Published: March 22, 2011

This article describes a method for human capital scenario analysis, one that may be used as an organizational intelligence (OI) tool capable of supporting management decision-making. Here, scenario analysis supports a knowledge management based (KM-based) decisional method for integrating human resource (HR) and fiscal data in performance measurement. This OI scenario analysis tool may be used in strategic management, organizational development, performance measurement, and HR-related risk mitigation. The aim is to strengthen decisional capacity with regard to the management of human capital and in general with regard to the advancement of organizational performance and productivity goals. The approach taken is …

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Published: March 22, 2011

With Facebook reaching half a billion users in mid-2010 and two thirds of consumers worldwide using the Internet before purchasing goods (Erbenich, Freundt, 2008) the social web represents an increasingly important point of interaction or touchpoint between businesses and consumers. This paper asks marketing professionals and experts from academia about the impact of social media marketing on the decision-making process and evaluates which social web platforms are most suitable for influencing high involvement purchase decisions. The results indicate that in the early phases of the purchase decision process, social networks, wikis and blogs are the platforms to use. In the …

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Published: Dec. 16, 2014

The objective of this article is to develop a model to measure employee engagement. In doing so, the article firstly develops a theoretical model by identifying employee engagement constructs from the literature. Secondly, identifying measuring criteria of these constructs from the literature, and thirdly, to validate the theoretical model to measure employee engagement in South Africa. The theoretical model consists of 11 employee engagement constructs, measured by a total of 94 measuring criteria. The empirical process of validation employed data collected from 260 respondents who study towards an MBA degree at two private business schools in KwaZulu-Natal. The validation process …

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Published: Dec. 15, 2014

The South African government recognizes the importance of entrepreneurial activity as a means of energizing the country’s economy and encouraging growth and development. The rapid growth in family businesses in South Africa can be attributed to the rationalization process taking place in many large organizations, as well as to the growing inability of the informal sector to create new jobs. However, the contribution of family businesses to socio-economic growth has never really received sufficient attention. This article expands on the work of previous family-business literature in South Africa. From the literature, there is evidence of family-business failure which is due …

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Published: Sept. 18, 2014

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate regarding the contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to firm’s performance. As the ICT impact on bank performance is beyond the scope pf most similar studies, this study further investigates the impact of Information and Communication Technology Cost Efficiency (ICTCE) on the performance of banks as well. The study assessed the impact of ICT on the performance of South African banking industry using annual data over the period 1990-2012 published by Bankscope – World banking information source. Data analysis is carried out in a dynamic panel environment using the orthogonal transformation approach. …

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Published: Feb. 20, 2014

The study investigates the impact of foreign direct investing on economic development of post Comecon transition economy countries. Neoclassical growth theory model is used to analyze the effects of FDI on economic growth. The results show significant FDI influence on economic growth of host countries. The paper concludes with explaining the results and suggesting some policy recommendations

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Published: Feb. 25, 2014

For the last two decades, board diversity is increasingly considered as a significant mechanism of good corporate governance. Thus, the question arises whether a heterogeneously or rather a homogenously composed board contributes to the efficiency of a company’s management and monitoring. Especially national and international regulators and standard setters consider board diversity to be associated with an increasing firm performance. Therefore, the economic impact of board diversity aspects needs to be investigated empirically. This study examines the relationship between diversity within management boards and corporate performance for the German two-tier system by presenting a comprehensive literature analysis as well as …

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