Social Sector

This paper aims at critically evaluating the content of the right to peace, one of the rights that raise debates, or in other words its significance. It tries to identify not only other human rights but also other international texts, besides the Declaration on the right of peoples to peace adopted by the United nations on the 12th of November 1984, that are related to this content. The two fundamental ideas that form its essence are the rejection of aggression and the consolidation of the value of tolerance.

The major aims of this book are to analyse the current practises of Electronic Marketing (E- Marketing) by Egyptian business enterprises, the different factors affecting the adoption of E- Marketing as well as the different forms, implementation levels and tools of E-Marketing used by these enterprises. It aims to test a theoretical model that can help to understand and interpret these relationships and seeks to evaluate the potential of E-Marketing in developing countries (Egypt). This work builds on previous research in the fields of E-marketing and adds to the relatively limited empirical research that has been conducted on E-Marketing in an Egyptian business context. In terms of contribution to knowledge, this book provides an insight for entrepreneurs, policy makers, practitioners, researchers, and educators by providing a clearer view and deep understanding of the issues related to E-Marketing adoption and practices by Egyptian business enterprises. It addresses some research gaps in the field, particularly in terms of the factors affecting E- Marketing adoption.

This paper examines the operating performance of a sample of Egyptian companies involved in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) transactions for the period 1996 to 2003. The analysis is based on the accounting measures to test the effects of M&A on the corporate performance of the construction and technology sectors. The study tests two hypotheses: first, whether there have been significant improvements in corporate performance following the M&A event, and second, whether the industry sector has an impact on the corporate performance. Empirical results revealed that some measures of corporate performance like profitability, suggested statistically significant gains in the years following M&A, especially in the construction sector. Other performance measures such as efficiency, liquidity, solvency, and cash flow position do not show significant improvements after mergers in the short-run analysis in both the sectors. The paper concludes that mergers in the Egyptian technology sector do not lead to improved corporate performance in the short run. The findings of this study significantly contribute to the empirical literature on M&A in the emerging markets of Egypt.

The documentation of health outcome inequities between population groups and/or geographical areas is important to provide evidence for policy actions and for promoting health equity. This paper aims to support the development of a data base on health inequities, consisting of indicators based on aspects of the wider health system, including health inputs, process and outcome indicators. A framework for the health system indicators is used as well as equity measures are applied to highlight inequities in health outcomes and link them to inequities in the health system to answer the question of whether the health system in Egypt is pro-disadvantaged groups. It is found that health outcome inequities pose a challenge for Egypt. Analyzing both determinants and symptoms of health outcome inequities in Egypt demonstrates that the current health system does not help reduce such inequities; on the contrary it leads to increase them.

This study examines voluntary intellectual capital reporting (ICR) in annual reports of the top 30 companies listed in Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange1 (CASE) as well as eliciting the barriers that could hamper the development and implementation of ICR in an Egyptian setting. The study contributes to the body of research done in this area, as most of research has been conducted in developed countries. There is a lack of empirical research at organisational level in the field of intellectual capital in Egypt, which is, socially, economically and culturally different from developed countries. The results indicate that levels of voluntary disclosure of IC items are relatively low while disclosures are dominated by customer relations items. Additionally, reporting of IC is in qualitative rather than quantitative style. The most important barriers that might impact the development and implementation of IC are cost and time associated with developing IC indicators.

There are inconclusive results on the literature on the consequences of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) on corporate performance as well as factors that might affect such identify synergies. This paper aims at synthesizing and analyzing prior literature of mergers and acquisitions and its effects on the financial performance in an attempt to determine factors that might influence post-mergers and acquisitions performance. Previous studies are using varieties of measures to examine the impact of M&A on corporate performance, where measures might be accounting measures-based, market measures-based, mixed measures, or qualitative measures-based. This study concluded that there is a dispute regarding the factors that affect the reported performance, where eight factors might affect performance as follows: (1) method of payment (Cash or Stock), (2) book to market ratio, (3) type of merger or acquisition transaction (related or unrelated), (4) cross-border versus domestic M&A, (5) mergers versus tender offers, (6) firm size, (7) macro economic conditions, and (8) time period of transaction. Managers should be aware of such factors and their impact on post-merger/acquisition corporate performance to accurately evaluate proposed offers of mergers and acquisitions and take sound decisions.

Drawing on a survey of 450 Egyptians aged 18 to 70 representing different socio-economic categories and different geographical regions, this study compared the effects of television exposure and Internet use on political tolerance in Egyptian society, taking into account other social, political and psychological variables. The study also investigated the targets of intolerance and how they differed among different groups. The findings shed light on the importance of TV exposure in promoting political tolerance, in addition to the significant negative effects of threat perception and religiosity. There were no significant differences in levels of political tolerance between respondents with different demographic characteristics. The implications of the findings are discussed.