The Effect of Customer-Company Relationship on Internet Adoption in Jordanian Small and Medium Enterprises

Internet is a new effective way to conduct business and marketing. It is used widely in the developed countries because of its unquestionable benefits especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) where internet provides great potential for such firms to compete world wild. SMEs are very important component of the national economies and are estimated to account for 80 percent of global economic growth. In developing countries, such as Jordan, internet adoption for marketing activities can be very helpful to SMEs. The main objective of this research is to examine the customer-company relationship effect on internet adoption in Jordanian SMEs, and highlight the actual use of internet in SMEs that adopted internet for marketing activities. One main and three sub- hypotheses were formed based on the literature review and previous studies. A restricted research methodology was used and the hypothesis was tested over a proportional systematic random sample obtained from the official records of Amman Chamber of Commerce. Data was collected through questionnaires, 270 personally submitted questionnaires were distributed to the decisions makers in Jordanian SMEs. Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) was chosen to describe and analyze the data of 253 filtered and screened questionnaires. Results and discussion, conclusion, and recommendations were provided

Internal Capital Markets And Equity Restructuring

Inefficient internal capital market is often blamed for conglomerate diversification discount. While the positive market reaction to spin-off announcements is in conformity with that claim, the abnormal market return on tracking stock announcements is certainly not. This paper investigates the possibility of a bright side for internal capital markets in conglomerates that track business units as a mean of equity restructuring. This paper finds no evidence of a diversification discount for firms with a tracking stock. Partial support on the presence of diversification discount is found for a pair-matched sample of spin-off firms. This paper also finds evidence on more efficient internal capital markets for the sample of tracking-stock firms. The results may suggest that the conglomerates’ choice between tracking business units or spin-off of business units depends on the efficient allocation of internally generated funds

The effects of a US-China trade war on Sub-Saharan Africa: Pro-active domestic policies make the difference

This study simulates the impact of the change in trade policy between the US and China on the trade volume and economic prosperity of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). To do that, we employ a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model based on the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) with different scenarios focusing on increases in tariffs. The results show that the tariff increases negatively affect the US and China in terms of trade volume and economic growth, while it leads to trade diversion and creation for the SSA. This offers valuable opportunities in improving exports and economic growth, particularly for Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nigeria. On the sectorial level, the findings imply that agriculture, food, and oil and gas sectors are positively affected in terms of export volume, while mineral, metal and service sectors are negatively impacted by the trade war

Beyond Antimalarial Stock-outs: Implications of Health Provider Compliance on Out-of-Pocket Expenditure during Care-Seeking for Fever in South East Tanzania.

To better understand how stock-outs of the first line antimalarial, Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) and other non-compliant health worker behaviour, influence household expenditures during care-seeking for fever in the Ulanga District in Tanzania. We combined weekly ACT stock data for the period 2009-2011 from six health facilities in the Ulanga District in Tanzania, together with household data from 333 respondents on the cost of fever care-seeking in Ulanga during the same time period to establish how health seeking behaviour and expenditure might vary depending on ACT availability in their nearest health facility. Irrespective of ACT stock-outs, more than half (58%) of respondents sought initial care in the public sector, the remainder seeking care in the private sector where expenditure was higher by 19%. Over half (54%) of respondents who went to the public sector reported incidences of non-compliant behaviour by the attending health worker (e.g. charging those who were eligible for free service or referring patients to the private sector despite ACT stock), which increased household expenditure per fever episode from USD0.14 to USD1.76. ACT stock-outs were considered to be the result of non-compliant behaviour of others in the health system and increased household expenditure by 21%; however we lacked sufficient statistical power to confirm this finding. System design and governance challenges in the Tanzanian health system have resulted in numerous ACT stock-outs and frequent non-compliant public sector health worker behaviour, both of which increase out-of-pocket health expenditure. Interventions are urgently needed to ensure a stable supply of ACT in the public sector and increase health worker accountability

Energy Security In Jordan’s Foreign Policy, 2003 - 2014

Jordan mengimport lebih 97 peratus daripada keperluan tenaga negara dalam konteks ekonomi, politik dan kekangan sosial, terutamanya selepas kebanjiran pelarian dari negara-negara jiran dan gangguan bekalan gas asli dari Mesir yang disebabkan ketidakstabilan di Timur Tengah. Justeru, tesis ini mengkaji pendekatan politik yang diambil untuk menjamin keselamatan tenaga sepanjang tempoh 2003 - 2004. Objektif utama kajian ini adalah mengenal pasti kekuatan hubungan di antara dasar luar negera Jordan dan keselamatan tenaga, untuk menerangkan kesan kebergantungan terhadap sumber tenaga luar negara dan pengaruh pembekal tenaga terhadap dasar luar negara Jordan, di samping mengenal pasti peranan dasar luar negera Jordan dalam menangani isu keselamatan tenaga. Analog Institutionalisme Neoliberal daripada kesalingbergantungan dan kerjasama memberikan suatu perspektif teori tentang cara memahami permasalahan ini. Oleh itu, suatu reka bentuk kajian kualitatif digunakan dan asas empirik daripada kajian terdiri daripada sebelas sesi temu bual separa berstruktur dengan golongan elit dan dua kumpulan perbincangan berfokus. Peserta kajian terdiri daripada latar belakang akademik, politik, dan sosial. Kesemua data disokong dengan data rasmi yang diperoleh daripada pihak kerajaan. Data dianalisis dengan program perisian kualitatif Nvivo10. Jordan imports more than ninety-seven percent of its energy needs within a context of economic, political, and social difficulties, especially after the influx of refugees from neighboring countries and the interruption of natural gas supply from Egypt due to the instability in the Middle East. Therefore, the political approach to achieve energy security over the period 2003 to 2014 is explored in this thesis. The primary objectives of the study are to identify the strength of the relation between Jordan’s foreign policy and energy security, to clarify the effect of dependence on foreign energy sources and the influence of energy suppliers on Jordan’s foreign policy, and to identify the role of foreign policy in addressing the energy security issues. The Neoliberal Institutionalism analogue of interdependence and cooperation offer a theoretical perspective on how to understand the problem. A qualitative study design was adopted, and the empirical basis of the study consisted of eleven semi-structured interviews with the elite, and two focus group discussions with participants in different academic, political, and social backgrounds, all supported by official data from the government. The data were analyzed by qualitative software program NVivo 10