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Applying the general question of aid effectiveness to the sector of education, this paper provides some evidence for a positive effect of development assistance on primary enrolment and completion. However, even the most optimistic estimates clearly show that at any realistic rate of growth, aid will never be able to move the world markedly closer towards the internationally agreed objective of “Education For All”. Universal primary education requires increased efficiency of educational spending by donors and national governments alike. Moreover, there is some evidence that the recipient countries' general political and institutional background matters. Under conditions of bad governance, the impact of aid on enrolment can actually turn negative.

Government organisations, small and medium-sized businesses, education, and the entertainment industries all use multimedia technology to communicate information and ideas across digital, print, catalogue, and advertising mediums. Any message delivered by businesses, whether digital or printed graphics, images, text, movies, or animation, is more likely to be accepted by the target audience. The financial sector is no exception. Multimedia technology refers to activities involving computers, software development, and online media distribution. Professionals and experts in computer or software development use multimedia technology to create a variety of mechanisms including product demos, web pages, news sites, and presentations to attract attention or convey any message to a specific audience. Multimedia technology such as multimedia software, transaction processing, electronic payments, voicemail, and networked communication required banks and the financial sector to adopt new practices for delivering banking services and making the financial system more user-friendly for consumers and the financial industry’s operation. Banks and other financial institutions are compelled to innovate as computer technologies advance to maintain competitiveness. Multimedia technology offers lower occupancy costs with a smaller staff and lower transaction processing expenses. New technologies in the financial sector are replacing traditional methods of operation because multimedia technology makes work simpler, faster, and more effective. The industry is trying to switch to a self-service model through technology by providing the same level of convenience at a lower price.

The global shipping industry has been rocked by a wave of disruptive innovation driven by a thriving ecosystem of digital technology start-ups that have emerged in the last few years and set up offices in Greece. After the appearance of COVID-19, entrepreneurial leadership has grown in importance for guiding commercial shipping through times of exceptional circumstances. The problem is that there is a lack of understanding of the experiences of Greek digital entrepreneurs launching their tech start-ups within the maritime sector – from the initial vision to a real-world innovative business disruptor. We aim to answer the questions of who the Greek digital entrepreneur in the maritime sector is and how their entrepreneurial actions contribute to a growing knowledge base of digital entrepreneurship for future theoretical research and professional practice. This single-subject, archival case study demonstrates the social and commercial value of the “who” and “how” of digital entrepreneurship in the maritime sector through the case of Harbor Lab, an Athens-based start-up that disrupted the maritime industry through innovative use of emerging technologies to calculate disbursements (port expenses) and through the establishment of a horizontal, empathetic, open workplace culture. The outcomes of this study contributed a fresh perspective of scholarly knowledge on digital entrepreneurship for future theoretical research and professional practice.

‘Stans’ is an ancient Persian word meaning land, country or nation. This chapter begins with a review of the historical basis of zakat management in Islamic practice and provides a brief historical account and status of zakat practices in select countries in Central Asia. The section thereafter focuses on benchmark international zakat management models before providing recommendations for the development of an effective zakat management model within Central Asia. The economic shocks resulting from the pandemic have forced many in the region into situational poverty. If left unchecked, this may easily regress into chronic poverty, undoing the significant growth that these countries have experienced over the last decade. Existing social programmes have limited the impact of economic loss. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, they have an opportunity to revive this history and once again empower their nations with Islamic social finance instruments. Effective zakat management models in Indonesia and Kuwait, for example, provide different dimensions to social impact. The Indonesian model of BAZNAS provides the most comprehensive methodology for governance, risk management and replication. BAZNAS′ strategy for digitalization and collaboration suggests a strong model for development within Central Asia. Through an effective zakat model, it is expected that Central Asian nations will be better protected against economic disruptions and provide a safety net for vulnerable communities in the region. These conclusions and recommendations in this chapter are limited to the information available in the literature. Further study is required through primary research to understand better what the challenges are in zakat modelling. Locals may also be surveyed to determine their levels of zakat knowledge and their concerns for institutional zakat collection and disbursement.

