The International Journal of Humanities
Volume:22 Issue: 3, 2015

This paper investigates the key factors affecting the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow to deve­­loping countries during the period (1995-2010) with emphasis on the financial development. Financial development, as an important factor in FDI absorption and a prerequisite for utilizing the benefits of FDI, not only increases the FDI inflow in developing countries, but also improve the absorption capacity and ability of these countries to utilize the benefits of FDI. Since the financial system consists of several components and provides a variety of services, various indicators, which represent the development of different aspects and components of financial system, have been applied in order to assess the impact of financial development on the FDI. Results indicate that development of various components of financial system (stock market and banking sector) as well as different aspects of financial development (size and activity level of financial system) all have positive and significant impact on the FDI inflow in developing countries during the studied period.

Jihadi management is a set of features along with managerial scientific structure and revolutionary and Velayati values to make a very strong driving force for the country to pass crises. Concerning its importance, present paper identifies the traits of Jihadi management in improving managers’ performance. Current study is a survey for which a questionnaire is used to gather data. To realize research aims, 384 middle and operational managers in companies and organizations in Tehran were considered as sample. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and confirmatory factors analysis (CFA) as well as LISREL and SPSS software packages were used to analyze data and to test research hypotheses and model. Research findings indicate significant impact by Jihadi traits such as “managers’ strong and good associations with employees”, “managers’ accountability and responsibility”, “obligation to commitments” , “authentication in affairs”, “designations” and “meritocracy” on managers’ performance.

In this study, we have tried to identify two different approaches for dealing with social problems and issues. The first one is causal explanation, which is retrospective, static and physical. The other one, functional analysis, is prospective, dynamic, and normative. Institutions are the main subject of economics. Human social-institutional reality has a common underlying structure and these structures are matters of status functions. We proposed a method which aims at efficacy of these functions using intelligence rather than assuming these functions as intrinsic and trying to grasp the realty from without by a rationality apparatus. The aim of this article is to show that, Dewey’s Logic provides us with this alternative functionalistic approach in a comprehensive way.

In the past four decades, new approaches and methodologies have been developed to solve unstructured and messy problems with various stakeholders. Among these methods, soft system methodologies, cognitive mapping, and strategic choice approach are specifically worthy to be heeded. The methods mentioned above, which have a precise structure and clear framework, are often categorized as soft operations research or problem structuring methods. Today, there is ample literature on soft research and it is taught in many operations research/management science courses of reputable universities. Methods of research on soft OR are rooted in soft system thinking and belong to the interpretative/learning paradigm. Nonetheless, assigning a clear and precise boundary between hard and soft OR techniques is not easily feasible, for most of these techniques– based on their application in different situations – can be classified as both hard and soft. The aim of this research is to investigate the origins and current position of soft methodology of operations research and probe into its theoretical basis. A comparison between the trend of OR in the US and UK clearly demonstrates the differences in soft and hard approaches. Generally, it can be concluded that soft and hard approaches of OR are complementary: soft methods are exploited in forming the structure (configuration) of a problem and hard methods are utilized in solving it.   

The purpose of this research is to identify factors and components that affect a trust-based cooperation in the automobile supply chain and their impact on the performance of the supply chain companies. This paper includes 2 parts. In the first part, by studying the research history and literature and interviewing academic and industrial scholars and experts, four hidden variables of trust-based cooperation in automobile industry were identified and the basic research model was designed. In the second part, using Structural Equation verification and path analysis, the impact of these variables on trust-based cooperation and the impact of trust-based cooperation on the performance of the supply chain companies were studied. Research population consisted of Iran-Khodro and Saipa’s supply chain companies including part makers, major car manufacturers and distributors. Data gathering method was questionnaires that were given to 400 companies –one questionnaire per company- 196 of which were returned and analyzed. In this phase, first, by confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis, validity and stability of the indexes that were derived from the model in the first phase, were tested, all of which were confirmed. Four hypotheses were developed based on the conceptual model of the research and tested by path analysis. According to the findings, 3 of the hypotheses were confirmed and one was rejected. Based on the results of the research, some suggestions were presented for improving the performance of companies in the automobile supply chain and for future researches.

The present paper attempts to estimate the relationship between labor productivity and health, technological progress and education, using panel data observing 57-nation Orgamization of Islamic Coopeation, OIC over the period of 1995-2009. A two-step procedure was used with the first involving an estimate of labor productivity based on observations in the  OPEC, GCC and ECO member countries and also African nations within the Islamic countries.  The second step involved an estimate of the effect on labor productivity of health, technological progress and education. Our findings indicate that labor productivities in Islamic countries with some exceptions on an average are above 3 with the highest of 12 belonging to Azerbaijan. Exceptions are Somalia and Gabon with negative productivities and Brunei and Cameroun with productivities around one. The only variable influencing labor productivity in the Islamic countries is health with technology and education having no meaningful influence.

Thedifferent brand personality has a vital and important role in the success of a brand and customers with different personalities prefer brands which have a proportionate and consistent personality with their personality. The fitness and alignment of the consumer personality and brand personality will lead to brand loyalty. Therefore the present study is aimed to assess the relationship between consumer personality traits, brand personality and brand loyalty. This is a descriptive survey study and a questionnaire is used to collect the data. Analysis of the results indicates the validity and reliability of the used questionnaire. The population of the present study consists of the consumers of the mobile phones in Tehran. For data analysis, the SPSS and LISREL software packages are used .Research findings showed that the consumers' personality traits have significant effect on the brand personality; brand personality has significant effect on the brand loyalty, and ultimately consumers' personality traits have significant effect on the brand loyalty in the mobile phone industry. In other words, all of the hypotheses are confirmed.