Business Commons^™

How To Innovate And Make Successful Business, Eric Chi Ming Yim

Practical Social and Industrial Research Symposium

Mr Yim is an architect-turned-furniture designer and a successful industrialist. He has successfully built POSH from a small local business to an international band. POSH has obtained the “Outstanding Enterprise in Office Furniture Industry” from Hong Kong Business in 2006 and the “Hong Kong Top Brand Award” from Hong Kong Brand Development Council in 2010. Mr. Yim will talk about his tips of innovating new products and leading a company to success.

The Dilemma Facing Higher Education And Industry In Tourism And Hospitality, Anthony Pui Keung Kong

Practical Social and Industrial Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

Facilitating Students' Project Work With Online Collaborative Support: A Case From Business Administration Discipline At Hong Kong Institute Of Vocational Education (Lee Wai Lee), Janet Man Wai Cheung, Emma Yim Ha Leung, Candy Mei Ting Leung

Practical Social and Industrial Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

Using Innovative Customer Relationship Management Technologies To Explore The Business Opportunities Of An Ageing Population And Provide Better Service, Paul Tak Wing Tsui, Fred Cheong Fai Li, Aaron Hok Chung Pang, Wai Fan Cheng

Practical Social and Industrial Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

Safe Operations Above Fl600, Lt. Col. Stephen Hunter

Space Traffic Management Conference

Safe Operations Above FL600

Abstract

With the increase in likelihood of near-term development of revenue-generating point-to-point suborbital flights and the increase in high-altitude-long-endurance commercial operations above FL600, the criticality of addressing operations above class A airspace has never been more pressing. While the Federal Aviation Administration describes the National Airspace System, it doesn’t offer a description that includes a top. Technological, physiological, physical and administrative limitations have relegated most air operations to FL600 and below. As that changes, previous work on Space Traffic Management (STM) concepts begin to take on new life and add to sincere considerations for adaptation or …

The Interrelationship Between Financial Attitude, Financial Behavior And Financial Knowledge, Dorjana Nano

UBT International Conference

Financial literacy is shown to be an important life skill for people. It influences people every day financial decisions and has a macro impact on the economy and financial satisfaction of the society. Studies revealed financial literacy to cover three dimensions: financial knowledge, financial attitude and financial behavior. This research aims to examine the interrelationship between the three components of financial literacy. The main objectives of the current research are: a) firstly, to provide some evidences of the existing literature on the linkage between financial knowledge, financial attitude and financial behavior; b) secondly, to inspect this association in the case …

Benefits Of Twinning Programs: The Case Of Macedonia, Jasminka Varnalieva, Violeta Madzova

UBT International Conference

Twinning instrument is used for cooperation and long-term institutional partnership between public administrations of one or more EU Member States and the national authorities of beneficiary country. The purpose of this paper is to examine benefits of twinning programs as instruments for capacity building of public institutions. The paper provides an analysis of the twinning program portfolio in Macedonia per sectors, twinning country providers, and beneficiary institutions. The conclusions are that Macedonian institutions have benefitted a lot from the twinning programs implemented in the last fifteen years; nevertheless, there is still room for significant improvements in the design and implementation …

Ethics Of Tax Evasion, The Case Of Albania, Emirjeta Kandri, Agim Mamuti

UBT International Conference

Tax evasion and the ethics about it are widely discussed topics nowadays and they have revived a lot of debates among ethics analysts or government representatives and business mangers or owners. The first ones argue that it is unethical hiding revenues to avoid taxes, since they are one of the ways business owners contribute to their proper countries in order for the society of that country to benefit from those. On the other hand, businessmen argue that they already pay too much tax and do philanthropic donations, so there is no reason for them to feel they should pay more …

A Theoretical Perspective On Approaches Used To Define Indicators That Measure Health Quality Services, Rezarta Kalaja

UBT International Conference

Increased demands on life quality in its every aspect, has impose certain obligations on evaluating health services quality, which has become one of the key prerequisites, not only for health care organizations, but also for governments and society. Quality, serves as an essential factor in defining and evaluating a health care institution, as well as, an indispensable competing tool between private and public sector, offering these kind of services. Consequently given the importance of the argument, numerous studies and analyses, has been carried out through years by various researchers and organizations all over the world, to identify the key indicators …

