Arab Economic and Business Journal最新文献

The current study was differentiated from previous empirical studies given its reliance on a panel dynamic model to analize the relationship between trade and economic growth, through addressing the impact of resource curse, openness and institutional quality on the economic growth of the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) during the period (2002-2012). This model was based, on the long run, on the panel cointegration tests, the fully modified least squares method and dynamic least squares methods. On the short run, the relationship was estimated through the use of Impulse response functions. It concluded that trade openness has an important role in explaining the economic growth of the GCC on the long run, the role of oil exports is uncertain, while the role of institutional quality is absent. On the short run, the institutional quality level achieved by these countries may prevent the negative impact of dependence on oil exports. Accordingly, the resource curse hypothesis was not proven in the GCC countries on the long or short runs.

This study investigates the factors affecting the acceptance and implementation of E-marketing and its impact on marketing performance in small and medium-sized restaurants (SMRs) in Palestine. Potential factors were derived and conceptually-modelled for analysis based on popular technology acceptance models in literature. Three contexts (technological, organizational and environmental) with sixteen factors were hypothesized to influence E-marketing in the SMRs. Relevant data were gathered from a randomly-selected sample of 223 SMRs working in Palestine. Data were reported by participants using a self-report questionnaire. Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression were employed to analyze the collected data. The results revealed that all individual hypothesized factors have positive significant impact on E-marketing implementation. Regression models indicated that relative advantage, customer pressure and market scope have significant positive impact on implementation. The regression analysis also shows that E-marketing has a positive significant impact on marketing performance. The implications of this study which would benefit all stakeholders within the SMRs context are highlighted.

In recent years, competition in the Lebanese plastic industry has significantly increased. At the same time, industry reports have shown that the sector is still resilient. A closer look at the sector shows that mounting competition incentivized many firms to adopt manufacturing systems that can provide better cost and quality. A large number of studies in the literature have focused on lean production and its efficiency gains. However, the challenges remain in the ability to implement the lean philosophy in manufacturing industries. This paper aims to explore the production system in the plastic manufacturing in Lebanon and shed the light on the implementation of the lean system and its related barriers. Based on the literature, a map of lean practices is drawn. A survey analysis using a sample of 20 factories is performed to explore the status of lean implementation in these organizations. The results indicate the existence of several barriers and challenges that prevent the Lebanese plastic manufacturing firms to implement lean practices. Firms suffer from a wide misconception of the lean system. Moreover, the results reveal that several firms use some aspects of lean manufacturing without realizing it.

Much research is devoted to the study of the effect of oil on GCC markets. The link is evident, although waning. Little is known about the effect of other commodities, maybe because intuitively they are thought not to impact significantly these markets. However a finding of independence, or no-relation, has many implications for portfolio construction. Theoretically, if commodity markets respond to similar shocks as oil, which is a commodity itself, one would expect a positive relation. A negative relation is possible if commodities are diversifiers, or hedges, or even safe havens for GCC stock markets. The purpose of this study is to delineate empirically the nexus between GCC stock markets and commodity indexes. The results show that commodity indexes are in effect strong diversifiers and safe havens for GCC stock markets. One can improve the performance of a stock portfolio in GCC markets by including commodity indexes or, by extension, their derivatives. In other terms the risk/return trade-off is favourable to GCC investors. In fact the opportunity that is provided by the inclusion of commodities is puzzling: how come there is such an untapped opportunity, i.e. why didn’t the GCC stock markets condense, absorb, and price this opportunity?