ICBR-2019 (2nd)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://192.248.9.226/handle/123/14662

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    The impression of work wear attire in the apparel industry
    Karunarathne, PVM; Hettiarachchi, UP
    Getting dressed for work used to be pretty simple for administrative professionals and other office workers. Men used to wear a suit and a tie, and women would dress in a tailored dress or a skirt suit. In earlier days there was no variation in fashion styles. But in the present, people are dressing down for office in comfortable clothing instead of dressing up too formally. Business formal attire is the most flattering clothing known for both men and women. But recently, business casual attire and casual attire is becoming more popular among the workforce. The newer generation has brought a much more different outlook on work attire. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether work place attires are becoming more casual, do employees prefer casual Fridays, do work places have a business formal dress code, do employees prefer business formal attire for work and what types of attire do employees prefer the most. This investigative study is based on quantitative and qualitative research. The study is confined to questionnaires which covered more than 100 employees in the fashion industry in Sri Lanka. Secondary data were collected from books, articles, websites and visual data such as pictures and photographs. The research found that business casual attire is the most popular attire among employees, most of the employees liked the idea of “casual Fridays”, and currently most organizations do not have formal dress attire.
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    Human resource practices and turnover intention: a case study on internationalized tech-based small and medium gem and jewellery manufacturers in Kurunegala district of Sri Lanka
    Fernando, WMSN; Dasanayaka, SWSB; Mudalige, D
    Internationalized Tech-based Small and Medium Enterprises (TSMEs) are one of the major elements in the present globalized world scenario. In contemporary circumstances, Human Resources (HR) have become the most noteworthy asset for internationalized TSMEs as the ‘intellectual capacity’ is directly associated with the achievement of TSME’s objectives through efficient and effective management of technology, resources and people while balancing the cost structure of the internationalized TSMEs at an optimal level. It is essential to perfectly match the internationalized TSME’s small number of people with their specific job roles within the internationalized TSMEs so as to face the dynamic globalized business context whereas the turnovers directly affect the TSME’s sustainable growth and development. There is a dearth of research regarding the effects of human resource practices on turnover intention in Tech-based Small and Medium Gem and Jewellery Enterprises in Sri Lanka. A sample of 176 employees was selected using Multi-stage random sampling from the Gem and Jewellery TSMEs which are located in the Kurunegala District. Both descriptive and inferential techniques were used to analyze data. As per the findings, it was observed that the employees are satisfied with the existing human resources practices in the Gem and Jewellery TSMEs in the Kurunegala district. In accordance with the correlation coefficient analysis, there is a strong negative correlation between HR practices and turnover intention. In addition, all six human resource practices (Job Information, Job Analysis, Career Development, Work-Family Balance, Supervisor Support and Compensation) identified within this study context, affected the employee turnover intention within an internationalized TSME in a negative manner.
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    Importance of leadership to success of digital workplace
    Jayathilake, HD
    Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. The dilemma of how to lead a company is spread throughout every industry and the dilemma has intensified due to the disruption caused by industry 4.0 which creates a new digital workplace where employee agility is increased by inculcating new, efficient, digital technologies. To gain faith of the followers, a leader needs to know the rules and behaviors that are supposed to be followed in the time of the 4th industrial revolution that is currently reshaping the world. This paper is constructed by evaluating articles published from 1991 to 2019 and from the ideas of experts in the industry of digital workplaces, and developing a conceptual framework to outline the connectivity and correlation of industry 4.0, Industrial psychology, Multi-generational Workflow and Big Data on Resonant Leadership Style with Employees’ first leadership approach to manage the digital workplace of Information technology enabled business process outsourcing (ITES-BPO) organizations. The research also emphasizes how human and machine incorporated research works should follow in the future for Asian context to adapt with industrial psychology for enhancing the employee work-life balance by researching with more proper validation with real-world simulation though pragmatic worldview approach with the research design using explanatory sequential method.
