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The purpose of this paper is to explore some key factors that influences ethnic entrepreneur’s decision in starting-up a new business in Aberdeen, Scotland.

The authors set out to investigate the motives, drivers and attitudes of ethnic minorities in seeking entrepreneurial opportunities. The authors conduct in-depth face-to-face interviews with 25 ethnic entrepreneurs from a variety of nationalities and cultures originating mainly from the Indian subcontinent region. This includes entrepreneurs from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and some others. The motivations varies according to their culture, traditions, religion and other environmental factors influencing on their decision to start-up.

The results reveal some interesting influential factors that lead to the successful start-up decision. These include a positive mindset, self-efficacy, strong determination, knowing of the market and local business culture and good financial management.

This paper is based on empirical research and new data have been collected specifically for this research. The authors hope the new findings from this research work will enhance the understanding about ethnic minority businesses in the context of Aberdeen, Scotland.

The purpose of this paper is to explore international postgraduate students’ expectations of UK university education, covering various aspects of student expectation at a leading business school in Scotland. The authors present in this paper the findings from the qualitative stage of this study, offering a fresh insight into the factors that influence students’ expectations of postgraduate university education and the impact this has on the students’ satisfaction with their courses.

A qualitative inquiry was adopted, collecting primary data by means of semi-structured interviews of business school international students enroled in different taught 12-month MSc courses.

International students are found to have high expectations of improved job prospects after graduating from their chosen UK university, underlined mainly by the university’s reputation for improving student employability. The most significant a priori factors that form students’ expectations are word of mouth, recommendations and the students’ belief in the calibre of lecturers and the quality of the facilities.

The students are universities’ most important customers in an increasingly competitive and financially constrained UK higher education environment. Theoretically, the study contributes to the growing literature in this challenging environment not only by identifying the components of international postgraduate students’ expectations but also by exploring how the expectations can be met or exceeded to improve students’ satisfaction. Future research can also replicate this study to other subject areas and draw the similarities and differences that may exist in the expectations of non-business international MSc students.

Practically, this study’s findings should help university students’ recruitment and engagement services develop tailored marketing strategies to better manage international students’ expectations, for example, by being more proactive in embedding employability into postgraduate education provision. Moreover, the findings can also be drawn upon to improve the design and delivery of taught MSc courses in order to meet and exceed the expectations of prospective international postgraduate students.

This research offers a fresh insight and contributes to the understanding of international students’ expectations and their satisfaction of university education services.

The past 20 years have seen the worldwide telecommunications industry transformed from predominantly dormant, country‐centred, government‐run agencies, to increasingly competitive, innovative and market‐led organisations. Much of the will to change has stemmed from the visionary market liberalisation and deregulation policies of the US and UK governments. Indeed, such determined change has brought with it creative and vibrant strategic positioning and repositioning of firms within the evolving global telecommunications marketplace. As a result, in pushing forward the frontiers of knowledge within this rapidly changing environment, the main focus of this study examines and analyses secondary literature and considers the key dynamic factors driving structural change within the European telecommunications market. To this end, a theoretical model of their respective impact on market structure is generated.

Trading soft commodities has become increasingly challenging with less liquidity in the market, making it very risky and even more costly. Ongoing geopolitical instability, climate change, complex supply chain and fluctuation in demand and supply resulted in a continued price volatility and market uncertainty. Soft commodity trading businesses are under an increasing pressure to adapt to political, economic and social changes. Therefore, this study explores the relationship between brokers and their buyers in the Algerian soft commodities market, with a particular focus on cereals (wheat) products. This study is based on the analysis of secondary data collected from various sources and anecdotal evidences from brokers of soft commodities in Algeria. The overall strategy of Algeria is to limit its reliance on imports. However, political dysfunction coupled with economic instability appears to discourage domestic and foreign investment and inhibit the development of this soft commodities sector. The brokerage firms of soft commodities (wheat, oils, milk powder, rice, coffee, etc.) are operating in a niche market within an environment of intense competition and highly demanding buyers. The striking success of the brokerage function depends on a close relationship formed between the actors (broker, seller and buyer).

