亚洲发展中国家现代化发展的路径选择与比较——以中国、印度、沙特为考察对象

儒家文化、印度文化和伊斯兰文化构成了亚洲东方文化的主体。在这三大文化圈中,中国、印度和沙特阿拉伯无疑是各自文化圈中最具代表性的国家,从地域上也都是区域性的大国。它们的发展道路的选择和效用在各自区域内都具有明显的示范效应。在迈向现代化的征途中,中国、印度、沙特因现实国情和历史各异,致使实现现代化的方式和选择的社会发展道路存在着明显差别,各具特色。     

Petromin: The slow death of statist oil development in Saudi Arabia

The paper recounts the history of Saudi Arabia's first national oil company, Petromin, which was originally supposed to take the place of foreign-owned Aramco. As a result of Petromin's inefficiency and personal rivalries among the Saudi elite, however, Petromin was progressively relegated to the sidelines in favour of a gradually ‘Saudiised’ Aramco. As a result, the organisation of the Saudi oil sector today is very different from – and more efficient than – that of most other oil exporters in the developing world. The paper concludes with a tentative taxonomy of national oil companies, based on the circumstances of nationalisation.     

An evaluation of the red-light camera programme in the city of Dammam,the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

This study evaluated the effectiveness of red-light cameras in Dammam, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Two methods were used to assess changes in crash risk at the intersections at which the red-light camera programme had been operating. Geospatial analysis was used to visualize trends in road crash density over the geographical region of Dammam and a pre--post-camera crash analysis was undertaken. The distribution of injury crashes was greater than that of crashes which included property damage, the latter of which was concentrated around central Dammam. The five red-light cameras installed in 2012 were located outside areas of high-crash and injury density, and the total number of crashes reported in the three-month periods after installation was double that before the cameras were installed. This increase in the number of crashes also occurred at the five comparison sites (without red-light cameras), indicating a null effect. The findings from this study are contrary to previous evaluations of speed management programmes associated with red-light cameras. The study highlights the challenges in obtaining data for such research and illustrates that a reliance on overt, fixed camera's to manage speed is unlikely to deliver significant reductions in road trauma.     

The appraisal of ordinary shares by Saudi investors

This paper reports on a questionnaire survey about share valuation practices among investors and their intermediaries in Saudi Arabia. The findings suggest that fundamental analysis is used most by investor respondents where a P/E multiple is applied to an earnings forecast to generate a prediction of future price. However, technical analysis is also used to a much greater extent than in developed markets. Finally, the results indicate that quarterly and annual reports as well as newspapers are widely consulted by investors when forming their expectations about share valuations.     

沙特地区的海外项目管理浅谈

结合项目管理过程中的切身体会,对沙特地区的海外项目管理进行分析和阐述。     

Barriers to Franchising in Saudi Arabia

Franchising has rapidly grown in Saudi Arabia since 2005, yet a small number of the large companies dominate the market with mostly foreign brands. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the barriers that Saudi small and medium enterprises and startups face when striving to become franchisors or franchisees. These barriers are investigated through the use of semi-structured interviews with people who belong to the franchise community either as administrators, franchise committee members, franchise developers, franchisees–franchisors, or prospective franchisees and franchisors. The results of this study show that there are several barriers standing against using franchising as a mode of expansion and investment by small and medium enterprises and startups, such as lack of legal, financial, institutional, marketing, development, and educational services support, and other key factors related to international franchisors' preferences and domestic franchising.     

Labor and behavior determinants of remittances in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is the second largest sender of international remittances. These remittances constitute large foreign capital inflows to labor‐exporting remittee economies. This study is the first to structurally decompose remittance dynamics into behavioral and labor market outcomes of migrants. Remittance outflows are decomposed into migrant labor supply, unemployment and participation rates, wage earnings, and the marginal propensity to remit (MPR) out of migrant earnings. The estimates suggest that migrant labor supply is highly elastic. The important driver of remittance dynamics is the MPR, migrant wages, and the labor supply of migrants. The MPR is found to respond counter‐cyclically to foreign gross domestic product.     

Joint audits and mutual ties of audit firm networks

There has been a lively debate following the 2007 financial crisis regarding the role of joint audits. Prior research argues that joint audits may improve audit quality because of shared audit efforts. However, empirical evidence has been inconclusive. To gain insight into how Big 4 audit firm imprimaturs have become a source of legitimacy in the audit industry, this article investigates how audit networks drive the audit industry in Saudi Arabia. Based on the application of quantitative and qualitative research methods, we conclude that the Big 4 audit firms have strong mutual ties, but ties with other local and international audit firms are weak. We also find the oligopolistic nature of the Big 4 audit firms and international audit firms. Specifically, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PwC, and PKF are controlling over 68% of the audit market. Interviews with accounting professionals suggest that several benefits of joint audits exist, but certain additional costs are also implicated. Our findings are particularly relevant for regulators and local and international policymakers in rethinking and evaluating the appropriateness of either the mandatory or voluntary nature of joint audits in developing countries.     

Does Faith Matter in Mutual Funds Investing? Evidence from Saudi Arabia

This article investigates one of the most vital issues in the Islamic mutual fund literature: Are there any costs associated with investing in Islamic mutual funds? We used a unique sample of 143 Saudi mutual funds and grouped them into portfolios based on their geographical focus, Shariah compliance, and the Saudi market trend (overall, bull, bear, and the crisis period). Findings suggest there is a benefit from adhering to Shariah law in locally-focused Saudi mutual funds. However, there is a cost of this adherence in internationally-focused Saudi mutual funds. Finally, in Arab-focused Saudi mutual funds, there is neither a cost nor a benefit.     

Anticipated nurses' turnover in public hospitals in Saudi Arabia

This study sought to examine anticipated turnover among nurses in Saudi hospitals, and the effect of work environment, organizational factors and personal variables on turnover intentions. A sample of 5423 nurses in 80 hospitals in 12 regions was surveyed. Significant differences in anticipated turnover were found based on nationality, education, salary, age, experience, gender and region. Predictors of anticipated turnover included work environment, organizational factors, personal variables and availability of alternative employment. Conclusion: Anticipated turnover in Saudi hospitals is a phenomenon worthy of attention, and a good part of this phenomenon is linked to the heavy reliance on expatriate labor.