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Political‐legal risk perception is just as important a consideration in dealing effectively with the threats exposed by international enterprises. This research emphasizes how important it is to integrate the perception of risk factor into the analysis. This is an essential factor when catastrophic risks are involved. Relatively, nevertheless, little work has been done to explore the concept of political‐legal risk as it applies to international commercial and business applications. The purpose of this research is to first examine the perception of Kuwaiti executives to political‐legal business environment while conducting outward investment and where a number of recent events like those in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen illustrate that the rise of enterprises onto the world stage will not necessarily be entirely without risk and second, to explore the correlations between the executives' perceptions of political‐legal variables and enterprise‐specific characteristics.

A review of the literature relating to risk in international business in both developed and emerging markets is provided. The empirical research was conducted via a questionnaire survey. In line with the research aim, questionnaires were distributed to the entire target population of Kuwaiti international enterprises. Nonparametric statistics were used to analyze the findings.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has been shaken like never before. The recent events of the uprising in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Libya and the regional reverberations of the upheaval are unfolding, inter alia, concerns about rising exposure to more risks and the instability in the MENA have reached a fever pitch. Findings of this research suggest that the political‐legal related risks associated with enterprises' activities pose a threat to the majority of executives and the vulnerability to these risks are not related to any enterprise's‐specific characteristics.

The research on international enterprises states that some parts of the globe have remained detached. Given its economic and political importance, the most obvious omission is the Middle East. To date and despite that the region has garnered its fair share of coverage in current news, little is known on management practices by enterprise in the region. This research, therefore, provides empirical evidence of executives' perception of political‐legal business environment in an emerging market context: Kuwait. Furthermore, most recent literature omits oil‐producing nations. Focusing on this oil‐rich region is an attempt to fill this void.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the use of strategic planning tools and techniques by hotels in Jordan and the nature of its relationship with managers' views of the strategic planning process.

A review of the literature relating to both strategic planning and strategic planning tools and techniques in both developed and emerging markets is provided. The empirical research was conducted via a questionnaire survey of Jordanian hotels in two cities; namely, Petra and Aqaba.

The main findings of this research are that the Jordanian hotels engage in the strategic planning process by using a number of techniques. The use of strategic planning tools and techniques relates more to the size of hotel and less to age and ownership type. There is a positive relationship between the use of strategic planning techniques and size of hotel. The managers of these hotels have generally positive attitudes towards the strategic planning process. The managers who believe in the benefits of strategic planning engage more in the practice of it.

The nature of this research is descriptive and the method used is a cross‐sectional survey. Therefore, future research could be conducted on a small number of these hotels by using a more in‐depth approach. Second, the sample was restricted to hotels in two cities in Jordan. Further research should include other regions in Jordan and should analyse the ownership types of hotels (such as independent versus chain) and its star rating.

This paper provides empirical evidence about the use of the strategic planning tools and techniques by hotels in an emerging market context.

The purpose of this paper is to review the risk categories which are predominant in international projects and to rank them according to their effect on project success.

A literature survey of peer-reviewed journal articles, survey reports and books on project management is used as the research methodology. One among the various multi-criteria decision making methods named as Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) has been used to rank the risk categories according to their importance. The data for TOPSIS were collected through questionnaire as the research instrument.

The findings derived from evaluation of the publications led to the identification of eight different types of risk categories associated with international projects. The TOPSIS method resulted into political risks, technical risks and design-related risks as the top three risk categories in international projects. Contractual and legal risks and fraudulent practices-related risks are relatively low-ranked risk category.

The findings will be useful in successful implementation of international projects as the knowledge of risk categories and their ranking will help project manager to plan the risk response strategies. A larger sample size for decision makers and more variety of projects can give more exhaustive risk categories and their ranking.

This paper explores eight different risk categories in international projects. It represents the ranking of risk categories according to their importance in project success. This will be helpful to project managers for developing a general framework for planning the appropriate risk response strategies.

