SOCIAL SECURITY AND THE POOR: Choices for Developing Countries

There is an urgent need to provide an effective safety net forthe poorest in societies ranging from socialist countries undergoingreform to Sub-Saharan African economies. This article examinessocial security systems in industrial countries and explorestheir relevance to developing countries. The objective of socialsecurity is defined broadly as public action, including thatby communities, to protect the poor and vulnerable from adversechanges in living standards. Relevant instruments include employmentand income guarantees, and also such formal policy instrumentsas assistance, social insurance, and family allowances. Thearticle highlights issues that arise in providing social securityin developing countries, particularly its effectiveness in protectingthe target groups.      

Analysing customers' reviews and ratings for online food deliveries: A text mining approach

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between online reviews and ratings through text mining and empirical techniques. An Indian food delivery portal ( Zomato.com ) was used, where 50 restaurants on Presence Across Nation (PAN) basis were selected through stratified random sampling. A total of 2530 reviews were collected, scrutinized, and analysed. Using the NVivo software for qualitative analysis, seven themes were identified from collected reviews, out of which, the ‘delivery’ theme was explored further for identifying sub-themes. Linear regression modelling was used to identify the variables affecting delivery ratings and sentiment analysis was also performed on the identified sub-themes. Regression results revealed that hygiene and pricing (delivery subthemes) demonstrated lower delivery ratings. These variables can be established as indicators for restaurants and related online food delivery services to build their business model around them. Similarly, negative sentiments were observed in pricing and hygiene sub-themes. Restaurants and online food services can enhance hygiene levels of their food delivery process in order to receive higher delivery ratings. Similarly, pricing of food items can be modified such that customers are not deterred from ordering the items—food and ordering service do not become cost-prohibitive. This study devised a standardized methodology for analysing vast amounts of online user-generated content (UGC). Findings from this study can be extrapolated to other sectors and service industries such as, tourism, cleaning, transportation, hospitals and engineering especially during the pandemic.     

Commodity price stabilization and the developing countries

Discussions on the development problems of commodity producing countries have been dominated by proposals for stabilizing world prices of commodities, in particular via the establishment of a “Common Fund” within the framework of UNCTAD’s Integrated Program for Commodities. Professor Ahmad argues that price instability is, however, merely a symptom of other, underlying problems, and outlines the implications of this for development policy.     

Bankers’ perception towards Bai Salam method for agriculture financing in Pakistan

Islamic banking is planning to increase its market share up to 12 per cent of the total banking sector in Pakistan by 2012, as compared to its current market share of 5.6 per cent. This article collected the bankers’ views towards agriculture financing under the Islamically acceptable mode – Bai Salam (forward sale agreements of crop). It further compared agriculture financing under Islamic and interest-based financial systems. Overall, findings from this article are that bankers at large are confused about the application mechanism of Bai Salam contracts mainly because of improper land record maintained by the Revenue Department, widespread illiteracy and current government policy of issuing a single loan against each passbook (property record). The article presents recommendations that can be useful for the financial institutions not only in developing effective monitoring mechanisms, but also in minimizing financial losses.     

Firm Adaptation,Preadaptation, and Sequential Ambidexterity in Firm Boundaries During an Era of Ferment and an Era of Incremental Change

We explore the relation between firms’ internal skills and knowledge from past applications and the mechanism they use to adapt during an era of ferment and then to an era of incremental change in a new technological domain. We extend current research on incumbent firms’ success at facing radical technological change by studying dynamic firm boundaries of incumbents within the industry along a new technological trajectory. We use the concepts of problem, search, and solution from the knowledge‐based view and foundational view of knowledge recombination to develop our theoretical framework. We propose that preadapted firms—the ones with accumulated internal skills and knowledge from past applications that prove relevant by chance to the new technological domain—are more likely to choose internal technology sourcing during an era of ferment (than nonpreadapted firms). Subsequently, firms that choose internal sourcing during an era of ferment are more likely (than firms that source externally) to choose external sourcing during an era of incremental change leading to greater market acceptance for their innovation. Analysis of a longitudinal data set of 161 U.S. banks provides support for our hypotheses. The findings of this study indicate an important temporal dependency between internal and external sourcing, thus contributing to the sequential ambidexterity literature. Our theoretical framework provides support to the foundational view of knowledge recombination and contributes to the knowledge‐based view of the firm.     

Service firms and customer loyalty programs: a regulatory fit perspective of reward preferences in a health club setting

In this paper, we examine the impact of various configurations of regulatory fit on the attitudes, exercise intentions and actual behavior of members of a health club loyalty program. Regulatory fit is conceptualized as both the match between types of program rewards and how they are communicated, as well as the congruence between reward types and regulatory focus as a stable, individual disposition. In two experimental designs, non-point reward programs offering a short-term cash bonus were used. The results of Study 1 suggest that regulatory fit has a positive impact on perceived value, exercise intentions and exercise intensity, but not on visit frequency. Analysis of repeated behavioral measures further reveals that regulatory fit has a stronger impact on exercise intensity over time relative to nonfit. Study 2 also confirms the predictive power of regulatory fit over nonfit when conceptualized as the match between reward type and trait regulatory focus.