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This study examined the differences among 76 American project managers and 36 of their Arab counterparts with regard to their perceptions of factors contributing to effective project management. After reviewing the relevant literature, a conceptual framework was derived. Seven research hypotheses were formulated and tested. The results of this study tended to underscore the significance of cultural differences among these two groups of project managers.

Examines the cultural and business realities of the Arab world. Presents a framework which incorporates cultural variables and their influence on business, in two similar yet distinct Arab subcultures. Discusses business strategies with cultural dimensions within the context of the framework.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the consistency over time of customer attitude towards country-of-origin in a transitional economy.

A single cross-sectional study in Uzbekistan was carried out, with n=527, consisting of 374 street and 153 online surveys, replicating a study carried out 20 years earlier.

Whilst consumers still perceive products from advanced countries to have higher quality, quality perception in relation to country-of-origin information is dynamic and transitional countries can improve the perception of consumers towards their national brands.

This study was carried out in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, the most populous of the Central Asian republics. Researchers may wish to extend it by examining COO effects in other transitional economies, and additionally to examine the effect of country-of-brand origin.

Customer perceptions and attitudes take a long-time to evolve. This cross-sectional study showed that the COO perception of China has improved significantly and the perception towards the products produced locally in Uzbekistan has also slightly improved across all categories. Strong brands can contribute to the image of the country. Transition countries need to take appropriate marketing actions to cultivate positive perception through innovation and branding.

Prior research has been extended by adding new product categories such as mobile phones, computers, washing machines and air conditioners. This research shows that government officials and exporters in developing countries should prioritise strengthening their country’s image to help domestic marketers export and attract foreign investors. The authors provide insights for marketers to understand the impact of product country-of-origin on customer purchase intention and its antecedents in transitional economies, such as Uzbekistan.

Offers a rare insight into the dynamics, realities and potential of the Iranian business community. Uses a sample of 40 Iranian executives to empirically study the impact of the economic constraints and the values of executives on the performance of Iranian business organisations. Emphasizes the implications of this study to Iranian business organisations and their current and potential trading partners during this period of proposed economic change in Iran.

This study aims to identify extensive and intensive margins in exports and imports and examine whether incoming foreign direct investments (FDI) benefit local firms in Indonesia through the export and import channels.

Using Heckman’s two-step selection model to consider the potential of bias of self-selection in export–import participation, this study uses the firm-level data from 2008 to 2015 collected from Statistik Industri and proximate both export and import spillovers.

The authors found that internal factors are critical for a firm to be an exporter, signaling self-selection in exports and imports. Spillover effects from FDI (spatial properties) support export but lower import propensity and intensity.

This study implies that improving human capital (absorptive capacity) is needed to accelerate export intensity and policies supporting FDI inflows in complementary sectors (noncompeting industries) can increase export propensity and intensity and reduce imports.

This study contributes to the literature in several ways. First, the proposed export spillovers model that accounts for impacts through a demonstration channel is applied to the import channel. Moreover, this study extends the model developed by Franco and Sasidharan (2010) and Yasin et al. (2022) by incorporating spatial spillover effects at the provincial level. Subsequently, the authors test whether a firm’s technological intensity determines export–import propensity and intensity. This can indicate whether specific sectors are more likely to participate in international activities based on their use of technology.

Executive courage is an important cultural variable that influences the survival of a business organization in an increasingly competitive global business environment. This study presents the results of an empirical cross‐cultural investigation of executive courage. Forty American and 29 Arab executives participated in the study. Nine hypotheses were tested. Results indicated that the two samples exhibited significant differences with regard to their perceptions of the dimensions of executive courage, the role of executive courage in today's business organization, the relative importance of personal growth and personal courage, and the interaction between executive courage and the organizational reward system. It is concluded that executive courage is a positive cross‐cultural force, deserving careful consideration by researchers and practitioners. It is also concluded that business organizations can best serve their need for survival by rewarding those who seek to do the right things, rather than those who do the expected things right.

