Issue #1 (Volume 17 2019)

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between management accounting practices and strategy development in SMEs. SMEs are among the main actors of economic development and growth. To determine the right strategies in a variable and competitive market, the qualitative and quantitative knowledge produced by the accounting system is needed. The management accounting system can influence managerial decisions, change strategies, and affect the performance of the firm through its extensive practices. Using the multivariate statistical analyses, the results of the applied studies for SMEs show that the management accounting system’s planning and control, cost management, and performance measurement and evaluation functions significantly affect which strategy the firms will implement. According to the research, the management accounting practices used by SMEs are related to the company strategies they have taken, and these actions have been reached as an effect on the strategies of the companies.

This study focused on corporate governance and performance of selected Nigerian multinational firms from 2012 to 2016. Specifically, the study focused on the effect of board size, activism and committee activism on return on asset and firm growth rate. Secondary data collected from four multinational firms were analyzed via static panel estimation techniques. While board size and board activism exerted significant negative impact on return on asset, committee activism exerted insignificant impact. The results of the study further showed that board size and board activism exert insignificant negative impact on firm’s growth rate, while committee activism insignificantly spurs firm’s growth rate. Decisively, discoveries from this study reflect that corporate governance has significant negative impact on return on asset, but has insignificant influence on the growth rate of Nigerian multinational firms. Based on these findings, the authors recommended that corporate governance dynamics in firms world over should be reconsidered, such that it gives credence to more than just numbers of persons or meetings held, but the main reasons and deliberations in such meetings. It was also recommended that excessive increase in magnitude or frequency of meetings held by board of directors cum committee should be avoided.

Due to the country’s lack of natural resources and its dependence on human resources, Jordanian universities have started to implement quality assurance system aiming to improve effectiveness and efficiency of the higher educational system. This paper presents the results of a research that aims to identify the main issues and challenges facing these universities in implementing quality assurance system. Data for this research were collected using a survey mailed to all public and private universities to investigate the main issues affecting the implementation of quality assurance system in Jordanian universities. The results of this research showed that the most important challenges faced by Jordanian universities are: human and lack of awareness, resistance to change and cultural among others. The research findings hoped to be useful for both universities and policy makers in the government in order to realize the full benefits of implementing quality assurance system. Hence, this and other research on implementing quality assurance in higher educational institutions might be of assistance.

This study examines the links among job dissatisfaction, intrinsic and extrinsic learning motivation, and creative work involvement (CWI). It also investigates the moderating effect of proactive personality. The research data were obtained from two surveys conducted four months apart involving 271 employees. Negative impacts of job dissatisfaction on (1) intrinsic learning motivation and (2) CWI were discovered. Positive impacts of both intrinsic and extrinsic learning motivation on CWI were found. Intrinsic learning motivation mediated the relationship between job dissatisfaction and CWI. In addition, proactive personality played moderating roles in the relationships between job dissatisfaction and (1) intrinsic learning motivation, extrinsic learning motivation and (2) CWI.

Formal education plays a big role in the construction and development of students’ competence and skill. A survey on the fashion engineering education in Indonesia found that most students had not appropriately applied the competence and skill they learned. Many of them did not say anything despite experiencing loss, were reluctant to ask for exchange or compensation, littered the product’s waste, and had no interest in using do-it-yourself (DIY) skills to make their own products. Therefore, this study is aimed at depicting the importance of learning the Consumer Education materials, the application of living values in the Consumer Education materials, and the effectiveness of consumer living values on students’ character-building. In this survey-based study, the ex post facto approach was used in order to evaluate the results of Consumer Education learning through reflective assessment sheet. The research population was 123 students of Fashion Engineering Education Study Program in higher education institutions in Yogyakarta Province who had passed the Consumer Education course in the odd semester in Indonesia in 2017. The sample was established through the stratified proportional random sampling technique, while the descriptive statistical analysis was applied to the findings of reflective assessment. The results show the students agree that learning Consumer Education course is imperative for day-to-day life and the Consumer Education materials are found to be effective in consumers’ character-building. This study has not internalized of the values through advice, example, discussion, role playing, and participation in the activities of consumption events around daily life. Further studies are needed for developing a relevant curriculum, training in designing content, strategies, instruments, and evaluation of learning.