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    Impact of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty and intention to switch in commercial banking sector in Sri Lanka
    Jayasekara, BEA
    To obtain the competitive advantage in the dynamic financial industry, banks always concentrate on fulfilling their customers’ needs and demands. The current study attempts to find the impact of customer satisfaction on loyalty and intention to switch in the commercial banking sector in Sri Lanka. The population consists of customers of banks in Sri Lanka and the target population consists of customers of banks in the Colombo district. The sample is derived from the simple random sampling method and a questionnaire is used to collect primary data from 150 commercial bank customers. The dependent variable is intention to switch, the independent variable is customer satisfaction and the mediator variable is customer loyalty. The study reveals that customer satisfaction moderately affects customer loyalty and there is a negative relationship between customer satisfaction and switching intention. However, there is no impact of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty on switching intention. Also, other than customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, there are several other factors affecting the intention to switch. As per the findings of the study, there is no statistically significant association of age, gender, occupation, highest education level and marital status with customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and intention to switch. Monthly income level of the respondents also does not have a significant association with customer loyalty and intention to switch but there is a statistically significant association between income level and customer satisfaction. Finally, the study identified that customers are switching from the existing bank due to an external reason such as the existing bank not complying with some special request or to obtain some exclusive benefits at another bank.
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    Business plan for improving soil using fly ash for construction activities
    Prasad, DLS
    Sri Lanka has invested in large-scale infrastructure developments to meet the social demand in the country. Soil is the major raw material of aforesaid infrastructure developments. Hence, the demand for suitable soil is high due to these project requirements. The unavailability of suitable soils is considered as a burning issue for the construction projects. Hence, improving unsuitable soils with fly ash is an innovative solution for the construction industry. This paper will introduce a business plan for improving the unsuitable soils using fly ash mixing plants. Hence, highquality soil product can be provided to target customers. This business plan gives the opportunity for the first mover to enter and acquire the entire market. The company can supply high quality soils to internal project usage and to retailers, by acting as a wholesaler. The business plan aims to add value to meet the demand for high quality soil products and strategically earn profits. This innovative soil product would be attracted by the stakeholders and company shall approach to meet the stakeholder’s requirements by taking the competitive advantages. The success of the business will give two additional benefits, i.e., easy construction process and completing the project within the time frame. Further, the study discusses the target area relevant to the business such as business description, strategic goals, management and organization, product and services, market and competition, marketing, sales and finance.
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    Factors affecting for growth of the social enterprises in Western Province, Sri Lanka
    Gunawardena, LHTK; Mudalige, DM
    Social entrepreneurship is the newest growing segment of entrepreneurship. The concept is to cater a social or environmental problem while making money. The concept is more valuable as social enterprises are economically selfsustainable. Unlike charitable organizations, social enterprises generate adequate money to support its service or production. Similarly, the first priority of social entrepreneurs is not maximizing economic profits as their central vision is to avoid or mitigate an effect of a social or environmental issue. In Sri Lanka, engaging to overcome a common issue without an invitation as a team or giving and dedicating for others benefit are not new. However, the ‘Social Entrepreneurship’ wording is new to the island. Consequently, there is limited research work that has taken place in Sri Lanka on ‘Social Entrepreneurship’.
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    Nids based random model to protected big data environment using spark
    Prema, S; Asokkumar, S
    Big Data is an active business across the world. With the growing size of data comes many challenges connected with handing out and ensuring the security of huge data. In this paper, we propose a Network Intrusion Detection System (NIDS) model based Random Forests (RF) classifier for anomaly detection of the collected network traffic. In order to decrease the computational time connected with the bulk of captured data, we utilize the system of Hadoop, MapReduce and Spark that have proven to be among the most efficient and fault-tolerant systems. We use the NSL KDD cup 99 dataset to perform experimental analysis and Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II) for feature selection over this dataset. .
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    The moderating impact of board gender diversity on the relationship between selected board attributes and financial performance in listed manufacturing companies in Sri Lanka
    Wickramasinghe, MMT; Ajward, R; Wijesinghe, D
    The main objective of this paper is to identify the moderating impact of the board gender diversity on the relationship between selected key board attributes and financial performance listed companies in the manufacturing sector companies in Sri Lanka. The sample of this study consists of 31 listed companies for the period 2012 to 2016 and secondary data was secured from their respective annual reports. The panel regression results indicate that board diversity has a significant moderating impact on the relationship between the board gender diversity on the relationship between selected key board attributes and financial performance. This key finding is expected to have significant policy implications.
