ICBI 2010
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Item An Analysis of Switching Behavior of Pre-paid Mobile Users in Sri Lanka(2010) Dissanayake, D.M.R.; Wanninayake, W.M.C.B.Sri Lanka is one the fast growing markets for the mobile communication service, and it is nearly 1.2 millions of subscribers are found in Sri Lankan market by 2008 ( TRC statistics: Sri Lanka 2008). Currently there are five industry competitors operate in this market, and it has found an aggressive competition over each other in terms of service factors and value proposition. As a result of that the switching behavior of customers has been frequently happening alone with strong customer bargaining power. This study was focused on the switching behavior of prepaid customers, and 150 respondents were selected under stratified probability sampling method. Data were collected through structured questionnaire alone with Likert scale. Two sets of independent variables were identified as per the literature reviews namely service failure factors and value proposition factors. An inferential statistical analysis was used to analyze the collected data. The ?Logit Regression Model? was used to test three hypotheses developed to test the switching behavior impacted by service failure and value proposition factors. Data analysis revealed that the value proposition factors had more impact on brand switching behavior than service failure factors. However, both value proposition and service failure factors were not found a significant impact on switching behavior among pre paid customers.Item An Empirical Investigation Into Determinants of Success of Foreign Financed Development Projects in Sri Lanka(2010) Ubayachandra, E.G.; Silva, H.W.N.S.By this empirical study it was aimed to investigate into the factors that affect the success or performance of foreign financed community based development projects in Sri Lanka. Out of the 548 existing project implementing organizations (Action Plan 2006) for the convenience of the analysis 64 organizations covering 15 districts were taken into consideration. The selected organizations are mixed with UN organizations, government and semi-government ventures,international NGOs, local and national NGOs. For collecting data 250 questionnaires which were received back without rejection were administered among the selected organizations. The key purpose of the study was to evaluate the influence made by identified couple of factors on success of considering projects. Specific objectives were to examine the interrelationship between main two factors and to identify the influence made by infrastructure facilities on success of these projects. For this purpose three research questions were addressed. They are; what is the degree of influence made by two factors on success? What is interrelationship between two factors? What is the influence made by infrastructure facilities on success? Success of the projects was estimated in terms of allocation of resources, goal attainment and other impacts associated with productivity and quality improvement. Univariate analysis and Byvariate analysis were employed in analyzing the data. Furthermore, "t" test and "F" test were applied fortesting respective two hypotheses. In computing P value it was considered that for high significant level should be equal to 0.05 and for significant level a should be equal to 0.10. For more clarification SPSS computing software version was associated. As indicated by the results of discussion it was noted that though both endogenous factors and exogenous factors make influence on success of projects, a dominant and vital role is played by endogenous factors in determining the performance of community based development projects in Sri Lanka. Thus a great attention should be paid on endogenous factors in strategically planning and implementing these projects.Item AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF THE RELEVANCE OF ACCOUNTING INFORMATION ON INVESTOR?S DECISIONS(2010) Perera, R.A.A.S.; Thrikawala, S.S.Recent empirical work has suggested that Accounting Information (AI) have lost their relevance to investors significantly over the past few decades. AI contained in financial statements to be accurate and transparent enough to provide an indication of a business performance and financial condition to decision makers including investors. According to the present empirical evidence, investors tend to focus on information other than the published accounting information such as non financial information, short term capital gains and tend to be speculative or irrational for unusual events. Therefore, this study attempts to addresses the relevance of AI on investor?s stock market decisions in Commercial Banks registered under Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) in Sri Lanka. The relevance of accounting data was measured by correlation coefficient between Market Price per Share (MPS) and selected accounting information such as Earning per Share (EPS), Return on Equity (ROE) and Earning Yield (EY). The data analysis was based on the AI in the published financial statements of Commercial banks registered under CSE. It covers a period of 5 years from 2006 to 2009. According to the findings there is a relationship between Accounting Information and Market Price per Share. Further it revealed that investors still consider Accounting Information which contain in the published financial statements of Commercial Banks registered under CSE for the stock market decisions in Sri Lanka.Item AN INFORMATION ENABLED WORKFLOW ENGINE(2010) Weerakoon, W.A.C.; de Silva, C.H.Today most of the workflows of document/information processes or transactions are managed by the systems build on IT infrastructure of an establishment. Workflow Management can be done best, by fully or partially automated tools that combine human and machine based activities. This paper presents the entire life cycle of the development process of such a