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In spite of an abundance of corporate governance literature across the world, the Botswana corporate sector is lacking. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship among the ownership structure, board characteristics and financial performance to determine the role of corporate governance in the performance behavior of companies listed in such an emerging market in Africa as Botswana.

Ordinary least square (OLS) models are applied to Botswana Stock Exchange listed firms over the period 2000‐2007 to determine the role of corporate governance in the performance behavior of companies listed in an emerging market.

The empirical evidence shows distinct nature of corporate governance behavior among alternative performance measures used, in particular, between accounting‐based/hybrid and market‐based measures.

Such diversified findings provide the policy‐makers with insights to take appropriate measures on corporate governance and stock market development in order to ensure their efficiency.

The approach of this study is different from the other available literature as it captures all types of shareholdings together in addition to other corporate governance and firm‐specific predictable variables.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of audit quality and ownership structure on the degrees of accuracy and bias in earnings forecasts issued in initial public offering (IPO) prospectuses in a frontier market, Bangladesh.

The paper uses both univariate and multivariate tests on the sample of 75 IPOs. The paper employs the tests to see the association between the degree of forecast bias and three corporate governance variables.

The results reveal that the magnitude of earnings forecast bias is significantly explained by issuer, auditor reputation, proportions of capital raised from domestic as well as foreign investors, and whether the IPO firm is a start-up venture. Underwriter prestige, length of the issuing firms' operating history, leverage, whether the firm went public during a stock market boom, and forecast horizon do not appear to be statistically significant in explaining the degree of forecast bias.

Although auditor reputation and the proportion of equity retained by pre-IPO owners have been investigated in several studies on IPO forecast accuracy and/or bias, no study has attributed them to corporate governance as a whole by combining auditor reputation, and ownership categories held by small private investors and foreign portfolio investors.

The authors were motivated to overcome some of the limitations and shortcomings of the existing software systems for management of construction projects. The result is a new generation software system for CONstruction Scheduling, Cost Optimization, and Change Order Management, which is called CONSCOM. CONSCOM uses the recently patented Neural Dynamics model of Adeli and Park as its computational engine for construction cost optimization and advanced software engineering and object‐oriented programming techniques such as framework and pattern. This paper presents some of its recent and innovative capabilities and features. CONSCOM includes an Integrated Management Environment (IME) as its user interface for the effective control and management of construction projects. An example of a highway construction project is presented to demonstrate the unique modelling capabilities of CONSCOM that cannot be modelled by Critical Path Method (CPM) or CPM‐like networks.

After completion of this case study, students will be able to apply the triple bottom line concept to a spice manufacturing and export company (RBT 3); to examine the options before Value Ingredients Private Limited (VIPL), namely, to cultivate spices in the traditional way versus adopting integrated pest management (IPM) to cater to international markets (RBT 4); to analyse the returns for an IPM farmer vis-à-vis a conventional farmer, and to compare the returns therein (RBT 4); and to evaluate the ways and means of engaging farmers to change their way of cultivation (RBT 5)

The COVID-19 pandemic heightened awareness about the benefits of spices and buoyed its demand worldwide, which presented an opportunity to VIPL, a spice manufacturing company based in Chennai, to expand its business. However, the export markets demanded residue-free spices grown with little or no use of pesticides. Traditional farmers supplying spices to VIPL were accustomed to spraying pesticides whenever there was a pest attack. This case study discussed the options that the protagonist Mr Sijil Karim, managing director and CEO of VIPL, had, who wanted to onboard farmers for pesticide-free cultivation. The options before him were either to continue traditional farming or adopt IPM. This case study discussed the merits, demerits and challenges of each of these options.

The triple bottom line concept discussed three Ps – people, planet and prosperity – for this case as follows: The farmers and the consumers constituted the people in the spice supply chain. The farmers supplying organic, export-worthy spices under the guidance of VIPL gained 30% more than regular spice farmers, which were accrued through cost savings and better prices. The consumers benefitted from the pesticide-free, organic spices through accrued health gains. The manufacture of organic, pesticide-free spices helped the planet, as the process did not release hazardous chemicals into the atmosphere. VIPL manufactured pesticide-free spice with a focus on prosperity.

The case study can be introduced in a course on sustainability while discussing the triple bottom line concept. This case study showed how a for-profit company grew without losing sight of the planet or its focus on people. This case is best suited for students who have preliminary knowledge of supply chain management, operations and sustainability. Therefore, it is suited for sophomore-year students of MBA.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

There is a scarcity of research about cultural aspects of organization related to lean implementation. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of lean practices and organizational culture on the operational performance of small- and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises.

The study is based on a survey conducted and data collected from 215 manufacturing SMEs in India. The hypothesized relationships are then analyzed with structural equation modeling.

