Bewertung des Arabian Journal of Business and Management

This work devises a time- specific business model for Amazon.com Inc.�?¢ï¿½?�?��?Ÿs journey from being an e-commerce start-up to the early stages of its stardom as an online retail giant. For the purpose, constructs are teased out from a case by University of West Australia academic Gary J. Stockport that featured and organised the key events of Amazon�?¢ï¿½?�?��?Ÿs business between the timeline in question, 1995 and 2004 in this case. The constructs are then looked into with several analysis methods in order to finally generate the intended retrospective business model with the design of business model theorist Alex Osterwalder. The work also maintains a general awareness of Amazon�?¢ï¿½?�?��?Ÿs present business practices and position in order to facilitate the readers to have comparative strategic thinking.

Process improvement is a constant search for opportunities to improve the processes in the daily operations of the company, and to enhance the relationships between processes. One of the concepts of continuous improvement is the Lean Management approach. Lean management is the way to achieve the perfect level of the organization through the gradual and ongoing, which is characteristic for continuous improvement approach, elimination of waste (“muda” in Japanese) and losses in all the aspects of business, and the integration of activities connected with the stream creating customer value. The approach to classification of wastes dominating in the literature comprises seven groups. The authors focused on just the last type of waste that is on the under-utilization of the potential of employees. However, according to the author’s interpretation, thinking of “muda” is not using the available working time of employees. In the opinion of the authors, this loss is due to a lack of standardization of working time of employees In order to eliminate wasted time at the workplace, the authors suggest using the techniques of work analysis and standardization. The purpose of this article is to present the methods mentioned and focus on the possibility of their inclusion in the concept of Lean Management, in the context of elimination of waste in the form of under-utilized potential of employees. The above approach combines the Japanese approach in terms of improvement of processes and European approach in the context of research on work.

This paper aims to attend to the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in organizational social and cultural issues. The study explores ICT gatekeeping dynamics, and does this in the context of gendersegregation in Saudi Arabia, and the current marginalization of the female workforce. The physical separation of men and women at work, and the utilization of ICT by competing groups to promote integrated practices provide an opportunity to understand power dynamics as enabled by digital technologies. Through empirical case analysis of an Oracle task management system, the study presents a number of findings emerging from the segregated context related to technology use. These findings are particularly relevant for network gatekeeping studies, and consist of identifying two ICT gatekeeping mechanisms (proxy and surveillance), and two types of change mechanisms (formative and dismantling). In addition to exploring the technological aspects of ICT use in segregated work, the study also attempts to document and evaluate some of the existing practices in terms of progressive change. The multi-layered male hegemony in Saudi, as imposed by governmental, cultural, and religious dominion, and the paradoxes arising from technology use that promotes female inclusion while simultaneously keeping segregation intact, makes this an issue riddled with extreme complexity. This study departs from attempts to classify technology as either a means of female emancipation or subjugation. Instead, by providing glimpses from a diverse cultural setting, the study highlights the inevitability of both enablement and constraint in technology use.

Medical students, the future doctors of our country are an important part of the society. When they will enter into the professional world it would be very difficult to approach them and get time for conversation. If they can be approached in the virtual world it would be a unique opportunity for numerous business houses for line of work. This study aims to throw some light on the online behavior of medical students. We can learn about the websites they visit, what motivates them to use internet? What information do they seek? and on what topics they discuss? For the research different social networking websites and blogs involving medical students were studied. From this their topics of discussion were analyzed. To get more insights a questionnaire was formed and medical students in Kolkata were interviewed. It was seen that medical students used internet for various reasons. They use internet for sharing class notes, watching videos of surgery, finding books and looking for internship and socializing. Their internet usage pattern was analyzed and a trend was found.

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the impact of social media applications on small business entrepreneurs. It is also examined how small business owners are motivated to use social media applications. Social media completely transformed the way of businesses. Social media applications in the present time have become most efficient and effective tool for small business entrepreneurs and normally all small business use social media platform for the advertising and publicity of their products and services, they make fan pages for the followers and they warmly welcome the suggestions and opinions which help in improving their business. However, based on literature review I concluded that there is a positive impact of social media applications on small business entrepreneurs as well as they are highly motivated to use this platform.

