Business, Management and Economics: Research Progress Vol. 2

The accounting equation shows the equality or relationship between company assets, liabilities, and capital or owner’s equity. This article attempts to explain how an accounting equation evolves due to the complex behaviors of managers in decision-making making specifically capital structure decisions. The article looks at the accounting equation by using trade-off theory and positive accounting theory lenses. The accounting equation is viewed as living or dynamic and changes according to human behavior or managers of a company’s behavior. The article focuses on all 15 companies listed on the Dar Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) from the year 2005 to 2008 when Tanzania effectively adopted IASs. Annual reports of companies were used to obtain data from 2005 through 2008. The values of total assets, liabilities, and owners’ equity or capital were obtained from the companies’ statements of financial position and regressed together. The regression model and descriptive statistics were used to show the relationship between total assets, liabilities, and owners’ equity. The model was then used to show a new form of the accounting equation, rates of change of liabilities, and owners’ equity. In this article, the new approaches or look at the accounting equation and the rates of change of liabilities and capital in relation to assets were found and shows the proportion of the two components of assets i.e. liability 64% and capital 36% to the asset. Finally, the author explains the constant term which is not explained by other authors of the accounting field. This article shows for the first time a new form of accounting equation, different rates of change for the two components of assets, and finally proportions of the owners’ equity/ capital and liabilities components on assets. Future researchers should find out how the accounting equation evolves, how total liabilities of companies (L) and companies’ owners’ equity (C) change in relation to total assets as well as the proportion of L and C to the total assets in specific industries and should also define the optimal point where capital equals to liability.

Background and Purpose: HR departments play an important role in aligning the performance of each employee with the goals and objectives of the organization. Making wiser decisions about employees to improve performance at the individual and/or organizational levels is the process of HR analytics. HR analytics is a method for determining the correlation between HR practices and organizational performance outcomes such as sales volume or customer satisfaction. Human Resource Analytics was established in 1978 by Jac Fitz-Enz, the pioneer of human capital strategic analysis and performance benchmarking. In this paper, the researcher discusses the concept of HR analytics, its application, its impact on talent management, branding, and challenges in its application.

Methodology: The researcher examines secondary data and conducts a thorough literature review to understand the concept and its application across industries and nations, as well as to identify any challenges encountered during deployment and any benefits perceived by various industry professionals.

Findings: The findings of the study indicate that the use of HR analytics may be of assistance to businesses in the process of creating their brand and acquiring a competitive edge in the present business environment, which is defined by strong competition. Furthermore, it has the potential to enhance the productivity of the workforce as well as the output of the personnel.

Conclusion: By enhancing HR rules and processes, HR analytics may undoubtedly increase the department's reputation. To effectively cooperate on HR analytics initiatives, HR professionals are gaining new skills and competencies. HR professionals must become proficient at demonstrating the effects of HR strategies on business outcomes. Conducting exploratory research on the problems and obstacles to HR analytics adoption in enterprises can be part of the future scope.

A strong liquidity position in the banking industry is of paramount importance for the smooth functioning of the economy. The failure of the bank to manage its liquidity results in liquidity risk which further increases the probability of default (PD) in the banking industry. The aim of this paper is the analysis of liquidity management policy in order to determine the level of liquidity risk. Planning of liquidity requirements is important from the microeconomic aspect because the banks at any moment must respond to requests submitted by depositors or applications for new loans. Provision of liquidity is also required from the macroeconomic aspect since this reflects on the economic and financial stability. Quantitative data for this study was collected using a questionnaire designed to analyze liquidity risk management, which would help in the identification and explanation of possible changes in the banking system in the country. Data collected from the questionnaire was processed using the SPSS program. Based on the analysis, it is estimated that banks properly manage liquidity and maintain adequate liquidity reserves to ensure sufficient funds to meet their commitments on time. Also, the main sources providing liquidity for banks are the non-term deposits and the issuance of various securities. However, holding excess liquidity reserves causes the opportunity cost for banks, but also non-fulfillment of the requirements of the economy for loans. Therefore, the regulatory bodies should reduce the liquidity reserve holding. It is recommended for future research studies to expand not only in Kosovo but also in the CEE countries in general because there is no such research.

