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This article uses a survey of Certified Management Accountants (CMA) in the six Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to examine the importance that CMAs place on a number of management accounting practices for the efficient operation of their business and to determine the degree of adoption of that management accounting practice by their organization. The findings indicate a large discrepancy between what accountants consider effective management accounting tools and the use of those tools by their companies’ senior management team. Evidence suggests that companies in the GCC rely on the traditional management accounting practices rather than the more recently developed tools. In addition, the management accountants of GCC companies feel that it would be more important for their businesses to emphasis a range of non‐financial tools as well as to adopt a more strategic management focus using tools.

The implementation of modern managerial accounting systems has its benefits, but needs certain facilities to be made available. Activity Based Budgeting (ABB) is a system that could be useful in managing shared service departments by providing deeper insights to their capacity utilization and resource allocation than a traditional budgeting system. This paper studies the possibilities, benefits, and difficulties that may face the implementation of an ABB system in an environment that lacks sophisticated IT based accounting information system. This study used an application experiment to implement the ABB in two shared service departments (Accounts and Transportation) in two different companies. In addition, a simple survey of the two companies’ employees was adopted to acquire their reaction and feedback about the proposed budgeting system. Results show that benefits can be gained and difficulties resulting from lack of IT support can be overcome but with considerable human effort. When labor force is not a constraint, this provides the solution. However, measuring human labor’s capacity is a factor that needs more consideration from accounting researchers.

The purpose of this paper is to numerically investigate the effects of different heating and cooling scenarios on the flow structure in a vertically oriented plane sudden expansion. Four different heating and cooling scenarios are considered. The scenarios include symmetric or asymmetric heating or cooling of the downstream channel walls.

The governing equations are formulated using a stream function‐vorticity approach. Second‐order accurate central differencing is used to discretize all terms, including the nonlinear convection terms in the vorticity transport and energy equations. Numerical test cases are simulated for Reynolds number values up to 200 and Grashof number values up to 400.

Numerical simulations show that symmetric heating results in the reduction and ultimately the elimination of flow separation zones near the channel walls while creating a region of reversed flow in the core. On the other hand, symmetric cooling causes the flow to adopt a wavy structure which significantly enhances heat transfer due to jet impingement effects. Finally, it is shown that asymmetric heating causes the flow to preferentially attach to the high‐temperature wall while asymmetric cooling causes the flow to separate completely from the low‐temperature wall.

The behaviour of fluid flow in a plane sudden expansion under symmetric heating is available in the literature. In the present study, the flow structure under alternative heating and cooling scenarios is investigated for the first time.

This paper aims to explore the existence of two sets of factors societal institutions and management control systems’ (MCS) characteristics in the UAE business entities. Subsequently, this paper empirically examines the bilateral and the multivariate associations between the two sets. The societal institutions include six factors categorised in three main groups: cultural conventions, state structures and policies and skill development and control. The MCS characteristics consist of four factors which are: reliance on formal rules, control over the behaviour of employees, involvement of subordinates in target setting and performance evaluation and scope of information used in performance evaluation.

Whitley’s model (1999) is adopted in the UAE business environment and the analyses are performed at the organisational level. Qualified accounting officials and managers are surveyed. The Kruskal-Wallis test, Spearman’s partial correlation and multiple regression are used for data analyses.

Findings reveal the characteristics of the UAE societal institutions and the MCS in UAE organisations. They also reveal significant associations among four of the societal institution factors and most of the MCS characteristics. The results highlight the role played by the government structures and policies group in influencing the MCS characteristics in the UAE organisations. However, these results do not entirely agree with Whitley’s model.

The results of this study are restricted by the typical constraints associated with the survey method. The obtained results have implications for researchers and managers in facilitating the understanding of the relations among the various societal institutions and the MCS characteristics.

This research, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, provides significant new empirical evidence into the relation between societal institutions and MCS characteristics in a non-Western economy.

Numerous leanness assessment models were developed for both manufacturing and service sectors. However, little research effort was made to provide an instrument that can be used to measure the leanness level of the product-service system (PSS). This paper aims to propose an index to assess the leanness of PSS in a UK manufacturing company.

