Call for Papers: World Business, Finance and Management Conference

Date: 8-9 December 2014
Location: Rendezvous Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand
Deadlines: Manuscript Submission: 31 October, 2014 ; Registration: 24 November, 2014
Website: www.newzealandconfo.com

Theoretical and empirical full papers and/or abstract plus case studies relating to all broad areas of Accounting, Banking, Finance, Economics, Management and Marketing are invited for the above international conference organised by World Business Institute of Australia, London Academic Research and Publication, UK and American Research and Publication International, USA. This conference is supported by five international peer reviewed journals ranked by Australian Business Dean Council (ABDC) and indexed by Cabell, EBSCO and Ulrich of USA

Submission Process, Review Process Review Report and Notification of Acceptance:

To submit your abstract or full paper for this conference, please click on the Submit Paper link on the website and fill in the form, attach your paper in MS Word or PDF file format and click submit. All presented papers will be blind reviewed and Review Report will be provided only on full paper (not abstract) 2-3 months after the conference. Author will be notified of review outcome within 2-3 weeks after arrival of paper. If you have any difficulty or question relating to paper submission, please contact us via newzpap@gmail.com.

Publication Opportunities in ABDC-Ranked Journals

Outstanding papers will be considered by the following ABDC-ranked peer reviewed international journals: Journal of Business and Policy Research, Global Review of Accounting and Finance, World Journal of Management, Global Economy and Finance Journal and International Review of Business Research Papers. Please send us your full paper to provide you feedback about the acceptability of your paper. Accepted papers will be published within 6-9 months subject to the compliance to the editorial comments and payment of subscription fees.

Conference Proceedings, Best Paper Award and Feedings

All accepted abstract and full papers of authors who register and present their paper in the conference will be published electronically as conference proceedings via www.wbiworldconpro.com. This dedicated website is visited by thousands of academics around the world. Best paper award will be announced 2-3 weeks after the conference and the paper will be published in any of the above journals and a certificate will be issued to the author. Certificates for conference attendees and session chairs will be provided at the conference venue. Our conference venue is at Rendezvous Hotel in Auckland, New Zealand. You will have several feedings such as arrival, morning and afternoon break-foods and buffet lunch. We welcome you to this international gathering of academics and researchers from many countries of the world.

Are Business School Deans and Employers Focused on the Same Graduate Skills?

Businesses want college graduates to be ready to fulfill important functions upon hire. When graduates are not ready this can raise the cost of training and slow down production. Criticism of higher education revolves around the difficulties some schools are having preparing students to take on challenges in the modern business world. A study of perceptions of deans and prospective employers helps show where college administration and business leaders see eye-to-eye and where they diverge.  

Throughout the nation a debate rages about the value of higher education, its costs, and employ-ability of students. We also know that higher education is important to grow innovation and feed the needs of employers so they can fill open positions. There is a natural split between higher education as a vessel of cultural tradition and higher education as training grounds for employment.

That debate isn’t likely to be decided anytime soon. The study helps show that business school deans and employers are not that far off when assessing the importance of certain required skills. Businesses, of course, also had a few ideas but for the most part the two seem to be in the same hemisphere. 

Top Seven Skills by Prospective Employers (In order of importance): responsibility and accountability, interpersonal skills, oral communication, teamwork, ethical values, decision-making and analytical skills, and creativity and critical thinking.

Top Seven Skills by Business School Deans (In order of importance): critical skills/abilities to the organization are oral communication, written communication, interpersonal skills, decision-making, responsibility and accountability, ability to work in teams, and creativity and critical thinking skills.

As you can tell oral communication, responsibility and accountability, interpersonal skills, decision-making, creativity and critical thinking skills were common to both deans and prospective employers. Where they differed was ethical values, analytical skills and critical skills/abilities.

The differences seem to be based in the soft and hard skills. Hard skills are akin to specific job functions that you may find on a job description while soft skills are related more to personality and the ability to work with others. Understanding how to make a chart is an easily measurable skill while having the social abilities to influence stakeholders to accept the meaning of that chart is a little more difficult. Employers lean a little heavier on soft skills while deans focus more on hard skills.

This isn’t particularly odd considering that hard skills are easier to implement into curriculum and easier to assess for successful achievement. For example, someone can either explain compound interest or they can’t. It is more difficult to assess soft skills such as politeness or ethical behavior because these are more situational. Employers will still need to interview and assess needed soft skills themselves. Sometimes they are going to get a great employee and sometimes they won’t. It will be difficult for education to fix this problem but could consider methods of encouraging these behaviors in students. 

