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This paper examines the Nigerian economy and the tendency for its growth in the face of several socio-political challenges facing the country, which have hampered the rate of economic development in spite of the tremendous human and material resources inherent. The paper identifies the socio-political challenges to include corruption, poverty, unemployment, insecurity, politics and governance, among others. The central argument of the paper is that steady economic growth can be achieved and financial crisis mitigated in Nigeria, if the effects of socio-political challenges, which are the key factors that have contributed to the high poverty, unemployment and economic instability in the country, are minimised. To ensure economic growth and move the country forward politically and economically, government must be more accountable in managing the nation’s resources in order to avoid wastage, poverty and unemployment. Close attention should be given to those socio-political challenges in the formulation of policies that aimed at maintaining economic growth at a level commensurate with the country’s growth rate. This study put forward that government must be proactive in all issues relating to the socio-political challenges to prevent resource mismanagement, poverty, unemployment, insecurity and slow economic growth in future.

Both in Turkey and in the world in 1980 was a year of major structural transformations. Globalization has been accelerated in this time and countries have implemented some liberal policies for opening borders to foreign capital. Economies began to be led by export-oriented industrialization and liberalization policies after 1980 and these policies continue since then. Turkey is one of these countries that began liberalization after 1980. While decreasing trade barriers exerts a downward pressure on prices trade liberalization represents a structural break. This study aims to examine the relationship between trade openness and inflation over the period 1980-2011 for Turkey by using OLS method. The proportion of foreign trade volume (exports plus imports) to GDP and real exchange rates are used as measures of trade openness besides inflation rate. As a result of the study, it has been determined that there was a negative correlation between trade openness and inflation rate for the dedicated years in Turkey. The effects of crisis and election years in Turkey have been also tested and found statistically insignificant.

The telecommunication industry is different from other industries in the basis of innovation rate. This industry continuously provides end users with new technological generations and disruptive technologies. Due to the complexity of the nature of the product served, telecommunication industry is an important case to study in order to explain the real reasons for the challenges facing telecom companies. Researching in this area will explain why some companies survive while others fail. The wide range served technology innovations is most likely to result in rapid mutation of consumers’ spending habits thus directly influencing the mobile phone companies. The aim of this is to test the reliability of innovations and its impact on companies’ profitability. For that purpose, a survey with 200 end users and 20 employees from two telecom providers (“Alfa, and “Touch”) was conducted to investigate various disruptive and conventional means and their impact on the financial performance of telecom industry. The results show that most of the revenue of telecom industry comes from usage of data while the industry is lacking for competition, and quality services while charging high tariffs for customers. Currently customers are migrating to data, therefore performing a pressure on the industry to improve its services. To conclude, network operators need to decide what to they want to sacrifice and how far they want to go to reach targeted results.

The importance given by the governments to building a sound intellectual property infrastructure is increasing in developing countries and especially in Central Asian countries. This infrastructure is continuously improved to live up to a common standard in collaboration with government agencies, educational institutions and international agencies. In this paper, the infrastructure developments that took place in the Central Asian countries is going to be elaborated and furthermore some statistical analyses will be used in order to compare the differences and similarities between the Central Asian republics within themselves and the rest of the world. Patent based statistical data reveal a broad range of information concerning the innovative capability of countries, regions and firms. The number of patents that a country obtains in different technological fields and the change in this number over the years may provide useful information regarding the growth potential of the country and the ability to follow technological advances. For this purpose, patent statistics collected by institutions like World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) have been analyzed using statistical techniques. In addition to basic statistics, multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS) has been applied to the data sets.

Social scientists have been intrigued by the relationship between generations based on different characteristics. Economists, has been especially interested in measuring intergenerational income elasticity, which looks at the relationship of parents and that of their children when they become adults and gives clue on trends of income inequality. Most of the literature concentrates on the experiences of developed countries and measurement issues. Nevertheless, new studies concerning intergenerational income elasticity is being undertaken in developing countries as the data become increasingly available for these countries. In this vein, there is only one previous study that investigates intergenerational income elasticity for Turkey. Mercan (2012) finds that intergenerational income elasticity is around 0.1 in Turkey, which depicts Turkey as a highly mobile country meaning that children of poor parents have a higher likelihood to have a better income status. However, his study does not depend on a longitudinal dataset, which might make Mercan’s (2012) estimate biased. Following Solon (1992) in using OLS for lower bound and instrumental variable (IV) for upper bound, this study puts forth a new estimate, which relies on a nationally representative and longitudinal dataset for Turkey. The study's estimate for intergenerational income elasticity varies between 0.3 and 0.6, which is much higher than the result of Mercan (2012), indicating that Turkey is a less mobile country than previously foreseen.

