This study investigates the impact of digital payment infrastructure accessibility on the social influence of microenterprises in Barranquilla, Colombia, while examining the mediating roles of financial inclusion, digital literacy, social support networks, and collaboration with social innovation initiatives. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the study analyzes data from a sample of 25 microenterprises operating in various sectors. The findings, based on statistical techniques such as multiple regression, path analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM), provide strong evidence for the positive influence of digital payment infrastructure accessibility on the social relationship of microenterprises. The results also highlight the crucial roles played by financial inclusion and social support networks in mediating this relationship. The study contributes to the growing body of literature on the factors driving the social effect of microenterprises and offers valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners aiming to foster inclusive economic development in the region. The findings suggest that investing in the development and expansion of digital payment systems, alongside efforts to promote financial inclusion and strengthen social support networks, can have far-reaching benefits for microenterprises and their communities.
The quest for quality postgraduate research productivity through education is on the increase. However, in the context of the African society, governance structures and policies seem to be impacting on the quality level of the provided education. Hence, this conceptual study explored the roles of governance structures and policies in enhancing and ensuring quality postgraduate education programmers in African institutions of higher learning. To this end, various relevant literature was reviewed. The findings showed amongst others that governance structures and policies affect the quality of education provided. Meanwhile, other factors such as curriculum, foreign influence, lack of resources, training, amongst others contribute to the quality of education provided. The study concludes that there is need for the current structures of governance and the designed and implemented policies for postgraduate education to be reviewed and adjusted towards ensuring the desired transformation.
The reference urban plan is an urban planning tool often used to orient the development of Chadian cities. However, expanding Chadian urban centers, such as Sarh, face challenges in implementing urban planning orientations of their urban plans within the set deadlines. The objective of this study is to identify the factors impeding the effective implementation of the reference urban plan for Sarh town. The methodology employed encompasses a literature review, individual interviews with urban planning experts, geographic information system (GIS) data, household surveys and statistical analysis. The results revealed that less than a quarter (19.72%) of the households surveyed were aware of the reference urban plan. The applied logistic regression model identified age, occupation and level of education as the main factors influencing public participation in the preparation of the reference urban plan. On average, 33.33% of the urban planning guidelines and 21.74% of the projected urban projects were implemented, with a difference of 1631.28 hectares (ha) between the projected plan and the actual plan for the town. Five factors were identified as contributing to the failure to implement the reference urban plan for Sarh town, including low funding, inadequate land management, a lack of political will, weak governance and poor communication. Consequently, participatory and inclusive planning approaches, effective financial mobilisation, strong governance, and the use of modern technologies such as GIS tools are recommended to enhance the implementation of urban planning tools.
With the rapid development of digital technology, the digital infrastructure enables the rapid formation, modification and refactoring of digital products through continuous experimentation and implementation, reduces the cost of innovation, and facilitates the implementation of digital innovation. To solve the problem that the technical scope of digital innovation is relatively concentrated and the knowledge flow between the achievements of digital innovation is insufficient, this study investigates the impact of digital infrastructure on organizational digital innovation in China. The cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2023 to March 2024 among 384 employees and managers in the core industries of the digital economy, as well as enterprises in traditional industries in China. Data were collected using closed-ended questionnaires adapted from previous literature. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to analyze the data using SPSS 28 and AMOS 28. The results reveal that both the information infrastructure and the innovation infrastructure have a positive and direct effect on organizational digital innovation in China, as well as an indirect effect through data flows. Converged infrastructure has only an indirect impact on organizational digital innovation through the flow of data.
This paper aims to explore the relationship between corporate overinvestment and management incentives, focusing particularly on the influence of different ownership structures. Utilizing agency theory and ownership structure theory, this study constructs a theoretical framework and posits hypotheses on how management incentives might influence corporate overinvestment behaviors under different ownership structures. Listed companies from 2010 to 2020 were selected as the research sample, and the hypotheses were empirically tested using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. The findings suggest that a relatively concentrated ownership structure may encourage management to adopt more cautious investment strategies, thus reducing overinvestment behaviors; while under a dispersed ownership structure, the relationship between management incentives and overinvestment is more complex. This study provides new evidence on how management incentive mechanisms influence corporate decision-making in different ownership environments, offering significant theoretical and practical implications for improving internal control and incentive mechanisms.
This financial modelling case study describes the development of the 3-statement financial model for a large-scale transportation infrastructure business dealing with truck (and some rail) modalities. The financial modelling challenges in this area, especially for large-scale transport infrastructure operators, lie in automatically linking the operating activity volumes with the investment volumes. The aim of the paper is to address these challenges: The proposed model has an innovative retirement/reinvestment schedule that automates the estimation of the investment needs for the Business based on the designated age-cohort matrix analysis and controlling for the maximum service ceiling for trucks as well as the possibility of truck retirements due to the reduced scope of tracking operations in the future. The investment schedule thus automated has a few calibrating parameters that help match it to the current stock of trucks/rolling stock in the fleet, making it to be a flexible tool in financial modelling for diverse transport infrastructure enterprises employing truck, bus and/or rail fleets for the carriage of bulk cargo quantifiable by weight (or fare-paying passengers) on a network of set, but modifiable, routes.
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