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Political power, control and organizational conflict
, Pages 1041-1046 Maryam Eslampanah Saeid Esmaeili and Mahdi Hosseinpour ![]() |
Abstract: There used to be an assumption that any conflict has negative and destructive influences and we must remove it from the system. However, recent studies indicate that conflict is the result of interaction with different people having various personalities, social and cultural behaviors and this is an unavoidable issue. The existence of conflict is not necessarily a bad thing; in fact, there are many evidences, which show that organizations with no conflict may fail. In other words, people who work for business units with no conflict are most likely so disparate that they cannot fit themselves to environmental conditions. In this paper, we discuss how to handle a conflict in any organization and lead the business units to organizations that are more productive. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.017 Keywords: Organizational Culture, Technology, Behavioral Norms, Moral Values |
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Faculty perceptions of the integration of SAP in academic programs
, Pages 1047-1052 Sam Khoury Kouroush Jenab and Selva Staub ![]() |
Abstract: In order to prepare students for the workforce, academic programs incorporate a variety of tools that students are likely to use in their future careers. One of these tools employed by business and technology programs is the integration of live software applications such as SAP through the SAP University Alliance (SAP UA) program. Since the SAP UA program has been around for only about 10 years and the available literature on the topic is limited, research is needed to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the SAP UA program. A collaborative study of SAP UA faculty perceptions of their SAP UAs was conducted in the fall of 2011. Of the faculty invited to participate in the study, 31% completed the online survey. The results indicate that most faculty experienced difficulty implementing SAP into their programs and report that a need exists for more standardized curriculum and training, while a large percentage indicated that they are receiving the support they need from their schools and SAP. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.014 Keywords: SAP, ERP, University Alliance |
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What is Impulse Buying? An analytical network processing framework for prioritizing factors affecting impulse buying
, Pages 1053-1064 Sahel Ehsani Masouleh, Marzieh Pazhang Javad Siahkali Moradi ![]() |
Abstract: One of the most important issues affecting profitability is to determine the impact of different factors influencing purchasing activities. In this paper, we perform an extensive literature survey to detect different purchasing factors influencing customers' behavior. The factors are categorized in three different groups and they are ranked using analytical network process. The results of our survey indicate that three factors of personal, product and situational play important roles in purchasing impulse. The personal item includes different factors where demographic characteristic factors receive the highest ranking (35%) followed by other factors are feelings, excitement and fun, self identify, education and novelty. There are also three sub-factors associated with demographic characteristics including gender, age and race and the weights are 0.46748, 0.42668 and 0.10584, respectively, which means gender is the most important factor followed by age and race. Finally, the other factor is associated with situational factors' group, which includes presence of others, culture, design of store, time available, local market condition, sales staff and self service with the relative importance of 0.04296, 0.08733, 0.12130, 0.22217, 0.05643, 0.15346 and 0.31635, respectively. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.016 Keywords: Impulse buying, Impulse buying effective factors, Analytical network process, Mixed method |
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Investigation the impact of outsourcing on competitive advantages' creation by considering Porter's model; Case study: Zamyad Company
, Pages 1065-1072 Ahmad Reza Kasrai, Hassan Mehrmanesh and Reza Ayazzade Shirazi ![]() |
Abstract: Competitive advantage is an important factor in boosting companies' success and is considered more emphatically in management and strategic marketing literature in recent years. There are many different ideas about effective factors in creation of competitive advantages. Also fast rate of change in business, is forcing CEOs to utilize some strategies, which have the best impact on current organizational circumstances and the future trend of investigation in organizational trades. Outsourcing is one of the best strategies, which are widely utilized by CEOs in different organizations. Many managers believe that outsourcing is the solitary way for preserving the balance of organization in 21 century. Based on Porter competitive advantage model, there are three strategies, which lead a company to reach competitive advantage. These strategies are cost leadership, differentiation strategy and segmentation strategy. In this article, we are investigating outsourcing effects on creation of competitive advantages through Porter model in an automotive factory in Iran. We design a questionnaire for gathering necessary information about the role of outsourcing in creation of different strategies as competitive advantages in managers' point of view. We analyze the questionnaires and implement a goodness of fit test to recognize the distribution of data and the statistical method. Preliminary results show that nonparametric statistic methods can be utilized for testing our hypothesis. We use a Wilcoxon test to consider the null hypothesis and a Friedman test to estimate the rank of means. Our findings verify an undeniable effect of outsourcing on creation of competitive advantage and the ranking list is presented. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.015 Keywords: Outsourcing, Competitive Advantages, Porter's Model, Cost Leadership Strategy, Differentiation Strategy, Segmentation Strategy |
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Evaluating bank readiness for CRM implementation
, Pages 1073-1082 Tahmineh Torabi Rad and Farajullah Rahnavard ![]() |
Abstract: These days, we see unexpected changes in customers' behaviors in financial and service institutions, especially in banks. There are different reasons for having such changes but the recent advances of technology could be one of the main reasons. Today banks are obliged to link their existence with customers, recognize their demands and needs in present competitive environment and take necessary actions to increase their productivity. The main objective of the present research is to identify bank readiness for establishing customer relationship management. Findings of the present study show that the readiness degree of bank is well above moderate with respect to intellectual dimension and is below moderate with respect to social and technological dimensions. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.013 Keywords: Customer relationship management (CRM) evaluation of readiness, Intellectual, Social and technological dimensions |
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Supercritical boiler material selection using fuzzy analytic network process
, Pages 1083-1096 Saikat Ranjan Maity and Shankar Chakraborty ![]() |
