Top-level Managers Research Articles

How Does Tobin’s Q Respond to Merger and Acquisition Announcements: Evidence of Listed Indian Firms

Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine the linkage between mergers and acquisition announcements and firm’s valuation taking into consideration Tobin’s q. Theoretical framework: The Q theory of investment propounded by James Tobin (1969) is suitable for the present study. According to this theory, there is a significant correlation between a company's market value and its rate of investment. Following this, indicators of the relative potential profitability of investments are the valuations that are placed in financial markets on the securities of companies as ratios to the costs of replacing their assets, which is denoted by q. Design/methodology/approach: The current investigation examines Tobin's q distribution for 140 listed firms on the Bombay Stock Exchange from 2011 to 2022. Tobin’s q is calculated for the financial service sector of the Indian economy. Findings: The results study suggests that Stock markets react significantly to the valuation of Indian firms due to M&A announcements in the category of non-banking financial companies. More specifically, 40 companies have a high Tobin’s q ratio in the full sample of firms. According to the findings, the majority of M&A announcements had no effect on the Tobin's q of the sampling companies. This indicates that the stocks of companies operating in the financial services sector are not affected by news of mergers and acquisitions. It demonstrates that the Indian capital market responded normally to information on mergers and acquisitions. Research, Practical & Social implications: The study helps financial analysts, top-level management, and stakeholders of a company to correctly evaluate the impact of mergers and acquisitions announcements on Tobin’s q of firms as a performance measurement metric. Originality/value: The value of the study can be evaluated from the fact that it investigates the relationship between mergers and acquisitions announcements and Tobin's q as a crucial parameter for corporate valuation, which is the first of its kind for emerging economies.

How Can Malaysian Public Universities Make The Most of Their Campus Real Estate? – A Conceptual Framework for Managing Corporate Real Estate

Most university campus buildings have low occupancy rates and high operating and maintenance costs because they are historically designed to fulfil the needs of specific faculties without any utility value. Real estate resources in universities tend to be undermanaged and misunderstood as overheadcosts by top-level management. The problems are prevailing within Malaysian public universities. Therefore, it is critical to take a more integrated corporate real estate management (CREM) approach, which is appropriate for public institutions with limited autonomy and strict regulatory oversight. This paper aims to determine key themes of CRE strategies and critical components of CREM alignment for successful implementation within an organisation. A comprehensive literature review was done on CREM at higher education institutions between 1990 and 2021. Then, a summary of several important publications was provided. The discussion of several approaches for coordinating CRE and organisational strategies followed. Because there is still adisconnect between the theoretical framework and the real-world implementations by educational administrators, the gap in Malaysia concerning CREM past research was then discovered. The article concludes by recommending a conceptual framework for CREM implementation in public universities in Malaysia that incorporates CRE strategies, alignment, and portfolio management. In order to enjoy a stream of revenues and support their core business operations, public universities can integrate CREM knowledge while managing their properties and resources. The conceptual framework promotes the overall effectiveness of investment in Malaysian higher education and offers helpful information for public institutions and government organisations involved in education.

A study to determine human-related errors at the level of top management, safety supervisors & workers during the implementation of safety practices in the construction industry

The safety performance of the Indian construction industry is not satisfactory, due to which many accidents are still prevailing in the construction industry. To execute the project successfully without any accidents all the levels of employees must be consciously involved in preventing accidents without committing errors at their individual level. Many researchers have conducted studies to find out the major issues that lead to causes of accidents at single employee level. Finding out major issues at single employee level alone may not be sufficient to prevent accidents, because construction is not a domain of a single category of employees; instead, it is a field of several categories of employees working at various levels in the execution of the projects. Any single error committed at any of the employee level may contribute to major issues that would leads to accidents. Therefore, in order to identify the potential errors that occur at multi-level employees, the present study has adopted three-dimensional view strategy to investigate human related errors that occur during the implementation of each stage of safety practices such as supply & usage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Safety training (ST) and Safety supervision (SSV) from Top management (TM), Safety supervisors (SS) and workers (W) perspectives. This study has identified three major issues such as lack of supply & usage of PPE, improper safety training, poor safety supervision and 140 contributing errors (responses) behind the occurrence of these three major issues through focus interviews carried out at construction organizations based in Chennai city, South India. Out of identified 140 contributing errors, 45 contributing errors were behind the occurrence of lack of supply & usage of PPE (TM level −26 errors; SS level-13 errors; W level −6 errors), 32 contributing errors were behind the occurrence of improper safety training (TM level-18 errors; SS-12 errors; W level-2 errors) and 63 contributing errors were behind the occurrence of poor safety supervision (TM level-32 errors; SS level −21 errors; W level −10 errors). The results obtained are explained figuratively by comparing it with the results of similar previous studies. The study results shows that any major issue that lead to cause of accidents possibly cannot occur alone, but would occur as a result of several contributing errors from various levels of employees. The findings of the study may be helpful for the construction organizations to prevent accidents in future by avoiding the identified contributing errors at the levels of TM, SS, and W.