This article aimed to observe the influence of Good Corporate Governance (GCG) and Sharia compliance on the profitability of Sharia banks in Indonesia. This study uses secondary data obtained from 2012 until 2016 with nine samples of Indonesia’s Sharia banks according to purposive sampling criteria. Data are processed by using data panel regression analysis. The independent variables used are the composite value of GCG, which is the result of the self-assessment of the Sharia bank, as well as the proxy of Sharia compliance, namely Islamic Income Ratio (IsIR) and Profit Sharing Ratio (PSR), while the dependent variable used is profitability with a Return on Equity (ROE) as the proxy. The results showed that GCG and PSR variables have negative values indicating that there is no influence of GCG and PSR on ROE, while the variable of IsIR influences ROE value. This study provides benefits in presenting useful information to assess the compliance of Islamic banks based on Sharia principles.

The aim of this article is to assess how human capital, and more specifically training and experience, helps in forecasting and monitoring credit risk. It uses a survey of a sample of loan officers in a major French mutualist bank and applies analysis of variance and correlation to determine the relationships among variables. The study of these two components of human capital in SME loan officers shows that their ability to anticipate risk depends above all on their training rather than on their experience. Some methods of anticipating risk are more important than others. Loan officers monitor their clients in similar ways, whatever the degree and nature of their experience. The findings have two important implications for credit risk management and human capital: first, both technical and regulatory training is crucial to enable loan officers to anticipate bank credit risk, second, experience, whether in banking or as a loan officer, only makes a difference in monitoring risk. These results will be useful when banks are planning recruitment, career management and resource and skills allocation. They also suggest that staff knowledge management will enable banks to use their human capital effectively to reach their own objectives with regard to risk control, and those fixed by the regulators. This work is, as far as it is known, the first to study the role of human capital in managing credit risk. The authors show that training is more important than experience in default risk anticipation, but that experience is useful in risk monitoring.

Multiple factors such as human capital, amount raised in the first round, innovation etc. have an impact on the funding prospect of new ventures. This paper explored the influencing factors that drive multiple rounds of funding for new venture firms and provided a much broader perspective of funding drivers during the early stages of the new venture firm. Using signalling theory and human capital theory, this paper analyzed signals that influence the acquisition of funds in the first round and whether those signals persisted for the second and third rounds of funding when information asymmetries between the investors and new venture firms reduce. This study disentangled the signalling effects of the human capital factors across three funding rounds and proved the diminishing value of signals across each subsequent round of funding. Finding showed that the signal effect from premier institution education was the only human capital signal that persisted across each round of funding, while other signals did not persist beyond the first round of funding. In addition, new venture firms with founders educated from premier educational institutions were able to attract more investors and close more funding rounds. This study also proved that the amount raised in the first round of funding positively impacted the amounts raised in the second and third rounds stressing its importance for new venture firms. Empirical demonstration of the propositions was done with 156 new venture firms in India, the fastest growing and third largest startup ecosystem in the world.

The study intends to find out motivation behind domestic consumers’ decision to buy domestic products by focusing on the role of social identity and empathy. Social identity helps to explain the position of local identity towards local products amidst myriad foreign products, and empathy helps to grasp the role of empathetic feeling towards local products that look inferior under foreign products domination. It does so by integrating theories of social identity, empathy and planned behavior. The novelty of this study lies on exploration of empathy in the relationship between national identity and domestic product purchasing intention, which is so far absent in management literature. Determination of sample size follows the rule of ten multiplications to indicator number. The respondents are consumers in a mall in Kendari. It applies convenient technique for sampling. It applies Smart PLS for data analysis. The results should be that empathy affects domestic purchasing intention and so does national identity on domestic purchasing intention, meaning that empathy partially mediates the effect of national identity on domestic product purchasing intention. Meanwhile, ethnocentrism leads to domestic purchasing intention, while national identity has significant effects on domestic product purchasing intention and ethnocentrism.

