrumented by a questionnaire. A survey of citizens of Kandy City area of Central Province of Sri Lanka was conducted to gather data for the study. Logistic regression, one-way ANOVA, and chi-square/Fisher exact tests were used to analysis data empirically to achieve research objectives. The results indicated that socio-economic & socio-demographic variable namely; life insurance, cash savings, and occupation status are significant determinants of credit card usage. Gender, age, education, race, and income of respondents are reported as insignificant factors to have credit cards.  Further, three out of four specific proxies of social capital namely; the degree of participation in societal activities, membership in credit association, and membership in the professional body have shown as significant determinants of credit card usage. Membership in credit societies has shown negative effect to have credit cards. In addition, membership in community welfare societies is recorded as insignificant factor to usage of credit cards. Accordingly, study results concluded that credit card usage of consumers of urban area in Sri Lanka is a good indicator of perceived social capital. This signals that promotional programme of credit cards by financial institutions among urban people could be implemented through social networks.

The Nexus between Tourism and Economic Growth: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Directions

The study aims to review tourism and economic growth in developing countries. The paper systematically reviews the literature on tourism and economic growth from 2004 to 2019. The Scopus database has been selected for the literature search to make the process transparent. The literature search was based on the keywords of tourism and economic growth, and the PRISMA 2009 helped the selection and exclusion process. The final 40 articles in the excel sheet with at least one citation for the review have been used in the literature classification to find the gap and directions of tourism and economic growth. The results revealed that literature on multiple country studies face difficulties in finding a specific relationship than single-country studies, and most studies have only focused on the relationships but missed the growth strategies. The present systematic review recommends the future research should focus on multiple country studies and growth strategies

Global Challenges and Survival Strategies of the SMEs in the Era of Economic Globalization: A Systematic Review

Globalization has presented new challenges for SMEs due to the increased competition, and as a result, the mortality rate of SMEs after a shorter period of commencement is relatively high. Accordingly, SMEs necessity to adopt survival strategies and strategic decisions to succeed in the business environment facing global challenges. This study attempted to critically review the existing literature on the global challenge for SMEs to identify the survival and succeeding strategies of SMEs in the current competitive business environment. Published reports in the field by the recognized multilateral organizations and seventy-five excellent research papers published by four recognized journal publishing companies: Emerald, Elsevier, Tayler & Francis, and MDPI were selected for inclusion in this review. Based on this review, it has been found that leading global challenges for SMEs in economic globalization include: global market competition, global financial and economic crisis, information communication technology, rise of Multinational Corporations, Transnational Corporations, changing profile of consumers and their preferences, trade dumping, international terrorism and religious conflicts, and trade wars. Further research could take on survival Strategies of SMEs in the industrial level to identify the sustainability-oriented specific policies. As well as a need for a stronger theoretical examination on survival strategies of SMEs in the global challenges

The Nature of Sustainability Challenge in Small and Medium Enterprises and its Management

The term sustainability in the context of the business world refers to the ability of a company to survive and succeed in a dynamic, competitive, and challenging business environment. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) must adapt to the changing environment and take appropriate measures to mitigate the change. To strike a balance between the triple bottom line – people, planet, and profit - by SMEs, reducing pollution and resource degradation, in the long run, is necessary. It is, therefore, required to understand the nature of challenges posed by the changing environment to the sustainability of SMEs. According to the existing literature, the challenges to sustainability include the ability to deal with economic and social change, engage in responsible and ethical business practices, efficient use of natural resources and protecting the environment, provide high-quality products and services, and develop metrics to determine if the company is meeting stakeholder needs. With this background, a systematic literature review was carried out to explore the insights of the existing knowledge on the nature of environmental sustainability challenges to small and medium enterprises and its management, particularly in the Asian context. Relevant papers were selected, followed by rigorous and extensive web searching based on the standard filtering approaches, and the sustainability challenges and their dynamic interactions in the context of SMEs are broadly discussed

DOES SOCIAL CAPITAL INFLUENCE RESIDENT’S ATTITUDES TOWARDS TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN SRI LANKA?

