1. ![]() |
Intellectual capital: Concepts, components and indicators: A literature review
, Pages 2255-2270 Mahdi Manzari, Mostafa Kazemi, Shamsoddin Nazemi and Alireza Pooya ![]() |
Abstract: This paper presents a general review of intellectual capital literature, which includes definitions, components and indicators. We aim to gather a useful collection of indicators and definitions. After studying several related works from the literature, many definitions and indicators are identified and explain that choosing appropriate indicators depends on organizational targets. Every kind of organization can use this study to identify its more applicable and appropriate indicators to know about its intellectual capital. Identifying all of indicators in previous studies can help organization select right indicators for the organization. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.018 Keywords: Intellectual capital, Human capital, Relational capital, Structural capital |
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A new method for improving security in MANETs AODV Protocol
, 2271-2280 Zahra Alishahi Javad Mirabedini and Marjan Kuchaki Rafsanjani ![]() |
Abstract: In mobile ad hoc network (MANET), secure communication is more challenging task due to its fundamental characteristics like having less infrastructure, wireless link, distributed cooperation, dynamic topology, lack of association, resource constrained and physical vulnerability of node. In MANET, attacks can be broadly classified in two categories: routing attacks and data forwarding attacks. Any action not following rules of routing protocols belongs to routing attacks. The main objective of routing attacks is to disrupt normal functioning of network by advertising false routing updates. On the other hand, data forwarding attacks include actions such as modification or dropping data packet, which does not disrupt routing protocol. In this paper, we address the “Packet Drop Attack”, which is a serious threat to operational mobile ad hoc networks. The consequence of not forwarding other packets or dropping other packets prevents any kind of communication to be established in the network. Therefore, there is a need to address the packet dropping event takes higher priority for the mobile ad hoc networks to emerge and to operate, successfully. In this paper, we propose a method to secure ad hoc on-demand distance vector (AODV) routing protocol. The proposed method provides security for routing packets where the malicious node acts as a black-hole and drops packets. In this method, the collaboration of a group of nodes is used to make accurate decisions. Validating received RREPs allows the source to select trusted path to its destination. The simulation results show that the proposed mechanism is able to detect any number of attackers. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.018 Keywords: MANETs, Ad hoc, AODV, Security, Packet drop attack |
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Identifying the management barriers for establishing suggestions system: A case study of educational system
, Pages 2281-2286 Masoud Nouri and Mohammad Ahanchi ![]() |
Abstract: Suggestions system is one of the new cooperative management plans, which affects making good decisions, self-confidence and employees occupational approval. The aim of this research is to survey the barriers for establishment of suggestion system. The proposed study designs and distributes a questionnaire among 195 out of 26550 managers who work for educational system in city of Kermanshah, Iran. The primary purpose of this survey is to learn whether lack of accepting any risk on behalf of management team, conflict of interest in management style, lack of belief on suggestions system in an organization are important barriers of executing suggestions system in an organization or not. The results of Freedman test confirm all seven components of the hypothesis. As a result, lack of accepting risk among management team is number one barrier in having suggestion system followed by existing conflict between management style and suggestions system and lack of management's belief to suggestions system, weakness in education for suggestions system and fear in management disruption because of having suggestions system. The other barriers coming in the last priority in terms of their relative importance include lack of management's support to suggestions system and weakness in management position because of accepting suggestions system. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.017 Keywords: Cooperation, Suggestion, Suggestions system |
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An empirical investigation to use solar–geothermal hybrid energy system for small towns
, Pages 2287-2292 Sara Orougi, Ali Esmailzade Maghari, Hoshang Mohammadi, Amir Mansour Gol Mohammadi and Momammad Irani ![]() |
Abstract: During the past few years, there has been increasing interest to find a replacement for gas consumption in Iranian small towns and cities. The government believes delivering cheap gas to small towns is not economical and can be replaced with recent technological solar–geothermal hybrid energy system. In this paper, we present an empirical study to calculate internal rate of return (IRR) for a small town located near the city of Qom, Iran. We consider three scenarios of population, namely 1000, 1500 and 2000 households and various rates for gas price from 7 to 40 cents. The results show that a gas distribution unit yields 2% to 20% in terms of return. This brings us to conclude that gas distribution for small towns far from major cities is not economically justified for government. Therefore, we need to use alternative methods such as solar–geothermal hybrid energy system. We use TOPSIS method, as a multi criteria decision making approach, to prioritize ten small towns in Qom province and the results are analyzed. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.016 Keywords: TOPSIS, Ranking, Internal rate of return, Geothermal energy |
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An implementation of TPB method for learning important factors influencing knowledge sharing
, Pages 2293-2300 Shahrzad Karampour and Mojtaba Bojarpour ![]() |
Abstract: Knowledge management incorporates the systematic management of vital knowledge resources and the associated processes of creating, organizing, gathering, utilizing, diffusion and exploiting data. A key challenge emerging is learn to encourage knowledge sharing (KS) within firms because knowledge is an organization’s intellectual capital and plays an important role in gaining a competitive advantage. Isolated initiatives for promoting KS and team collaboration without taking into consideration the limitations and constraints of KS can halt any further development in the KM culture of an operation. In this paper, in addition to individual and social factors, an effect of individual perception, which is an important factor for any behavior, is studied. We first identify effective factors in KS behavior through the theory of planned behavior, six factors of trust, knowledge power, organizational motivation, organizational culture, IT and Communities of Practice (COP) as effective factors in three categories of behavioral beliefs, subjective norms and perceived behaviors are analyzed for an Iranian research center. The results of this research helps develop KS behavior and enhance performance and creativity of research in this center. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.015 Keywords: Knowledge sharing, TPB, Knowledge management |
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Pathology of knowledge strategy barriers in organization: a case study
, Pages 2301-2304 Mehdi Kheirandish ![]() |
Abstract: Knowledge management plays an important role on the success of organizations but there are several reasons that many organizations fail to talk a full advantage of the benefits of knowledge management implementation. In this paper, we perform an empirical investigation on supreme audit court organization of Iran. The survey uses a standard questionnaire and distributes 116 questionnaires among 228 people who worked for this organization. Cronbach alpha yields 0.817, which is well above the minimum acceptable level. Kolmogorov–Smirnov test has been performed to examine the normality of the data and yields 1.71 for management attributes, 1.78 is for resource factors and 1.73 for environment factors and P-value for all three factors is 0.000. The preliminary results of our survey indicate that management is the first important factor followed by resources and environment factors. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.014 Keywords: Knowledge management, Supreme audit company, Knowledge strategy |
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An application of DEMATEL technique to find the effect of different factors influencing outsourcing activities in water and switch organization
, Pages 2305-2310 Fatimah Hemati and Younos Vakil Alroaia ![]() |
Abstract: Outsourcing plays an important role on reducing unnecessary activities in any organization and helps focus only on value added activities. Water resource organization in each city is responsible to supply fresh and clean water and dispose switch as efficiently as possible and all citizens normally benefit from these organizations. The proposed model of this paper uses DEMATEL to prioritize 14 different factors influencing on outsourcing activities. The survey was performed from October, 2011 to May, 2012 among employees on work for water resource organization in city of Semnan, Iran. The survey chooses a sample of 92 employees out of 120 people who worked for this organization. Cronbach alpha is calculated as 90%, which is well above the minimum acceptable level. The results of the survey indicate that expediting work process is the most important factor while reducing the cost is considered as the least important factors among 14 different items. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.013 Keywords: DEMATEL, Outsourcing, Water resources management, Multiple criteria decision making |