Money Laundering Effects, Mario Gjoni, Albana (Karameta) Gjoni, Holta (Bako) Kora

UBT International Conference

The globalization of economic activities and financial markets has had a very positive impact on the world economy. But this effect has also its costs. It can facilitate the ways by which money can be laundered internationally which is one of the biggest costs that this phenomenon creates. Among many analysts there is a discussion about the relationship that exists between globalization and money laundering, as well as economic implications of large-scale money laundering. Money laundering threatens the economic and financial systems in many countries, and has important effects on income distribution and macroeconomic variables. The negative effects of money …

Testing The Martingales Property Of Daily Exchange Rate, Rozana Liko, Artion Kashuri, Miftar Ramosaco

UBT International Conference

The purpose of this paper is to test whether the Albanian exchange rate market is weak form efficient by studying the statistical behavior of daily Euro and USD exchange rate against Albanian Lekё, which are the most influential currency in Albania market, during the period January 05, 2010 – April 30, 2015. The study seeks to examine whether this currencies follow each a martingale. The unit root tests (individually and panel) and variation ratio test are used. The various analytical tests implemented in the study provide evidence of non-martingale property of exchange market in Albania.

An Empirical Evaluation Of Customer-Based Brand Equity Of Internet Service Providers (Isps) In Albania, Ana Buhaljoti

UBT International Conference

The main reason for studying Brand Equity of ISPs arises from the motivation of improving marketing productivity in this sector. Given increasing competition, higher costs of technology adoption, flattened demand, ISP managers need a thorough understanding of customer behavior in order to increase the efficiency of marketing expenses and enhance customer loyalty. This study identifies customer’s differentiated response towards ISPs and motives in choosing a brand instead of another. In June 2014, a survey among 998 adult connected urban households in Albania has been conducted. A well-structured questionnaire, designed on the basis of Keller’s Brand Equity Model evaluate consumer awareness, …

Strengthening Artisanry By Associating It With Tourism (Region Of Shkodra), Ermira Qosja, Vasilika Zeka

UBT International Conference

Culture is one of the greatest assets of a country, and it has the potential to become a source of income, if it is managed effectively. The handcrafts of the Albanian artisanry are a part of our culture, but still far from having an effective role in the development of tourism. Associating artisanry with tourism is of great interest for the present, as well as the future of the Region of Shkodra, and studies to this end are important.The objective of this paper is to study the effect of the growth of tourism in the increase of sale of handcrafts. …

Tourism Development Post Global Financial Crisis: Case Of Albania, Arjan Tushaj, Rakela Thano

UBT International Conference

Tourism is the elastic sector and capable of demonstrating the significant capacity past the crisis occurrence despite it is more appreciable in the short run. The global financial crisis during 2008 – 2009 passed likewise the adverse external shock to developing countries and we faced to the consequences of it. It had the significant impact on the tourism sector. Empirical results demonstrated that tourist revenues tend to be more affected than cash tourist during the time of crisis. Impact of the crisis on the tourism sector associated with the different effects in diverse countries. The crisis around the world brought …

Determinants Of Transition From School To Work In Albania, Eni Alikaj, Esmerelda Shehaj

UBT International Conference

The transition from school to work is a very important stage in the life of the youngsters, during which they aim at a satisfactory integration in the labour market. However, in this process they often face different barriers, such as high unemployment rates, and economic inactivity. In Albania, youth unemployment is about twice as much as that of the total unemployment rates and has shown an increasing trend during the last years. In 2014, 32.5% of the youngsters were unemployed. Furthermore, the rate of those not being in employment, education, and/or training in 2014 was 34.5%, of which 36% are …

Rethinking Innovation - Contextual Factors Impact, Manuela Mece, Entela Lako

UBT International Conference

In the past 2 decades a keen interest in innovation is demonstrated by governments (financial instruments for R&D) or intergovernmental agencies (EU financial instruments) because of its connection to regional economic advantage. In Albania, understandings of innovation is predominantly technological and product driven and defined in general terms such that the nature of innovation is disclosed of its contextual influence. Following the above logic innovation is assumed to be overly masculine. Through combined analysis of interview material from previous studies on the engendering of entrepreneurship based in Albania, this paper challenges current conceptualizations of innovation geographically and in a gender …

