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The aim of the paper is to provide a framework for benchmarking firm performance (profitability) using panel data. Further, to illustrate how the estimation results can be used for simulation (what if?) exercises.

The authors apply the econometric techniques used in panel data to estimate profit functions, thereby enabling us to compute measures of firm efficiencies which can subsequently be used as benchmarking tools.

The results suggest that both large firms and those highly specialised, enjoy higher profit margins, whereas the more capital intensive a firm is, the lower is its profitability. As with previous studies there is strong evidence of the U‐shaped relationship between market share and profitability. The authors present an analysis of the distribution of firm efficiencies across industries as a whole, and by a number of industry groups.

Only a limited sample (with regard to the time span) of Australian firms is used. A major assumption of the procedure is that firm efficiencies are constant over time. Given the short time period used in the empirical application, this does not appear to be unrealistic.

The paper provides firms with easy‐to‐use tools with which to benchmark their performance relative to other firms, conditional on their base characteristics.

This is the first time that this type of benchmarking exercise has been applied to firm profitability using relatively simple panel data techniques: it will be of use to market analysts, managers and shareholders alike.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the principal determinants of women’s employment in the manufacturing sector of Bangladesh using a firm-level panel data from the World Bank’s “Enterprise Survey” for the years 2007, 2011 and 2013. The paper sheds light on the demand-side factors, mainly firm-level characteristics, which also influence this decision.

The authors estimate a fractional logit model to model a dependent variable that is limited by zero from below and one from above.

The results indicate that firm size, whether medium or large, and firms’ export-oriented activities, have an important impact on women’s employment in the manufacturing sector in Bangladesh. Moreover, the authors find that women are significantly more likely to work in unskilled-labour-intensive industries within the manufacturing sector.

The research is limited to Bangladesh; however, much of the evidence presented here has implications that are relevant to policymakers in other developing countries.

The study identifies factors that affect female employment, that is, where the main constraints to increase female labour force participation. The study focuses on the demand-side factors, which has been somewhat neglected in recent years. As such, it has practical policy implications.

Focusing on female employment in Bangladesh also sheds light on the nexus between labour market opportunities and social change within a country that is characterised by extreme patriarchy, which has wide-reaching implications.

This is an original and comprehensive paper by the authors.

Previous studies have challenged the Human Development Index’s (HDI) ability to emulate the achievement of falāh (happiness). This paper aims to evaluate the role of religious values in establishing a positive link between the current measurement of development and falāh.

First, this study derives an improved value-loaded development measure from the concept of Maqasid al-Shari’ah (the higher objectives of Islamic law). Second, this paper compares the calculated Maqasid al-Shari’ah Index (MSI) with the HDI of some Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries by using the parametric pair difference z-test and t-test along with the non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Finally, the relationship of both indices and the proxy of falāh are examined by using the ordinary least square and the generalised method of moments estimations.

As far as the religious-led development is concerned, the HDI underestimates OIC countries’ development progress. Here, the MSI can better embody the attainment of falāh than the HDI.

This study only covers limited OIC countries due to the data availability issue.

The cultural-based development stemming from the religious values proves useful for putting the government effort towards the attainment of the objective of human well-being in the right direction.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study examining the empirical relationship between the MSI and falāh.

The role of emerging digital technologies is of growing strategic importance as it provides significant competitive advantage to organisations. The chief information officer (CIO) plays a pivotal role in facilitating the process of digital transformation. Whilst demand continues to increase, the supply of suitably qualified applicants is lacking, with many companies forced to choose information technology (IT) or marketing specialists instead. This research seeks to analyse the organisational capabilities required and the level of fit within the industry between CIO requirements and appointments via the resource-based view.

Job postings and CIO curriculum vitae were collected and analysed through the lens of organisational capability theory using the machine learning method of Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA).

This research identifies gaps between the capabilities demanded by organisations and supplied by CIOs. In particular, soft, general, non-specific capabilities are over-supplied, while rarer specific skills, qualifications and experience are under-supplied.

The research is useful for practitioners (e.g. potential CIO candidates) to understand current market requirements and for companies aiming to develop internal training that meet present and future skill gaps. It also could be useful for professional organisations (e.g. CIO Forum) to validate the need to develop mentoring schemes that help meet such high demand and relative undersupply of qualified CIOs.

By applying LDA, the paper provides a new research method and process for identifying competence requirements and gaps as well as ascertaining job fit. This approach may be helpful to other domains of research in the process of identifying specific competences required by organisations for particular roles as well as to understand the level of fit between such requirements and a potential pool of applicants. Further, the study provides unique insight into the current supply and demand for the role of CIO through the lens of resource-based view (RBV). This provides a contribution to the stream of information systems (IS) research focused on understanding CIO archetypes and how individual capabilities provide value to companies.

In the past decade, the effectiveness and efficiency foreign aid (Aid Industry) has generated considerable debate in both of the academic and popular press. Despite spending billions of dollars in foreign aid well over a billion people remain in extreme poverty. This paper did not intend to question the magnitude of the effort or the motives of donors or aid agencies, but rather why the aid programs have not been more effective.

Certain research in behavioral economics, pathological altruism, and emotional empathy may help provide answers. Common to these theories is the idea that well-intentioned actions or policies may cause unintended, harmful consequences to either the donors or the intended beneficiaries of these actions or policies. This paradoxical result is typically due to the altruist’s inability to properly analyze the situation for a variety of reasons. The Aid Industry may be particularly susceptible to these behavioral biases and thus is likely to suffer to some extent from unintended adverse consequences.