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A social work study on the effect of emotional intelligence factors on recovering people addicted to drugs
, Pages 2311-2316 Seyed Esmael Mosavi Mohammad Reza Iravani, Asghar Nikbakht, Ebrahim Yazdi and Amin Movahedie ![]() |
Abstract: Drug addiction has become serious problem in many developing countries. Many young people are addicted to different toxicated materials and, as a result, they cannot contribute to their societies. They lose any employment opportunity, cannot continue their education and lose their healthcare. This paper considers the effect of emotional intelligence (EQ) and the likelihood of recovery among addicted people who were under recovery treatments in three different groups in city of Esfahan, Iran including community-based treatment (CT) group, no support addictives (NA) and recovery center. The proposed study uses two types of questionnaires including 90 questions with 15 scales. The survey also uses a standard questionnaire to determine the likelihood of return to drug. The survey uses three samples of people from each three-drug recovery centers. In this study, we perform regression analysis and our survey results show that return to drug is inversely related with being realistic (-2.618), optimism (-2.409) and locus of control (-2.094). DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.012 Keywords: Emotional intelligence, Social work study, Drug addiction, Drug addiction recovery |
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A framework for measuring the supply chain's agility of mass construction industry in Iran
, Pages 2317-2334 Keyvan Poloie, Safar Fazli, Mohsen Alvandi and Somayeh Hasanlo ![]() |
Abstract: Impotent planning system in house providing process is the result of inadequate housing management system in theoretical, empirical, and operational fields. In addition, Mass Construction industry in Iran confronts with other problems such as instability in raw material prices, unsteadiness in production and investment laws and regulations, frailty of transportation infrastructure, international sanctions and etc. Furthermore, customers’ needs, lower costs, and greater customizations lead mass producing to search for new solutions and novel producing system. Agility is offered as a strategy to enable Mass Construction associations to be maintained in the competition of constantly changing market in Iran. In such a market, previous approaches lose their capabilities in supply chain. Thus to achieve agility by Mass Construction association is the chief aim of this study. This study is descriptive-analytic and can be identified as developmental –functional considering its target. After surveying previous research literature and using experts’ opinions, we investigated final agile sub criteria of supply chain and then we used interpretive- structural modeling approach to determine the relation among sub criteria and to offer an agile supply chain model. Surveying research literature and experts’ opinions lead us to identify 8 criteria (society, government, financial, information technology, market, partnership, quality and technology) and also 22 sub criteria for supply chain’s agility. Then the results were analyzed through interpretive-structural approach and relation of criteria and sub criteria and their consequence were achieved. These relations showed that government and infrastructure investment, culture, regulations and responses to social and environmental issues are the basis of agility in mass housing productions’ supply chain. This model helps supply chain managers to have strategic planning to enhance agility in supply chain and find effective sub criteria and criteria to invest on. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.011 Keywords: Agile supply chain, Delphi approach, Descriptive structural modeling, Mass construction associations |
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Investigation the requirements of supply and distribution emergency logistics management and categorization its sub-criteria using AHP: a case study
, Pages 2335-2340 Sadegh Feizollahi, Alireza Shirmohammadi and Zahra Safari Kahreh ![]() |
Abstract: The management of procurement and distribution is one of the most important branches of the crisis management and events that, has great importance in the field of management. In this paper, we perform an empirical study to investigate important factors on emergency logistic emergency preparation distribution management among people who worked for governorship, hygiene and treatment, Red Crescent, electricity, water and sewage and transportation of central province of Ilam in west part of Iran. The survey distributed a questionnaire among some people and examined six hypotheses. The results of our survey indicate that employees who worked for these organizations maintained high levels of skills; they were able to access what they needed in their organization. In addition, the survey indicates that the access to the necessary information in their organizations; they are able to take care of their documentations. They could also execute their jobs based on good schedules and accomplished their tasks, properly. They survey also performed a multi-criteria decision making approach using AHP to prioritize important activities to improve logistic operations. The results indicate that having a good database is number one priority with relative weight of 0.51, followed by appropriate operating planning with relative weight of 0.295. Supply control came on the third position with relative weight of 0.134 and finally task assignment came as the last priority with relative weight of 0.061. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.010 Keywords: Management preparation and distribution, Crisis management, Logistic emergency, Analytic-Hierarchy-process |
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An application of multiple criteria decision-making techniques for ranking different national Iranian oil refining and distribution companies
, Pages 2341-2346 Ibrahim Nazari, Younos Vakil Alroaia and Samaneh Bahraminasab ![]() |
Abstract: Performance measurement plays an essential role on management of governmental agencies especially when profitability is not the primary concern and we need to consider other important factors than profitability such as customer satisfaction, etc. In this paper, we propose a multi-criteria decision making method to rank different national Iranian oil refining and distribution companies. The proposed study of this paper uses six factors including per capita supply, energy cost, physical productivity of labor, staff participation, quality control inspection of stations and education per capita. The proposed study uses Entropy to find the relative importance of each criterion and TOPSIS to rank 37 alternatives based on cities and three regions. The results of the implementation of our method indicate that central regions close to capital city of the country maintains the highest ranking (0.9122) while southern regions maintains the lowest comes in the lowest priority (0.0569) and the northern region is in the middle (0.7635). DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.009 Keywords: National Iranian oil Refining and Distribution Companies, TOPSIS, AHP, Ranking |
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An empirical survey on perceived value from tourism destination based on brand equity model: A case study of Qeshm Island
, Pages 2347-2354 Vahid Qaemi ![]() |
Abstract: Tourism destination brand equity is defined as all assets (or debts) of brands provided with name and symbol of tourism destination to make changes in value services of experiences. In many cases, brand equity is more than physical assets. This survey performs an investigation to identify effective factors in tourism destination equity, cause and affects relationships, and proposes a model for perceived value of tourism destination. The proposed study is performed in one of free islands named Gheshm. The preliminary results indicate that there is a positive relationship between tourism destination brand awareness and destination brand equity, tourism destination brand image, destination brand equity and tourism destination brand loyalty. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.008 Keywords: Tourism destination brand equity, Tourism destination Brand awareness, Tourism destination Brand loyalty, Tourism destination Brand image, Tourism destination brand quality, Qeshm Island |
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Entrepreneur as an authentic leader: A study of small and medium sized enterprises in Pakistan
, Pages 2355-2360 Taimoor Abid, Mohsin Altaf, Usman Yousaf and Mohammad Majid Mehmood Bagram ![]() |
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to explore the authentic leadership styles of an entrepreneurs and its impact on employee’s commitment and satisfaction. By using the authentic leadership model, this study seeks to give a tentative test of the connection among employees’ awareness of the business creator as an authentic leader and the employees’ attitudes. Findings are that the opinion of employees’ about authentic leadership serves as the intoxicating analyst of employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.007 Keywords: Leadership, Entrepreneurs, SME |
