Search results

Managers are constantly making decisions that affect profit. One of the decision‐making areas which is crucial to all managers concerns profit planning. Attempts to show how cost‐volume‐profit (CVP) analysis, aided by the computer spreadsheet, can be applied to the practical profit planning situation in the hospitality industry. Paradoxically, CVP analysis is one of the most widely referred to techniques in managerial accounting, but all too often it is not used to its full potential in the operating environment. Aims at encouraging greater use of the CVP approach to hospitality profit planning.

Communication quality is repeatedly listed among the top success factors to consider when implementing an ERP system. Analysis shows its role is more complex. It helps some aspect of success but has no influence on others. The aim of this paper is to conduct a case study to determine the role of communication quality in the success of an ERP project implementation.

A case study was conducted to determine the role of communication quality in the success of an ERP project implementation.

Results suggest that different aspects of communication quality impact different dimensions of project success. Some dimensions of project success did not seem influenced by communication quality. Results also show that, for the dimensions of project success that are influenced by communication quality, the form might be as important as the content of communication.

The literature may be repeating an “accepted truth” without actually testing it. The evaluation of the regularity of the patterns observed will require additional observations. Also, the reasons behind the association between the communication quality attributes and the different components of success will need to be further investigated.

For managers, the findings highlight that communication is not a silver bullet when conducting ERP projects. Managers should also be aware that the form of the communication efforts will likely have as much impact as the content of the communication process. The results specially emphasized the importance of openness in communication.

The study considers nine dimensions of communication quality. By examining the separate effects of the communication content and form on the components of ERP project success, the paper provides a deeper understanding of the role of communication in the implementation of ERP systems.

This study aims to investigate the impact of energy access on foreign direct investment (FDI) in an emerging market.

The study uses the two-stage least square instrumental variables estimation approach to compute the parameters of the model to account for any potential endogeneity and time persistence in energy access.

The results show that energy access significantly influences FDI inflows in Ghana. The results of the study also revealed that natural resources and macroeconomic variables such as real interest rate, gross domestic product growth rate are significant determinants of FDI inflows in Ghana.

The practical implication of this study is that there is a need for energy sector policy reforms in Ghana that would guarantee a secured and continued supply of energy to enhance energy access to boost FDI. Ghana should aim for a cost-effective, stable and environmentally friendly source of energy as an alternative to hydro energy as the main source of its power generation to promote FDI. Also, Ghana should initiate and implement policies aimed at creating an enabling and stable macroeconomic environment, as macroeconomic factors in this study are found to be drivers of FDI.

This study provides firsthand information on energy access and FDI from the Ghanaian perspective.

This paper aims to describe cooperation between public and private market players from different legal and religious orders. The author argues that such public–private partnerships (PPPs) enable the development of a possible convergence between selected areas of mainstream public finance and the Islamic moral economy (IME).

This paper explores the theory of both mainstream finance and the IME, and using deductive reasoning from axioms, develops the assumptions of a theoretical approach to heterodox PPP. The proposed method affects the ability to find common platforms between mainstream public finance and the IME, through the example of public–private investment projects.

This endeavour is subject to trade-offs between profit maximisation and social justice values on the basis of long-term PPP contracts. The author shows the assumptions under which this compromise would be beneficial to public entities, multicultural societies and conventional and Islamic investors. It is proposed to distribute profit to the owners up to a predetermined value, above which the PPPs would finance public services for persons otherwise excluded from them.

The success of this approach must depend on a compromise between profit maximisation as the sole investment objective and investment guided by social justice values. Private investors can achieve a capped level of profit on a long-term contract basis, and public partners can obtain long-term contracts for providing public goods. Both would undertake a project with a strong emphasis on corporate social responsibility, with particularly large opportunities in developing Islamic countries.

The study examined the penetration of financial inclusion in the agricultural sector, using small-scale farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria, as evidence.

The study utilized survey data generated from 425 questionnaires administered to small-scale farmers in both rural and urban locations in Enugu State. The study applied the adequacy gap, timeliness gap and penetration gap indices to measure the penetration of financial inclusion among the small-scale farmers in Enugu State.

It was found that different lending agencies, except for some cooperative societies, were unable to meet the credit needs of small-scale farmers in Enugu State as shown by the adequacy gap index. The timeliness gap index revealed the existence of time gap in the credit receipt of small-scale farmers given that agriculture is rain-fed in Enugu. The penetration gap index indicated that there is gap in the penetration of agricultural credit grants to small-scale farmers in Enugu State, showing a shallow penetration of financial inclusion in agricultural sector.

The research is limited in scope as a result of data and the desire to study small-scale farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria.

The study recommended among others that government should encourage cooperatives more to meet credit needs of farmers in order to raise the level of financial inclusion penetration.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the only study that examines the penetration of financial inclusion among small-scale farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria. This study contributes to the growing literature on financial inclusion in the agricultural sector as there is dearth of literature in this study area.

Tests a new series of models which attempt to describe the relationship between advertising and sales. Describes an attempt to obtain information of this kind by investigating the effect of advertising on sales and brand shares. States that a number of researchers are now attempting to develop models to explain the workings of the market for a particular product. Emphasises that the prime area of interest of the study is the effect of advertising on sales and brand shares. States the study does not have the objective of constructing a complete marketing model involving all the variables that are thought to influence a brand's share of a product. Concludes that many results herein are disappointing, but it is perhaps too optimistic to expect the models dealt with earlier to be successful.

This paper surveys corporate officers responsible for greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting and assurance to determine the attributes that influence their choice between an accounting and a non-accounting GHG assurance provider. Differences in the relative importance of these attributes between those selecting accounting and non-accounting assurers are also explored.

