Impact of Inflation Targeting Policy Framework of Countries between the Period of 2009-2019

Today, many countries in the world tend to choose Inflation Targeting Monetary Policy Framework, in which context it has become a matter of debate whether inflation or economic growth is driven by monetary expansions. The common acceptance is that inflation is created by the continuous rise in the money supply which is strongly proved through the economic theories forwarded by Karl Marx, Irvin Fisher and Friedman. The main aim of the study is to examine the relationship between money supply and economic growth under a broad phenomenon by utilizing the countries with inflation targeting policies in action. The time-series data have been collected from different countries that exercise inflation targeting from 2009 to 2019 and the sample included 39 countries from all over the globe, both from developed and developing categories. The utilized Autoregressive Distribution Lag (ARDL) model forwarded the results suggesting that there is a significant negative relationship between the economic growth and money supply in the long run while no relationship has been observed in the short run.

Conceptualizing the relationship between Spiritual and Entrepreneurial Orientation in developing sustainable enterprises

Entrepreneurship is considered a critical element that promotes the development of an economy and the society of a country. At the organizational level, the Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) of decision-makers is recognized as a key driver in the entrepreneurship literature that propels firms to act ‘autonomously’, ‘innovate’, ‘take risks’, and be ‘proactive’ relative to marketplace opportunities. However, the current EO literature is evolving and has not explored its impact on developing sustainable operations. This paper intends to bridge this gap by introducing a concept of Spiritual Orientation (SO) playing the role of a mediator to explain the association between EO and sustainable operations. We argue that spirituality fortifies entrepreneurs’ commitment to developing sustainable business entities, by empowering firms to be adaptable and creating a pro-social business model with a sense of interconnection with the community and natural ecosystem. Thus, it is important to understand the spiritual development of entrepreneurs, because it leads entrepreneurs to exhibit fairness, kindness, and improved awareness of other people’s needs and thereby be sensitive to the alterations in the natural ecosystem. This paper argues that Spiritual Orientation leads entrepreneurs to exercise greater ‘autonomy’ as a result of seeing the interconnectedness of their actions. A spiritually oriented entrepreneur would place emphasis on the ethics, principles, virtues, values, and be sensitive to emotions, which will lead to taking proactive actions. As such, spirituality elucidates how business visionaries continue despite challenging situations by expanding their ideas of future-oriented sensemaking. This paper theorizes how a spiritually driven EO will lead to sustainable business ventures that focus on people, profit, and the planet. We assert that entrepreneurs must develop the spiritual maturity to create the right balance of EO dimensions, thus leading to creating sustainable organizations.

Exploring Buddhist Teachings and Spirituality in Female Entrepreneurs' Business Decisions in Sri Lanka: The Foundational Role of the Five Precepts

Female entrepreneurship is one of the main drivers of economic and social development in any country. Over the years, a great deal of research has been conducted in the area of female entrepreneurship. However, to date, there has not been much discussion of female entrepreneurs' religious behaviour. Hence, this study examines the nature of female entrepreneurs' religious behaviour and how Buddhist teachings and spirituality influence female entrepreneurs' business decisions throughout start-ups and the ongoing business operations. Although Buddhism is a vast literature, this study focuses mainly on the five precepts. This study is based on social constructionism philosophy, and narrative design was used to explore the female entrepreneurs' religious behaviour. A snowball sampling procedure was applied, and seven interviews were conducted to generate data for the study. This qualitative data analysis was complemented and supported by narrative in-depth interviews, observations and collected documents and field notes. Results revealed that Buddhist female entrepreneurs' business decisions are influenced by their religious teachings, especially the five precepts and religious spirituality. The main themes related to the start-up, operations and pricing, networks, profit sharing, finance, problem solving and sustainability. Further, female entrepreneurs have engaged in solid religious practices in businesses and personal lives since their childhood. Buddhist teachings and spirituality can be identified as the critical factor of Buddhist female entrepreneurs' business success and work-life satisfaction in Sri Lanka. The findings can facilitate and promote spiritual entrepreneurship among entrepreneurs. It is valuable to deepen our understanding of the role of Buddhist teachings and spirituality, which affects entrepreneurs' business decisions.

Disability in the Workplace: Legal Barriers Affecting Human Resources Management Practices and Workplace Accommodation for the Persons with Disabilities in Sri Lanka - A Review of Literature

Disability can be defined as a physical or mental condition that barred such individual from properly interact with physical or social environment. This difficulty provided root course for historical marginalization of persons with disabilities in the society and visible in various fields ranging from education to employment and being analysed by various scholars. This literature review explores the question how various scholars approached the social political and legal issues arise out of low employment rate of the persons with disabilities and expressed their views on how to solve them. Since a systematic literature review has not been conducted in Sri Lanka on this topic, to answer the aforesaid research problem, author will evaluate multiple scholarly approaches towards the barriers affecting human resource practices and workplace accommodation for persons with disabilities and explore solutions available in the existing literature to resolve such issues. This research will be based on literature review methodology and first of such work in the field of disability rights in Sri Lanka. Thereby, results of this research will be produced by collecting and synthesizing previous research for advancing knowledge and facilitating theory development. However, literature survey was limited to the works which recently published in English language and meet certain scholarly standards.

