beSMART

EVALUATING MARKET ORIENTATION OF MASTER’S
IN PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

Charles Makanyeza, Dr. Hardson P. Kwandayi, Betty Mutesa

In a bid to implement New Public Management and reinvent the public sector, empowerment through training of public sector managers has been at the top of the agenda of most governments. Many public managers are attending different management programs either on personal, government or development partner sponsorship. This study set out to evaluate the extent to which Masters in Public Sector Management (MPSM) is market oriented using a case of MPSM program at Africa University, Mutare, Zimbabwe. A survey was conducted in order to receive feedback from students who graduated since the inception of the program. The findings revealed that MPSM program at Africa University is customer-driven and meets the requirements of its customers. The MPSM knowledge areas are relevant to the job performance of its customers. The study recommends that knowledge areas that encourage innovations especially on business process engineering, integrated service delivery or one stop shop concept for government services should be initiated in the program. A doctoral program related to MPSM should be introduced so that those graduates may be able to further their studies in the same filed. It is recommended that further studies be conducted to evaluate other MPSM or related programs so as to compare the findings, and also to ascertain the relationship between relevance of and satisfaction derived from the MPSM program or other related programs. Although this is a case of the MPSM at Africa University, it is believed that the findings of the study can be beneficial to other universities or institutions offering similar or related programs.

market orientation, MPSM, higher education, marketing, public sector, new public management, university program, Africa University, Zimbabwe

AGILE DEVELOPMENT APPLICATION OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS / INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STRATEGIC PLANNING IN PT.GMS

Dr. Hoga Saragih, ST, MT. & Teddy Sutanto, S.Kom.

International Journal of Information Technology and Business Management  

pp 019 – 031  Vol 14. No. 1 — 2013

In entering the business competition lately, especially in restaurant industry can’t be separated from the role of information technology / information systems. In an information systems development there is two method that can be used , that waterfall and agile development. In this opportunity we believe that systems development with agile development method will bring more success for an information systems development project. This method was chosen because we undertook information system strategic planning in a company which is a family business. System information with agile development that aligns with corporate strategic planning should have always controlled, and where there is crafting strategy then move quickly the information systems development is expected to adapt.

Information Systems, Technology Information, Agile Development, family business.

INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING (IPO) UNDERPRICING: EVIDENCE FROM SHARIAH-COMPLIANT COMPANIES LISTED ON THE MALAYSIAN STOCK EXCHANGE (MSE) 

Nashirah Binti Abu Bakar  & Kiyotaka Uzaki

The degree of IPO underpricing for shariah-compliant companies tend to be higher than non shariah-compliant companies listed on the Malaysian Stock Exchange (MSE). Many factors were influential in determining the degree of IPO underpricing. Although many empirical studies have been carried out to enhance knowledge towards these issues, it is difficult for investors or companies to clearly understand numerous issues related with IPO underpricing. Due to this problem, this paper aims to provide initial evidence on IPO underpricing for 420 shariah-compliant companies by examining the degree of IPO underpricing and four (4) potential determinants over the period 2000 till 2011. This study examined the effect of underwriter reputation, types of market, types of industry and times of oversubscription on degree of IPO underpricing. Results show that the degree of IPO underpricing for shariah-compliant companies is 28.82% with a standard deviation of 0.45505. Furthermore, regression analysis on the determinants of IPO underpricing shows that time of oversubscription has a significant effect on the degree of IPO underpricing, while underwriter reputation, types of market and types of industry have insignificant effect on the degree of IPO underpricing.