This paper analyzes the total factor productivity developments in the Middle East banking, by drawing on the experience of Jordanian banks at the start of the new millennium. In order to control for the effects of different specifications of banking technology on the results, this study estimates the productivity and efficiency growth scores under two alternative approaches, production and intermediation models. On average, under the former model, we found 79% technical efficiency and 3.2% productivity growth, while under the later model we found 92% technical efficiency and 3.3% productivity growth for the sector. One implication is that the Jordanian banks can obtain considerable resource savings if they can catch up with the best practice banks. Among the organizational forms operating in this emerging market, we found that commercial banks generally outperform both investment and Islamic banks in terms of efficiency and total factor productivity growth.

The aim of this research is to develop new theoretical approaches of the formation of IT clusters in order to strengthen of trend of the innovative industrialization and competitiveness of the country. Keeping with the previous literature, this study determines by the novelty of the problem, concerning the formation of IT clusters, which can become a driving force of transformation due to the interaction, improving efficiency and introducing advanced technology. In this research, we used conceptual approach employs the study of different conceptual views of scientists on a specific research object; structured approach involves determination of properties of a whole object by identifying the different relationships; system approach aims to develop research methods and design of complex objects – systems of different types. This study allows to conclude that IT-clusters will be most effective when they evolve naturally, originating under the action of internal forces of consolidation of  innovative, information and communications infrastructure (industrial parks, techno polis, research laboratories and business incubators, formation of soft infrastructure), that can help to find quick, innovative and creative ways to solve problems.

Social media and social media tools have improved rapidly and started to influence society especially in recent years. This influence has forced businesses to revolutionize their communication with the external environment. The fact that Web 2.0 has an influence on consumer behavior, and that it makes the consumers stronger; requires faster, more flexible and more sensitive communication processes in businesses. Especially during a time of crisis, a business’ communication with the external environment is quite critical. For this reason, the way how the crisis communication is managed through social media is vital for businesses. In this article, the perceptions of how to manage businesses during a time of crisis so that they make minimum loss, is shared.

Palestinian society is geographically separated and politically fragmented. This is attributed to partisan affiliation and alignment, absence of conceptual and professional framework of civil society, unethical approach of Palestinian political leaders, and unconstitutional political institutions. Such polarization and division have created political antagonism within elites and between factions. The broad objective of this research is to investigate the legitimacy crisis in Palestine, the current political dilemma in the Palestinian Authority, and the public response to the situation. The research introduces direct and thorough understanding of the developing political context surrounding these issues; taking into consideration that growing deficit in legitimacy could create potentially dire consequences, particularly if present trends on the ground continue. The research promotes an analytical perspective based on legitimacy theory and exploring recent public opinion polls.

This study aims to investigate budget related antecedents of job performance of managers. For this purpose, the effect of budgetary participation, budget goal commitment and information sharing on job performance of managers were examined. The sample consists of 104 managers who are responsible from the budgets of their units in different private enterprises. Most of these enterprises are operating in automotive sector and located in Marmara Region of Turkey. Survey data was analyzed with confirmatory factor analyses and Structural Equation Modeling. Results indicate that budgetary participation has statistically significant and positive impact on job performance. It also positively affects budget goal commitment and information sharing. Budget goal commitment and information sharing have significant and positive impact on job performance. In addition, budget goal commitment positively affects information sharing of managers. Analyses also revealed that budget goal commitment and information sharing have partial mediation effect on the relationship between budgetary participation and job performance.

This study aims to determine the relationship between Islamic work ethics and the love of money, and was carried out with the participation of 500 tradesmen working in the Alanya district centre. It was determined from the research that there are positively significant correlations between the good, budget and power-success dimensions of the love of money and Islamic work ethic while no significant relationship was found with the evil dimension of the love of money. Furthermore, it was revealed that the perception of the Islamic work ethic changes according to marital status and the level of income. 

