http://rulrepository.ru.ac.bd/handle/123456789/13 2026-04-07T21:44:29Z http://rulrepository.ru.ac.bd/handle/123456789/812 Corporate Governance and Intellectual Capital Reporting in Corporate Annual Reports of Emerging Economies: An Empirical Investigation of Listed Companies in Bangladesh Hossain, Md.Mahabbat Intangible resources are not less impo1tant than physical or financial resources. It is expected that these resources support organizational activities along with financial and physical resources and, therefore, we may call these as intellectual capital (IC). Generally, a firm possesses three types of capital - physical capital, financial capital, and IC. IC includes an organization's collective knowledge and learning, leadership talent, the values that shape its culture, routines and processes and the collaborative relationships. It is the need of the era that organizations maximize their value through efficient utilization of their IC. It is agreed that IC plays an increasingly important role in sustaining competitive advantages and creating corporate value and, thus, companies have increased their investments in this type of capital. In a knowledge-based economy, it is indispensable for organizations to identify, maximize and utilize their IC to stay in a competitive environment. It is expected that in order to take advantage of a rapidly changing environment, an enterprise will enhance the accumulation of its IC and go through the corporate governance to improve its organizational performance. JC should be reported in the financial statements of a firm for proper communication to stakeholders. An entity can enjoy competitive advantages by disseminating such information. Simultaneously, stakeholders may take pragmatic decisions on the basis of this information. This is also important for the investors to judge the profitability, potentiality and sustainability of the organization. IC includes human capital (HC), structural capital (SC) and relationship capital (RC). Extensive studies have been carried out to ascertain the status of IC reported by firms in developed countries, though, very few studies have been carried out in a developing country while there is a dearth of research on the intellectual capital reporting (ICR) practices of firms in Bangladesh. Prior research found that the disclosure level of Bangladeshi listed companies is generally poor. The results indicate that companies in general have not responded adequately to the mandatory disclosure requirements of the regulatory bodies. There are some studies on the Bangladeshi companies to show the voluntary disclosure status and disclosure level is not satisfactory. Conventional accounting does not recognize all of the components of IC as assets. IC reporting in the financial statements is not obligatory for the listed companies in Bangladesh. Thus, it is high time to examine the IC reporting practices by the Bangladeshi firms. There is no study in Bangladesh covering all three components of intellectual capital i.e., HC, SC and RC based on all types of listed companies. Besides, none of the existing study on the Bangladeshi companies conducted perception survey of different stakeholders of the listed companies, which has been done for the current study. Furthermore, the present study investigates the relationship between corporate governance and extent of intellectual capital reporting in corporate annual reports of the listed companies in Bangladesh. The regulatory authorities, like the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), Bangladesh Bank (BB), are working for ensuring good governance in Bangladesh. Without adequate reporting mechanisms, shareholders and others cannot be confident that the affairs of the company are being run in a prudent manner for their benefits. Besides, extent of IC reporting may be influenced by different corporate attributes. In addition, a company may change its reporting pattern and extent with the passage of time. Therefore, the study poses some research questions: to what extent are Bangladeshi listed companies repo11ing IC in their annual reports; what are the influencing determinants for IC reporting; do IC rep011ing practices differ among industries and over years and what are the perceptions of stakeholders regarding IC reporting. Jn connection with these research questions, the study sets some specific objectives vis-a-vis to examine the intellectual capital repo1iing (ICR) practice by listed companies in Bangladesh; to investigate empirically some corporate attributes including corporate governance as determinants of ICR; to compare the ICR level among various industries and years; and to summarize the perceptions of different stakeholders regarding ICR. Descriptive and empirical analyses have been conducted by the researcher to fulfil the objectives of the study. The study covers 149 annual reports of the listed companies for the years 2008 and 2011. Sample covers non-financial institution (NFI), insurance (INS), non-banking financial institution (NBFI) and banking financial institution (BFI). There are 37 intellectual capital items in the ICR checklist namely human capital (HC) 19, structural capital (SC) 9 and relationship capital (RC) 9. Perception survey has been conducted on 265 stakeholders grouping as supplier of information, direct user of information and indirect user of the information. For the purpose of regression analysis, "Total Intellectual Capital (TIC)" repo1ting index has been used as dependent variable. Independent variables are classified into three categories vis-a-vis corporate governance (COG), status in share market (MKT) and corporate attributes (COA) and there are