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A new method for university instructor assessment
, Pages 2361-2366 Khashayar Sheykhi Mehdi Hosseinpour, Saeed Esmaeeli and Mohammad Reza Abbasi ![]() |
Abstract: Preparing enterprise architecture is complicated procedure, which uses framework as structure regularity and style as the behavior director for controlling complexity. As in architecture behavior, precedence over structure, for better diagnosis of a behavior than other behaviors, there is a need to evaluate the architecture performance. Enterprise architecture cannot be organized without the benefit of the logical structure. Framework provides a logical structure for classifying architectural output. Among the common architectural framework, the C4ISR is one of the most appropriate frameworks because of the methodology of its production and the level of aggregation capability and minor revisions. C4ISR framework, in three views and by using some documents called product, describes the architecture. In this paper, for developing the systems, there are always uncertainties in information systems and we may use new version of UML called FUZZY-UML, which includes structure and behavior of the system. The proposed model of this paper also uses Fuzzy Petri nets to analyze the developed system. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.006 Keywords: University professor assessment, Self assessment, Assessment, University ranking |
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Performance evaluation of enterprise architecture with a formal fuzzy model (FPN)
, Pages 2367-2376 Ashkan Marahel, Ali Harounabadi and Seyyed Javad Mirabedini ![]() |
Abstract: Preparing enterprise architecture is complicated procedure, which uses framework as structure regularity and style as the behavior director for controlling complexity. As in architecture behavior, precedence over structure, for better diagnosis of a behavior than other behaviors, there is a need to evaluate the architecture performance. Enterprise architecture cannot be organized without the benefit of the logical structure. Framework provides a logical structure for classifying architectural output. Among the common architectural framework, the C4ISR is one of the most appropriate frameworks because of the methodology of its production and the level of aggregation capability and minor revisions. C4ISR framework, in three views and by using some documents called product, describes the architecture. In this paper, for developing the systems, there are always uncertainties in information systems and we may use new version of UML called FUZZY-UML, which includes structure and behavior of the system. The proposed model of this paper also uses Fuzzy Petri nets to analyze the developed system. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.005 Keywords: Fuzzy UML, Petri Net, C4ISR, Fuzzy Petri Net (FPN) |
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A social work study on relationship between leadership style and organization change: A case study of Semnan high schools' teachers
, Pages 2377-2382 Mohammad Reza Iravani, Seyed Esmael Mosavi, Amin Movahedi, Gholamali Iravani, Akbar Iravani ![]() |
Abstract: The primary objective of this survey is to study the relationship between leadership style among teachers who work in high schools and their orientation on organizational change. The study is performed among students who attended guided schools in province of Semnan, Iran. There are five hypotheses associated with the proposed study of this paper including managers' attitudes on change based on demographic characteristics, the relationship between leadership style and organizational change, the effects of different leadership styles and the organizational change orientation in terms of demographical characteristics. Statistical population includes all teachers who for high schools in city of Semnan, Iran and the study used a sample of 373 people who were randomly selected from three regions of the city. The proposed study used standard leadership questionnaire based on initiating structure and consideration originally developed at Ohio university in two dimensions with 30 questions. The questionnaire also used another type questionnaire consists of 32 questions with three dimensions of structure, technology and employee. The results indicate that there is no meaningful relationship between leadership style and gender, leadership style and job experience, organizational change and gender, management change and gender. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.004 Keywords: Leadership style, Organizational change, Consideration, Initiating structure |
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Identifying factors affecting acceptance of new technology in the industry using hybrid model of UTAUT and FUZZY DEMATEL
, Pages 2383-2392 Mojtaba Javidnia, Somaye Nasiri and Jamshid kiani far ![]() |
Abstract: Today and in highly competitive and fast-paced arena of the world, industrial companies focus on achieving technological superiority through the effective use of world modern-day technologies in the production and operation process associated with all their available resources. With using this procedure, these industrial companies try to achieve long-term and sustainable competitive advantages. On the other hand, applying world modern technologies does not solely guarantee success of these companies, rather, preparing preliminary grounds associated with the acceptance of technology will be decisive in this field. This article deals with clarifying factors affecting the adoption of new technologies and showing relationship of these factors together. For this purpose, Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) Model has been used to study factors affecting the adoption of new technologies. In the same direction, relationship between constituent components of this model has been studied with regard to the acceptance of new technology of Electro-Slag Remelting (ESR) in Esfarayen Steel Industry Complex using FUZZY DEMATEL Technique. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.003 Keywords: Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, FUZZY DEMATEL(UTAUT), Electro-Slag Remelting (ESR) |
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A mathematical model in cellular manufacturing system considering subcontracting approach under constraints
, Pages 2393-2408 Kamran Forghani, M.A. Sobhanallahi, A. Mirzazadeh and Mohammad Mohammadi ![]() |
Abstract: In this paper, a new mathematical model in cellular manufacturing systems (CMSs) has been presented. In order to increase the performance of manufacturing system, the production quantity of parts has been considered as a decision variable, i.e. each part can be produced and outsourced, simultaneously. This extension would be minimized the unused capacity of machines. The exceptional elements (EEs) are taken into account and would be totally outsourced to the external supplier in order to remove intercellular material handling cost. The problem has been formulated as a mixed-integer programming to minimize the sum of manufacturing variable costs under budget, machines capacity and demand constraints. Also, to evaluate advantages of the model, several illustrative numerical examples have been provided to compare the performance of the proposed model with the available classical approaches in the literature. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.002 Keywords: University professor assessment, Self assessment, Assessment, University ranking |
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Impact of consumption aspirations and brand knowledge on customer decision making: Evidence form fast food industry of Pakistan
, Pages 2409-2416 Shaheer Ellahi, Muhammad Arshad, Sumaira Shamoon and Sadaf Zahoor ![]() |
Abstract: The purpose of this research is to find out the impact of consumption aspirations and brand knowledge on customer purchase decisions. Data was collected through a questionnaire from 168 customers of fast food sector of Pakistan. Results show that there is a positive association between consumption aspirations, brand knowledge and customer decision making. The Results of the study show that there is a significant association between consumption aspirations, brand knowledge and customer decision making. The fast food sector can get higher level of customer satisfaction and a higher number of customer base and market share through a higher level of brand knowledge and consumption aspiration of the customer. The results of the study show that there is a positive association between consumption aspirations, brand knowledge and customer decision making in the fast food sector of Pakistan. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.001 Keywords: Consumption aspirations, Brand knowledge, Customer decision making |
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A method for enterprise architecture validation with colored Petri Nets
, Pages 2417-2424 Mohammad Sadegh Alishahi, Ali Harounabadi and Seyed Javad Mirabedini ![]() |