partially automated tool, the Document/Information enabled Workflow Engine (WFE) and its integration in to the Content Management Solution (CMS) of a reputed software vender. A workflow engine, the generator and the coordinator of document/information enabled workflows, have been designed, implemented and integrated into the company?s Content Management Solution, as an effort to improve application reliability and availability throughout the enterprise. This approach standardizes the user?s software packaging process provides automated document/information enabled workflows, which can be used for rapid deployment and flexible execution of edocumentation processes thereby tying the people, systems, organizational knowledge and goals to congregate into comprehensive, efficient processes, reducing the administrative overhead. In the development process unified modeling approach has been used, which not only provides a methodology for the software development process, but also combines best practices and processes together with the Unified Modeling Language?s notations and diagrams for better understanding Object-Oriented Concepts and system development, in the context of effective management of information.Item AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CONTRIBUTION OF INSTITUTIONAL CULTURAL PARADIGMS TO THE EFFECTIVENESS OF POSTGRADUATE PROGRAMS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF UNIVERSITY OF MORATUWA AND UNIVERSITY OF KELANIYA(2010) Subasinghe, R.; Wickramasinghe, V.Although the state university system of Sri Lanka requires undergraduate degree programmes to be provided free of charge, postgraduate degree programmes and other services such as consultancy and research and development can be provided on income generating basis. Nevertheless, evidence suggests that the state university system is not operating up to its potential in providing commercially viable postgraduate programmes on profit making basis. This research questions whether the institutional cultural paradigms prevailing within the state university system impedes it from achieving strategic organizational objectives of survival, self-sustainability and growth. The study investigates and compares institutional cultural paradigms and effectiveness of postgraduate programmes of University of Moratuwa and University of Kelaniya, and investigates whether a particular paradigm is conducive for achieving strategic objectives than other cultural paradigms. For the study, a random sample of 100 senior academic and administrative staff responsible for postgraduate programmes of Faculty of Engineering, Architecture, and Information Technology of University of Moratuwa, and a random sample of 100 senior academic and administrative staff responsible for postgraduate programmes of Faculty of Science, Commerce and Management, Social Sciences, Humanities, Post Graduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, and Post Graduate Institute of Archaeology of University of Kelaniya responded. The institutional culture was measured based on the dimensions proposed by Denison and Mishra (1995) that consist of four dimensions, namely Consistency, Adaptability, Involvement and Mission. The effectiveness of postgraduate programmes were measured based on the dimensions proposed by Cameron (1978) that consists of four dimensions, namely, Academic (Academic Development of students, Professional Development of Lecturers, Ability to acquire source), Morale, Adaptation to the External Environment and Field outside Programme. It was found that University of Moratuwa has more conducive institutional culture compared to University of Kelaniya, although certain Faculties of Unniversity of Kelaniya have scored higher in some institutional cultural dimensions compared to the Faculties of University of Moratuwa. A similar trend was observed in aspect of the effectiveness of postgraduate programmes as well. The research shows that healthy cultures lead to better effectiveness and technology oriented universities have comparatively conducive cultures that lead to greater effectiveness. This research will lay the foundation for future research into other factors influencing effectiveness and dynamics of existing cultural paradigms.Item Analyzing the significance of tourism on Sri Lankan economy; an econometric analysis(University of Kelaniya, 2010) Ranasinghe, R.; Deyshappriya, R.In countries like Maldives, Malaysia, Singapore and Spain, tourism and related recreation activities play a significant role in the generation of income / foreign exchange and provision of employment opportunities. In fact, in the global context this industry is identified as the single largest economic contributor. Moreover, tourism plays a crucial role in the attainment of macroeconomic stability. Besides, the political stability of a country has a major impact on its tourism industry. According to the preceding view, this paper aims at analysing empirically the significance of tourism in the Sri Lankan economy from 1970 to 2008. The relationship will be analyzed based on a time series approach. The study will endeavour to estimate the relationship between economic performance and tourism revenue, subject to main macroeconomic variables and political stability of the country. With respect to policy implications, the study recommends that the role of tourism could be highly emphasized in the sustainable economic development with a stable political environment.Item Brand name classifications, its strategies: an empirical study(University of Kelaniya, 2010) Guha, S.This paper primarily presents a review of work of Brand classifications and its strategies which has published in various journals of marketing. The main theme is to relate the theory developed and it’s applicability in Indian scenario. To achieve this, a small project was introduced to some of the students of management in the department. They have conduct this survey and presented the data. The author is