three variables in each category. Moreover, industry type (IND) is also used as an explanatory variable. Four regression models have been developed with these variables. Results show that IC items are not sufficiently reported by the listed companies. Two reasons may have behind this - they do not have sufficient IC in their firms or they do not address stakeholders' information needs. BFIs, in general, and some other firms are reporting more IC items in annual report and other organizations, who are not providing such information, may follow the style of their presentation of information. Stakeholders are expecting more information in CAR for taking informed decision. Present study confirms that there is a positive association between the number of members on audit committee and IC reporting. As IC reporting is cost effective, that perceived by the stakeholders, comparatively lower capitalized firms may follow the reporting pattern of higher capitalized firms. The study also validates that there is a positive association between PNPAT and TIC. If all of the concerned bodies take synchronized approaches from their end, it may be expected that IC reporting status will be improved in days to come. This Thesis is Submitted to the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, Bangladesh for The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z http://rulrepository.ru.ac.bd/handle/123456789/803 Customer Satisfaction in Medicare Institutions in Bangladesh Huq, Sheikh Majedul Good health is a gift of Almighty Allah. Health is the core of all human functions. Sound health secures sound mind and sound mind is the first and foremost necessity of an active human being. A developing country like Bangladesh where the main resource is manpower must focus on sound and healthy population. In this regard, proper medicare service is a crying need. The objectives of the study is to evaluate customers satisfaction and loyalty in Medicare Institutions in Bangladesh and to determine the comparative effectiveness in services of various Medicare Institutions like private, public, NGO related health care organizations and so on. The empirical study has been developed through a conceptual framework on quality service dimension and measurement of the relationships with clients' satisfaction and loyalty. There are eleven hypotheses developed for the study. To test all hypotheses, regression analysis and chi-square test have been used. Here, researcher has selected four categorical Medicare Institutions; among them 19 Medicare institutions have been taken as sample unit through random sampling from the Northern area of Bangladesh. Primary and secondary data have been collected through the self­ administered questionnaire. Semantic deferential seven (7) point rating scale questionnaire has been used here through simple random sampling. The total numbers of respondents were 567 where the 57.5 percent is male and 42.5 percent is female. The study has been conducted on 567 respondents where 59 per cent of customers live in villages and 40.9 percent of customers live in the cities. This study also represents that 46.9 percent of respondents has taken their health services from the Public Medicare Institutions and 42.3 percent of respondents has chosen Private Medicare Institutions to have their Medicare services. Among them 3.5 percent has taken their services from other Medicare Institutions and 7.2 percent of people has received their service from NGOs related Medicare Institutions. This study has also used SERVQUAL service quality model that has gained much importance over the last decades to measure the overall service standard of every enterprise. It is revealed from this study that, the reliability of service i.e. doctors' efficiency, nurses' efficiency and availability of doctors has shown satisfactory level for getting right treatment for the first time. The customer has also been satisfied on the tangibility of the service variables i.e. neat and clean operation theater (OT), use of modem Equipments but thecustomers have still been dissatisfied with the existing cleanliness of bed, cabin, floor, toilet and bathroom of the Medicare Institutions. For the communication process, they have been highly dissatisfied with the presence of agent or 'dalal'. But respondents are not satisfied regarding the application of rules and proper monitoring system and easy service receiving process provided by the Medicare Institutions in Bangladesh. The study has revealed that the male patients (mean 4.6523) have been more satisfied with the service of Private Medicare Institutions than that of the Public Medicare Institutions. The people with higher income have been more satisfied with the quality of services. Most of the respondents whose income is medium have seemed to be satisfied in Public Medicare Institutions. It has been observed from this study that overall performance of Private Medicare Institutions i.e. customer satisfaction and loyalty rate has far better than that of Public Medicare Institutions and other centers. Finally, researcher might say that the respected customers feel satisfied more in case of the Medicare of assurance of service, empathy of service and billing system. Using SERVQUAL model, the researcher has observed that the respondents are not satisfied regarding the reliability of services provided by Medicare Institutions. The result also corroborates the same view in case of cost of service, accessibility to service, responsiveness of service and communicative system. The semantic deferential 7 point rating scale provides an overall mean value that is 3.9680 towards the Medicare institutions in Bangladesh which