Contemporary companies are giving considerable importance to satisfaction of their internal customers as well as satisfying their exterior customers by their goods and products. In tis context, employer branding-  an important concept developed by Simon Borrow- has been accepted as one of the most important developments of 1990s and myriad of companies has started to give importance to the mentioned point (Tüzüner, et al., 2009). Difficulties in finding talented employees, has made employer branding popular especially in service sector (Berthon vd. 2005; Knox and Freeman, 2006). According to information supplied from career portals, nowadays the highest number of job applications are being made to banking sector hence we were curious about this spesific sector in our study. Main sample of this study is composed of applicants that made job application to Albaraka Türk Participation Bank in the last three months prior to the design of this study. Aim of the study is measuring effects of employer branding dimensions in these applicant’s applicaitons behaviours and analyzing the relationship between their brand perceptions related to Albarak Türk Participation Bank and their levels of education and job experiences. With these purposes we used Berthon’s Employer Attractiveness Scale. Our survey has been applied to 500 job applicants from various education and experience levels and we used easy sampling method in choosing these applicants. Our survey, composed of 25 questions and Likert answer key with 7 answers has been brought to applicants via email and results have been analyzed by SPSS program. Our findings showed that rather than experience leves, education levels makes difference in appilicants perceptions about employer brand of the bank.

Both management and leadership concepts and theoretical foundations that are established on this subject, as well as the subject of trust and its dimensions were put excessive emphasis on literature of management and organization and several different studies were conducted on these concepts. However, at this point, the important question comes the mind how will the relationship between style of leadership and the concept of trust will show difference with different styles of leadership. This focus of this study is to discover the answer to this question. The area of this study is consisting of AK Parti (Justice and Government Party) and CHP  (Republican People’s Party) municipalities chosen from the convenience sampling method in the district municipalities of Istanbul. Within this context, interviews with twelve different municipalities were held, and 150 people in the executive position within municipalities as chief or higher status has been reached. Ten district municipalities in this questionnaire study consist of six entities linked to AK Parti and four to CHP. This research is limited to these municipalities. As a result of the questionnaire data analysis that have been applied for the executives on management positions; findings were acquired and explanations and evaluations regarding these findings were being made.   

Construction contractors have a great role in terms of operation work properly in construction project management. An effective contractor selection is most important to the success of any construction projects. Contractor selection is a multi criteria decision making problem which includes qualitative and quantitative characteristics. For the contractor selection problem, this study proposes a combined decision approach, which employs analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and Fuzzy Technique Ordered Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS)  methods. In the proposed approach, AHP is used to determine the weights of selection criteria, and Fuzzy TOPSIS is used to select appropriate contractor alternative. Additionally, a real case study in construction industry is presented to illustrate the application of the proposed approach.

Power has long been shifting from manufacturers to retailers in marketing channels and there is an intensive competition in the retail sector. Retailers need to follow changing consumer trends and technological developments closer and design their marketing strategies accordingly. Thus studies about  retailing has become more important than ever. The purpose of this conceptual study is to examine the reflections of changing consumer trends and technological developments on retailing.  Within the study, it is observed that; (i) in retailing, understanding how consumers behave as shoppers in different channels is an important key to success,  (ii) retailing should be adapted to changing consumer trends, (iii) technologies used in retailing are grouped under three categories which are smart technologies, biometric technologies and technologies developed for different dimensions of reality, these technologies provide substantial benefits for retailers and consumers, but high switching and implementation costs, (iv) consumers’ approach towards these technologies and consumers’ worries about  privacy of personal information should also be considered while evaluating these technologies. In the conclusion part of the study, some recommendations are made for retailers. This innovative study is expected to contribute to retailers and the retailing literature.

Firms benefit some external effects resulting from the concentration of economic activities in certain regions. These effects called “agglomeration economies” or “agglomeration externalities” are mainly divided into three categories – MAR, Jacobs and Porter externalities –, and regarded as the determinant factors of regional economic development and growth. This study analyzes the impact of agglomeration externalities on employment growth using Turkish data of 43 sectors operating in 81 Turkish cities between years 2001 and 2007. OLS regression analyses are repeated for each sector. As far as the MAR externalities are concerned, their impact on employment growth is found negative in 23 sectors while Jacobs externalities have significant and positive effects only on 4 sectors, most of which are from service sectors. As for Porter externalities, they prove to have positive effect on the regional employment growth for 16 sectors. Moreover, urbanization externalities are found to affect the regional growth positively in 4 sectors and negatively in 1 sector. While the impact of the initial level of regional labor supply is found positive, the initial level of regional employment level has negative effect on employment growth. Finally, the share of high education level in cities is found to have almost no effect on regional growth.

