To What Extent is the Free Market Compatible With the ‘Strong State’?

Contradictory views persist among neoliberals, social democrats and social liberals regarding relationships between free market and the nation State. In one hand, neoliberals suggest that the development of the free market puts constraints on the role of the state. Yet empirical evidence to support this view is lacking and range of commentators show not only resilience but even the expansion of state spending. Moreover, the article highlights that the State has welcomed globalization for the betterment of the society and subsequently it is restructuring itself to accommodate the changes to be effective on a desired way. Keywords: Globalization, Strong State, Free Market, State Control and Liberalism

Global Corruption Hoax: Politicization of the Concept of Corruption and the Issues of Corruption Measurement Indices

Often we observe that the third world countries always top the corruption indices compare to the developed West. This incident naturally leads to the question of why - Is it because the third world countries are significantly more corrupt than the developed countries? Or, is there any other reason behind this issue?--these are the questions that are explored in this article. To be more specific, this article critically explores contemporary arguments regarding inherent issues of corruption and various aspects of measurement techniques of corruption indices (e.g. definition issue, identification problem, clandestine nature of corruption, perceptual problem, validity and reliability of corruption data). Thus, by examining the innate complex nature of corruption, the article argue that, in many cases, in comparison to the developed West, corruption of developing nations may not be as deep as the corruption indices, which are also contested, accuse. In addition, the article emphasizes that the corruption issue is specifically targeted towards the third world countries more so than the developed countries. Keywords: corruption, governance, corruption indices, corruption measuremen

Three Essays in Corporate Finance

This thesis comprises three essays in corporate finance, broadly encompassing the impact of CEO characteristics and their ability to efficiently use firm resources on financial policy and decision-making. The first essay examines the role played by CEO characteristics in managing a firm’s predation risk. Predation occurs when competing firms aim to force an opponent to exit the market by engaging in predatory actions by price reductions or increased non-price competition expenditure such as advertising. Our results show that firms led by overconfident, empire-building CEOs significantly reduce their predation risk by diversifying their operations to become more dissimilar than their industry competitors. We use the random, exogenous passage of large US import tariff reductions and CEO deaths as quasi-natural experimental settings to address endogeneity concerns. We demonstrate that reduction of predation risk through CEO characteristics leads to significant growth in a firm’s market share over industry competitors and higher total compensation and option grants for the CEOs. These empirical results offer a crucial insight into how CEO behavioural characteristics play a role in a firm’s survival in competitive product markets against predatory threats. The second chapter investigates how major customer firms (identified as representing more than 10% of a supplier’s revenue) managed by higher ability managers gain significant bargaining power over their network of suppliers. Using a composite index capturing a customer’s supply chain power and the Demerjian (2012) measure of managerial ability that considers the efficient use of firm resources, we provide evidence that higher ability managers in major customer firms hold significant supply chain power over their suppliers. We use two-stage least squares (2SLS) regressions using instrumental variables and difference-in-differences estimates surrounding forced CEO turnovers to address endogeneity concerns. This positive association is stronger for higher ability managers who engage more in socially responsible activities and have better corporate innovation performance. Suppliers are found to extend greater trade credit when customers managed by higher ability managers have more supply chain power. The third chapter explores how firms managed by executives with superior ability can extract greater trade credit from their suppliers. Trade credit is one of the most used sources of liquidity for inter-firm commerce. Using the Demerjian (2012) measure for managerial ability and two proxies for trade credit, we document a positive association between managerial ability and the trade credit received by a firm. Two-stage least squares (2SLS) regressions using instrumental variables are used to mitigate endogeneity concerns. We identify that engagement in socially responsible activities by higher ability managers acts as a channel that drives the relationship between trade credit and managerial ability. Cross-sectional variation analysis demonstrates that this positive association is stronger for superior managers in firms identified as major customers (representing 10% or more business revenue of a suppliers) and during periods of economic recession. Further robustness tests demonstrate that higher ability managers use this trade credit to outgrow their industry competitors and improve their product market performance, while preserving cash in hand by reducing trade receivables. These findings emphasize the role of managers in efficiently managing resources to access more trade credit for the firm’s business operations.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Business School, 202

Analysis of the Factors that Affect Job Satisfaction: A Case Study on Private Companies Employees of Bangladesh

Job satisfaction is an important aspect for an organization's success. A successful organization is the one with satisfied workers. This research report tried to find out the main factors of job satisfaction and whether they have any impact on the job satisfaction of the employee of private companies. Firstly the factors responsible for job satisfaction were identified through a literature review of various articles related to job satisfaction. A focus group discussion among employees and an exploratory research were also conducted. Nine Factors were found. Then to analyze the effect of these nine factors, a quantitative research was done. The employees were selected through convenience sampling. After conducting pretest the main survey was done. The result indicated that four out of nine factors (Coordination and Leave Facility, Reward & Future Opportunities, Vision of the Company, Work Process, and Health & Insurance Policy) have significant influence on Job satisfaction. The study concluded that an effective organization will make sure that there is a spirit of cooperation along with coordination among employees and sense of commitment towards achieving the goals and satisfaction within the sphere of its influence. Keywords: Job Satisfaction, Coordination, Compensation, Career, Work Process

ANISOTROPIC BIANCHI TYPE-I COSMOLOGICAL MODEL FOR VISCOUS FLUID IN A MODIFIED BRANS-DICKE COSMOLOGY

ABSTRACT We present a new Cosmological solution for a Bianchi type-I Cosmological model filled with viscous fluid in a modified Brans-Dicke theory in which the variable cosmological term is an explicit function of a scalar field. The physical and geometrical properties of this model have been discussed. Finally, this model has been transform to the original form (1961) of Bras-Dicke theory

Optimal water allocation using a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm

Agriculture water management in Bangladesh has become a subject of increasing attention due to population growth. Therefore, it is necessary that we optimize water use in order to increase the agricultural production with the increasing needs of the population as well as to fulfil the need for a sound economy of the country as a whole. The research engages with the optimum allocation of water in the agricultural sector of Bangladesh. We model the problem using multi-objective constrained optimization problem. The objectives in this problem are to maximize net return and minimizing deficit in environmental flow. A Non-Dominating Sorting Genetic Algorithm, NSGA-II, is used to solve the problem in this research to find the optimum result. The research indicates that the crops which are produced more and are more profitable in trade should be cultivated more as recommended by the model. The model predictions indicate that rainfall impacts on net return and environmental flow deficit more than water inflow under the scenarios in the Muhuri Irrigation Project (MIP) considered

Optimising Productivity and Safety of the Open Pit Loading and Haulage System with a Surge Loader

The open pit mining load and haul system has been a mainstay of the mining industry for many years. While machines have increased in size and scale and automation has become an important development, there have been few innovations to the actual load and haul process itself in recent times. This research highlights some of the potential productivity and safety benefits that the incorporation of a surge loader may bring to the load and haul system through an analysis of the system, discussion of component characteristics, and mine planning aspects. The incorporation of the surge loader into open pit loading and haulage operations also enables improved safety. This is a result of a reduction in shovel–truck interactions and the reduced likelihood of truck overfilling and uneven loading. This paper details the number of mine worker deaths that a surge loader may have prevented within the Peruvian and Chilean mining industries