CASHLESS SOCIETY COSTS MORE

Mobile money in Ghana isn't all good news: Customers are paying a hefty price

by Isaac Abotebuno Akolgo, The Conversation

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Fintechs, notably mobile money, have transformed banking and finance in developing and emerging economies in Africa and beyond. Financial technology (better known as fintech) is used to describe new technology that seeks to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services.

Mobile money in Africa was spearheaded by Kenya's M-Pesa in 2007. Ghana's MTN MoMo followed in 2009. Mobile money is a pay-as-you-go digital medium of exchange and store of value using mobile money accounts and a mobile phone.

In Ghana, the volume of mobile money transactions increased from 2.85billion in 2020 to 4.26 billion in 2021, representing a 48.6 percent growth. Similarly, the total value of transactions increased to GH¢ 978.32 billion ($87 billion) in 2021, from GH¢ 571.80 billion ($50 billion) in 2020 according to the central bank.

Over the last ten years, mobile money has gone beyond sending and receiving money to several other services including accessing microcredit. Mobile money accounts are now seamlessly linked to bank accounts.

The fintech boom has brought obvious benefits to a number of African countries, particularly in promoting financial inclusion. But there hasn't been a sufficiently critical conversation about who actually benefits from the growth of digital finance.

What exactly is the political economy of fintech-led financial inclusion in Ghana and across Africa? How has it expressed itself in Ghana's mobile money industry? And to what extent do the outcomes in Ghana reflect wider conversations about global finance capitalism?

I am a Research Associate and Ph.D. candidate at the Africa Multiple Cluster, currently studying the political economy of money and finance in Ghana. In a recently published paper based on my research, I examine whether or not increased access to financial services through the delivery of mobile money services has helped poor people. My findings raise serious concerns about the current state of digital finance in Ghana.

In particular, I found that they have been accompanied by higher customer indebtedness from digital microloans, high and multiple transaction costs, excessive taxation due to a recently introduced tax, and a prevalence of dormant accounts.

My research shows that far from ending poverty, financial inclusion has opened new frontiers of exploitation. This is particularly true for poor and working class Ghanaians. Many of the problems identified in my research have been raised by Ghanaians using mobile money banking services. But their complaints have been ignored. It is time this changed and their concerns were taken seriously.

Findings

My study relied on two sources of data. One was the central bank's payment systems data (2012-2021). I also conducted 42 interviews made up of 32 mobile money customers and 10 mobile money agents across seven regions of the country.

My research found a number of problems.

Firstly, that digital loans for instance are usually small amounts. They are therefore incapable of supporting social entrepreneurship. Yet they attract significant interest rates (averagely 6.9%) over a 30-day repayment period. The result is that borrowers get into debt juggling, borrowing from one subscriber to repay others and simply buying time. Of course, most borrowers are unable to 'buy enough time' before they default and fall into a debt trap that can lead to other problems. As one person put it: "I owe them for so many months. My brother, I am a graduate but as you know there are no opportunities. The only thing is for me to bet, maybe I will win big so I can pay them."

Secondly, that transactions are expensive. This is because there are multiple charges for transfers and withdrawals ranging between 1% and 5%.

Thirdly, that a recently introduced tax has further raised costs. The government put in place an electronic transactions levy in 2022.

The way the tax works is that as the transaction amount increases, subscribers can pay up paying up twice or more of the original transaction fee.

Users have been up in arms.

As one put it: "How can you tax the same money several times? I work, and at the end of the month receive salary, which I have already paid tax and when I send part of it to my mother in the village, you will tax it again. Imagine she wants to send part of it to another relative, and you tax it again."

Broader problems

The problems identified by users of mobile money services aren't the only challenges facing the sector.

Key ones include:

• Regulation: there isn't enough regulation of the pricing of digital financial services. Existing legal requirements in Ghana don't impose limits on digital transaction charges. These regulations have to be expanded to limit how much fintechs can charge for money transfers and withdrawals as well as interests on microloans.
• Customers' complaints about multiple transaction fees are being ignored by government.
• About 50% of registered mobile money accounts lie dormant as subscribers resort to alternative modes of money transfer in their attempt to avoid transaction costs and debt. This has raised the cost burden for both corporations and government who struggle to retrieve taxes and loans owed by these accounts.

