AFFORDABLE E-LEARNING FOR COMPETITIVE EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN MEDIUM AND SMALL-SIZED COMPANIES

Dr. Minimol Anil Job

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) form the backbone of economic development in many countries today. They offer the highest number of employment and contribute a high percentage towards the overall gross domestic product of every economy. However, despite the role played by SMEs, they face tremendous challenges ranging from management issues, inadequate capital for technological infrastructure acquisition and advancement, inadequate employee facilities and training, fierce global competition, and untrained staff among others. This research sought to seek means of achieving affordable e-learning to improve employee performance in SMEs. Qualitative and quantitative sampling research methods were applied in collecting data related to SMEs and e-learning. Data gathered from the questionnaires indicated that most of the respondents believed that e-learning could help in boosting the performance of SME’s. However, lack of knowledge about the e-learning tools, lack of IT technical knowhow, financial difficulties, weak training policies/plans, and unmotivated staff were found to be major hindrances towards e-learning adoption in SMEs.

E-learning, SME, Informal Training, Micro learning

FUND PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT WITHOUT BENCHMARK-A CASE OF SELECT INDIAN MUTUAL FUNDS

Dr.Bijan Roy ,Kaushik Bhattacharjee

This paper calculates the Performance Change measure (PCM) developed by Grinblatt & Titman(Journal of Business,1993,vol66,no-1)for a sample of 50 Indian  mutual funds over a period of 26 months. PCM as a measure has some advantages compared to the traditional measures, the most important one being –it is free from using a benchmark portfolio and consequently the resulting biases arising out of usage of such a portfolio. So by using PCM as a measure, this paper, without using any benchmark, attempts to asses whether the selected mutual funds are able to provide above-normal return on average –using no more  information than what  is available to the common investor. PCM has been calculated for one month, one quarter and one year lag. And using PCM as a measure the study finds that though in the short term ,the mutual funds were unable to generate above-normal return but on the average the combined PCM of  all the mutual funds is significantly different from zero, which  are in agreement with the original findings of Grinblatt & Titman, in this Indian context

ASSESSING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF E-GOVERNANCE IN ARAB COUNTIES

Alaa-Aldin Abdul Rahim A. Al Athmay

Benefits from e-government are pervasive. Not only citizens of a country receive a quality services and empowering them through two ways communications, but the government, businesses, other stakeholders are also benefited from the adoption of e-government.   This is an exploratory study aimed at assessing the implementation of e-governance in Arab countries and to review and analyze the current status and challenges facing those countries in e-governance implementation. E-governance is a concept aimed at building better relationship with the public with purpose to achieve efficient, speedy, transparent and accountable government. This paper reviews data on global ranking of Arab countries performance on e-governance and analyze data and information extracted from relevant literatures on e-governance.  The data reveals discrepancies in performance among Arab countries on all indices used in this study.  On the e-participation index, with exception of few countries such as Bahrain, Egypt and Tunisia, the average score of most Arab countries is only 0.10 out of the maximum score of 1.0.  The result indicates that Arab countries do not place emphasis on e-participation. The state of the E-Governance Readiness of Arab Countries is explained through the force-field diagram. 

FACTORS AFFECTING THE ADOPTION OF TOUCHSCREEN MOBILE PHONES: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY AMONG GENERATION Y

Jun-Jie Hew,Voon-Hsien Lee,Shao-Wei Eng,Xi-Min Koo,Lyn-Ni Soo,Yee-Sim Tan.

International Journal of Information Technology and Business Management  pp 041-067   Vol 05. No. 1 — 2012

This research intends to examine empirically the factors that affect the BI (Behaviour Intention) of GY (Generation Y) to adopt TPs (Touchscreen Mobile Phone) in Malaysia. The five factors examined are PU (Perceived Usefulness), PEOU (Perceived Ease of Use), IM (Image), SI (Social Influence), and PE (Perceived Enjoyment). The sample consists of 230 respondents with a response rate of 77.97 per cent. Pearson Correlation Analysis and Multiple Regression Analysis Data were employed to analyse the data collected.

The findings of this research suggested that PU, IM, SI, and PE are all positively and significantly related with the BI of GY to adopt TPs in Malaysia. However, even though PEOU was found to have positive correlation with the BI, this factor is not significant in explaining the BI of GY to adopt TPs in Malaysia……………………….

Touchscreen Mobile Phone, Generation Y, Technology Acceptance Model.

INTERNET AND CONTROL SOCIETY AFTER 9/11

Dr. Murat AKTAS

International Journal of Information Technology and Business Management  pp 068-080  Vol 05. No. 1 — 2012

The 9/11has brought many important changes to the global political
landscape. The agreement between the European Commission and U.S.A federal authorities
following September 11 has given the possibility to deliver personal information to the U.S
authorities without the consent of the persons concerned. Thus, the legal basis of monitoring
was crafted and the world has moved to a monitoring and control society. In fact, with the
development of new information and communication technologies, the traditional techniques
of close surveillance has been replaced by a large electronic monitoring device, comprising a
variety of methods: CCTV, wiretapping, satellite images, data etc. This paper aims to study
particularly monitoring by Internet, control society and democracy after 9/11.

Internet, monitoring, democracy and control society