Workplace bullying is important to business and government, because it has a real impact on unfortunate casualties’ wellbeing and organizations’ benefits. Studies into the causes and outcomes of workplace bullying with a focus on the key psychodynamic factors underlying harassment and the subsequent results are rare. This paper applies Rene Girard’s mimetic desire theory to clarify the elements and non-cognizant components associated with “interdividual” connections prompting aggression for the victim by the harasser. The disclosure of mirror neurons affirms that mimetic desire grows unwittingly through a mediator of the mimetic brain. Mimetic desire theory helps to recognize and understand that the destructive patterns of behavior and emotional responses to situations leading to moral harassment is a direct consequence of the mimetic rivalry between the bully and the victim. The unconscious mechanism is then brought up to the consciousness. The bully and the victim can avoid becoming entrapped within dysfunctional and toxic relationships such as bullying. The use of the mimetic desire concepts also enables human resources managers, bystanders, and practitioners to better deal with protagonists. This can help minimize or eliminate workplace bullying.

The development of technology is unbelievably rapid. From limited local networks to high speed Internet, from crude computing machines to powerful semi-conductors, the world had changed drastically compared to just a few decades ago. In the constantly renewing process of adapting to such an unnaturally high-entropy setting, innovations as well as entirely new concepts, were often born. In the business world, one such phenomenon was the creation of a new type of entrepreneurship. This paper proposes a new academic discipline of computational entrepreneurship, which centers on: (i) an exponentially growing (and less expensive) computing power, to the extent that almost everybody in a modern society can own and use that; (ii) omnipresent high-speed Internet connectivity, wired or wireless, representing our modern day’s economic connectomics; (iii) growing concern of exploiting “serendipity” for a strategic commercial advantage; and (iv) growing capabilities of lay people in performing calculations for their informed decisions in taking fast-moving entrepreneurial opportunities. Computational entrepreneurship has slowly become a new mode of operation for business ventures and will likely bring the academic discipline of entrepreneurship back to mainstream economics.

The study aimed to examine the effect of regulatory pressure and competence on the application of accrual-based accounting through organizational culture. This research was conducted at the Central Maluku and South Maluku Regency regional work unit, Maluku Province. The sampling technique utilized in this study was proportionate stratified random sampling. There were 102 respondents from 17 SKPD, and 6 respondents were from each SKPD. Research result exhibited that regulatory pressure, competence, and organizational culture significantly influence the application of accrual-based accounting. The organizational culture successfully mediates the influence of regulatory pressure and competency on the application of accrual-based accounting. This research model differs from previous research, namely on the development of research models by incorporating organizational culture as a media variable. Previous studies only explained the model partially the relationship of regulatory pressure, competency, organizational culture to the application of accrual-based accounting, while in this study the variables were explained in a new model unit.

This paper is mainly to study implementation of organizational culture in enhancing business competitiveness. Culture is seen as a soft system tool that reflects beliefs that are able to drive business performance in an international environment. Today, culture is a part of instrument to measure organizational readiness in managing business in an international environment. The research is focused on evaluatiny organizational culture in international-scale hotel in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. International-scale hotels are faced with differences in the nature of employees and customers, so management needs to develop a culture type as a strategy to encourage business competitiveness. The research applies Denison’s organizational culture model with four dimensions: involvement, consistency, adaptability, and mission. Sample includes 248 working people at four star hotels with various positions, that is managers, supervisors and employees. The results of the study found that international hotel chains have the power to carry out internal alignment as a strategy to increase competitiveness through employee empowerment programs, team orientation, skills development, and alignment of work values. The results of the study illustrate the importance of internal and external dimension consistency for international business competitiveness.

Oil prices and economic growth are important indicators to see the success of Indonesia’s development performance. The use of oil as the world’s main energy source in general and Indonesia in particular is driven by industrialization. The more industries, the greater the energy resources needed. In the same context, economic growth will also increase oil demand. The purpose of this study is to examine and create empirical evidence of the relationship between world oil prices and economic growth towards domestic oil prices. Furthermore, to test and create empirical evidence on the relationship of domestic oil prices, agriculture, trade, investment, inflation, interest rates, industry, labor, exchange rates and balance of payments to economic growth. The expected output of this research will be to provide information on the policy of the transmission mechanism of oil prices and economic growth in Indonesia. The method used is descriptive and econometric approach to the analysis of simultaneous equation models with two stages of the least squares method. The results of the study indicate that there is a simultaneous relationship between oil prices and economic growth. Economic growth, world oil prices and domestic oil prices a year ago had a positive effect on domestic oil prices. The second result shows that domestic oil, agriculture, investment, interest rates, industry, exchange rates, balance of payments and economic growth in the previous year have a positive effect on economic growth, while trade, inflation and labor have a negative influence on economic growth.