Lastly, I conclude in my paper that although fintech has improved the ease and speed of financial transactions it nevertheless has heralded in a set of new problems. In particular it has exposed subscribers to debt as well as exorbitant transaction costs. These outcomes are not accidental. I argue that the rollout of mobile money in Ghana should be viewed as part of global processes opening new frontiers for global digital financial capitalism.

Provided by The Conversation 

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Nigeria's mobile money system has a dark side even though it's convenient: Study explores the risks

Study reveals developmental pattern and regenerative control mechanism of healing-type teeth in O. punctatus

by Li Yuan, Chinese Academy of Sciences

External morphology of O. punctatus' beak-like tooth and feeding habits. Credit: IOCAS

The Oplegnathus punctatus (O. punctatus) is an economically significant marine aquaculture species. It possesses a distinct beak-like tooth phenotype, allowing it to feed on hard-shelled foods such as oysters and sea urchins.


The jaw teeth of O. punctatus are fused with the upper and lower jaw bones, forming a robust parrot-like beak-shaped dental structure, with gaps between teeth filled with calcified material. Their beak-like healing teeth are a special type of jaw teeth that can regrow after wear and tear.

How are these unique beak-like teeth arranged and fused? What are the regulatory mechanisms behind their development? Now, a research team led by Prof. Li Jun from the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS) reported their latest findings on the developmental pattern and continuous replacement regulation mechanism of the beak-like teeth in O. punctatus. The study was published in the International Journal of Biological Macromolecules.

The researchers systematically investigated the developmental characteristics of the healing-type beak-like teeth in O. punctatus. For the first time, a "nested" arrangement pattern of healing teeth in O. punctatus was discovered, with a dental formula (4, 15–16, 10–1). The key developmental time points of the beak-like teeth were determined (28 dph, initiation of primary tooth germination; 40 dph, appearance of replacement teeth and start of dental fusion; 45 dph, commencement of ossification; 50 dph, completion of healing).

Regulatory mechanism of development and formation of healing-type tooth in O. punctatus. Credit: IOCAS

3D reconstruction of beak-like healing tooth in O. punctatus based on micro-CT scanning. Credit: IOCAS

Furthermore, a total of 11 key genes (bmp2, bmpr2, smad1, wnt5a, msx, axin2, fgfr1a, fgfr2, pitx2, ptch1, cyp27a1) closely associated with the development of the beak-like teeth were identified, along with crucial regulatory pathways (Wnt, BMP, FGF, SHH).

These genes and pathways collaboratively regulate the interaction between dental epithelium and mesenchyme during the pre-fusion, fusion, and post-fusion stages of dental fusion, promoting sustained proliferation and differentiation of enamel-forming cells and odontoblasts.

The researchers found that the cyp27a1 gene, closely associated with vitamin D metabolism and calcium accumulation, is localized in the upper jawbone and base of the beak-like teeth of O. punctatus.

"During the rapid healing phase of the teeth, it accelerates its expression, promoting vitamin D metabolism, thereby regulating the differentiation of cells within the dental bud, as well as the mineralization of enamel and dentin in teeth of O. punctatus. This provides a calcium foundation for the healing and development of beak-like teeth," said Yuting Ma, first author of the study.

"The study unveils the regulatory mechanisms of beak-like healing teeth development," said Dr. Xiao Yongshuang, corresponding author of the study. "It provides a new model for deeper understanding of fish dental development and adaptive evolution."