Abstract: The recent development of world is being adversely affected by the scarcity of power and energy. To survive in the next generation, it is thus necessary to explore the non-conventional energy sources and efficiently consume the available sources. For efficient exploitation of the existing energy sources, a great scope lies in the use of Rankin cycle-based thermal power plants. Today, the gross efficiency of Rankin cycle-based thermal power plants is less than 28% which has been increased up to 40% with reheating and regenerative cycles. But, it can be further improved up to 47% by using supercritical power plant technology. Supercritical power plants use supercritical boilers which are able to withstand a very high temperature (650-720˚C) and pressure (22.1 MPa) while producing superheated steam. The thermal efficiency of a supercritical boiler greatly depends on the material of its different components. The supercritical boiler material should possess high creep rupture strength, high thermal conductivity, low thermal expansion, high specific heat and very high temperature withstandability. This paper considers a list of seven supercritical boiler materials whose performance is evaluated based on seven pivotal criteria. Given the intricacy and difficulty of this supercritical boiler material selection problem having interactions and interdependencies between different criteria, this paper applies fuzzy analytic network process to select the most appropriate material for a supercritical boiler. Rene 41 is the best supercritical boiler material, whereas, Haynes 230 is the worst preferred choice. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.012 Keywords: Critical success factors LISREL Chaos management Factor analysis |
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An empirical study on identifying critical success factors on chaos management
, Pages 1097-1102 Naser Azad and Effat Haghighi ![]() |
Abstract: Chaos management is one of the most necessary efforts on managing business units. Many organizations fail to cope with undesirable circumstances, which may happen without any prior notice and as a result, they may face with significant financial losses. In this paper, we present an empirical study to determine critical success factors, which could help handle any possible chaos in organizations. The proposed study of this paper is implemented for a set of travel agencies located in Tehran, Iran. Chronbach alpha is calculated as 0.821, which is well above the minimum desirable level. In addition, we have also performed factor analysis, which yields a KMO value of 0.576 with the level of significance of 0.000. The results indicate that there are six important factors including effective management strategy, internal environmental factors, creative and innovative attitudes, external environmental factors and top level management thoughts. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.011 Keywords: Critical success factors, LISREL, Chaos management, Factor analysis |
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Measuring the performance of privatized banks in Iran
, Pages 1103-1108 Mohammaad Taghi Samadi ![]() |
Abstract: One of the most important concerns in privatization of governmental banks is to see whether there is any change on the performance of the privatized banks or not. The proposed study of this paper performs an empirical investigation on some privatized banks. In our study, we measure two well-known financial figures including return on assets and return on equity two years before and after privatization program. The proposed study uses non-parametric analysis to perform the investigation. The results indicate that there is a meaningful difference between the performance of these banks before and after privatization. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.010 Keywords: Privatization, Return on investment, Return on assets, Tehran Stock Exchange |
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An empirical study to measure the relative efficiency and strategic planning using BSC-DEA and DEMATEL
, Pages 1109-1122 Mohammad Hemati, Abolfazl Danaei and Mahsa Shahhosseini ![]() |
Abstract: Performance evaluation is one of manager's main concerns in today competitive world, which covers all aspects and dimensions of organization and it is adequately flexible and measurable. So, the necessity of performance evaluation application for organizations where their intangible assets are higher than tangible ones, such as educational institutions, is more obviously observed. Balanced scorecard (BSC) is discussed by the aim of promoting manager's decision making and directing their attention toward extensive operational vision of organization compared to traditional measurement systems, which only include the financial measures. However, BSC is a qualitative approach and has some disadvantages and its integration by other quantitative techniques such as data envelopment analysis makes it more efficient. The proposed model of this paper uses DEMATEL technique as part of BSC-DEA model to empower strategic planning. The proposed model of this paper is applied for 10 zone university branches of Islamic Azad universities to provide an appropriate road map. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.008 Keywords: Balanced scorecard (BSC), Data envelopment analysis (DEA), DEMATEL (Decision making trial and evaluation), Fuzzy logic, Strategy map, Performance evaluation |
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An empirical study on key factors for purchasing strategy on project based organizations: A case study of gas field development projects
, Pages 1123-1132 Aboulfazl Kazazi, Jamshid Salehi Sadaghiyan Sohrab Sohrabiaraghi ![]() |
Abstract: One of the primary concerns in development of oil and gas resources is to find the critical success factors associated with different important projects. Purchasing and procurement plays a key role in these projects. There is no doubt that in history of similar studies, there are not much studies to determine key factors. The proposed study of this paper presents an empirical study to find these factors in one of the most important gas filed in Iran is now South Pars Gas Field. The study distributes a questionnaire consists of various questions associated with purchasing activities. We investigate the feedbacks gathered from decision makers using factor analysis. The results of our survey reveal that there are three categories of organizational strategy, the relative importance of strategy and risk according to factor analysis. Each factor consists of many other factors and the relative importance of all factors are investigated. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.009 Keywords: Critical success factors, LISREL, Project based organization Purchasing, Purchasing strategy, Exploratory factor analysis, Conformity factor analysis, Projects |
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A new weighted fuzzy grammar on object oriented database queries
, Pages 1133-1140 Mohammad Pourbehzadi,Ali Haroonabadi and Mehdi Sadeghzadeh ![]() |
Abstract: The fuzzy object oriented database model is often used to handle the existing imprecise and complicated objects for many real-world applications. The main focus of this paper is on fuzzy queries and tries to analyze a complicated and complex query to get more meaningful and closer responses. The method permits the user to provide the possibility of allocating the weight to various parts of the query, which makes it easier to follow better goals and return the target objects. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.007 Keywords: Object oriented database, Fuzzy database, Fuzzy object oriented database, Weighted query, Fuzzy query |
