The Ethics of Blockchain in Organizations

Journal of Business Ethics - Blockchain is an open digital ledger technology that has the capability of significantly altering the way that people operations (i.e. human resource management)...     

Tax Rebate and Dividend Payout in Bangladesh

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the introduction of 20% tax rebate in 2002 for certain firms on the dividend policy of firms potentially qualifying for this rebate in Bangladesh. A balanced panel data set of 63 non-financial firms of Bangladesh for 14 （1998-2011） years from the Dhaka stock exchange is used for this purpose Newey-West estimator is used to estimate a logit model and the specified model uses binary values of 0 and 1 to identify if it met the tax rebate threshold. The explanatory variables are finn size, log of market value to face value ratio and profitability. A dummy variable was used to separate the pre-rebate period （2003 and before） from post-rebate period （after 2003）. The dummy variable turned out to be insignificant indicating that introduction of the tax rebate had no impact on dividend policy of qualifying firms.     

Towards an integrated model for the transference of environmental responsibility

This research explores how environmental responsibility transfers to others. Although environmental responsibility is one of the most debated topics in environmental management literature, a framework describing how a teacher's environmental responsibility shapes the student's environmental responsibility is still lacking. Adopting emotional contagion theory as a lens, the paper addresses this issue via the mediation of emotional contagion and the moderation of a teacher's environmental concern. Based on a survey of teachers and students (N = 283) conducted in Pakistan, our findings provide evidence that a teacher's environmental responsibility can better transfer to students via emotional contagion. Additionally, our data establish that the transference of environmental responsibility from teachers to students via emotional contagion is more effective when the teacher has a high level of environmental concern than when he or she has a low level of environmental concern. Finally, the authors discuss the implications for policy in detail.     

Upcoming picture of ageing population: Pakistan

Ageing of population may have its implications at individual, family, community and economic level. This paper explains how ageing population will behave in the future based on projection assumptions. Future prospects and issues are identified and categorized alongwith relevance of ageing population trend examined in a survey. The findings demonstrate that ageing population of Pakistan will increase in the forthcoming years. Among several reasons for increase in ageing population, the most important is decline in death rate. The overall sex ratio indicates a better coverage of female in coming decades. For the next 50 years, the life expectancy may rise to 70.7 years. The old age dependency ratio may also increase in the times to come. Married elderly females may be less in number as compared to married elderly males. The high prevalence of other-than-married elderly females deserves special consideration in policy-making and planning. There exists much variation in the literacy rate of both elderly male and female. As the study reflects future pattern of ageing population, its findings may be of interest for researchers and practitioners.     

Cash Flow Estimation and Cost of Capital for Overseas Projects

Several issues concerning foreign project evaluation are critically examined. The paper suggests that the point of view for analysis, cost of capital and cash flow estimation be internally consistent. Three points of views of analysis, local, global, and parent specific, are identified and various inconsistencies in the estimation of the initial outlay and project cash flows are identified. The elimination of the inconsistencies is discussed. It is argued that the treatment of blocked funds is relevant only from the parent specific point of view. A number of alternatives for the estimate of the terminal value is also suggested. The differences between the parent specific point of view and the global and local views are sharply drawn. An integrated scheme is also presented to underscore the need for consistency in evaluating foreign investments.     

Strategic Role of Technological Self-Reliance in Development Management

Thanks to technological advancements, every society — throughout the world — is now better off than before. Although this is true for all societies considered in an aggregate manner, within each society and between different societies, the relative gaps in prosperity are increasing. Reversing these gaps is the most important challenge for human development in the twenty-first century. A thorough scrutiny of the causes for the observed negative trends would indicate that technological gap is at the root of all. Success stories clearly tell us that technological capacity building is the best foundation for any meaningful economic growth that leads to a higher standard of living and greater prosperity for the citizens of a country. Moreover, technology-based creative problem solving and the ability to manage technological innovation are essential prerequisites for the success of contemporary business executives operating in the competitive globalized market environment. Paying attention to these lessons is the call of the day for any developing country government as well as for the business executives of that country. This article discusses the strategic role of technological self-reliance in development management, in terms of what we have learned so far and where we should be going, so as to reverse the widening technological capacity gap between the developed and developing countries.     

