International Journal of Business and Economic Development

Day of the week effect on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange: A non-linear GARCH analysis

• Abstract

  This study analysed the day of the week effect on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) by taking into account volatility of returns. The purpose of the study was to establish whether daily mean returns across a trading week differ from each other. We employ a non-linear approach in modelling the day of the week effects. In particular, we used the Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) and the Exponential GARCH (EGARCH) models. We used industrial and mining daily closing indices data from 19 February 2009 to 31 December 2013. The data was retrieved from the ZSE website. EViews 7 software was utilised for data analysis. In order to test the null hypothesis of equality of daily mean returns, a Wald test was carried out. The Wald F-statistic rejected the null hypothesis of equality of mean returns for the industrial index. We found the traditional negative Monday and positive Friday effect for the industrial index in GARCH (1,1) and EGARCH (1,1) models. The GARCH (1,1) detected a negative Friday effect and the EGARCH (1,1) detected negative Wednesday effect for the mining index. We found evidence of model dependency for the mining index results.

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Using empowerment theory in health promotion guided development the home for the elderly in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand

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  In 1986, the Ottawa Charter identified community empowerment as being a central theme of health promotion discourse. Community empowerment became a topical issue in health promotion literature. Examining two cases in the Home for the Elderly in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, study identifies actors, institutions and processes that provided health promotion for the elderly. The article deals with a range of opportunities and possibilities for optimizing care for elderly, both individual and group, through promoting their empowerment. Collaborative partnerships in community networks as well as in intergenerational interaction, these models demonstrate how care-givers, including the Home for the Elderly staff and university, are also empowered in these processes. These discussions reflecting empirical reality and conceptual insights provide the basis of health promotion policies. In addition, this article concludes with a discussion of the challenges and opportunities of facilitating empowerment for health and development.

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A comparative study on the financial performance between Islamic and conventional banks: Egypt case

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  There is no doubt that banks have significant position in the welfare of any economy. In the last few decades, Islamic banking sector was introduced. This new banking type has demonstrated a competitive position with the traditional conventional banks. It has acquired the interest in many countries and regions. Islamic banking system has accelerated its growth globally in terms of total assets and market share. Egypt is the birthplace for this new system, although, it is not taking a leading role in the implementation as well as the academic research. A summary of Islamic banking principles and instruments are introduced before going through the details of the empirical study to compare the financial performance of both types of banks. The focus of this research is to investigate the effect of the inter-bank factors along with the size of banks on the financial performance of these banks working in the Egyptian market. The research main aim is to perform a comparative analysis on the financial performance of both Islamic and conventional banks. Research analyses adopted in this study are descriptive, correlation and regression analyses to test the research hypotheses. Findings of this research provide evidence that some of the inter-bank factors found to have significant effect on the financial performance of these banks; however, no considerable differences between the two groups were found which suggests that bank type is not a significant variable and that conventional an

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Evidence of the overconfidence bias in the Egyptian stock market in different market states

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  Traditional finance theories fail to explain several anomalies observed in security markets. High levels of market turnover are among the most challenging market puzzles that have been documented in many security markets. Several studies assert the correlation between past market return and current market turnover. Behavioral finance theories assume that overconfidence bias is the reason behind this relation. Hence, this paper aims to study the impact of overconfidence – a behavioral bias stemming from the second building block of behavioral finance “cognitive psychology” and affecting traders’ beliefs and thereby their trading behavior in form of excessive trading. DeBondt and Tahler (1995). The study tests the overconfidence bias in the Egyptian Stock market during the period from 2002 till 2012 on the aggregate market level trough examining the relation between market returns and market turnover in different market states, seeking to document or deny whether overconfidence bias encourages investors to trade or not . The whole period is divided into four sub periods; two tranquil upward trending (2005-2005) and (2005-2008) and two volatile and down ward trending (financial crisis 2008-2010) and the (Egyptian Revolution Period 2010-2012) A quantitative research using secondary data and applying time series statistical techniques is designed. The research is following Statman et al. (2006) methodology. Time series analysis, which is based on four statistical techni

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Real Economic Convergence in Western Europe from 1995 to 2013

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  The aim of the paper is to analyze the economic convergence of real per capita GDP in the Western European countries with two types of measurement methodology. The first is sigma convergence, based on the coefficient of variation of real per capita GDP. The second is beta convergence, absolute/unconditional and conditional, including economic and socio-political variables, based on the neoclassical growth theory. The hypothesis of the paper is that there has been real economic convergence in Western Europe in at least one analyzed sub-period. The relationships between selected macroeconomic variables and the rate of economic growth are econometrically tested. Both sigma and beta convergence are estimated for the period 1995-2013 and four sub-periods: 1995-2003, 2004-2013, pre-crisis sub-period 2004-2008 and the crisis sub-period 2009-2013. The empirical findings support the hypothesis of economic convergence, i.e. that the poorer countries tend to grow faster than the rich ones in per capita terms, for some periods. However, the countries had a tendency to diverge, confiriming the negative effects of the crisis on per capita GDP growth. Sigma convergence is consistent with beta convergence. According to the results, the half-life of real convergence may take from 12 to 1078 years. Significant dissimilarities between the growth patterns among individual countries show the considerable heterogeneity of growth, i.e. the convergence clubs.