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Organizational design in the context of supply chain sustainability: A conceptual model
, Pages 1141-1154 S. M. Ali , Md. I. Alam and S. Bhowmick ![]() |
Abstract: This paper presents findings from a study examining organizational design features used by organizations in pursuing their sustainable supply chain objectives. The research purpose was to gain a better understanding of the organizational design features that firms currently use or may use in the future. The results should encourage organizations to address design issues as they relate to overall supply chain effectiveness. The ever-increasing influences of the wider perspectives such as the pursuit of sustainability drive for industry consolidation/ rationalization and the need for responding to changing customer preferences may mean the conventional wisdom of organizing for success is increasingly becoming grossly inadequate, if not obsolete. There are numerous reasons why companies start to rethink about organizational design, organizational structure and its performance to attain a supply chain sustainability journey. Primary among them is to ensure compliance with laws and regulations and to adhere to and support international principles for sustainable business conduct. In addition, companies are increasingly taking actions that result in better social, economic and environmental impacts because society expects this and because there are business benefits to doing so. Given the dynamics of the current competitive global supply landscape, organizational design concerns are critical to sustained organizational success. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.006 Keywords: Organizational structure, Supply chain effectiveness and performance, Sustainable organization |
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An empirical study for measuring the success index of banking industry
, Pages 1155-1166 Mosayeb Karami, Amir Mehdiabadi, Ali Shahabi and Mohsen Mardani ![]() |
Abstract: Measuring organization performance plays an important role for developing better strategic plans. In today's competitive environment, organizations attempt for the product quality or offering the service, delivery, reliability capability and the customer satisfaction. These properties are not measurable only by traditional financial criteria and we need a method, which could consider non-financial factors as well. The present study of this paper proposed a hybrid of balanced score card (BSC) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) method for an empirical study of banking sector. The study proposes a model for assessing the Tose`eTa`avon bank performance, which is an example of governmental credit and financial services institutes. The study determines different important factors associated with each four components of BSC and uses analytical hierarchy process to rank the measures. In each part of BSC implementation, we use DEA for ranking different units of bank and efficient and inefficient units are determined. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.005 Keywords: BSC, Function assessment, Measurement index, Efficiency, AHP |
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Long run Relationship among East Asian equity markets and KSE
, Pages 1167-1174 Rana Yasir Hussain, Haroon Hussain, Ghulam Ali Bhatti and Arshad Hassan ![]() |
Abstract: The dependence of various stock markets plays a vital role in diversification while selecting securities in an investor’s portfolio. This study examines interdependence among the East Asian stock markets in relation to the Karachi Stock Exchange. Monthly data ranging from 2000 to 2010 is included and tested in this paper. This relationship is tested by using descriptive statistics and correlation matrix. Data stationarity is ensured by Unit Root Test. Evidence from Granger Causality and Impulse Response Test prove no relationship between KSE and stock markets of the East Asian countries while there exists certain level of unidirectional relationship from Japan to China and from Japan to Pakistan. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.004 Keywords: KSE, East Asia, Co-integration |
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Application of principal component analysis in machine-part cell formation
, Pages 1175-1188 Manojit Chattopadhyaya Sitanath Mazumdar, Pranab K Dan and Partha Sarathi Chakraborty ![]() |
Abstract: The present paper applies Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for grouping of machines and parts so that the part families could be processed in the cells formed by those associated machines. An incidence matrix with binary entries has been chosen to apply this methodology. After performing the eigenanalysis of the principal component and observing the component loading plot of the principal components, the machine groups and part families are identified and arranged to form machine-part cells. Later, the same methodology is extended and it is applied to nine other machine-part matrices collected from literature for the validation of the proposed methodology. The goodness of cell formation is compared using the grouping efficacy and the potential of eigenanalysis in cell formation is established over the best available results using the various established methodologies. The result shows that in 70% of the problems there is an increase in grouping efficacy and in 30% problem, the performance measure of cell formation is as good as the best result from literature. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.003 Keywords: Eigen Analysis, Principal Component Analysis, Group Technology, Machine-Part Cell, grouping efficacy |
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Measuring the relative efficiency of Ilam hospitals using data envelopment analysis
, Pages 1189-1194 Farzad Khani, Hossein Naderi Mehdi Zangeneh and Ehsan Fazeli ![]() |
Abstract: Measuring the relative efficiency is one of the most important issues among hospitals in today's economy. These days, we hear that cost reduction is a necessity for survival of business owners and one primary to reduce the expenditures is to increase relative efficiency. The proposed study of this paper first uses output oriented data envelopment analysis (DEA) to measure the relative efficiencies of nine hospitals. The proposed model uses four types of employee namely specialists, physicians, technicians and other staffs as input parameters. The model also uses the number of surgeries, hospitalized and radiography as the outputs of the proposed model. Since the implementation of DEA leads us to have more than one single efficient unit, we implement supper efficiency technique to measure the relative efficiency of efficient units. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.002 Keywords: Productivity, Efficiency, Data envelopment analysis, Hospitals |
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The impact of information technology on productivity using structural equations technique in Iran Behnoush Company
, Pages 1195-1202 Yaser Ghorbanzad and Mina Beig ![]() |
Abstract: Information technology plays an important role on increasing productivity in many organizations. The primary objective of the present survey is to study the impact of information technology on productivity and find a positive and significant relationship between these two factors. Structural equations technique and LISREL software are used for analysis of the questionnaires distributed among managers and some employees of Iran Behnoush Company. Organizations try to improve their performance by investment in information technology. However, many of the previous studies indicate insignificance of the impact of information technology on productivity of the organizations. The present survey studies the impact of information technology on organizations' productivity through the collected data from the above company. Results confirm existence of a positive relationship between information technology and productivity. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.001 Keywords: Productivity, Information technology, Structural equations technique |