Eagle Hill Consulting’s national workplace culture survey in the US reveals that 63 percent of employees recognize the significant impact of workplace culture on their organization’s overall success. This indicates the importance of corporate culture for the entity’s success. This study examined the effect of corporate culture (the availability of corporate pages on the website of the company) on the corporate value (Tobin’s Q) of the companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. It is cross-sectional and uses secondary data extracted both from the company website and the financial reports for the year 2019. There are 485 companies that met the selection criteria. To test the hypothesis, cross-sectional ordinary least squares regression is used. The results show that corporate culture has a modestly positive effect on corporate value. The robustness test reveals that the finding is more pronounced among small companies. The study also includes four other variables, namely employee activities, employee training programs, honors earned, charity programs, and return on assets as a control variable. The results show that two variables, the honors earned and the number of charity programs, have a significant positive effect on corporate value. Given the findings, we recommend that the company discloses and promotes its corporate culture to inform potential investors about its strong commitment to conducting business with a specific culture. Future research could utilize survey-based data, a method employed by several studies in recent days.

This chapter analyses the market potentiality of «Made in Italy food» and focuses on some emerging issues concerning Italian specialties characterized by higher competitiveness. Starting from the definition of «Made in Italy food», the paper addresses the topic of food safety, analysing policies, and legislation. Following an approach from macro to micro aspects, market trends are highlighted, and a ranking analysis is carried out, emphasizing the positioning of Made in Italy. Concerns related to transaction costs, information asymmetry, and adverse selection are discussed and the Italian-sounding phenomenon is spotted. Growing practices of unfair competition, such as food piracy, result in several forms of market failure, damaging the segmentation strategies of Italian companies. Findings propose an estimate of unfair business and offer special indexes of evaluation. Finally, policy and business implications are addressed and attractive, and multiple fields for future research are suggested. Chinese food habits are currently experiencing rapid changes. The increasing consumer purchasing power results in the adoption of a new lifestyle and diet - both in quantity and quality. The consumption trend causes a sudden boom in food imports, with China becoming the world’s largest market and an essential opportunity for Italian business. Among Italian specialties characterized by higher competitiveness, it results in wine is the first in the ranking of Italian foodstuffs in China, followed by chocolate, pasta, and bakery, as olive oil and many other typical foods such as meat, sausages, hams, and dairy products highlight excellent performances. Although the Chinese market enjoys higher appeal, it is also suffering from growing concerns about transaction costs, information asymmetry, and adverse selection, for which it becomes essential to identify measuring tools. The success of Made in Italy foments indeed Italian-sounding phenomena. Growing practices of unfair competition like food piracy can result in many kinds of market failure, due to the lack of adequate regulation. The segmentation strategies of Italian companies can be heavily damaged by such imitation activities, with huge losses of income for true «Made in Italy food».

Every company desires to make a profit, and the only way to make that happen is to satisfy customers and get them to pay for products and services. The uneven implementation of Workplace Diversity Management laws across countries is a global concern. The potential for bias is increased when there is unequal treatment of all employees regardless of background, gender, ethnicity, race, social status, etc. This study focuses on the Nigerian regulatory agencies and looks at how different academics have interpreted the impact of workplace diversity management on employee engagement. The relationship between the significant variables was examined using the constructs of inclusion, fairness, equal opportunity, policies and programs, leadership style, and the moderating effect of organizational support. Additionally, a theoretical framework methodology was applied, emphasizing two theories (Salad Bowl and Thomas and Ely’s perspectives) that served as the foundation for the investigation after a thorough review of several pertinent literature sources from reputable journals. To ensure currency, however, only studies that were released in the previous five years were included in this analysis. Using keywords from the independent and dependent variables, as well as their corresponding proxies, one hundred and thirty-one (131) pertinent bodies of literature from respectable journals were consulted and included to find theories that were used. The findings revealed that these theories were best fit for multicultural nations like Nigeria as they were adopted by private and public sector organizations in India, Indonesia, and the United States which are rich in diversity. The findings revealed that Nigerian public agencies lack effective implementation of diversity management policies and are therefore encouraged to embrace diversity, absorb minorities where applicable, and leverage the variety. By encouraging unity in diversity and recognizing individual differences, employees’ commitment will increase which will result in loyalty. Organizations are therefore advised to embrace diversity, absorb minorities where necessary, and leverage variety.

