A.P. Johnston and Joseph B. Moore
Policy‐making groups take the wording of policies to be importantwith respect to eventual implementation. Implementors (contrary topolicy makers′ assumptions) are more likely to…
Abstract
Policy‐making groups take the wording of policies to be important with respect to eventual implementation. Implementors (contrary to policy makers′ assumptions) are more likely to be unable to implement authoritative policy than unwilling to do so. Policy implementors do not discriminate between policy language variations unless they are in an environment which places high value on other variables like resources at the locus of implementation. The language used is nevertheless important.
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Looks at the shift in emphasis in Australia, from a historical perspective and examines the growing fears in the community that citizens may become disenfranchised as a result…
Abstract
Looks at the shift in emphasis in Australia, from a historical perspective and examines the growing fears in the community that citizens may become disenfranchised as a result. Argues that a slavish adherence to efficiency through technological advance risks undervaluing the complementarity of information in the community. Concludes that focusing on efficiency and quantification moves away from noting the constitutional and democratic scope of telecommunications.
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Samson Yusuf Dauda and Jongsu Lee
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the perceptions of Nigerian banking customers regarding customers’ evaluation of their banks service quality based on their banks actual…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the perceptions of Nigerian banking customers regarding customers’ evaluation of their banks service quality based on their banks actual performance on current banking service delivery.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey has been used to collect primary data and 1,245 usable questionnaires were used in the analysis. A conjoint analysis with stated preference data were used to construct the consumers’ behavior, while discrete choice method was employed to evaluate the preferences. More information was obtained by in cooperating heterogeneity into the model by the random coefficient and the test variance with the primary attributes and social demographics and individual characteristics.
Findings
Discrete choice analysis shows that bank management should focus on: reduction of transaction errors, transaction cost, waiting time and initial online learning time. This four attributes have strong impact on customer’s satisfaction depending on quality performance. Relative to other services the reduction in waiting time and transaction cost are the most important services to the Nigerian banking customers. Other findings of willingness to pay and consumer preference for other attributes reveal more information for improved banking policies.
Research limitations/implications
The sample only focussed on the urban areas and did not consider rural dwellers. Future research should aim to improve on these by including a variable in the utility set up that captures the distance of the respondent to the main city.
Practical implications
Nigerian banking customers do not care about a friendly smile as customer care. Rather, they value more on the waiting time and transaction cost showing that convenience and cost dimensions have strong and direct effect on service quality. Other dimensions identified includes, reliability, product portfolio, security and privacy, ease of use, accessibility, and competence and credibility.
Originality/value
This study has drawn on a sample of 1,245 Nigerian banking customers and evaluating how the survey respondents perceive their respective banks’ performance by their evaluation of the current banking service delivery.
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As has been said, the commercial “infants' food,” leaving on one side the condensed milk, is almost invariably a powder, and, as such, should conform in composition as nearly as…
Abstract
As has been said, the commercial “infants' food,” leaving on one side the condensed milk, is almost invariably a powder, and, as such, should conform in composition as nearly as possible to a dried human milk. Of course, the preparations are not altogether free from water. From a large number of analyses it appears that the percentage in the great majority of cases varies between 4 and 8, the maximum being 13.9 and the minimum under 1. The average is approximately 6.5 per cent.
C.S. Agnes Cheng, Joseph Johnston and Cathy Zishang Liu
In response to recent concerns on earnings quality and a firm's fundamental performance, the purpose of this paper is to re‐examine salient questions under accrual accounting: how…
Abstract
Purpose
In response to recent concerns on earnings quality and a firm's fundamental performance, the purpose of this paper is to re‐examine salient questions under accrual accounting: how earnings quality affects the role of earnings and operating cash flows in a firm's valuation.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a large sample ranging from 1989 to 2008, the authors contrast the effects of three representative accrual‐based earnings quality measures on the association between earnings, operating cash flows and a firm's abnormal stock returns.