Opportunities For Investments In Kosovo, Besnik Avdiaj

UBT International Conference

Kosovo, as a new state in the region and Europe, has a relatively new, with serious allegations towards achieving upward-trend sustainability. After a deep transformation from a centralized economy, in an open market economy, with all the destruction made during the war, Kosovo has managed to create the basis for economic development, in parallel with regional developments. Goals that the relevant institutions have set themselves about the economy, related to enhancing the competitiveness of the economy on the regional, European and global trade, by reducing trade deficit, increasing exports, absorption of the foreign direct investments, membership in regional and global …

The Effects Of Strategic Environmental Analysis On Organizational Performance, Enida (Brakaj) Pulaj, Ilira Pulaj

UBT International Conference

Businesses do not operate in a vacuum. They operate in a dynamic, complex and competitive environment. So, the success and failure of many companies depends on several factors and the possibility to analyze them according the information level. The importance and the priorities of factors analysis vary from one situation to another due to the specific nature of the product and service, company and industry. Therefore, the organizational processes have to be based and adapted to the external environment. The main purpose of this paper is to critically examine and rank the effects of external environment factors on organizational performance …

Statistical Issues In Predictive Modelling Using Bootstrap Method, Elmira Kushta, Miranda Pajo, Orgeta Gjermeni

UBT International Conference

A model is a statement of reality or its approximation. Most phenomena in the social sciences are extremely complex. With a model we simplify the reality and focus on a manageable number of factors. It is impossible to completely understand why consumers default and identify all the factors influencing customer’s default behavior. The bank manager sets up a statistical model that relates customer’s default behavior to only two important factors, the income and the education. There surely are thousands of other variables that may influence customer’s default behavior. This article describes the fundamentals of a statistical model building. We begin …

Welfare And Its Impact On Participation, Leonora Ndreu

UBT International Conference

Researchers have continuously dealt with the study of economic wellbeing of the human society in particular they have been concerned with its reveal in economic and political dimensions. The economic welfare is tightly related with the citizen’s participation in social and political activities since it is one of the major factors to determine the individul’s identity, “ who am I”. This study will be conducted through usage of quantitative methods in an intersection manner. The study analyses the ‘wellbeing economic factor’ and its impact or not in the political participation in Albania mainly focused on political parties. The descriptive spectrum …

The Human Resources Management In The Industry Of Tourism And Hospitality. The Challenges And Future Perspectives, Sonila Berdo

UBT International Conference

The aim of this paper is to bring into consideration the actual situation of the human resources management in the industry of tourism and hospitality, the challenges this factor is going through and the possible perspectives in the future. This study is based on the statistical data published by international authorized institutions and different studies of the field, compared and analyzed under an accurate literature review process made by the author. What comes up from this study is that eventhough the labor force of the tourism industry is the biggest ever known until now, half of it is part time …

Are Active Labour Market Policies In Albania A Panacea For Reducing The Youth Unemployment?, Pranvera Elezi, Fatmir Memaj

UBT International Conference

Youth unemployment is one of the most debatable issues in recent years in Albania and in the European countries. Active labour market policies (ALMP) are designed to help preventing the increase of unemployment rates and improving the matching of labour supply and labour demand. This paper examines the effectiveness of ALMP-s in improving the labour market outcomes of the young people in Albania. The analysis is carried out using micro-data from the National Employment Service and the Labour Force Survey conducted by the Albanian Institute of Statistics. Our findings provide evidence that ALMPs as a way of combating youth unemployment …

The Impact Of Budget Deficit On Inflation An Econometric Approach For The Period 1994 – 2012, Ardit Gjeçi, Juljan Hysa

UBT International Conference

The aim of research is to define and explain a relation between macroeconomic indicators such as the budget deficit and inflation. Under consideration is taken the period between 1994 – 2012, a period which has had an intensity and greater attention by the internationals in terms of performance of the economy. The paper studies these indicators mainly through econometric model, by considering indicators a function of each other. Main hypothesis of this research is: “If we increase the budget deficit and money supply, the rate of inflation is expected to increase." Based on the inflation model only in relation with …

