Search results

Collapse of the former communist bloc, coupled with the consequent crumbling of state welfare systems, has left people with mental health problems in many eastern European countries in dire poverty and neglect. Jo Lucas describes how non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) have stepped in to establish communitybased employment initiatives, and the challenges and dilemmas that face these projects as they seek to establish financial self‐sufficiency while not losing their social support functions

This paper looks at current developments in the provision of community mental health services in the context of the history of the psychiatric system in Slovenia, based on ten years of experience working with non‐governmental organisations and the School of Social Work in Slovenia. It looks at what can be learned from both the strengths and weaknesses of what is happening in Slovenia and the implications for broader debates about the future of public mental health and the treatment of people with mental health problems.

This study aims to examine the impact of investment in innovation, market structure and competitive position on the supermarket value chain in the USA.

This paper used secondary data from Economatica® for the period 2010–2020, encompassing 83 firms within the US supermarket value chain, resulting in 913 observations for each model covariate. The data were analyzed through structural equation modeling, using the partial least squares (PLS) approach, using SMARTPLS® software.

The results indicate that both market structure and investment in innovation have a significant impact on a firm’s competitive position. Specifically, a more concentrated market structure is associated with a weaker competitive position, whereas higher levels of investment in innovation correspond to a stronger competitive position. However, no significant relationship was found between investment in innovation and market structure.

This study is limited to the Economatica® database, from which this paper selected a sample of firms within the US supermarket value chain. This paper recommend future research to compare data from other countries or sectors. For the three-dimensional model, this paper used constructs with indicators of investment, performance and market concentration; however, this paper suggests incorporating additional variables to enhance the model’s robustness.

An analysis of market structure and its impact on competitive positioning offers valuable insights for managers regarding the strategic dimensions of the supermarket industry. Integrating the effects of investment in innovation into business strategies can enhance long-term economic benefits. Adopting a value chain perspective further facilitates the examination of market equilibrium and competitive positioning within the supermarket industry.

The findings of this study can help prevent the adoption of misguided strategies that fail to foster business growth. By highlighting the significant impact of innovation on performance, while considering the competitive dynamics within the supermarket industry, the study provides a deeper understanding of the risks faced by various firms across the value chain and the dual nature of competition within the sector. Moreover, it reinforces the relevance of research on economic sustainability and supports the development of effective growth strategies for firms.

While most studies focus on hypotheses examining the relationships between innovation and competitive positioning or between innovation and market structure, this study introduces a three-dimensional model that uses structural equation modeling to test these interconnections simultaneously. Furthermore, it extends the analysis by incorporating the value chain as a central component, using a diverse sample of firms directly linked to the core operations of the supermarket industry.

This index covers all issues between February 2005 (Volume 9, Issue 1) and November 2008 (Volume 12, Issue 4). Numbers in bold refer to yolume, numbers in brackets refer to issue, with subsequent numbers to pages.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of tax structures on economic growth in Jordan over the period 1980-2015 using error correction techniques. It provides empirical evidence that the tax structure itself, comprising direct taxes, indirect taxes and total tax revenues, is an insufficient indicator for policymakers, whereas when each tax was included separately in the model, it was found that income tax, corporate taxes and personal taxes influenced per capita income growth negatively and that all of them were distortionary taxes. They greatly reduced both short and long-term per capita growth, while tariffs and consumption taxes were found to influence per capita income growth positively. The study also shows that relying heavily on increasing total taxes without taking into consideration the tax structure of the country would lead to a reduction in per capita income, in contrast to other tax structures that showed positive and neutral effects on per capita income. Tax reform and shifting from income taxes toward consumption taxes and tariffs would therefore enhance the well-being of individuals and increase their share of output.

This study uses an analytical approach in the framework of an error correction model. This approach allows us to overcome many problems in time series data such as non-stationary, serial correlation and endogeneity of variables, which have been ignored in many published studies dealing with time series data.