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Investigating the effective factors on management internal controls applying
, Pages 1203-1208 Reza Pirayesh, Roghieh Niazi and Ahmad Ahmadkhani ![]() |
Abstract: Information technology plays an important role on increasing internal control in many organizations. In this paper, we present an empirical study to measure the impact of information technology, hiring high quality skilled management team, using high quality standards and increasing employees' awareness on managing internal control. The survey uses a questionnaire based on Likert scale and distributes among the people who work in either administration or financial sectors of governmental agencies in province of Zanjan, Iran. The results of the study indicate that the implementation of information technology positively influences management team to control their system, more effectively, using more skilled and specialized managers positively influences management internal control, an organization with suitable standard positively influences management internal control and increasing employees' awareness positively influences management internal control. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.02.017 Keywords: Internal control, Information technology, Management internal controls, Accounting |
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The application of modern media with an emphasis on satellite: media use and gratification approach
, Pages 1209-1218 Mehrdad Matani Ramezan Hasanzadeh and Ali Akbar Farhangi ![]() |
Abstract: Satellite channels play an important role on building a connection among people with the same nationality who live in different parts of the world. The primary question is on how to serve various people with appropriate programs. In this paper, we present an empirical study among 310 audiences of satellite channels. The results show that the demographic characteristics of the audiences including age, gender, and education significantly influence the level of gratification with the satellite channels. From the cognitive perspective, they consider the satellite channels as tools for increasing their knowledge and from an emotional perspective; they consider these channels as enjoyable, entertaining and interesting. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.02.016 Keywords: Satellite channels, Use and gratification theory, TV application, Media content, Audiences |
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Portfolio selection between rational and behavioral theories emergent markets case
, Pages 1219-1232 Ezzeddine Ben Mohamed and Bouri Abdelfatteh ![]() |
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to explore the determinants of Portfolio Choice under the investors, professionals and academics’ perception. We introduce an approach based on cognitive mapping technique with a series of semi-directive interviews. Among a sample of 30 Tunisian individuals, we propose tow different frameworks: a mean-variance framework and a behavioral framework. Each framework is oriented to capture the effect of some concepts as proposed by the mean-variance portfolio theory and the behavioral portfolio theory on the portfolio choice decision. The originality of this research paper is guaranteed since it traits the behavioral portfolio choice in emergent markets. In the best of our knowledge this is the first study in the Tunisian context that explores such area of research. Ours results show that the Tunisian investors behave as it prescribed by the behavioral portfolio theory. They use some concepts proposed by the rational mean-variance theory of portfolio choice but they are affected by their emotions and some others cognitive bias when constructing and managing they portfolio of assets. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.02.015 Keywords: Mean-variance portfolio choice, Behavioral portfolio choice, Determinants of portfolio choice, Cognitive maps |
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The impact of brand value on brand selection: Case study of mobile phone selection
, Pages 1233-1238 Naser Azad and Maryam Safaei ![]() |
Abstract: There are many evidences to believe that customers select their products based on brand name. Products also maintain their own characteristics, which make them differentiable from others. In this paper, we present an empirical study to determine important factors influencing customers' purchasing intend for cellular phones in capital city of Iran, Tehran. The proposed study of this paper designs a questionnaire consists of 16 questions and distribute them among 428 people. The results of the study show that there are some positive relationships between exclusive name and quality perception, between exclusive name and word of mouth advertisement, between quality perception and fidelity, between word of mouth advertisement and brand name and between brand name image and brand name. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.02.014 Keywords: Perception quality, Word of mouth advertisement, Brand image, Mobile industry, |
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Automated service quality and its behavioural consequences in CRM Environment: A structural equation modeling and causal loop diagramming approach
, Pages 1239-1258 Arup Kumar Baksi ![]() |
Abstract: Information technology induced communications (ICTs) have revolutionized the operational aspects of service sector and have triggered a perceptual shift in service quality as rapid dis-intermediation has changed the access-mode of services on part of the consumers. ICT-enabled services further stimulated the perception of automated service quality with renewed dimensions and there subsequent significance to influence the behavioural outcomes of the consumers. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has emerged as an offshoot to technological breakthrough as it ensured service-encapsulation by integrating people, process and technology. This paper attempts to explore the relationship between automated service quality and its behavioural consequences in a relatively novel business-philosophy – CRM. The study has been conducted on the largest public sector bank of India - State bank of India (SBI) at Kolkata which has successfully completed its decade-long operational automation in the year 2008. The study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to justify the proposed model construct and causal loop diagramming (CLD) to depict the negative and positive linkages between the variables. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.02.013 Keywords: Automated service quality, CRM, Structural equation model, Bank, ICT, Behavioural consequence |
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CEO emotional bias and investment decision, Bayesian network method
, Pages 1259-1278 Mohamed Ali Azouzi and Jarboui Anis ![]() |