Is medical leadership associated with better hospital management? Evidence from a structural analysis of hospitals in Germany

Background/Aims Excellent hospital leadership is essential for the delivery of high-quality care and financial viability of healthcare services. In Germany, the role of chief executive officer of a hospital can be held by an individual with a medical or non-medical background. This study explored the potential differences between the structural and financial parameters of hospitals, depending on the background of their chairperson or chief executive. Methods Publicly available data on financial and structural parameters for 178 hospitals in Germany from the years 2015, 2016 and 2017 were collected and mean values were calculated for all variables. Nearest-neighbour matching was performed to allow comparisons to be made between hospitals with medical and non-medical leadership. Results While the results showed no significant differences between leadership types in terms of financial results, the values for structural characteristics, especially staffing levels, number of inpatient cases and case mix index values, were significantly higher for hospitals with medical leadership versus non-medical leadership. Conclusions Hospital leadership structure is a crucial factor in organisational performance. The presence of a person with a medical background at the top level of hospital management can have a beneficial impact on the delivery of healthcare.

The Correlation between Supply Chain Performance and Information Technology

Supply Chain Performance is regarded as a crucial organizational performance indicators. Much effort has been made to enhance it. So, effective and efficient supply chains are recognized as a crucial strategic aspect for achieving several essential corporate objectives, such as improved customer service, enhanced efficiency, and enhanced competitiveness. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyze the role of information technology on supply chain performance with information technology support as a mediator. The study has been designed based on a descriptive approach using a survey to collect data by questionnaire from Saudi logistics professionals. The potential respondents were members of Hyper Panda's top level of management and executive personnel who were familiar with the company's operations and supply chain procedures. There are 83 valid responses. The research result has several findings and outcomes that will inform future research. The study findings will shed light on choosing the most effective information technology with a significant influence on supply chain performance.

The health system barriers to a healthy diet in Iran.

Decreasing calories, salt, sugar and fat intake is considered the golden solution to reduce obesity and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) related to unhealthy diet. This study aimed to investigate the health system induced barriers to a healthy diet in Iran. This is a qualitative health policy analysis. We collected data through 30 semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with purposefully identified experts, including policy-makers, top-level managers and related stakeholders. All interviews were transcribed verbatim, and analyzed with qualitative content analysis, facilitated by MAXQDA 11 software. We identified six categories of barriers: structural problems within the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MoHME), i.e. Supreme Council of Health and Food Security (SCHFS); the MoHME's inadequate stewardship of public health, the short life of the deputy of social affairs within the MoHME and its possible impact on the National Health Assembly; inefficient traffic lights labelling for foods; lack of adequate policies and guidelines for monitoring restaurants and fast foods and insufficient incentive policies for the food industry. In line with the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Action Plan, in 2015, Iran defined its roadmap for prevention and control of NCDs, i.e. some nutritional interventions. However, different stakeholders including MoHME and other sectors need to provide series of interventions to change people's approach about food choice so that they might reduce the consumption of foods with excessive salt, fat and sugar.

Religious, contextual and media influence: determinants of the representation of female tour guides in travel agencies

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the perceptions of female tour guides’ lower and top levels of management in travel agencies about how misunderstanding Islam and its culture may engender the poor representation of women in the tour guide profession.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research method is used, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 full-time female tour guides working at several travel agencies in Egypt. Thematic analysis helped extract main ideas from the transcripts.FindingsThe representation of female tour guides in travel agencies is shaped by the following three determinants: religious (familial obligations and marital status), contextual (nature of tour guide activities, poor representation of women in senior tourism-related jobs, cronyism, sexual harassment and spread of foreign female tour guides) and media influence. Understanding these three factors may enable a more comprehensive representation of female tour guides.Practical implicationsFemale tour guides could work closely with tourism policymakers in Egypt to shape the media messages about them. This might include elaborating on the main challenges faced by female tour guides. Social support from families and friends may allow female tour guides more freedom and empowerment.Originality/valueThis study contributes by filling a gap in tourism, human resources management and gender studies in which empirical studies on the representation of females in travel agencies have been limited so far.