This study analyzes the effect of transformational leadership on nurse performance using intervening variables of social competence, self-efficacy, and burnout. The partial least square data analysis method with an explanatory research type is used. Primary data are obtained via a questionnaire. A nurse population of 160 from five private hospitals in Indonesia’s East Java Region was analyzed using proportional random sampling. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and partial least squares (PLS). The result of this study proved that transformational leadership has no significant effect on nurse performance, however, it affects significantly on social competence, self-efficacy, and has significant negative effect on burnout. The low performance of nurse was caused by the main job that is providing service for patient and doing administration work for BPJS, which require plenty of time, that the inseparable part of a nurse life is burnout, regarding the high mobility in providing service for patient. Social competence has a significant positive effect on nurse performance, self-efficacy has a significant positive effect on burnout, self-efficacy has a significant positive effect on nurse performance, and burnout has a significant negative effect on nurse performance. Novelty of this study is self-efficacy that has a significant positive effect on social competence.

Companies across the world are struggling to keep the employees engaged and retained to their work. Moreover, today’s workforce is increasingly seeking intrinsic benefits beyond the material rewards of a job. In this context, this study aims to assess the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), workplace spirituality (WS) and job performance (JP) in a non-Western setting where primary quantitative research was conducted in an Indian setting. The sector under study was Banking, Finance, and Insurance Services (BFSI), given retention issues since the financial crisis of 2008. A statistically evaluated sample of 433 respondents was utilized to attain the findings. Results revealed a statistically significant positive relationship between OCB, WS and JP that was achieved through regression analysis. However, findings also showed that OCB is not a moderator between WS and JP. The gap in the research was addressed given the lack of studies determining the impact of OCB on individual job performance. Further, the impact was positively highlighted in the Indian context. The implications to the BFSI sector were made that required companies to promote a culture for voluntary work practices to enhance JP.

The innovative role of “One-Stop Integrated Services” (one-stop service in Indonesia) is now being developed. On the other hand, the problems faced by the community in their efforts to obtain service have not been decomposed precisely. The issue of distance and travel time to the service center (service offices: OSS) and the resulting costs are still burdensome. This situation is very prevalent in communities in districts, cities, and provinces, because Indonesia’s topography is divided into land administration areas and large islands.
The aim is to unravel the burden of problems faced by the community of service users in the land administration area and large islands. The authority, main tasks, and functions of the “one-stop integrated service office” can be stretched close to the residents of far-flung communities in remote areas, because the original public service users are there.
Technically, the tasks and functions of PTSP services are delegated through sub-district offices in various parts of the region, and may even be delegated to the village offices/village offices. PTSP parties only need to place 1 (one) up to 2 (two) personnel to carry out this task. This technique administratively utilizes government work networks and e-gov networks that are ready and able to mediate recording and transactions in real time. Regional Government Banks can also provide support in the same way to handle the management of super service delivery transactions in various parts of the district.

In the present world featuring rapidly changing conditions of external environment, it is crucial for companies to be adaptive and resistant to any types of fluctuations. When creating scenarios of business portfolio development or medium-/long-term planning of firm activities, it is important to evaluate an efficiency of such scenario implementation. Depending on the degree of openness of the system-firm, one can talk about the different degrees of its adaptability and ability to develop. The degree of freedom of the system is determined by its entropy. The number of degrees of freedom determines the system’s ability to develop, evolve (in general).
Thus, it is important to investigate the influence the entropy and information to a firm – a system and create some appropriate instruments for estimation scenarios of development.
The author studies the adaptive capabilities of a firm – a system to the external environment conditions and draws a conclusion that a reasonable combination of order and chaos is required for a firm’s evolutionary development, or one should search for optimal balance between an entropy, as a degree of uncertainty (chaos), and a system awareness, as an indicator of its arrangement.
The author has proposed an index of strategic adaptability for evaluation of business portfolio development scenarios. The use of system’s information and entropy as evaluation criteria’s for the feasibility of scenarios is proposed.
The offered approach and instruments for evaluation of the firm’s asset portfolio development scenarios do not require complex calculations and are convenient enough to be used by any firm, concerned about its adaptability to the external environment conditions in practice.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies on consumer patronage of telecommunication industry: an MTNF Science and Technology State. It specifically aims to determine the influence of MTNF Science and Technology Scholarship Scheme as a CSR strategy on consumer patronage of MTN and also, to assess the influence of MTN Foundation Restructured Schools Connect Project as a CSR strategy on the corporate image of MTN. The survey research method was chosen for the study. The study population comprises subscribers of MTN in Enugu State, which is 1,295.918. A sample size of 400 was determined using Taro Yamane’s formula. Applying the simple linear regression, the findings revealed that MTNF Science and Technology Scholarship Scheme as a CSR strategy has a significant influence on consumer patronage of MTN (r = 0.945; t = 56.377; F = 3173.334; p < 0.05). Similarly, it was revealed that there is significant influence of MTN Foundation Restructured Schools Connect Project as a CSR strategy on corporate image of MTN (r = 0.978; t = 92.313; F = 8521.649; p < 0.05). Consequently, the study concludes that CSR is an effective marketing strategy for acquiring customer patronage and generating goodwill and good corporate image. Therefore, MTN should consolidate on executing and improving on CSR projects. This is highly significant as improved CSR will ensure improved customer patronage and boost good corporate image for MTN.

