Technological and Environmental Differences in the European Banking Industries

This paper analyzes the productive differences of banking among countries. It proposes a Malmquist type index that allows intercountry productivity differences to be broken down into pure technological differences and differences due to environmental effects. The most relevant feature of this index is its symmetry, since it avoids the problem of measurements being sensitive to the choice of the benchmark country. This index is used to explain the productivity gaps of banking industries across four major countries in Europe as well as the productivity gains that banks could obtain using alternative technologies or with different environments. An output distance function is defined and the stochastic frontier approach used to carry out the comparison.     

Strategy for Implementation of IFAC International Education Guideline No. 9: Prequalification Education, Tests of Professional Competence and Practical Experience of Professional Accountants: A Task Force Report of the International Association for Accounting Education and Research (IAAER)

This paper provides strategies for implementing the recommendations of the International Education Guideline No. 9 (hereafter referred to as Guideline), issued by the International Federation of Accountants. The three principal implementation issues addressed in this paper are as follows. (1) How to instill the characteristics of lifelong learning in future professional accountants through accounting education. (2) How to design and implement a program of accounting education that achieves the objectives of the Guideline . (3) How to develop awareness and encourage adoption of the recommendations of the Guideline by communicating and disseminating information through a series of projects within IFAC's constraints and policies.     

An analysis of recruitment,training and retention practices in domestic and multinational enterprises in the country of Brunei Darussalam

This paper studies the behavioural differences in the recruitment, training and retention practices of domestic enterprises (DEs) versus multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the country of Brunei Darussalam. Hypotheses from literature survey predict MNEs to be more stringent in their recruitment and training and rigourous with promotion practices. Results show this is to be largely true. MNEs are found to be more rigourous in recruitment and place more emphasis on such traits as candidates' ‘devotion to task’, ‘self-motivation’ and ‘independent judgement’. MNEs were found to rely more on internal appointments. MNEs place more emphasis on training; they also emphasise a stronger work culture by relying on ‘induction by socialisation’ and ‘buddy system for mentoring’. When analysed by age, older firms were found to place more importance on language and commitment. They also rely on training via the buddy system and on external appointments for senior posts. Large firms place emphasis on employees' willingness to travel and on work experience in other countries as the main recruitment criteria. Large firms also believe in external appointments for senior positions. The study, which is one of few of its kind conducted in non-Western environment, and the only one in the context of Brunei, adds to our understanding of human resource practices in the context of two different genres of enterprises and has implications for future research.     

The role of strategic HR practices in organisational effectiveness: an empirical investigation in the country of Jordan

This study responds to the call of researchers, and is conducted in a non-western context in the country of Jordan. The study contributes to our understanding of human resource (HR) practices' impact on organisational effectiveness. The empirical analysis is based on theoretical prepositions that motivated employees through good HR practices stay longer and contribute positively to the overall financial performance of organisations. Rigorous statistical testing of the data on the population of financial firms shows that careful recruitment and selection, training and internal career opportunities have a positive impact on reducing employee turnover. Training, in particular, is found to have a strong positive impact on financial performance measured by return on assets and return on equity. Furthermore, the findings provide strong support for the direct approach in strategic HR management–performance research that a group of best HR practices will continuously and directly generate superior performance. Despite such compelling arguments, however, we did not find evidence to support the notion that a bundle of HR practices impact better on financial performance than individual HR practices. It is possible that the optimal configuration may not only be contingent on national context, but could be due to the sector and the specific characteristics of the firm.     

Gender differences in Egyptian consumers’ green purchase behaviour: the effects of environmental knowledge,concern and attitude

This study investigates the influence of three cognitive and attitudinal factors on gender differences in green purchase behaviour. Using a large sample size (n = 1093), a survey has been developed and administered across Egypt. The findings from the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) confirm the influence of consumers’ ecological knowledge, concern and attitude on gender differences in green purchase behaviour. Consistent with previous studies, this study found that women appeared to be less aware of environmental issues compared with men. However, contrary to other studies conducted in the West, men showed more environmental concern and more positive outlook towards green purchase compared with women. The study discusses how the present findings may help policy makers and marketers alike to fine‐tune their environmental and marketing programmes.     

The effects of human resources management practices on the organizational performances of Canadian financial co-operatives

Reading through academic literature with a critical eye shows that the relation between human resources management (HRM) and the performance of the firm is a relatively unknown phenomenon. This relation is sometimes described as a "black box". Far from claiming to have closed the debate, this article sets forth an original approach that represents an undisputable input which allows a better understanding of this phenomenon.
Even if there are many theories that try to explain this relation, only the universalistic approach of human resources will be of interest. While using both a qualitative and a quantitative approach, our research shows that some HRM practices do seem to give a competitive advantage to Canadian financial co-operative enterprises.     

Effects of trade liberalization on domestic prices: Some evidence from Tunisian manufacturing

This paper presents estimates of the competitive effects of trade liberalization on domestic pricing behaviour of Tunisian manufacturing industries. The theoretical framework is based on a dynamic flexible adjustment model of price determination in a small open economy. It investigates the process of adjustment in price level toward a desired level. The adjustment process is both industrial and time-specific. The empirical results show that, in the long run, domestic price responds greatly to import penetration, followed by demand pressure. There was a negative effect from import competition on domestic price. Trade policy is a viable policy option to promote competitiveness. (JEL: C33, E31, F14, L60)     

Dynamic Law Enforcement with Learning

This article modifies a standard model of law enforcement toallow for learning by doing. We incorporate the process of enforcementlearning by assuming that the agency's current marginal costis a decreasing function of its past experience of detectingand convicting. The agency accumulates data and information(on criminals, on opportunities of crime), enhancing the abilityof future apprehension at a lower marginal cost. We focus onthe impact of enforcement learning on optimal compliance rules.In particular, we show that the optimal fine could be less thanmaximal and the optimal probability of detection could be higherthan otherwise. It is also suggested that the optimal imprisonmentsentence could be higher than otherwise.     

Modeling preference evolution in discrete choice models: A Bayesian state-space approach

We develop discrete choice models that account for parameter driven preference dynamics. Choice model parameters may change over time because of shifting market conditions or due to changes in attribute levels over time or because of consumer learning. In this paper we show how such preference evolution can be modeled using hierarchial Bayesian state space models of discrete choice. The main feature of our approach is that it allows for the simultaneous incorporation of multiple sources of preference and choice dynamics. We show how the state space approach can include state dependence, unobserved heterogeneity, and more importantly, temporal variability in preferences using a correlated sequence of population distributions. The proposed model is very general and nests commonly used choice models in the literature as special cases. We use Markov chain monte carlo methods for estimating model parameters and apply our methodology to a scanner data set containing household brand choices over an eight-year period. Our analysis indicates that preferences exhibit significant variation over the time-span of the data and that incorporating time-variation in parameters is crucial for appropriate inferences regarding the magnitude and evolution of choice elasticities. We also find that models that ignore time variation in parameters can yield misleading inferences about the impact of causal variables. This paper is based on the first author's doctoral dissertation.