Factors Affecting the Implementation of Environmental Management Accounting Practices through New Institutional Sociology Perspective: A case of an Apparel Manufacturer in Sri Lanka

The emergence of contemporary business environment and technologies, customer driven business perspective, and transparent and accountable business practices have led different stakeholders to demand information in relation to the management of the environment. Consequently, organizations tend to develop their strategies in line with achieving these financial and environmental performances. The apparel industry is one of the significant contributors in the Sri Lankan economy and it can be seen that Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) is often practiced in this industry. However, it is a matter of consideration for the real reason behind the adoption and implementation of Environmental Management Accounting Practices (EMAPs) in this industry. Accordingly, this study is focused on identifying the actual factors that have influenced a manufacturer in the apparel industry in Sri Lanka to adopt and implement EMAPs with the perspective of the New Institutional Sociology Theory. This study takes a case study approach. Therefore, one of the leading manufacturing companies in the apparel industry was selected as the case company. The primary data were collected through a semi-structured interview and questionnaire survey. The validity of findings was assessed through data triangulation. It was identified that the environmental cost accounting, environmentally induced capital expenditure and revenue are the mostly used EMAPs whereas the payback period method is often applied in the organization for investment appraisal activities. In terms of factors that have influenced to adopt and implement EMAPs through the Institutional Theoretical Perspective, it was found that coercive isomorphism was the most significant factor whereas the least influential factor was the normative isomorphism on the adoption and the implementation of the EMAPs in the organization. In terms of coercive isomorphism, the government regulations are the most influential force on this adoption and the implementation. Further, the study found some reasons behind the adoption of more Physical EMAPs (PEMAPs) than the Monetary EMAPs (MEMAPs) by the organization. The study contributes to minimize the gap by revealing the types of EMAPs that have been adopted and implemented and revealing the actual factors that have led to adopt and implement those practices in a manufacturer of the apparel industry.

Stock Price Reaction to the Stock Splits Announcement of Listed Companies in the Colombo Stock Exchange

A stock split is a corporate event that directly impacts the number of a company’s shares and indirectly on stock prices. This study tests the effect of the stock splits on the share price of companies listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange during the periods of pre and post stock split announcement in accordance with the Efficient Market Hypothesis. The main objective of this paper is to identify the overall impact of a stock split announcement on stock prices. This study analyses 88 annual stock splits during the ten (10) year period from 2009 to 2019 by taking the listed companies in the Colombo Stock Exchange into consideration. It uses the event study methodology to test the market efficiency of the Colombo Stock Exchange, and the market model is run with the aid of abnormal returns, which are calculated based on daily closing stock prices and the All-Share Price Index. For analysing the results, the graphical analysis and t statistics have been utilized. According to the event day average abnormal return, the majority of stock splits were more negative than positive with a significant t value at 5% by indicating that investors were taking the stock split announcement as bad news just after the split announcement was released. Each day with a significant Average Abnormal Return shows more positives than negatives. Graphical results have shown both Average Abnormal Return, and Cumulative Average Abnormal Return has remained continuously negative up to 18 and 25 days, respectively, by implicating that stock splits have made a deleterious impact on stock return. This study finally concludes that the information regarding the stock splits has not been absorbed efficiently by the market because the market reactions before and after the date of the split announcement were significant at 5%, although the Average Abnormal Return got a quick reaction to the announcement. Furthermore, results had not provided evidence for Semi-Strong Form efficiency of the Colombo Stock Exchange since the significant stock price adjustments before and after the event day was noticed. By this study, the policymakers and investors are convinced that all information has not been incorporated into stock prices in making their decisions.

