Authors:Bogdan Capraru, Nicoleta-Livia Pintilie Abstract: The current paper analyses the competition degree among Romanian banks during 2005-2015. We determine the bank-level competition for loans and deposits using efficiency-adjusted Lerner index, while Boone indicator shows how competitive these two markets are. Marginal costs (MC) are estimated with a Fourier flexible form cost function with two bank products, that generate the largest portion of revenues, (i.e. loans and deposits) and three input prices (i.e. labour, funds and physical capital). We use DFA for efficiency-improved Lerner index and Generalized Method of Moments with one-, two- or three-year lagged values of marginal costs as instrumental variables for Boone indicator. The results are compared to the values of HHI and C5, provided by European Central Bank. Overall, bank competition in Romania improves as a direct result of decreasing market power and concentration. On the loan market, we can notice that starting with 2014 banks have changed their behaviour by focusing more on optimizing their portfolios through a complex process of balance sheet cleaning, instead of acquiring additional market share and be more competitive. PubDate: 2017-04-28 Issue No:Vol. 13 (2017)
Authors:Oncioiu Ionica, Diana Andreea Mândricel, Anca Gabriela Petrescu, Florentina Raluca Bîlcan Abstract: The European funds are considered an attractive tool for supporting economic growth on short-term and at a macroeconomic level. The impact assessment of structural and cohesion funds on Romania's economic growth is sluggish because of the mismatches between official information at national and regional levels. The role of economic models in quantifying the impact of structural and cohesion funds at a macroeconomic level cannot be minimized. This paper aims to investigate the impact of European funds totally absorbed by Romania on the evolution of total GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in the period 2007-2015. Using linear regression in R (lm function), our goal is to explain the relationship between attracted European funds in total, as an independent variable, and the Gross Domestic Product which was considered a dependent variable. For data processing, the authors used the ANOVA software. However, the results shows that the impact of the absorption rate on short-term economic growth does not confirm the theoretical expectations. PubDate: 2017-04-28 Issue No:Vol. 13 (2017)
Authors:Farai Kwenda, Damilola Oyetade, Ralitza Dobreva Abstract: The purpose of the paper is to examine factors that affect the long-term performance of listed firms from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) that engage in cross-border mergers and acquisitions. This paper adds to the existing literature on the performance of mergers and acquisitions from emerging economies by examining the performance of mergers and acquisitions activities on acquirers from individual BRICS countries and examining whether intra-BRICS acquisitions are more beneficial than non-BRICS acquisitions. The system generalised method of moments estimation technique was employed in order to control for unobservable heterogeneity and potential endogeneity problems using accounting data and merger deal information collected from the Bloomberg online database for the period January 2000 to December 2012. The results obtained indicate that there is persistence in the profits, suggesting that BRICS acquirers continue to profit as they engage in mergers and acquisitions, and firm size significantly impacts the profits of acquirers. PubDate: 2017-04-20 Issue No:Vol. 13 (2017)
Authors:Glenda Maluleke Abstract: This study reviewed literature studies on the determinants of government expenditure for the period 1995 to 2016. The research for the studies was conducted on the internet by combining government expenditure and determinants such as economic growth, government revenue, trade openness, poverty, public debt, dependency ratio, population, and urbanisation on the search engine. The finding of the literature provides conflicting results concerning the determinants of government expenditure. The results indicate that the government expenditure relationship with its determinants is significantly positive and negative, but in some cases it was found to be insignificant and weak. The study recommends that future studies use the newly developed econometric techniques on previous studies to see whether they can provide different results. PubDate: 2017-04-20 Issue No:Vol. 13 (2017)