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Internationalisation Barriers of Small and Medium-sized Manufacturing Enterprises in Ethiopia: Leather and Leather Products Industry in Focus

• Abstract

  The purpose of this study was to examine internationalisation barriers of manufacturing SMEs operating in Leather and Leather Products Industry located in the capital city of Ethiopia. The small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) sector in Ethiopia is a significant group within the economy in terms of firm numbers and total employment. However, the SMEs sectors share of exports is disproportionately small, which raised considerable research concerns. Firm export propensity was the dependent variable and internal and external export barrier factors were used as explanatory variables. The study was conducted through mixed research design of quantitative survey and case study. From the population of manufacturing SMEs operating in the Leather and Leather products Industry, a sample was selected through the use of stratified random sampling to ensure the effective representation of the population of exporting and non-exporting SMEs in the capital of Ethiopia. In order to complement survey results nine (4 exporting and 5 non-exporting) SMEs were selected through critical case purposive sampling and an in-depth interviews were conducted. Statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS 20) was used to analyse the quantitative data whereas, qualitative data were analysed manually. Exploratory factor analysis with Varimax rotation and Binary logistic regression analysis are the analytical methods used. The statistical result showed that, logistics problem, insufficient finan

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Gauging Perceived Benefits from ‘Working from Home’ as a Job Benefit

• Abstract

  This paper covers working from home as an employee benefit and looks to gauge the advantages and disadvantages for both employees and employers. The focus is on employees that work from home on behalf of an employer, not self-employed individuals. The article reviews secondary research on working from home. The primary research included in this paper was conducted via anonymous online surveys. Respondents were assured of anonymity, and ranged in their functional roles. The survey included ranking questions, as well as freeform short answer questions. This primary research is not positioned to be statistically representative of all employees and employers. This primary research does reflect a gauge on perspectives on working from home as a job benefit. Ultimately the results suggest that employees hold a very positive perspective on working from home, however, more can be done to help ensure perceptions on workplace promotional opportunities remain consistent for employees that work in an office or for home. Research also suggests that the greatest challenge for managers remains a lack of trust in results from employees they cannot physically see in the same location. Managers will find driving their employees’ performance through clearly defined metrics which will improve the trust.

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Saudi Arabian Green Economy Infrastructure: Barriers, Strategies & Opportunity – An Analysis

• Abstract

  Saudi Arabia is finally catching up with the rest of the developed world in terms of environmental awareness. In the past, while much of the rest of the world spent its time pondering issues such as global warming, water, air, and soil pollution, over-exploitation of resources, and a myriad of other environmental concerns, the Saudi people and government seemed to be primarily focused on expanding their capital in a globalized economy. However, in 2015, for the first time, this trend began to show legitimate change. This new emphasis on environmental concerns has caused some interest and uproar, specifically in the economic sector. The research, therefore, concentrated on the barriers, strategies, and opportunities that might impede or encourage Saudi Arabia in its quest to develop a greener and more sustainable economic infrastructure. After carefully considering the available literature, data, and reliable statistics, the report concluded that, while change will be difficult and, possibly slow, Saudi Arabia should expect to see greener projects and initiatives transpiring in their homeland over the course of the next several years.

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Intuition in Decision Making Theoretical and Empirical Aspects

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  In an economy dominated by information and knowledge, analysis ceases to be the sole and sufficient source of knowledge. Managers seek alternative ways of obtaining and interpreting information and knowledge. Here, managerial intuitive potential begins to play an important role. The aim of this paper is to present the issue of intuition in decision making in both theoretical and empirical terms. The first part presents the essence of intuition and its role in management, especially in decision making. Then, the empirical part attempts to identify the intuitive potential of managers and the extent of its use in practical decision making. The case study method was used in order to achieve this goal. The analysis involved a Polish food company Favor that employs more than 300 workers. These literature and empirical studies in the area of intuition were conducted within the research project The impact of managerial intuitive potential on the effectiveness of decision making processes, financed by the National Science Centre, Poland (funds allocated on the basis of decision No. DEC-2014/13/D/HS4/01750)

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Factors of Economic growth in KSA An empirical analysis from 2000:2014

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  This paper aims to conduct analysis of the impact of Oil Revenue and its relationship with all factors that affect growth in domestic product and also focuses on investment opportunity and economic growth in Saudi Arabia which has made the country an increasingly attractive destination of investment for foreign investors.

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