Current Issue : January - March Volume : 2015 Issue Number : 1 Articles : 5 Articles
With the great discrepancy in the literature as to which variables do in fact lead to success or\nfailure of small businesses there is no theory; the Lussier 15 variable business success versus\nfailure prediction model stands out in its accuracy that has been tested and validated already in\nthree very different parts of the world. This study further contributes by testing the model in\nIsrael with a sample of 205 small businesses - 101 failed and 104 successful. Results support\nthe model�s validity in Israel, reinforcing its global validity and moving toward a theory; while\ndemonstrating similarity of SMEs in Israel to those in other economies....
Advances in the field of digital payment methods have fundamentally changed their operation.\nThese technological progressions have helped bring safer, cheaper, more stable and\nall-inclusive payment systems to the world. This paper provides a brief overview of digital\npayment systems. It also argues that government identity managements systems have a\npotential role in supporting more trusted and secure digital payments. It relates this to a pilot\nproject underway in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that attempts to leverage its government\nidentity management system to encourage wider participation in the national Wages Protection\nSystem (WPS)....
The 8D method is a complex tool for solving problems of\nsignificant scale which are hard for individuals to solve and\ninvolve solutions which require extra resources. However,\nseveral problems have been detected in the method of 8D�s\nusage in modern organizations. The main aim of this paper\nis to define critical factors which lead to the demotivation\nof problem-solving teams. The primary aim of this research is to empirically investigate the current state of the usage of 8D in Slovak enterprises, including the context of employees� motivation and\ninvolvement; to identify opportunities for improvement of\nthe implementation of 8D by increasing the involvement\nand motivation of problem-solving teams as well as the\nproper usage of the methodology. Questionnaires were\nissued to industrial enterprises operating in Slovakia. Data\nfrom the research were used to propose ways for industrial\nenterprises to increase their 8D effectiveness by setting the\nright performance indicators and the way to integrate these\nindicators into the motivation system. The question to be\nanswered is how to effectively use the intellectual capital\nof problem-solving teams and increase employees� satisfaction in the broader context of the improvement of the\neffectiveness of problem-solving methodology....
Being exposed to financial market price risk is an omnipresent aspect of investing. This includes the risk of capital\nlosses when investing in the stock or bond market or the risk of currency fluctuations when investing abroad. In this\narticle, we compare symmetric and asymmetric hedging approaches. We argue that asymmetric hedging is the\nbetter choice for most investors. We discuss active hedging based on trend-following models and suggest a passive\noption-based strategy to benchmark them. Here we find that trend-following models often are superior to the optionbased\nstrategy. Finally, we identify three market characteristics, which may have a significant impact on the\noutperformance of trend-following models over passive option-based hedging strategies: the relationship between\nthe historical and implied volatility, the occurrence of large price movements and the presence of high short-term\nnoise in the market....
When risk tolerance is varied from small to large values in a parametric programming study using CEV as the\nmaxim and, a family of maximum value solutions are obtained that can be compactly summarized in policy region\ntabulations (in the discrete case) or asset allocation tabulations (in the continuous case). This gives the decision\nanalyst an awareness of the full spectrum of solutions, from the one appropriate for the ultra-risk-averse decision\nmaker, to the one appropriate for the risk neutral decision maker. When the interval of uncertainty from the least\nsquare risk tolerance estimation procedure is compared to the policy region tabulation or asset allocation tabulation,\none obtains the solutions that are most preferred by the decision maker whose risk tolerance has just been\nestimated. From these solutions, all optimal in a neighborhood of the estimated risk tolerance, a final solution can be\nselected with complete awareness of what nearby optimal solutions would be like. In addition, for decision analyses\ninvolving an information option, parametric analysis reveals that the risk-averse CEVSI evaluation of information can\nbe substantially greater than the risk neutral EVSI evaluation, which may lead to acquisition of information in cases\nwhere the risk neutral decision maker would pass it by. Hence use of EVSI for buy decisions about information may\nresult in serious underutilization of information, leading to much greater downside risk than would be the case if\nCEVSI were used for those very same information buy decisions....
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