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This paper aims to examine the productivity and spillover effect of Malaysian horizontal merger and acquisition (M&A) activities in the long run.

In terms of analytical tools, economic value added (EVA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) are used.

The results of this study reveal that M&As in the absence of antitrust laws could be driven by managerial self-interest to create market power instead of realizing synergistic gains. Also, in Malaysia, the non-merging rival firms have significantly higher productivity improvement than the control bidder firms, and therefore, this study has identified the spillover effect as a behavior of M&A reaction.

This paper differs from previous studies in that it attempts not only to examine the real long-term gains of horizontal M&A activities in Malaysia but also the spillover effects of M&A activities on similar but non-merging firms.

The purpose of this research is to compare the board quality's (BQ) impacts on the financial performance (FP) of conventional and Islamic banks (IBs) after the Subprime financial crisis. The main reason is to help financial stakeholders choose the best performing and most appropriate bank type with its engagement based on the BQ index.

Based on the existing gap in previous researches and by using the GLS method (Generalized Least Squares method), the author compared the BQ's impacts on the FP of conventional and IBs. Settings of the FP and BQ were collected from 30 countries located on 4 continents. Two equal samples were tested; each of them is composed of 112 banks. The author concentrated only on the banks that have published regularly the banks' annual reports over the period 2010–2018.

Cylindrical panel results revealed that in conventional banks (CBs), the BQ has negatively affected banks' FP, while in IBs the BQ's impacts on the banks’' FP is ambiguous. Nevertheless, the positive impacts are more significant on the IBs' FP than the negative impacts on the IBs' FP.

The main practical contribution is the identification and distinction between the impacts of board determinants' quality on the shareholders' profits in the case of conventional and IBs. Hence, conventional or IBs which have a bad BQ will generate less FP and will be classified as a lender of bankruptcy danger for the bank customer. Besides, whatever the bank type, in a financial stable period, good BQ positively influences FP and provides a good impression to stakeholders. Otherwise, FP indicates that the banks suffer from the weaknesses of the board quality determinants.

Returning to the finance and banking governance literature, the author's article provides the first conditional and demonstrative analysis that detailed a logical comparative process to analyze the correlation between the board determinants' quality and the financial performance of conventional and IBs. However, previous research has always discussed the main role of the board as an internal governance mechanism on the FP separately in each bank type.

The effects of capital-raising announcements have long been used as an indicator of increased shareholder wealth (Brown and Warner, 1985). Studies on bond announcements, for example, have been largely inconclusive. However, when effects are measured based on bond underlying structure, “straight and convertible bonds”, then the results are more conclusive (Abdul Rahim, 2012). Furthermore, issuances around crisis period are expected to result in negative market reaction as investors prefer liquidity (Fenn, 2000).

Sukuk are bond-like instruments that are issued based on the Sharia guidelines and perceived to be less risky due to their risk sharing attribute. Sukuk are issued by the governments and also corporations. Sukuk can either be debt-based or equity-based. The former resembles the conventional bond, and equity-based Sukuk resembles the convertible bonds. It is interesting to ascertain the market reaction to issuance of both type of Sukuk. This study determines the wealth effects of debt-based Sukuk issuances in Indonesia, around crisis period. Sukuk issues have steadily increased in Indonesia, and it is the second largest issuer in 2015 (Zawya, 2015a, 2015b).

The market reaction to corporate Sukuk issuance by Indonesian firms is yet to be documented, and the findings of this study address this issue, especially during the crisis period when the risk aversion is high and investors prefer liquidity. The Bai and Perron’s (2003) multiple breakpoint analysis was applied to determine the crisis period, which was between 2007 and 2010.

The findings suggest that the market reacts positively and significantly to debt-based Sukuk issuance during the crisis period, contrary to the theory that postulates a negative market reaction. Though these findings seem to be unique, it is possible that it is a behavioral effect of investors requiring less liquidity premium during crisis, contrary to expectations (Chen et al., 2007; Amihud and Mendelson, 1986).

This paper aims to assess the ethical disclosure of Islamic banks (IBs) under different accounting regimes and to ascertain whether the adoption of an Islamic accounting standards (Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions [AAOIFI]) promotes the practice of ethical disclosure.

An ethical identity disclosure index was developed to serve as a benchmark to assess the level of the communicated ethical identity disclosure (CEID) of 47 IBs over 18 countries using annual reports.

The findings suggest that, overall, there is poor ethical disclosure practices and even banks that had some initiatives towards disclosures had no proper reference to benchmark for effective implementation of ethical reporting standards and had no plans for ethical and socially responsible schemes. There was no evidence to suggest that IBs that adapted the religious-based accounting regime (AAOIFI) had better levels of ethical disclosure.