Maintenance, Improvement, and Supervision of Annex Campuses: An Evaluative Study

To evaluate the maintenance, improvement, and oversight of the school enable to better meet its educational needs. A descriptive-evaluative study was conducted with a focus on the level and relationship of maintenance, improvement, and supervising activities of top-level management of annex campuses. There were 21 non-faculty employees working at Guimaras State College who served as respondents. Findings revealed that most respondents strongly agreed on the degree of management responsible for school maintenance. It is always highly satisfactory in terms of improvement and supervision. However, maintenance has a negative correlation with improvement, but a large positive correlation with the level of supervision. Lastly, improvement is strongly correlated with supervision. Keywords: Maintenance, Improvement, and Supervision

Development of Autonomous Artificial Intelligence Systems for Corporate Management

The article discusses development of autonomous artificial intelligence systems for corporate management. The function of a corporate director is still one of the few that are legislated for execution by a “natural” rather than an “artificial” person. The main prerequisites for development of systems for full automation of management decisions made at the level of a board of directors are formed in the field of corporate law, machine learning, and compliance with the rules of non-discrimination, transparency, and accountability of decisions made and algorithms applied. The basic methodological approaches in terms of corporate law for the “autonomous director” have already been developed and do not get rejection among representatives of the legal sciences. However, there is an undeniable need for further extensive research in order to amend corporate law to effectively introduce “autonomous directors”. In practice, there are two main options of management decisions automation at the level of top management and a board of directors: digital command centers or automation of separate functions. Artificial intelligence systems will be subject to the same strict requirements for non-discrimination, transparency, and accountability as “natural” directors. At a certain stage, autonomous systems can be an effective tool for countries, regions, and companies with a shortage of human capital, equalizing or providing additional chances for such countries and companies to compete on the global market.

Spirituality and leadership in hospitality industry: A qualitativestudy from an emerging economy

Researchers from the leadership and spirituality domain identified that spiritual leadership is one of the key leadership styles to transform the working environment of any organization. But the literature is scant that answers the key question: how a spiritual leader plays a role in transforming the organization to accept organizational change in post-coronavirus disease 2019 situation. Using the grounded theory approach, 16 face-to-face interviews were conducted at the top management level in the hospitality industry of Pakistan. The data were assessed using NVIVO software to develop themes and subthemes. The results indicate that leaders’ own spiritual level and knowledge are critical to developing a positive relationship between a leader and follower and helpful in disseminating spiritual knowledge over time to accept the ongoing change in the organizations. Also, the respondents strongly emphasized uplifting the stakeholders, society, and followers as a whole. This study provides key insights for the theory and managers alike.

EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATION IN DECISION-MAKING: A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON PERCEPTION OF EMPLOYEES AND EMPLOYERS IN NEPALESE ENTERPRISES

There is much debate as to whether employees should be participated or not in the decision-making process. This study examined the status of employee participation in decision-making using Government-Owned Enterprises namely Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), a corporate office located in Kathmandu, and privately run industry, Bira Furniture within Patan Industrial Estate located in Lalitpur, Nepal, as a case study. The study employed qualitative research for empirical investigation. Interviews, Focus Group Discussions (FGD), and observation were used for primary data collection. A purposive sampling method was applied. The study used thematic analysis of data. Lower-level employees have also adequate rights in their workplace decision-making at the head office of NEA. However, high-level decision-making power rest in top-level management. Most of the decisions are made based on rules, by-laws, and procedures. By nature, almost all functions are performed based on teamwork. Even though the employer/manager of the Bira Factory argues that workers have sufficient engagement in the workplace decision-making process, the great majority of workers express a lack of such opportunity in the factory. This finding implies that employees or workers in the public sector are more involved in decisionmaking than those in the private sector. The researcher suggests that managers should participate with employees in the decision-making process in the present time of industrial democracy.

Impact of Work Stress on Surgeons Job Satisfaction with the Moderating Effect of Social Support: An Empirical Study from the Surgeons of Private Hospitals

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between work-life balance and workplace anxiety on job satisfaction experienced by surgeons. Further, the objective of this study is to investigate the moderating role of social capital among the observed variables. The researchers used quantitative methodology to conduct this research. The population of this research consists of surgeons working in private hospitals in Lahore. The researchers collected data from 495 respondents through an adopted structured questionnaire. The researchers used a simple random method to select the respondents. The findings of current research indicated that both dimensions of work stress, i.e., work-life balance and workplace anxiety, on job satisfaction. Further, the findings indicated that social capital has a moderating effect on work-life balance and job satisfaction. Lastly, the outcomes revealed that social capital has a moderating effect on workplace anxiety and job satisfaction. The study findings recommended that top-level managers have the potential to boost surgeons’ satisfaction by implementing stress management practices in the workplace and offering social support. It is possible that in the future, research will support organizational citizenship behavior as a mediator between the stress of work and the level of job satisfaction experienced by surgeons.