The development of the assessment model was carried out through an iterative process. Commencing from existing literature on lean manufacturing assessment and lean service assessment, the initial model for assessing PSS leanness was developed. This initial model was refined via two consecutive phases. The first one includes semi-structured interviews with academic researchers involved in lean projects where their comments were considered. In the second phase, semi-structured interviews with several experts working in different UK manufacturing industries and involved in lean and continuous improvement projects were conducted to reach the final assessment model. After developing the model, the next step was identifying a suitable company for applying the model. The case company was selected because of its commitment to implement lean practices and its ability to participate in this study. After that, data was collected from the case company and the PSS leanness index was calculated using a multi-grade fuzzy approach. Finally, areas for further improvement were identified and the results obtained were validated.

The PSS leanness index computed for the case company indicates that the service offering process provided by the company is generally lean. Areas for further improvement were identified.

This study focussed on a single case company and is based on the experts’ opinions; this may tend to be biased. However, future studies will be performed to multiple-case studies to enhance findings and more empirical research will be conducted to catch more insights into PSS leanness.

This paper provides guidelines to manufacturing companies’ managers for measuring the PSS leanness index and planning for the future. This index gives information regarding the degree of lean adoption in the service offering process and identifying the gap between the current PSS leanness level and the desired state.

The proposed model has been developed by the opinion of academicians and industry experts. The proposed model can provide guidelines and directions for managers for PSS leanness assessment.

Glycidyl methacrylate/monochlorotriazinyl-β-cyclodextrin mixture (GMA/MCT-β-CD) is grafted onto cotton fabric by an irradiation technique that uses linear electron beam radiation for initiating the grafting reaction. The obtained grafted fabric (cell-g-GMA/MCT-β-CD) is loaded with chlorohexidin diacetate (an antimicrobial agent) and subjected to several washing cycles. Grafted cotton fabrics (before and after loading with the antimicrobial agent) and control cotton fabrics are characterized for antimicrobial activity against different kinds of bacteria and fungi by using the diffusion disk method.

Grafted fabrics that are loaded with an antimicrobial agent show very good antimicrobial activity in comparison with control and grafted fabrics which are not loaded with an antimicrobial agent. The results in this study also demonstrate that GMA/MCT-β-CD grafted fabrics that are loaded with an antimicrobial agent retain a good deal of their antimicrobial activity after five washings. Good retention of antimicrobial activity is due to the cavities that are present in the cyclodextrin moieties which are used to host and keep the antimicrobial agent.

The importance of analytical techniques in international marketing is illustrated. An overview of related research is given. The question is asked, “Which way will research on the subject go in the future?”

The global economic downturn has greatly impacted the construction industry and architectural design firms (ADFs). Social media, however, provides a strategic avenue to enhance the visibility and resilience of ADFs. This paper aims to develop a framework integrating social media as an innovative marketing approach for mitigating the impacts of the global economic downturn on ADFs in Egypt.

A qualitative and quantitative research approach was designed to accomplish four objectives. The literature review examined the global economic downturn and marketing ADFs. Three case studies investigated the role of social media in marketing ADFs during economic uncertainties. A survey questionnaire was conducted with a representative sample of ADFs to assess their perception and application of social media as a marketing approach. Based on the above, the research developed a framework integrating social media as a novel approach for marketing ADFs in Egypt to alleviate the impacts of the global economic downturn.

The research explored the causes and impacts of the global economic downturn, focusing on marketing strategies and the use of social media in promoting ADFs. Case studies demonstrated that ADFs that utilized social media effectively succeeded in navigating the economic downturn and enhancing market performance, reputation and profitability. Data analysis highlighted “generating leads” as the top marketing strategy, followed by “attracting potential clients.” “Instagram” emerged as the most widely used platform, with “analytics and reporting” identified as the most impactful tool. However, “limited resources” was recognized as the primary challenge in implementing successful social media marketing for ADFs in Egypt.

This research developed a practical framework to navigate the impacts of the global economic downturn on ADFs in Egypt based on the findings of a literature review, case studies and a survey questionnaire. The framework practically detailed the objectives of the framework’s functions, activities, tools and techniques, involved personnel, needed resources and implementation mechanisms.

The research examined the causes and impacts of the global economic downturn, with a focus on how ADFs in Egypt use social media as a marketing tool and identified the implementation challenges. The study, which fills a gap in construction literature, developed a framework to help ADFs mitigate the global economic downturn effects. The framework offers a practical solution to improve the resilience and marketing of ADFs in Egypt by providing new insights into the architecture and construction sectors and adding significant value to existing knowledge.