After reading this chapter you should be able to:

• Understand what is meant by relocation cost.

• Explain the management and disbursement of relocating costs.

• Critically evaluate the calculation of relocation costs.

• Reflect on the role of human resource managers in relation to the future of the costs of relocation.

Understand what is meant by relocation cost.

Explain the management and disbursement of relocating costs.

Critically evaluate the calculation of relocation costs.

Reflect on the role of human resource managers in relation to the future of the costs of relocation.

This chapter presents case studies that explore the structures of indigenous savings group practices in Nigeria. Indigenous savings groups in Nigeria can be categorised as either unstructured, semi-structured or structured. These categorisation of savings groups can follow two patterns, which include Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs) and Accumulated Savings and Credit Associations (ASCAs). Through a qualitative case analysis of savings practices in Nigeria, we observed that the indigenous savings groups have similar goals and orientations, though their operating structures differ. The chapter highlighted the relative theme that cuts across these cases, and insightful recommendations are provided for upscaling and adopting indigenous savings groups in Nigeria and Africa. The chapter also discusses the role of government in facilitating savings and credit disbursement to groups. The implications for business actors and the government are highlighted.

This chapter probes into what happens to the beneficiaries of special provisions while they are pursuing higher education within the existing structured inequalities of caste, culture and economic diversities in the era of liberalization, globalization and privatization. Structured inequalities cannot be remedied only through corrective measures given the disadvantageous situation. Traditional factors limit the influence of modern factors such as skills, knowledge, competition and performance. Higher education in India fails to equip students to completely overcome the limits and constraints of the caste system that lead to several handicaps in social life as well as in higher education. Still, there is no viable alternative to higher education to this significant section of the Indian population – the scheduled castes – as a means to achieve social mobility in a closed society like India. Hence, it is pertinent also to understand and draw experiences of such supportive mechanisms like the Post Matric Scholarship scheme at the higher education level provided to such section(s) of Indian society.

The relationship between borrowers and lenders can reveal a lot of information regarding loan pricing, information costs, and competition. In this study, the authors investigate the impact of FinTech lenders on Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan disbursement. Specifically, the authors investigate financial technology companies’ ability to provide loans at greater distances, expanding the available resources for businesses struggling during the Covid-19 pandemic. The authors find that not only were FinTechs able to lend at greater distances, but also they provided loans to firms that were younger and had less bank competition in their headquarters’ zip codes. The results remain consistent and are generalizable to the complete population of PPP loans.

This chapter examines the development of accounting thought and practices in China with the purpose of illustrating its relevance to current accounting policies and practices. The review indicates that changes in accounting in China did not usually occur completely and easily. Over the past three decades, while Chinese accounting has gradually moved toward the Anglo-American model, convergence has presented unique features in China. For example, the review suggests that the accounting reforms in China have been heavily government-driven and that uniform accounting systems still remain. Chinese regulators maintain a cautious attitude toward the application of fair value and professional judgment, which are essentially the center of the Anglo-American accounting system. Furthermore, Chinese accounting regulators have a different view of business combinations from the IASB and have developed alternative accounting methods for those transactions. China’s departure from IFRS reflects its politico-economic context and essentially challenges the IASB’s goal of achieving international accounting convergence. China’s approach to internationally acceptable practices is likely to have implications for the effectiveness of the imported ideas.

The recent increase in aid to Africa, alongside increases in special-purpose aid, has revived interest in the question of the fungibility of aid – the notion that, if a donor gives aid for a project that the recipient government would have undertaken anyway, then the aid is financing some expenditure other than the intended project. That aid in this sense may be “fungible”, while long recognized, has recently been receiving some empirical support. This paper focuses on sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the largest GDP share of aid. It presents results indicating that aid may be partially fungible, and suggests some reasons why.