Authors:Gasparotti Carmen, Alina Raileanu, Eugen Rusu Abstract: Most of the planned projects have problems due to the cost and time overruns from different reasons. Earned value management (EVM) is a project performance evaluation technique that has been used in many projects from several fields, but which has been adapted to be used in project management to objectively track the physical accomplishment of certain work. The earned value analysis offers the possibility to manage the project performances in early stages of the project to point out the need of the eventual corrective action. This paper aims to present the main parameters involved in the calculation of the Earned Value Analysis (EVA) for a ballast plant on shipboard. PubDate: 2017-04-11 Issue No:Vol. 13 (2017)
Authors:Ehsan Saeed Yaqoot Abstract: The objective of this study is to explore problems faced by training programmes implemented at the public sector in Bahrain. Key issues discussed are related to training and development. The significance of the training cannot be ignored in delivering the needed knowledge and capabilities. Therefore, the training should be effective enough to attain these objectives. This study evaluates in accordance with vocational training a number of contextual factors discovered to have an influence in a different combination with other previously examined effective factors. It explores the relationship between them. It also identifies types of relation between the training effectiveness and the contextual factors. The framework of this study is established according to the Kirkpatrick training model. This model consists of four levels measuring training effectiveness namely reaction, learning, behavior, and result. Instrument utilized in this study was a 122 item questionnaire combined to respond to 2 hypotheses. The questionnaire was self-administered in staggered among the targeted respondents. It is revealed that contextual factors namely training environment, and trainee motivation have positive effectiveness in programms conducted in the public sector. This study provides critical inputs and contribution to literatures related to training in the public sector in Bahrain. PubDate: 2017-03-20 Issue No:Vol. 13 (2017)
Authors:Anca Florentina Gavriluta (Vatamanu) Abstract: Governmental decisions play an important role in the critical periods of the economy and usually in base of the strategy adopted, can make an effective contribution to the budget process while preserving fiscal discipline. This study tests the implications of fiscal responsibility on economic growth with the scope to analyze and find out the major issue of responsible public finances. In base of logistic regression results, the study leads to the conclusion that may be wise to re-evaluate plans to cut net government revenue in future budgets and instead take a more strategic approach to nurturing growth in the EU economy. PubDate: 2017-03-15 Issue No:Vol. 13 (2017)
Authors:Christian Myles Rogerson Abstract: The business of international tourism is a growth industry and key driver for economic development in many countries. For national and local policy makers the attraction of international tourists is of major importnace for economic and social development. Understanding the flows and impacts of international tourism is a vibrant issue in tourism scholarship. Although the global flows of international tourism are well documented, much less understood are the spatial patterns of international tourists within national territories. The objective in this paper is to analyse the economic geography of international tourism flows in South Africa. An uneven geographical pattern of development of international tourism is disclosed for the period 2001-2012. In interpreting this spatial distribution it is argued that a conceptual distinction be drawn between the different mobilities of South Africa's cohorts of longhaul as opposed to regional African visitors. The overall landscape of international tourism in South Africa is a composite of these two sets of visitors and of their differential flows variously for purposes of leisure, business and VFR travel. PubDate: 2017-03-13 Issue No:Vol. 13 (2017)
Authors:Vongani Ntimane, Tembi Maloney Tichaawa Abstract: This study is based on the premise that the hospitality industry operates within a highly competitive business environment and that the creation of customer-perceived value is a business component that concerns the striving to gain competitive advantage in terms of financial success, customer satisfaction and loyalty. The aim of the study was to explore the hotel value attributes perceived as being most important by hotel customers. To achieve the objective, a quantitative study design was employed, in terms of which data were purposively and conveniently collected by means of a survey questionnaire that was administered to hotel guests staying in 3- to 5-star hotels. The findings revealed that hotel customers tend to attach a high degree of importance to the issue of value for money, whereas the appearance of the hotel was least important to them of the tourism-related characteristics about which they were asked. Overall, the study found that hotels in Gauteng generally provide service that is satisfactory to their customers, but that the remaining challenge for hoteliers lies in their ability to sustain such levels of satisfaction through continuous employee motivation and skills development. PubDate: 2017-03-07 Issue No:Vol. 13 (2017)
