The six GCC states share similar economic, geographic and socio-cultural characteristics and also face with similar challenges in terms of energy perspective. This study plans to focus on the eco-nomic and energy efficiency of the six GCC states. In the process, the study ranks the GCC states in terms of their efficiency scores. These efficiencies are computed through Data Envelopment Analysis. The economic efficiency is calculated for all six GCC states. Capital and labor are the inputs and GDP is the output. In this survey, Saudi Arabia maintains the highest efficiency score of 0.94, closely followed by Qatar (0.92), Kuwait (0.89), Bahrain (0.83), Oman (0.81) and UAE (0.67). There is a huge gap between the economic efficiency scores of Saudi Arabia and UAE. The environmental efficiency scores are calculated using CO2 emissions as output and electric power consumption and energy as input. Again, the highest efficiency score is for Saudi Arabia (0.91) followed by Oman (0.87), Kuwait and Bahrain have a tie for the 3rd position with a score of 0.74. Finally, the laggards are UAE (0.65) and Qatar (0.62). Again, there is a huge gap between the best and the worst performers. The case of two countries is worth mentioning. Qatar is ranked second in terms of economic efficiency while it was ranked sixth in terms of economic efficiency. Oman was ranked fifth in terms of economic efficiency while it was ranked second in terms of environmental efficiency. Finally, an average of economic and environmental efficiency are taken to compute the composite index. Saudi Arabia has the first place followed by Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and UAE.

A constant concern of academic institutions has been to improve the customer satisfaction in university libraries. The service quality within academic library context is pivotal for satisfying customers by meeting the customers’ needs to create loyalty amongst customers. This research uses LibQual to analyze the gap between customer’s perception and expectation, concerned with the services at the University Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) Library. There are six dimensions in service quality; namely general services, search for materials, library collection, staff, environment and environment, considered for this empirical research. The purpose of this paper is to 1) know service quality dimensions that satisfy the customers and 2) to observe the impact of service quality on customer satisfaction. The research methodology is carried out using a questionnaire survey distributed among 170 samples through simple random sampling. The data obtained was analyzed by using covariance-based structural equation modeling and importance-performance analysis. The results suggest that quality of service had a significant impact on customer satisfaction. Among the service quality dimensions, library environment and general service were viewed as high importance and strong performance index. Implication for research and practice resulting from these findings were also discussed.

Over the past 40 years, global air travel has increased eight-fold: In 1974 air planes carried 421 million people globally. This means that global air travel has been growing up about 5% every year for 4 decades and this trend is expected to continue in the future. While demand growth is an important factor for the profitability of the airline industry, its impact quite depends on the operational performances such as load factor, passenger yield, labor efficiency and fuel efficiency. So, the objective of this study is to analyze companies competing in the airline industry to address how to use the return on invested capital (ROIC) tree model to analyze the effect of operational performances on airline companies’ financial performance and then how to increase the financially inferior company’s per-formance by intimidating the operationally and financially superior and productive company. In the case of the Korean airline industry, two leading legacy airline companies called as a company A and B were selected to do the computational study for the effect of operational performance on the financial performance and productivity. We analyzed the financially high-performing company using the ROIC tree model and then looked at financially how much the inferior company would be improved if it could imitate some factor consisting of the productivity ratios from the financially high-performing company.

The usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technique under retail industry will bring glorious outcome and flourishing benefits for both the retailers and the distinguished customers. The multiple platforms of AI usage in retail arena are discussed under two different cluster classified as online and offline, based on the terms of execution of retail activity. The present research was conducted with the objectives of evaluating the contribution of quality, customer relationship management and big data in designing futuristic retail model and analyzing the intention of retailers and shoppers in experiencing the emergence of AI. Disproportionate multistage judgement sampling method was em-ployed. A sample of 610 shoppers from four different capital regions of southern part of states in India was considered for the statistical analysis. Data was collected during the first quarter period of 2018. Descriptive research design was used to describe the intention of shoppers towards the emer-gence of AI in the Indian retail sector. The usages of AI technologies in online and offline retail are grouped separately and its effect on building the quality, customer relationship management and big data was evolved. Finally, its impact on the retailers intention and customers delight was studied through Structural Equation Modeling with testing of appropriate hypothesis.