Abstract: This research examines the determinants of firms’ investment introducing a behavioral perspective that has received little attention in corporate finance literature. The following central hypothesis emerges from a set of recently developed theories: Investment decisions are influenced not only by their fundamentals but also depend on some other factors. One factor is the biasness of any CEO to their investment, biasness depends on the cognition and emotions, because some leaders use them as heuristic for the investment decision instead of fundamentals. This paper shows how CEO emotional bias (optimism, loss aversion and overconfidence) affects the investment decisions. The proposed model of this paper uses Bayesian Network Method to examine this relationship. Emotional bias has been measured by means of a questionnaire comprising several items. As for the selected sample, it has been composed of some 100 Tunisian executives. Our results have revealed that the behavioral analysis of investment decision implies leader affected by behavioral biases (optimism, loss aversion, and overconfidence) adjusts its investment choices based on their ability to assess alternatives (optimism and overconfidence) and risk perception (loss aversion) to create of shareholder value and ensure its place at the head of the management team. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.02.012 Keywords: Emotional bias, Corporate finance, Optimism, Overconfidence, Loss aversion, Capital investment decision Bayesian network |
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A new approach to develop entrepreneurship of the industry using fuzzy DEMATEL
, Pages 1279-1288 Younos Vakil alroaia, Mohammad Hemati Mojtaba Javidnia ![]() |
Abstract: Today, development of economic activity and employment is known as an effective strategy for economical and social development of the countries. Entrepreneurship in Iran is also as the most executive and practical strategy to exit the economical and social deadlock and problems. However, entrepreneurship development needs identifying and removing existed obstacles and problems. There are a lot of researches about obstacles and restrictions on entrepreneurship but, to the best of our knowledge, there is no research to identify vital factors and degree of their effect on the network of factors. In this paper using DEMATEL technique, the entrepreneurial barriers in the industry of Iran are categorized in 2 groups of cause and effect. We also use fuzzy concept to handle any ambiguity on the feedbacks gathered from decision makers. To achieve this purpose, at first using views of professors and active managers in the field of entrepreneurial and also related books and using Delphi technique, 9 vital factors are identified and they are analyzed in two groups of internal and external obstacles in the industrial sector of Iran. The research chooses 100 most active companies in one of the industrial poles of Iran for the proposed study of this paper. Furthermore, questionnaires are distributed among the top managers of these companies, to analyze the barriers in entrepreneurship in the industry. The results show that two factors of "kind of management" and "organizational structure" are the most important factors. In addition, “legal obstacles" and" optimum use of financial resources” are at the highest degree of impression on business units. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.02.011 Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Vital factors, DEMATEL, Fuzzy method |
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Developing a novel approach for modeling the social effects of technology transfer
, Pages 1289-1298 Ali Reza Moini, Ali Reza Babakhan and Ali Esmaieeli ![]() |
Abstract: Nowadays technology transfer is considered as the process of sharing skills, expertise, knowledge and technologies either among government and institutions or between transferee and transferor enterprises. Using scientific investigations and real-world instances of practice, this study tries to show the importance of technology transfer and its role in societal development. Applying the views of the related literature and using a dynamic system approach and experts' opinions, this study is supposed to determine positive and negative relations among different components of social development and technology transfer which are namely the parts of technological give and takes. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.02.010 Keywords: Technology Management, Technology Transfer, Social Development, Dynamic System |
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A new algorithm for benchmarking in integer data envelopment analysis
, Pages 1299-1304 F. H. Saljooghi, A. R. Pishgooy and M. M. Omran ![]() |
Abstract: The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of integer data in data envelopment analysis (DEA). The inputs and outputs in different types of DEA are considered to be continuous. In most application-oriented problems, some or all data are integers; and subsequently, the continuous condition of the values is omitted. For example, situations in which the inputs/outputs are representatives of the number of cars, people, etc. In fact, the benchmark unit is artificial and does not contain integer inputs/outputs after projection on the efficiency frontier. By rounding off the projection point, we may lose the feasibility or end up having inefficient DMU. In such cases, it is required to provide a benchmark unit such that the considered unit reaches the efficiency. In the present short communication, by proposing a novel algorithm, the projecting of an inefficient DMU is carried out in such a way that produced benchmarking takes values with fully integer inputs/outputs. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.02.009 Keywords: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Inefficient units, Benchmarking |
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Presenting an algorithm of integer nonlinear multiple objective programming in conditions of uncertainty for balanced scorecard method (case study in Islamic Azad University, Semnan Branch)
, Pages 1305-1316 Mohammad Hemati and Hamidreza Karkehabadi ![]() |
Abstract: Balanced scorecard is a performance appraisal method planned for measuring the organizational efficiency to develop their strategies. Organization’s strategies in a specified period are the main inputs in this model. Furthermore, due to nature, experts' opinions play the vital role in determining the strategies. In this research, the proposed algorithm is designed by using fuzzy set covering problem and non-linear multiple objective integer programming (zero and one variables), so that it can be useful to choose the best combination of strategies for specified period of time with the least deviation in experts` opinions. The presented model is carried out in Islamic Azad University, Semnan Branch. The results indicate that the designed model can provide the best combination of strategies for entering into the balanced scorecard system. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.02.008 Keywords: Fuzzy set covering problem, Balanced scorecard method, Non-linear multiple objective integer programming (zero and one variables), Fuzzy programming |
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An EGARCH-BPNN system for estimating and predicting stock market volatility in Morocco and Saudi Arabia: The effect of trading volume
, Pages 1317-1324 Salim Lahmiri ![]() |