The analysis shows that consumption and tariffs have a positive effect on per capita gross domestic product growth, whereas income taxes negatively influenced this growth measure. This implies that attention must be paid to a preference for consumption and tariffs to provide sustained growth. The authors recommend that the government objective should shift from raising revenues to achieving social justice and efficiency.

There are two main limitations inherent this study. The first limitation in regard to the missing data in the series for labor force and average years of schooling, interpolation method used to overcome this shortage. While the second limitation is about the importance of the tax structure itself and its direct impact on such patterns of investment which have been considered but within narrow limits.

The relationship between taxes and economic growth is a controversial aspect of economics, because of its high impact on the decisions made by individuals and institutions, along with its direct influence on the economy as a whole. The authors recommend that the Jordanian government’s objective should shift from raising revenues to achieving social justice and efficiency. Furthermore, Jordan’s weak tax performance and ineffective tax structure indicate the importance for policymakers of focusing more closely on enhancing future per capita growth, which can be done by shifting from income tax toward consumption and trade taxes. On another level, policymakers can reform the tax structure in favor of long-run growth by addressing the importance of consumption taxes and trade taxes in their policies, rather than increasing tax rates.

The character of growth is more important than its magnitude. Economic growth should be reflected in the alleviation of poverty reduced inequality and ultimately better living standards. Additionally the authors believe that sustained economic growth can be achieved only if it is broadly based and inclusive. This implies the need to generate jobs for the growing workforce and the adoption of policies to protect and cater for the vulnerable segments of the population. Otherwise economic policy will fail to achieve its objectives.

This study assists policymakers in understanding the relationship between the various types of taxes and economic growth. In particular, the relation between the unique tax structure and growth drivers. This is the first study to analyze tax structure and economic growth in Jordan.

Over the last several decades, businesses have faced mounting pressures from diverse stakeholders to alter their corporate operations to become more socially and environmentally responsible. In turn, many firms appear to have responded by implementing more sustainable practices — measuring, documenting, and publishing annual CSR or sustainability reports to showcase how they are addressing important issues in this area, including: resource stewardship, waste management, greenhouse gas emission reductions, fair and safe labor practices, amongst other stakeholder concerns. And yet, research in this domain has not yet systematically examined whether businesses have, on the whole, changed their practices in tandem with the important changes in its institutional context over time. Have corporate CSR initiatives, in fact, been growing over the last 25 years or has the increased attention to CSR actually been much ado about nothing? In this chapter, we review the empirical literature on CSR to uncover that common measures of CSR such as the KLD do not support the concept that CSR practices have increased substantively over the last 25 years. We supplement this historical review by modeling the growth curves of CSR implementation in practice and find that the pace of positive change has indeed been glacial. More alarmingly, we also look at corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR) and find that, contrary to expectations, businesses have become more, not less, irresponsible during this same time period. Implications of these findings for theory are presented as are suggestions for future research in this domain.

The aim of this paper is to examine the academic performances of first-year accounting students using a discussion board.

The paper develops a model to determine the impact of discussion board usage on overall student performance. A number of variables are controlled for including academic aptitude, previous accounting experience, gender and student background. Included in the model are diagnostic information indicators of student use of the discussion board, obtained from the Web-based learning environment tracking reports.

The multiple regression analysis shows a positive benefit in terms of greater marks for students who post on the discussion board compared to those who do not post, even after controlling for academic ability.

The improved knowledge construction gained by actively using discussion boards may be used by teaching staff to promote greater student acceptance and voluntary participation in discussion boards resulting in more interaction and possibly higher academic achievement.

While technology and WBLEs have been well accepted in accounting education, and are widely used (Watson et al., 2007), the introduction of discussion boards has resulted in a dearth of research on their use and effectiveness. In-depth accounting educational literature reviews (Apostolou et al., 2013, 2010; Watson et al., 2007; Watson et al., 2003; Rebele et al., 1998) have reported very few studies on discussion boards over three decades.