This study analyzes productivity growth in Sudanese Sugar Schemes over the period 1999-2007. The application and specification of the output-based Malmquist total factor productivity index, data variables and sources, results, and some policy implications for the Sudanese sugar farms are discussed and presented The Malmquist productivity index was used to measure the technical and economic or allocative efficiency. Data Envelopment Non-parametric analysis (DEA) a model of output-oriented total factor productivity (TFP) was used in the analysis. This model provided meaningful results regarding technological and economic behavior relationships over time, using balance panel data on Sudanese Sugarcane Schemes. Efficiency change contributed to the total factor productivity progress and technical change to its regress to the Sudanese Sugarcane Schemes by 0.2% and 12.5%, respectively. The results indicated that the Sudanese Sugar Schemes had an annual average increase in TFP of 12.7%. The regression analysis results showed that expenses were negatively and significantly related to TFP.

The need for the development of capital markets-whether formal or informal can be overstressed. That they operate separate the functions of savings from investment is very important, facilitating the continuous process of arranging asset portfolio for savers also helps in the process of economic development. The structural imbalance in Nigeria’s financial system has led to the strong emergence of informal capital markets. In the present set-up, it has been realized that the economy can hardly progress satisfactorily without them. In conclusion, the markets are being faced with barrage of problems, it is hoped that if these problems are effectively tackled the informal markets might be able to perform a more pronounced role in the economic development drive in Nigeria.

Impact of Intellectual Capital on Carrefour Internal Growth Strategies (Ansoff’s Model) in Irbid

Leadership is currently one of the most talked about issues in business and organization. It is defined by Steven M. Smith as “Leadership is the ability to adapt the setting so everyone feels empowered to contribute creatively to solving the problems”. Leadership reflects the ability of the person to do something based on his talent and skill. Sometimes talent isn’t completely necessary; it is the training, experience and persistence that make individuals great leaders. As each individual is different, the leadership style adopted by each one is different. The decision that each person takes as leaders in each situation is different. It may be depending upon his reaction to the situation, previous experience that he had come across, based on his intuition etc. Today’s businesses require leaders and not managers. In light of the above need this study is an earnest attempt to measure the leadership potential and its development among the students of a business school at NITTE. This study is especially significant in its findings that leadership is a trainable attribute rather than an innate attribute as it was believed earlier. A leadership profile indicator tool was used in measuring pre and post training impact of leadership on student’s leadership development process. The significant finding of this study was in terms of breaking the myth that male were more suitable for leadership positions in business than females.

This article reported the findings of vision impact on the retention cognition of knowledge workers with the mediating role of human resource practices, organization culture, commitment, and communication. While the analysis was based on the data collected from the 125 knowledge workers of service providing organizations working in Islamabad, Pakistan. The study found that vision has positive significant impact on the knowledge workers retention cognition, while organization culture, and commitment had full mediation between vision and knowledge workers retention cognition, but human resource and communication had partial mediation between vision and knowledge workers retention cognition. For further elaborative analysis multiple serial mediation method was used, and it was found that all the mediators have significant mediating role between vision and retention cognition of knowledge workers. While academic and managerial implications are included in discussion and conclusion part.

The world is moving from traditional analytics to ‘predictive analytics and now increasingly towards prescriptive analytics, where the decisions are driven by predictive models using business rules engines to help the companies to decide the next best decision. Technology increasingly affects virtually every aspect of work, has been hailed as one of the most important developments in recent history. A motivated employee is a valuable asset which delivers huge value to the organization in maintaining and strengthening its business activities. Performance which leads to growth has unprecedented challenges which can be best defined by internal and external environmental factors in which technology is the key needed attention. Maintaining workers participation is one of the biggest challenges facing businesses irrespective of salaries and benefits, creating a working environment where workers are motivated and engaged; and are supported to develop themselves technologically. However, this paper focuses on the impact of technology on workers performance, also the major challenges of technology on workers performance and to examine the major factors that motivates workers. A structured questionnaires and interviews were constructed to provide answers to the research questions and a sample size of 60, employees. It was found out that technology facilitates effective communication, satisfactorily result and just-in-time delivery. It was also found out that workers were comfortable with the software provided by the company. It was however observed that most of the systems they work with experienced interruptions and vulnerabilities. Social media, mobile platform, analytics and cloud computing should be explained well to workers, as enablers to the next generation of technological thinkers.

