Corruption in Lebanon: An Exploratory Study About Lebanese Managers’ and Employees’ Perceptions

Corruption is one of the major factors which affects the development of the economic sector in Lebanon. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the ways in which the perceptions on corruption differed among managers and employees in Lebanese businesses. The study focused on the underlying assumptions made about corruption, the ways in which corruption affects business operations, and the preference for certain strategies to deal with corruption in the business sector. The study followed a quantitative approach relying on a web-based survey. The final valid sample consisted of 50 Lebanese managers and employees. The results showed a positive inclination toward the corrupt behaviour either due to social norms which tolerate corruption or as a result of high-performance expectations from superiors. In addition, findings showed large discrepancies in regard to the contribution of organizational norms to the proliferation of corruption in the business sector. In fact employees considered that managers often overlook and sometimes even encourage corrupt behaviours that allow the attainment of organizational goals. The study highlights that corruption is engrained in Lebanon and has become prevalent to high extent that business actors use corrupt practices to be able to perform their activities and maintain their competitiveness. The findings of the study stress the urgency for business practitioners to take immediate action to mitigate corrupted actions by introducing changes in the organizational culture. Stressing and encouraging ethical values to combat corruption is a priority for all business actors as well as for public policy makers. Mediation of corruption necessitates more public awareness campaigns disclosing the negative effects of corruption on the health of sound business and the economy of the country at large.

Governance in Lebanese Banks: An Exploratory Research Before the COVID-19 Era

Banks locally and abroad have been subject to several financial crises which led top managers to look critically at their current practices in managing the financial resources in order to avoid losses and to prevent giving a negative image to the community of their customers. Parallel to the aforementioned events, banks have been observing an evolution of the banking investment activities in addition to the transformation of the financial market into an open market system.The different events characterized by higher risks and higher demands for financial services have incited banks to explore and emphasize the importance of governance principles. In this study, the researchers will expose the importance of governance and its main principles in the banking systems. The study will also address the aforementioned pertinent to its implementation according to the activities of Basel Committee on banking supervision. The aim of the study is to assess via a quantitative approach the actual governance practices within a convenient sample of Lebanese banks. The outcomes show that the selected banks abide by the principles of Corporate Governance required by Basel as well as by the Central Bank of Lebanon. Results also address the effect of sound governance on the performance of the Banks in question. Findings will serve to issue recommendations about best practices and to encourage the adoption of sound decisions to adopt Corporate Governance principles.

Analysis of Factors Affecting People’s Satisfaction on the National Target Program for New Rural Construction in Cai Lay District Tien Giang Province (Vietnam)

The article assesses people’s satisfaction about the National Target Program on New Rural Construction in Cai Lay district Tien Giang province (Vietnam). The data used in the article was collected in 2020, conducted a household survey according to a pre-designed questionnaire, with a total of 292 surveyed households. The information collected is processed using SPSS software and use the method of regression analysis to build models of the main factors affecting people’s satisfaction with the results of the program. Values of variables in the model are build according to Likert scale with 5 levels (very dissatisfied = 1; dissatisfied = 2; neutral = 3; satisfied = 4; very satisfied = 5). The regression results show that the main factors affecting the satisfaction of the people as the “transport system”, “production reorganization”, “market access”, “career change” and “labor training”.

Management Accounting and the Control of Organizational Performance

The increased emphasis upon the value chain and a growing focus on value adding activities has led to several new developments in management accounting. Critically evaluate these contemporary techniques and discuss the extent to which they offer improvements compared to traditional accounting techniques. Furthermore, management accounting will improve accounting techniques when value chain and add value-adding activities develop in the enterprise that searches for new accounting skills in the operation of the company. Generally, parts of traditional accounting techniques are not suitable for use in the current field of accounting, because these traditional accounting techniques could not provide the accurate index of cost, profit, depreciation and other factors considered by managers for operation. So, this essay would discuss several new accounting techniques in order to promote the performance of management and make manager will recognize what accounting techniques they should utilize for gaining better efficient management in the future.

