Search results

Presents a new method to compute simultaneously the near and the far field in electromagnetic 3D scattering problems. In this approach a bounded spherical domain contains all the inhomogeneous objects and divides the whole space into two different regions. In both regions the field is expressed as a linear expansion with the same unknown coefficients. Gives the field as an exact infinite expansion of vector spherical harmonics in the outer region. Computes the basis functions using finite elements in the inner region. Finally, obtains the coefficients of the two expansions by matching the inner and the outer fields on the spherical interface.

This study aims to theoretically investigate the effect of activating corporate governance (CG) mechanisms on the association between adopting corporate social responsibility (CSR) and tax avoidance (TA). Based on the analyzing of the previous studies, the authors support the results of studies that found a positive effect for activating CG on the adoption of CSR. Also, they found that there is a negative impact of activating CG mechanisms on TA, as CG includes controls and procedures that contribute to limiting opportunistic behaviors of management and ensures making decisions that maximize value for shareholders. To the best of the authors' knowledge, it is the only chapter that examines the effect of activating CG mechanisms on the association between CSR and TA.

This study aims to explore the impact of financial management strategies on the financial performance of construction projects in Iraq, specifically investigating the moderating role of company size. The primary focus is to understand how different cost components contribute to performance and how this relationship varies between larger and smaller businesses in the construction industry.

Utilizing a sample of 296 participants from the construction business in Iraq, this research employed a survey questionnaire. The WarpPLS software facilitated data analysis, employing Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) with bootstrapping for model validation. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with maximum likelihood estimation assessed the measurement model, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the financial management strategies and performance relationship.

The study reveals that equipment costs show no significant relationship with performance in Iraq’s construction industry. Larger construction firms exhibit a positive influence on financial performance from material costs, labour costs and permit/licencing fees compared to smaller firms. This suggests a moderation effect of size on the relationship between these cost components and financial outcomes, highlighting the nuanced impact of financial management strategies on performance.

While shedding light on the size-dependent nuances in the relationship between financial strategies and performance, this study is confined to the construction industry in Iraq. The findings might not be universally applicable, and contextual variations should be considered. Additionally, the reliance on survey data introduces the potential for response bias. Future research could expand the scope to different industries and regions, incorporating diverse methodological approaches for a more comprehensive understanding of the nuances in the financial management and performance relationship.

Construction companies in Iraq can enhance project performance by strategically allocating resources and effectively managing costs, considering the nuanced impact of company size. Larger firms, in particular, should focus on optimising material costs, labour costs and permit/licensing fees to maximise financial outcomes. This study provides actionable insights for practitioners, guiding financial management decisions and offering practical recommendations for improving project performance in the Iraqi construction industry.

The research contributes valuable insights to the Iraqi construction industry, an area with limited prior research on management matters. By emphasising the role of size in moderating the relationship between financial strategies and performance, the study informs industry stakeholders, policymakers and professionals about the importance of tailoring financial management approaches based on company size. This knowledge can potentially lead to improved financial outcomes, positively impacting the overall economic and social landscape in Iraq.

This research adds to the body of knowledge by examining the impact of company size on the relationship between financial management methods and performance in Iraq’s construction projects. The study’s originality lies in uncovering the moderating effect of size on the connection between specific cost components and financial performance. The findings provide a unique perspective on financial management strategies, offering construction companies valuable insights into optimising performance based on their size. This research contributes significantly to an underexplored area, filling a gap in the existing literature and providing practical implications for financial decision-making in the construction industry.

This paper aims to focus on the outsourcing facilities management (FM) services in small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs).

The paper employs a Define‐Measure‐Analyze‐Improve‐Control (DMAIC) methodology. A survey in Italy, a country quite representative when talking about SMEs, is first presented and evidence from the field is discussed. Stemming from the evidence, a road‐map is presented to overcome these criticalities and to support, also in SMEs, the diffusion of the outsourcing of the FM services, whose benefits in terms of higher efficiency and better service are already being experienced by larger companies. The proposed model is then validated through the extensive survey on small and medium‐sized Italian enterprises.

The survey shows that the current level of adoption of advanced outsourcing practices is very low: less than 5 percent of the companies in the sample resort to a single supplier delivering multiple FM services. The adoption rate of such practices is hence very low, and the survey has pointed out three different levels of causes: size‐related, cultural, and managerial.