The present study puts forward a model that examines variables of human resources management practices, organizational culture, knowledge management and organizational performance. By this model, it intends to explore the effects of human resources management practices and organizational culture on organizational performance. Particularly, it intends to find out their relationship with knowledge management as a mediator. The research applies SmartPLS for data analysis, with 163 respondents by means of saturation sampling technique. The results display several facts. First, both HRD practices and organizational culture have significant effects on knowledge management. Second, while knowledge management and organizational culture have a significant effect on organizational performance, HRD practices do not significantly affect organizational performance. It makes knowledge management only serve a partial mediation between human resources management practices and organizational performance, and serve a full mediation between organizational culture and organizational performance.

This paper deals with relationships between puritanism, management and entrepreneurship. As this is an on-going debate among economic historians, it focuses on the period from the early 1800s until present times, where Norwegian high profile puritan entrepreneurship serves as the case.
The theoretical framework is that entrepreneurship is seen as an important liaison factor representing multifactor productivity in a Solow growth model. The paper provides new insight within different areas on the basis of utilization of available sources. Firstly, it gives new estimates of the entrepreneurship of the puritan leader, Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771–1824).
Secondly, it organizes his followers in three generations. The first is those who directly took up his heritage, i.e. Haugeans. Their heydays lasted until the middle of the 19th century. The second generation is characterized as Haugean descendants. These were highly influenced by the movement’s values. They dominated the scene from the late 1800s to the late 1900s. The third generation is called Neo-Haugeans, largely a fruit of the revival of Haugean values during the last decades.
Thirdly, the paper maps attributes and motivation of this puritan entrepreneurship during generations. The authors conclude that it was guided by high degree of innovation, family ownership, wide portfolios, and continuity, when stewardship seems to be an important motivational factor.

This research aims at testing the influence of performance evaluation of efficiency focus, performance evaluation of quality focus and task complexity on dysfunctional auditor behavior (DAB), the influence of task complexity (TC) on turnover intention (TI) and the influence of task complexity on dysfunctional auditor behavior (DAB), which is mediated by turnover intention. This research is conducted to auditors of Public Accountant Offices (PAO) in cities in Jakarta, East Java, South Sulawesi and Bali using 262 respondents as its sample and PLS-SEM analysis. The results of this research indicate that the performance evaluation of efficiency focus and task complexity has a positive influence on DAB, and the performance evaluation of quality focus has a negative influence on DAB. Furthermore, task complexity has a positive influence on turnover intention and turnover intention also partially mediates the influence of task complexity on DAB. This research is interesting, since the idea of developing the variable performance evaluation of efficiency focus by adding the ratcheting budget indicator proves that the testing of performance evaluation of increasingly higher efficiency focus increases DAB and the idea of including the variable of turnover intention proves that it can mediate the influence of task complexity on DAB.