means that the respondents are not satisfied with the existing medicare services. The mean value of satisfaction towards Private Medicare Institutions is 4.4486 and the mean value of satisfaction towards Public Medicare Institutions is 3.7077. The mean value of other types of Medicare Institutions is 3.5750. NGO related health care service shows 3.0359 mean values which prove the minimum level of satisfaction for the respondents. It is also found in the study that quality of service has been considered as a strategic advantage for the organization to gain success and to sustain in the competitive environment. The country is waiting for prudent actions to steer an improved health recovery for the continuation of economic and social progress. Health is the root of all happiness. Since health care service is crucial and sensitive issue to all, the Government should give more emphasis on policy making and proper controlling not only on the private and public Medicare Institutions but also on NGOs related healthcare and other centers. Health care sector has had a wide influence not only on building a healthy and prosperous nation but also making a solid national economy. So, all concerned and stakeholders should have an extra look on this issue without making any delay for ensuring quality health care service which is a fundamental human right to be more humane. This Thesis is Submitted to the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) , University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, Bangladesh for The Degree of Master of Philosophy (MPhil) 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z http://rulrepository.ru.ac.bd/handle/123456789/743 Micro Credit Operations and Women Entrepreneurship Development in Bangladesh : A Study of Grameen Bank Miah, Md. Abdul Latif Rural women constitute about 90 percent of total female population who remain as yet significantly untapped human resources (UNDP. Dhaka, 1989). In any country, the role of women in socio-economic development is immense. Many rural women in the developing countries need to work in order to survive but the rural wage-market and society are not prepared for them. ((Moslehuddin and Kibria 1987). In developed countries, women have participated in all spheres of socio-economic development and brought about the instant development. Comparatively, women of Bangladesh are far behind which is undoubtlly an impediment to our total development. After independence, Bangladesh government has taken various welfare programs with a large number of grant and subsidies to improve the women entrepreneurs but these programs have not been fully successful in meeting their objectives. The common features of these programs were based on foreign aid and subsidy. These programs were not sustainable and perpetual. Extensive programs were taken during the Third Five Year Plan (1985-90) and Fourth Five Year Plan (1990-95) to ensure mass women participation by involving them into the mainstream of development through departments of women affairs. However, it has not reached the whole of the country, especially poor rural women. Economic development of a country is largely dependent on the existence and growth of ent1 perineurial class in that country (Rahman, 1995:67). The role of entrepreneur in the industrial development of a country is well recognized. Mostly male entrepreneurs have played this role over the past centuries. Women's participation in business was conspicuously insignificant for a very long period. The women entrepreneurs have shown great enthusiasm to evolve into entrepreneurship, but retreated from the field on account of multiplicity of problems faced in leading the project to the final stage of production and continue commercial operation. As a result, many enthusiastic women entrepreneurs could not develop themselves as stable one due to lack of needed promotional assistance. The promotional agencies do not appear to have given adequate promotional support to the women entrepreneurs especially the rural poor women entrepreneurs due to lack of adequate collateral. The potentialities are great for poor women entrepreneurs. Appropriate opportunities, congenial environment and collateral free credit assistance can only prove how rapidly such potentialities can be converted into the realities of developing poor women entrepreneurs. A large portion of the rural program women have benefited significantly from participation in the micro-credit programs of Bangladesh (Choudhury, 2001 & 2002: 28). Collateral free micro credit operations will be the appropriate key to the success of the poor women entrepreneurs at the grass-root level. Moreover, the micro credit approach may be one of the effective ways to reduce the difficulties of small business women entrepreneurs. As a pioneer bank Grameen Bank has created a number of local revolving collateral free loan funds that extend credit to women entrepreneurs in low-income communities. The Grameen Bank credit programs have substantially improved the socio-economic conditions of its borrowers (Hossain, 1999: 78). The Grameen Bank has been lending micro enterprise loan for the first moving members, especially the business run by women entrepreneurs. Grameen Bank has been running various operations throughout the country through a set of well-defined guidelines with special reference to the objectives, assessments of credit needs and rate of interest, repayment period, security, and so on. The present study is an attempt to evaluate the development of women entrepreneurship through micro credit operations by Grameen Bank. 1.2 Rationale of the study Entrepreneur is an important agent of economic