International Journal of Economics & Management Sciences

The greater cities can get more political resource, the better reputation they had from mass media. The secondary cities usually hold less population, economic market scale and job opportunities providing than the largest one. They generally aggressively find the driving force of economic growth and attract foreign investment in order to catch up the top largest cities achievement. This study adopts economics, social, and environmental factors, which follow the primary criteria of global urban competitiveness comparison, to analyze economic driving force within the secondary cities in Taiwan. The capacity of secondary cities appears decaying trend, as Kaohsiung City, lack of strong economic driving force. FDI effectiveness has been reduced since 2003 year in those secondary cities of Taiwan. In recent years, Taiwanese government also offered much incentive to attract foreign enterprises’ direct investment. But when incentive disappeared, then foreign firms or enterprises mostly chose leaving to other south-eastern countries for cost down. Globalization trend makes secondary cities should re-consider self-competitiveness. Continuous relying on central or local governmental resource is hard to survive for secondary cities. According to the Taiwanese secondary cities cases, the study found five municipal divisions, mentioned as New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung, being unnecessary to be divided into five parts. Integrating nearby cities could make good effect on economic growth.

Today with increase competition among manufacturing companies of the world, it is necessary that Iranian companies have an outstanding presence in the global markets and produce their productions at the global level‚ but they are exposed to a lot of obstacles for World Class Manufacturing implementing. Therefore, this study has tried to identify and ranking the different obstacles for implementing of world class manufacturing system in Iranian manufacturing companies using fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP). In this study‚ first the obstacles to implementation of WCM system were recognized by library studies and some questionnaires and interviewing experts, then Hierarchical decision tree was designed. The second questionnaire, which consists of fuzzy decision matrix, was then distributed among 12 experts in Appliance industry. Then in order to ranking the criteria, gathered information were analyzed through fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process. The results show that management, manpower, technology and organizational culture are respectively the most important factors and are the main obstacles in the implementation of manufacturing systems at the global level in Iranian companies.

Up to date the Malaysian government has been providing subsidy for various products like energy sources, health, food, education and so on. Among the subsidy given by the government, the most significant amounts go to energy subsidy. Misallocation of resources may lead to leakages and cause national deficit and eventually lead the country to bankruptcy. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify the eligible individual to receive subsidy based on each energy resources. The study used cross sectional data collected from 500 respondents using structured questionnaire to determine the energy consumption of each energy source by households in urban and rural areas. The latent income threshold value determined indicates the benchmark used to examine the eligibility of subsidy recipient for each energy resource. The findings show that leakages exist in the consumption of energy when subsidies are given and not given. The latent income for urban area to receive energy subsidy should be distributed to those who earn below RM3000 while for rural area should be below RM1500.

In recent years, the study of tourism as a major socio-economic phenomenon has been receiving great attention, and it primarily deals with the quality of the provided services as an imperative for success in the market. The quality of the offer is the key segment that dictates the direction and intensity of tourism development. The paper presents data obtained from the research of secondary publications, survey research performed by the authors and statistical documentation, which point to the degree of tourist satisfaction with the quality of food products in the hotels of Novi Sad. The study also touched on the issue of the percentage-wise contribution of certain foods in the daily and annual tourist consumption. The obtained results indicate that for the purpose of long-term expansion of tourism it is necessary to intensively invest into the quality of products and services, and that closer relations must be developed primarily with agriculture, as well as other economic and non-economic activities.

This study intends to find out the impact of perceived value on word of mouth endorsement and customer satisfaction exploring a mediating role of repurchase intentions. It is a study based on analysis of empirical data collected from 300 respondents. Correlation, regression and sobel test has been used to analyze the data. Results show a positive relationship of customer satisfaction to word of mouth endorsement and repurchase intentions. Further the repurchase intentions also mediate the relationship between customer satisfaction and word of mouth endorsement.

The purpose of this research is to focus on supervisor support and organizational support factors that facilitate organizational commitment among downsizing survivors to reduce high attrition. This is a causal study in which data was collected from 300 employees of Telecommunication Sector of Pakistan who survived after downsizing. By using regression and correlation analysis, it was found out that both supervisor support and organizational support can help in organizational commitment among survivors. Further the supervisory support mediates the relationship between organizational support and organizational commitment.

Recently a new debate has started regarding food and energy issues because food has become an alternative source of energy and energy becoming the main input of agriculture. However, this study attempts to investigate the possible long-term relationship between the prices of crude oil and food commodities represented by maize, wheat, sorghum, soybean, barley, linseed oil, soybean oil, and palm oil. Time series econometric techniques (Unit root tests, Co-integration, and Granger causality) were applied. The study utilizes monthly data over the period of 1980 to 2009. The results of this study reveal that there is a strong evidence of long-term relationship between crude oil and the food commodities prices. A traditional Granger Causality is used to check whether causality exists between two product prices. The outcome suggests that there is unidirectional causality between the prices crude oil and some of the food commodities under examination.