More information: Yuting Ma et al, Morphological characteristics of beak-like tooth in spotted knifejaw (Oplegnathus punctatus) and mechanisms of dental development regulation by the Wnt, BMP, FGF and SHH signalling pathways, International Journal of Biological Macromolecules (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126188

Provided by Chinese Academy of Sciences

How the evolution of tooth enamel tissue unfolded

 

Online outrage can benefit brands that take stances on social issues

by Saeid Kermani, Peter Darke and Theo Noseworthy, The Conversation

Nike’s 2018 advertisement featuring Colin Kaepernick sparked backlash on social media. 

Credit: Saeid Kermani, Peter Darke and Theo Noseworthy

Nike's advertisement featuring Colin Kaepernick sparked a social media firestorm in 2018. Kaepernick, a former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, first made headlines in 2016 when he protested against police brutality by kneeling during the American national anthem.

Those who deemed Kaepernick's refusal to stand for the anthem as unpatriotic expressed a great deal of outrage and called for a Nike boycott. Despite initial concerns about the financial impact of Nike's decision, the advertisement proved successful for the company—Nike earned $6 billion from the campaign.

One explanation for this success is that existing Nike customers rallied behind the brand, outnumbering those who were outraged. But social media conversations at the time suggested there was an alternative phenomenon taking place.

Some people expressed support for Nike in response to the outrage but not because they were already loyal customers of the brand. This suggests people who shared Kaepernick's concerns were motivated by online outrage to support Nike as a way of symbolically defending or supporting their beliefs about racial equity and police brutality.

After seeing this example and noticing more brands were taking stances on social issues through marketing campaigns, we decided to embark on a research project. Our aim was to examine whether brands that take such stances benefit from the ensuing outrage from opposing consumer groups.

Positive outrage

We conducted five studies using real examples of brands that took stances on social issues and faced online backlash. Participants were presented a tweet that either expressed outrage or disapproval towards the brand's social message. We then measured how connected participants felt to the attacked brand and what their intentions to make a purchase from that brand were.

Across all five studies, we found that participants who shared the brand's promoted values felt more closely connected to it and were more willing to buy its products when they saw an outraged tweet. This was true for the brand that was specifically attacked, but also for other brands with similar social values.

The underlying psychological reason for this positive outrage effect was that participants perceived the outrage as a threat to their personal social values.

This is consistent with existing theories that suggest public expressions of outrage can be seen as a threat to people's beliefs and values. In response to such threats, individuals respond by engaging in symbolic acts to defend the threatened value.

Importantly, this feeling of threat and the subsequent positive brand consequences occurred under a certain set of conditions. Namely, the positive outcome occurred when the outrage was expressed by a member of a group with opposing values, such as political opponents, or when the outrage had online viral support.

Managerial implications

From a managerial perspective, brands have been hesitant to take sides on contentious social issues, partly because of the risks associated with triggering online outrage. However, consumers are increasingly expecting companies to speak out on social issues that are important to them.

Our research offers optimism, as it indicates outrage can benefit brands by bolstering support from those who share the promoted values. These are the customers companies should be trying to reach in such marketing activities.

But a word of caution: brands need to be mindful of the risks of alienating consumers that hold opposing views about the social issue in question, particularly when a brand's customer base holds diverse social values. Brands can risk driving away customers and losing profit when they take a stance on social issues.

This underscores the importance of ensuring that such social marketing campaigns are aligned with the existing values of a brand's core customer base. By doing so, brands can navigate the potential risks of alienation while maximizing the potential benefits of generating outrage.

Societal implications

As influencial figures, brands have the power to incite social change by taking stances on social issues. To bring about change, ideas must spread and gain enough support among the population.

Brands can play a significant role in helping this happen by uniting people and organizations around social issues through marketing campaigns.

While outrage from opposed groups can benefit brands, it's possible that deliberately courting such controversy may also negatively impact society. One concern that has been raised is that this kind of marketing can increase the risk of political polarization.

Polarization has the potential to lead to the rise of parallel economies: one for conservatives and another for liberals. The growing trend of companies positioning themselves as "anti-woke" in the United States is an example of this unfolding.

However, more research is still needed to fully grasp the positive and negative effects of these marketing activities on society. To gain a better understanding of this topic, for example, it would be valuable to study how consumer backlash impacts other entities like company employees, policymakers and investors.