grateful to them for the task completed. This paper thus reflected and endorsed the development of Brand, its name, classification and strategies significantly differ for different product category. It has also discussed the managerial implications in terms of organization and other factors and the study has limitations which are mentioned.Item A case of an accountancy study programme in Sri Lanka to improve relevance and quality of undergraduate education: a new dimension on institutional view(University of Kelaniya, 2010) Senaratne, S.; Gunarathne, A.D.N.The quality enhancement of undergraduate education is presently, a much discussed area in Sri Lanka, with the implementation of the World Bank funded Improving the Relevance and Quality of Undergraduate Education (IRQUE) Project. In this context, this study explores the case of IRQUE Project of Department of Accounting (DA), University of Sri Jayewardenepura (USJ) in relation to the institutionalization of good practices resulted through its interventions. The study examines the institutionalization of these practices in DA by drawing inferences from New Institutional Sociology (NIS) (Scapens, 2006) with specific reference to the works of DiMaggio and Powell in relation to institutional isomorphism. The study finds that DA has developed and adopted many good practices through the interventions made through the IRQUE Project to improve the quality and relevance of B.Sc. Accounting (Special) Degree Programme. Further, the study suggests that institutionalization of these good practices in DA, reflects all three forms of isomorphism viz. coercive, mimetic and normative as proposed by DiMaggio and Powell (1983).Item Case Study-CSR as a Tool for Re-Branding(University of Kelaniya, 2010) Gochhait, S.; Gochhait, A.CSR is no longer philanthropic or a publicity campaign, rather it is a business tool. Companies have been taking up social welfare activities from time to time. Recently the business priorities have emerged into Public Private People Partnership (PPPP) for social causes. Short term charity based welfare programs and interventions are now are not sustainable but CSR brings about sustainability. Business houses have begun to realize that they can flourish only on successful societies. While CSR is relevant for the industry point of view, it is particularly significant for Industries in developing countries like India, where it can contribute towards increasing the limited resources for meeting the ever growing aspirations and diversity of a pluralistic society. CSR intervention is not based on personal agendas but should have leadership commitments, innovative approaches and partnerships towards improving the social conditions of the community. Further, the synergy of corporate action with the government and the civil society make CSR interventions more effective. The studied case of Tata Refractory has been credited for aggressively pursuing several corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in India. The case describes the vision and mission of Tata Refractory which places importance on CSR. It then examines how the group's vision is translated into action through the various community development initiatives. Driven by outside pressure, a set of ethical principles were declared but they received little attention since their press release was poorly timed; the press release coincided with close down of unit at Belpahar, Orissa due to unethical business conduct concerning to environmental issue . These cases discusses, how the Tata Refractory had gone about integrating various CSR initiatives , the measures it is adopting for institutionalizing the concept and the various benchmarks adopted. Finally, the case examines how Tata Refractory is integrating CSR with its business processes in the organization's journey towards Brand excellence not only in Domestically but also Globally. Branding represents a cornerstone in the corporate marketing umbrella. It is a simplifying symbol that helps stakeholders distinguishes between sales offers. Credence values such as social responsibility and ethical business conduct are intangible; the brand thus becomes a guarantee for the communicated social values.Item Competitiveness of manufacturing industries in union territory of Puducherry (India): a critical analysis(University of Kelaniya, 2010) Nambirajan, T.; Prabhu, M.In the present research work, authors aim to evaluate competitive priorities among the manufacturing industries in Union Territory of Puducherry, India. Data were randomly drawn from a sample of 52 executives of manufacturing industries in Union Territory of Puducherry. For the purpose of analysis, authors have considered eight competitive domains consisting of 43 factors. Cronbach’s Alpha is a commonly used procedure to assess the internal consistency reliability of several items or scores that are going to be used to create a summated scale score. To measure scaling performance of competitive priorities in manufacturing industries, we have selected following domains such as Quality, Cost, Delivery, Flexibility, Customer focus, Know- how, Innovation and Image. Our statistical analysis reveals that quality, delivery, cost and customer-focus are the most influencing domains on the competitive priority of manufacturing industries located in Union Territory of Puducherry.Item COMPOSITION AND CONFIGURATION OF THE BOARD AND FIRM PERFORMANCE(2010) Ranasinghe, D.N.Corporate Governance is an obligatory adherence function in the present turbulent business environment. Evidence reveal that non-compliance have resulted collapse of corporate giants around the world. Composition and configuration (Board Structure)of the board of directors, as a corporate governance component, derived much attention; consequently, practitioners and academia have tried to identify the most appropriate board structure by linking this with performance. Extensive literature on board structure-performance relationship