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    Working capital management and firm performance: evidence from food and beverage sector of Colombo stock exchange
    Dissanayake, DMKT; Mendis, AU
    This study investigates the impact of working capital management on firm performance of public listed companies in food and beverages in the Colombo Stock Exchange. Working capital is an important element that should be concerned by the managers, since negligence of it leads to a bankruptcy of the firm. Therefore, it is vital to identify a proper working capital policy for a firm before it creates troublesome situation to the company. In this study, a sample of 20 public listed companies from Food and Beverage sector were selected. Data is taken from annual reports of listed companies during the period of 2013 to 2017. Descriptive statistics method, Pearson correlation method and Panel regression method were used to analyse data. Descriptive statistics revealed current statistics on working capital management of Food and Beverage industry. Pearson correlation test results revealed that accounts collection period (ACP), inventory turnover period (ITD), gross working capital (GTA), current assets to total assets ratio (CATA) and Current liabilities to total assets ratio (CLTA) have significant correlation with firm performance. As per the panel regression results, It is found that, gross working capital (GTA) and current assets to total assets ratio (CATA) have positive significant relationship with return on assets (ROA).Current liabilities to total assets ratio (CLTA) has a significant negative relationship with return on assets (ROA).None of the independent variables have significant relationship with return on equity (ROE).
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    The role of sequential coherence in open innovation: a qualitative inquiry
    Yapa, SR; Senathiraja, R; Poesche, J; Kauranen, I
    Open innovation is a popular strategy among business firms to accelerate innovations. However, open innovation does not always increase innovation performance. Extant literature provides inconsistent and inconclusive arguments in respect of the relationship between open innovation practices and innovation performance. Existing theories mostly have an internal focus and fall short of explaining why some firms succeed in open innovation initiatives and why others fail. Open innovation is about knowledge flows. To understand how boundary conditions influence knowledge flows we made a qualitative inquiry by studying open innovation initiatives of five Sri Lankan firms. Under open coding, we reviewed data collected from lengthy discussions with key people in those firms to identify few general categories of information. Further analysis on this using axial coding revealed three factors that influence knowledge flows. We bundle those factors and describe as sequential coherence which can explain why some succeed while others fail in open innovation. Sequential coherence is measured through the push and the pull effects by willingness and ability of the participants of teacher firm and the preparedness and ability of the participants from the student firm respectively. We trust that our findings bridge a gap in open innovation literature. These initial findings could be generalized through a quantitative study with larger samples. Managerial implications of the finding is that ability to scan the entire chain of knowledge flow across boundaries and taking corrective measures for any bottlenecks or hindrances observed can bring better results from open innovation initiatives. Further, sequential coherence leads to multiple research opportunities in furthering our knowledge in open innovation.
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    Impact of selected board characteristics on firm performances of listed manufacturing firms in Sri Lanka
    Dissanayake, ADM; Dissanayake, TDSH
    This study designed to investigate the association between selected board characteristics and firm performances of organisations registered under the manufacturing sector of the Colombo Stock Exchange. Accordingly, 28 companies have been used as sample over four years (2014 -2017) with the main objectives to measure the level of corporate governance and board characteristics of selected companies and to examine their association. ROA and ROE used as the dependent variables of the study and board size, board independence, board meetings, board diversity, CEO duality and existence of nomination committee as board characteristics used as independent variables while controlling for three variables (i.e., firm size, age and leverage). Results obtained via correlation analysis, OLS regression and panel regression showcase that only board diversity and existence of nomination committee possess the significant impact on firm performances. Leverage is the only control variable which become negatively significant in explaining the variation of firm performances. The study suggests vital managerial implications to policy makers in reforming and strengthening corporate governance guidelines to achieve higher firm performance.