Provided by The Conversation 

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Hedonism drives luxury brand loyalty, not quality, according to study

 

Young people with disability have poorer mental health when they are unemployed—funding should tackle job barriers

by Marissa Shields, Anne Kavanagh and Tania King, The Conversation

Credit: Shutterstock

Australian governments spend a lot of money supporting young people with disability to find a job. But the success of these programs has been modest.

Employment rates for young people with disability have been persistently low for the past two decades, despite considerable investment in employment services and programs. While 80% of those Australian adults without disability are in jobs, only 48% of those with disability were in work in the most recent Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers.

Young adults with disability are therefore also much less likely to be in jobs than their peers without disability. Our recently published research found young people with disability who do have jobs have better mental health.

Unfortunately, current efforts to boost workforce participation are focused solely on potential employees with disability, not the environments that could employ and support them.

Young people with disability have poorer mental health to start with

The mental health of young people with disability is considerably worse than their peers without disability and this gap looks to be widening.

We know having a job is good for a person's mental health and that unemployment leads to poorer mental health. Our previous research showed being unemployed has a bigger negative effect on the mental health of young people with disability than young people without disability.

This may be due to factors like loss of work identity and financial stress which can affect all unemployed people. However, these and other impacts may be worse for people with disability due to the greater economic and social disadvantage they experience, and the greater barriers they face in gaining work.

Our study used Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey data from 2016 to 2019 and included 3,435 young adults aged 20 to 35. The 377 young adults with disability in our sample had poorer mental health than young adults who didn't report a disability. They were also less likely to be employed.

We checked to see how much of the poorer mental health experienced by young adults with disability could be improved if they had the same employment rate as their peers without disability. To do this, we used a method called "causal mediation analysis" which allowed us to estimate how much having a disability affects the mental health of young adults.

We then took this estimate and split it into two parts: the effect on mental health due to unemployment, and the effect on mental health not due to unemployment.

We found nearly 20% of the poorer mental health reported by young adults with disability could be alleviated by helping those who want to work into jobs.

Employment programs may not be hitting the mark

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) promised to improve employment rates for young participants. The School Leaver Employment Supports program is the main way NDIS participants are supported to move out of school and into work. However, data in the most recent report shows only 29% of people in the program entered mainstream employment, and over half were unemployed when they left the program.

Other programs, like Disability Employment Services and Workforce Australia, provide support to people with disability to find and keep a job. Outside of school leaver supports, the NDIS can provide funding to help participants find and keep a job.

Our research suggests supporting more young people with disability into employment could start to close the gaps in mental health between them and those without disability. But the focus shouldn't be just on the job seeker.

Room for improvement

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has targeted the school leaver supports program for reform as part of concerns around the financial sustainability of the NDIS, including changing the way the School Leaver Employment Supports program is funded. This would mean incentivizing providers to achieve good employment outcomes for young people with disability, instead of just providing services.

Currently, services focus on vocational training with the aim of improving the jobseeker's capability and capacity to work. This can include education and training. But this is often outside a workplace setting rather than "on the job" training, which may be more effective.

Further, focusing only on the job seeker ignores the other barriers people with disability experience, like discrimination and systemic disadvantage. When looking for work, people with disability encounter job advertisements which use ableist language and application software that may screen out candidates who have gaps in their employment record. Inaccessible buildings may make it difficult for people with physical or sensory disability to participate in job interviews.

On the job, people with disability may face negative attitudes, employers who do not know how to provide reasonable adjustments and lack of flexible work arrangements. For some people with invisible disability, like psychosocial disability, talking to their employer may be especially difficult due to the fear of stigma and discrimination.

Meaningful government action is needed to address the discrimination people with disability experience when they look for jobs and in the workplace.

Additional barriers to employment, like accessible transportation to get to and from work, or safe and stable housing, also impact the employment outcomes of young people with disability.