Though poor practices of CEID are expected to increase reputational risks and the likelihood of loss of religious conscious customers and investors’ confidence and therefore market share and performance in the long-term, the current practice does not concur with this expectation. Furthermore, since there is no evidence to support the notion that the adoption of AAOIFI standards would support greater initiatives towards level of ethical identity disclosures, a mandatory requirement for effective disclosure through enforcement of AAOIFI’s financial reporting standards, specifically with regard to ethics and social and environmental commitment is needed.

In addition to introducing commonly accepted regulatory and supervisory guidelines and best practices that cater for the specificities of Islamic banking could significantly improve the level of CEID of IBs. In addition, the standardization of ethical (non-financial) reporting practices of IBs through guidelines and key performance indicators will facilitate CEID practices of IBs.

This paper contends that for Islamic bankers, ethics is an entrenched part of the business practice and should mitigate unethical behaviour, more so with the additional filter of Sharīʿah supervisory boards. Even if there are such practices due to ineffectiveness of Sharīʿah committees, management pressure to meet performance expectations and competitive pressures from peers in the conventional banking sector, it will not be in the interest of the banks to report them.

Medical devices are undergoing rapid changes because of the increasing affordability of advanced technologies like additive manufacturing (AM) and three-dimensional scanning. New avenues are available for providing solutions and comfort that were not previously conceivable. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the research on developing prostheses using AM to understand the opportunities and challenges in the domain. Various studies on prosthesis development using AM are investigated to explore the scope of integration of AM in prostheses development.

A review of key publications from the past two decades was conducted. Integration of AM and prostheses development is reviewed from the technologies, materials and functionality point of view to identify challenges, opportunities and future scope.

AM in prostheses provides superior physical and cognitive ergonomics and reduced cost and delivery time. Patient-specific, lightweight solutions for complex designs improve comfort, functionality and clinical outcomes. Compared to existing procedures and methodologies, using AM technologies in prosthetics could benefit a large population.

This paper helps investigate the impact of AM and related technology in the field of prosthetics and can also be viewed as a collection of relevant medical research and findings.

In recent years, the fast growth of Islamic banks (IBs) has generated debates among policymakers and economists about the sustainability and performance of these institutions. This paper aims to undertake a comparative analysis of the financial performance of IBs and conventional banks (CBs) in Pakistan over the period 2008–2019 to evaluate how IBs are faring compared to their conventional peers.

This paper considers Financial Ratio Analysis (FRA) to analyse and compare the performance of the top-10 IBs and CBs operating in Pakistan. The sample includes five full-fledged IBs and five CBs which offer Islamic windows in Pakistan. The top-five performing CBs offering Islamic windows have been selected in this study.

The results show that IBs are better capitalized, less risky and have higher liquidity as compared to CBs. In contrast, the profits of IBs are found to be lower than those of CBs.

The study has provided an analysis of financial performance only for Pakistan. A cross-country analysis could be more representative of the performance of IBs.

The study infers that the size of the Islamic banking industry in Pakistan should be enhanced by opening new branches and promoting Islamic financial literacy.

The study assists investors, creditors, debtors and managers in making better decisions. It also provides the latest valuable information to regulators and policymakers that can be used to make rules and policies for the finance industry in Pakistan.

The purpose of this paper is to find applicable Islamic pricing benchmarks (IPBs) instead of the market interest rates which are currently used in Islamic finance as benchmark.

The suggested model (Islamic pricing benchmark model (IPBM)) obviously reveals the feasibility and practical effectiveness of a substitute to London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and as an evaluator tool to suggested investment projects. The model is a suggested mechanism which could be used as an alternative choice to the conventional borrowing based on the forbidden Riba or on interest. The suggested IPBM depends on estimating the rate of return for any project on consideration of the cash flows in future which is expected to be relative to the invested capital.

The IPBM approach might be applied to financial tools, where the fund owner bears the loss since it is not because of negligence. An instrument to help identify the investment for target rates of return (as an alternative choice to LIBOR) to identify a breakeven point based on expected cash flows for the project to be financed instead of based on seeking the indicators of interest or Riba (as LIBOR). This feature of the IPBM model as an Islamic benchmark renders it as a Shariah pricing mechanism for the Islamic financial products.

The IPBM could be used as a financial instrument to assist in identifying the investment for the target return rates to determine a breakeven point based on expected cash flows for the project to be funded instead of being based on seeking the interest indicators or Riba (as LIBOR). This feature as an Islamic benchmark is considered as a Shariah pricing mechanism for the Islamic financial products. In particular, the proposed model incorporates the Shariah parameters. In that, it is hoped that the Islamic financial instruments will be more comprehensive in their Shariah compliance and thereby may bring more credibility to the Islamic financial system in general.