yields mixed results and disregards nonfinancial aspect of performance. This study tries to determine to what extent the structure of the board affects financial and non-financial performance in listed banks, finance and insurance organizations in Sri Lanka which are exposed to continuous increase in complexity, risk and change in the industry, demanding for intensive corporate governance practices. It is aimed to identify the impact of the board structure on performance measured in terms of both financial and non-financial facets.Board size, non-executive and female director proportion, CEO/Chairman independence, accounting and market based coupled with non-financial performance indicators were employed to measure the comprehensiveness of the board structure and the performance respectively. Application of robust statistical techniques revealed that the relationship between the board structure and financial performance does not have a statistically significant relationship and contradicts the literature while board structure and non-financial performance revealed a significant relationship.Item Dairy market trends in Vavuniya: identifying potentials and challenges in a post-conflict setting(University of Kelaniya, 2010) Thampoe, M.; Gnanaseelan, J.; Morais, N.Vavuniya is primarily an agricultural district. Milk production is an important secondary source of livelihood for the rural people. The aim of this study is to map the potentials and challenges of dairy market in Vavuniya district. This study inquires whether milk and milk based products have a good market opportunity and what challenges are faced in marketing milk and milk based products in Vavuniya. Questionnaire survey, interviews and focus group discussion were used to collect primary data from a cross section of dairy consumers, producer groups, institutional representatives and key informants. The research team obtained response from 265 households in four DS divisions. Narrative and statistical analysis methods were used to analyse the primary data. This study is significant in finding out that there exists considerable demand for fresh milk. However, the lack of availability, accessibility, and quality of local fresh milk, and locally processed milk based products have made the consumers resort to seeking more imported powdered milk and milk based products. The study also found that there is considerable willingness to buy or switch to local products when these constraints are addressed. The study concludes that it is a positive trend in developing dairy market in Vavuniya, particularly in a post-conflict setting.Item The Determinants of Capital Structure: An empirical Analysis of Listed Manufacturing Companies in Colombo Stock Exchange Market in SriLanka(University of Kelaniya, 2010) Prahalathan, B.Capital structure/leverage level of the firm determined by several factors. Proper capital structure leads the firm to achieve the better performance and ensures the sustainability in its operation. Even though there are several factors contribute to the institutional performance, determinants of the capital structure play an important role. Therefore it is necessary to identify that what are factors contribute to the firms’ capital structure composition in its operation. Hence the present study was undertaken with the objective of finding out the relationship between capital structure determinants and leverage level of the listed companies in SriLanka. Using a multiple regression analysis, the leverage behavior of the listed manufacturing companies in Colombo stock exchange market in SriLanka was examined for the period of 2003-2007. The final sample consists of 19 manufacturing companies. In this study, dependent variable that is, leverage level of the companies, is measured by long- term debt ratio, shortterm debt ratio and total debt ratio. Capital structure determinants (independent variables) are measured by capital intensity, tangibility, profitability, firm size and nondebt tax shield. Findings showed that the direction of the explanatory variables such as, tangibility, profitability, firm size and non-debt tax shields with total debt largely consistent with the explanations of trade - off theory and prove past empirical findings also.Item DETERMINANTS OF PROFITABILITY UNDERLINING THE WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT AND COST STRUCTURE OF SRI LANKAN COMPANIES(2010) Morawakage, P.S.; Lakshan, A.M.I.Efficient working capital management is an integral part of the overall corporate strategy to create shareholder value. Researchers investigated the relation between the companies? working capital, cost structure and their profitability. This relationship is examined using correlation and regression analysis. In this research, researchers have selected a sample of 65 Sri Lankan companies listed on Colombo Stock Exchange for a period of 5 years from 2003-2007, researchers have studied the effect of different variables of working capital management and cost structure on the profitability of Sri Lankan Companies including the Debtors turn over in days, Inventory turnover in days, Creditors payable in days, and working capital cycle representing the working capital and Administrative, Selling and Finance expenses representing the cost structure . The results suggest that managers can increase corporate profitability by reducing the number of inventory turn over days and increasing the creditors payable days in order to minimize the length of the working capital cycle. Increase in creditors payable days would give opportunities to the company for further investments. Also it suggests that the spending on selling and distribution would not increase the profitability and more finance cost would hinder the profits of the companies.Item DO NEED BASED MOTIVATION PRACTICES MAKE HAPPY EMPLOYEES? INTEGRATING THE SUPPLY CHAIN OF HAPPINESS WITH EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION(2010) Wickramasinghe, C.N.; Ahmad, N.; Rashid, S.; Emby, Z.Even