Connections between government services and more training for workers could ensure job seekers with disability get help to address these life areas. Employers also need clear guidance and support to hire, accommodate, and build the careers of employees with disability.

Young adults want to work

We know young adults with disability want to work and to have the same opportunities as everyone else.

Helping young people with disability into suitable jobs that match their strengths, needs and goals is critical to supporting their mental health. But until we address these bigger issues that stop young people from getting work, young adults with disability will continue to have lower employment rates and poorer mental health that puts them at risk of poorer quality of life. Failing to address this issue also adds to welfare and health system expenses.

We owe it to young people with disability and their mental health to make job opportunities a reality.

Provided by The Conversation 

 

Owners of shelter dogs report high satisfaction with their new pet despite increases in problem behavior

by Public Library of Science

Shelter volunteer and dog interacting outside. Credit: Hannah MacIntyre, 

CC-BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Shelter dogs followed at their new homes for six months post-adoption were reported as showing more behaviors like stranger aggression or training problems by the end of the study—but owner satisfaction remained high, with 94% of owners reporting their dog's behavior as excellent or good, according to a study published August 16, 2023 in PLOS ONE by Kyle Bohland from the Ohio State University, US, and colleagues.

Although 2 million dogs are adopted from US shelters every year, very little research has been done on shelter dog behavior after placement into a home. Bohland and colleagues surveyed the owners of 99 dogs adopted from five Ohio shelters from October 2020 to May 2021, checking in with owners seven, 30, 90, and 180 days after adoption.

In each iteration of the survey, dog owners were asked about the following problem behaviors, scoring each behavior as demonstrated by their dog from 0–4: excitability, stranger-directed aggression, owner-directed aggression, dog-directed aggression, familiar dog aggression, stranger-directed fear, nonsocial fear, dog-directed fear, touch sensitivity, separation-related behavior, attachment and attention-seeking, training difficulty, chasing, and energy levels.

The initial survey asked about basic demographic information and whether the owner had owned a dog before. Each of the four surveys asked owners about overall satisfaction with their dog's behavior; any household changes since adoption; and if they still owned the dog.

Most notably, owners reported an increase from the initial survey in stranger-directed aggression behavior at every subsequent check-in, which went from being reported in 62% of dogs at 10 days to 77% of dogs at 180 days—possibly because as dogs became more comfortable in their household, their protective/territorial behaviors increased.

Over the six months of the study, owners also reported more excitability, touch sensitivity, training difficulty, and chasing behaviors as compared to baseline. Reports of separation-related behaviors and attachment and attention-seeking behaviors decreased, presumably as the dogs became assured their owners would consistently return home. In addition, seven people returned their adopted dog during the study period.

Despite the ratings suggesting increases in undesirable behavior like stranger aggression and training problems, in the final survey 100% of responding owners reported their dog adjusted to their new home extremely or moderately well; 94% rated their dog's overall behavior as excellent or good, six percent as fair, and no owner reported poor/terrible behavior. About 75% of owners said they thought their dog's behavior had improved over time.

Sampling bias is potentially present in the results, since participating dog owners opted into the study (with gift cards offered for completion of the first and final surveys). There may also be behaviors the survey did not capture, but which are strongly valued by owners and which might explain the high satisfaction ratings in the final survey.

The authors add, "This is one of the most comprehensive studies, using multiple time points, to investigate post-adoption behavior in dogs. The findings help shelters counsel new dog guardians with more accurate information on what behavior changes to expect after adoption. This information will hopefully allow people to get help sooner for their dog's behavior problems and keep more dogs in their adoptive homes."

More information: Bohland KR et al, Shelter dog behavior after adoption: Using the C-BARQ to track dog behavior changes through the first six months after adoption, PLoS ONE (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289356. journals.plos.org/plosone/arti … journal.pone.0289356

Journal information: PLoS ONE 

Provided by Public Library of Science Study: Dogs may show grieving behavior after death of canine companion

 

Historians and literary scholars tackle the Shakespeare authorship question

by Society for Scientific Exploration

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The Journal of Scientific Exploration (JSE), an open access journal, has published its summer issue, which is specially devoted to what is known as the Shakespeare authorship question (SAQ).