IPO Underpricing, Shariah-Compliant Companies, Underwriter Reputation, Types of Market, Types of Industry and Oversubscription

THE RISK-ADJUSTED PERFORMANCE OF EQUITY AND BALANCED FUNDS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Catherine Kalayaan S. Almonte

The Treynor, Sharpe, and information ratios of equity and balanced mutual funds in the Philippines for the period January 2010 until December 2012 were calculated.  Benchmarking (largely inspired by [8] Badillo, Chang, Lagamayo, & Lim, 2003; [6] Arugaslan, Edwards, & Samant, 2008; [4] Almonte, 2012d; [23] Nooney & Devi, 2012; [31] Reilly & Brown, 2012) and statistical analyses (inspired by [36] Tehrani, Ahmadinia, & Hasbaei, 2011; [31] Reilly & Brown, 2012) were conducted.  According to the results, (1) the leaders were First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund, Inc. and First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund, Inc., (2) there were correlations between the ratios, (3) there were statistical differences between the ratios, and (4) balanced funds were like equity funds.

risk-adjusted performance, Treynor ratio, Sharpe ratio, information ratio, mutual funds

 Mustafa Şeref Akın

Start-Up Chile is a disruptive government program of the Chilean Government to attract world-class early stage entrepreneurs to bootstrap their startups in Chile. The selection process begins to choose 1000 startups whose entrepreneurs will receive $40.000 in seed funding without giving up any equity stake. The only obligation is to live in Chile for at least 6 months. The aim is to replicate the similarity in terms of economics and innovation of Silicon Valley. We believe that the Chilean Start-up project can work in most developing countries. If we sustain innovation supporting projects with a similar program set-up, development economists can succeed to convert most developing regions into high-tech regions.

funding, venture capital, trial and error, risk sharing, startup companies, marketing, Chile.

CONTOURLET TRANSFORMATIONS FOR STUDYING COLOR CAST IN DIGITAL IMAGE BASED ON DIFFERENT COLOR MODELS

Ass.Prof. Dr. Khalil i. alsaif & Huda s. qassab_bashi

Images may got color cast due to a lot of reasons, so it makes the outlook of the images not clear or bad.
In this research, a study for measuring the color cast in the images in RGB color space is presented. The study was done on the three base colors (RGB model)  by measuring the contrast and the energy of each slice(each color), then each color will be decomposed to its coefficients using  contourlet transformation. The two parameters (energy and contrast) will be measured on each coefficient to see the effect of the color cast on the original image.
Applying the technique on different images shows that the decomposing on different level up to 4 gives a clear indicator about the cast color in the image. The algorithm was applied on Matlab software version (7.14.0.739 (R2012a)).

Contourlet Transform (CT); Color Cast; digital image processing; multidirectional filter bank.

THE EFFECT OF THE DATA STORAGE TECHNIQUES ON THE ANALYSIS PERFORMANCE IN THE DATA MINING STUDIES: A SAMPLE APPLICATION WITH WEKA

Erkan Özhan , Erdem Ucar                                                              

In this study, the data storage techniques which are necessary to perform the data mining applications have been anaysed. In the data mining applications, the data are processed through some stages until the analysis stage. The proper performance of these stages affects both the accuracy of the analysis and the performance. Also, the analyses should be carried out the with the appropriate hardware.  The effective use of the physical memory and the processor capacity bears a lot of importance in terms of analysis period and cost. In the study, database and file environment, which are two types of the data, which are to be processed through the data mining applications, have been examined.   Some analyses have been carried out on a sample data cluster for this operation. It has been searched whether there is a connection between the size of the data cluster and storage environments  through a gradual increase in the data analysed. For this purpose, a cluster composed of 25 million data has been put into analysis. Firstly, an analysis for two types storage environments has been performed by increasing these data with the use of Navie Bayes algorithm. The results obtained have been grouped as physical memory and the CPU usage. Secondly, the performance assessment has been examined in relation to time through the record of the analysis periods . The data obtained from the analyses in the database and the file environments have been indicated and evaluated in the final chapter of our study.

Data mining, hardware, database, file, performance.

PROPOSED STEGANOGRAPHY APPROACH USING DNA PROPERTIES

Ban Ahmed.Mitras, Adeeba  Kh.Aboo

In this research  one method has been proposed to hide the secret message in a sequence of  DNA.  The secret message  after it has been encrypted using the RSA algorithm  hid  in the DNA sequence known using complementary character. The DNA reference sequence can be selected from the different DNA database. One very important DNA database is EBI that provides fundamental genetic information.

DNA  sequence,RSA, Secret Information, complementary pairing rules, Steganography.