The impact of business intelligence system (BIS) on quality of strategic decision-making

This study aims to investigate the impact of Business Intelligence Systems (BIS) on the quality of strategic decision-making in top-level management. The independent variables in this study are Data Quality, Data Visualization, and BI Management, while the dependent variable is the Quality of Strategic Decision-Making. Additionally, the study explores the moderator variable, BI Scope, to further understand the relationship between BIS and the quality of strategic decision-making. By providing valuable insights into the relationship between BIS and the quality of strategic decision-making, this study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on business intelligence and strategic decision-making. The findings show that BI Management, BI Scope, Data Quality, and Data Visualization have substantial and favorable correlations with the quality of strategic decision-making. Effective BI Management techniques contribute to higher decision-making quality, emphasizing the necessity of BI resource management. The study also underlines the importance of BI Scope as a moderator variable, demonstrating its impact on the connection between BI and quality of decision-making. In addition, the research shows that Data Quality and Data Visualization have a considerable influence on strategic decision-making quality. Using effective visualization tools and ensuring high-quality data improves the results of decision-making processes. The interaction impact between BI Scope and Data Quality, on the other hand, was determined to be non-significant.

Identification of the Factors Influencing the E-HRM Implementation: Insights from the Private Banks of Bangladesh.

Along with identifying the motivational factors, this study aims to address the challenges in implementing E-HRM in the workplace. The research attempts to explore the current state of E-HRM practices in the banking sector of Bangladesh as research regarding E-HRM in the context of Bangladesh has not been explored sufficiently. This study follows an exploratory research approach, and the methods include reviewing literature and semi-structured interviews with 22 key informants in the banking sector. For analyzing the qualitative data, 'thematic analysis’ was applied using the most common process known as the step-by-step process. This paper identified two key themes in the findings: motivating and challenging factors to implement E-HRM. The findings from the data analysis indicate that top-level management’s support, employees’ attitudes, competitors’ pressure, time demand, and traditional complex systems are the motivation behind adopting E-HRM. On the other hand, high set-up costs, lack of skilled employees, information security, IT culture, negligence of top-level managers, monitoring and feedback, and job insecurity have been identified as challenging factors to implement E-HRM in organizational functions. The study findings conclude that adoption of E-HRM is far more beneficial than performing the HRM functions through the traditional convoluted systems. These findings might contribute to the development of strategies to implement E-HRM in banking activities. In addition, these findings might be considered as input for further research in human resource management.

ТЕНДЕНЦИИ РАЗВИТИЯ РЫНКА ТРУДА В ТОРГОВЛЕ

Modern trade is an important sector of the Russian economy, creating a significant part of the gross value added. Trade infrastructure and its subjects play a significant role in ensuring employment of the population of the Russian Federation. The number of people employed in wholesale and retail trade is increasing annually, at the same time, there is a tendency to decrease the share of people employed in the field of trade, due to an increase in the share of online trade, which has a lower labor intensity. The analysis of the structure of employees in the trade industry in 2021 in the Russian Federation by the level of education reflects a high proportion of workers with higher education, secondary vocational education and secondary general education. However, the growth of both the absolute and relative number of people employed in trade is not balanced with the dynamics of the output of qualified specialists in this field. In 2023, experts note a shortage of trade and operational personnel, which in the future will affect the level of line managers and top management of trading companies. The processes of consolidation and competition between the two leaders of the Russian market are continuing in the trade industry: the holding company, which includes the retail chains Magnit and Dixie, and the holding X5 Group, non-network trade formats are developing as a tool for promoting goods for small and medium-sized businesses. Street retail is being revived with small retail formats with an emphasis on everyday demand. There is an annual increase in the share of eCommerce. The introduction of artificial intelligence technologies into the activities of trading enterprises will reduce the costs of circulation, which will positively affect the prices of goods and stimulate consumer demand. The impact of scientific and technological progress, globalization processes, and the COVID-19 pandemic on trade has led to the need to modernize the labor market and the vocational education system. In order to reduce the personnel deficit and increase the level of professional training and retraining of trade workers, it is advisable to combine the efforts of large retail companies and educational institutions on the basis of a public-private partnership mechanism.