In the issue, 10 historians and literary scholars present evidence that casts serious doubts about who actually authored the monumental works credited to William Shakespeare. Suggesting that the name is actually a pseudonym for someone else, this position has been endorsed by numerous artists and scholars over the decades ranging from Walt Whitman and Mark Twain to Sigmund Freud, Tyrone Guthrie (founder of Canada's Stratford Shakespeare Festival) and Mark Rylance founding Artistic Director of the reconstructed Globe Theater in London.

Tradition credits a businessman from an essentially illiterate family in Stratford-Upon-Avon named "Will Shakspere" as being the author of the Bard's 37 plays, two major narratives in verse, 154 sonnets, and the man who introduced upwards of 1,700 original words into the English language.

However, many historians, literary researchers, and theater professionals over the centuries have been enormously skeptical of the attribution. The debate that has ensued―with several hundred books having now been published on the subject―is at the core of the SAQ.

"Academic honesty and the historical record do matter," said Don Rubin, Professor Emeritus of Theater at Toronto's York University and Guest Editor of the issue. President of the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition (doubtaboutwill.org)

Prof. Rubin argues that "from an intellectual standpoint, the real conspiracy theory is why those who hold with the Stratford man as author are so absolutely unwilling to read contradictory research in their own field and to encourage openness about these alternative ideas within academe. Most simply don't know the depth and detail of the alternative arguments."

While the JSE does not officially endorse particular claims related to any frontier science topic, its editorial team did agree that there was more than ample evidence in this instance to open up the SAQ to scholars in other fields. Thus, this special JSE issue about what has been termed by many 'history's greatest mystery.'

More information: Brian Robert Laythe, Full Issue JSE 37:2 Summer, Journal of Scientific Exploration (2023). DOI: 10.31275/20233145. www.journalofscientificexplora … on.org/index.php/jse

Provided by Society for Scientific Exploration

Spotlight thrown on diary of York woman from 1800s

 

Struggling to stay: The impact of rising visa fees for transnational workers

by Queen Mary, University of London

TRANSNATIONAL MARKET NAVIGATION. Credit: Journal of Consumer Research (2023)

. DOI: 10.1093/jcr/ucad049

New research from School of Business and Management academic Dr. Zahra Sharifonnasabi reveals the complexities of transnational workers lives and how the impact of the divisive policy could damage the UK economy.

The latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the economy grew by 0.5 percent in June, defying expectations, however with the Governments proposed visa increases set to go ahead new research from Queen Mary University of London reveals that an increase in visa fees for transnational workers could damage further an already fragile economy.

In her latest research paper, titled "Transnational Market Navigation: Living and Consuming across Borders," Dr. Zahra Sharifonnasabi Lecturer in Marketing and Co-Director of the Marketing Insights & Digital Societies (MINDS) at Queen Mary University of London reveals insights into the "precarious and challenging" lives of transnational professionals working simultaneously across multiple countries.

Dr. Zahra Sharifonnasabi explains "Transnational living is complex, challenging, resource-heavy and often precarious. Transnational professionals need to extensively invest in their time, money, and effort to plan their lives. We have also seen how this group of workers use their network to adapt and react to external shocks, such as increases in visa fees, Brexit and the COVID pandemic."

Exploring the impact of disruptions and external shocks, such as economic, political and socials crises, Dr. Sharifonnasabi and her research team reveal that transnational workers adapt their networks (e.g., moving investments to a different country with better rates and lower risks) in response to external shocks. Indeed, maintaining a transnational network of places, people, and institutions, however challenging and resource heavy, can serve them as a plan B when situations become unfavorable.

With the increase in visa fees for migrants in the UK set to go ahead, it raises the question if transnational workers will still choose to work in the UK?

