Business Commons^™

A Mission-Centric Approach To Financial Ratio Analysis In The Nonprofit Sector, Anne Abraham

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Nonprofit organisations (NPOs) are melting pots combining mission, members and money. Given that the mission of a nonprofit organisation is the reason for its existence, it is appropriate to focus on financial resources in their association with mission and with the individuals who are served by that mission [1] [2] [3]. Measurement of financial performance by ratio analysis helps identify organisational strengths and weaknesses by detecting financial anomalies and focusing attention on issues of organisational importance [4].

Questions have been raised that relate the performance of NPOs to their fmancial resources, their mission and their membership. Addressing these questions is …

Collaboration In Supply Chain: A Multi-Agent Approach, Xin Li, Sim K. Lau

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Supply chain collaboration has become a critical success factor for supply chain management. Supply chain collaboration builds on information sharing, collaborative planning and execution. Many information systems have been developed for supply chain management. However, these systems do not sufficiently support collaborative supply chain. Recently, intelligent agent technology has received a great potential in supporting transparency in information flows and modeling the dynamic supply chain for collaborative supply chain. This paper explores the similarities between multi-agent system and supply chain to investigate the appropriateness of multi-agent based technology to model supply chain system and support collaborative supply chain planning and …

Modelling The Impact Of China's Wto Membership On Its Investment And Growth: A New Flexible Keynesian Approach, Van Hoa Tran

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The standard theories of economics, international finance, transnational corporations, and within the accouting framework of the United Nations System of National Accounts (SNA93) or earlier stipulate that investment plays a crucial role in influencing microenconomic activity, national ouput growth and economic development.

A Framework Of Ontology Revision On The Semantic Web: A Belief Revision Approach, Seung Hwan Kang, Sim K. Lau

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The focus of the research in ontologies shifts from ontology representation to ontology evolution perspectives that become an important field of ontology research. Even though ontology refers to specification of conceptualisation that provides a useful way to represent the semantics of the Web resources, there is a still need for maintaining and handling ontologies. Because ontologies may change as a result of accepting new information, when this occurs, ontology needs to be revised. However the new information may contradict what was initially defined in the ontology when ontology revision is performed. To discuss this revision perspective, this research proposes an …

Macro-Econometric Modeling For An Oil Dependent Economy: An Instruments-Targets Approach For The Uae Economy, Ajit Karnik, Cedwyn Fernandes

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study constructs a macro-econometric model to analyze the problems of regions that exhibit dependence on non-renewable resources (e.g. oil). The role of th eoil sector in the UAE and the extent to which it subsidizes the rest of the economy is evaluated. The macro-econometric model constructed consists of four sectors, has 25 equations and is evaluated and calibrated employing dynamic simulation techniques. Counter =factual and policy experiments are carried out and the instruments-targets approach is used to analyze the impact of the oil sector. The paper highlights the continued dependence of the UAE economy on oil and the urgency …

Web-Mediated Communication (Wmc) And Social Interaction: A Social Psychological Approach, Koo Won Suh, Helen Hasan, Paul K. Couchman

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

It can be argued that social interaction is a critical factor in understanding Web-mediated communication. While the concept and domain of social interaction has been studied in several disciplines they are underdeveloped in the current Web-enabled environment. This paper adopts a social psychological point of view of conceptual and operational issues in relation to social interaction. Through a review of the literature, two domains of social interaction are identified: task and socio-emotional interaction. The literature review also addresses some problems in defmition related to socio-emotional interaction. In an attempt to fill the gap between conceptual and operational defmitions of social …

A Multifaceted Approach To Distributed Communities Of Learning And Practice, Helen Hasan, Kate Crawford

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

In the electronic age, locally-driven regeneration of the concept of community could be enabled by a flexible, multifaceted model where new information and communication technologies are the catalyst. However technology, no matter how advanced, is far from providing the complete answer and it is essential to take an integrated socio-technical approach to this issue. This paper reports on two cases that are part of ongoing research into distributed communities, framing them as phases of an activity system in expansive learning cycles in the context of a program of innoyatiye learning. This research d!monstrates that such communities are viable. with a …