Understanding the Roles of Effectuation and Bricolage in the Opportunity Creation Framework

The process of entrepreneurship is identifying and exploiting opportunities. Entrepreneurial action can also result in forming, rather than merely encountering opportunities. Researchers, like Alvarez and Barney (2007), also distinguish two approaches to entrepreneurial action, discovery and creation. In opportunity creation, opportunities for entrepreneurial profit are formed endogenously through action.Effectuation processes focus on what can be done, given the capacity to influence and means at hand, to move toward a future endpoint. Effectuation was developed in the context of entrepreneurship and it assumes that an opportunity may arise through control-based strategies.Bricolage was initially described by Levi-Strauss (1967) as ‘making do with what’s on hand’. This was extended by Baker and Nelson (2005) and applied to the process of value creation. They observed that some entrepreneurs prefer to engage in a process of “making do by applying combinations of resources at hand to new problems and opportunities”.These are new concepts to most entrepreneurship researchers, yet extremely useful in the understanding of opportunity creation. This conceptual paper will assist in the understanding of these concepts, and clarify the roles of effectuation and bricolage in the opportunity creation framework. A discussion section should attempt to bring the concepts to reality by highlighting realistic examples.

The Status of Corporate Social Responsibility

This report shows the reason why corporate social responsibility (CSR) is needed by Australia companies with a brief introduction of CSR, and in order to achieve sustainability, organisations should fulfil social expectations. Both organisations and society can benefit from acting CSR. Internally, acting CSR can decrease the turnover of employees and the company’s potential risk, improve customers satisfaction and the company’s reputation. In addition, externally, acting CSR will protect the environment, facilitate the economic development and improve organisations’ ability to survive. However, CSR is an uncompleted concept, it still has some limitations in comparability, consistency, reliability, and relevance. Therefore, effective regulatory system should be designed to monitor those companies that introduced CSR policies.

Financial Market Development and Income Distribution Inequality in the Emerging Markets

The disruptive effects of the subprime financial crisis have raised new global concerns toward the increasing income distribution inequality. Nowadays, it has become one of the mainstays of public and scientific discourse around the world. Theoretical financial Kuznets curve suggests that the relationship between financial market development and income distribution inequality follows an inverted U-shaped pattern. However, current literature failed to support this hypothesis. The expansion of the financial market truly provides more relative opportunities for the poor which benefits the equalization. But those advantage opportunities are likely to be captured by some specific groups instead of all population. The majority literature on this academic field focus on developed countries with cross-sectional and panel data analysis that providing controversial results. They emphasize the financial development as a consequence of economic growth without deep analysis of the financial market development as an independent entity in determining the inequality. This study proposes to use a more comprehensive and rigorous method to identify the direct relationship between financial market development and income distribution inequality in 10 most typical emerging markets. Both short-run and long-run impacts of financial market development on income distribution inequality are examined and defined by utilizing time-series data and error-correction modelling technique. By providing a better understanding of the relationship, the findings of the research would make contributions to financial market policy adjustments in developing countries.

An Experimental Analysis of Individual Irregularities Under the Temptation of Money: Network Simulation Interactive Platform Based on HTML5

Irregularities in economic activities are actually the result of mutual game between different stakeholders. This research combines psychology and experimental economics to analyze irregularities. This research is done on the HBuilder software platform, using HTML5 and other technologies. According to the Nash Equilibrium Theory, the behavioral trajectory of the participant is described. In the real incentive situation, the individual's decision-making behavior in the face of social dilemma is investigated. From the perspective of cost-benefit, the game characteristics of individual irregularities are analyzed. The exogenous punishment mechanism and the inherent personality trait are respectively Dimensions are explored. Experiment result shows: The exogenous punishment mechanism will have a significant inhibitory effect on individual irregularities. The level of risk appetite is related to gender and determines the individual's risk-taking tendency.

Risk Analysis of Two Leader Drink Company: PepsiCo and Coca-Cola

The purpose of this report is to introduce and analyze risk factors of PepsiCo and Coca-Cola. By identifying the internal factors involving strategy, information system, contracts and governance and the external factors which include economy, law, customers preference and competitive environment of the two companies, the similarities and differences are given. Then risk taxonomy and analysis are given. In the end, some advice about reducing financial risk are given.

Financial Time Series Analysis by Using MATLAB

This report contains two parts. For part A, performing a Principle Components Analysis (PCA) and analyzing the drivers. Then, carrying out factor analyses and comparing them. For part B, employing 5 different quantitative models to forecast and generate moving origin horizon one forecasts of both return and volatility. Then, figuring out the optimal weights for the portfolio and assigning the optimal portfolio. Finally, comparing the returns and risk measure from all portfolio and models.