Abstract: Architecture includes so many documents where each describes one part of an enterprise. The problem in using such descriptions is on how to consider and use all components. Therefore, in order to organize the descriptions of enterprise architecture, we should use a framework. C4ISR is one of the enterprise architectural frameworks, which includes three views, contains some products. In order to show the products, this framework needs a unified notation, which covers all the products with various views. Unified Modeling Language (UML) prepares such situation. But in order to decrease the expenses of enterprise architectural productions process, the architectural products shall be evaluated before the architectural implementation level happens. In this article, a simple way for validation of enterprise architectural products with Colored Petri Nets is presented to evaluate true behavior of architectural products well. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.026 Keywords: Enterprise Architecture, Architectural Validation, C4ISR Framework, Colored Petri Nets |
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A fuzzy solution approach for a multi-objective integrated production-distribution model with multi products and multi periods under uncertainty
, Pages 2425-2434 A. Gharehyakheh and R. Tavakkoli-Moghaddam ![]() |
Abstract: This paper considers a multi-objective integrated production-distribution problem (IPDP) for multi-product and multi-production facility with limited capacity vehicles over a multi-period horizon in a two-level supply chain. In order to consider uncertainty of a real supply chain, some fuzzy parameters are considered for costumer demands, machine and labor levels of each manufacturer. The proposed model minimizes total production, inventory and distribution costs and total delivery time, simultaneously and the performance of the proposed model is evaluated on several randomly generated instances. The results show that integrating production and distribution decisions is more efficient than making these two decisions, separately. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.025 Keywords: Integrated production-distribution problem, Fuzzy parameters, Uncertainty |
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An empirical study on performance management: A case study of national Iranian oil Production Distribution Company
, Pages 2435-2440 Abolhassan Faghihi, Alireza Afsharnezhad and Mehdi Kheirandish ![]() |
Abstract: The primary goal of creating a culture of performance management is to improve processes based on the responsibility of individuals and groups for the continuous improvement of business processes, and to contribute to their skills. In this paper, we discuss all related issues and indentify the most important aspects and components of performance management. The proposed study of this paper is to find out which performance management works best for national Iranian oil products distribution company (NIOPDC). The proposed study uses analytical hierarchy process to prioritize all important factors based on pair-wise comparison. We use geometric mean to find the average of comparisons and all computations are performed using Expert Choice software package. In summary, stakeholders (0.262) are the most important components of our survey followed by employee management (0.247), social responsibility (0.190) comes in the third position and quality of services (0.166) and internal process (0.134) are two less important factors in this survey. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.024 Keywords: Performance management, AHP, Oil industry |
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A study on the effect of board of directors on the rate of corporate transparency
, Pages 2441-2448 Iman Rezaei Abolfazl Delghandy and Seyyed Hossein Miri ![]() |
Abstract: The main target of this study is to consider the effect of the combination of board of directors on the corporate transparency in some companies among selected ones in Tehran Stock Exchange Market over the period of 2007- 2010. In this research, the combination of board of directors is selected among some factors of corporate transparency such as structure of ownership and the rights of owners, financial information and statistics and structure and combination of board of directors and managers as a sub-indicator for corporate governance. Linear regression statistical method is used to test hypotheses of study. The size of α is considered as 5% and hypotheses are accepted or rejected by means of Durbin-Watson and Clemogrov-Smirnov tests and by comparing p-value with α. At last, by means of forward regression method, the effect of control variables is considered over each hypothesis. The results show that the members of board of directors have no effect on partnership transparency, but effect on financial data and information and structure and combination of board of directors. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.023 Keywords: Combination of board of directors, Corporate transparency, Tehran Stock Exchange |
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Analyzing the role of Bavan Valley in Mamasani as tourists attraction
, Pages 2449-2456 Mohammad Ali Firoozi, Majid goodarzi and Abdolmotalleb Akbari ![]() |
Abstract: Tourism industry plays an important role on developing economy especially in regions where there are different historical, landscape and other natural attractions. Bavan Valley located in Nur Abad Mamasani city in Iran is one of the well-known places among tourists. The region has outstanding natural landscapes, moderate weather especially in spring and summer, low distance from the major road locating between different local regions such as Fars, Bushehr, Khuzestan, and Kohkiluye Boyer Ahmad Province. These regions provide appropriate accessibility for the citizens of highly populated cities of this province and it plays essential role of a major attractive pole in southern part of the country. The primary objective of this research is to recognize the present barriers for attracting tourists and to analyze the tourists’ satisfactions associated with the facilities and tourist services. The statistical population of this research includes all the tourists of Bavan Valley in which 381 individuals were chosen as the sample of this research, using Cochran's formula. The results indicate that there is a significant relationship between the absence of advertisement about Bavan Valley and the number of tourists in this zone (P<0.05). The findings also show that there is a significant relationship between lack of infrastructural equipments and un-development in tourism industry (P<0.05). Moreover, the findings of SWOT analysis indicates that 9 internal strength versus 10 internal weaknesses and 7 external chance versus 8 external threat were recognized and analyzed with regard to ecotourism in this zone. Thus, generally 16 strength and chances as the advantages and 18 weaknesses and threats as the obstacles about the Bavan Valley’s tourism were recognized in order to develop tourism. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.022 Keywords: Ecotourism, Tourism development, Bavan Valley, Janat-e-Arba’e (four paradises), SWOT |
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Leadership styles and its relationship with subordinates' self-esteem
, Pages 2457-2462 Sudabeh Morshedian Rafiee and Mohsen Mohammadi ![]() |
Abstract: Leadership plays an essential role in managing different organizations. These days, different organizations attempt to resolve any existing conflicts through adapting an appropriate leadership strategy. During the past few years, there are increasing interests in examining the relationship between management style and self-esteem. The proposed study of this paper performs an empirical study to find the relationship between leadership style and self-esteem. The proposed study distributed a questionnaire among 80 managers and 150 regular employees of an organization in Iran. We have used Pearson correlation test, t-student and Freedman tests to verify the relationship between leadership style and self-esteem. The investigation of this survey considers four groups of leadership style including autocratic-charity, autocratic-exploitation, management consulting and participative and their effects on self-esteem. The results of our survey indicate that there is a positive and strong relationship between participative leadership management style and self-esteem. The results also indicate that there is strong relationship between educational background and self-esteem. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.021 Keywords: Leadership, Management, Leadership style, Self esteem |
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Supply chain quality management
, Pages 2463-2472 Hannan Amoozad Mahdiraji, Meysam Arabzadeh and Reza Ghaffari ![]() |
Abstract: In recent years, there are several methods introduced for the improvement of operational performances. Total quality management and supply chain management are two methods recommended for this purpose. These two approaches have been studied in most researches separately, while they have objectives in common, and this makes them a strategic means, which can be used, simultaneously. Total quality management and supply chain management play significant roles to increase the organizational competitiveness power. Moreover, they have only one purpose that is customer satisfaction, and they are different only on their approaches to reach their objectives. In this research, we aim to study both approaches of quality management and supply chain, their positive increasing effects that may be generated after their integration. For this purpose, the concept and definitions of each approach is studied, independently, their similarities and differences are recognized, and finally, the advantages of their integration are introduced. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.020 Keywords: Supply chain management, Total quality management, Performance improvement |
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Portfolio optimization using a hybrid of fuzzy ANP, VIKOR and TOPSIS
