The Impact of COVID-19 on the GCC Construction Industry

The Coronavirus pandemic has badly affected everyone on the earth. Apart from losing thousands of lives, businesses and individuals are going to be affected by the long-lasting financial effects due to an expected global recession. The impact of the financial crises can, however, be reduced if proper measured are put in place. This article aims to investigate the impact of Coronavirus on the construction industry in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member countries and provide recommendations to help the industry to sustain during this period of crisis. A qualitative research method involving face-to-face online interviews held with the construction industry professionals was adopted to achieve the aims and objectives of the research. Four main aspects of the impact on the construction industry are derived from analysis of interviews: 1) delays, 2) workforce management, 3) health and safety, and 4) legal issues. Recommendations are provided so that construction organizations in the GCC region can reduce the impact of Coronavirus on its businesses.

Assessment of Contributions of the Methodology for the Construction of a Catalog of Information Technology Services Aimed at Public Entities

Several field studies have shown low levels of implementation of this type of catalog in organizations in various countries around the world, which is accentuated in public organizations. To address this problem, the main objective of this research is to demonstrate the contribution of a methodology for the construction of a catalog of information technology services in the management of technology services aimed at public entities, which is tested and assessed in terms of its levels of contribution to the information management of technology services. The methodology used in this research was tested and evaluated by 46 IT professionals working in public organizations in Ecuador, verifying the contribution levels of the proposal in four aspects: 1) the identification of information technology services, 2) the classification of information technology services, 3) feedback from the service catalog as a transversal component, and 4) the automation of all the processes described. Favourable results were obtained regarding the proposed methodology.

A Hybrid Methodology for Dental Hospital Quality Performance Gap Using HOQ and Process Analysis

A hybrid methodology is described to identify a quality gap in a dental hospital. The research case study illustrates how to implement quality improvement in a real-life context. A combination of an ethnographic, narrative, and phenomenological approach in data collection and observations within the dental hospital validates the case findings. A unique method based on systems study and Taguchi loss function is shown to reduce the service quality gap in a dental hospital. A house of quality (HOQ) combines the correlation between “patient's expectations” and the hospital's “technical” characteristics. The correlation between service quality and technical characteristics measures a patient's expectations gap. Factor analysis helps to group service and technical factors for better patient management. A strategy map correlation analysis is generated to manage the quality gap. The correlation analysis between patient expectations and the hospital's technical characteristics identify areas of immediate attention.

Evaluation of Consumer Reviews for adidas Sports Brands Using Data Mining Tools and Twitter APIs

The sportswear industry has become prominent, popular, and a very obvious category among various age groups in India. Big sports brands like adidas, seeing the Indian market potential, have extended their businesses across the country. To increase sales, online purchase has become one the most effective, easy, cheap, and quickest solution for the end customers as it provides the end consumers a variety of products, their designs, and color combinations on clicks. A large number of consumers express what exactly the end customer thinks about a particular product's preference level of brand, quality of service, quality of product, or stylish nature of the product. The current study does an evaluation of such online comments and reviews giving their feedback on their public Twitter accounts, flipkart.com, or amazon.in about an adidas sports brand in India. The research also provides a basic flow of Java program in the form of an algorithm that is used to collect the dataset from Twitter, process it, and export it into an Excel sheet for further investigation.

Combating Cyber Crime

The present paper has proposed a model to show that a synergy of technology and legal procedure can work as deterrent to cybercrime. The fraudulent activities the model considers are of two types. The first one is the case when the processed information gets diverted to reach someone else rather than reaching its targeted destination, thereby creating an incidence of data theft and hacking. The second one is a case of already hacked situation. The model has established that in the present-day context, synergic efforts of technology and legal provisioning can emerge as an effective option to ensure cyber security to some significant extent. The application of the proposed model in practical field is also illustrated with the analysis of a case of cybercrime.

Rapid Response Logistics

Greater internet penetration and ecommerce has led to demand for personalized product development and faster fulfilment. This has increased global competition wherein the manufacturer and retailers not only have to deal with an unprecedented number and variety of products but also makes forecasting and scheduling difficult. To address these problems, rapid response logistics has become a necessity. The current study discusses the role of such rapid response systems and various implementation strategies in both the demand and supply side of supply chains that can be the solutions to the dynamic business environment. It discusses the information sharing technologies based on different level of sophistication which are used by the different echeloned supply chains. The paper reviews the important literature in these aspects and brings forth the challenges of the rapid response systems and the new directions of research which needs to be undertaken to gauge the real potential of rapid response systems.

Organizational Commitment and Its Impact on Job Performance

This study aimed to identify the availability level of organizational commitment (OC) among employees in the Jordanian commercial banks, as well as to measure its impact on their job performance (JP). To achieve the objective of the study, 257 copies of the questionnaire were distributed to a random sample of employees at all administrative levels in the Jordanian commercial banks. The results of the study have indicated that OC is available in Jordanian banks with a high degree. Moreover, it has showed that the emotional commitment is the most prevailing commitment. The study showed that there is a significant positive impact of OC on the JP. The study recommended that it is very important to set strategic plans to promote OC among the employees of Jordanian commercial banks.

Importance of Marketing Mix Elements in Determining Consumer Purchase Decision in the Retail Market

This research aimed to identify the linkages between marketing mix elements and the purchase decision process among consumers in the Malaysian retail industry. To fulfill this objective, the present study followed a quantitative survey for gathering the data from the consumers of department stores at the East Coast region in Malaysia. All of the obtained data were inserted and coded using SPSS and then analysed by AMOS 18. The findings indicated that the impact of advertising on the consumers' purchase decision is positive and statistically significant. Besides that, the findings demonstrated that distribution intensity has a negative effect on purchase decision, whereas price plays a key important role in affecting purchase decisions process of the consumers. Lastly, the findings of this paper verified that store image and store location have significant positive linkages with purchase decision. These outcomes enhance our understanding on the role of marketing mix elements in determining a consumer's purchase decision, particularly in the retail context.

Customer Purchase Intention Towards Dairy Products

The research paper attempts to understand the various parameters leading to customer purchase intention toward the dairy products. The study paper draws its insights and conclusions by using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) followed by incorporating confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) statistical technique along with using structural equation modeling (SEM). As per the outcome of the study, customer services variable comes out to most positively influence the attitudes of the consumers towards purchase intention followed by price of the product, quality of the dairy products, and last but not least, product packaging. This research paper identifies various factors which are making an impact on the customers' minds while purchasing milk and milk products. This paper carried out a review of literature in the field of customer purchase intention and dairy industry in order to understand the current practices, identify gaps, and suggest future research agendas.

An Investigation on Consumer Switching Behavior in an Asian Telecommunication Market

The paper investigates the determinants of consumer switching behavior in the Indian telecom industry, overcoming the scarcity of research from emerging economies. The study collected data using a questionnaire instrument directly from the customers and was selected through purposive sampling. Binomial probit regression technique was used for modeling purposes. The study concludes that the critical services, service specification, loyalty, and user engagement-related factors influence customer churn. The study specified the key sub-factors directly influencing these four factors. The findings are presented as a set of four different models. The article is the first exploration of the idea of proposing function-specific models and the use of purposive sampling. The study attempts to provide models that are convenient to administer, require specific data, specific to functional area, economic data collection, and may be used based on the context of an investigation. The paper suggests how to perform a convenient investigation using a small dataset.