Search results

The internal factors that influence the decision to change dividend growth rates include two competing models: the earnings and free cash flow models. As far as each of the components of each model is considered, the informative and efficient dividend payout decisions require that managers have to focus on the significant component(s) only. This study examines the cointegration, significance, and explanatory power of those components empirically. The expected outcomes serve two objectives. First, on an academic level, it is interesting to examine the extent to which payout practices meet the premises of the earnings and free cash flow models. The latter considers dividends and financing decisions as two faces of the same coin. Second, on a professional level, the outcomes help focus the management’s efforts on the activities that can be performed when considering a change in dividend growth rates.

This study uses data for the firms listed in two indexes: Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA30) and NASDAQ100. The data cover quarterly periods from 30 June 1989 to 31 March 2011. The methodology includes (a) cointegration analysis in order to test for model specification and (b) classical regression in order to examine the explanatory power of the components of earnings and free cash flow models.

The results conclude that: (a) Dividends growth rates are cointegrated with the two models significantly; (b) Dividend growth rates are significantly and positively associated with growth in sales and cost of goods sold only. Accordingly, these are the two activities that firms’ management need to focus on when considering a decision to change dividend growth rates, (c) The components of the earnings and free cash flow models explain very little of the variations in dividends growth rates. The results are to be considered a call for further research on the external (market-level) determinants that explain the variations in dividends growth rates. Forthcoming research must separate the effects of firm-level and market-level in order to reach clear judgments on the determinants of dividends growth rates.

This study contributes to the related literature in terms of offering updated robust empirical evidence that the decision to change dividend growth rate is discretionary to a large extent. That is, dividend decisions do not match the propositions of the earnings and free cash flow models entirely. In addition, the results offer solid evidence that financing trends in the period 1989–2011 showed heavy dependence on debt financing compared to other related studies that showed heavy dependence on equity financing during the previous period 1974–1984.

This study uses a bibliometric approach to analyze the overall status of e-government research by revealing patterns and trends that would help gain a broad understanding of global developments in the field and future directions.

All documents related to e-government published from 2000 to 2019 were extracted from the Scopus and the Digital Government Reference Library databases. Bibexcel, Biblioshiny, and VOSviewer were used to perform the analyses and visualize the science mapping.

The results showed that 21,320 documents related to e-government research were published and cited 263,179 times. The annual growth rate of e-government research has reached 21.50%. The regression analysis showed that the growth rate is expected to increase gradually over the coming years. Despite the significant role that conference papers play in the e-government literature, the impact of articles far exceeds conference papers. The University of Albany (SUNY) has played an important role in e-government research in terms of production and impact. Furthermore, the study revealed some countries that are expected to play a prominent role in e-government research, as well as several topics that may attract more attention soon.

The results presented in this study and the comprehensive picture obtained about the e-government field make it an effective supplement to the expert evaluation. Thus, researchers, research managers, policymakers, institutions, funding agencies, and governments can rely on it.

Absorptive capacity, technological collaboration and servitization are analyzed to establish ways to overcome the balance between products and services in manufacturing companies. A fresh perspective is introduced by presenting a framework for innovation strategy, moving beyond product-based R&D.

The hypotheses are tested using data on Spanish firms in the high-tech chemical and pharmaceutical industries through ordinary least squares regression analysis. The sample consists of 112 manufacturing firms included in the Spanish Survey of Business Strategies.

The results show that absorptive capacity facilitates servitization and that technological collaboration moderates the relationship between absorptive capacity and servitization. The synergies between absorptive capacity and technological collaboration for servitization are recognized from the perspective of open innovation as a way of resolving the trade-off between products and services.

Future research should introduce more sources of collaboration by broadening the value chain perspective. Other approaches to innovation may also be considered, including relationships to process innovation.

The results can provide meaningful guidance for companies to determine the key opportunities of servitization driven by absorptive capacity, and the best ways to leverage open innovation and collaboration strategies to exploit such approaches.

This research enriches theories on servitization, open innovation and innovative behavior. Open innovation strategy should be linked to greater servitization activity and should support an open service strategy. This approach is crucial for building innovation capabilities through technological collaboration.

This chapter of the book aims to introduce multiobjective linear programming (MLP) as an optimum tool to find the best quality engineering techniques (QET) in the main domains of supply chain management (SCM). The importance of finding the best quality techniques in SCM elements in the shortest possible time and at the least cost allows all organizations to increase the power of experts’ analysis in supply chain network (SCN) data under cost-effective conditions. In other words, this chapter aims to introduce an operations research model by presenting MLP for obtaining the best QET in the main domains of SCM. MLP is one of the most determinative tools in this chapter that can provide a competitive advantage. Under goal and system constraints, the most challenging task for decision-makers (DMs) is to decide which components to fund and at what levels. The definition of a comprehensive target value among the required goals and determining system constraints is the strength of this chapter. Therefore, this chapter can guide the readers to extract the best statistical and non-statistical techniques with the application of an operations research model through MLP in supply chain elements and shows a new innovation of the effective application of operations research approach in this field. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is a supplemental tool in this chapter to facilitate the relevant decision-making process.