, Pages 2473-2484 Reza Raei and Mohammad Bahrani Jahromi ![]() |
Abstract: One of the primary questions in asset management is to find good combinations of different assets and this has been an interesting area of research for over half a century. The proposed model of this paper uses decision makers' feedbacks based on multiple criteria decision making technique to find an appropriate portfolio. We first select some important financial criteria and then using decision makers' opinions and by implementation of some fuzzy network analysis we find appropriate weights of the asset. The proposed model uses two multiple criteria techniques namely TOPSIS and VIKOR and the model is examined for some real-world data from Tehran Stock Exchange. The results of the implementation of the proposed model have been examined against Markowitz traditional model. The preliminary results indicate that the proposed model of this paper performs reasonably well compared with alternative method. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.019 Keywords: VIKOR, TOPSIS, Asset allocation, Tehran Stock Exchange |
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A new DEA-GAHP method for supplier selection problem
, Pages 2485-2492 Behrooz Ahadian, Abolfazl Gholipour Mehdi Abadi and Roshan Motamed Chaboki ![]() |
Abstract: Supplier selection is one of the most important decisions made in supply chain management. Supplier evaluation problem has been in the center of supply chain researcher’s attention in these years. Managers regard some of these studies and methods inappropriate due to simple, weight scoring methods that generally are based on subjective opinions and judgments of decision maker units involved in the supplier evaluation process yielding imprecise and even unreliable results. This paper seeks to propose a methodology to integrate data envelopment analysis (DEA) and group analytical hierarchy process (GAHP) for evaluating and selecting the most efficient supplier. We develop a methodology, which consists of 6 steps, one by one has been introduced in lecture and finally applicability of proposed method is indicated by assessing 12 suppliers in a numerical example. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.017 Keywords: Data envelopment analysis (DEA), Group analytical hierarchy process (GAHP), Supplier selection, Supply chain management |
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29. ![]() |
An empirical investigation on effective factors for the success of tourism industry in Iran
, Pages 2493-2500 Mohammad Ali Abdolvand, Kambiz Heidarzadeh and Bahareh Esfarjani ![]() |
Abstract: Tourism industry is one of the most important low carbon industries and it can provide good opportunities for developing countries to take advantage of their natural attractions such as historical monuments, culture, etc. to create value added. However, there are always some barriers in front of developing this industry and a good strategy could help it develop faster. There are different methods for strategic planning and SWOT matrix is one of the most popular one. In this paper, we present an empirical survey to find the most important and strategic items for developing tourism industry in Iran. The proposed study designed a questionnaire and distributed it among 384 tourists who were visiting Iran in a three months period of year 2011. The information gathered were analyzed using factor analysis and structural equation modeling. There are seven important factors involved in developing tourism industry. The first factor, price and having sufficient infrastructures, is the most important factor according to our survey representing 14.623 percents of the changes. The second factor is associated with political and international affairs, which represents 13.926 percents of the changes. The third factor is associated with culture and civilization attractiveness representing 9.342 percent of changes on tourism. The fourth factor is natural attractiveness representing 6.691 percent of the changes. The fifth factor is related to economical factor representing 5.632, the sixth factor, human resources, represents 5.353 percent of the changes and finally the last factor is related to diversity of creatures, which represents 4.749. These factors include 60.3 percent of the success of tourism. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.016 Keywords: Tourism, SWOT services, Exploratory factor analysis, Confirmatory factor analysis, Structural equation model |
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Study the effect of emotional intelligence on organizational learning staff, Case study: Jihad Agriculture Organization of Isfahan
, Pages 2501-2510 Bahman Saeidipour Peyman Akbari and Mohammad Amin Marati Fashi ![]() |
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of "emotional intelligence" on "organizational learning" among employees who work for Jihad Agriculture organization of Isfahan. The statistical population includes 500 employees of the organization and a sample of 217 people are selected from these people using Morgan statistical tables for a period of 6 months of second half of 2011. Therefore, the research method is descriptive- survey, the type of correlation. For data collection the Wesinger Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire and organizational learning questionnaire was used. Validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a number of university professors. The reliability was obtained with Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the first questionnaire, 0.813 and for the second questionnaire, 0.786. By using Correlation coefficient and multiple Regressions by SPSS software the data were analyzed. Results in a significant level of 99% showed that emotional intelligence had a significant effect on organizational learning. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.015 Keywords: Intelligence, Emotional intelligence, Organizational learning |
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31. ![]() |
Analyzing the existing hazards in structuring the metal frame of the building with PHA method
, Pages 2511-2520 Mahdi Kheyrkhahan Afshin Khodami and Zahra Tatlari ![]() |
Abstract: Every day in workplaces, continues events occur that cause death and injury. These accidents usually happen because of lack of exploring the potential hazards and lack of training of employees. Hence, with exploring and evaluating the hazards of workplace and utilizing the suitable procedures, it is possible to prevent from many of these hazardous incidents. Exploring, evaluating and controlling the potential hazards have been the initial stages of scientific safety assurance in every system. Preliminary hazard analyzing is the first effort in analyzing hazards. In this method, usual hazards in sighted job are explored, using the usual hazards table for developing the basis of PHA, the PHA checklist is prepared and at last the PHA table completed and the appropriate suggestions are given. In this paper, we present an implementation of PHA method in one of industries located in city of Tehran, Iran. The proposed study uses 15 explored hazards, where 2 are unacceptable, 9 are undesirable and 4 are acceptable with need of revisal. By eliminating and reducing each hazards risk, some controlling solutions are suggested. The most important of these solutions are utilizing and using the regulations of the welding with electrical archer. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.014 Keywords: Preliminarily hazard analysis, Preliminarily hazard list, Welding, Accident |
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32. ![]() |
The effect of fiscal policy in terms of government spending on private consumption in recessions and booms in Iran
, Pages 2521-2524 Neda Kassaipour Mehdi Taghavi and Maryam Ghadimi ![]() |
Abstract: This paper presents an empirical study on measuring the effects of fiscal policy in terms of government spending on private consumption in both recession and booms over the period of 1965-2010. The proposed study uses Hodric-Prescott filter to find the cycle of recessions and booms. Then, we use autoregressive distributed lag model to estimate the changes. The results of this survey indicate that, in long term, an increase on government expenditures normally impacts private sector positively in both recessions and booms. The impact in short terms is positive during the recessions but during the booming session, there is no meaningful relationship between government spending and private spending. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.013 Keywords: Government spending, Fiscal policy, Recession and boom |
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33. ![]() |
Utilizing QFD model to determine quality characteristics of the products and priority needs of customers in the medical industry products (Case Study: Plasma seat product in mashhad`s Sahateb medical equipment company)
, Pages 2525-2536 Zeinab Armoun Mojtaba Javidnia, Zahra Nikkhah Farkhani and Somaye Nasiri ![]() |
