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1 – 6 of 6Considers how non‐Thais can negotiate successfully withe business and government executives in Thailand. Gives an overview of Thailand’s geography, climate, population, religion…
Abstract
Considers how non‐Thais can negotiate successfully withe business and government executives in Thailand. Gives an overview of Thailand’s geography, climate, population, religion and business practice. Discusses important aspects of the social‐cultural environment that have a significant effect on the way Thai’s negotiate. Includes further tips regarding body language, entertainment protocol, how to dress, and favourite negotiating tactics by buyers and sellers. Provides conclusions and directions for further research.
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This issue of Managerial Finance brings together five papers that explore the manifold dimensions of pension issues. The papers document and explain the dynamic changes occurring…
Abstract
This issue of Managerial Finance brings together five papers that explore the manifold dimensions of pension issues. The papers document and explain the dynamic changes occurring in the management and functioning of private pension plans within an evolving institutional and regulatory framework. Although the papers predominantly focus on the U.S. pension system, the issues addressed and the attendant implications are relevant to economies in the throes of developing or reforming pension security arrangements for market participants.
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the level of capital market integration between the Montenegrin stock market and a number of European Union (EU) countries and the USA.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the level of capital market integration between the Montenegrin stock market and a number of European Union (EU) countries and the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use an equity data set at the daily frequency from 12 countries and 4 broad regions, spanning the period from March 2003 to September 2008. They investigate long-run and short-run dynamics using cointegration techniques, Granger causality tests and vector error correction models.
Findings
The authors provide evidence for the existence of a long-run equilibrium between Montenegro and the developed countries of Western Europe and the USA. The investigation of short-run dynamics reveals that Montenegro follows an autonomous path, influenced mainly by domestic developments.
Originality/value
This is the first study on the Montenegrin stock market which has been neglected by the academic community. Montenegro’s accession in the EU is imminent; thus the study of the level of its integration with the rest of EU countries, before its actual accession, is useful for regulators and policymakers. Various lessons of a more general nature can also be drawn from the analysis of this paper.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interrelationships amongst the sector‐specific indices of the Qatar Exchange (QE) (i.e. Banking and Financial Institutions (BFI)…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interrelationships amongst the sector‐specific indices of the Qatar Exchange (QE) (i.e. Banking and Financial Institutions (BFI), Industrial (IND), Insurance (INS), and Services (SER)). More specifically, three key issues are explored in this study. First, the long‐run relationships amongst the sectors. Second, the short‐run causal relationships amongst them; and third, the relative degree of endogeneity/exogeneity of each sector.
Design/methodology/approach
To address the issues of interest, the author employs the econometric analyses of Johansen's multivariate cointegration, Granger's causality, and generalized forecast error variance decomposition. This battery of techniques gives the opportunity to examine the nature of both long‐ and short‐run intersectoral relationships in the QE. To augment the robustness of the empirical analysis, daily as well as weekly closing stock price indices for the four sectors of the Qatar Exchange are used, spanning the period from January 2, 2008 up to April 7, 2011.
Findings
Based on daily and weekly data, the results of Johansen's multivariate cointegration analysis suggest that the four sector indices of the QE share a long‐term equilibrium relationship. The Granger's causality analysis based on daily and weekly datasets provides clear evidence that the BFI sector seems to be a significant causal factor in regard to the price predictability of the remaining sectors in the short run, and that the SER sector surprisingly seems to have the least influential role. Finally, the results of the generalized forecast error variance decomposition analysis using daily data show that the IND and BFI appear to be the most exogenous sectors, whereas the SER and INS are the most endogenous ones. The results based on weekly data confirm the relative exogeneity of the BFI sector and the relative endogeneity of the SER sector.
Practical implications
The findings of this study hold practical implications for individual and institutional investors alike. The potential gains derived from cross‐sector diversification could be rather limited, given the significant degree of interrelationships found amongst the sector indices of the QE. Moreover, the composition of domestic portfolios based on sector‐level investments should be revisited, particularly after major events. The findings also bring some important insights for policymakers. Given the influential role played by the BFI sector in the Qatari economy, policymakers should design appropriate strategies that curb the spread of unanticipated shocks originating from this sector to its counterparts. Besides, due to the considerable degree of endogeneity of the SER sector, it is essential for policymakers to set up precautionary regulations, with the aim of minimizing its vulnerability to common shocks in turbulent times.
Originality/value
Building upon the extant research and focusing on a relatively unexplored market, the paper represents a pioneer attempt to provide empirical evidence on the interdependence structure amongst the sector‐specific indices of the Qatar Exchange.
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Siddharth Kulkarni, David John Edwards, Craig Chapman, M. Reza Hosseini and De-Graft Owusu-Manu
Road passenger transportation faces a global challenge of reducing environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions because of the vehicle weight increases needed to enhance…
Abstract
Purpose
Road passenger transportation faces a global challenge of reducing environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions because of the vehicle weight increases needed to enhance passenger safety and comfort. This paper aims to present a preliminary mechanical design evaluation of the Wikispeed Car (with a focus on body bending, body torsion and body crash) to assess light-weighting implications and improve the vehicle’s environmental performance without compromising safety.
Design/methodology/approach
For this research, finite element analysis (FEA) was performed to examine the Wikispeed chassis for light-weighting opportunities in three key aspects of the vehicle’s design, namely, for body bending the rockers (or longitudinal tubes), for body torsion (again on the rockers but also the chassis as a whole) and for crash safety – on the frontal crash structure. A two-phase approach was adopted, namely, in phase one, a 3D CAD geometry was generated and in phase, two FEA was generated. The combination of analysis results was used to develop the virtual model using FEA tools, and the model was updated based on the correlation process.
Findings
The research revealed that changing the specified material Aluminium Alloy 6061-T651 to Magnesium EN-MB10020 allows vehicle mass to be reduced by an estimated 110 kg, thus producing a concomitant 10 per cent improvement in fuel economy. The initial results imply that the current beam design made from magnesium would perform worst during a crash as the force required to buckle the beam is the lowest (between 95.2 kN and 134 kN). Steel has the largest bandwidth of force required for buckling and also requires the largest force for buckling (between 317 kN and 540 kN).
Originality/value
This is the first study of its kind to compare and contrast between material substitution and its impact upon Wikispeed car safety and performance.
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Shenglan Liu, Muxin Sun, Xiaodong Huang, Wei Wang and Feilong Wang
Robot vision is a fundamental device for human–robot interaction and robot complex tasks. In this paper, the authors aim to use Kinect and propose a feature graph fusion (FGF) for…
Abstract
Purpose
Robot vision is a fundamental device for human–robot interaction and robot complex tasks. In this paper, the authors aim to use Kinect and propose a feature graph fusion (FGF) for robot recognition.
Design/methodology/approach
The feature fusion utilizes red green blue (RGB) and depth information to construct fused feature from Kinect. FGF involves multi-Jaccard similarity to compute a robust graph and word embedding method to enhance the recognition results.
Findings
The authors also collect DUT RGB-Depth (RGB-D) face data set and a benchmark data set to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of this method. The experimental results illustrate that FGF is robust and effective to face and object data sets in robot applications.
Originality/value
The authors first utilize Jaccard similarity to construct a graph of RGB and depth images, which indicates the similarity of pair-wise images. Then, fusion feature of RGB and depth images can be computed by the Extended Jaccard Graph using word embedding method. The FGF can get better performance and efficiency in RGB-D sensor for robots.
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