The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Employee Performance: The Mediating Role of Employee Engagement in Selected Porcelain Manufacturing Companies in Sri Lanka

Transformational leadership is a concept and a belief in the contemporary business world which has proven results in employee development and organizational success. Leaders with transformational leadership behaviors coach and inspire their followers to achieve the targets by changing the value systems, culture and mindsets and sometimes being the role models to them. This paper aims to fill the existing research gap by examining the impact of transformational leadership on employee performance in the context of porcelain manufacturing companies in Sri Lanka, specifying the production worker level. Further this study investigates the mediating role of employee engagement between transformational leadership and employee performance. Thus, the current study contributes to the literature in the field of transformational leadership, employee performance and employee engagement. The study was conducted on a sample of 250 production workers in selected porcelain manufacturing companies in Sri Lanka. The data was analyzed using the analytical software SPSS version 23 and descriptive, correlation and regression analysis were conducted. The findings revealed that transformational leadership has a positive impact on employee performance and employee engagement and also employee engagement has a positive impact on employee performance. Importantly, employee engagement mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and employee performance. According to the findings of the study, it is concluded that transformational leadership behaviors impact employee performance and employee engagement. This study adds to the current body of literature by providing insight into the impact of transformational leadership and employee engagement on employee performance in the porcelain manufacturing companies in Sri Lanka, and on the empirical ground, some of the findings and judgements of this study may be important to other organizations to make their employees engaged, develop and increase employee performance towards the organizations.

Making Intellectual Property a Common Good to Combat Global Pandemics and the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP): Responding to the Challenges Exerted by Big Pharma and Some High-Income Countries

The COVID-19 outbreak has created a global race for research into a vaccine, diagnostic and therapeutic among research institutes, governments, and big-tech pharmaceutical companies (Big Pharma). In this context, intellectual property rights (IPRs) play a prominent role in incentivizing COVID-19 vaccines. Simultaneously, IPRs, particularly the patent rights of Big Pharma, create restrictions on fair access to affordable COVID-19 vaccines. Besides, economically powerful high-income countries have purchased and reserved a large amount of COVID-19 vaccines while low and middle-income countries (LMICs) have been struggling to obtain sufficient vaccine doses. These factors have contributed to increasing the gap of access to affordable COVID-19 vaccines between high-income countries and LMICs. Having foreseen the likely effect of LMICs being discriminated against in the global COVID-19 vaccine production and distribution, the global community has already made some efforts to revisit the normative aspects of IPRs by making intellectual property a common good to achieve global health during the pandemic. For example, the World Health Organization (WHO) has launched the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP), considering the proposal made by Costa Rica. The C-TAP intended to ensure technology transfer, disclosure of research, flexible licensing and open innovations. However, Big Pharma and some high-income countries have criticised and directly interfered in the effective functioning of C-TAP. Therefore, there remains a question as to whether the C-TAP approach would only be idealistic or realistic in the global governance of IPRs and public health. Accordingly, this paper critically analyses the prospects that C-TAP would offer LMICs to overcome IPRs-related barriers and resource constraints in accessing the COVID-19 vaccine and reflect on how to tackle Big Pharma and some high-income countries’ influences on the effective functioning of C-TAP.

Book Review: How Creating Customer Value Makes You a Great Executive by Gautam Mahajan

The history of value perceptions in marketing goes back to the end of the 19th century, to the industrial revolution which gave rise to ‘transaction marketing’. It made a dichotomy between the customer and producer, making value one-way directional from the provider to the customer. In the early 1990s, many ‘industrial nations' which were recognised as ‘production-led economies' started transforming into ‘service led’ seeking to establish long-term relationships with customers focusing on customer retention more than attracting new customers. However, value creation in the third millennium, progressively transformed into a new stage giving priority to the collaborative perspective of value creation which termed as co-creation. Cite this book review: B.S. Galdolage. (2021). Book Review: How Creating Customer Value Makes You a Great Executive by Gautam Mahajan, Vidyodaya Journal of Management, 7(1), 163-165.

Celebrity Endorsement on Consumers' Perception and Attitude towards Globacom Telecommunication Products in Ilorin Metropolis

These days, most organisations use celebrity endorsement as a communication technique for inducing consumers' perception and attitude towards buying their products. This paper aims to examine celebrities' credibility on consumers' perception and attitude towards Globacom telecommunication products in Ilorin Metropolis. A total of 273 usable copies of the questionnaire administered to the target respondents were returned. A multi-stage sampling method was employed to select the eligible samples from the study population, and regression analysis was adopted as an analytical technique. The study's findings revealed that celebrity's credibility affected consumers' perception of Globacom telecommunication products in Ilorin metropolis and celebrity endorsement also impacted consumers' attitude in the study area. The study recommended that firms that desire positive consumers' perceptions and attitudes towards their products should use a meticulous process to select celebrities who are credible, reliable, popular and likeable by target consumers to endorse their brands. Key words Celebrity endorsement, celebrity's credibility, celebrity’s popularity, Consumer perception, Consumer attitude Cite this paper: Mustapha, Y.I, Issa, B.O, Bello, O.F. (2021), Celebrity Endorsement on Consumers' Perception and Attitude towards Globacom Telecommunication Products in Ilorin Metropolis, Vidyodaya Journal of Management, 7(1), 61-79.