Abstract: In this study, the backpropagation neural network (BPNN) is tested for the ability to forecast the daily volatility of two stock market indices from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region using volume; namely Morocco and Saudi Arabia. Volatility series were estimated using the Exponential Auto-Regressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (EGARCH) model. The simulation results show that trading volume helps improving the forecasting accuracy of BPNN in Morocco but not in Saudi Arabia. As a result, volume represents valuable information flow to be used in the modeling and prediction of volatility in Morocco. In addition, it is found that BPNN overpredicts volatility during high volatile periods. This finding is important in financial applications such as asset allocation and derivatives pricing. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.02.007 Keywords: EGARCH, Volatility Forecasting, Artificial Neural Networks |
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Applying fuzzy analytic network process in quality function deployment model
, Pages 1325-1340 Mohammad Ali Afsharkazemi, Mahboubeh Khodabakhsh and Mohammad Reza Motadel ![]() |
Abstract: In this paper, we propose an empirical study of QFD implementation when fuzzy numbers are used to handle the uncertainty associated with different components of the proposed model. We implement fuzzy analytical network to find the relative importance of various criteria and using fuzzy numbers we calculate the relative importance of these factors. The proposed model of this paper uses fuzzy matrix and house of quality to study the products development in QFD and also the second phase i.e. part deployment. In most researches, the primary objective is only on CRs to implement the quality function deployment and some other criteria such as production costs, manufacturing costs etc were disregarded. The results of using fuzzy analysis network process based on the QFD model in Daroupat packaging company to develop PVDC show that the most important indexes are being waterproof, resistant pill packages, and production cost. In addition, the PVDC coating is the most important index in terms of company experts’ point of view. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.02.006 Keywords: Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Fuzzy Analytic Network Process (FANP), product planning, part expanding |
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The efects of ownership structure on corporate value in the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE)
, Pages 1341-1348 Sohrab Osta and Hossein Naderi ![]() |
Abstract: In the present study, the separate and simultaneous role of concentration and type of ownership on corporate value is investigated. In this study, the ownership structure is classified into four classes: the institutional ownership, the corporate ownership, the management ownership and the foreign ownership. In addition, different attitudes regarding the above ownership are also tested, that is, active monitoring hypothesis and interest convergence hypothesis. Since, in the sample research no information was found about foreign ownership, this type of ownership was not examined. However, in the case of the other ownerships, a separated hypothesis was developed based on various techniques and their influence on the corporate value was examined. For each hypothesis, a multiple linear regression model is defined based on the dependent variables. Companies listed in securities exchange commission of Iran makes up the statistical community of present study and the sample consists of 90 companies during 2002-2008. Two types of tests, including correlation test and cross multiple regression test are implemented to examine the hypothesis. Generally, the results reflect no significant relationship between the concentration of ownership and the corporate value. The results of the study show that, while there is no relationship between the institutional ownership and management ownership and the corporate value, there is a significant relationship between the corporate ownership and the corporate value. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.02.005 Keywords: Ownership Structure, Ownership concentration, Institutional Ownership, Corporate value |
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An empirical study to detect effective factors to increase number of moviegoers
, Pages 1349-1358 Yasaman Giyahi ![]() |
Abstract: In this paper, we present an empirical study to detect important factors, which could increase the number of moviegoers. The study distributes a questionnaire among different people at four age groups including 35.2% (men), and 64.8% (women), most of them are single (between 21 to 30 years) living at 3- to 4-member families, holding BA degree with 4 to 7 million Rials monthly salary. Inferential statistics tests, including Kolmogorov–Smirnov, binominal or ratio, Chi Square and Friedman, show that type of story, genre and artists, casts are considered as the most important factors in selection of film while quality of sound, seat comfort, ventilation of cinema hall are regarded as the most important factors in selection of cinema. In addition, cinema is not predominant pastime or hobby of individuals during holidays and existence of more attractive pastimes than cinema is the most important factor, which hinders individuals from going to cinema. Individuals go to cinema fewer than three times a year, primarily during the afternoon of holidays at the weekend. TV teasers and word of mouth advertisements are the most significant publicity tools for those individuals who intend to go to cinema halls. These two factors, i.e. TV teasers and word of mouth advertisements, are the most significant sources of studying individuals for the selection of film. Individuals almost select their favorite movies before going to cinema and if ticket is finished at the box office of cinema, they suspend watching film in another time and finally, they re-plan watching film. It should be noted that satisfaction of individuals from cinema is much more effective than their satisfaction from film. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.02.004 Keywords: Cinema, Cinema Hall, Film Marketing, Moviegoer |
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Ranking important factors on information technology in development free zone markets: An AHP implementation
, Pages 1359-1364 Naser Azad, and Yahya Rostamnya ![]() |
Abstract: Information technology (IT) plays a vital role on developing different markets. In this paper, we study the impact of IT on developing businesses located mainly on free zones or in the borders of countries using analytical hierarchy process. The proposed study of this paper gathered the relative importance of five important factors influencing IT implementation. There are 12 experts and we use pairwise comparison to gather their insight and using Expert Choice we implement AHP for ranking the factors. The results indicate that management is the most important factor, followed by cultural and social items. The other factors including technical, investment and organization items are in lower degree of importance. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.02.003 Keywords: Information technology, Marketing planning, AHP, Multiple criteria decision making |
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Identifying and evaluating E-procurement in supply chain risk by Fuzzy MADM
, Pages 1365-1376 Mohammad Mahdi mozaffari, Hassan Khodaei Valehzagharad Reza Kiani Mavi and Mostafa Memarzade ![]() |
