International Journal of Business and Economic Development

Using economic geography concepts, this paper compares four groups of investors to the conflict-affected region of Sri Lanka and critically analyses the key factors that are locking-in and locking-out investment, business development and employment creation. It argues that foreign/Diaspora investors were mostly being influenced by political and social factors, and thus far had not invested significantly in the region. Traders from the non-conflict-affected region of the country had benefitted the most due to opportunistic behaviour, their acceptance of the political realities and the short-term economic opportunities that had opened up. Large investors from outside the region, on the other hand, had either been disappointed with the economic situation or had invested due to a sense of social responsibility and long-term business prospects. Local SMEs within the conflict region were hit hard by the opening of the war-affected economy and have been unable to cope with the change. Political, economic, and social factors had all contributed to their unwillingness and inability to expand their businesses. The paper concludes that the climate for investment must be improved significantly by creating a strong path-creating environment and de-locking investment inhibiting factors. There must be better collaboration amongst different types of businesses and coordination amongst different stakeholders. If done well, enhanced investment and employment.

Like lot of countries, aggregate consumption constitutes a major portion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Egypt. Consumption decisions determine savings decisions. In long term growth literature, differences in long term growth had been explained to a large extent by differences in the rates of savings which also determine a country’s investment in productive capacity, human capital and socio-economic infrastructure. In this study, we analyse macroeconomic determinants of savings in Egypt using Ordinary multiple regression. Our results indicate that national savings rate is positively related with real GDP growth rate. This suggests that saving is a positive function of income. The evidence suggests that national savings rate is negatively related with federal debt growth and inflation. This hints towards crowding out of private sector investment through decline in savings rate as a result of government’s indebtedness. Finally, negative association between savings rate and inflation implies that the consumer is rational and makes decisions based on his perceptions when it comes to allocating the lifetime resources over the period of his life. Increase in inflation dampens the incentive to save and people respond rationally which is made evident by the negative sign on inflation coefficient in our model.

The objective of the research is to establish the factors that are responsible to organizational growth level in Dangote group of companies. These factors ranges from market share growth, sales volume growth (turnover), profitability, competitive advantage and share capital size amongst others. Corporate level strategic analysis and choice was adopted with specific emphasis on Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix portfolio analysis. Four (4) companies from Dangote conglomerate quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange market namely; Dangote Cement Plc, Dangote Flour Plc, Dangote Sugar Refinery Company Plc and National Salt Company of Nigeria Plc were surveyed with a population size of 5060. The sample size survey was 371. 209 respondents from Dangote Cement Company Plc, 75 respondents from Dangote Flour Mill Plc, 48 respondents from Dangote Sugar Refinery Company Plc and 39 respondents from National Salt Company Plc using judgmental and convenience sampling technique. The Quasi-experimental survey technique especially the cross-sectional design method was adopted. The Friedman Ranking test was carried out in testing the formulated hypothesis. The test of the result revealed that there is a relationship between organizational factors such as market share growth, sales volume growth (turnover), profitability growth, effective strategy application, competitive advantage and share capital size and organizational growth in the Dangote Cement Company Plc and Dangote F

This paper seeks to explore the role of financial statements audit in promoting tax revenues growth in Rwanda in the broader perspective. Survey questionnaires as primary data collection instruments were distributed to all audit officers of Rwanda Revenue Authority equalling to 100 staff and followed both analytical research design. Secondary data included reports from Rwanda revenue authority from 2006 to 2010 This paper also examines preliminary empirical results on the relationship between financial statements audit and tax growth this paper supports the notion that the practices of audit of final books of accounts for both small and medium enterprises at institutional level are prerequisite for growth of tax revenues in the country. In conclusion, the results not only have the potential to contribute theoretically to public finance but also to the area of institutional performance.

This paper traces the origins of the TRIZ (the theory of inventive solving) from the field engineer technique to management, by exploring not just the benefits associated with TRIZ knowledge and the challenges associated with its acquisition and application based on practical experience. Identifying and appropriately resolving quality improvement problems or effectively evaluating alternatives is a key point. The benefits of applying TRIZ tool to Quality improvements are examined, which it terms contradictions or conflicts. TRIZ recognizes that a novel problem has been integrated to help identify the systems and sub-systems level quality management system for quality improvement. This paper presents using TRIZ to analyze that is useful to identify conflicts of the process of quality improvement in Foxboro, which is necessary to eliminating or reducing the effects factors of the conflicts. Finally, we find that TRIZ has a positive impact on quality improvement process and the potential contribution of quality improvement, while the shortcomings of TRIZ in quality improvement process are discussed. A case study on quality improvement demonstrates the feasibility of applying TRIZ in quality management.