The results showed that the constructs of lean practices and organizational culture have significant and direct effects on the operational performance of Indian manufacturing SMEs. Further, this research shows the mediating effect of organizational culture on sustaining lean processes within small-medium manufacturing business setups.

Future research is required in a more diverse context to confirm the generalization of the results. Future research may be extended to investigate the effects of lean and organization cultural aspects on measures of financial, social and environmental performance.

The results obtained would help managers of manufacturing SMEs to better understand the linkage between lean and operational performance, considering the aspect of cultural change management in an organization. The outcome of this research provides useful indications of how organizations can work to sustain the philosophy of lean manufacturing within their workplace.

There is a lack of research at the critical intersection of organizational culture and sustainability of lean implementation. Culture is key to making changes required for lean implementation and in sustaining the drive toward lean production and management. This research is an attempt to fill that gap.

Technologically, the Canadian securities industry has become extremely complex and this has presented a serious challenge to law enforcement agencies. The industry continues to make large investments in systems technology and electronic equipment in order to participate in an increasingly fast paced and global system. In addition, Canadian investment firms have been taken over by large banks which has done a great deal to further strengthen their global position. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has come to the realisation that an effective enforcement strategy would have equally to invest in technology and to be prepared to undertake investigations of increased international dimension.

Given the growing significance of contemporary socio-economic and infrastructural conversations of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), this research seeks to provide a general overview of the academic landscape concerning PPP.

To offer a nuanced perspective, the study adopts the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) methodology to meticulously analyse 3,057 journal articles, mapping out the thematic contours within the PPP domain.

The analysis highlights PPP's pivotal role in harmonising public policy goals with private sector agility, notably in areas like disaster-ready sustainable infrastructure and addressing rapid urbanisation challenges. The emphasis within the literature on financial, risk, and performance aspects accentuates the complexities inherent in financing PPP and the critical need for practical evaluation tools. An emerging focus on healthcare within PPP indicates potential for more insightful research, especially amid ongoing global health crises.

This study pioneers the application of LDA for an all-encompassing examination of PPP-related academic works, presenting unique theoretical and practical insights into the diverse facets of PPP.

Microcredit has become a popular tool for women's socioeconomic development across the globe. The purpose of this study is to examine the influences of gender ideology on women's microcredit participation and their status within the household in rural Bangladesh.

The study adopted a cross‐sectional design. Data were collected from 342 randomly selected married men in five northwest villages. A path analysis was conducted to test the hypothesized model.

Almost 52 percent of the married women were microcredit‐borrowers. However, in 81 percent of cases the loans were fully controlled by their husbands. This study indicates that low socioeconomic status influences women borrowing loans while conservative gender ideology constrain them from using the loans. It also appears that their husbands' liberal gender ideology facilitates women's use of loans (active microcredit participation), which in turn improves their status as household co‐breadwinner.

Though the study is based on men's reports and also correlational (not inferential) by nature, it provides a comprehensive understanding about the way microcredit intervention has been practiced in rural Bangladesh. This may have significant policy and practical implications.

The study discuses under what conditions microcredit intervention can contribute to improve women's status in rural Bangladesh. It is recommended that microcredit intervention should address patriarchal ideology by creating an environment where people may have a chance to re‐think the importance of women's roles and contributions.

The study is original in the linking of theory, policy and practice in the context of patriarchal ideology and microcredit interventions for enhancing women's status in rural Bangladesh.

Developing nations are starting to take centre stage and are becoming more conscious of their economic potential in the tourism sector. Earlier, these countries were largely left out of the tourist sector. Today, the foreign exchange reserves of these nations are mostly derived from tourism and a nation's balance of payments derived through tourism supports international trade and stabilizes the economy. The chapter adopts a case study method to evaluate the prospects of inclusive growth through socio economic well-being. In the dynamic and constantly evolving tourism industry, it is imperative to make the growth more inclusive so that there is a balanced approach to long term sustainable development. When it comes to using traditional skills and cultural heritage to participate in this economic paradigm, rural artisans face both opportunities and challenges as the global tourism landscape undergoes evolving transformations. The study commences by closely examining the current market obstacles that rural artisans in the tourism industry face, which encompass a range of issues such as shifting consumer preferences, market saturation and the aftermath of external shocks like pandemics. The chapter indicates major obstacles impeding the integration of rural artisans into the tourism value chain by means of a thorough empirical analysis. In order to overcome the obstacles, the study investigates inclusive growth and how it might act as a spur to improve the socio-economic circumstances of rural craftsmen. The findings in the chapter distil best practices that promote inclusivity, empower local communities and support sustainable tourism development by looking at successful case studies and policy interventions.