Indo-French Bi-lateral Trade: Towards Exploring New Trajectories.

Dr. Ali Medabesh , Dr.  Mohammad Shafi

           Indo-French bi-lateral trade has seen an overwhelming growth over the last two decades.  France, a developed country in the continental Europe draws its economic strengths from the farm sector. India’s export-import trade with France has been hovering around 9% during the mid 2000 amongst all European Union countries. Interestingly, trade with other western European countries like Germany, England and Italy is more than with France while, ironically, France has been always a great market opportunity for Indian merchandise.
           France is the world’s fourth largest exporter of goods and second largest exporter of agriculture products. Under the unified efforts of Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and UBIFRANCE, Indo-French bilateral trade is expected to reach three times by the end of 2012. India’s trade with France has to be diversified broadly and more commodity groups must be identified and brought into export basket. The present paper seeks to analyze the Indo-French trade with the help of the trade data and attempts to build prognosis about the future trade growth trajectories between the two countries.

India, France, Imports, Exports, CAGR, Commodity Groups, Harmonized System, DGFT.

INTERACTION MODELING OF THE U.S, CHINA AND PHILIPPINE EQUITY MARKETS

Tyrone Panzer Chan Pao

Using daily closing prices from May 2007 to December 2009, the researchers examined the correlation of the Philippine stock market with the stock markets of the world’s top three economies—the United States, China, and Japan. Based on the correlation analysis conducted in this research, it was found that the Philippine equities market, thru the PSE Composite Index, is most correlated to the US equities market thru the NYSE Composite Index and the S&P 500 Index. The PSE is correlated to the Japanese and Chinese equity markets as well.
From the correlation analysis, a forecast model for the PSE was developed using the NYSE Composite Index and the SSE Composite Index. The model shows that when the NYSE goes up by 1 percent, the PSE would go up by 0.486 percent, when the SSE is fixed. Similarly, when the SSE goes up by 1 percent, the PSE would go up by 0.304 percent, holding NYSE fixed. Since the US stock market closes about six hours before the Philippine market opens, investors can simply use this model to forecast the Philippine stock market.

Philippine Stock Market, Forecasting Model, Constant Elasticity Model, Decoupling, International Diversification

CENTRAL SUPPLY CHAIN DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM DIFFUSION IN THE SELECTED RETAIL GROCERY INDUSTRY

Thokozani Patmond Mbhele

Purpose: The purpose of this study to explores the adoption of the central supply chain distribution (CscD)system in relation to the degree of product availability and consolidated retail order replenishment frequencies in stores for end-consumer satisfaction. This study manifests a purpose to understand the intercorrelated dimensions and relationships between these dimensions and CscDsystem diffusion.
Design/methodology/approach: The measuring instrument for primary data collection (questionnaire) from the target population (managers and supervisors in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) retail stores) was used with descriptive statistics, factor analysis (intercorrelation) and multiple regression analysis (relationship) as major research methods for exploring the CscD system diffusion.
Findings: The study findings revealed that the CscD system makes quasi-real-time products availability in the supply chain network using integrated information sharing and technology systems to improve business efficiency. It is also noted that the agile CscD system with advanced supply chain technology needs to be supported by a fully integrated information system that provides visibility of the whole supply chain for fast replenishment of goods in stores customised precisely to the needs of individual retail stores.
Practical implications: The managerial implications in the FMCG retail outlets would mean that the central distribution centres with underpinning supply chain technologies have the potential to enhance financial rewards for the retail stores and reduce the price that customers ultimately pay for goods from consolidation of inventory, frequent delivery loads and sales volume maximisation.
Originality/value: The paper is the first value-added and formal empirical research attempt to model the factorial dimensions in the phenomenon of CscD system. The paper puts forward the perspective of CscD system diffusion in the major selected retail grocery stores as the South African FMCG retail stores expand their business operations to the African continent. The paper also contributes to the existing literature on decentralised and centralised systems in the FMCG industry

Retail distribution centre, Supply chain technology and sharing, Product availability, Service chain management and Customer service.