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    Application of information systems in small and medium enterprises in sri lanka
    Malwenna, KH
    SMEs have become an important factor in the developing economies in the world, especially to economies like Sri Lanka. It contributes largely to the socioeconomic stability and poverty reduction process of the Sri Lankan economy in terms of employment generation while contributing to the GDP, equitable distribution of income, embarking on innovations, balancing regional development, lowering transaction cost and inspiring other economic activities. SMEs are the most dynamic businesses as they play a critical role in achieving socio-economic goals in developing countries with a low level of investment. Globally, information technology has become a key element in the economic development of many countries in the world. The objectives of the study were to explore the types of information technology/information systems existing in small and medium-scale enterprises in Sri Lanka, examine the advantages of the use of integrated systems by owner-managers of small and medium-scale enterprises in Sri Lanka, investigate the benefits of information systems to the small and medium-scale enterprises in Sri Lanka, and identify any problems encountered by small and medium-scale enterprises in exercising information systems. The response rate was 59.9%, which represented 91 manufacturing SMEs in the Colombo District of Sri Lanka. The study employed a questionnaire for owner-managers of SMEs. The stratified sampling technique was applied to obtain the sample size of the study and descriptive statistics were used for the analysis. The findings of the research revealed that e-mail is the most popular method of communication among SMEs in Sri Lanka and that SMEs are well aware about the benefits of information systems/information technologies. This study found that almost all SMEs are looking for government support for creating basic infrastructure, training and technical support.
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    An improved labour productivity improvement method as a continuous improvement tool for apparel manufacturing
    Deshappriya, KDNM; Wickramasekara, AN; Deminda, AWL
    The purpose of this study is to introduce an Improved Method for Sri Lankan apparel industry as a continuous tool for improving the labour productivity through analyzing the activities and motions of sewing sections’ employees. The Improved method consists six steps: Identifying the work units, Motion Study, Activity Sampling, Data Analysis, Eliminating/ reducing unnecessary motions and activities, and Measure the labour efficiency. After measuring the labour efficiency, researcher comes back to the first step for further improvements as a continuous improvement tool. Data analysis and implementation of appropriate solutions are the critical part of this study. Percentage distribution of each activity of the job cycle can be analyzed well using the activity sampling technique. The results showed that talking privately, discussing work related things, idle siting, judgments, cutting excess threads are the critical Non-value added activities. Both Necessary Non-Value Added Activities and Non-Value Added Activities have to be eliminated from the process. Bottleneck of the motions can be identified through motion study. Activity Sampling Technique and Motions Study are the most significant steps of this study. Therefore, this is mainly primary data driven research. These techniques of analysis can be applied to other sectors of manufacturing regardless of nature of the product and working conditions.
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    A systematic literature review on financial capability of small and medium entrepreneurs
    Jayasekara, BEA; Fernando, PND; Ranjani, RPC
    The lack of financial capability has become a contemporary issue around the globe. Currently there is a high level of individual indebtedness, an increasing trend of complexity in the financial market, rapidly changing financial landscape, and increased individual responsibility, specifically the growing need of financial capability. The main objective of this study is to critically evaluate the literature on financial capability. The study identified different aspects and different measures of financial capability, levels of financial capability of small and medium entrepreneurs, consequences of financial incapability and methods of improving financial capability. The study revealed financial capability can be improved from tailor-made training programs and workshops. Also, it is necessary to follow up the individual’s acts and their behavior to identify whether their performances changed according to the advice given. Finally, the financially capable individual has the capacity to participate more effectively in society and contribute significantly to the economic growth of the country.
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    An investigative study of the androgynous fashion concept and its impact on the Sri Lankan fashion market
    Ranathunga, GM; Uralagamage, SR
    Androgynous fashion is a concept prevailing among gender stereotypes by combining masculine and feminine identity together as a fusion. With the acceptance of gender expressions, postmodern western cultures are likely to show flexibility towards androgyny. The concept has been there since the 1920's and has emerged occasionally throughout the history of fashion, recently, the trend has taken over the world fashion industry by making fashion gender less.
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    Introducing novel printing techniques to antler fabric printers Pvt. Ltd, Sri Lanka: a case study
    Karunarathne, PVW; Senevirathne, BMLS
    Screen printing and embellishments are used as an aesthetic improvement and value addition in the global apparel industry. Value adding in Apparel Industry plays a pivotal role in bringing foreign exchange to the country’s economy. In the global fashion industry, new aspects of value additions are emerging as trends among the consumers. The objectives of the study are focused on three major areas. First is to investigate the existing portfolio of garment printing and value addition in Antler Fabric Printers Pvt Ltd, which is one of the leading garment value addition firms in Sri Lanka. Second is to find out the orientation of the mentioned printing firm with global customer garment value addition and printing trends for Spring-summer 2020 and Autumn-Winter 2019 seasons and finally to apply existing capabilities to match with trends focusing on main areas of value addition (batik effect, sequins and embellishments). The study was carried out at Antler Fabric Printers. A questionnaire based on the methods, on site observations and experimental studies were carried out.