A survey questionnaire was completed by 25 corporate officers responsible for reporting and voluntarily assurance of GHG emissions in Australia. The questionnaire asked the respondents to indicate the relative importance of 41 company and assurer attributes in influencing their assurance provider choice.

Results indicate that attributes related to the assurance provider, such as team and team leader assurance knowledge, reputation, objectivity and independence, are more influential than attributes related to the nature of the company or the nature of the GHG emissions. Attributes such as geographical dispersion of operations were found to be differently important to this decision between companies purchasing assurance from accounting and non-accounting firms.

The study’s main limitation is the small number of participants. Future research may extend this study by exploring the conditions under which companies voluntarily assure GHG emissions as well the motivations of responsible officers in their assurer choice.

This paper provides valuable insights to GHG assurers to assist their understanding of the attributes that are important to potential GHG assurance clients.

The study makes unique contributions to the assurer choice literature by not only addressing this issue in the context of the dichotomous GHG assurance market but also by addressing it from the perspective of the assurance purchaser.

Collaborative contracting (CC) is the direction that Singapore is venturing into in line with the Construction Industry Transformation Map. For its successful adoption, it is necessary to examine the potential barriers and possible solutions. Therefore, this study aims to explore the current status, major barriers and best solutions for the adoption of CC in the Singapore construction industry.

To achieve these objectives, a comprehensive literature review was carried out and 26 barriers, as well as 21 solutions, were identified. Then a questionnaire was designed to assess the priority of these barriers and solutions. After a pilot study, 165 questionnaires were distributed, and 31 responses were received. And the survey result was validated by post-survey with three industry professionals.

Results revealed that only a small percent of projects adopted CC in Singapore. Seven significant barriers hindering CC implementation were found out. They are “inherent difficulties in changing organizational culture,” “lack of incentives/financial support,” “lack of legislative regulations,” “resistant to change the current way of working,” “seeking for the lowest cost” and “difficulties in converting strategic decisions to operational levels” and “unclear contract terms and objectives.” Also, five best solutions were suggested to overcome the identified barriers.

The findings of this study could enable industry practitioners to be aware of the potential barriers to adopting CC and choose suitable solutions to overcome these barriers. It is also helpful for authorities to come up with effective policies to promote the adoption of CC.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on how to automatically generate the individualized patterns for women’s suits based on the 3D body point-cloud images.

With the software Imageware, the point-cloud data of the female body were measured according to the female body feature to obtain the heights, widths, depths and girths at various landmarks. Then the relationship between the height of each landmark and the body height was analyzed to build the height calculation rules by software SPSS, and the prediction models of body girths were established from the body widths and depths using regression analysis for pattern generation.

The pattern generation rules were built with the relationships between a human body and the garment patterns using the graphic flattening method. Based on the above rules, the final patterns were drafted automatically by using these dimensions to fit the subjects. The try-on experiment also showed that the individualized suits could fit the subjects’ body well at some feature landmarks.

In order to realize tailor-made and meet the consumers’ demands for individualized clothes, the development of garment CAD system has become inevitable in the garment industry. This paper could provide the foundation for automatic pattern generation, and technical support for tailor-made.

The architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry encounter substantial risks and challenges in its evolution towards sustainable development. International businesses, multinational AEC organisations, technical professionals, project and portfolio management organisations face global connectivity challenges between business units, especially during the outbreak of novel coronavirus pandemic, to manage construction megaprojects (CMPs). That raises the need to manage global connectivity as a main strategic goal of global organisations. This paper aims to investigate barriers to integrating lean construction (LC) practices and integrated project delivery (IPD) on CMPs towards the global integrated delivery (GID) transformative initiatives and develop future of work (FOW) global initiatives in contemporary multinational AEC organisations.

A two-stage quantitative and qualitative research approach is adopted. The qualitative research methodology consists of a literature review to appraise barriers to integrating LeanIPD&GID on CMPs. Barriers are arranged into six-factor clusters (FCs), with a conceptualisation of LeanIPD&GID, GID strategy placements and FOW global initiatives with multiple validations. This analysis also involved semi-structured interviews and focus group techniques. Stage two consisted of an empirical questionnaire survey that shaped the foundation of analysis and findings of 230 respondents from 23 countries with extensive cosmopolitan experience in the construction of megaprojects. The survey examined a set of 28 barriers to integrating LeanIPD&GID on CMPs resulting from a detailed analysis of extant literature after validation. Descriptive and inferential statistical tests were exploited for data analysis, percentage scoring analysis, principal component analysis (PCA) and eigenvalues were used to elaborate on clustered factors.

The research conceptualised LeanIPD&GID principles and proposed GID strategy placements for LeanIPD&GID transformative initiatives and FOW global initiatives. It concluded that the most significant barriers to integration of LeanIPD&GID on CMPs are “lack of mandatory building information modelling (BIM) and LC industry standards and regulations by governments”, “lack of involvement and support of governments”, “high costs of BIM software licenses”, “resistance of industry to change from traditional working practices” and “high initial investment in staff training costs of BIM”. PCA revealed the most significant FCs are “education and knowledge-related barriers”, “project objectives-related barriers” and “attitude-related barriers”. Awareness of BIM in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is higher than LC and LC awareness is higher than IPD knowledge. Whilst BIM adoption in the MENA region is higher than LC; the second is still taking its first steps, whilst IPD has little implementation. LeanBIM is slightly integrated, whilst LeanIPD integration is almost not present.

The research findings, conclusion and recommendation and proposed GID strategy placements for LeanIPD&GID transformative initiatives to integrating LeanIPD&GID on CMPs. This will allow project key stakeholders to place emphasis on tackling LeanIPD&GID barriers identified in this research and commence GID strategies. The study has provided effective practical strategies for enhancing the integration of LeanIPD&GID transformative initiatives on CMPs.