Authors:Daniel Mokatsanyane, Paul Francois Muzindutsi, Diana Viljoen Abstract: This paper investigates the relationship between credit risk and securitisation in the South African banking sector. Panel data analysis was used to analyse annual observations from four major South African banks for a sample period spinning from 2005 to 2014. Results show that source of securitisation variation in the South African banks is capital, bank size and economic growth of the country. A positive impact of securitisation on credit risk was also discovered. The paper revealed that the global financial crisis of 2007-2009 had no effect on the securitization in the South African banking sector, and this is contrary to previous findings. This paper also found that size has a significant effect on capitalization, where big banks tend to securitise more and take on more credit risk compared to small banks. Therefore, banks should increase or maintain an acceptable capital to hedge against any unexpected risks, and proper systems should be established and adopted to encourage repayment of loans by borrows. PubDate: 2017-03-07 Issue No:Vol. 13 (2017)
Authors:Joseph Olorunfemi Akande, Farai Kwenda Abstract: Competition and stability relationship have continued to be debated around the world with mixed results. Our mission is to test how this relationship subsist in SSA region commercial banks in the light of competition-stability and competition-fragility views using the generalised Methods of moment. We studied 440 commercial banks in 37 SSA countries over the periods of 2006-2015. The results provide evidences that support competition-fragility views over the study periods in the SSA region as we found Lerner index, our competition measure and zscore, the stability measure to be consistently strong and negatively related over the static and dynamic regression analysis that we carried out. While competition may be good as argued, and found in some other quarters, the policy implication of this study is for policy makers, regulators and practitioners alike to tread with caution in dealing with issues of competition given its potential to destabilise the system. PubDate: 2017-03-07 Issue No:Vol. 13 (2017)
Authors:Taha Zaghdoudi, Samir Maktouf Abstract: This paper investigates the linkage between monetary policy and banks excessive risk-taking for a panel of 22 Latin American countries, the OECD and South East Asia over the period 1990-2014. By performing panel cointegration and panel GMM models we found that the adoption of an expansionary monetary policy via an increase in the money supply and the application of low interest rates over an extended period of time may induce an increase in non-performing loans. However, a restrictive monetary policy with high interest rates attracts riskier investors. PubDate: 2017-03-07 Issue No:Vol. 13 (2017)
Authors:Ilirjan Lipi, Rudina Lipi Abstract: As long as there are taxes, the incentive for evasion will exist as well. Studies for tax evasion are of interest in different fields like that of economics, public finance, personal finance, business administration, business finance, financial accounting, in the banking system etc. However, there are only a few studies about the internal causes and financial incentives that oblige decision-makers of small firms towards tax evasion. When we refer to business tax evasion, always brings to mind sensational cases of large businesses that evade taxes, but business tax evasion is a widespread phenomenon even to small firms. To be more competitive, small business must have a consistently entrepreneurial orientation, but limited financing prevents this, therefore the business savings from tax evasion is believed to be an internally funding path. The restrictions on small firms financing often make them orientate more toward internal generation of funds, which also has few alternatives. As a way to internal saving, firms often find tax evasion, which is not only a deviant and unethical behavior, but also puts firms into many difficulties in the long run. Consequently, the study aims to discuss the phenomenon of tax evasion in the managerial practice of small business in an Albanian region, as well as its financial cause as is perceived by the small business. The study findings report that the deviant behavior of businesses from taxes considers the need for internal financing as an important reason. The study concluded that savings from tax evasion is an alternative of internal financing primarily for small and early-staged firms, and that if entrepreneurs are capable of a good business model and competitive strategy, they will not need to make evasion.
