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This paper seeks to investigate Cordia myxa L. (CM) extracts as hepatoprotective agents, through their antioxidant activities.

Oxydative liver damage in rats was induced in Wister rats by two agents: carbon Tetrachloride (CCl₄) and thioacetamide (TA). Oxydative damage was evaluated by a measurement of aspartate transaminase (AST), glutamate transaminase (ALT) and Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), in sera of the rats. Several extracts of Cordia myxa were prepared and were fed to experimental animals over a period of two weeks. Liver recovery was assessed by measuring the above hepatic enzymes and their comparison with the control group of animals. Phenolic content of the extracts was measured by Folin‐Ciocalteu reagent and was calculated as gallic acid equivalents. α,α‐diphenyl‐β‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay was used to measure antiradical activity of the extracts and it was compared with ascorbic acid.

Maximum fruit extract can be obtained by hand‐macerating the peeled fruit rich in phenolic content 11.1±1.47 mg/g gallic acid equivalent. Its antiradical activity was measured as 16.34±0.81 that was calculated as 10.0±1.24 ascorbic acid equivalent. CCl4 and TA induced comparable oxidative liver damage as measured through hepatic enzymes. A significant (p=0.05) liver recovery was noticed when animals treated with CCl4/TA were fed with CM extracts.

The study reports the protective role of C. myxa in chemically induced fibrosis by carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) and thioacetamide (TA).

In recent years, the global focus has increasingly shifted toward the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) due to growing concerns about environmental sustainability and the imperative of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The transportation sector, a significant contributor to air pollution and climate change, faces increasing pressure to embrace EVs as a solution. However, the resistance exhibited by customers toward adopting new technology poses a substantial obstacle to the widespread adoption of EVs. Drawing on the link between theory of reasoned action (TRA) and self-congruity theory, this research aims to determine the factors that affect the customer intention toward EV.

The research conducts a questionnaire collecting 950 respondents from the Egyptian market. The research used primary quantitative data from online and self-administered questionnaires.

The findings indicated that green trust, price sensitivity and reliability have a positive impact on customer’s intention. However, self-image congruence was not affecting customer intention. For the moderating role of financial self-efficacy, it is affecting the relationship between price sensitivity and customer’s purchase intentions toward EV.

This research will expand the theory by conceptualizing its abstract notions through research variables and implementing them in the Egyptian market. Furthermore, it links the two distinct theories. This knowledge can be utilized by policymakers and stakeholders to expedite the adoption of EVs in the Egyptian market.

This study presents a conceptual framework for managers and policymakers about the factors that affect the customer to buy EVs, since the international organizations emphasize eco-friendly transportation systems.

Reverse logistics (RL) activities are becoming crucial in today’s business environment because of their ability to enhance organizational capabilities to manage waste and resources effectively and efficiently as an approach for achieving sustainability. These capabilities can eventually create sustainable competitive advantage (SCA). Drawing on resource-based view (RBV), this study posits RL as a tool to develop capabilities gained from high performance (financial and nonfinancial) to enhance SCA.

Covariance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze 1,207 responses collected from manufacturing organizations operating in Egypt. Data were gathered through an online survey sent via email to manufacturing organizations operating in Egypt, particularly Cairo, Giza and Alexandria, as these governorates contain most business activities in Egypt and hence high a percentage of waste.

Results indicated that RL activities (recycling, remanufacturing, repair, recondition and disposal) can fully mediate the relationship between organizational performance (financial and nonfinancial) and SCA. However, the remanufacturing and recycling mediating roles between financial performance and SCA were not significant.

Applying this research in a developing country (Egypt) will help extend RBV and incentivize organizations to apply RL activities, which can potentially solve several environmental issues such as decreasing waste.

Using the research variables in combination will help in filling the literature gap as previous research focused on RL and only organizational operational performance, where RL was used as an independent variable with no illustration of how its dimensions affect performance or its mediating role between performance and SCA.