This paper examines the relationship between customer orientation, innovation differentiation, market differentiation and organizational performance in the banking industry in Jordan. A survey of 16 Jordanian banks provides the basis for the empirical investigation. The relationships between the four latent constructs are examined using structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis. The findings show that customer orientation contributes positively to organizational performance by providing innovation differentiation and market differentiation. Another finding of this study is that the impact of innovation differentiation on organizational performance is greater than market differentiation. In addition, doing both innovation differentiation and market differentiation simultaneously achieves greater competitive advantage that leads to best results in organizational performance. Finally, this paper also discusses the theoretical and managerial implications of the results.

The paper presents an analytical overview on some aspects of Kosovo's economic growth, with particular emphasis on the issues concerning Kosovo’s Foreign Trade. The purpose of the paper is to analyze trends in Kosovo’s foreign trade through various statistical data published by the relevant institutions in Kosovo, in order to see directions and trends of development of exports and imports and trade balance of Kosovo, the obstacles that foreign trade activities are facing, especially those relating to export of goods and services. The data analyzed leads to the conclusion that Kosovo is facing a huge challenge such as large negative trade balance for the entire period observed. Having into consideration that disproportion between export and import is huge and given the fact that exports growth is vital for the economy of developing countries such as Kosovo, the natural and human potential available in Kosovo, which may be mobilized for the economic and export growth, are also analyzed.

The study is focused to identify the impact of brand image, brand trust and brand affect on brand extension attitude. Further it investigates if brand loyalty mediates the relationship of brand image, trust, and affect to consumer brand extension attitude. The data was collected through 200 female respondents and analyzed through correlation, regression and Sobel test. Results revealed that brand image, trust and affect are positively associated with the brand extension attitude. Further it is found that brand loyalty mediates the relationship of brand image, trust and affects to brand extension attitude.

Interrelationship between projects is getting more complex day by day within a project network. Technology usage in each and every project levels is necessary and have profound role in motivating the whole team. This paper explored the relative importance of technology usage as one of the motivational factor concerning in the area of communication within the project team, team work and efficiency. Project success not only relying on organization process and structures, but technologies gives a higher impact that keeps the team motivated all the time. The aim of this study is to examine the mutual relationship between technologies impact and motivational factor. This study also aims to explore how these interrelated elements of technologies and motivation could be emphasized in every organization to reinforce and strengthen the project team from all level. The focus of this study is design oriented to address motivation factors in project management field.

The greater cities can get more political resource, the better reputation they had from mass media. The secondary cities usually hold less population, economic market scale and job opportunities providing than the largest one. They generally aggressively find the driving force of economic growth and attract foreign investment in order to catch up the top largest cities achievement. This study adopts economics, social, and environmental factors, which follow the primary criteria of global urban competitiveness comparison, to analyze economic driving force within the secondary cities in Taiwan. The capacity of secondary cities appears decaying trend, as Kaohsiung City, lack of strong economic driving force. FDI effectiveness has been reduced since 2003 year in those secondary cities of Taiwan. In recent years, Taiwanese government also offered much incentive to attract foreign enterprises? direct investment. But when incentive disappeared, then foreign firms or enterprises mostly chose leaving to other south-eastern countries for cost down. Globalization trend makes secondary cities should re-consider self-competitiveness. Continuous relying on central or local governmental resource is hard to survive for secondary cities. According to the Taiwanese secondary cities cases, the study found five municipal divisions, mentioned as New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung, being unnecessary to be divided into five parts. Integrating nearby cities could make good effect on economic growth.

Today with increase competition among manufacturing companies of the world, it is necessary that Iranian companies have an outstanding presence in the global markets and produce their productions at the global level? but they are exposed to a lot of obstacles for World Class Manufacturing implementing. Therefore, this study has tried to identify and ranking the different obstacles for implementing of world class manufacturing system in Iranian manufacturing companies using fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP). In this study? first the obstacles to implementation of WCM system were recognized by library studies and some questionnaires and interviewing experts, then Hierarchical decision tree was designed. The second questionnaire, which consists of fuzzy decision matrix, was then distributed among 12 experts in Appliance industry. Then in order to ranking the criteria, gathered information were analyzed through fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process. The results show that management, manpower, technology and organizational culture are respectively the most important factors and are the main obstacles in the implementation of manufacturing systems at the global level in Iranian companies.

Up to date the Malaysian government has been providing subsidy for various products like energy sources, health, food, education and so on. Among the subsidy given by the government, the most significant amounts go to energy subsidy. Misallocation of resources may lead to leakages and cause national deficit and eventually lead the country to bankruptcy. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify the eligible individual to receive subsidy based on each energy resources. The study used cross sectional data collected from 500 respondents using structured questionnaire to determine the energy consumption of each energy source by households in urban and rural areas. The latent income threshold value determined indicates the benchmark used to examine the eligibility of subsidy recipient for each energy resource. The findings show that leakages exist in the consumption of energy when subsidies are given and not given. The latent income for urban area to receive energy subsidy should be distributed to those who earn below RM3000 while for rural area should be below RM1500.