The survey used in this paper is based on a questionnaire but does not consider non‐respondents. The database of companies provided by IFMA – Italian Chapter – could also possibly introduce bias.

Starting with the early recognition that the main problem in the field implementations of result‐oriented approaches lies in determining whether the expected results have been achieved and that two key tools are available (i.e. the service level agreement and the reporting system), the model suggests a new organizational and managerial structure, even simpler than the traditional (i.e. not integrated) approach. To design the kernel of the control system, DMAIC has been used, after a specific customization.

Results show a widespread outsourcing of the facilities‐related services in the larger organizations and some hurdles of the smaller ones in exploiting all the opportunities offered, so that – on average – the management of facilities‐related services represents an opportunity to exploit rather than an actually implemented methodology.

Only a few international contributions refer to local environments: here an extensive survey involving more than 1,000 Italian companies is presented.

The purpose of the current research is to examine the relationship between social capital (SC) and financial performance (FP) in industrial enterprises in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Sulaimani City (KRG), as well as the role of the quality of accounting information (QAI) as a mediator between SC and FP.

In this study, SmartPLS is used to analyze the questionnaire that was distributed to 10 industrial firms engaged in the iron industry in 2021. The researcher used stratified random sampling to collect sample data from 252 full-time employees of a manufacturing companies in Kurdistan Region/ Iraq.

The findings of this research show that accounting measurement and disclosure of social capital (AMDSC) plays an important role in improving FP and that QAI mediates between AMDSC and FP in industrial companies in the KRG and Sulaimani city. This research aims to examine the impact of AMDSC on FP through mediating the QAI between AMDSC and FP at industrial companies in KRG/Sulaimani City. The results showed that AMDSC had a positive and significant impact on the company’s FP. The overall results of this study show that AMDSCs are positively and significantly correlated with financial performance, and QAI mediates between AMDSC and FP. This shows that SC should be considered in the companies’ plan to obtain additional funding in this sector.

This study is exclusive to KRG/Sulaimani City’s iron industry. Other industries including sugar, cement, clothing, vehicles and medications could be the subject of future investigations.

The research provides insightful practical implications for management. First, the outcomes recommend that business owners and managers find a satisfactory level of SC when it significantly and positively affects financial performance. Second, the findings of this study will assist KRG manufacturing companies in making rational decisions to maximize profits while minimizing transaction costs such as information and research costs, increasing trust or reducing administrative burdens. This will eventually lead to the growth of industrial companies’ wealth in KRG/Sulaimani City. Managers should focus on social relationships between employees and management to maximize trust and reduce transaction costs, as they have future earnings.

Due to the lack of prior attention given to social capital in KRG, this research focuses on enhancing financial performance in industrial enterprises in KRG and Sulaimani City.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the outsourcing process in the public sector, determine the effective factors involved in this process and their priorities. The aim is to develop a generic conceptual model for the outsourcing process in public sectors.

This paper is based on the results of literature review and conducting binominal and Friedman tests. The model consists of the following steps and components: considering the organization's basic activities, evaluation of organizations' existing potentials and analyzing organizational processes, studying general outsourcing patterns, implementing and monitoring outsourcing process in terms of some critical success factors; and evaluation of outsourcing process of the organization and identifying feedbacks.

The paper determines the main components and influence factors involving in the process of outsourcing in public sectors. The generic model developed in this paper as a framework can be used to increase the efficiency and the effectiveness of the outsourcing process of organizations in public sector.

The authors believe that the proposed model and results of this research can aid public sector managers to implement their outsourcing process in a more efficient and effective manner in their organizations.

This paper develops a new generic conceptual model based on literature review, field resaech and using binominal and Frideman test. This model is unique and can be considered as an aid in the outsourcing process of organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to present the development of a multi-criteria decision-making model for use by maintenance managers to consider before making a decision on outsourcing.

Thirty-eight factors were identified for outsourcing maintenance services. These factors were grouped under six categories, namely: “strategic”, “management”, “technological”, “quality”, “economic” and “function characteristics”. The Analytic Hierarchy Process, as a multi-criteria decision-making model, was introduced and applied as an approach for maintenance managers in Saudi Arabian universities to consider before making a decision on outsourcing. A case study on the outsourcing decision of maintenance services of air-conditioning systems was carried out to apply the developed model.