The formalisation – switch from the informal to the formal sector – of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) has serious ramifications on the Egyptian economy. This study investigates the effect of the factors perceived by Egyptian informal entrepreneurs to encourage/deter formalisation on those entrepreneurs' intentions of formalising their MSMEs. Social media (SM) usage is a novel factor whose impact on the intention of formalisation is also examined.

The conceptual framework of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) is used, and a logistic regression model is utilised. Relevant data were collected from self-assessment questionnaires of a sample of Egyptian informal female and young male entrepreneurs, who constitute the majority of informal entrepreneurs in Egypt.

Results reveal that for female entrepreneurs, only the support of the government and other institutions positively affects their intention of formalisation, whilst direct costs and lack of family support affect their intention negatively. For young male entrepreneurs, the number of employees and prospects of contract enforcement positively affect their intention of formalisation, whilst being involved in a trading activity affects it negatively. For both groups, higher levels of education and SM usage adversely affect their intention of formalisation. These varying results have a crucial policy implication: the one-size-fits-all public policies intended to stimulate formalisation might not work, and thus, more tailored policies are required.

Worldwide, research on the impact of SM on the formalisation of MSMEs is scant, if existent. In Egypt, research on MSMEs is limited, those focusing on the impact of SM on Egyptian MSMEs are even scarcer and those targeting SM's effect on their formalisation are absent.

Takes a look at the state of Arab society. Classifies Arab individuals into eight categories – traditionalist, spectator, idealist, illusionist, transitional, revivalist, manipulator, and existentialist. Explores each of these in more depth, providing some specific illustrative examples. Claims that work values have changed in Arab society, with the new generation taking part in political and economic decision making. Reflects on the implications this could have for multinational corporations. Concludes that Arab society is in transition, discarding its old tribal and traditionalist beliefs to move towards the basis for a more modern economy. Provides some tables summarizing each typology of individual and the attributes required to conduct business successfully.

The growth of social media and the sharing economy is generating abundant unstructured image and video data. Computer vision techniques can derive rich insights from unstructured data and can inform recommendations for increasing profits and consumer utility – if only the model outputs are interpretable enough to earn the trust of consumers and buy-in from companies. To build a foundation for understanding the importance of model interpretation in image analytics, the first section of this article reviews the existing work along three dimensions: the data type (image data vs. video data), model structure (feature-level vs. pixel-level), and primary application (to increase company profits vs. to maximize consumer utility). The second section discusses how the “black box” of pixel-level models leads to legal and ethical problems, but interpretability can be improved with eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) methods. We classify and review XAI methods based on transparency, the scope of interpretability (global vs. local), and model specificity (model-specific vs. model-agnostic); in marketing research, transparent, local, and model-agnostic methods are most common. The third section proposes three promising future research directions related to model interpretability: the economic value of augmented reality in 3D product tracking and visualization, field experiments to compare human judgments with the outputs of machine vision systems, and XAI methods to test strategies for mitigating algorithmic bias.

The purpose of this study was to examine teachers' sense of powerlessness within two distinctive school organizational structures. The concept of teacher work values was employed as an intervening variable in the primary relationship. Definite patterns of teacher sense of powerlessness were uncovered within Authoritarian and within Collegial school bureaucratic structures. In addition, a majority of teachers in Authoritarian schools experienced a greater sense of powerlessness than did their peers in Collegial schools.

This study investigates the impact of socioemotional wealth (SEW) on family firm entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in Saudi Arabia, and the moderating effect of generational involvement on this relationship. Our data set comprises 241 privately, wholly owned family firms. We examine EO as a strategic orientation expressed in terms of both firm behavior and how managers approach risk-taking attitudinally. Our study finds that SEW is positively related to firms’ entrepreneurial behavior, but not managerial attitudes toward risk-taking. However, the positive effects of SEW on firms’ entrepreneurial behavior diminish as the number of generations involved in the family business increases. The broader implications for enabling entrepreneurship within Arab transforming economies adhering to strong cultural tribalistic norms are discussed.