Contemporary companies are giving considerable importance to satisfaction of their internal customers as well as satisfying their exterior customers by their goods and products. In tis context, employer branding-  an important concept developed by Simon Borrow- has been accepted as one of the most important developments of 1990s and myriad of companies has started to give importance to the mentioned point (Tüzüner, et al., 2009). Difficulties in finding talented employees, has made employer branding popular especially in service sector (Berthon vd. 2005; Knox and Freeman, 2006). According to information supplied from career portals, nowadays the highest number of job applications are being made to banking sector hence we were curious about this spesific sector in our study. Main sample of this study is composed of applicants that made job application to Albaraka Türk Participation Bank in the last three months prior to the design of this study. Aim of the study is measuring effects of employer branding dimensions in these applicant’s applicaitons behaviours and analyzing the relationship between their brand perceptions related to Albarak Türk Participation Bank and their levels of education and job experiences. With these purposes we used Berthon’s Employer Attractiveness Scale. Our survey has been applied to 500 job applicants from various education and experience levels and we used easy sampling method in choosing these applicants. Our survey, composed of 25 questions and Likert answer key with 7 answers has been brought to applicants via email and results have been analyzed by SPSS program. Our findings showed that rather than experience leves, education levels makes difference in appilicants perceptions about employer brand of the bank.

Bu çal??mada Türkiye’de pay senetleri fiyatlar? ile döviz kurlar? aras?ndaki ili?ki, VAR metodu (vektör oto regresyon modeli) kullan?larak ara?t?r?lm??t?r. Döviz kurlar? ve pay senedi fiyatlar?ndan olu?an de?i?kenler aras?nda do?rusal bir ba??nt? olup olmad???n?n tespiti amac?yla bu model kullan?lm??t?r. Bu amaçla, döviz kurlar?, B?ST Banka ve B?ST S?nai endeksleri ele al?nm??t?r. Veriler Ocak 2011’den Aral?k 2014’e kadar olan döneme ait günlük de?i?meleri içermektedir. Türkiye’de en fazla i?lem yap?lan döviz kurlar? ABD dolar? ve Euro oldu?u için, bu kurlar tercih edilmi?tir.

The United Nations (UN), despite some successful stories, has largely failed to safeguard international peace and security, particularly in the Middle East since its establishment. The UN’s inability to effectively resolve international conflicts is due to the Security Council (UNSC)’s decision making-process. The power to block any initiatives that do not fit the interest of any of the five permanent members (P5: US, UK, France, Russia, China) have impeded the UN’s ability to take effectively take actions where it is needed in safeguarding security in the Middle East. The nature of the veto power no longer reflects the reality of the 21st century; the UN is frozen in the context of the post-Second World War era and has failed to evolve with the international community.  Double standards in the International Court of Justice's decrees and infirmity of purpose of the UNSC overshadow the legitimacy of the organization, jeopardizing its security mission, and clashes with the democratic values in world public opinion. The UN should change to earn legitimacy and efficiency of preserving international peace and security by amending decision making system in the UNSC or changing decision-making organ within the UN. The Secretary General’s diplomatic activism and attempts to fill the gap left by the P5 infightings could not succeed because of the resistance of the UNSC’s permanent members to change and lack of integrity among the other states. To ensure democratic transformation of the UN today, all states, NGOs and think tanks should work together. This study discusses the system's current shortcomings and suggests some alternative paths for the effective transformation of the UN as a supranational security institution.

The aim of this study is to investigate impacts of monetary policy transmission mechanisms on production and prices in theoritical way and to test functioning of monetary transmission channels in Azerbaijan economy. In this article, vector error correction model (VECM) is employed for short and long run  relationships in the period of 2001:4-2014:3. Results reveal that, both interest and credit channels are important, with a bit precedence of credit channel in comparison for Azerbaijan economy.