Findings
In the univariate analysis it was found that earnings explain returns similarly to operating cash flows. With control of earnings quality, the results indicate that earnings' role in explaining contemporaneous abnormal returns remains unchanged when earnings quality is better. Conversely, operating cash flows explain more contemporaneous abnormal returns when earnings quality is better. The findings could suggest that the market reacts to operating cash flows conditionally on earnings quality. Intriguingly, the results also indicate that the market perceives better earnings quality captures superior performance of operating cash flows rather than that of earnings. These findings are further fortified by additional analyses revealing that the earnings quality measure with control of operating cash flows affects the supplemental role of operating cash flows most.
Originality/value
The paper's findings provide insights on how the market processes firm value signals embedded in earnings quality, which have direct implications for regulators, standard setters, academics and practitioners.
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The increasing use of high switching speed systems in both microwave electronics and high speed logic devices has created the need for printed circuit boards which are based on…
Abstract
The increasing use of high switching speed systems in both microwave electronics and high speed logic devices has created the need for printed circuit boards which are based on low dielectric constant and low loss materials. In addition, these circuit materials must be capable of withstanding elevated temperatures typical of hostile service environments and of board fabrication processes. Such low dielectric constant rigid boards are commercially available from a few sources. However, there is a growing demand for low dielectric constant flexible printed circuit boards for interconnecting rigid boards or in rigid/flex applications where high speed, fast rise times, controlled impedance and low crosstalk are important. A new family of thin laminates which are suitable for fabrication of flexible low dielectric constant printed circuit boards have been developed by Rogers Corporation. These circuit materials are called ROhyphen;2500 laminates and offer flexible interconnections in high speed electronic systems. RO‐2500 circuit materials are based on microglass reinforced fluorocarbon composites and have a typical dielectric constant of 25. The transmission line properties of these materials have been evaluated by the IPC‐FC‐201 test method. The results indicated that these circuit materials improve the propagation velocity by about 10% and the rise time by about 30% when compared with the same geometry, polyimide film based, flexible PCs in stripline constructions. Also, dimensional stability of these laminates after etch and heat ageing is improved over that of the standard flex circuit materials based on polyimide film. RO‐2500 laminate properties have been evaluated by the IPC‐TM‐650 test methods, which are widely accepted by the flexible PCB industry.
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We have observed in the reports of those engaged in the administration of the Acts several references to the practice of milking so that a portion of the milk is left in the udder…
Abstract
We have observed in the reports of those engaged in the administration of the Acts several references to the practice of milking so that a portion of the milk is left in the udder of the cow, this portion being removed subsequently and not included in the milk sent out to customers. The inspector for the southern division of the county of Northampton reports that on a sample of milk being found deficient in fat to the extent of 17 per cent., a further sample was taken at the time of milking when a milkman was found to be not properly “stripping” the cows. He was warned. The analyst for the county of Notts writes: “The first strippings obtained before the milk glands have been normally excited by the milking are very low in fat yet are “genuine” milk in the sense that nothing has been added to or taken from it. It is nonsense to talk of genuine milk in the sense that everything that comes from the udder of the cow is to be taken as genuine milk fit for sale.” In a case tried before the Recorder of Middlesbrough, one witness said that among some farmers it was a common practice not to “strip” cows until after the milk was sent away.
The purpose of this research paper is to explore the decline of subsistence entrepreneurship in a “Scottish Fishing Community”, namely the village of Gourdon in Kincardineshire…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research paper is to explore the decline of subsistence entrepreneurship in a “Scottish Fishing Community”, namely the village of Gourdon in Kincardineshire, Scotland over a 60‐year period.
Design/methodology/approach
Presents the material in a historical perspective, as remembered by two persons who lived through the experience. Using two ethnographic accounts the paper reconstructs a vivid picture of a thriving form of subsistence type entrepreneurship, in a bygone era, when enterprise was more closely bonded to community activities, the work ethic and pride.
Findings
This paper narrates a dramatic story relating to the economic decline visited upon a living community by the forces of market change affecting multiple income streams. In this tale, there are no heroes or villains, as is normal in narrative accounts, merely victims of changing circumstances and changing patterns of social action.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this research paper have obvious limitations, because of the methodology employed, and because of the limited number of respondents interviewed. However, socio‐historical studies such as this have their place in developing an understanding of entrepreneurship as enacted in individual communities.
Originality/value
This paper tackles an under‐researched area of rural entrepreneurship using narrative methods which bring the subject to life.