development of a developing country like Bangladesh. Women entrepreneurship development has recently gained considerable importance in the government policy making (Mohiuddin, Moniruzzaman and Mahmood, 1998: 47). Interest in women entrepreneurs as research subjects has developed very recently. Part of this interest is due to the tremendous growth in small business start-ups by females. The other major reasons for the interest arise from the assumption that women entrepreneurs encounter difficulties in starting and operating business which are different from those faced by male (Naider: 1987). In Bangladesh, there is a growing interest in the subject of women entrepreneurship in the wake of rapid socio-economic change. This thesis is Submitted to Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, Bangladesh for The Degree of Master of Philosophy (MPhil) 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z http://rulrepository.ru.ac.bd/handle/123456789/363 Service Marketing in Bangladesh- A Case Study of Bangladesh Railway Kabir, Mahmudul The present study is descriptive in nature. It attempts to explore the condition of Service Marketing in Bangladesh Railway sector depending on the mixes of Marketing. The study has been designed to find out the condition of Service Marketing in Bangladesh Railway related to product, price, place promotion and people. In the present study, the researcher has collected both qualitative data and quantitative data depending on the mixes of marketing. The researcher has analyzed data using the mixed approach of Creswell and has formulated triangulation to interpret data and their result for the findings of the research study. So, the present research study is qualitative and quantitative (mixed approach) by nature. A potential practical situation observation and documentary analysis has been conducted for descriptive analysis of the study. This documentary analysis is widely used here to draw the inference from the compilation, analysis and interpretation of assembled data. Here, ‘Opinion survey’ is also used for qualitative judgments from the lower class, upper class and middle class passengers traveling in different times by Bangladesh Railway. For opinion survey, 400 respondents (100 upper class passengers, 200 middle class passengers, 100 lower class passengers) have been selected randomly from the west zone of Bangladesh Railway. The reason behind selecting more number of middle Class passengers than that of other classes is that, researchers found this group of passengers replied more enthusiastically to them. The Simple Random Sampling (SRS) technique has been followed for collecting primary data. First, the researcher has collected a range of information regarding the issue through interview, consultation and observation. The statements have been noted on the basis of their opinion and 49 items have been used as the primary elements of the questionnaire. The Likert-type (Summated Scales) scale has been considered suitable and adopted for the present study because of the fact that the study has been viewed as a mediator of social life of the people engaged with the transportation service of Bangladesh railway. Then a pilot study has been conducted in order to select the items of the questionnaire. 120 respondents have been interviewed (35 lower class Passengers, 35 upper class Passengers and 50 middle class Passengers) for this purpose. Then, the method of finding the Discriminative Power (DP) of each statement has been calculated for primary item selection. An item with a high DP has been selected for the questionnaire. By this way, 14 items have been excluded which have showed DP below 0.50. As a result, final list of questionnaire contains 35 items. The selected 35 questions have been classified into five major groups according to the mixes of marketing considered as product, price, place, promotion and people. That will remain in final form of questionnaire to be applied on selected respondents finally for collecting primary data. Then, another one close ended questionnaire has been reformed to find out the satisfaction, belief and opinion of different kinds of passengers. Each of the questions has two alternate answers as ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. Different statistical methods and techniques have been applied for analysis of data such as Percentage corresponding, Mean Deviation, Standard Deviation, One-sample T-test, Paired T-test and Co-efficient of Variation (CV) analysis. Then the researcher has calculated the scores of the opinions of the respondents in quantitative approach. The researcher has formulated the matrix of the beneficiaries’ using both percentage corresponding and mean corresponding of the scores through triangulation. Then the researcher has converted the highly stressed opinions into qualitative mode and has interpreted as findings. By this process, the issues that have more significance and possible solutions have been identified. In general the interpretation of results has showed that the overall existing service sector of Bangladesh Railway has implemented a little content of service marketing concept. The overall enterprise has implemented the conventional ancient methods in managing the organization. In order to achieve the expected goal of Bangladesh Railway there needs a change, extension and modification of the overall corporate structure of the enterprise and a proper market based reorientation is very much necessary. This thesis is Submitted to the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, Bangladesh for the Degree of Master of Philosophy (MPhil) 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z