though the work life is one of the significant life domains that contribute to the happiness and satisfaction, it is not the only life domain that make employee happy and satisfied. Human mind is much more complex organism that has many domains that positively or negatively influence to the happiness and satisfaction of life. These life domains integrated within the individual as a chain that supply happy, unhappy, satisfying and unsatisfying feelings and emotions that create the happiness and satisfaction with life in a given time. Unhappy experience of one life domain is negatively influence to the other life domains as well. This is stimulated by the macro level socio, cultural and economic causes. Therefore, the organizational motivational practices should not necessarily focus only on work related motivation but need to think the happiness and satisfaction supply chain of an individual.Item Does simple marketing techniques applicable to farm gate level of up-country vegetables? A case for Welimada area, Badulla district(University of Kelaniya, 2010) Fernando, I.N.; Nilmini, S.Item Economics of Small Scale Industries: A look at Programmes for the Growth and Development of Small Scale Industries in Nigeria(University of Kelaniya, 2010) Bachama, Y.N.Governments in most developing countries have recognized that small scale industries play an important role in the acceleration of growth and development in their economies. As a developing country, Nigeria is not an exception. Nigeria attempted several programmes, such as National Economic Reconstruction funds, Industrial layouts and Establishment of Nigerian bank for Commerce and Industry, etc., to improve the production and growth of this vital sector during the colonial era as well as after the independence at 1960; however some of these programmes succeeded in bringing little changes, while others are unsuccessful. The objective of this study is to assess the viability of programmes and proffer solutions that could bring about changes in this vital sector. Secondary data such as government publications and corporation’s annual reports as well as interviews conducted with officials and managers were collected and statistical techniques are used for analysis. The study reveals that small scale industries have not seriously impacted on the areas of large scale immediate employment, development of indigenous industrial sector, production of highly specialized goods and filling in cracks between large industries in the economy. It is observed that unless concrete steps are taking in identifying the problems, then the country will continue to chase shadows.Item Empirical Investigation of Price Variability Mechanism of the Colombo All Share Price Index(University of Kelaniya, 2010) Kumar, V.; Mittal, P.There is considerable quantitative research on stock market volatility internationally, but little on SriLanka‟s emerging stock markets. Using Colombo Stock Exchange ASPI return data, this paper investigates the index price variability mechanism in different time horizons using Realized volatility as a tool. The paper also considers S&P CNX Nifty Index of National Stock Exchange, India for computing the Index returns variability during 2005-2009 and then investigates whether any analogous asymmetric characteristic is reflected in the two emerging markets. We find no significant asymmetry in the volatility proportions computed in different time horizon on either of the considered emerging markets as compared to a common finding for developed stock markets that exhibits a larger return volatility due to negative shock entering the market.Item Ethical issues in business: the spiritual inputs(University of Kelaniya, 2010) Agarwal, H.Zeno of Cyprus, Manu Samhita and even every book of Religion especially ‘Hindu’ have strongly put the Ethics as an essential part of the business activities. All over the world, every person want to achieve peaceful living. And, to perform this act, a common code of conduct is required. This common code of conduct measures all human being equal and gives joy and happiness naturally available to all. It is, thus, called society i.e., group leading an ethics or living a value based life enjoys the fruits of good organized living. Business is a part of the society. It functions in the society. So, it should be guided by the ethical or moral norms which the society wants the business to observe. In other words, every business should be guided by business ethics i.e., moral principles which are considered by the society as right, and so, should govern and guide the activities of the business. This way, the present paper (followed) is based upon the citations, discussions and suggestions given in the various spiritual and holy texts in Artha and Kama, Dharma, Moksha manner. Moreover, ethical dilemma is discussed in detail. In my opinion, the present paper contains such issues which have not been discussed so far.Item Exhaustion and stress: an empirical study among workers in apparel industry of Sri Lanka(University of Kelaniya, 2010) Fernando, W.R.P.K.; Selvam, M.; Bennet, E.Stress is a normal part of human life in the modern world. And everyone has to cope with it. The effect of stress is a deviation from the existing physical and psychological damage of human life. The aim of this paper is to identify the level of stress among apparel industry workers in Sri Lanka. A sample of 50 workers from 10 factories in apparel industry under Board of Investment (BOI) was randomly chosen for the purpose of this study. Once upon a time the apparel industry is the largest foreign exchange earner and a key generator of employment in the Sri Lankan Economy. However, Sri Lanka is no longer maintaining its comparative advantage in the apparel industry. The study has found that majority of Stress Related Factors are inter correlated and significantly influenced stress.
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