Abstract: E-procurement risks has emerged as an important issue for researchers and practitioners because mitigating supply chain risk helps improve firms’ as well as supply chains’ performance. E-marketplaces have been steadily growing and there have been significant interest in e-business research. There are different risks and uncertainties involved with E-marketplaces, which jeopardizes the sector but we have had a large amount of hype and the business still continue to grow. The primary aim of this study is to identify E-procurement risks and evaluate them using a fuzzy AHP framework. We contribute E-procurement risk by identifying 13 critical criteria and determine four important ones including the extent of acceptable information, interrelationship risk, lack of honesty in relationships and product quality and safety for evaluating suppliers’ risk. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.02.002 Keywords: E-procurement, Risk management, Fuzzy logic, MADM |
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An empirical study on relationship between organizational culture and knowledge management: A case study of electric distribution in province of East Azarbayjan of Iran
, Pages 1377-1384 Yahya Dadashkarimi ![]() |
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of organizational culture on knowledge management. To learn more about the organizational culture, we choose five variables including team-work, learning, discussion, management support and communication. The propose study consists one main hypothesis and five sub hypotheses and it is performed among all employees and management team of East Azarbayjan power supplier. The population of our survey includes 1482 people and a sample of 488 people is chosen in this survey. A questionnaire is distributed among all members and Cronbach Alpha is 0.83, which yields highly reliable results. The data are analyzed using SPSS software package with different non-parametric methods and the results confirm all hypotheses in our survey. According to the results of our survey, culture and communication play important role for the success of an idea and knowledge creation. Negotiation, top management support and learning style are second most important factors influencing knowledge management. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.01.026 Keywords: Knowledge Management, Creativity, Team work |
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Utilizing TOPSIS intensified with adjustment similarity factor to determine price of technology
, Pages 1385-1396 Arnoosh Shakeri, Mohammad Ali Shafia and Seyed Mohammad Seyedhosseini ![]() |
Abstract: Technology transfer has been a very frequent activity in the industrial world nowadays. Technology valuation, and in particular technology pricing, has played a considerable role in these transactions, in spite of a huge amount of limitations in the pricing methodologies applied. Making a sound, traceable and reliable means for applying the price evaluation procedure, seems as a technological requirement to be traced for. The objective of delivering this paper is to introduce a new numerical technology pricing method to provide the two transacting parties a unique compromised price. A three-dimensional model for technology pricing is proposed and The TOPSPS algorithm has been utilized to select the most similar technologies to the intended one and the constructed scoring system is applied to calculate the final technology price accordingly. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.02.080 Keywords: TOPSIS, Factor Analysis, Technology Pricing, Adjustment Factor |
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A social work study on job satisfaction
, Pages 1397-1402 Mohammad Reza Iravani ![]() |
Abstract: Job satisfaction plays an important role on having sustainable growth in any business units. When an unsatisfied employee leaves, the business unit not only loses an employee but also it loses an intangible asset. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate overall job satisfaction occasionally and provide some guidelines for improving work conditions. The proposed study of this paper uses five questionnaires, which are associated with job motivation, job satisfaction and organizational commitment. We have selected 25 sample employees who work for the case study of this research located in west region on Iran. Using some statistical tests we analyze the data and the preliminary results indicate that employee have an average job satisfaction. The results indicate that there are some positive relationships between job satisfaction and other factors including wage increase, psychological needs, physical equipments, entertainment equipment and work-team. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2011.12.011 Keywords: Job opportunity, Job satisfaction, Organizational motivation, Esfahan |
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A social work study on juvenile delinquency
, Pages 1403-1408 Mohammad Reza Iravani ![]() |
Abstract: We present an empirical study to study the effects of different factors on juvenile delinquency. The investigation distributes 100 questionnaires among people who are involved with crime and analyzes their feedbacks. There are five hypotheses in our survey and we look to see whether family conditions, religion, economical conditions, media and physical and psychological characteristics play important role on juvenile delinquency in Iranian society. The results shows that while family conditions, physical and psychological characteristics play important role on juvenile delinquency, other factors do not statistically have any impact on juvenile delinquency. The study suggests that a better family condition could help reduce juvenile delinquency and people could guide their children through better consultations. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2011.11.009 Keywords: Juvenile delinquency, Religion and juvenile delinquency, Media and Juvenile delinquency, Physical characteristics and Juvenile delinquency, Economy and Juvenile delinquency, |
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A social work study on violence against women
, Pages 1409-1416 Mohammad Reza Iravani Najmeh Sedrpoushan and Imaneh Afghami Ardakani ![]() |
Abstract: Violence against women has been one of the most controversial issues in modern societies. During the past few decades, there have been tremendous efforts on providing supports for women against any kind of family violence and dispute. The proposed study of this paper attempts to investigate women's position on domestic violence. We design a questionnaire and distribute among 880 people who are randomly chosen from a population of 441782 residences who live in city of Esfahan, Iran. The result of our survey confirms that Iranian women experienced different types of violence in their lives. The study also suggests some guidelines based on an adaptation of advices in other countries in an attempt to reduce the rates of crime, significantly. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.01.014 Keywords: Violence against women Esfahan Family dispute |
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Neural networks and forecasting stock price movements-accounting approach: Empirical evidence from Iran
, Pages 1417-1424 Hossein Naderi Mojtaba Moradpour, Mehdi Zangeneh and Farzad Khani ![]() |
Abstract: Stock market prediction is one of the most important interesting areas of research in business. Stock markets prediction is normally assumed as tedious task since there are many factors influencing the market. The primary objective of this paper is to forecast trend closing price movement of Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) using financial accounting ratios from year 2003 to year 2008. The proposed study of this paper uses two approaches namely Artificial Neural Networks and multi-layer perceptron. Independent variables are accounting ratios and dependent variable of stock price , so the latter was gathered for the industry of Motor Vehicles and Auto Parts. The results of this study show that neural networks models are useful tools in forecasting stock price movements in emerging markets but multi-layer perception provides better results in term of lowering error terms. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.019 Keywords: Neural networks, Forecasting, TSE, Multi-layer perceptron |
