INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS RESEARCH
Year:2012 | Volume:2 | Issue:1|Papers Count:7

In modern economics, Intellectual capital is described as an intangible asset which can be used as a source of sustainable competitive advantage. However, intellectual capital components have to interact with each other to create value. The paper aimed at examining the impact of intellectual capital on the market value and the financial performance of the firms. The efficiency of the value added by corporate intellectual ability (Value Added Intellectual Coefficient) was incorporated to measure the intellectual capital construct. The analyses were performed using data derived from the financial statements of 28 firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) during a four-year period from 2006 to 2009. Correlation and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regressions have been carried out on panel data to check the impact of intellectual capital on firms’ market value and financial performance. While the findings of the study failed to support most of the hypotheses it was shown that there was a statistically significant relationship between structure capital efficiency and financial performance (ROE, ROA). Despite the fact that intellectual capital has increasingly been recognized as an important strategic asset for sustainable corporate competitive advantages, the results of the present study raised new arguments and indicated the need for further research on the subject.

The purpose of this study was to explore the impacts of: knowledge management, senior managers, staff, technology, consensus, service customization, and integration, as the factors effecting Customer Relationship Management (CRM) implementation in Parsian International Hotels.In this study the population consisted of Parsian Hotels managers and experts. Due to their small number (n=53), census method of data gathering was used, that is, all individuals in the population were included in the study. To collect data a questionnaire was designed and its content validity was approved through confirmation of advisor and supervisor professors involved in this research and also considering Parsian Hotels senior managers’ views.The reliability of the questionnaire was examined and approved using Kronbach Alpha (a=0.84). After determining the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, it was administered to the participants who were selected through census method. The data was analyzed by SPSS software, and tested employing Kolmogorov-Smirnov, T-student techniques, and Friedman test. The results revealed a direct and significant relationship between CRM and 7 variables, and showed significant differences among the influence of various factors. Based on the results, the staff factor and the technology factor were the most and the least effective factors on CRM implementation, respectively.

Purpose: The present study examines the relationship between job related dimensions and job satisfaction of teaching staff of B-schools in India using Structure Equation Modeling (LISREL 8.5).Methodology: The study is based on a single cross-sectional survey. In all 310 responses were completed by the teachers of management institutes located in India. A self-administered questionnaire with items related to the study dimensions was employed for the study.Originality/Value: The study is unique in the sense that it is among the very few studies conducted in the context of management institutes in India. Improving job satisfaction is one of the most important ways to deal with attrition in organizations. Since there is an acute shortage of teaching staff in management institutes in India, the present study is both relevant and purposeful.Practical Implications: The results provide insights into the dynamics of job satisfaction. The findings also provide inputs to B-schools on how to handle issues related to teachers’ attrition which is a serious problem in India.Research limitations: Due to vast geographical expanse of India, the study was concentrated on a limited geographical region and limited sample.Results: The findings of the study indicated that there is a positive relationship among pay satisfaction, satisfaction with supervision, satisfaction with work-schedule flexibility and teachers’ job satisfaction. Promotion opportunities were not found to be an influential factor leading to teachers’ job satisfaction. In most Indian management institutes promotion is normally granted after a certain period of service and is not linked directly with performance as it is in the corporate sector.

Purpose: this paper aimed at finding the relationship between the numbers of purchase and the customer's income. The data mining tools were applied in the study to find those customers who bought more than one life insurance policy and represented the signs of good payments at the same time.Design/ methodology/ approach: in the present research the data mining tools were employed based on CRISPDM methodology. The K-means algorithm was used for classification and the prediction was based on a proposed formula in Excel worksheet.Findings: the researcher extracted some simple rules to predict customers’ clusters through selecting the customers who bought more than one policy and filtering the income- bringer customers as the companies would be able to use this prediction to change their strategies in relation to different customers.Originality/value: Utilizing data mining tools to classify different customers in life insurance and prediction based on the classification were new approaches of the study. There was not enough research and implementation in relation to the CRM and data mining in the insurance industry in Iran. Especially CRISP-DM methodology was not used extensively enough in a life insurance investigation.

This study presents an empirical evidence concerning the comparison of the dynamics of competitiveness in the creative and manufacturing industries. It investigated the impact of the economic crisis on the competitive behavior of those industries. The samples were 42 firms taken from 3 sub-sectors of the creative industries and 3 sub-sectors of the manufacturing industries listed in IDX from year 2004 until 2010. This study used industrial entropy index to measure competitive interactions intra industries. The results showed that the magnitude competitiveness interactionss in the manufacturing industries in average were similar to the competitiveness interactionss in the creative industries, however, the competitiveness interactionss of the creative industries were much more than the competitiveness dynamics in the manufacturing industries. This study also provided the evidence that after the crisis, the competitiveness of the creative industries increased sharply, however it was not the case in the manufacturing industries. Furthermore, this paper discussed the five sources of strengths affecting the dynamics of competitiveness in the creative industries and also gave some suggestions for futher studies in this area.

In addition to its primary role of providing financial protection for other industries the insurance industry also serves as a medium for fund mobilization. In spite of the harsh economic environment in Nigeria, the insurance industry has been crucial to the consummation of business plans and wealth creation. However, the continued downturn experienced by many countries, in the last decade, seems to have impacted negatively on the financial health of the industry, thereby rendering many insurance companies inherently distressed. Although there is a regulator to monitor the insurance companies in order to prevent insolvency and protect the right of consumers this oversight function has been made difficult because the regulators appeared to lack the necessary tools that would adequately equip them to perform their oversight functions. One such critical tool is a decision making model that provides early warning signal of distressed firms. This paper constructs an insolvency prediction model based on artificial neural network approach which could be used to evaluate the financial capability of insurance companies.

Singapore is known as the fastest growing telecommunications nation in Asia. Presently, all the members of the Singapore banking industry use the Information and Communication Technology as a platform for effective and efficient means of conducting their financial transactions. This paper focuses on determining the level of users' acceptance of the electronic banking services and investigating the factors that determine users’ behavioral intentions to use electronic banking systems in Singapore. The survey instrument employed involved design and administration of a total of 250 survey questionnaires within Singapore. An extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was developed as a conceptual framework to analyze the factors influencing users’ acceptance and intention to use electronic banking. The model employed Perceived Credibility (PC) and Customer Attitude (CA) as extensions to the two constructs for TAM model: Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) to better reflects the users’ views.