Abstract: Quality Function Deployment (QFD) as one of the quality engineering methods; originates from market study and product or service customers identification, where by determining their needs; tries to involve them in all stages of product or service development. This study uses QFD method to apply customers’ criteria in production of Coach Plasma in Mashhad`s Sahateb Company. Coach Plasma is used for healthy bloodletting. The proposed study of this paper designed and distributed a questionnaire, which includes identification & determination of customers’ needs and investigation of their satisfaction of manufactured products, while looking for technical and engineering characteristics related to their needs. The Coach Plasma costumers are categorized into two groups of local and external customers. Data collection was done based on available documents, experts opinions, structured interview with managers and questionnaire. Customers’ needs were studied in QFD teams. Collecting essential information such as needs importance degree and competitive benchmarking of customer`s needs, the weight of each need has been evaluated. In this research, House of Quality was used from first matrix of QFD leading to estimation of engineering & technical characteristics in order to enter to the quality deployment matrix. Take a look at obtained results, we could mention the role of each of these external factors in satisfaction of Sahateb Company customers and technical characteristics of the company in providing these factors and the prioritization of the customer's needs. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.012 Keywords: Customer orientation, Quality, QFD |
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34. ![]() |
The role of earnings management and dividend announcement in explanation of information asymmetry: Evidence from Tehran Stock Exchange
, Pages 2537-2544 Mohammad Hassani and Fatemeh Taheri ![]() |
Abstract: This study examines the relationship between earnings management and information asymmetry based on some companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange over the period of 2005-2010. The study only uses qualified samples by taking into account all limitations and necessary criteria. Based on the results of this survey, we can conclude that there is not a significant relationship between earning management and information asymmetry in Tehran Stock Exchange. There is also not a significant relationship between low or high earning management and information asymmetry. Estimated dividend announcement has information content and it can influence on information asymmetry. Finally, in Tehran Stock Exchange, there is information asymmetry and after dividend announcement, its value is more than before. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.011 Keywords: Earning management, Dividend announcement, Information asymmetry |
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35. ![]() |
A comparative analysis on ranking insurance firms using RBC and CAMELS
, Pages 2545-2550 Zahra Houshmand Neghabi, Sudabeh Morshedian Rafiee and Zahra Soleymani ![]() |
Abstract: Ranking insurance firms plays an important role on choosing the most appropriate company for receiving appropriate services especially long term insurances such as life insurances. The proposed model of this paper uses two well-known methods of CAMELS and RBC to rank 18 active private and governmental insurance firms in Iran over the period of 2009-2011. The results of Spearman test imply that there is no meaningful difference between these two methods for year 2010 and year 2011 and according to Freedman test, there is not meaningful difference between these two methods in any three years of 2009, 2010 and 2011. In summary, we can conclude that the results of both methods could be used in practice. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.010 Keywords: Insurance, CAMELS, RBC, Ranking method |
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36. ![]() |
Linear and nonlinear dynamic systems in financial time series prediction
, Pages 2551-2556 Salim Lahmiri ![]() |
Abstract: Autoregressive moving average (ARMA) process and dynamic neural networks namely the nonlinear autoregressive moving average with exogenous inputs (NARX) are compared by evaluating their ability to predict financial time series; for instance the S&P500 returns. Two classes of ARMA are considered. The first one is the standard ARMA model which is a linear static system. The second one uses Kalman filter (KF) to estimate and predict ARMA coefficients. This model is a linear dynamic system. The forecasting ability of each system is evaluated by means of mean absolute error (MAE) and mean absolute deviation (MAD) statistics. Simulation results indicate that the ARMA-KF system performs better than the standard ARMA alone. Thus, introducing dynamics into the ARMA process improves the forecasting accuracy. In addition, the ARMA-KF outperformed the NARX. This result may suggest that the linear component found in the S&P500 return series is more dominant than the nonlinear part. In sum, we conclude that introducing dynamics into the ARMA process provides an effective system for S&P500 time series prediction. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.009 Keywords: Linear Systems, Nonlinear Systems, ARMA, Kalman Filter, Dynamic Neural Networks, Time Series |
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37. ![]() |
A study on effects of demographic variables on success of social media
, Pages 2557-2564 Marjan Mohammadreza ![]() |
Abstract: In the recent years, social media have developed significantly and their usages have become main activities of internet users. The proposed study of this paper considers the effects of personal characteristics such as age, gender and marital status on social media. The study designs a questionnaire and distributes 385 questionnaires among students who are enrolled in different educational levels in governmental university named Allameh Tabatabayi university located in Tehran, Iran during the year of 2011. Because of abnormality of data, non-parametric test were used. In this research, we studied the effects of demographic variables on success of social media. The results showed that success of social media is more important among female students. Marriage situation shows that social media success variable is more important among married than single ones and, finally, this variable is more important among older people. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.008 Keywords: Social media, Marketing in social media, Success of social media, Demographic variables |
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38. ![]() |
A new approach to measure believability dimension of data quality
, Pages 2565-2570 Seyed Mohammad Hossein Moossavizadeh, Mehran Mohsenzadeh and Nasrin Arshadi ![]() |
Abstract: Today's methodologies for data quality assessment and improvement are considerably aimed at reducing costs. Data quality comprises different dimensions, each having certain methods and techniques to assess and improve data quality. One of the most controversial dimensions is data believability in which less attention has been paid by scholars and researchers, because of its ambiguous nature. This is categorized under the "intrinsic data quality" dimensions. The current paper offers a precise and comprehensive definition of such quality dimension, and provides some parameters to understand it. In order to calculate these parameters, furthermore, different methods are discussed. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.007 Keywords: Data quality, Believability, Quality dimensions, Assessment of data quality dimensions, Data believability |
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39. ![]() |
Dynamic simulation for effective workforce management in new product development
, Pages 2571-2580 M. Mutingi ![]() |
Abstract: Effective planning and management of workforce for new product development (NPD) projects is a great challenge to many organisations, especially in the presence of engineering changes during the product development process. The management objective in effective workforce management is to recruit, develop and deploy the right people at the right place at the right time so as to fulfill organizational objectives. In this paper, we propose a dynamic simulation model to address the workforce management problem in a typical NPD project consisting of design, prototyping, and production phases. We assume that workforce demand is a function of project work remaining and the current available skill pool. System dynamics simulation concepts are used to capture the causality relationships and feedback loops in the workforce system from a systems thinking. The evaluation of system dynamics simulation reveals the dynamic behaviour in NPD workforce management systems and shows how adaptive dynamic recruitment and training decisions can effectively balance the workforce system during the NPD process. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.006 Keywords: System dynamics, New product development, Workforce, Knowledge management |
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40. ![]() |
Performance measurement of supply chain flexibility using witness
, Pages 2581-2590 Rituraj Chandrakar, Anil Kumar, Rajesh Kumar and Robin Joy ![]() |
Abstract: In today’s global scenario of intense competition and environmental uncertainty flexibility in supply chain has an important role to play for the existence of any supply chain business. A need to be responsive to the constantly changing market scenario and cater to the customer needs, a certain degree of flexibility is required, which requires the coordination of many plants to produce and deliver goods to customers located in different places, and suppliers, which provide each plant with the required components. This paper intends to measure the degree of flexibility required for a two stage supply chain and assessing both the supplier flexibility and the assembler flexibility. In this paper, nine configurations of the SC are considered resulting from the combination of the three degrees of supplier and manufacturer flexibility, i.e. no flexibility, limited flexibility and total flexibility, respectively. Simulation model representing the different flexibility configurations are evaluated and the performance of each configuration analyzed to determine the flexibility configuration suitable to a supply chain. In particular the performance analysis of lead time, work-in-process, service level and cost are measured to determine the suitable flexibility. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.005 Keywords: Supply chain flexibility Responsiveness, No flexibility, Limited flexibility, Total flexibility, Simulation, Performance |
