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The purpose of this paper is to conduct a comparative analysis of internal and external determinants of bank’s performance in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries.

The authors use a static unbalanced annual panel data of banks operating in eight countries pertaining to the MENA region (Tunisia, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Lebanon, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates) over the period from 1999 to 2014.

The findings reveal that the determinants of intermediation margins in the MENA region differ across countries. Overall, banks interest margins are explained by both bank-specific variables and macroeconomic factors except for Saudi Arabia in which interest margins exclusively depend on bank-specific factors.

These findings contribute to the clarification and critical analysis of the current state of bank’s performance in some countries located in MENA region, which would have several crucial policy implications.

Building industrial clusters is getting much more political attention and strategic orientation in all developing countries. This study started by revising the conceptual and theoretical frameworks for industrial clusters, followed by some insights and contributions about empirical bases for clusters' dynamics and processes. The study focused on the case of Agadir Agreement between four Arab countries (Egypt, Jordon, Morocco, and Tunisia), which was initiated after the Euro-Mediterranean partnerships, and the rationale of the agreement was based on the concept of cumulative value-added origin. The study based its methodology on analyzing the international and bilateral trade flows of six industrial goods from the automotive sector among the four countries and with the EU countries to detect the degree of industrial collaboration and the achieved success of each country in this sector. The study indicated that the four countries used the concept of industrial clusters for economic development, but the results of the analysis showed that till now Agadir Agreement only achieved a shallow integration, while failed to deeply integrate as one big collaborative industrial cluster.

This article addresses the lack of scholarly attention paid to the sharing economy from a sociological perspective, with respect to the technology-mediated interactions between sharing economy users. The paper provides a critical overview of the sharing economy and its impact on business and communities and explores how information technology can facilitate authentic, genuine sharing through exercising and enabling conviviality and non-direct reciprocity.

The paper begins with a critique of the technology-mediated sharing economy, introduces the concept of conviviality as a tool to grow and shape community and sustainability within the sharing economy and then explores reciprocity and sharing behaviour. Finally, the paper draws upon social exchange theory to illustrate conviviality and reciprocity, using four case studies of technology-enabled sharing.

The paper contributes to the emerging debate around how the sharing economy, driven by information systems and technology, affects social cohesion and personal relationships. The paper elucidates the central role conviviality and reciprocity play in explaining the paradoxes, tensions and impact of the sharing economy on society. Conviviality and reciprocity are positioned as key capabilities of a more sustainable version of the sharing economy, enabled via information technology.

The findings reveal that information technology-mediated sharing enterprises should promote conviviality and reciprocity in order to deliver more positive environmental, economic and social benefits. The diversity of existing operations indicated by the findings and the controversies discussed will guide the critical study of the social potential of sharing economy to avoid treating all sharing alike.

Despite, or perhaps even because of, the economic uncertainties of the period, the 1970s witnessed a radical transformation of the British distributive system. Most of the changes which occurred were similar to those experienced elsewhere in the Western world, and in a review of developments in EEC countries, Dawson has suggested that the impact of these changes on society could be similar to that produced by the Industrial Revolution. In Britain at least, the changes in distribution were, and remain, a result of very marked changes in society: most notably the change in consumption patterns brought about by endemic inflation, increasing unemployment and periodic world energy crises. The result has been increased competition, a search for greater efficiency and diversification of traditional product lines. Thus the British distribution system throughout the 1970s was dominated by the trend to mass merchandising, by the emergence of large firms and a consequent increase of corporate power and by the appearance of new distribution forms. While many of the conditions and developments experienced in the 1970s are expected to continue into the 1980s, it has been predicted (Distributive Industry Training Board 1980) that by the 1990s further revolutionary changes are likely to have occurred, particularly as a result of widespread automation involving new technology. The industry is, therefore, in the middle of a period of very rapid change.

In response to a turbulent industrial environment, especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), organizations have widely adopted e-business to improve their processes. This study aims to propose a model that encapsulates the determinants and outcomes of e-business adoption.

The determinants and outcomes of e-business adoption were tested using data gathered from 282 managers and analysed using structural equation modelling techniques.

The results indicated that owner support, perceived ease of use and government support were important determinants that influence e-business adoption. Attitude, competitive pressureand relative advantage were not significant. Regarding outcomes, e-business adoption had a major impact on SME functioning and operational progress; however, it had no influence on competitive advantage.

By ascertaining the determinants and outcomes of e-business adoption, the findings provide e-business practitioners and managers with guidelines that can encourage more efficient and effective e-business adoption within their organizations. The results also provide a basis for more precise e-business studies to be conducted in developing countries.

The in‐flight design problems of ballistic missile fuel tank structures are examined and simplified analyses are presented.

This study aims to investigate the influence of systemic banking crises, currency crises and global financial crisis on the relationship between export and economic growth in China by using the annual time series data from the period of 1972 to 2014.

The Johansen and Jeuuselius’ cointegration, auto regressive distributed lag bound testing cointegration, Gregory and Hansen’s cointegration and pooled ordinary least square techniques with error correction model have been used.

Results indicate the positive and significant effect of export of goods and services on economic growth in both long and short run, whereas the negative influence of systemic banking crises and currency crises over economic growth is observed. It is also concluded that the impact of export of goods and service on economic growth becomes insignificant in the presence of systemic banking crises and currency crises. The currency crises effect the influence of export on economic growth to a higher extent compared to systemic banking crises. Surprisingly, the export in the period of global financial crises has a positive and significant influence over economic growth in China, which conclude that the global financial crises did not drastically affect the export-growth nexus.

This paper makes a unique contribution to the literature with reference to China, being a pioneering attempt to investigate the effects of systemic banking crises and currency crises on the relationship of export and economic growth by using long-time series data and applying more rigorous econometric techniques.

Encouraging innovation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is one of the government's main policy initiatives at the local, regional, and national levels in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study's primary purpose is to explore the innovation characteristics, challenges, and factors influencing innovation in the Emirati female-owned nascent, start-up, and established SMEs. A semi-structured interview method was used to explore ten Emirati female entrepreneurs' experiences on innovation and adoption intent, and the data were analyzed using NVIVO software. The analysis reveals that respondents believed in a strong vision, education, and risk-taking attitude as an innovative entrepreneur's essential characteristics. Furthermore, new technology adoption, networking, implementation of new or improved products, processes, marketing, and organizational innovation are considered essential to help entrepreneurs commercialize their innovative business idea. This study's findings will help policymakers and business women's councils identify the specific inhibitors and facilitators linked to innovation. The results will help develop various effective policies to promote innovation among Emirati women-owned SMEs.