beSMART

OBSTACLES TOWARDS ADOPTION OF MOBILE BANKING IN TANZANIA: A REVIEW

Joel D.Rumanyika

Adoption of mobile banking in Tanzania is negatively affected by factors such as theft of mobile handsets, poor network coverage, lack of knowledge of m-banking users, high mobile money transaction fees, irregular standards of mobile money payments, lack of enough float of mobile money agents, ATM breakdown and theft, lack of trust of mobile money agents, and poor security of mobile networks. Fourteen (14) current papers (2010-2014) related to the study were reviewed to extract obstacles which appear most frequently. The frequencies and percentages of eight (8) studied variables were computed using excel and presented in tables and pie chart. The findings reveal that poor network coverage, lack of knowledge of m-banking users, lack of enough float of mobile money agents and ATM breakdown and theft are major obstacles on the way to the adoption of  m-banking in Tanzania. The study recommends that, the government and all other stakeholders should hastily focus their first priority to tackle the most critical obstacles instead of dealing with a huge number of obstacles, taking into account the limited resources the country is facing. This approach may be productive since it needs little resources, integrated efforts and strategies which must be implemented in parallel with government policies such as National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP).

Obstacles, Adoption, Mobile Banking, Tanzania

AN APPROACH TO DESIGN SERVICES KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR USING COBIT5 AND ITIL V3

Retno Ayu Widiyaningrum , Kudang B Sminar , Husniteja Sukmana

Information Technology Infrastructure Library v3 is a best practice framework in Information Technology Service Management which enables organization to manage their service. It also has a comprehensive workflow which covers daily operation of Information Technology. COBIT5 is also a best practice framework which has been validated all over the world in the field of information technology governance. COBIT 5 also provides matrices that can be used to measure performance of the organization. In order to enabling the performance, the department needs key performance indicators (KPI’s). In this paper, KPI’s are derived from the process named goals cascade using COBIT 5 and validated using Lawsen’s content validity method within 6 expert panelists and CVR value = 0.99. The result shows 6 relevant KPI’s that can be implemented in development of service desk application based on ITIL v3. These 6 KPI’s are belong to COBIT 5 APO09 and DSS02 process models. The result shows that achievement of KPI’s through implementation of COBIT 5 and ITIL v3 helps organization achieve 11 stakeholder needs for enterprise goal : Stakeholder value of business investments, and 17 stakeholder needs for enterprise goal : Portfolio of competitive products and services. From content validation process, the result also shows the validity of key performance indicators derived from goals cascade.

Key Performance Indicator, COBIT5, goals cascade, Performance Measurement, ITIL v3, Service Desk

TRADE POLICY AND POVERTY ERADICATION
(WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE EGYPTIAN CASE)

Hala M. Sakr

Despite the economic openness and trade liberalization adopted by many developing countries, including Egypt, since the 1990s poverty rates have accentuated.  Such result contradicted their expectations that poverty reduction is a normal outcome of rapid economic growth.

The present study illustrates how trade liberalization alone is not a cure to the poverty problem. It clarifies that all positive impact of trade in terms of higher productivity, employment generation and improved terms of trade and resource allocation, will not manifest in full, unless accompanied with the effectuation of relevant channels of trade liberalization. Such channels include market, enterprise, government and investment climate.  In addition, trade liberalization needs to be consolidated by complementary policies related to infrastructure and market institutions development, labor mobility, adequate credit facilities and social safety nets; all of which are conceived as indispensable means to empower the poor to benefit from opportunities generated through trade liberalization. 

A DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES PERSPECTIVE OFINTERNATIONALIZATION AND PERFORMANCE OF SMES IN SOUTHASIA: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Darshana Mudalige

As SMEs are internationalizing at a faster rate today, theories that can expound SME internationalization and performance have become extremely important. However, at present there is no agreement among scholars on a single theoretical framework on SME internationalization and performance. Contemporary international market is highly volatile and dynamic hence it is essential for the organizations engaged in international trade to adapt to the environment promptly. In this context, the importance of developing dynamic capabilities to enter and sustain in international market is increasing. This study adopts dynamic capability perspective to analyze success factors of SMEs entering the dynamic international market environment. According to extant literature, SME internationalization and subsequent performance seem to be associated with directly unobservable owner and firm factors which are based on dynamic capabilities. Nevertheless past research does not conclusively prove the complex impact of dynamic capabilities on SME internationalization and performance. To fill this research gap, a conceptual framework that explains the relationship between internationalization and performance based on dynamic capability perspective is developed. Internationalization, entrepreneurship and organizational learning theories have been used to support the dynamic capability platform. The dynamic capabilities in the conceptual framework are market related dynamic capabilities (i.e. brand orientation) and owner specific dynamic capabilities (i.e entrepreneurial orientation, human capital and social capital). This study links industry structure to the propensity of the SME to form dynamic capabilities and the influence of industry structure on internationalization is also further studied. In addition, this framework expands the scope of study in internationalization-performance relationship by considering the moderating effect of organizational learning. This study argues that the subsequent SME performance is moderated by organizational learning, which is a vital source of dynamic capabilities.

A STUDY ON THE INDICATOR-WEIGHT EVALUATION OF CITY COMPETITIVENESS IN THE SELECTION OF CONVENTION/EXHIBITION VENUE FOR MICE INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT: USING TAIPEI CITY AS AN EXAMPLE

Mei-Hsien Huang, Tracy Tsai , Yu-Je Lee, Ting-Chun Liu

Being the largest city as well as the political, economic and cultural center in Taiwan, Taipei has always been chosen to host large-scale international conventions and exhibitions. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the weight values of various dimensions of city competitiveness indicator in the selection of convention/exhibition venue in the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) industry by using Taipei City as the subject of study. The analytic network process (ANP) is applied to examine the correlations between the dimensions and identify the priority order of the important factors and weight values of the dimensions. The study outcome shows that the weight values determined by scholars and business operators for the eight dimensions all exceed 0.1. This means both scholars and business operators agree that convention/exhibition venue facilities, hospitality and dining facilities, scenic spots, costs, city image, professional service personnel, convenient transportation and government support are all important indicator dimensions that have influence on the competitiveness of cities in MICE industry development. However, scholars and business operators do hold different views toward the weight of each of these eight dimensions since scholars make their assessment from a more theoretic angle and regard transportation facilities/convenience as having the biggest influence on a city’s MICE industry development whereas business operators adopt a more practical standpoint and think professional service personnel are the biggest influence. This outcome can serve as a reference for various sectors in development of Taipei’s MICE industry to promote city competitiveness and image.

To Predict the Yearly Demand Quantity of Inbound Visitors to Taiwan:Application of GM (1, 1), MGM (1, 1)and DGM (1, 1)

Yung-Chieh Chien, Keng-Sheng Ting &I-Chao Lee

The tourism industry has become one of the most important economic indicators for every country in the world.With the tourism market having the potential for development and the possibility of producing huge outputs, it is with the utmost urgency that we should integrate specific natural and cultural tourism resources that create commensurate tourism attractiveness.Due to the perishable nature of the tourism product that createshi-and-lo seasons and seasonal frenzies for travel, effective forecasts and accurate assessments of the number of tourists are two of the research topics to which we must pay attention.

Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to apply effective forecasting methodology to predict the yearlydemand quantity of inbound visitors to Taiwan and applies the GM (1, 1),MGM(1, 1)and DGM(1, 1) as the prediction models. After formulating ideal forecast models to estimate the number of inbound tourists, it will then be compared to annual visitors to Taiwan for accuracy and error value comparison. The finding shows that the combination of GM (1, 1),MGM(1, 1)and DGM(1, 1)can obtain excellent forecasting results which have important managerial implications that can provide policy or strategic references for increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and private organizations’ revenue for sightseeing respectively.