Governments of many countries around the world are encouraging their industries to undertake and successfully complete projects in foreign countries. However, many industries experience failure in projects as they fail to implement the risk management (RM) effectively in international projects. This research work provides the risk categories in international projects and their ranking which can assist in developing strategies to respond the risk appropriately.

This paper uses the TOPSIS method for ranking major types of risk categories in international projects. It might represent new opportunities for rigorous and relevant research that would contribute to an in-depth knowledge of RM methodologies.

International projects very commonly experience failure due to various factors at the global level. Especially, large projects at the international level virtually have no chance of meeting scope, time, cost and quality. This fact has been underlined by most of the international surveys and published literature. Effective risk management plays a vital role in preventing projects from failure by implementing appropriate risk response strategies. The success of risk management will be based on the understanding of various risk categories which specifically affect international projects, analysis of their interdependence, prioritize them according to their importance and develop strategies for risk management based on the prioritization. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper represents typical eight risk categories frequently observed in the international projects through literature survey and feedback from project professionals. Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and Matrice d’Impacts croises-multiplication applique´ an classment (MICMAC) analysis have been used to analyze the interactions among the risk categories and prioritize them. The strategy management tool threats, opportunities, weaknesses and strengths (TOWS) matrix has been used to develop the strategies for effective project risk management.

The analysis represents political risks, contractual and legal risks, cultural risks, and financial and economic risks as the highest priority risk categories, the mitigation of which should be paid the highest attention. The strengths-threats strategy has been applied to develop the strategies by identifying the various internal strengths of project organization to overcome the various threats caused by the eight risk categories observed in international projects.

This paper tries to represent the prioritization of international project risk categories which are generic in nature. For any specific international project, the risk categories as well as their prioritization may be slightly varying. The tool used for prioritization; Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) is more suitable for few numbers of variables as it becomes complex as the number of variables increases. The strengths and threats considered for developing strategies using TOWS matrix are based on the feedback from project professionals and may vary according to the nature of project.

This paper uses ISM and MICMAC for risk prioritization in international projects and TOWS matrix for developing risk management strategies. This may trigger new opportunities for in-depth research in the risk management strategy development for international projects.

This paper aims to show that zakat solves the collective action problem by changing the framework of giving. An additional purpose of this paper is an attempt to fill a critical gap in the Islamic economics literature. This gap concerns the nature and role of zakat in effectively delivering aid to those in need while mitigating the potential for free riding. There is also a general gap in the current literature on Islamic economics that the issues of zakat and charity have not received the same attention as the focus remained mostly on money, banking and the issues of interest and usury. The paper is also an attempt to provide a refocus.

This paper attempts to build an argument to show how zakat can function as a unique solution to the free-rider problem in voluntary charity. The author’s argument is based on a precise theoretical framework, namely the “free-rider problem,” and how zakat can function as a unique solution to this problem. The author also uses game theory to show how reputation can lead to cooperation in a repeated game. The author uses an example from Pakistan to show how reputation can be a disciplinarian of zakat collection organizations.

Zakat solves both the free-rider problem in ordinary charity and the coordination problem between members in a large group. The free-rider problem is solved by changing the very framework of giving and the coordination problem between Muslims around the globe disappears because the rates and details of levying zakat are centrally created based on divine revelation.

This paper presents an important topic as it addresses one of the most popular giving practices in Muslim societies, called zakat. It also provides a framework in examining the meaning and function of zakat in Muslim societies.

‘Stans’ is an ancient Persian word meaning land, country or nation. This chapter begins with a review of the historical basis of zakat management in Islamic practice and provides a brief historical account and status of zakat practices in select countries in Central Asia. The section thereafter focuses on benchmark international zakat management models before providing recommendations for the development of an effective zakat management model within Central Asia. The economic shocks resulting from the pandemic have forced many in the region into situational poverty. If left unchecked, this may easily regress into chronic poverty, undoing the significant growth that these countries have experienced over the last decade. Existing social programmes have limited the impact of economic loss. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, they have an opportunity to revive this history and once again empower their nations with Islamic social finance instruments. Effective zakat management models in Indonesia and Kuwait, for example, provide different dimensions to social impact. The Indonesian model of BAZNAS provides the most comprehensive methodology for governance, risk management and replication. BAZNAS′ strategy for digitalization and collaboration suggests a strong model for development within Central Asia. Through an effective zakat model, it is expected that Central Asian nations will be better protected against economic disruptions and provide a safety net for vulnerable communities in the region. These conclusions and recommendations in this chapter are limited to the information available in the literature. Further study is required through primary research to understand better what the challenges are in zakat modelling. Locals may also be surveyed to determine their levels of zakat knowledge and their concerns for institutional zakat collection and disbursement.