Binomial innovation diffusion models with dynamic potential adopter population

Models for describing the time pattern of the diffusion processes for innovations are used by researchers in various disciplines. These models are in general binomial models—binomial in the sense that they focus their attention on two causal variables: 1) that part of the population who have already adopted the innovation, and 2) the rest of the population who are potential adopters. However, these models have a serious limitation in that the potential adopter population is assumed to remain constant over time. This paper presents some modified binomial innovation diffusion models that incorporate dynamic potential adopter populations. Moreover, the developed models are applied to some case studies, and their superiority in forecasting the time pattern of diffusion is also included in this presentation.     

Project evaluation framework for industrial technology capacity enhancement

There is an increasing trend for interconnections between all nations of the world owing to the widespread globalization of industrial production, inputs sourcing and outputs marketing. A further reason is the raised awareness of global consequences, resulting from natural resources depletion and apparently localized environmental degradation activities by industries. Much of this ever-growing and complex interdependence has been possible as a result of a host of unprecedented technologial achievements in the past few deades, which have enabled industrial enterprises in developed countries to accomplish an increased degree of flexibility, through automated manufacturing, to combine economies of sale, through process standardization, with economies of scope, through product differentiation, and to acheive quicker response times to customers7apos; prefernces and market demands. Simultaneously, in most developing countries, there is also an observable undercurrent of deregulation, privatization or corporatization, and open international market competition for industrial development. In this present era of new internationalism, technology management has become one of the main strategic priorities, because it provides the vital factor underpinning the survival and prosperity of industrial enterprises everywhere. Hence, given the recognition that the key competitive advantage in the international market-place nowadays is the ability of an enterprise continuously to introduce technological innovations faster than others, the need for endogenous technology capacity building can hardly be overmphasized. This paper presents a general framework for the development of a set of technology indicators which could be useful for assesing industrial investment projects funded by an international or national development finance institutino. The framework attempts to integrate business and technology strategies particularly in the context of developing countries. Starting with consideration of the unique characteristics of technolgoy at the firm level, and using a systems analysis approach to the market structure, possible strategic mixed are determined by considering four business stratetgies—price, value, niche and green leadership—and four technology strategies—technology leader, follower, exploiter and extender. The necessary considerations for a technological capability enhancement and palusible technology strategy rogression path are also discussed for different development conditions. The analytical measures presented in this paper are focused on such important aspects as the degree of technology component sophistication, the level of technology capability advancement, the status of technology infrasturcture building, and the dynamism of technology climate, all of which could be used for investment project review and appraisal undertaken by iunternational and national development finance institutions.     

The legal framework and initiatives for promoting safety in the United Arab Emirates

Injury is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE is a rapidly developing country with fast economic growth, demographical and environmental changes that are associated with new hazards emerging at a similar pace. The UAE as a federal entity has federal and local systems responsible for safety policy, regulations and enforcement. To set priorities for safety promotion and injury prevention, it is necessary to have data on the most frequent external causes of injury and the main individual, equipment and environmental risk factors that contribute to injury. However good quality data for injury prevention are scarce. The aim of this paper is to describe the scale of injury as a public health problem in the UAE, and the development of safety policies, regulations and promotion efforts with special emphasis on traffic, occupational and child safety.     

Twenty‐eight years of business strategy and the environment research: A bibliometric analysis

The competitive academic climate of all the academic fields, including business strategy, puts great stress to publish. To effectively maneuver the field of business strategy and the environment, all the stakeholders, such as academicians and practitioners, must understand the current position of the theory and practice. A systematic bibliometric analysis of a top tier journal can serve this issue by providing a holistic view of the publications' trends and trajectories. This study analyzes the trend of publication in the Business Strategy and the Environment (BSE) Journal since its inception in 1992 to 2019. The study uses two procedures to analyze the bibliometric data collected from the Scopus database. First, we use different aspects such as citation and publication structure to estimate the evolution of the BSE; second, we use VOS viewer software to visualize the mapping of BSE based on co‐citation, bibliographic coupling (BC), and co‐occurrence (CC). The results show a gradual increase in the citation and publication structure of the BSE. The increase in publications and citations indicates BSE's growing stature as a key academic outlet advancing knowledge in business strategy and environmental sustainability research. This study contributes to the literature by identifying the most influential aspects of the journal, which would help researchers to understand the trends and focus of the BSE.