This study examines the resident’s attitudes towards tourism development and adds the perceived social capital as a factor of attitudes which makes this study distinct from existing literature. We apply logistic regression models with descriptive statistical methods to achieve the research objectives. For rural community, occupation status, contacts with tourism industry, trust, degree of participation, and membership of business association are significant determinants of resident’s positive attitudes towards tourism development. The length of residency and membership of community association determines resident’s negative attitude towards tourism. For the urban community, this study finds age group, the degree of participation of community association, contacts with tourism industry and membership of community business association significant factors of resident’s positive attitudes towards tourism. The education, length of residency in the community and contacts with tourism industry explains resident’s negative attitudes towards tourism. Conversely, both rural and urban residents believe in future tourism development, whereas, social capital is insignificant about future tourism development in urban community. This study suggests policy decisions related to tourism development in a community have to consider residents as stakeholders and also, should consider the resident’s attitudes towards sustainable tourism development.</p

Social Capital and SME: A Systematic Literature Review and Research Directions

This study aims to review past literature on social capital and SME. The paper systematically discusses the literature on social capital and SME between the years 1999 to 2020. The Scopus database was selected to make the literature search process transparent, and the literature survey used social capital and SME as keywords. The PRISMA 2009 helped the selection and exclusion process. During the literature classification, the final 33 articles were used to find the gap and future directions of social capital and SMEs. The results revealed literature on the methodology of the studies, Social capital and SME performance, innovation, and marketing capabilities and CSR-SME relationship. The systematic review recommends that future research may focus more on mixed methodology, the direct relationship between social capital and SME performance in less available research areas, the link between dynamic capabilities (innovation, marketing) of SMEs, social capital CSR-SME relationship, social capital, and family SMEs to remove the existing gaps in the available literature

Entrepreneurial Marketing & Performance of Small & Medium Enterprises in Developed and Developing Economies: A Conceptual Exploration

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are renowned as the engine of economic development in both developed and developing regions in the era of economic globalization. However, the existing knowledge in the field outlines numerous factors that hinder SMEs’ growth and survival and lead to business failures in terms of bankruptcy and liquidation. In such a context, Entrepreneurial Marketing (EM) is one of the critical determinants of growth and survival of the SME sector since their marketing approaches do not fit with established traditional marketing theories. Successful SMEs can acquire a competitive advantage on their unique benefit of “smallness,” often under limited resource conditions and uncertain market circumstances. Hence, this paper aims to review the literature on EM and its impact on the performance of SMEs, particularly in developed and developing regions. Accordingly, the review identified a range of EM dimensions that directly affect SME performance in developed and developing regions. The study also identified many other variables have a causal effect on the relationship between EM and SME performance, including external environment, internal venture environment, and venture approach to marketing. Finally, the study provides practical implications for practitioners and theoretical implications for researchers as an array of progressive areas for future endeavors

Entrepreneurial Marketing & Performance of Small & Medium Enterprises in Developed and Developing Economies: A Conceptual Exploration

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are renowned as the engine of economic development in both developed and developing regions in the era of economic globalization. However, the existing knowledge in the field outlines numerous factors that hinder SMEs’ growth and survival and lead to business failures in terms of bankruptcy and liquidation. In such a context, Entrepreneurial Marketing (EM) is one of the critical determinants of growth and survival of the SME sector since their marketing approaches do not fit with established traditional marketing theories. Successful SMEs can acquire a competitive advantage on their unique benefit of “smallness,” often under limited resource conditions and uncertain market circumstances. Hence, this paper aims to review the literature on EM and its impact on the performance of SMEs, particularly in developed and developing regions. Accordingly, the review identified a range of EM dimensions that directly affect SME performance in developed and developing regions. The study also identified many other variables have a causal effect on the relationship between EM and SME performance, including external environment, internal venture environment, and venture approach to marketing. Finally, the study provides practical implications for practitioners and theoretical implications for researchers as an array of progressive areas for future endeavors