A numerical study of tournament structure and seeding policy for the soccer World Cup Finals

Tournament outcome uncertainty depends on: the design of the tournament; and the relative strengths of the competitors – the competitive balance. A tournament design comprises the arrangement of the individual matches, which we call the tournament structure, the seeding policy and the progression rules. In this paper, we investigate the effect of seeding policy for various tournament structures, while taking account of competitive balance. Our methodology uses tournament outcome uncertainty to consider the effect of seeding policy and other design changes. The tournament outcome uncertainty is measured using the tournament outcome characteristic which is the probability P_q,R that a team in the top 100q pre‐tournament rank percentile progresses forward from round R, for all q and R. We use Monte Carlo simulation to calculate the values of this metric. We find that, in general, seeding favours stronger competitors, but that the degree of favouritism varies with the type of seeding. Reseeding after each round favours the strong to the greatest extent. The ideas in the paper are illustrated using the soccer World Cup Finals tournament.     

Islamic Banking Sustainability: A Review of Literature and Directions for Future Research

This study reviews literature on the Islamic banking sustainability and presents directions for future research. The article discourses scholars’ and practitioners’ views on the two perspectives of sustainability in relation to the objectives of Islamic banking and finance. That there are limited studies on Islamic banking sustainability is one of the major issues presented in the article. The study highlights essential issues on the sustainability without in-depth empirical analysis. The needs for long-term economic, social, and environmental sustainability are not a compromising issue. Therefore, Islamic banks must strike a balance between the institutional, societal, and environmental sustainability in order to achieve the objective of Sharia.     

Nexus between economic sanctions and inflation: a case study in Iran

Conventional studies have applied dummy variables to analyse the relationship between economic sanctions and inflation while we construct an index which is called Trade-Financial Sanctions (TF index). TF Index is a liner combination of indices which includes trade openness and foreign investment by applying the principal component model. Through the TF index and market exchange rate the impact of economic sanctions on inflation is analysed in the three phases of sanctions; free sanctions, heavy sanctions, and light sanctions. The results illustrate that the TF index decreases inflation when the Iran’s economy experiences free sanctions or light sanctions relative to when the economy is in heavy sanctions. Heavy sanctions create instability in the market exchange rates and widening the gap between the market and the official exchange rates. Furthermore, economic sanctions increase expected inflation among the people and drive higher inflation. Therefore, these results suggest that the government should work more seriously to solve the main obstacles of trade and investment inflows imposed by the economic sanctions.     

Extended investigation on road fatality in Brunei

Road fatality is one of the leading causes of death in Brunei with 79 deaths in 1993, the highest ever recorded. The Brunei government has been trying to reduce this by implementing new traffic measures and successfully reduced fatalities to 24 fatalities in 2014. Yearly road fatality has been fluctuating, but there has been a declining tendency overall. The aim of this study is to investigate road fatality in Brunei by extending the research. We developed a multiple regression model and carried out an analysis on road fatality in Brunei. Our analysis indicates that the road fatality appears to rise depending on the increase in the number of young drivers between 15 to 24 years and the number of unemployed people. Comparisons of Brunei road fatality rate per 10,000 vehicles are made with some other countries and we conclude that Brunei has approximately the same rate as Australia in 2014.     

Terrorist economic impact evaluation (TEIE) model: the case of Pakistan

Quality & Quantity - The terrorist economic impact evaluation (TEIE) model is a new model to evaluate the intensity of terrorism to measure the economic cost in a state (province) of any...     

Consumer decision making process in shopping for halal food in Malaysia

This paper reports on the results obtained from quantitative and qualitative data on consumer decision making process in shopping for halal food. A total of 213 questionnaires were returned by respondents, confirming that our respondents who are concerning about the ＂halal＂ logo are also concerning about the ingredients used. The study also confirms that there is a significant relationship between respondents＇religion and their perceptions towards halal logo and ingredients. While the qualitative data from a focus group interview on how Muslim consumers shop for halal food shows that there is a need for assurance that food to be purchased is halal, implying the presence of risk and uncertainty when making purchase considerations. Using the audit risk framework in conventional assurance services, the study finds that assurance is sought in relation to the halalness of business premise, halalness of product, and assurance from environmental elements such as the halal logo displayed.     

SMEs and Halal certification

This paper reports on a survey of SMEs and their perception towards Halal certification. Based on 136 SMEs which participated in the study, only 64.9 percent of these SMEs have obtained Halal certification and 44.3 percent of these entrepreneurs are Muslims. A test of association between religion and certification was found to be significant. Although more than 60 percent have ventured internationally, there is no significant association between Halal certification and venturing internationally. Among those that have obtained Halal certification, only 50.7 percent agree that Malaysia has a proper monitoring mechanism on Halal certification compliance and only 38.2 percent of them agree that information on Halal hub in Malaysia is sufficient. This is an implementation gap which needs to be addressed.     

Categories of university-level entrepreneurship: a literature survey

Research into the nature, antecedents and effects of university-level entrepreneurship has grown due to the emergence of the university technology transfer phenomenon and the evolution of university's role in national innovation systems and economic development. From the literature survey, three research categories for university-level entrepreneurship are identified and examined namely entrepreneurial university, academic entrepreneurship and university technology transfer. Then, a framework depicting the relationship of the three research categories is developed and discussed. Lastly, recommendations are made for future research and analysis.     

Accounting for goodwill under FRS 136： Case of Malaysian plantation companies

The introduction of FRS （financial reporting standards） 136 to Malaysian PLC＇s （public limited company） in 2006 indirectly formalized accounting for purchased goodwill for the first time. Based on a sample of 2006 annual reports of 10 Main Board companies from plantation sector, the study finds the level of desired disclosure has yet to be met. Whilst the intention of the standard is noble, actual practice for first time reporting entities indicate that Malaysian PLC＇s and their auditors have far to go before they can meet the expectation set by FRS 136 in particular and International Financial Reporting Standards in general.     

Segmental reporting by Malaysian companies： IAS 14 versus MASB 22

This paper reports on the effects of a local standard, MASB 22, on disclosure practices among Malaysian companies and whether the introduction of MASB 22 has resulted in greater level of disclosure with respect to segmental reporting in Malaysia compared to its predecessor segmental reporting under IAS 14. Based on the Annual Reports of top 53 by market capitalization companies listed on the main board of Bursa Malaysia in 2003, findings indicate that MASB 22 has improved segment disclosure practices of sample companies compared to IAS 14 regime, with greater number of line of business and geographical segments reported by sample companies.