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The impact of social identity of brand on brand loyalty development
, Pages 1425-1434 Zohreh Dehdashti Mehdi Jafarzadeh Kenari and Alireza Bakhshizadeh ![]() |
Abstract: During the past few years, there have been increasing discussions on the impact of brand in business units. Many researchers have concluded that the best way to increase sales is to introduce the brand in society. In this study, we consider the impact of brand identity on increasing product loyalty in one of Iranian dairy products. The proposed study is implemented in city of Tehran by choosing 475 people. The proposed model is analyzed using structural equation model and factor analysis. The results indicate that there is a direct positive relationship between brand and loyalty and a powerful brand could help setup a long-term relationship between customer and firm, which leads to brand loyalty. In other words, brand identity influences perception value, customer satisfaction, brand trust while perception value influences customer satisfaction and brand trust. In addition, customer satisfaction influences brand trust, brand trust influences customer loyalty and finally brand identity indirectly influences customer loyalty. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.020 Keywords: Brand identity, Brand loyalty, Brand trust, Dairy products |
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An investigation on marketing mix efforts on brand equity: An empirical investigation in mobile phone industry
, Pages 1435-1440 Naser Azad Ozhan Karimi and Maryam Safaei ![]() |
Abstract: In this paper, we present an empirical study to investigate the effects of different marketing efforts on brand equity in mobile industry. The proposed study of this paper distributes a questionnaire consists of 26 questions including loyalty, quality perception, awareness, exclusiveness, word of mouth advertisement, brand name image, advertisement, price, distribution and guarantee. A sample 428 people are selected in a city of Tehran/Iran and they are asked to reply questions on Likert based. The results show that there is a positive and meaningful relationship between marketing mix efforts and brand equity. In other words, more advertisements could help better market exposure, which means customers will have more awareness on market characteristics. Among all mixed efforts, guarantee influences more on brand equity, which means consumers care more on product services than other features. Finally, among different characteristics of brand equity, product exclusiveness plays an important role. In other words, people are interested in having exclusive product, which is different from others. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.018 Keywords: Perception quality, Word of mouth advertisement, Brand image, Mobile industry |
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A social work study on measuring the effects of social cognitive consultation on welfare receivers' entrepreneurship attitudes and behavior
, Pages 1441-1446 Najmeh Sedrpoushan Mohammad Reza Iravani and Narges Khatoon Mansourzadeh ![]() |
Abstract: One of the most important responsibilities of welfare receivers in all communities is to find a job. In many cases, people are encouraged to act as entrepreneurs and create jobs and opportunities. In this study, we perform an empirical study among 280 welfare receivers to measure the effects of social cognitive consultation on changing receivers' entrepreneurship attitudes. The study uses Bandura's social cognitive questionnaire and select 30 volunteers who receive the lowest marks in this survey and they are divided into two groups. The study provides a consultation among them for eight consecutive sessions of two hour-period and the results indicate that the consultation can change both welfare receivers' perception and their attitude, significantly. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.021 Keywords: Entrepreneurship's perception, Social cognitive consultation, Welfare recipients |
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A social work study on detecting organizational and job related factors creating stress: A case study of hydro power employees
, Pages 1447-1454 Gholamali Iravani,Akbar Iravani, Ebrahim Jafari, Samaneh Salimi and Mohammad Reza Iravani ![]() |
Abstract: The study investigates different factors influencing people to have more stress in a hydropower unit located in city of Esfahan, Iran. Since there were only 81 people working for customer service section of this company and the proposed study tries to focus only on this part of the firm we have decided to distribute questionnaires among all of them. The questionnaire consists of two parts, in the first part, we gather all private information such as age, gender, education, job experience, etc. through seven important questions. In the second part of the survey, there are 66 questions, which include all the important factors influencing employees' stress. Cronbach alpha is calculated as 0.946, which is well above the minimum acceptable level. The results of our ANOVA tests shows that among different factors, difficulty of working condition as well as work pressure are two most important factors increasing stress among employees. The other findings indicate that there is not a significant difference on work stress among different groups of employees in terms of their job title, educational level, employment type and gender (P>0.05). The other finding indicates that there is a meaningful difference between different groups of people with various ages, marital status and job experience (P>0.05). DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.03.022 Keywords: Stress, Job satisfaction, Employee performance, Working conditions |
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A study of the effects of company size on systematic risk based on the capital asset pricing model among accepted companies in Tehran Stock Market
, Pages 1455-1464 Payman Akbari Reza Rostami and Akbar Veismoradi ![]() |
Abstract: Systematic risk (beta) is one of the most effective factors in predicting the appropriate required rate of return of portfolios. Understanding systematic risk of usual portfolio of various companies helps investors consider financial investment, more confidentially. The aim of this study is to determine if there is any significant relationship between Company Size (Market value of stocks, Book value of stocks, level of company sale, trade volume of stocks, Price dividend ratio) as independent variables and Systematic risk (Beta) as dependent variables. The study chooses 112 companies accepted in Tehran Stock Market based on screening (systematic deletion) in a six-year- period from 2005 to 2010. The required data were gathered from basic financial statement, committee reports, and other available documents in Tehran Stock Market. Regression and Pearson correlation were used to analyze the data. The results of the study revealed that there is a significant relationship between the variables. Some suggestions regarding the topic of the research are given too. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.04.001 Keywords: Market value of stocks, Book value of stocks, Level of company sale, Trade volume of stocks, Price dividend ratio, Systematic risk (Beta) |
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