Villages and sub-districts in Jayapura city are public organizations that provide service to the community. Villages and urban organizations require leadership, organizational culture and strong work motivation to support performance improvement. This research was conducted in 39 villages and sub-districts in the city of Jayapura. The population of this study was permanent employees in the villages and sub-districts in the city of Jayapura, which numbered 96 employees. All populations were chosen as research respondents, this research was census research. The analytical tool used in the research is Partial Least Square (PLS). The results of the study show that, first, direct leadership has no significant effect on employee performance, second, organizational culture has a significant effect on employee performance, third, leadership has a significant effect on work motivation, fourth, organizational culture has a significant effect on work motivation, fifth, work motivation has a significant effect on employee performance, sixth, work motivation is a perfect mediator of the influence of leadership on employee performance, seventh, work motivation as a partial mediator of the influence of organizational culture on employee performance.

The concept of “total quality management (TQM)” is broadly used in business. Regardless of the fact that several studies have analyzed this topic, little research has been conducted on integrating total quality management and supply chain management (SCM) practices in business organizations. The role of innovation capabilities is considered to be highly valuable, because they are considered feasible approaches, which can be applied by top management to enhance organizational effectiveness and productivity. This study aims to develop a new business model that integrates the most important practices between total quality management and supply chain management, while emphasizing the role of innovation capabilities. This paper also suggests possibilities toward a new approach with regard to minimizing the cost and improving operational performance. Furthermore, it proposes a conceptual framework that shows the major variables in explaining the new business model of integration practices between TQM and SCM, and addressing the role of innovation capabilities to handle this model.

Because of agency conflict in firms with dispersed ownership, governance mechanisms to mitigate this agency cost, such as shareholders’ active monitoring of the firm’s management, have been developed. However, shareholder activism is contextual; therefore, the characteristics of shareholder activism in corporate governance practices in Libyan listed companies we explored. The data were collected from the 42 non-financial and 22 financial companies listed in the Libyan stock market during 2007–2016. Data envelopment analysis was done to generate an efficiency score based on corporate governance and shareholder activism. Linear regression analysis was used to determine whether a relationship exists between the efficiency of corporate governance and shareholder activism. All the companies were characterized by joint private-government ownership. The companies had an average corporate governance index of 2.24. Implementation of the Libyan good corporate governance practices is anticipated to give a score ≥ 2.95.
Vote “No” shareholder activism targeting the boards of directors and their committees was the predominant form of shareholder activism (average number of annual events = 3.08) compared to shareholder proposal (average annual events = 1.67) and shareholder negotiation with management (average annual events = 1.6).
Shareholder activism was more frequent in companies with low than with average governance scores compared to those with above-average governance scores. Moreover, the scores of shareholder activism were inversely related to corporate governance scores (r = –0.766, p < 0.01). Ordinary least-squares regression analysis revealed that a decrease in corporate governance score of one unit was associated with a 57% increase in shareholder activism (B = –0.57, F = 30.64, p < 0.01).
Our study findings indicate that poor corporate governance practices do influence the frequency of shareholder activism in Libyan listed companies. Vote “No” activism is the most frequently used form of shareholder activism. The less frequent use of shareholder proposals and negotiation with management is probably related to legal and sociocultural factors.

Though current research identifies which institutions are important as boundary conditions for entrepreneurship, questions remain about how they actually influence national entrepreneurial activity, particularly through start-ups. Specifically, the authors attempt to answer the following question: How do formal incentives influence the start-up rates across countries? Through a conceptual framework where formal incentives and societal legitimacy represent formal and informal institutions, respectively, the authors contribute to existing knowledge about national start-up activity by showing both the mechanism and conditions under which formal incentives increase the start-up rate. First, it is argued that formal incentives influence the start-up rate indirectly through the market opportunities available through economic development. Second, it is argued that these formal and informal institutions substitute for one another. The arguments are confirmed with a panel dataset on 57 countries from the World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Surveys and Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. A key implication of the findings is that early efforts at stimulating economic development, for example, by incentivizing foreign investments in new technology, can also kickstart the entrepreneurial activity as much as entrepreneurial activity also contributes to economic development in return.

