Best practice network business model for internationalization of small and medium enterprises

Small and medium enterprises’ entry to international markets leads to their continuous growth and facilitates national and global economic development. In an attempt to substantiate these outcomes, they seek to acquire best practices and experiences in order to facilitate entering, surviving, and growing in global markets. To address this challenge practically, the present paper introduces a media for networking and a system for transferring internationalization best practices across small and medium enterprises under the concept of Best Practice Network. Subsequently, the paper tries to depict Best Practice Network as a viable business and establish a guideline for implementing it by developing its business model. To achieve this objective, the authors have administered multi-case study research among the top managers of international small and medium enterprises in the information and communication technology sector of Iran. The resulting model is based on business model ontology and proposes a bird’s eye view of the Best Practice Network including product, customer interface, infrastructure management, and financial aspects. Moreover, by proposing a media for sharing related best practices, this paper can lead to the decline of the stage theory of internationalization and can excel the born global theory of small and medium enterprises.     

Exchange Rate Behavior of Canada,Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States

We revisit a significant research topic on exchange rate behavior by restating the test procedures with an appropriate econometric methodology to re-examine three aspects. (i) Does the inflation (price) factor affect nominal exchange rate? (ii) Do relative interest rates affect a country’s exchange rate? (iii) Do the price and interest rate effects hold if controls for non-parity factors are embedded in tests? The quarterly data series for this study are taken over 55 years. The traditional parity condition model with price and interest rate as criterion variables is extended to take into account recently-verified non-parity factors, namely trade, productivity and foreign reserves. The results affirm that both parity factors and also the non-parity factors significantly affect the exchange rates of Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. In our view, these findings relating to four free-floating currencies help extend our knowledge on how currency behavior is consistent with parity and non-parity theorems using a relevant methodological approach in this study.     

The impact of exchange rates on stock market returns: new evidence from seven free-floating currencies

This paper provides evidence of a significant exchange rate effect on stock index returns using data from seven selected countries practicing free-floating exchange rate regimes. This research uses parity and asset pricing theories, thus placing it within the monetary-cum-economics framework for international asset pricing. In this study, we apply a system of seemingly unrelated regression to control for unobserved heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence. The findings constitute evidence of a statistically significant exchange rate impact on stock index returns across selected countries. These findings can be considered as falling under the arbitrage pricing approach of the international capital asset pricing model of Solnik who also used the parity-theoretical framework on exchange rate determination.     

From Decision to Run: The Moderating Role of Green Skepticism

This paper examines the impact of corporate ability, environmental attitude, and environmental knowledge on consumers’ purchase intentions, information seeking, and actual green purchase behavior; additionally, green skepticism is examined as a moderator of these relationships. A sample of Gokarn’s organic products consumers, in Tehran, is used. The structural model is examined by the partial least squares approach by using Smart PLS 2.0 software. The findings suggest that environment attitude and corporate ability are the main factors in building green purchase intentions and information seeking, while environmental knowledge is not a significant predictor. The results show that green skepticism has a significant moderation impact on the relationship between corporate ability and environmental knowledge, and information seeking.     

Technical regulations and specialization in international trade

It is widely acknowledged that while technical regulations can improve welfare and facilitate markets, they can also impede trade. The trade impeding effects of technical regulations are especially worrisome for developing countries: they frequently lack the human and capital resources necessary to satisfy technical measures, and thus are more likely to be excluded from markets by technical measures. This paper uses highly disaggregated US data on agricultural, mining and manufacturing imports to examine the impact of technical regulations on trade patterns. Using instrumental variables estimation to correct for the potential endogeneity of technical regulations, the analysis suggests that technical regulations substantially impinge on poor countries' exports: their weaker capacities to satisfy technical regulations lead them to specialize away from industries with heavier regulatory burdens.     

The extent and magnitude of formalin adulteration in fish sold in domestic markets of Bangladesh: a literature review

Bangladesh has been suffering from rampant food adulteration for the last few decades. Dishonest businessmen use formalin illegally as preservative to prevent spoilage and increase shelf‐life of fish. Prolonged consumption of formalin adulterated fish may cause serious health hazards (i.e. cancers) which lead to increased morbidity and mortality. The aim of the review was to examine the extent and magnitude of illegal formalin treatment in fish sold in domestic markets of Bangladesh. A systematic review was conducted using conventional databases and non‐conventional approaches to identify the relevant studies. Out of nine studies, eight confirmed the presence of formalin in fish collected from the markets of four main cities. Large and imported fishes were found to be mainly affected. Formalin adulterated fish was reported in seven studies. The fish were tested using a locally developed kit, and the amount of formalin treated fish ranged between 0.5 and 50%. Two other studies used the spectrophotometric method and reported specific formalin levels. The study conducted in Dhaka found mean levels of formalin to be 402.35 mg/kg in imported fishes and 118.60 mg/kg in local fishes which were much higher than the WHO recommended levels. In another study conducted in Mymensingh, formalin levels ranged between 1.4 and 7.3 mg/kg in both marketed and freshly caught pond fishes. The use of accurate, simple, specific and sensitive techniques is therefore highly recommended. The government and other agencies should address the issue as a priority basis by formulating effective policies and programs to safeguard the health of the public.     

A Consideration of Literature on Trust and Distrust as they Relate to Auditor Professional Scepticism

With a view to expanding the discussion on professional scepticism, and motivating a broader perspective in research undertaken with the aim of helping auditors meet ongoing demands for an elevated level of professional scepticism, we consider the literature on trust and distrust as it relates to auditor professional scepticism. We draw on literature from a range of disciplines, and highlight new opportunities and previously unidentified challenges in helping auditors exercise an elevated level of professional scepticism. We distinguish between trust and distrust and note that the issue of professional scepticism is likely to be as much about auditors being insufficiently distrusting as it is about auditors being overly trusting. A number of potentially fruitful means by which professional scepticism might be enhanced are highlighted but we also encourage caution in that lower levels of trust in management, and increased distrust in management, may have unintended negative consequences.     

Ranking the strategic actions of Iran mobile cellular telecommunication using two models of fuzzy QFD

Mobile cellular telecommunication success in target markets first requires ranking the customer’s expectations and then prioritizing the engineering characteristics (ECs) to meet the expectations. In this paper, two prioritization models based on quality function deployment (QFD) are developed to rank the strategic actions (SAs), or the ECs of Iran mobile cellular telecommunication. QFD is a widely used customer-driven tool for which the success of its applications may be the result of some of its benefits, such as greater customer focus. It uses a matrix called House of Quality (HOQ) to translate Customer Attributes (CAs) into ECs. However, due to the high degree of subjectivity in constructing the HOQ, the application of fuzzy logic provides an efficient tool to handle the subjective assessments. On the other hand, taking into consideration the gap between the current state and the positive ideal state for each CA, TOPSIS is used to rank CAs in a first model. In addition, in a second model, using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), more criteria are taken into consideration in ranking CAs. Also, a fuzzy utility factor, B_j, is used to rank SAs in both models. Both presented models have the ability to capture the vagueness of human thinking style, and let customer oriented organizations, such as MCI, derive benefits from the voice of the customer (VOC) in a more expressive way.