Emotional Intelligence is a set of qualities and competencies that captures a broad collection of individual skills and dispositions, usually referred to as soft skills or inter and intra-personal skills, that are outside the traditional areas of specific knowledge, general intelligence, and technical or professional skills. Emotions are an intrinsic part of our biological makeup, and every morning they march into the office with us and influence our behaviour. Emotional intelligence consists of five factors: Knowing one’s emotions, managing emotions, motivating one, recognizing emotions in others, and handling relationships Goleman [1]. Researchers today are interested in finding the effects of emotional intelligence on employees and thereby, organizations, and analyzing the various other facets of EQ. Emotional intelligence improves individual and organizational performance. It plays a significant role in the kind of work an employee produces, and the relationship he or she enjoys in the organization. Work-Life Balance is a challenging issue for IT leaders, managers and has also attracted the attention of researchers. Work/life balance, in its broadest sense, is defined as a satisfactory level of involvement or ‘fit’ between the multiple roles in a person’s life. In this climate managing the boundary between home and work is becoming more challenging. Organizations need to ensure they not just encourage but mandate a practical and workable work/life balance policy, benefiting and meeting the needs of both the organization and its employees. Organizations not providing real opportunity for employees work/life balance are opening themselves up to increasing numbers of dissatisfied and unproductive employees and hence increased attrition rates. Merely creating a work/life policy framework is not enough; fostering an organizational culture that supports the use of available policies is also of great importance. Further there is a need for employers and employees alike to find flexible and innovative solutions that maximize productivity without damaging employee’s well-being, their family relationships and other aspects of life. This study is an attempt to contribute afresh with a new perspective to the field of human resources and behavioural sciences with special reference to emotional intelligence in relation of employees work-life balance in IT organizations. It is also an earnest attempt to bridge the gap especially in this area by highlighting the relevance and importance of work-life balance and emotional intelligence to leadership, senior management, individual and organizations and hoping this study will initiate a series of serious and productive discussion on the subject. The findings and outcome of this research will be beneficial to the IT organizations in India, which is a flourishing industry and contributes significantly to the GDP of the country and the talent pool of the world. The study will bring in sharp focus the major challenges encountered in these areas and the solutions that will aid IT organizations to deal more significantly in increasingly their effectiveness. The review on the related literature in the area of emotional intelligence and work-life balance studied in this research has provided the researcher an insight into many factors. It also provides direction in designing the present study. Having reviewed several studies and having identified the gap, the investigator felt an imperative need to undertake the present investigation. This term paper is through light on impact of emotional intelligence on performance of employees and the next objective is to know how to become an EI organization. Emotional Intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive, control, and evaluate emotions. Some researchers suggest that emotional intelligence can be learned and strengthened, while other claim it is an inborn characteristic. To do the research thoroughly, review of literature is being taken with twenty articles. Through this study, it is concluded that emotional intelligence has greater impact on performance of employees. Secondly an emotionally intelligent organization is based on an organisational strategy to improve business performance.

The objective of this study was the investigation comprised the long run equilibrium and the short run dynamic interlinkages between sheep markets by using the monthly data of Omdurman, Medani, Elobied, Nyala and Sennar markets from January 1980 to December 1984 and from January 1990 to December 2000. The main findings were as following (i) The prices were first difference stationary, (ii) The test failed to reject the null hypothesis of no long run relationships between variables in the period 1980-1984 and (iii) there was only one cointegrating vector in the system in the period 1990-2000, and the short run integration appeared to be weak. The long run dynamics was re-examined by using impulse response tests and the results support the cointegration of these markets. It may be interpreted that any shock to the equilibrium relationships is mostly restored within four months lag period. The results also suggested relative leadership of Omdurman and Nyala markets in sheep pricing, which means the system is driven by large markets.

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of social capital on entrepreneurial opportunity recognition. The research’s theoretical background entails social networks and social capital (including the cognitive, relational and structural aspects). The present research is empirical and employs a quantitative-survey approach. Moreover, the statistical population includes all the 60 managers in the Science and Technology Park. A questionnaire has been used as the instrument for data collection. Ultimately, the results show that social capital positively influences opportunity recognition with relational social capital delivering the most impact.