Data analysis indicated that all outsourcing decision groups of factors have almost equal weight, with the “quality” group of factors having the highest weight and the “technological” group of factors having the least weight. Further, the analysis indicated, in general, that the recommended decision for the maintenance managers is to outsource. However, an application of the developed model through a case study on the outsourcing of maintenance services of air-conditioning systems showed that the recommended action is not to outsource.

The presented approach in this paper could be of practical benefit to maintenance managers in their decision making of whether or not to outsource maintenance services. The factors in the model were identified through a literature survey of research carried out in different countries. Therefore, the model could be applied in different settings, depending on the relative weight of the factors by the users.

The objectives of this paper are to identify and assess the factors that affect the cost of maintenance of hospital facilities.

The authors conducted a literature review on hospital maintenance cost to identify the factors affecting the cost of maintenance and interviewed a selected group of ten experienced facilities managers of both public and private hospitals. 33 factors were identified, and synthesized in seven groups. A questionnaire survey was developed to assess the factors. Responses were obtained on the developed questionnaire survey by interviewing the facilities managers of the full population of the 40 hospitals in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, 20 of which were public hospitals and the other 20 were private hospitals. The data received were analyzed to identify the level of importance for the factors. The factors were ranked according to their importance index values.

The most important factors from the perspectives of public hospitals are “transfer of problems from the construction phase to the maintenance phase for resolution”, “lack of coordination between the construction and maintenance group”, and “lack of quality control measures during the installation of systems”. These three factors were all encompassed within the construction group. The most important factors from the perspectives of the private hospitals were encompassed in the statutory requirements and the design phase groups. These factors are “duration of the maintenance contract” and “the method of classifying maintenance contractors”, “errors conducted during the design of the project” and “lack of feedback from the maintenance group to the design team”.

This paper is of practical significance to hospital project managers and facilities managers, as it will prompt the management of hospital facilities to focus on the most important factors affecting the cost of maintenance and thereby reduce that cost.

This paper is original in the sense that the areas of knowledge and practice encompassed in the identified factors were scattered and not available in one source. The factors were derived from personal interviews with selected facilities managers of both private and public hospitals, as well as from the relevant literature.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate service improvement initiatives within a major UK bank, and assess issues which may have contributed to the current financial crisis.

Primary research includes a survey of bank staff and longitudinal on site interviews and observations over a period of five years.

It is found that service improvement initiatives have focused on the use of popular business models, SERVQUAL, balanced scorecard, and European Business Excellence Model (latterly with elements of Lean). Results show that participant perceptions towards these models are generally negative, with a high incidence of failure to achieve expected results and negative organisational consequences. The paper examines the reasons for this and assesses alternative approaches now being piloted.

The results are case specific and may therefore not be generalised. The findings however present some rich insights into issues arising in service improvement, and on the critical factors for success and causes of failure.

The findings are important for academics, adding some much needed empirical work in this area, and also for practitioners from the services sector and financial services in particular.

The paper will be of interest to academics and practitioners interested in exploring the links between quality and marketing, and the practical implications for service improvement programmes.

This paper aims to study the corrosion inhibition behavior of imidazopyridine and its three derivatives on brass.

The authors performed weight loss experiments, electrochemical experiments including the polarization curve and electrochemical impedance spectrum, corrosion morphology observation using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM) and surface composition analysis via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to analyze the corrosion inhibition behavior of imidazopyridine and its three derivatives on brass by using quantum chemical calculation (Gaussian 09), molecular dynamics simulation (M-S) and Langmuir adsorption isotherm.

According to the results, imidazole-pyridine and its derivatives were found to be modest or moderately mixed corrosion inhibitors; moreover, they were spontaneously adsorbed on the metal surface in a single-layer, mixed adsorption mode.

The corrosion inhibition properties of pyrazolo-[1,2-a]pyridine and its derivatives on brass in sulfuric acid solution were analyzed through weight loss and electrochemical experiments. Moreover, SEM and AFM were simultaneously used to observe the corrosion appearance. Furthermore, XPS was used to analyze the surface. Then, Gaussian 09 and M-S were combined along with the Langmuir adsorption isotherm to investigate the corrosion inhibition mechanism of imidazole-[1,2-a]pyridine and its derivatives.