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41. ![]() |
An empirical study on effective factors on entrepreneurial orientation in Iranian banking industry
, Pages 2591-2600 Hasan Darvish, Seid Mahdy Alvani, Jamshid salehi sadagiani and Hasan Abbaszadeh ![]() |
Abstract: During the past few years, many banks try to move from traditional banking system to entrepreneurial one to create new opportunities as well as changing the conditions to deal with the environmental threats. Therefore, recognizing the entrepreneurial orientation and the factors influencing plays an important role for amplifying the innovation and preparing the conditions for the banks to enter the risking process of entrepreneurship. The purpose of this article is to propose a model for entrepreneurial orientation, which can be used by policymakers and managers of banking system towards improving the entrepreneurial orientation. This paper performs a survey among 700 employees of private banks in Tehran, Iran. To collect the required data, the questionnaire was distributed randomly among 350 staffs of these banks and 184 were found to be useful to process. The results show that the entrepreneurial orientation, cultural factors and among organizations factors, making proper connections between organizational unit and high manager support had a good condition. Moreover, organizational conflicts, inappropriate rewarding system, economical and political conditions and the values were not considered as positive adjustment. Thus, the proposed model, as an aborigine pattern, can be used by policy makers and high managers of Iran’s banking system to provide the necessary conditions to enter the entrepreneurial process in the banking system. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.004 Keywords: Entrepreneurial orientation, Organizational and environmental factors, Banking system |
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42. ![]() |
A study on relationship between no-interest based activities on performance of Iranian banks
, Pages 2601-2606 Alireza Daghighi Asl and Somayeh Yarifard ![]() |
Abstract: In this paper, we study the effects of no-interest activities on return of some Iranian banks over the period of 2006-2011 using Pearson correlation as well as regression analysis. The paper uses two independent variables where the first one is obtained as a difference between other no-interest incomes with commission fee and the second one is the commission fee income. There are three dependent variables including return on investment, return of assets and risk, leading us to setup three regressions analysis. The result of our survey indicates that no-interest based activities have meaningful effects on the performances of banks. In addition, there are some meaningful relationships among interest free activities, which are mostly in terms of negative relations. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.003 Keywords: Quality of earnings, Corporate governance, Ownership, Private banks |
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43. ![]() |
Impact of the corporate governance characteristics and ownership on earnings quality of the Islamic private banks in Iran
, Pages 2607-2614 Mohammad Khodaei Valahzaghard and Ali Salehi ![]() |
Abstract: This paper investigates corporate governance and ownership effects on earning quality in Iranian private banks. The study uses the information of 12 private banks from year 2005 to 2010 using regression analysis based on panel data. Among different factors, the effect of big five shareholder are considered to be significant and positive on earning quality. In addition, the effect of one variable regression test reveals that institutional ownership has positive impact on earning quality. However, the impacts of other variables including percentage of ownership concentration, the size of board of directors, reliance on debt, logarithm of sum of assets, return of assets, logarithm of operating cash flow on earning quality are not meaningful. The result of this survey indicates that institutional ownership plays an important role earning quality simply because institutions normally have the access on professionals to control management. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.002 Keywords: Quality of earnings, Corporate governance, Ownership, Private banks |
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44. ![]() |
An empirical study on human resource competencies and its relationship with productivity
, Pages 2615-2624 Hasan Darvish, Alireza Moogali, Mohammad Moosavi and Belal panahi ![]() |
Abstract: This study evaluates the impact of human resource competencies on productivity. The proposed study considers different issues such as different competencies associated with human resources, how we can persuade and strengthen such competencies in organizations and whether human resource competencies impact organizational productivity or not. There are one main hypothesis six minor hypotheses in this study. The proposed study uses descriptive and regression technique to perform the study. The population of this study includes all managers who work for an Iranian petroleum company. This result of this survey shows that that human resource competencies impact organizational productivity. In addition, all dimensions of human resource competencies had significant relationship on organizational productivity. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.07.001 Keywords: Credible Activist, Culture &Change Steward, Talent Manager/Organizational Designer, Strategy architect, Operational executor, Business ally, Human resource competencies and productivity |
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45. ![]() |
The impact of working capital and financial structure on profitability of islamic banking industry
, Pages 2625-2630 Mohammad Khodaei Valahzaghard and Ali Taherinejhad ![]() |
Abstract: In this paper, we present an empirical survey on selected Iranian banks operating actively from 2005 to 2010. The proposed study considers the impacts of four important factors including degree of financial leverage, bank size, working capital and liquidity on return on asset as a primary source of measuring profitability of Iranian banking system. The survey uses Pearson correlation test along with simple and multi regression analysis to study the behavior of these four factors on profitability of banking system. Based on the results of this survey, a high level of working capital and financial leverage will result to lower profitability in Iranian private banks. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.06.045 Keywords: Return of assets, Profitability, Financial structure, Financial leverage |
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46. ![]() |
A survey on how different factors impact entrepreneurs' success in food industry
, Pages 2631-2636 Ghahraman Abdoli, Hedayat Tajik, Ehsan Ghasemi and Behrooz Jamali ![]() |
Abstract: In this paper, we present an empirical study to detect important factors influencing the success of entrepreneurs who were active in food industry in Tehran, Iran. The proposed study selects a sample of 174 people out of 318 entrepreneurs who were involved in this industry and distributed a questionnaire, which consists of two groups of questions among them. The first group of questions is associated with personal characteristics of the survey people and the second group of questions are related to different financial, infrastructure and supply chain management categories. The study defines entrepreneurs' mental desirability of success in terms of 15 different questions and asks them to provide their insights in terms of five Likert based responses. The results of questions are analyzed using Pearson correlation test and the preliminary results indicate that, among personal characteristics, education and age play important roles on the success of a business plan. The other observation is that the easier entrepreneurs can get loans and financial support, the higher abilities to absorb new customers and the higher chance of success for absorbing new financial resources. Distributions of sales, compared with competing products as well as distribution of after sales service for customers are negatively associated with infrastructures. The rate of success in using new technologies and supply chain management are correlated, which means the better supply chain, the better achievement to information technology. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.06.044 Keywords: Entrepreneurs' success, Food industry, Job creation |
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47. ![]() |
The effect of informal communication on the leadership styles in governmental organizations
, Pages 2637-2642 Saeed Sehhat, Mehdi Jafarzadeh Kenari and Mehdi Alipour ![]() |