The Impact of Knowledge Management Processes on Sustainable Performance: The Mediating Role of Enterprise Resource Planning System

This study identified the effect of knowledge management processes on sustainable performance, testing the expected role of the ERP system as an intermediate variable in enhancing the impact of knowledge management processes on sustainable performance. Few studies have empirically examined the three variables this encouraging the researcher to fill the research knowledge gap. A literature review is a suitable way to review existing literature while facilitating theory development and uncovering areas where further research is needed. Data were collected through questionnaire from the Jordanian Pharmaceutical Industrial Companies in Amman which are (6) companies, used a comprehensive survey due to the limitations of the population which consisted of (81) administrators at the top and middle management levels, using SPSS statistics version 25 for testing the research model and hypotheses. The results reveal appositive medium effect of knowledge management process on sustainable performance, the findings also indicate the medium level of effect of knowledge management process on ERPs. The results also confirm that there is higher level of effect of ERP on the effect of knowledge management process on sustainable performance. This mean that all hypothesized relation was positive

Tools for performance management of earth retaining structures: Implementation in Infraestruturas de Portugal S.A.

Infraestruturas de Portugal S.A. is a public company that holds the long-term concession for the national road and rail network, managing more than 16,500 kilometres of roads and rails. In 2016 the company identified the “absence of a formal preventive maintenance framework for retaining walls” as a risk to the pursuit of its objectives. The identification of this risk, as it is associated with a relevant set of assets, raised awareness at the top management and decision-making levels of the company, leading to the implementation of a long-term project envisioning the development of an earth retaining structures management system. As a result, in 2018, a 4-year project was put into practice, dedicated to formulating a framework that integrates inventory, inspection, monitoring, performance, and risk, subsequently supported by a dedicated database and software.

Top management characteristics and performance of financial companies: The role of women in the top management

The top management (TM) is very important to the company. It is concerned with planning, directing, monitoring results, and adjusting strategic plans. This research intends to investigate the connection between TM characteristics and financial company performance. Specifically, this research explores the role of women in this relationship. The sample of the study is 368 firm-year-observations from the listed financial sectors in Saudi Arabia for the 2014–2021 years. The ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis is used to determine if TM characteristics have an impact on firm performance. The moderating effect of women in TM on the connection between TM qualities and performance is also tested in this research. This research confirms the primary theories by using attentional tests in conjunction with additional data. We discover that the size of TM has a statistically significant detrimental impact on performance according to the major models. We also find the significant effects of accounting and finance experience of TM, professional certificate of TM, education level of TM, and women in TM on performance. Further analysis reveals that omen in TM has a moderator effect on TM characteristics and company performance. The study contains new empirical data to comprehend how management- and governance-specific elements impact the effectiveness of performance in Saudi Arabia enterprises. In addition, the representation of women in TM has an impact on the association between TM characteristics and performance.

Strategical and tactical asset management for the North Line in Portugal

The tool presented in this paper attempts to bridge the gap between the top management level of a company and maintenance planning, by providing a way to support strategic decisions with a clear evaluation of what would be required at the tactical level. It supports the infrastructure manager to answering questions like “If we have a reduction of the total budget of 10% are we still able to reach the requested quality level?”. The tool will enable the infrastructure manager to estimate the consequences of strategic decisions, as it relies on detailing the tactical planning that would be necessary to execute. For this purpose, the tool was designed with a modular structure to ensure transferability to databases of other infrastructure operators.

The Interplay between Strategic Planning and Firm Competitiveness

Organizations around the world are progressively adopting strategic planning practices with the anticipation of yielding improved performance outcomes to attain competitive advantage. Previous research primarily focused on the direct correlation between strategic planning and performance, overlooking the nuances of the individual steps comprising the strategic planning process. The execution and extent of each step within this process can potentially influence the anticipated outcomes of strategic planning efforts. The study sought to test the influence of strategy formulation, strategy selection, strategy implementation and monitoring and evaluation on the competitiveness of manufacturing firms in Kenya. Quantitative analysis was utilized with the aim of empirically ascertaining the correlation between the variables of interest, employing relevant statistical techniques for data analysis. The chosen methodology was centered on a survey design, which proved to be the most fitting technique for effectively accomplishing the research objectives. The primary focus of the study was on top-level management individual (chief executive officers, general managers, and line managers) where sample sizes of 71 top managers in the manufacturing sector were involved in the study. The results of the correlation analysis underscore a robust association between strategic planning and firm competitivess. Moreover, it is noteworthy that all strategic planning steps, including strategy formulation, strategy selection, and establishing implementation, and monitoring and evaluation exhibited positive correlations with organizational competitiveness.