This paper focused on ethical considerations at the microlevel, that is, the paper considered the impact of aid on individual’s economic utility and human dignity as opposed to macromeasures such as gross domestic product. Our purpose was to examine how behavioral theories can improve foreign aid efficiency and effectiveness. Using specific examples and considering ethical arguments based on utility and rights theories, we illustrated how these behavioral theories help explain the Aid Industry’s suboptimal results.

Frameworks on information systems‐sourcing (IS‐sourcing) decisions are frequently based on rational‐choice theory, neglecting such non‐quantifiable aspects as interpersonal conflicts. The purpose of this paper is to find out whether such interpersonal conflicts have a determining influence on an organization's IS‐sourcing decision.

An illustrative case‐study strategy is applied.

The following interpersonal conflicts had a determining influence on an organization's IS‐sourcing decision: tensions between personnel in the IS department and those in the users' departments; lack of capabilities on a personal level; power in and between departments; and face‐saving in the corporate group. Based on these empirical findings, a generic model is developed to illustrate how interpersonal conflicts enmesh with economic, business, and technical factors, and influence IS‐sourcing decisions.

The generic model enables researchers to study IS‐sourcing decisions better. It enriches previous research on IS‐sourcing decisions and alerts researchers that they need to cope with non‐quantifiable aspects that can have an impact on IS‐sourcing decisions.

Once managers understand how interpersonal conflicts can influence an organization's IS‐sourcing decision, they can assess their own organizations more accurately and estimate outcomes of particular IS‐sourcing decisions more realistically. Thus, this paper enables organizations to make better IS‐sourcing decisions, thereby – in the long run – helping them to use IS more effectively in their attempts to improve their business performances and competitive advantages.

This paper extends previous research on IS‐sourcing and fills a gap in traditional frameworks on IS‐sourcing decisions. It illustrates how various types of interpersonal conflicts enmesh with economic, business, and technical factors, and influence IS‐sourcing decisions.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the importance of managing outsourcing without allowing learning skills to become atrophied, but instead ensuring that the transfer of functions to external agents (by outsourcing) can actually be a source of new learning. From an organizational learning perspective, the issues addressed fall within the sphere of corporate strategy and play a critical role in value creation. Hypotheses are presented concerning the role of management, its leadership styles and its ability to trigger mechanisms of new knowledge creation with a consequent impact on value creation, even when production processes are performed by third parties.

The paper's investigation is based on a positivist[1] philosophy, and follows a socio‐economic and knowledge‐based approach. The method used to verify the hypotheses involved a process of hands‐on research, with bank executives being asked to complete a structured questionnaire.

From the survey it emerged that in order to create value and allow the outsourcing output to be incorporated in a process of continual improvement of resources, a correct management of the relationship with the outsourcing service provider is most efficacious if the output is treated as shared, disseminated and incorporated knowledge. It was found that, in the presence of democratic styles, knowledge becomes learning and generates the maximum benefit in terms of distinctive resources.

This paper argues that it is possible to outline a procedure in which particular importance is given to control and leadership, which are the basis for dissemination and learning outcome.

This article describes in outline the different approaches used to support the management of information, information systems and information technology. It has a bias towards systems and technology, rather than information, if only because this is where most management effort is focused. Management information per se is neither frequently attempted nor easy.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model on the role that information systems (IS) architecture planning plays in enhancing IS outsourcing's impact on IS performance and to empirically test the model.

Survey data were gathered and structural equation modeling technique is used to test hypotheses.

The empirical test clearly demonstrates the important role that IS architecture planning plays in enhancing IS outsourcing's impact on IS performance. In other words, it shows that IS architecture planning provides a blueprint for establishing necessary technical and administrative platforms, based on which IS outsourcing can be effectively implemented to positively impact IS performance. Consequently, the key proposition in the conceptual model of the study has been empirically validated.

The relatively low response rate requires future studies to re‐validate the model to test the robustness of the findings. The fact that 75 percent of respondents are IS managers/directors may produce inflated responses on IS performance and future studies with more balanced IS and business managers' participation can help to further verify the model. Future research can also investigate how web compliant‐based technologies such as SOA and XML can enable high levels of modularity to improve IS outsourcing effectiveness for better IS performance. As to control variables, the extent of IS outsourcing and the level of IS architecture maturity may be incorporated in a refined model to better test the role IS architecture planning plays in enhancing IS outsourcing's impact on IS performance. IS outsourcing effectiveness may be added to the model as a bridge linking IS outsourcing competences to IS performance. A longitudinal study can be conducted to analyze the dynamics of how IS architecture planning can impact IS outsourcing informed buying and help one to understand the portfolio of outsourcing control mechanisms in a multiple outsourcing projects setting.

The empirical support of the key proposition that IS architecture planning enhances IS outsourcing's impact on IS performance makes it very clear that IS management should make due efforts to improve their understandings of various IS components, associated business processes, and their interactive relationships for better IS outsourcing management. Further, the identification of the antecedents of IS architecture planning will enlighten practitioners about how to improve their IS architecture planning competence.

The paper builds on previous research to provide further empirical evidence on the role that IS architecture planning plays in enhancing IS outsourcing's impact on IS performance.

Using the two waves of the India Time Use Survey, 1998–1999 and 2019, we document a 110-minute (30%) increase in average daily learning time. The largest offsetting decrease was in work time: 61 minutes. The composition of leisure changed, with television rising by 19 minutes, while talking fell by 10 minutes and games by 17 minutes. We then implement a Gelbach decomposition, showing that 68 minutes of the unconditional learning increase are predicted by demographic covariates. Of these predictors the most important are a child's state of residence and usual principal activity, which captures extensive-margin transitions into schooling.