Abstract: These days, it is not possible to accomplish tasks without having productive relationships with the rest of the world. Although there are some evidences, which indicate informal organizations normally face some limitations on their return but there are also some studies suggesting that informal organizations are the best ways for making significant changes. Recently, many people have suggested that informal organizations provide good infrastructures for organization's workflow many conflict of interests could be solved using informal communications. News can be distributed in organizations through informal units much easier and it is easier to handle them. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between informal communications with leadership style in some of governmental organizations located in free islands of Chabahar, in south east part of Iran. The proposed model of this paper designs a questionnaire and distributes it among many people who are acting as managers in those firms. The preliminary results indicate that there is a positive and meaningful relationship between leadership style and informal relationships. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.06.043 Keywords: Leadership style, Informal relationship, Task-oriented leadership, Relationship-oriented leadership |
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48. ![]() |
An empirical study based on BSC-DEA to measure the relative efficiencies of different health care centers in province of Semnan, Iran
, Pages 2643-2650 Azam Ghotbuee Mohammad Hemati and Ramezan Fateminezhad ![]() |
Abstract: In this paper, we present an empirical investigation to measure the relative efficiency of seven health care centers in province of Semnan, Iran, which were under the coverage of social security organization of Iran. The proposed model of this paper uses a hybrid of balanced score card and data envelopment analysis for performance measurement. The proposed sudy uses four perspectives of balanced score card including learning and growth, internal process, customer and financial perspectives and within each perspective, data envelopment analysis is adopted so that the outputs of each perspective are used as inputs of the other perspective. The preliminary results indicate that all seven units perform relatively well and the overall efficiency of all units in this province is 0.769. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.06.042 Keywords: Balance score card, Data envelopment analysis, Social security organization, Efficiency estimation |
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49. ![]() |
A study on the effect of the innovation management on entrepreneurial activities in Iran and the state-members of GEM
, Pages 2651-2660 Zahra Arab Sakineh Noori Nasab, Rahmatollah Azad and Fariba Zolfagharee ![]() |
Abstract: The rapid technological changes in recent decades have created tremendous motivations among entrepreneurs to offer value added products and services. The complicated relationships between technology and innovation have caused to create the innovation management. Therefore, the key prominence of innovation in global village is to design new plans to manage and improve the innovation so that they could continue aiming at their superior national-organizational goals along with their growth and improvement path within their strategic plans. Many countries are interested in comparing themselves with other societies for enhancing their entrepreneurial awareness in an approximate rate and exploit their successful and positively affecting on development of the entrepreneurship innovation-management experiences and policies. In this research, the impact of each determinant of innovation management influencing on entrepreneurial activities in Iran and the members of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor between 2008 and 2011 is studied and evaluated using the structural equations. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.06.041 Keywords: Entrepreneurial Comprehensions (concepts), Innovation Management, Structural Equations Modeling |
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50. ![]() |
The relationship between organizational commitment and knowledge sharing: A case study of university employee cooperation
, Pages 2661-2666 Hosein Bahramzadeh and Soheila Khosroabadi ![]() |
Abstract: Knowledge sharing plays an important role on helping organizations reach their goals, it facilitates distribution of overall awareness among workers and create better environment for adding more value. There are different factors influencing knowledge sharing and organizational commitment is believed one of the most important items. In this paper, we present an empirical study in one of privately held universities located in city of Bojnourd, Iran. The proposed study selects a sample size 145 out of 236 people from both regular employees and university professors and we have used different tests such as Pearson correlation test to analyze the results. The proposed model of the paper has confirmed that there is a positive and meaningful relationship between these two components when the level of significance is set to five percent. The results of this survey also reveals that while ethical commitment and normative play important role on knowledge sharing, continuity has no significant impact on knowledge sharing within organization. The other observation is that while gender and age has no impact on knowledge sharing, higher educational background is an important factor on knowledge sharing. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.06.040 Keywords: Econometrics, Banking system, Profitability, Return on Asset |
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51. ![]() |
Critical success factors in industrial marketing supply chain management
, Pages 2667-2672 Naser Azad Seyed Mohsen Seyed Aliakbar and Ali Nayeri ![]() |
Abstract: Implementation of better marketing strategies in industry plays an important role in increasing sales and profitability of industrial part suppliers. Understanding the weakness in each part of supply chain helps reduce different cost component and increases profitability. In this paper, we present an empirical study to find important factors influencing marketing strategies based on factor analysis. The study designs and distributes a questionnaire consists of 64 questions. The proposed study uses Skewness analysis to reduce the factors into 44 items and reports 8 important factors including business environment, communication chain technology, good organizational relationship, leadership cost strategy, performance risk, ecommerce strategy, encouraging strategy and consistency in organizational performance. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.019 Keywords: Supply chain management, Marketing planning, Marketing strategies |
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52. ![]() |
Measuring the risk of an Iranian banking system using Value at Risk (VaR) Model
, Pages 2673-2678 Sudabeh Morshedian Rafiee, Zahra Houshmand Neghabi and Ali Feizollahei ![]() |
Abstract: Measuring risk of financial institutes and banks plays an important role on managing them. Recent financial turmoil in United States banking system has motivated banking industry to monitor risk factors more closely. In this paper, we present an empirical study to measure the risk of some private banks in Iran called Bank Mellat using Value at Risk (VaR) method. The proposed study collects the necessary information for the fiscal year of 2010 and analyses them using regression analysis. The study divides the financial data into two groups where the financial data of the first half of year is considered in the first group and the remaining information for the second half of year 2010 is considered in the second group. The implementation of VaR method indicates that financial risks increase during the time horizon. The study also uses linear regression method where independent variable is time, dependent variable is the financial risk, and the results confirm what we have found in the previous part of the survey. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.020 Keywords: Market Risk, Foreign currency liquidity, Value at Risk, Historical simulation, Linear regression |
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53. ![]() |
A study on the effect of different factors on e-Commerce adoption among SMEs of Malaysia
, Pages 2679–2688 Hamidreza Mahroeian ![]() |
Abstract: The Internet's World Wide Web has become the prime driver of modern E-commerce that can be an important source of competitive advantage for most business organizations, especially small and medium sized (SMEs) businesses. In recent years, researchers have focused on e-commerce adoption both in the United States and other countries. This study examines the factors influencing e-commerce adoption among Malaysian SMEs. There are only a few studies which have examined the adoption of e-commerce among SMEs, its development, challenges, and future prospects. The results show that the major reason behind e-commerce non-adoption is that the organization is not ready to make that change because of external pressure and cultural reasons. Furthermore, organizational readiness strongly influences e-commerce implementation, and managerial support and financial, logistical, and technological factors weigh heavily in determining if an SME in Malaysia can pursue e-commerce implementation. The study is based on 100 samples taken from Cyberjaya. 100 sets of administrated questionnaires were sent and conducted. The data analysis shows e-commerce adoption was significantly influenced by its organizational readiness, perceived ease of use, and also perceived usefulness factors. DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2012.08.021 Keywords: Electronic commerce adoption, Small and medium enterprises, Perceived ease of use, Perceived usefulness, Organizational readiness |
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