Using the notion of sustainable impactful strategies for waqf management, this study examines the governance and best practices on idle waqf management by the Malaysian States Islamic Religious Councils (SIRCs) in selected states like Penang, Perak and Kuala Lumpur. The waqf management of the SIRCs is also assessed based on the model framework countries such as Singapore, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates (UAE). The findings of this chapter indicate that ineffective administration and management on waqf have hindered its development and expansion in Malaysia. Also, an effective and robust governance framework based on Shariah could and should be implemented to ensure that waqf in Malaysia are managed effectively to gain socio-economic sustainability of Muslim communities. The findings of this chapter will fill the research gap on good governance and best practices in waqf administration and management as a way forward for Malaysia by providing a way forward for SIRCs and policymakers in Malaysia, to enhance the performance of waqf entity using selected other countries as model framework of good governance and best practices. Furthermore, an emphasis on good governance and best practices is important to attract waqf donors. It is imperative to note that to date, there is no qualitative study that compare the impact of good governance and best practices on the management of waqf by selected SIRCs in Penang, Perak and Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, Kuwait and UAE as model framework countries.

COVID-19 pandemic has impacted global human lives, killing millions and attacking the real economy to its core. United Nations has called for global solidarity to overcome this unprecedented disaster. Having said that, zakat has been utilized to respond to this ongoing suffering in Muslim countries. This chapter explore zakat utilization for COVID-19 under the shariah perspective and discuss the role of zakat to respond to the pandemic in Muslim countries. A qualitative methodology including conceptual and content analysis is applied to conduct this study. The findings show that most sharia scholars agreed to utilize zakat for the COVID-19 pandemic and endorse advance zakat payment. Moreover, zakat has been disbursed mainly to fulfil basic needs, support emergency health services, sustain education activities, recover economic impact and maintain dakwah programme. The global zakat institutions have also started up the international initiative to respond to this pandemic. This study contributes to the academia on showing how zakat is a conceivable and reliable instrument to give immediate response to this pandemic in Muslim countries. The best practices found in this study are worthy for zakat institutions to continue their programme under this pandemic and be resilient for the next global scale of disasters.

The purpose of this research is to present an Islamic monetary theory of value by analyzing real prices and real money in terms of gold and silver in Egypt from 696 to 1517, a period of 821 years from the Umayyads to the Abbasids.

This paper adopts a quantitative empirical investigation derived from a full population of secondary data to deductively evaluate the measure and store of value functions of money, to affirm an Islamic monetary theory of value, which is also inductively researched through a qualitative interpretation of documentary and content analysis of Islamic and numismatic literature.

The Islamic monetary theory of value leads to an Islamic equation of exchange that reconfirms the outcome of this research, where a high value of money ensures low constant real prices over the long term.

The findings are based on an empirical investigation involving a single price of wheat series as a reasonable proxy for changes in wholesale commodity prices generally, which was successfully adopted by other studies.

The significance for modern monetary policy is that monetary authorities should adopt an Islamic monetary theory of value to achieve genuine monetary and price stability.

Through an Islamic equation of exchange, price stability would ensure real economic growth that protects wealth for holders of money due to a stable purchasing power, and combined with Islamic equity finance, more efficiency in allocating investible resources to increase gross domestic product and employment.

The Islamic monetary theory of value ensures that there is no transfer or confiscation of wealth through inflation, which would impart gains to the issuer due to the excessive supply of money in relation to demand.