Obtaining, managing and using proper marketing information are considered an important strategic issue that cannot be ignored in the light of stiffening competition locally and internationally. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the level of importance attached by Saudi industrial organizations to good management and use of quality marketing information.

A questionnaire method was used to collect the required data. Using a self-distributed method, the questionnaire was provided to top management levels of 80 companies from different industrial sectors in Saudi Arabia, selected randomly from a list provided by Saudi’s Chamber of Industry. Despite all attempts, only 30 completed questionnaires were returned and used in the statistical analysis for this study. This gave a response rate of 37.5 per cent. Used in this study’s statistical analysis were descriptive statistics such as frequencies, measures of central tendency such as the mean and median, measures of dispersion such as standard deviation and measures of distribution such as skewness and kurtosis. Advanced statistics, such as factor analysis statistics, were also used.

The study’s findings indicate how company variables are related to the ideal and actual marketing information application variables. Management’s capacity to develop a marketing plan and effectively observe the improvement may be the most demanding part of achieving desired results. This study further examined the degree to which Saudi business organizations are aware of how important it is to obtain and use proper marketing information. To develop good marketing plans, those business organizations must understand the nature of Saudi’s social structure. Its organization and welfare services are rooted in the values and traditions of Arab Muslim Culture. One of the five basic Pillars of Faith in Islam is the practice of Alms-giving and care of needy. Furthermore, people’s behavior is heavily influenced by the value, norms and expectations of Islam.

This research offers a methodology to develop a better comprehension of the importance of having good management of marketing information and its use in Saudi Arabia via a description of the significant variables that form marketing information management and use. The current study also calls for more empirical research into this area of marketing in Saudi Arabia. The empirical nature of this study revealed some recommendations for future work that should look into the issues highlighted in this study. It would be useful to apply this study to other similar contexts, which may prove helpful in reexamining the validity of its results. However, further studies are needed to validate the findings of this study, as all behavioral and cultural variables were not investigated and are left for future research. In addition, this is a deductive research; therefore, some important variables may have been omitted, which is another reason for recommending more empirical studies of this type in Saudi Arabia and similar contexts.

Investigating this type of study in Saudi Arabia gives a unique implication, as it calls for better understanding of the Islamic Marketing Environment of this country, which has two important holy Mosques of Islam (i.e. Al-Haram and the Prophet’s Mosques). There is no denying that the marketing environment characteristics in any society are affected by environmental circumstances, and Saudi Arabia as the most important Muslim Country, is no exception.

The central issue of this paper is related to the importance of having, managing and using good marketing information by industrial organizations. With this issue in mind, this study was carried out in a Muslim country (i.e. Saudi Arabia). Although the Saudi market has many dealers, domestic and international trades and co-operatives, there is little relevant data about the existing marketing systems, i.e. scarcity of market data and information concerning demand, consumption, opportunities and competition.

Culture and economic settings are often perceived as key influential elements in formulating the entrepreneurial ecosystem, either on the organizations level or the entire social system. In their different forms, culture and economic conditions have always been critical drivers for innovation and entrepreneurship. Understanding the community's cultural traits and economic status helps entrepreneurs map their entrepreneurial objectives and define enablers and deterrents. This chapter investigated the cultural and economic environment within the Gulf Council Countries (GCC), mapped their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices and entrepreneurial performance. It was evident that some cultural traits, such as tribalism, could play an adverse role in supporting entrepreneurship. However, the economic system, which mainly relies on oil and gas production, could be the best enabler for entrepreneurship, which has a unique nature in the GCC and receives high government reinforcement through massive capital surpluses generated from the oil revenue. The latest statistics ranking the global entrepreneurship performance indicated that the GCC lay in the middle area among other countries worldwide. Qatar came on the top of the GCC with a global rank of 22, while Saudi Arabia came last, at position 45 globally. The government legislative and economic support for entrepreneurship activities contributes to preparing a proper authoritative climate that promotes entrepreneurship and could be a golden opportunity for entrepreneurs in the GCC.