Saleema Kauser

The influence of behavioural and organisational characteristics on the success of international strategic alliances

With the current trend toward globalisation and the increasing competitive and technological challenges of todays environment the formation of international strategic alliances has become an important part of many firms international business strategies. Experience with international strategic alliances has shown that they face a number of problems, which can often result in the termination of the alliance. This study, therefore, aims to assess the impact of both behavioural and organisational characteristics on the success of international strategic alliances. The results show that behavioural characteristics play a more significant role in explaining overall alliance performance compared to organisational characteristics. High levels of commitment, trust, coordination, interdependence and communication are found to be good predictors of international strategic alliance success. Conflict, meanwhile, is found to hamper good performance. By contrast organisational characteristics such as structure and control mechanisms are found not to strongly influence the success of international strategic alliances.

International Strategic Alliances: objectives, motives and success

Abstract This paper reports the findings of an empirical investigation of strategic alliance agreements between UK firms and their European, Japanese and US partners. The aim of this paper is to shed some light on the international strategic alliance activity of UK firms and ascertain the objectives and motives of international strategic alliances. In addition, the perceived performance of the strategic alliance is considered together with the perceived level of satisfaction of a range of alliance activities. The findings should prove to be a useful guideline for researchers and practitioners engaged in understanding international strategic alliances. The analysis should allow managers to examine the important issues in the formation of international strategic alliances and allow them to understand the assessment of performance and satisfaction of the alliances formed. Key Results: The findings have shown a definite pattern in UK international strategic alliance activity. The results of the study indicate that the majority of UK firms engage in international partnerships for marketing-related activities and are essentially driven by the financial cost and risk of entering a foreign market; access to overseas market and improving market share. The findings have also indicated that the majority of UK managers are satisfied with the overall performance of the international strategic alliance.

The impact of gender, family, and work on the career advancement of Lebanese women managers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the research gap on Lebanese women managers and to demonstrate how gender, work, and family factors influence the career advancement of women managers.Design/methodology/approach – The research is qualitative in nature. A total of 32 in‐depth face‐to face interviews were conducted with 32 women managers.Findings – Interview data reveal that Lebanese women managers do not perceive gender‐centered factors as obstacles to career advancement. The women in the study used different terms to describe the impact of gender, work, and family factors on their career progression to those found in existing literature. Their responsibilities towards their families were not perceived as barriers hindering their career progress. In addition, their personality traits, aspirations for management, levels of educational attainment and work experience, and family‐related factors were also not perceived as inhibiting their careers.Practical implications – The paper provides new...

PAYE - NIC Compliance Costs: empirical evidence from the UK SME economy

This article reports on the findings of an empirical investigation, supported by the Leverhulme Trust and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), into the compliance costs incurred by UK firms in administering PAYE. The article starts with a review of the literature and reports on other studies focusing on the impact of compliance costs on business. This is followed by an introduction to the objectives of this research project, the methodology employed and more specifically the statistical analysis (sample = 431) of the results and discussion of key research findings. In conclusion, the article presents the policy implications of the research and outlines a set of recommendations and tax initiatives that will contribute to the amelioration of the disproportionate burden of PAYE-NIC related compliance costs borne by the small business sector in the UK.

Career success of Arab women managers: an empirical study in Lebanon

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how women managers in Lebanon account for their career satisfaction and construct their career success.Design/methodology/approach – A review of literature along with a survey‐based quantitative approach is adopted for understanding the perception of the Lebanese Arab women to their career success. The questionnaire was administered to women participants in managerial and executive roles in different occupational sectors.Findings – The findings suggest that despite the glass ceiling that the Lebanese women managers face, they perceived themselves as successful. However, their success was mainly attributed to their satisfaction with the subjective rather than the objective aspects of their careers.Originality/value – The value of this paper is three‐fold. First, and in view of the Western focus of similar research, this study contributes to the understudied area of research of women managers and their careers in the Arab Middle East. Second, through empiric...

Islamic view of God : scale development and model testing

In spite of a growing field of research interest in management with regard to religion in the last few decades, there is a dearth of such studies on Islam. The purpose of the present study therefore is twofold. First, to test the Islamic faith-based model developed by Alshehri, Fotaki and Kauser (2013), and second, to develop and validate a scale that measures a Muslims view of God. To enable this, a sample of 427 responses was collected from people in Saudi Arabia. Notably, the model was empirically valid. Moreover, results showed that the newly constructed Muslims View of Allah at Work Scale (MVAWS) had adequate psychometric properties in terms of structural validity, internal consistency and correlations, and predicted personal religious practices. To test the validity, conformity factors analysis (CFA) was run. The scale items show a good fit. In this paper we consider the terms ‘Allah’ and ‘God’ to be synonymous and use them interchangeably.

Entrepreneurial Leadership, Patriarchy, Gender and Identity in the Arab World: Lebanon in Focus

In this paper, we apply insights from poststructuralist feminist theory to contribute to entrepreneurial leadership. By drawing on 21 individual narratives with Lebanese women entrepreneurs, we explore how they determine their status as entrepreneurial leaders and establish their entrepreneurial identities. Although the factors of gender, sociocultural values, and agency can be counteractive, it is agency that creates space for entrepreneurship for women and provides them a means to navigate structural inequalities. The entrepreneurs in this study engage in compliance, disregard, and defiance strategies to expand the boundaries of what is socially permissible for women and to strengthen their identities. This research contributes to studies on entrepreneurial leadership and aids in the development of theory by demonstrating how Arab women construct entrepreneurial leadership, agency, and identity at the juncture of patriarchy, sociocultural values, and gender ideologies.

A Bird Flying in Spiritual Sky between Love, Fear and Hope

ABSTRACT The widespread emergence of ethical failures in business has promoted interest in behavioural ethics. This emerging approach gives attention to individual actual behaviour to understand how to manage unethical behaviours in organisations. Ethics are clearly one aspect of modern business where the impact of religion has been shown to be significant. In this regard, many descriptive studies use a behavioural business ethics approach to examine the influence of religiosity on individual ethical behaviour in the workplace. However, the overwhelming majority of these studies linked Western Christianity to individual ethical behaviour while studies that focus on Islam are lacking. A critical reason behind this gap in the literature might be the necessity for comprehensive understanding of the Islamic faith and ethical system in order to identify and incorporate religious role expectations that constitute Muslim self-identity. Such a task is associated with difficulties as it engages the business resear...