Rising UK visa fees impact transnational workers in varied ways, but this could also damage the economy warns Dr. Sharifonnasabi. "Financially, lower-income workers face hurdles, deterring their UK prospects. Specialized workers might seek friendlier immigration policies elsewhere due to costly fees, causing skill drain. The UK could miss out on returning transnational workers' knowledge and investment due to fee-related disincentives. Industries like health care could suffer more from labor shortages, affecting services."

"Cultural diversity might wane as fees discourage transnational workers' contributions. Family reunification could be harder, and remittances could drop, hurting home economies. Investment, integration, and legal concerns are also heightened due to the potential fee hike."

The work is published in the Journal of Consumer Research.

More information: Zahra Sharifonnasabi et al, Transnational Market Navigation: Living and Consuming across Borders, Journal of Consumer Research (2023). DOI: 10.1093/jcr/ucad049

Journal information: Journal of Consumer Research 

Provided by Queen Mary, University of London

Strategies of kleptocrats and their enablers are becoming increasingly sophisticated, experts warn

CAPITALI$M 101

Rapid growth in coffee shops and competition presents a challenge for small independent coffee shops in Indonesia

by David Bradley, Inderscience

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

In the midst of Indonesia's burgeoning coffee shop scene, a formidable challenge has emerged for independent establishments, according to research in the International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management. Many of the problems and their solutions percolating through could well provide lessons for independent businesses in other sectors across the region as well as elsewhere.

Mukhamad Najib and Farah Fahma of the IPB University in Indonesia suggest that the market is becoming increasingly fierce. Survival for small, independent coffee shops must evolve to establish a solid and sustainable footing and simultaneously focus on a quality-based ethos, offering excellent service, and ensuring business longevity. The researchers add that strong leadership is emerging as a critical factor in this world.

The researchers surveyed 110 coffee shop proprietors and managers in Bogor, Indonesia, and then used a sophisticated analytical approach, structural equation modeling with partial least squares (SEM-PLS) to analyze the resulting data. Through this technique, they were able to gain valuable insights into the interplay between the different factors affecting success and failure.

The central finding that emerges from their data analysis, as one might expect, is that leadership plays a pivotal role in shaping the culture and quality of such small businesses and elevating service standards. They add that leadership does not, however, seem to have a direct impact on business sustainability. That said, its indirect influence in fostering a culture of excellence proves to be critical and that encompasses sustainability values too.

The team suggests that their findings underscore the significance of both a quality-orientated culture and consistently superior service standards in sustaining small enterprises such as independent coffee shops in a packed and unforgiving market.

Of course, by focusing on the smaller businesses, the team concedes that there is now a need to carry out further research to ascertain whether the same findings would emerge in an investigation of larger establishments. There is also a need to incorporate cultural and geographic disparities across the region to reveal whether factors beyond the coffee counter might also affect quality, service dynamics, and success.

More information: Mukhamad Najib et al, Business sustainability for small coffee shops: the role of leader and quality, International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management (2023). DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2023.132832

Provided by Inderscience Heritage and culture key for Thai confectioners to compete with western brands

 

Early disclosure of risks can reduce decline in stocks, study finds

by Alexandra Richter, University at Buffalo

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Early, enhanced information provided by a 10-K (an annual report required by the SEC about a company's financial picture) helps investors with risk management, according to new research from the University at Buffalo School of Management.

Available online ahead of publication in the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, the study examines the impact of the risk factor disclosures the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has required since 2005—and whether those disclosures lessen the chance a firm will experience a large decline in stock returns.

"This research supports the SEC and other regulatory agencies' drive to increase disclosure," says study co-author Szu-Yin "Jennifer" Wu, Ph.D., clinical assistant professor of finance in the UB School of Management. "Enhanced disclosure can improve a firm's information environment, leading to better outcomes for firms and market participants alike."

To examine the impact of these mandated disclosures, Wu and her co-authors analyzed four main data sources: risk disclosures in 10-K filing from the SEC's Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval database; nearly 35,000 firm-year observations from 1996 to 2013; and CRSP and Compustat datasets for pricing, trading and annual financial data.