How Does A Small Business In Russia Play Its Economic Role?, Liudmila Guzikova

UBT International Conference

Small business is an integral part of the market economy. The main economic functions usually attributed to small businesses are the following: innovation, combating monopolies and maintain a competitive environment, combating unemployment and creating jobs, increasing income of the general population and, consequently, the expansion of consumer demand, increase the professional activity, the development of entrepreneurial skills, spirit, and traditions as an important institution of civil society, the formation of the middle class as a basis for socio-political stability of the state. The goal of research - on the basis of statistical and factual information to assess the extent to …

An Empirical Investigation On The Public-Private Sector Wage Gap In Albania, Esmerelda Shehaj

UBT International Conference

This study aims to empirically investigate the public-private wage differentials in Albania. The public/private pay differential in these countries is certainly an interesting issue to study given that the country has undergone in-depth restructuring of the economy, which requires understanding in particular the role of the public and private sector. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt in empirically investigating the factors determining the public-private wage gap in the country. Using nationally representative data from the Albanian Living Standard Measurement Survey 2012, the double selection methodology in Heitmueller (2006) is employed in order to model the …

Estimating Quarter To Quarter Economic Growth In Kosovo, Ledjon Shahini, Bernard Dosti, Perseta Grabova

UBT International Conference

Estimation of economic growth in real time is one of the main objectives for most of the policymakers. At this point Gross Domestic Production at quarterly frequencies is the most accurate indicator. Most of the countries that have developed this macroeconomic indicator are publishing GDP in two main forms, seasonal and not seasonal adjusted. Seasonality is a present phenomenon for most of the economic sectors at quarterly frequencies. These different rhythms caused by weather, human habits, legislation, and so on, tend to repeat themselves periodically. It is therefore natural to try to estimate their impact and take account of them …

Gaining Competitive Advantage In Tourism Marketing: A Text Mining Approach To Hotel Visitors’ Comments In Durrës, Taşkın Dirsehan

UBT International Conference

In recent years, data are exploded and they become more unstructured as a result of increasing web pages, e-mails, social media, photos and video contents. Traditional databases are not enough now to manage such data. However, organizations should manage them to gain competitive advantages; otherwise they will go out of play. As unstructured data are increased now, companies face with ‘big data’ and data mining tools should be applied to transform mass data into information and even into knowledge. There are different data mining techniques providing ‘business intelligence’. One of them is text mining, a powerful tool to analyze texts …

Boosting Growth Through Intra-Regional Cooperation: Macedonia And Albania, Jasminka Varnalieva, Nehat Ramadani

UBT International Conference

The purpose of this paper is to explore the status of economic cooperation among countries in the South East Europe (SEE) with particular attention on the cooperation between Macedonia and Albania. In line with the SEE 2020 Strategy adopted by the EU aspiring countries in 2013, increased intra-regional cooperation among the countries should be used as a preparation for a smooth and faster European and Euro-Atlantic integration. This paper provides an in-depth analysis and statistics of the overall economic cooperation, trade patterns and capital movement among the countries and identifies major obstacles for increased cooperation that could result in higher …

Marketing Of A Tourism Destination – Case Study Rugova, Luljeta Shaqiri, Ilia Kristo, Ylber Limani

UBT International Conference

Tourism is one of the most complex activities of a modern society. In developed countries but also in some of transition countries, tourism is important product and employing generator. Even in Kosovo, tourism is an essential economic branch, whereby marketing has very significant impact for its functioning. Therefore, in this paper are addressed marketing concepts by focusing on those of tourism as a development indicator of the country. To achieve visitors satisfaction in touristic destination Rugova, we have implemented analyze with the citizens that have visited Rugova.

Embedding Affordable Learning Solutions Into The Academic Senate, Aline Soules

SJSU Open Access Conference

Embedding the Affordable Learning Solutions (ALS) into the Academic Senate provides a forum and a platform for promoting ALS to and with faculty. At Cal State East Bay, ALS is now a Subcommittee of the Committee on Instruction and Curriculum (CIC) with representation from key constituencies, including a faculty representative from each College and the Library. Recommendations and suggestions can now be routed through CIC to the full Senate. The brief lightning round presentation will explain the process of creating the subcommittee and describe the benefits and challenges the Subcommittee has experienced to date.