Shuayto, N. (2013). Management skills desired by business school deans and employers: an empirical investigation. Business Education & Accreditation, 5 (2).

Feds Announce the End to the Era of Quantitative Easing

The Federal Reserve announced a discontinuing of the controversial bond buying program at the end of October this year. They will keep the short-term rates around 0 for the near future.  To this point, the risk to inflation is relatively low and the economy has shown mixed signals of strength in the last year or so. The Federal Reserve seeks to support the  3% projected national growth rate while not undercutting gains in the employment market. 

Lower Unemployment and Skepticism: 

Unemployment dropped to 5.9% but wages have not risen to provide an income boost. Most Americans are still skeptical of the economy and feel that improvements will occur sometime next year. They are not sure when next year but “sometime” seems to be the target spot. It is skepticism that is a result of not seeing high paying jobs and wage increases.

Bond Purchases: 

The bond purchases were controversial from the beginning but were seen as one avenue of encouraging development out of the world’s longest recession. Since 2008, the Fed’s investment holdings are around $4.5 trillion making them unprecedented in history. As the amount rises, so does the cost of debt, at a time where budgets are anything but balanced. 

The whole purpose of quantitative easing was to reduce interest rates to spur borrowing and improve economic activity (Newman, 2013). Theoretically, as interest rates decline businesses find it cheaper to expand operations and build more factories and businesses. It ignores the high rates of cash many of these businesses are sitting upon. 

As debt increases so does its overall costs. It becomes counter-intuitive to hold so much debt without reasonable assurance when and how it will be paid back. Long-term liabilities in business and government can be risky if the situation changes, another recession occurs, or the costs of servicing that debt rise unexpectedly. The Fed has ended an era of Keynesian induced development. 

Low Interest Rates: 

Keeping the interest rates low at a time when inflation risks are low is beneficial. Low interest rates can be a spark for development and investment (Dunlap, 2013). That development can be in the form of business growth, housing, or spending. As money stays cheap people will naturally spend more because it is easier for them to borrow than to save. 

Economic Optimism:

One factor that is not discussed in all the high finance terminology is optimism. American businesses must feel as though their future prospects will be lucrative. Investors want to feel that by borrowing and spending today they will reap significant rewards tomorrow.  Their analysis and decision-making leads to the conclusion that the economy will continue to get better and expand leaving them ample room for profit. If they perceive the economy will not get much better it makes more sense to purchase less risky investments or hold their money in the bank until brighter days are again apparent. 

Newman, R. (2013). A boost from the Fed. U.S. News Digital Weekly, 5 (10). 

Dunlap, N. (2013). Interest rates, the economy, and the market marionette. Journal of Property Management, 78 (6).

Wine Review: Lindeman’s Bin 45 Cabernet Sauvignon

Wine is served on dinner tables across the country with a tradition that predates the founding of the country. Early settlers brought wine vines with them on their travels.  Wine lovers regularly seek to find new varieties of foreign and domestic productions to experiment with. Lindeman’s Bin 45 Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 offers an exciting option at a price only your local market can provide.  A true table wine ready to serve for most dinner functions.

Lindeman’s Bin 45 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon is a bright red wine with high viscosity and long legs. In the glass Bin 45 contains current flavors, dark berry, vanilla, spices and oak. A smooth start and higher tannin finish with a reasonable level of acidity. A well balanced wine that retails for under $10. It pairs well with most meat dishes making it versatile for most home uses. 

The growing region of southern Australia has warmer interiors and cooler exteriors. The type of soil in the region has an impact on the taste and texture of the wine. For example, organic soils produce looser clumps, heavier berries, and high performance grapes (Cheng, et. al. 2014). In this case they produced a solid product ready for market production. 

It is hard to find wines that have a solid taste but still not budget busting your hard earned dollars.  Among the variety of wines that I have tasted and reviewed I find the Cabernet Sauvignons to be some of the best wine categories. They generally work well with oak barrels that lessen the tannin levels and raise the vanilla flavor. Bin 45 fulfilled my expectations and is on the “buy again” list. 

Cheng, et. al. (2014). Effects of climatic conditions and soil properties on Cabernet Sauvignon berry growth and anthocyanin profiles. Molecules, 19 (9).