This study aimed to analyze the impact of the size of domestic working labour force, real gross domestic capital formation, real domestic exports and imports of goods and services, and political instability on real gross domestic product( RGDP) in Palestine during the period of 1994 -2013. To examine the empirical relationship between these explanatory variables and real (GDP) growth the study adopted a standardized Cobb- Douglas production function by using the annual official data of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), and applying the Ordinary least Square method (OLS) and Second Order Auto Correlation Techniques. The empirical results of the model applied indicated that there is a positive relationship between the size of domestic working labour force, real gross domestic capital formation, real domestic exports and real gross domestic product( RGDP), and a negative relationship between real domestic imports of goods and services, and political instability and the real growth of (GDP). The study suggested several recommendations that can boost the level of growth, among them the most important one, is the urgent need for more investment in the economy as it leads to more formation of domestic capital which can count more in terms of economic growth in many ways.

The long years of marketing practices in the Nigerian banking industry has recorded low level standards relative to global standard practice. The effect on the overall industry performance measurable basically in terms of customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and brand equity has been on the negativity. In some cases, banks overall performance level was never assessed based on customer orientation, value and other customer related measures rather on some quick financial indicators. This poor orientation towards marketing has rather become a forgone especially in the banking area of financial services in Nigeria. This study was therefore conducted to examine the changing trend towards embracing marketing philosophy and the extent of the banks’ performance level in response to changing expectations of customers. Theoretical issues relating marketing, customer philosophy, financial marketing, customer loyalty, satisfaction, and brand equity were explored to establish the key performance variables and the existing relationships amongst them. Empirical study was equally carried out with the use of questionnaire, administered on randomly selected banks’ customers and management staff. Data collected were analyzed on the basis of critical measures which include customer awareness, market sensitivity to financial delivery, customer profile and sophistication through the use of Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient. The result among other things shows that there is

India is among the most rapidly developing economies in Asia. It is also among the largest emerging economies because of the high growth rate in GDP that it has experienced in the past two decades. It has significantly high poverty levels with most people living in agrarian, rural communities. Developments in agriculture have enabled the country to overcome high poverty levels and food scarcity. This paper focuses on the use of rural financing in Northern India for poverty alleviation through agriculture. The paper addresses the use of different models of rural financing in India. It shows the significance of cooperative banks and self-help groups in availing credit to rural farmers. The findings highlight weaknesses in the system and show how it has been ineffective in addressing challenges facing farmers in Northern India. It also indicates that many farmers rely on sellers of seeds, equipment, and chemicals for credit in order to meet their needs. This is ineffective because of inaccessibility and high transaction costs.

Indonesia faces unique challenges in developing an appropriate electricity policy to deal with its underdeveloped regions. This paper attempts to explore some spatial patterns of electricity consumption in 14 PLN’s distributive regions over the period of 1993-2010. Our analysis pioneers the study of Indonesia's electricity consumption and regional development that incorporates geography. Discriminant analysis proves to be useful as the basis to integrate the formulation of regional electricity development policy. The findings suggest that Indonesia needs development policies that incorporate regional variations in terms of population, industrialisation, electricity development and poverty. More importantly, Indonesia can enhance the performance of regions by taking into account the spatial dimension of population, industrialisation, electricity development and poverty. Our findings offer some insights into the spatial aspect of Indonesia's electricity consumption and regional development.

Globalization, deregulation and technological improvements have resulted in increase in M&A across the globe. There is enormous literature existing in the advanced economies. However, very little information is available regarding M&A in India. Various sectors have witnessed differential involvement in M&A activity indicating higher participation by some. Particularly, certain sectors such as financial services and pharmaceuticals demonstrate higher M&A activity. To emphasise differential importance of sectors in M&A activity, it is necessary to conduct a sector-wise analysis. Accordingly, this study attempts to investigate the differential representation of various sectors in M&A. Further, it explores the role played by India in the rising global M&A activity. In light of this, it specifies the factors driving consolidation in the financial sector globally.