A paper published by Maniya and Bhatt (2011) (An alternative multiple attribute decision making methodology for solving optimal facility layout design selection problems, Computers & Industrial Engineering, 61, 542-549) proposed an alternative multiple attribute decision making method named as “Preference Selection Index (PSI) method” for selection of an optimal facility layout design. The authors had claimed that the method was logical and more appropriate and the method gives directly the optimal solution without assigning the relative importance between the facility layout design selection attributes. This note discusses the mathematical validity and the shortcomings of the PSI method.

This paper presents some findings of Indian manufacturing sectors viz. automobile (especially two-wheeler), tractor and general manufacturing industry. Various manufacturing strategy issues such as competitive priorities, improvement activities, and performance measures, have been identified and assessed in Indian context. Sector wise comparison of competitive priorities, improvement activities i.e. advanced manufacturing technology (AMT), integrated information systems (IIS), and advanced management systems (AMS), and performance measure, is provided. Our results showed that most of the Indian companies are still emphasizing on quality. However, automobile sector has set to compete globally with high innovation rate, faster new product development, and continuous improvement. It is also observed that Indian companies are investing more in AMS as compared to IIS and AMT. Manufacturing competence index is also computed for each sector.

This paper explains theoretical approach of the four theories of General system Theory (GST) developed by Yourdon (1989) [Yourdon, E. (1989). Modern Structured Analysis. Yourdon Press, Prentice-Hall International, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Senge] while applying it in information technology and subsequently used by caddy (2007) [Caddy I.N., & Helou, M.M. (2007). Supply chains and their management: Application of general systems theory. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 14, 319–327.] in field of supply chain and management. JIT philosophy in core activities of supply chain i.e. procurement, production processes, and logistics are discussed through general system theory. The growing structure of the supply chain poses the implication restrictions and requires a heavy support system, many times a compromise is done while implementing JIT. The study would be useful to understand the general trends generated naturally regarding the adoption of the JIT philosophy in the supply chain.

Banks are principally in the interest earning business. The interest earning nature of banks comes with the amount of loans that banks are able to advance to their customers. To ensure that the stream of interest is not treacherous, banks must put in place stringent credit risk management practices. In this study, we investigate credit risk and default among Ghanaian banks and how these banks are coping with such pressures. Using a survey method, we found that though varied in nature, all the banks have some form of credit management procedures put in place to manage their loan portfolios. We found loan application processes to be bank specific. However, there are some common requirements that banks usually demand from customers in the process of assessing their suitability for a loan. We also found most of the credit management practices of banks to be consistent with the CAMPARI model. We recommend that the Central Bank facilitate in the establishment of a vibrant credit-referencing bureau in order to provide credit history of customers of the banks.

This paper investigates the persistence of earnings components and pricing test of abnormal changes in cash for selected firms listed on Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). The proposed study gathers the necessary data from 166 firms over the period 2004-2012 from firms whose shares were actively traded on TSE market. The study uses Panel data and with the implementation of linear regression technique examines four hypotheses. The results indicate that abnormal negative changes in cash are more persistence than positive abnormal changes. In addition, both positive and negative abnormal changes are more persistence than accruals. Market also has a good perception on abnormal positive and negative changes in cash.

This study examines the relationship between the working capital management and profitability for a real-world case study in Iran over the period 2004-2012. There are three components associated with working capital including account payable period, inventory turnover period and receivable account period. The study uses cash conversion cycle to investigate the impacts of working capital management on profitability, simultaneously. We use Pearson correlation ratios as well as regression techniques to study different hypotheses. The result indicates an inverse relationship between variables of working capital and profitability. It means if account receipt, cash conversion cycle and period of debt payment increase, the profitability of this company will decrease so managers can create more value that is positive for shareholders by decreasing period of debt payment, period of inventory turnover and period of demand collection.

Developing a national brand is one of the most important issues for development of a brand. In this study, we present factor analysis to detect the most important factors in building a national brand. The proposed study uses factor analysis to extract the most influencing factors and the sample size has been chosen from two major auto makers in Iran called Iran Khodro and Saipa. The questionnaire was designed in Likert scale and distributed among 235 experts. Cronbach alpha is calculated as 84%, which is well above the minimum desirable limit of 0.70. The implementation of factor analysis provides six factors including “cultural image of customers”, “exciting characteristics”, “competitive pricing strategies”, “perception image” and “previous perceptions”.

University of applied science and technology has been designed to create a platform for multilateral activities such as industrial, military and academic in developing countries to promote science and scientific research applications. These universities are responsible to promote practical training in quantitative and qualitative indicators and they provide appropriate infrastructure to implement theoretical graduates to solve practical problems to build necessary infrastructure to transfer modern technology into developing countries. During the past few years, there have been tremendous development on these units but some of them have not been efficient. In this paper, we present an empirical study to measure the relative efficiencies of various units of applied science and technology universities using data envelopment analysis. The proposed model of this paper uses two inputs including human resources as well as total assets and two outputs including the number of graduate students as well as operating profit. The results of the study have indicated that some of the units are inefficient and need to be merged with other units to increase the relative efficiency of these universities.

This research aims to study the effects of the quality of financial information companies on the accreditation of loans and bank contracts of the branches of Bank Mellat in the East Azerbaijan province. This is an applied research using 67 branches of Bank Mellat of the East Azerbaijan province. The study chooses a sample of 31 branches to evaluate the effects of the quality of financial information companies on the accreditation of loans and bank contracts. There are variables associated with quality of financial information such as their relevance, timeliness, and reliability over the period 2010-2011 using multi-variables linear-regression technique. The results of this study show that relevance, timeliness, and reliability variables are effective on the accreditation of loans and bank contracts of the branches.