This research aims to propose and validate research of a New Framework for integration of the concept of sustainability in projects by investigating the relationship between project and sustainability for project success. Integrating sustainability in projects is crucial metric for project success. However, the dearth in literature and the slow pace in emerging literature has left many issues unanswered regarding integration of sustainability in projects and the commitment of project teams to sustainability pillars. Therefore, this article explores the current state of sustainability, its potential weaknesses and therein proposes corrective action for the legitimatization of a New Framework on ‘project sustainability’ in an authentic environment. The methodological approach adopted in this research is a pragmatic examination of secondary data collected by the project team during a one-year period that demonstrates the effects of neglecting proactive management of the three pillars of sustainability resulting in poor project performance in terms of resources and stakeholder resistance, as well as the lessons learned therein. The findings reveals a low degree of commitment by project teams towards sustainability particularly with regard to social and environment pillars, even though the economic pillar has been given much attention, there is still much to be done. Hence, the importance of the proposed New Framework for project success. This research concludes and recommends the need to integrate sustainability adequately throughout a project life-cycle for the attainment of organizational strategy and satisfying stakeholders’ expectations. However, this can take place with a knowledgeable project management team on sustainability.

Microfinance institutions render essential services to start-up small, micro, medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs) by way of extending loans to entrepreneurs. SMMEs operating in South Africa have relatively better access to microfinance loans in comparison with those operating in Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia. A survey was conducted in order to compare the relative ease of access to microfinance loans in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia based on a survey conducted in the four Sub-Saharan African countries. The ease of access to microfinance loans was assessed based on criteria defined by Barry and Tacneng (2014). A total of 401 SMMEs participated in the study. Loan applicants were asked to provide answers to questions that indicated the ease of securing loans and meeting loan repayment conditions. Emphasis was placed on the demand for collateral as a requirement for extending loans to applicants, the assessment of entrepreneurial and auditing skills of loan applicants, the difficulty of meeting loan repayment conditions, and adherence to regulations and guidelines recommended by governments. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate methods of data analyses were used for data analyses. The study found that about 21% of SMMEs were satisfied with the ease of securing loans, whereas the remaining 79% of SMMEs did not. The ease of access to microfinance loans varied by country in which South African loan applicants were the most satisfied in comparison with the remaining three countries. Securing microfinance loans, as well as fulfilling loan repayment conditions were easiest in South Africa, and most difficult in Ethiopia. In terms of ease of securing loans and meeting loan repayment conditions, the order of nations was ranked as South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia. In all four countries, the ease of access to microfinance loans was influenced by country of business operation, extent of benefits realized by SMMEs, and highest level of formal education.

This article reviews employee HIV and AIDS-related corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices by small business in Zimbabwe and South Africa. The article aims to present a comparative snapshot of how SMMEs are responding to the epidemic as a basis for developing a CSR framework that could be implemented by SMMEs in both countries. The article applies an exploratory literature review methodology to extract data from secondary sources. Research findings show that HIV and AIDS-related CSR in Zimbabwe appear disengaged from the direct influence of corporate business, the opposite of what South African SMMEs experience. In South Africa, SMME CSR practices experience pressure from large firms. However, differences in economic status between the two countries show no effect on the CSR behaviors of SMMEs in both countries when compared with each other. In both countries, findings reveal that SMMEs hardly establish HIV and AIDS policies and therefore rely on informal CSR practices to assist employees to deal with the pandemic in the workplace. Thus, the article submits that while HIV and AIDS practices are not formalized in both countries, SMMEs fulfil their epidemic-related CSR obligations towards employees’ corresponding with their smallness. In conclusion, the study recommends an empirical examination of the research question to establish a grounded recommendation for the development of a SMMEs CSR framework that could be implemented by SMMEs in both countries.

The purpose of the article is to study the innovation levers of developing the intellectual background for economic growth in two groups of post-socialist Central and Eastern European countries (middle-income and lower-middle-income countries). To achieve that, the quantitative effect of the national intellectual capital components (human capital, market capital, structural capital and capital of renewal and development) on the dynamics of the countries’ economic growth was determined.
For both groups, multiple regressions have been constructed that reflect the quantitative relationship between the economic growth rates (in the regressions – the indicator of real gross domestic product per capita) and the components of national intellectual capital in 2010–2018. It has been established that the key innovative indicator of the economic growth of middle-income countries is the national capital of renewal and development, which in general corresponds to the pan-European model of innovation and investment development. Education is the main factor that provides the basis for the economic growth of lower-middle-income countries. Recommendations on improvement of national innovation policy are offered.

Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) has been the epitome of policy reform pervading South Africa (SA) since 1994, the end of apartheid. Often making media headlines, it inherently arrogates itself to all stakeholders engaged in commerce with/within SA.
This article highlights the results of a qualitative study conducted to investigate recent (2013) changes to the B-BBEE legislative landscape in Cape Town (South Africa), with the focus being on one market segment: Qualifying Small Enterprises (QSEs). These enterprises operate within the same realm as Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs). The rationale for such a focus stemmed from QSEs/SMMEs seemingly rigid response to B-BBEE legislative change.
The study’s findings were in line with the researcher’s precedential assumption upon its initiation: legislative change to Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) for Qualifying Small Enterprises (QSEs) led to non-compliance and impeded transformation goals. The results give rise to a plethora of valuable insights into the dynamics of the industry, not only for strategic direction to be set for/by stakeholders on both a micro and macro level, but also providing a solid foundation relative to further research to be embarked upon – a notion highly advocated in supporting the integration of sustainable transformation in modern South Africa (SA).

The conditions for doing business at this stage are often similar in a game in which you need to calculate your actions a few steps ahead. At the same time, it is important to highlight several possible current options and make the necessary decision at the control moment. Moreover, each of the options formed should be justified, understandable and take into account the risk factors and available resources.
Today, the main problem of assessing and minimizing the risk of “unfriendly takeover” is due to the fact that in most cases the raider is a player who acts quite legitimately and relies on the loopholes of the current legislative framework. Therefore, it is easier to identify possible actions of the raider and to avoid them within the limits of the reverse game than to deal with the consequences.
The purpose of the research is to study the specificity of the individualized assessment and minimization of the risk of “unfriendly takeover” by using elements of game theory.
It has been taken into account that the effect of individualization in assessing the risk of unfriendly takeover of enterprises can possibly be achieved on the basis of the application of game theory, the elements of which provide simulation of the unfriendly takeover process within the mathematical description of the inherent combinations of attack/defence as if they actually occurred in time both within one state of the external environment and for their given set.
The results allowed forming mathematical decision-making models based on the elements of the antagonistic game “raider-target enterprise” and “raider games with the external environment”, which proved the possibility to: 1) identify possible functions of wins/losses; 2) combinations of attacks that can be neglected (that is, from the point of view of the rationality of decisions, will be rejected by the raider); 3) the ranking of the raider’s “attack combinations” for the reliability of their use during “unfriendly takeover”. Under such conditions, the target company can provide not only a detailed assessment, but also an effective minimization of the risk of “unfriendly takeover” and allocate the best combination of protection.

The main problem of the research is development of a conceptual framework for investment and innovation security, as well as the methodological approach to its assessment, which will allow monitoring and identifying the threats and achieving the desired security state of the national economy. It has been proved that investment and innovation security is a multi-level phenomenon, consisting of the following levels: global, national, corporate and household ones. Investment and innovation security is determined by three components, such as state security at the external and internal markets, security of enterprises (corporations) and individual households, which requires their balancing. The methodical approach to the integrated assessment of the investment and innovation security level is developed, which involves the development of integral index as the geometric mean of 3 sub-indices, which include single indices under the national, corporate and household level. The results of this methodological approach approbation allowed us to form preconditions for finding ways of growth, forecasting trends and building scenarios for strengthening the investment and economic security of Ukraine.

Promotion of innovations on the market is hampered in Ukraine by the lack of methodological approaches for analyzing the efficiency of innovative projects. The lack of appropriate methodology leads companies to refuse to innovate because of the uncertainty of final economic outcomes. The introduction of project based methods for innovation activity management allows, on the one hand, to reconcile strategic and operational objectives within the innovation process, innovation activity and general financial and economic activity of the enterprise, and on the other hand, to implement cognitive approaches to organization of company’s innovation management.
The research argues the possibilities of applying the canonical correlation method for structuring the causal links between the determined components of a company innovative capability, such as innovation potential, innovative business opportunities and system margin. As these components may be further assessed by quantitative indices, the method of regression analysis is also used to develop analytical tools for innovation management, which allow to reveal the interrelated impact of expenses on the results of innovation activity. The paper analyzes changes in a company innovative capability that can be provoked by increased material, depreciation, labor and information costs and discusses directions of interrelated changes. Practical testing of submitted proposals is realized based on the Ukrainian companies’ statements for 2012–2017.