Integrating business and technology strategies in developing countries

In the present era of deregulation, privatization and increasing global market competition, most industrialists in developing countries have come to the realization that better technology is needed for the survival of both public and private sector enterprises. Therefore, they acknowledge that technological considerations must be properly incorporated into overall business strategies. However, in the absence of an established theory and due to lack of relevant data, they face enormous difficulties. This paper describes a simple framework for integrating business and technology strategies, particularly in the context of developing countries. Possible strategic mixes are identified by considering four commonly practiced business strategies, namely: price, value, niche and image leadership; and four evolving technology strategies, namely: technology leader, follower, exploiter and extender. Necessary considerations for technological capability development and technology strategy progression path are also discussed for different enterprise situations and development conditions.     

The Linkage Between Tourism Development and Economic Growth in Malaysia: A Nonlinear Approach

In this study, we examine the nonlinear relationship between international tourism arrival and economic growth of Malaysia by using asymmetric models over the periods 2000:1–2015:4. The results show that the tourism arrival is positively related to Malaysia’s economic growth in the long run, but there is no short-run relationship and other traditional growth factors such as trade, exchange rate and Consumer Price Index are important for economic growth in the case of Malaysia. This implies that tourism can be one of the important factors for Malaysia’s economic growth in the long run and development and can be used to stimulate the overall economic growth and hence, policy-makers should pay greater attention towards promoting inbound tourism.     

Impact of tourism on CO2 emission: evidence from Pakistan

This study investigates the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission–tourist arrival–growth in Pakistan by taking time series data from the period of 1972 to 2013. The study applied three approaches of co-integration (autoregressive distributed lag bounds test, Johansen and Juselius and Gregory and Hansen structural break test) to confirm the valid long-run positive interaction between CO₂ emission and tourist arrivals. The robustness of cointegrating vectors is further checked using fully modified ordinary least square and dynamic ordinary least square tests and results validate the long-run coefficients. The results of variance decomposition method exhibit the uni-directional causality between CO₂ emission and tourist arrivals running from tourist arrival to CO₂ emission. It was therefore noted that policies which moderate the influence of tourism development to emission are necessary for reducing the harmful effect of tourist activities and also to increase the impact of tourism upon the economic growth. The study may guide policy-makers in formulating categorical energy and tourism development policies for sustainable growth for long periods.     

Economics of upgrading gravel roads to Otta seal surface

Maintenance of low volume roads especially gravel roads is costly, and millions of funding annually are spent for aggregate replacement alone. Otta seal, compared to other bituminous surface treatments (BSTs) for low volume roads that require high-quality materials and specialized expertise, can be constructed using cheaper local aggregates and accessible equipment. However, only three states have reported Otta seal constructions and performance in the US. In this study, an economic analysis was conducted to compare the cost of maintaining a gravel road to the cost of upgrading an existing gravel road to a double Otta seal surface. This analysis was conducted at three levels: deterministic life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA), a stochastic Monte Carlo simulation-based LCCA, and a traffic based economic analysis. A generic one-mile rural road in Midwest was considered as a case study location. Although, according to the analysis conducted in this paper, an upgrade to Otta seal investment might be justified by maintenance savings, resorting to only such justification cannot warrant investment in most cases. The upgrade from gravel road to Otta seal, or any other BSTs, might be justified in terms of enhancing safety for road users and also encouraging economic development beneficial to local areas.     

A Note on Compound Generalized Distributions: A Comment on the Article by B. Kling and M. Goovaerts

Abstract

In this paper, the recursion for Generalized Power Series Distributions (GPSD) recently developed by Kling & Goovaerts (1993) is reviewed. Some errors are discovered in their results. Corrected and slightly more general results are proposed here.     

Option pricing under non-normality: a comparative analysis

This paper carries out a comparative analysis of the calibration and performance of a variety of options pricing models. These include Black and Scholes (J Polit Econ 81:637–659, 1973), the Gram–Charlier (GC) approach of Backus et al. (1997), the stochastic volatility (HS) model of Heston (Rev Financ Stud 6:327–343, 1993), the closed-form GARCH process of Heston and Nandi (Rev Financ Stud 13:585–625, 2000) and a variety of Lévy processes including the Variance Gamma (VG), Normal Inverse Gaussian (NIG), and, CGMY and Kou (Manag Sci 48:1086–1101, 2002) jump-diffusion models. Unlike most studies of option pricing, we compare these models using a common point-in-time data which reflects the perspective of a new investor who wishes to choose between models using only the most minimal recent data set. For each of these models, we also examine the accuracy of delta and delta-gamma approximations to the valuation of both individual options and an illustrative option portfolio.     

Impact of Integrated Weed Management on Cotton Producers' Earnings in Pakistan*

In Pakistan, weeds are a serious problem for the cotton–wheat cropping system, and they are causing even more damage than insects. The damage caused by weeds varies in the range of 15–30 percent. Farmers in Pakistan carry out several practices to control weeds, including hoeing, herbicide application and crop rotation. Farmers integrate different weed management practices; hence, in the present study, the multivariate probit model is used in an analysis of cotton farmers' joint decision‐making. The propensity score matching results indicate that farmers adopting integrating weed management practices have higher demand for labor, higher yields, higher household income and higher net returns from the cotton crop.     

Mapping knowledge management and organizational learning in support of organizational memory

The normative literature within the field of knowledge management has concentrated on techniques and methodologies for allowing knowledge to be codified and made available to individuals and groups within organizations. The literature on organizational learning, however, has tended to focus on aspects of knowledge that are pertinent at the macro-organizational level (i.e. the overall business). The authors attempt in this paper to address a relative void in the literature, aiming to demonstrate the inter-locking factors within an enterprise information system that relate knowledge management and organizational learning, via a model that highlights key factors within such an inter-relationship. This is achieved by extrapolating data from a manufacturing organization using a case study, with these data then modeled using a cognitive mapping technique (fuzzy cognitive mapping, FCM). The empirical enquiry explores an interpretivist view of knowledge, within an information systems evaluation (ISE) process, through the associated classification of structural, interpretive and evaluative knowledge. This is achieved by visualizing inter-relationships within the ISE decision-making approach in the case organization. A number of decision paths within the cognitive map are then identified such that a greater understanding of ISE can be sought. The authors therefore present a model that defines a relationship between knowledge management (KM) and organizational learning (OL), and highlights factors that can lead a firm to develop itself towards a learning organization.