Vol. 37 Issue 2
Suha Abdullah Ali Attallah, Rustom Mamlook and Odeh Al-Jayyousi
Exploring a suitable methodology for measuring SME's innovation is critical to managing and directing economic growth. The Middle East countries such as Gulf Cooperation Counsels GCC embarked on finding an innovative methodology to support economic sustainability and prosperity transformations, which has led to a rise in the services sector fields and the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) activities and its profit returns. This study aims to evaluate the innovation outputs of SMEs activities in the sport and fitness sector in particular, Kuwait & Bahrain for the period 2015-2019. In addition, it focuses on the Fuzzy Logic Set methodology used to benchmark the SMEs› innovation performance and to identify the degree of innovativeness in SMEs. The proposed assessment methodology consisted of three methods, i.e. innovation audit, mapping innovation, and Fuzzy Logic Set. The study applied Fuzzy Logic to measure innovation activities outputs in twenty SMEs in the fitness industry in Kuwait and Bahrain. Data was collected based on surveys and interviews with top managers of selected SMEs. The contribution of this research is the introduction of a new approach to measure innovation activities outputs based on an innovation audit, mapping innovation, and Fuzzy Logic Set. The results show that the proposed assessment methodology is effective. In addition, it was discovered that there are some similarities between the innovation attributes of SMEs in Kuwait and Bahrain in the performance of innovation management. It been noticed that both countries were using innovations related to products and services in the fitness industry. However, it been observed that process innovation was limited. The study recommends applying this assessment methodology to measuring innovation activities outputs to other private and public sectors in SMEs or large factors to monitoring the profits growth and setting new strategies and policies that pave that way for innovation in the country.
Fatima Bensaida, Asma Achour, Moulay Belkhodja and Salma Bensalem
Saline stress develops specific adaptation strategies in plants to restore ionic and nutritional balance. The aim of this experiment is to find out the mineral balance of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) under salt stress combined with kinetin (Kn) and salicylic acid (SA). Exogenous intake of kinetin and salicylic acid (0.5mM, 0.1 mM respectively) is by spray and plants are irrigated with NaCl at 100 and 200 mM.l-1 with Hoagland solution (1938). After 122 days, a cationic analysis of the leaves and roots is carried out by ICP-A for Na+, K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+. Results indicate that the exogenous application of the growth regulators attenuates the effect of the NaCl stress at 200 mM, by reducing the Na⁺ amount and increasing the one of K⁺ in leaves, while the hormonal combination gave no positive effect under the same NaCl treatment (200 mM).
Hamza Belkhodja, Imane Saidi, Soumia Mehali and Fetta Zizi
Plants contain many phytochemical constituents that show various biological activities. The primary objective of this study is to determine the bioactive compounds of the extract of the pods (fruits) of Gleditsia triacanthos (honey locust); which is widely used in medicine. In the second step, the anti-inflammatory activity of these compounds was determined in vivo on Wistar rats. Phytochemical screening tests showed that the extracts of G. triacanthos are rich in a few groups mainly: total tannins, flavonoids, coumarins and saponosids. The results of the quantitative analysis showed that the methanolic extract is rich in polyphenolic compounds with significant contents of the total polyphenols of 14.73 ± 2.51 mg GAE / g, flavonoids of 9.65 ± 0.52 mg QE / g and condensed tannins of 6.95 ± 2.64 mg CE / g. The results of the in vivo evaluation of anti-inflammatory activity showed that methanolic extract resulted in a reduction in inflammatory reaction in the dextran induction model. It is manifested by an inhibition percentage of inflammation ranging from 6.56 to 10.76%. The present study showed that extract of G. triacanthos has an anti-inflammatory activity justifying their use in traditional medicine. It is therefore of considerable therapeutic interest as an alternative compound for the prevention of inflammation.
Muneera Alnoaimi and Soud Almahamid
Aim: Identifying the missing link in the literature between High-Performance Work System (HPWS) and product innovation, and identifying if there are any mediating or moderating variables that play roles in the relationship between HPWS and product innovation. Design of Study: a systematic review of all related articles that link between HPWS and product innovation. Method: a systematic literature searching 8 databases produced 50 articles that touch the subject directly or indirectly. Scanning all of them revealed that only 14 articles were directly examined on the subject and have been published during the last 13 years. Therefore, they were included in the current literature review. Results: the result revealed that HPWS is positively related with product innovation. In addition, the relationship between HPWS and product innovation is mediated by several factors among which the most important are the innovative work behavior and organizational climate. Moreover, a new conceptual model was developed and will be tested in the next phase of this research project. Recommendations: Based on the research results, a set of practical and scientific recommendations were provided. Originality: Emerges from developing a new conceptual model that is missing in the literature and customizing it to fit the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC). Future studies: Other organizational factors such as culture, leadership styles, and job engagement could be added to the proposed framework..