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    Generation of more value addition in cinnamon exports: a study based on southern Sri Lanka
    Jayathilaka, AK; Dasanayaka, SWSB
    Sri Lanka is the largest supplier of quality cinnamon to the world spice market Though cinnamon plays a key role in the spice sector, the performance of the overall sector in Sri Lanka has not been up to the expectations over the past years. Sri Lanka ranks well below other countries in value-added cinnamon exports to the world market Other competitor countries make huge profits by adding value to cinnamon exported from Sri Lanka, while Sri Lanka is losing profit due to exporting mostly raw cinnamon. In this context, this research project is designed to explore the possibilities to generate more value addition through cinnamon exports based on a case study in southern Sri Lanka. The research methodology consists of situational analysis, focus group interviews, and an in-depth questionnaire survey. The survey was carried out to gather data from 130 sample respondents mainly covering the various actors and agents in the whole cinnamon supply chain in southern Sri Lanka. The findings of this study show that the main obstacles to generate more value addition in cinnamon exports are lack of proper policies, incentives and strategies in the areas of marketing, finance, quality, technology management and product innovation. The methodology used and the policies recommended can apply to other cinnamon exporting countries as well. The social and managerial implications of the findings and policies of this study may be important to many apex bodies and other players in the cinnamon supply chain.
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    Consumer perception of the ancient system of gift giving: The head gear of the king Rajasimhe II (1635-1687), Kandyan kindom of Sri Lanka
    Ranathunga, GM
    The concept of the ancient system of gift giving focuses primararily on the function and effect of giving among ancient societies where the market economy did not hold a dominant place. Gift exchanging was gradually replaced by the market economy during the middle ages and the early modern period.The gift giving had been an exclusive and essential historical custom of ancient societies. As it will appear from this essay on gift giving at the Kandyan court of King Rajasimhe II (1635-1687), gifts and favours continued to play an important role in the organisation of power and society. Special emphasis was placed on a gift of Western fashioned headgear from the Dutch to the King Rajasimhe II who ruled the Kadyan Kingdom. It is possible to suggest that Western fashion influenced dress was a sign of political, economic, social stability of Kandyan Kings in their Kingdom. As well, the gift was signifier of the traditional Sinhalese King's perception of fashion. This is a historical study to find out the influence of foreign gifts in changing the King's perception of a royal dress. Social order based on reciprocal relationship has psychological meaning and understanding. The King dressed the headgear at the royal court instead of a golden crown which had been the royal insignia since ancient times. The King wore it in the courtly presence, indicating a deeper affection to the donor. Gift giving tradition can be recognized as the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefits, specially for privileges during the Kandyan Kingdom.
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    Mediating effect of consumer behavior on the intention of self generation and energy conservation in Sri Lanka
    Jayaratne, W; Dasanayaka, SWSB; Mudalige, D
    This paper explores the mediating effect of subjective norms and perceived behavioral control of consumers on running their generators under the selfgeneration scheme of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). 300 self-generating consumers in Colombo and Kalutara districts were investigated by means of structured questionnaire interviews to ascertain the nature of the issues prevailing with respect to the different incentive schemes introduced by the CEB. The data analysis was carried out using the Structural Equations Modeling technique available in AMOS 25 software package. The findings show that the bulk supply consumers who possess standby and prime power generators were found to be not financially strong to fully operate, the existing equipment too old and having poor performance, lack of fuel storage capacities at sites, environmental issues, lack of firm power to cover entire organization with available resources, high cost of generator spare parts, services and maintenance, lack of trained staff and bad previous experience on given incentive schemes etc. However, 70% of generator owners stated that the financial grant offered by the utility is insufficient to run their own generators whilst 33% of them do not possess the prime power to cater their total demand 24% of industrial consumers want CEB to hire a generator for them to operate during power outages considering the poor incentive level. At the same time, 47% of consumers expected a financial grant or possib e incentive to be paid in advance in order to relieve them from the additiona financial burden coming to their core business.