Authors:Kemal Eyuboglu, Sinem Eyuboglu Abstract: Financial markets are growing and getting more integrated. Hence the transmission of bond markets across countries has become important issue for monetary policymaking and portfolio diversification. This study examines interactions among government bond markets of 3 developed (Japan, USA, Germany) and 5 emerging countries (Russia, India, China, Brazil and Turkey) cover the period January 2006 to September 2015. VAR analysis is carried out to monthly data for to determine the linkages among the 10 year government bond yields. The results showed that the impact of USA bond market is not dominant while the Japanese market is more influential. Furthermore Japanese and Chinese bond markets are found less integrated. PubDate: 2017-02-20 Issue No:Vol. 13 (2017)
Authors:Ikechukwu Onyekwere Ezeuduji, Thandokazi Lulu Mbane Abstract: Employee retention can be measured quite accurately with the actual number of years that employees have worked in an organisation. Objective: This study investigates relationships between hotel employees' length of service and responses to individual variables explaining employee retention factors. Approach: A structured questionnaire survey of 217 hotel employees in Cape Town, South Africa was used to obtain information that were subjected to bivariate and multivariate analyses. Results: Key results show that employees who have worked longer in the hotel have particular characteristics: they perceive that working hours in the hotel do not infringe on their personal quality time with friends; they perceive it will be difficult for them to leave the hotel; they want to remain in the hotel for a long time; and quite interestingly, they perceive they do not receive continuous training in the hotel. Implications: Further costs of hiring and developing new employees can be reduced if loyal and talented employees are retained for longer periods through continuous career development. Value: This study is of particular interest to the hotel sector management, as it is focussed on retaining those staff who really want to build a career in the hospitality industry. PubDate: 2017-01-24 Issue No:Vol. 13 (2017)
Authors:Mutiu Gbade Rasaki Abstract: The paper estimates a New Keynesian Phillips curve (NKPC) model for the Nigerian economy. This is to identifying the structural parameters determining inflation dynamics in Nigeria. Previous studies that examine the dynamics of inflation in Nigeria have largely estimated the traditional Phillips curve.This study employs quaerterly time series data on six macroeconomic variables from 1990:1 to 2012:4. The study adopts the General Methods of Moment (GMM) technique to analyse the data. The findings indicate that both backward-looking and forward-looking behaviour are significant determinants of inflation dynamics in Nigeria. The results, however, suggest that backward-looking behaviour seems to be more quantitatively important in inflation dynamics. Moreover, the fndings indicate that foreign input price, money supply and the lending rtae are the drivers of inflation in Nigeria. PubDate: 2017-01-23 Issue No:Vol. 13 (2017)
Authors:Megbowon Ebenezer Toyin, Ojo Oloruntimilehin Sola, Olasehinde Timilehin John Abstract: This paper empirically examined the relationship between agro-processing sub-sector output and agricultural sector employment in South Africa by using time series data from 1975-2015. The study employed ARDL-bounds testing approach to examine the existence long-run equilibrium relationship. The result of the ARDL test confirmed the existence of long-run relationship among the variables examined. The long-run estimate result revealed that the relationship between agro-processing output and agricultural sector employment is negative in the long-run. The study further examined the causality between agro-processing output and agricultural sector employment using TYDL causality test and it observed a unidirectional causal relationship running from agro-processing output to agricultural sector employment. While it is deduced that agro-processing sector output is found to be unable to promote agricultural sector employment, this study recommends stimulation of agricultural export for agricultural sector employment generation in South Africa.
Authors:Gina Ioan, Catalin Angelo Ioan Abstract: The article deals the dependence of deposits and household loans from money supply. Conclusions reached in the case of regression analysis reveals a very close dependence indicators over the previous year (90%) and the money supply. PubDate: 2017-01-19 Issue No:Vol. 13 (2017)
Authors:Catalin Angelo Ioan Abstract: The article deals with some aspects of differential production functions with examples for Cobb-Douglas function in two or three variables. There are studied in each case, the conditions of the parameters in order that the sectional curvature be constant. PubDate: 2017-01-19 Issue No:Vol. 13 (2017)
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