This research attempts to shed some light on Palestinian executives and their organizational culture. Specifically, this research focuses on the dimensions of executive courage in the unique Palestinian culture. The impact of executive courage on Palestinian organizations is emphasized.

This research is survey‐based. The research instrument utilized in this study was also used in other cultural settings. Content analysis and factor analysis were used to analyze the data collected from a sample of 40 Palestinian executives.

The results underscore the significance of making tough decisions on behalf of the organization, as an important dimension of the multi‐dimensional executive courage construct. The results of this study clearly show the positive impact of executive courage on organizational culture of Palestinian organizations.

The findings of this research are relevant to Palestinian executives and those executives seeking to engage in joint‐ventures with them.

This research represents rare insight into the Palestinian organizational culture. In the process, the practices of the Palestinian executives with regard to executive courage and its impact on organizations are examined.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to study the environmental and competitive factors in the service organizations and second, to investigate the extent of effective implementation of quality improvement initiatives in different operational settings.

In this paper factor analysis is used to determine the underlying factors associated with the changes in the competitive environment. Proportional measures are used to study the implementation of quality improvement initiatives.

The paper finds that quality improvement initiatives are not implemented uniformly by all the service industries. Organizations implementing quality improvement initiatives face varying degrees of effectiveness. Positive operational and strategic outcomes have been observed by organizations implementing the quality improvement initiatives.

The results of this paper show that implementation of different types of quality improvement initiatives has a positive impact on operational and strategic aspects of service organizations.

The empirical investigation in this paper shows the practical and theoretical value of issues related to the performance of service organizations.

In a period of rapid environmental change, banks recognise that their survival hinges on their ability to innovate and be responsive to the needs of their customers. Partially spawned by such recognitions, private banks have grasped computer‐based management information systems and incorporated them into all facets of their operations. Their public sector counterparts, however, have been rather tentative in adopting computerised information systems. A proposed computerised quality assurance information system (CQAIS) is described. The system was designed after systematically studying the internal operations of a public agency charged with regulating the activities of banks in a Southeastern state in the United States. The objectives and components of the CQAIS are presented and requirements for its successful implementation are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to present the multi-objective optimization of the dynamic response of isotropic and laminated composite folded plates. The dynamic analysis has been carried out using the finite element method based on the first-order shear deformation theory.

Hamilton’s principle has been employed for the derivation of the governing equations. Natural frequencies are obtained using the eigenvalue extraction method. The optimal combination of the crank angle, lamination scheme and boundary conditions on the natural frequencies of folded plates for their safe and optimal dynamic design has been obtained. The analysis has been carried out using finite element approach based on FSDT to obtain the dynamic equation of single- and double-fold laminated plates. In total, 15 experiments as per Taguchi’s standard L₁₅ orthogonal array have been performed. Further, standard deviation (SD) based TOPSIS method is used to perform multi-response optimization of folded plates in order to rank the combination of the input parameters.

SD integrated with TOPSIS reveals that Experiment No. 8 (crank angle=90° and anti-symmetric lamination scheme=0°/90°/0°/90°), Experiment No. 14 (crank angle=150° and anti-symmetric lamination scheme=0^o/90^o/0^o/90^o), Experiment No. 2 (crank angle=30° and anti-symmetric lamination scheme=0°/90°/0°/90°) and Experiment No. 3 (crank angle=30° and symmetric lamination scheme=0°/90°/0°/90°) occupy rank 1 for one fold, one end clamped, one fold, two ends clamped, two folds, one end clamped and two folds, two ends clamped conditions, respectively, in order to maximize the modal response corresponding to the fundamental mode.

SD-based technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method is used to rank the process parameters. The optimum combination of the input parameters on the multi-response optimization of dynamics of the folded plates has also been evaluated using the analysis of mean (ANOM).