The tourism sector is considered as one of the most important economic sectors and has great importance in increasing the gross domestic product of any country in the world. Jordan is one of the countries attracting tourism from all over the world because of its natural tourist attractions and in-dustrial parks, as well as the availability of security and safety elements compared with neighboring countries. As the tourism sector is influenced by several factors affecting the tourism sector, this study aimed to investigate the role of the cultural dimensions and their relationships with the Jorda-nian society characterized by customs and traditions, values, norms and religious beliefs in promoting the tourism sector in Jordan. The study concluded that there was a statistically significant relationship between the cultural dimensions and the tourism promotion, so that the tourism promotion in Jordan was directly influenced by the change in cultural dimensions. The study concluded that the governments should increase the interest of the tourism sector and the need to pay special attention on educating the Jordanian society about the importance of this sector for the benefit of the country, which would positively affect their level of income, alleviate unemployment, and raise the standards of their lives.

In the context of active world markets expansion including actively emerging markets such as Rus-sia, the search for possible ways of integrated development of various industries becomes an issue of special state significance for the economy competitiveness improvement. This article focuses on finding ways to optimize travel business environment in Russia by improving passengers’ transportation service.

The main purpose of this study is to present a framework on the construct, knowledge hoarding by investigating and distinguishing it from related concepts such as knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding. Furthermore, it aims to strengthen our understanding of knowledge hoarding by defining the construct in detail while seeking answers to why employees hoard their knowledge. The present study contains a discussion of related research on knowledge hoarding and its implications for organizations, managers and employees. By integrating research from the fields of knowledge man-agement, human resources management and organizational behavior, this paper attempts to clarify a number of issues about this concept and aims to offer a factual report on what research has to say about it. Knowledge is not an individual, but an organizational asset. In today’s business environ-ment, hoarding knowledge erodes one’s power rather than constituting a source of power. In order to remain competitive in the future, organizations will need to abandon their ideas of information hoarding and embrace knowledge management. Downsizing in organizations and the potential loss of employment due to the global economic crisis alerts the managers to be sensitive to the reasons why the individuals avoid sharing their knowledge. The managerial level should attempt to break the hoarding cycle and create new models for interaction and knowledge sharing. It is important to examine why some employees would sometimes prefer to keep knowledge to themselves. Thus, the present study seeks an answer to that area of under-investigated research.

Although the relationship between resilience and career success has been well documented, very few studies relate these variables in developing economies, and especially in entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Additionally, how commitment actually shapes this relationship is conspicuously neglected. This empirical investigation was aimed at examining the influence of entrepreneurial career resilience on the three facets of entrepreneurial career success, i.e. career satisfaction, perceived career achievement and perceived financial attainment through the mediating role of entrepreneurial career commitment. The study used cross sectional data approach to collect data from 390 active entrepre-neurs. The participants were selected using purposive sampling technique. PLS-SEM statistical software (Smart-PLS 3) was used to test the formulated hypotheses. The findings suggested that; entrepreneurial career resilience was a positive predictor of the career satisfaction and perceived ca-reer achievement but it did not predict perceived financial attainment; that, entrepreneurial career resilience predicted entrepreneurial career commitment; that, entrepreneurial career commitment predicted career satisfaction, perceived career achievement and perceived financial attainment. Moreover, entrepreneurial career commitment significantly influenced the relationships of entrepreneurial career resilience and the two facets of entrepreneurial career success.

Trying to create an innovative organization means to have employees who are innovative, within the internal structure of the organization. This paper aimed at examining the influence of work environ-ment on managerial innovation within the insurance sector in Kuwait. A quantitative tool, self-administered questionnaire, was adopted and distributed among165 managers who worked for 21 insurance companies in Kuwait. The results indicate that among the chosen variables representing the dimensions of the work environment, the most influential dimension was facilities. This reveals that it was the influence of facilities that provided a healthy work environment for the employees who enhanced their abilities to present their best performance and be innovative. The study suggests that organizations should pay extra attention to certain factors of employee appraisal such as incentives, appreciation and recognition, that may, in turn, help increase the degree of managerial innovation. In addition, it is suggested to examine the influence of work environment on the leaders’ ethical orientations within the insurance sector in Kuwait.

During the past few years, there has been a growing interest in applications of environmental cost management accounting (ECMA) in different manufacturing industries. ECMA is a useful tool for environmental performance improvement and achieving better financial benefits. Nevertheless, ECMA implementation is in early stages in many countries such as Vietnam. Brick industry is one of the most polluted sectors, which has significant impact on the environment. The purpose of this paper is to provide a clear image of ECMA application in Vietnamese brick manufacturing enterprises. Both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies are used to analyze the participants' attitudes, perceptions and concerns about the potential for applying ECMA. The results indicate that the brick industry adopted low level of ECMA and provide some necessary suggestions to promote the enterprises applying ECMA.