The study found that practitioners can reduce large negative events, such as Enron's financial collapse when management hid financial losses, through early disclosure. Wu says the firms that see the greatest reduction in risk are those with better corporate governance, less transparent information environment, or those that are more vulnerable to shareholder litigation.

"The risk of a lawsuit encourages firm managers to disclose bad news earlier in mandatory disclosures to prevent costly shareholder lawsuits," says Wu. "In a similar vein, well-governed firms are associated with the more timely and relevant release of information."

For publicly traded companies and investors, these results lend credence to the importance of disclosures in reducing the decline in stock returns.

More information: Shiu-Yik Au et al, Do mandatory risk factor disclosures reduce stock price crash risk?, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2023.107077

Provided by University at Buffalo 

Investors want better climate risk disclosure, says study

 

A robot with expandable appendages could explore Martian caves and cliffs

by Andy Tomaswick, Universe Today

Credit: Universe Today

Plenty of areas in the solar system are interesting for scientific purposes but hard to access by traditional rovers. Some of the most prominent are the caves and cliffs of Mars—where exposed strata could hold clues to whether life ever existed on the Red Planet. So far, none of the missions sent there has been able to explore those difficult-to-reach places. But a mission concept from a team at Stanford hopes to change that.

The concept, known as ReachBot, is a robot that can support itself using multiple articulated appendages to navigate terrain that would be difficult to reach using other navigational techniques. In addition to being able to traverse complex ground patterns, it could also, in theory, at least scale sheer cliff faces.

It was initially pitched as a NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts project, where it was awarded a Phase I grant back in 2021. The authors describe the idea as a fusion of two separate technologies developed for different purposes: mobile manipulation robots and deployable space structures.

Mobile manipulation robots are relatively common in space exploration. Platforms like Robonaut and LEMUR utilize robotics technology to perform tasks like maintaining the ISS and inspecting other space habitats—however, much of their mobility is limited. Efforts like Lemur pride themselves on being able to navigate tricky terrain, but even it would have difficulty scaling a cliff face.

Deployable structures, on the other hand, are more commonly used in satellites. They decrease the space necessary to pack things like solar panels and antennas into a rocket fairing, and they do so by only deploying once they reach space. Typically they use some kind of thermal or electrical smart material, but there is a lot of ongoing research in this area.

Video showing some of the ReachBot’s capabilities. Credit: NASA Space Tech YouTube Channel

ReachBot takes the best of both worlds by using the deployable structure as manipulated appendages. This allows it to extend one of its appendages to a new position, secure it in place using an end-effector that can adhere to the surface, and reposition itself by rotating its joints.

If you've ever gone rock climbing, you've heard the adage of "three points of contact." ReachBot uses a similar technique—by only moving one appendage at a time, it can maintain its position while setting itself up to move, albeit slowly, toward its intended target.

That intended target could be in the middle of a cliff or the middle of a cave, both of which are exciting areas for sample collection. If ReachBot has to ascend a cliff, it simply extends one of its appendages past the others, secures it, and then pulls itself up. Alternatively, in a cave with a rough floor, it can suspend itself off of different features, including the ceiling.

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In addition, ReachBot can use its other appendages to secure itself and apply force to the surface. That surface pressure is critical for operations like drilling and is made much more difficult if the system can't cross-brace itself.

The detailed report laid out by the Stanford team showed progress in several areas, including coming up with a controller, researching different end-effector solutions, and coming up with a mission architecture. They also had plenty of plans for future efforts, including testing a prototype in a real-world environment similar to one the robot might encounter on Mars.

For now, the lab is continuing development on it after the completion of the Phase I project. It seems well placed for a Phase II, but nothing has come of it so far. ReachBots also have plenty of use cases for terrestrial applications, so somebody will undoubtedly come along and keep the technology moving along its development path.

More information: ReachBot: a Small Robot for Large Mobile Manipulation Tasks in Martian Cave Environments: www.nasa.gov/sites/default/fil … _reachbot_tagged.pdf

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