Finance-growth nexus in China revisited: New evidence from principal components and ARDL bounds tests

This article re-examines the finance-growth nexus in China using principal components analysis and ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration. The results suggest that principal components have an effective role in examining the links between growth and financial development and, that financial development fosters economic growth.     

Financial liberalization and firms’ capital structure adjustments evidence from Southeast Asia and South America

This paper investigates the impact of financial liberalization on the adjustment of debt ratios in 12 emerging markets using firm-level data from 1991 to 2004. The results support the central hypothesis of this paper that adjustment costs are important in explaining firms’ adjustment toward their debt ratio targets. Our results show that deviations from targets are halved within 1.09 years in South America and 1.19 years in Southeast Asia, suggesting speed of adjustment is relatively faster in South American countries than Southeast Asian countries. Furthermore, our results show that after full liberalization those countries where rule of law and creditors rights were properly enforced, firms had higher adjustment speed compared to those countries where such enforcement was not present.The estimated adjustment coefficients imply that on average firms’ adjustment speeds have increased in all South American countries over the period of financial liberalization. On the contrary, firms’ adjustment speeds did not increase in Southeast Asian countries, reflecting the uneven effect of liberalization on the firms’ financing behaviour in Asian countries. There was a significant reduction in time (in years) taken to half the gap between actual debt ratios and targets only in Pakistan and South Korea. This finding supports the idea of uncertain impact of financial liberalization programs on the domestic financial markets in those emerging markets which started opening up their market and integrating with the rest of the world latter than others. These findings have significant implications for the sequence of banking sector liberalization in the emerging markets.     

Enterprise systems’ life cycle in pursuit of resilient smart factory for emerging aircraft industry: a synthesis of Critical Success Factors’(CSFs), theory,knowledge gaps,and implications

The research aims to investigate business value critical success factors (CSFs) of enterprise systems (ES) through their life cycle in pursuit of resilient smart factory for emerging aircraft industry. This article provides an extensive literature analysis of past 22 years based on conscientious criteria of authors: (i) who have published strategic content relevant to CSFs, (ii) received more than 300 citations and (iii) concurrently published two or more papers relevant to ES CSFs. The most cited strategic CSFs were termed as classical CSFs. The 22 CSFs were identified, validated and synthesised for better understanding of success across life cycle by aircraft industry experts. The top 10 empirically verified CSFs have numerous differences with past generic classical CSFs. This article canvases real insights of two distinct views: process and variance approaches of the ES CSFs. The process approach, which is a neglected research area, facilitates the researchers for identification of ES life cycle process coupled with a view of resource deployment when it is needed the most. While the variance approach facilitates practitioners and researchers in finding out which resource (CSF) is relatively more important. The significant findings for ES life cycle can help the practitioners and researchers to make rational decisions throughout the ES life cycle.     

The paradox of development in the middle east

At a time of rapid change in the Middle East, the enforcement of Western models of development has eroded traditional Islamic values and undermined Muslims' confidence in themselves and their cultural heritage. The Islamic idea of development cannot be reduced to any of the models prevailing in the West, which are based on concepts of progress and evolution alien to the Islamic worldview. Middle Easterners need to reconstruct an Islamic concept of development rooted in their own cultural values and reflecting the historical development of Islam. Islamic traditions provide a set of political precepts with universal implications, and Islam can make an important contribution to an integrative world order.     

TAX AND SAVINGS IMPLICATIONS OF THE CANADIAN REGISTERED RETIREMENT SAVINGS PLANS

This paper shows that the net effective tax rate on the Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) in Canada has not been inflation non-neutral because of the combination of the non-neutrality of various sources of retirement income and the progressivity of the personal tax system. The paper also shows that although the RRSPs provide some tax arbitrage opportunities, these opportunities in Canada are limited due to the non-tax-deductibility of interest on mortgage and consumer credits. Finally, on theoretical grounds, the paper argues that the RRSPs may not have provided any incentives for personal savings in Canada.     

The Impact of Innovativeness and Development Time on New Product Performance for Small Firms

Timing is becoming a new source of competitive advantage. The business press extols the benefits of faster product development. This paper examines whether competitive advantage can be gained by reducing development time across all types of new products or whether this advantage is restricted to certain types of new products. It proposes that product innovativeness moderates the relationship between development time and initial market performance. A survey of 110 small manufacturing firms in computer related industries supports the hypothesis. The survey findings indicate that a firm must guard against over- or under-development of the new product since product innovativeness was found to influence the impact of development time on market performance. The implications for managers are: beware of bringing a new product that is too much, too early or too little, too late.     

Agricultural productivity and natural resource use in southern Africa

This paper examines the natural resource status of southern Africa and analyzes the critical linkages between the performance of southern African agriculture and natural resource use patterns. The implication of on-going natural resource use trends on poverty, food insecurity, and environmental degradation are also analyzed. The challenges that must be addressed including, how best to intensify agricultural production, the types of technologies to promote and the imperatives of production efficiency and intra-regional trade are examined. The paper concludes with some suggestions on how best to proceed in the future to be able to successfully address the challenges identified.     

The Worldwide Movement in Private Universities: Revolutionary Growth in Post-Secondary Higher Education

The end of the Cold War, which resulted from the collapse of communism and the spread of free market ideas in the former Soviet Union, China, and nations in Eastern Europe, has brought about many dramatic and momentous changes on the world scene. One remarkable development not widely recognized outside specialized academic circles is the emergence of new institutions of higher learning in the private sector of previously command economies and also in many developing countries that had been wedded to a culture of socialism for decades. The “privatization” of higher education is by all accounts a global phenomenon. Very few systematic studies of these new trends in private post‐secondary education exist to date, although the impact of this development could be far‐reaching not only for higher education but also for the social and economic development of many societies in the world. In this paper we attempt to analyze the phenomenon of new private universities in non‐Western nations, focusing on the developing world in general, and Asia in particular. What missions have these institutions chosen? Which models are these institutions following? What challenges do they face? How are they coping with their relationship to existing public universities? How are they dealing with tuition and budgetary issues? What sources of funding are they tapping into? How are they dealing with issues of equity, excellence, and access? In the composition of their faculty, student body, and curriculum, are these institutions sufficiently international? How are the funding institutions and universities in the West helping these fledgling universities? Are these trends expected to accelerate in the future? We attempt to answer these questions within the context of a few case studies that reflect the breadth and diversity of this revolutionary growth in post‐secondary higher education.     

Sources of support and expatriation: a multiple stakeholder perspective of expatriate adjustment and performance in Malaysia

This research tests the role of perceived support from multinational corporations and host-country nationals for the adjustment of expatriates and their spouses while on international assignments. The investigation is carried out with matched data from 134 expatriates and their spouses based in foreign multinationals in Malaysia. The results highlight the different reliance on support providers that expatriates and their accompanying spouses found beneficial for acclimatizing to the host-country environment. Improved adjustment in turn was found to have positive effects on expatriates' performance. The research findings have implications for both international human resource management researchers and practitioners.