This paper highlights several important issues related to the IPBMs in Islamic financial institutions which are not widely discussed among researchers. This study contributes to finding an alternative IPB for the Islamic financial products which is currently using the conventional interest rate (LIBOR) as its benchmark. The current study provides empirical evidence for the possibility of relying on the IPBM as an Islamic benchmark to price Islamic financial transactions.

This paper aims to investigate the dimensional accuracy and surface roughness of printed masked stereolithography (m-SLA) parts. The fabricated specimens of photosensitive polymer resin have complex shapes and various features. The influence of four process parameters of m-SLA, including layer height, exposure time, light-off delay and print orientation, is studied on response characteristics.

The Box–Behnken design of response surface methodology is used to examine the effect of process parameters on the shrinkage of various geometrical dimensions like diameter, length, width, and height of different features in a complex shape. Additionally, a multi-response optimization has been carried out using the desirability function to minimize the surface roughness and printing time and maximize the dimensional accuracy.

The layer height and print orientation influence the surface roughness of parts. An increase in layer height results in increased surface roughness, and the orientation parallel to the z-axis of the machine gives the highest surface roughness. The dimensional accuracy of m-SLA parts is influenced by layer height, exposure time, and print orientation. Although not significant in dimensional accuracy and surface roughness, the light-off delay can affect printing time apart from other parameters like layer height and print orientation.

The effect of layer height and print orientation on dimensional accuracy, printing time, and surface roughness is investigated by researchers using simple shapes in other vat photopolymerization techniques. The present work is focused on studying the effect of these parameters and additional parameters like light-off delay in complicated geometrical parts in m-SLA.

This study aims to discuss the determinants of Islamic banks’ efficiency. It tries to explore the source of Islamic banks’ inefficiencies to propose solutions to guarantee an acceptable level of technical efficiency of such banks in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

To achieve this objective, the authors use a parametric approach, especially, the stochastic frontier approach, using production function and panel data analysis. The authors apply a package Frontier 4.1 for the estimation process, which is composed of two principal steps. In the first step, the authors estimate Islamic banks’ efficiency scores in different GCC countries based on an output distance function. In the second step, the analysis highlights the impact of managerial-specific education on Islamic accounting and finance, scarcity of Sharīʿah scholars, the board independence and chief executive officers’ (CEOs) duality on GCC Islamic banks’ efficiency.

This study’s results document that managerial-specific education on Islamic accounting and finance and the board of directors’ composition, especially, the board’s independence, can largely explain the technical efficiency scores of Islamic banks in GCC countries. Especially, the authors find evidence that managerial-specific education is negatively associated with the inefficiency term. The coefficient of the Sharīʿah scholar’s variable has a positive sign indicating that the more there are Sharīʿah experts, the more the bank is efficient. In addition, CEOs’ duality seems to have no significant effect on GCC Islamic banks’ efficiency.

GCC Islamic banks need to improve the presence of independent members on the board of directors. In addition, these banks are invited to count more on Sharīʿah auditors and educated staff characterized by a high level of competency in the domain of Islamic banking and finance.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that highlights the effect of managerial-specific education in Islamic accounting and finance and scarcity of Sharīʿah scholars on Islamic banks’ efficiency.

The main purpose of this paper is to examine cost efficiencies of the selected Islamic and conventional commercial banks over the period of 2006 to 2009 in Malaysia.

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) was initially used, to investigate the cost efficiency of the Malaysian banking sector and followed by Tobit regression analysis determine factors influencing the efficiency of Islamic and conventional banks in Malaysia.

The DEA results reveal technical efficiency as the main contributor of cost efficiency for conventional commercial banks and allocative efficiency as the main contributor for cost efficiency of Islamic commercial banks. This indicates conventional commercial banks have been efficient in utilizing information technology and electronics. Islamic commercial banks conversely have been efficient in allocating and utilizing their resources. Additionally, scale efficiency is found to be the main source of technical efficiency for both Islamic and conventional commercial banks, denoting that size is important in improving bank efficiency. The results of Tobit regression analysis are twofold. First, it documents capitalization and bank sizes are positively and significantly associated to efficiency. Secondly, loan quality is found to be negatively and significantly associated to efficiency.

This paper contributes to the body of knowledge through its literature discussions on the efficiency of both Islamic and conventional banks and the effect of banks' specific characteristics on their efficiency.