This chapter develops a conceptual framework of economic development of Algeria with a particular focus on youth entrepreneurship. Drawing on the opportunity-based approach of Drucker (1985) and the impact analysis theory (IAT) advocated by Murphy and Marvel (2008), Lenjo (2015), and Dontigney (2018), this proposed conceptual framework theoretically allows the integration of different perspectives including economic development of a country and youth entrepreneurship. In principle, the opportunity-based theory posits that entrepreneurship represents a response to a stimulus, through a business venture, where an unemployed person exploits opportunities engendered by social, technological, and cultural changes in the environment. The IAT is a paradigm that deconstructs the causes and effects of a phenomenon (i.e. youth entrepreneurship) to afford greater understanding and appreciation of the research agenda, while providing an indicative assessment of the overall impact of the issue (OECD, 2014). The authors discuss the core barriers (venture capital, foreign direct investments, bureaucratic obstacles, gender discrimination, and soft skills) to entrepreneurship in Algeria, Furthermore, the authors assess the different economic forces in Algeria that appear to be promoting or sustaining entrepreneurship, particularly in young people. These forces have a tendency to be connected to a broader possibility of economic development. Further analysis is required that demonstrates the potential upsides of promoting youth entrepreneurship. Thus, the authors attempt to answer a key question: What can be done to engage the youth in small business entrepreneurship across Algeria and thus implement a sustainable solution to the country’s employment problem?

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that affect customers’ switching intentions among banks in the context of mergers and acquisitions, using particularly the case of the merger between Lloyds TSB and Halifax Bank of Scotland, which took place in 2009.

On the basis of the theory of planned behavior, a quantitative survey was developed and administered to 515 account holders from both banks in branches located in Spain. Structural equation modeling was then utilized to evaluate the significance of direct and indirect relationships between the various factors under study.

Empirical findings indicate a significant direct relationship between switching intentions and each of: behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, attitudes, and subjective norms. Results also reveal an inverse significant relationship between switching intentions and both control beliefs and perceived behavioral control.

The absence of a longitudinal study measuring the actual impact of the merger on customer switching behavior is the main limitation of this study. Moreover, despite being insightful, the results of this study should be generalized with caution since the sample was based on a list purposely chosen by the banks’ management.

This paper discusses customer switching behavior in the context of a real-life case of banks’ consolidation.

This paper aims to unravel the impact of post-pandemic COVID-19 on foreign direct investment (FDI) and its determinants in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Countries.

The study utilized four macroeconomic variables includes growth domestic product growth rate (GDPG), inflation rate (IR), exchange rate (ER), and unemployment rate (UR) to assess their impact on post-pandemic FDI, along with two variables control of corruption (CC) and political stability (PS) to measure the influence of good governance. Random effects, fixed effects, cluster random effects, cluster fixed effects and generalized method of moments (GMM) models were applied to a balanced panel dataset comprising eight SAARC countries over the period 2010–2021. To identify the random trend component in each variable, three renowned unit root tests (Levin, Lin and Chu LLC, Im-Pesaran-Shin IPS and Augmented Dickey-Fuller ADF) were used, and co-integration associations between variables were verified through the Pedroni and Kao approaches. Data analysis was performed using STATA 17 software.

The major findings revealed that the variables have an order of integration at the first difference I (1). Nonetheless, this situation suggests the possibility of a long-term link between the series. And the main results of the findings show that the coefficients of GDPG, CC and PS are positive and significant in the long run, showing that these variables boosted FDI inflows in the SAARC region as they are significantly positively linked to FDI inflows. Similarly, the coefficients of UR, IR, ER and COVID-19 are negative and significant.

By identifying the specific impacts of the post-pandemic FDI and its determinants, governments and policymakers can formulate targeted policies and measures to mitigate the adverse effects and enhance investment attractiveness. Additionally, investors can gain a deeper understanding of the risk factors and adapt their strategies accordingly, ensuring resilience and sustainable growth. Finally, this paper adds value to the literature on the post-pandemic impact on FDI inflows in the SAARC region.

This paper is the first attempt to trace the impact of COVID-19 on Foreign Direct Investment and its determinants in the SAARC Countries. Most of the previous studies were analytical in nature and, if empirical, excluded some countries due to the unviability of the data set. This study includes all the SAARC member countries, and all variables' data are completely available. There is still a lack of empirical studies related to the SAARC region; this study attempts to fill the gap.