The present study provides a very partial picture with regard to the issue of privatization and outsourcing in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The author has taken only the viewpoints of the public extension personnel, and not of the other stakeholders like farmers’ organizations, research institutions, agricultural scientists, and representatives from tertiary education institutions. There is no one set of challenges that justifies the privatization of extension and advisory services both in developed and developing areas. It is argued that factors that can influence privatization include; limited budget provisions and ineffectiveness of extension and advisory services. According to studies commissioned by the World Bank, there are many lessons to be learned from the literature about the successes and failures of privatization in organizations throughout rich and developing nations. Regrettably, South Africa was left out of these studies. This is the reason this study was carried out in South Africa's Limpopo Province to determine whether privatization and outsourcing are acceptable or not.

This chapter explores options for privatization in South Africa with a focus on Limpopo Province. A sample of 324 extension officers out of 700 extension officers from the province was taken from the five districts of Limpopo constituting a sample of 46%, and their opinions were gathered through quantitative design. The results show that extension efficiency was falling below the international standards when measured through the input/output ratio of 100/130. The majority of extension advisors (70%) showed resistance to privatization, and the mean scale of the benefits of privatization was rated 6.7 as the highest in 7 categories. The extension advisors did not perceive any benefits for privatization and hence rated 38% from all the districts. The varying choices could therefore be attributed to different judgements of competence of the alternative community structures. The respondents did not support a situation where officials from Local Government would take over the responsibility of extension services. The chapter concludes with recommendations that warn that privatization ought to be taken with great care because the marginalized and small-scale farmers cannot afford to pay for extension services.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the skills of the head of schools in managing unit costs for financing students in public secondary schools in the Arumeru District Council. Effective financial management is critical for optimizing the limited resources available to public schools, and the competence of school heads in handling unit costs plays a pivotal role in this regard. The study was guided by the following specific objectives: To examine how the heads of schools are familiar with the concepts of unit cost; To determine the extent to which the heads of schools are familiar with factors that affect students’ unit cost; To examine the extents head of schools are involved in the budget allocation processThe research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews with school heads, teachers, and district education officers. The design used in this study is a convergent research design. The target population for this study was all heads of secondary school teachers in public schools in Meru district, Tanzania.  A sample size of 30 heads of secondary schools (total sampling), 60 secondary school teachers, and 1 district education officer to provide supplementary insights in this research. The findings reveal that while some heads of schools demonstrate proficient financial management skills, others lack the necessary expertise, leading to inefficiencies in resource allocation and utilization. Also, the study revealed that the heads of schools are involved in the process of making a budget.  However, the key factors influencing their financial management skills include professional training, experience, and support from district education authorities. The report emphasizes the necessity of focused professional development initiatives to improve school heads' capacity for financial management. The adoption of peer learning opportunities, ongoing training seminars, and more robust support systems from the district education offices are among the recommendations. The enhancement of educational achievements and the maintenance of sustainable funding mechanisms can be achieved by Tanzanian public secondary schools through improved resource allocation and improved financial management abilities of their school heads.

Agriculture is of particular importance in a majority of countries of the world despite their various agendas to achieve the targets of food security and poverty reduction. Indian agriculture’s share of GDP declined to approximately 15% in 2023 compared to 35% in 1990-91. As this has occurred due to the rapid expansion of the secondary and tertiary sectors, it shows that the Indian economy is strongly on the path of development, where the share of agriculture is expected to decline. The current statistics also revealed that employment in the agricultural sector has declined over the years. This can raise questions about the potential of this sector to meet the objectives of providing food security and earning foreign exchange. As agriculture has a historical past with respect to its performance which is expected to have an effect on the present, the objective of this chapter is to analyze the growth performance of the agricultural sector in India in the post-reform period with particular reference to the pre-pandemic phase. Our study has shown that though the growth of this sector has fluctuated over the years and the subsectors have exhibited heterogeneous growth rates over the past two decades, it has steadily recovered in a majority of the cases, thus not compromising with the food availability of the country. Agricultural production has increased in absolute figures over the years, which speaks strongly about an increase in productivity.