This paper aims to analyse structural changes within the Brazilian mobile telecommunications market. More particularly, the paper aims to highlight why the market was fragmented and identify drivers for its subsequent consolidation.

Comparative case studies are used to understand change in the Brazilian mobile telecommunications market. The evolution of the market is described and key factors driving change identified.

This paper shows how each of the leading mobile telecommunications groups in Brazil employed a different strategy, both for entering into the fragmented market and for participating in its subsequent consolidation. Attention is also drawn to the role of government in determining market structure, not least in terms of its rationale for initially fragmenting the market in order to encourage foreign investment.

This paper provides a detailed analysis of structural change within the Brazilian mobile telecommunications market. In doing so, it sheds light on the role played by foreign telecommunications companies in the transformation of one of the world's largest, but often overlooked, telecommunications markets.

Najib Mahfuz is the first Arab‐language author to win the Nobel Prize in literature. Born in 1911 the son of a middle‐class Jamaliyah merchant, he became the most popular novelist in Egypt and the Arab countries.

This paper examines the impact of cryptocurrency market on the stock market performance in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. A comparative analysis is extended to distinguish this impact between Gulf countries and other economies in the region.

The analysis uses the information of cryptocurrencies and the stock market indices of the Gulf countries for the period 2014–2018 on a daily basis. Two strategies have been implemented to fulfill the goal of the study: first, the tests strategy, which is applied using the cointegration analysis and panel-specific forms of Granger causality; second, the regression strategy, which is applied mainly using the instrument variable with generalized method of moments (IV-GMM) method.

The results show that there is a significant relationship between the cryptocurrency market and the stock market performance in the MENA region. On the one hand, for the Gulf countries that claim full obedience to the Islamic Sharia rules, each 1% increase in the cryptocurrency returns reduces the stock market performance by 0.15%. On the other hand, for the non-Gulf (other MENA) countries that have flexibility in applying the Islamic Sharia rules or do not follow it, the stock market performance increases by 0.13%, for each 1% increase in the cryptocurrency returns.

The paper proposes two main contributions: First, the paper introduces the cryptocurrency returns as one of the determinants of the stock market performance in the MENA region. This impact is distinguished based on the degree of applying the Islamic Sharia rules and the vision of the government to the stock market. Second, the paper provides an empirical guideline for governments in the MENA region for efficient measures in their stock market, given the important expansion of the cryptocurrency market and the government type.

The paper uses firm level data for the top listed firms in New York exchange stock over the period 2000–2017. The analysis is mainly based on 237 firms that already experienced losses at the end of the fiscal year. The study aims to use the properties of the dynamic panel data, specifically the methodology proposed by Arenllo and Bond (1991), to fulfill the objectives of the paper.

This paper focuses on the dividend policy management of the firms when they experience a loss at the end of the fiscal year. The objective is to examine how such a policy management affects the sustainability of the firm (measured by the future sales and total factor productivity[TFP]) and the wealth of its shareholders (measured by the Stock Returns).

The results show that the distressed firms that distribute dividends at the end of the loss period are able to maintain sustainability and to reach more favorable wealth situation of their shareholders relative to the firms who abstain to pay; the dividend policy during periods of loss is still able to send positive signals about the firm in the market; and the dividend policy can be considered as a predictive indicator for a sustainable firm whose shareholders can also predict their capital gains.

Agreed upon the literature that the firms during the period of crisis are likely to change their dividend policy, this study offers robust evidence that the dividend policy of distressed firms affects their sustainability (measured by sales and TFP) and the wealth status of their shareholders (measured by the Stock Returns).

The purpose of this study is to ascertain the extent to which the practices of small and medium building contractors (SMBCs) conform to lean construction (LC) principles. Ultimately, practical results encourage a discourse on the true potentials and challenges to the holistic uptake of LC principles in the Ghanaian construction industry.

This research is based on a qualitative case study approach. The data was obtained through face-to-face structured interviews.

Across the cases, it was realized that there is a low-level application of LC principles among SMBCs. There was no indication that lean concepts were used on a company-wide basis in the Ghanaian construction industry. Furthermore, the study revealed that the traditional wasteful approach to managing construction projects was still prevalent among the firms.

This paper uses the 4P model as a foundation for assessing the extent to which the practices of SMBCs conform to LC principles. Practically, the study also created a certain level of awareness among the SMBCs about LC, LC principles and the benefits of the application of these principles within organizations.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge as it uncovers the status of LC implementation among SMBCs in the Ghanaian construction industry. The findings that are presented in this paper can be used as a starting point to disseminate the research and practice of LC among SMBCs.