In recent years, the study of tourism as a major socio-economic phenomenon has been receiving great attention, and it primarily deals with the quality of the provided services as an imperative for success in the market. The quality of the offer is the key segment that dictates the direction and intensity of tourism development. The paper presents data obtained from the research of secondary publications, survey research performed by the authors and statistical documentation, which point to the degree of tourist satisfaction with the quality of food products in the hotels of Novi Sad. The study also touched on the issue of the percentage-wise contribution of certain foods in the daily and annual tourist consumption. The obtained results indicate that for the purpose of long-term expansion of tourism it is necessary to intensively invest into the quality of products and services, and that closer relations must be developed primarily with agriculture, as well as other economic and non-economic activities.

The study was to explore the relationship of brand affect, brand quality and brand personality towards brand extension attitude. It was further intended to explore either customer loyalty mediates the relationships of brand affect and brand extension attitude, brand quality and brand extension attitude and brand personality and brand extension attitude. The study was causal in nature and data was collected from 240 female users of fashion wear of 03 famous brands. The results showed that customer loyalty mediates all the relationship of the study and brand affect, brand quality, brand personality are significantly associated with customer loyalty and brand extension attitude.

This study intends to find out the impact of perceived value on word of mouth endorsement and customer satisfaction exploring a mediating role of repurchase intentions. It is a study based on analysis of empirical data collected from 300 respondents. Correlation, regression and sobel test has been used to analyze the data. Results show a positive relationship of customer satisfaction to word of mouth endorsement and repurchase intentions. Further the repurchase intentions also mediate the relationship between customer satisfaction and word of mouth endorsement.

The purpose of this research is to focus on supervisor support and organizational support factors that facilitate organizational commitment among downsizing survivors to reduce high attrition. This is a causal study in which data was collected from 300 employees of Telecommunication Sector of Pakistan who survived after downsizing. By using regression and correlation analysis, it was found out that both supervisor support and organizational support can help in organizational commitment among survivors. Further the supervisory support mediates the relationship between organizational support and organizational commitment.

Recently a new debate has started regarding food and energy issues because food has become an alternative source of energy and energy becoming the main input of agriculture. However, this study attempts to investigate the possible long-term relationship between the prices of crude oil and food commodities represented by maize, wheat, sorghum, soybean, barley, linseed oil, soybean oil, and palm oil. Time series econometric techniques (Unit root tests, Co-integration, and Granger causality) were applied. The study utilizes monthly data over the period of 1980 to 2009. The results of this study reveal that there is a strong evidence of long-term relationship between crude oil and the food commodities prices. A traditional Granger Causality is used to check whether causality exists between two product prices. The outcome suggests that there is unidirectional causality between the prices crude oil and some of the food commodities under examination.

The study is focused to identify the impact of brand image, brand trust and brand affect on brand extension attitude. Further it investigates if brand loyalty mediates the relationship of brand image, trust, and affect to consumer brand extension attitude. The data was collected through 200 female respondents and analyzed through correlation, regression and Sobel test. Results revealed that brand image, trust and affect are positively associated with the brand extension attitude. Further it is found that brand loyalty mediates the relationship of brand image, trust and affects to brand extension attitude.

This paper examines the relationship between customer orientation, innovation differentiation, market differentiation and organizational performance in the banking industry in Jordan. A survey of 16 Jordanian banks provides the basis for the empirical investigation. The relationships between the four latent constructs are examined using structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis. The findings show that customer orientation contributes positively to organizational performance by providing innovation differentiation and market differentiation. Another finding of this study is that the impact of innovation differentiation on organizational performance is greater than market differentiation. In addition, doing both innovation differentiation and market differentiation simultaneously achieves greater competitive advantage that leads to best results in organizational performance. Finally, this paper also discusses the theoretical and managerial implications of the results.

Interrelationship between projects is getting more complex day by day within a project network. Technology usage in each and every project levels is necessary and have profound role in motivating the whole team. This paper explored the relative importance of technology usage as one of the motivational factor concerning in the area of communication within the project team, team work and efficiency. Project success not only relying on organization process and structures, but technologies gives a higher impact that keeps the team motivated all the time. The aim of this study is to examine the mutual relationship between technologies impact and motivational factor. This study also aims to explore how these interrelated elements of technologies and motivation could be emphasized in every organization to reinforce and strengthen the project team from all level. The focus of this study is design oriented to address motivation factors in project management field.

The paper presents an analytical overview on some aspects of Kosovo's economic growth, with particular emphasis on the issues concerning Kosovo?s Foreign Trade. The purpose of the paper is to analyze trends in Kosovo?s foreign trade through various statistical data published by the relevant institutions in Kosovo, in order to see directions and trends of development of exports and imports and trade balance of Kosovo, the obstacles that foreign trade activities are facing, especially those relating to export of goods and services. The data analyzed leads to the conclusion that Kosovo is facing a huge challenge such as large negative trade balance for the entire period observed. Having into consideration that disproportion between export and import is huge and given the fact that exports growth is vital for the economy of developing countries such as Kosovo, the natural and human potential available in Kosovo, which may be mobilized for the economic and export growth, are also analyzed.