393 About the Contributors Ümit Hacıoğlu is an assistant professor of Finance at Beykent University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey. Dr. Hacıoğlu has BAs in Business Administration and Inter- national Relations (2002). He received PhD in Finance and Banking with his thesis entitled “Effects of Conflict on Equity Performance.” Finance and banking, strategic management, and international po- litical economy are the main pillars of his interdisciplinary studies. He is the executive editor of Inter- national Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (IJRBS) and a founding member of the Society for the Study of Business and Finance (SSBF). Hasan Dinçer is an assistant professor of finance at Beykent University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey. Dr. Dinçer has BAs in Financial Markets and Investment Management at Marmara University. He received PhD in Finance and Banking with his thesis entitled “The Effect of Changes on the Competitive Strategies of New Service Development in the Banking Sec- tor.” He has work experience in the finance sector as portfolio specialist, and his major academic studies focus on financial instruments, performance evaluation, and economics. He is the executive editor of International Journal of Finance and Banking Studies (IJFBS) and a founding member of the Society for the Study of Business and Finance (SSBF). * * * Ulas Akkucuk is an Associate Professor of Quantitative Methods at Bogazici University Depart- ment of Management, Istanbul-Turkey. Dr. Akkucuk has a BS in Industrial Engineering from Bilkent University (1997), an MBA from Bogazici University (2000), and a PhD in Management Science and Information Systems from Rutgers University (2004). His research interests lie in the methodological development of multivariate techniques such as Clustering and Multidimensional Scaling and novel applications into fields including global competitiveness, CRM, and technology management. He has taught Statistics, CRM & Data Mining, and Global Marketing Research courses, among others, at both graduate and undergraduate levels. He is in the editorial board of International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (IJRBS) and has been an ad hoc reviewer for journals such as Journal of Multivariate Analysis and Bogazici Journal. He is a member of the Classification Society and Turkish Quality Foundation (KALDER). About the Contributors Benjamin Chijioke Asogwa is a Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agricultural Economics and Extension, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria. Dr. Asogwa has B.Agric in Agricultural Economics and Extension (First Class Hons) and M.Sc in Agricultural Econom- ics. He obtained his PhD degree in Agricultural Economics. He is the author of several articles published in reputed international journals and international conference proceedings. His special research interest include: production economics, agricultural marketing, farm management, agribusiness, agricultural policy, and development economics. He is currently the College Examination Officer, College of Agri- cultural Economics and Extension, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria. Peter Iornum Ater holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) degree in Agricultural Economics. He is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics at University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. Dr. Ater received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Agricultural Economics from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria and Doctoral degree in Agricultural Economics from Univer- sity of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria. His research interests are in the areas of production economics, project monitoring and evaluation, farm management and agribusiness. Dr. Ater’s primary responsibility is teaching and research. He has therefore taught undergraduate and postgraduate students and carried out several researches, an activity he enjoys very much. Dr. Ater has taught Production Economics and other related subjects in some other disciplines. Dr. Ater has published many research papers and books in both local and international research outlets. He has authored several articles published in reputed local and international journals and conference proceedings. He has also consulted for a number of local and international organizations, UNDP inclusive. Dr Ater was the Director of Project Monitoring and Evaluation Unit of the Benue State Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (BNARDA) for several years. Currently, he is the Head of Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. He loves listening to Christian music, reading current affairs, watching football, etc. He is happily married with children. Aysha Karamat Baig is an independent researcher. She has earned her Ms (Marketing) from Riphah International University, and prior to that, she did BBA from GC University Faisalabad, Pakistan. She has been involved in teaching at Riphah International University – Faisalabad for some time. Currently, she is a PhD candidate at Swinburne University of Technology, Sarawak Campus. Uzma Karamat Baig is a researcher. She is recently doing her MBA from GC University Faisalabad, and prior to that, she completed her BSc from Punjab University Lahore, Pakistan. Nursel Bolat graduated from Radio-Television and Cinema Department of Kocaeli University. She completed her MA at Kocaeli University Social Sciences Institute. She worked as an assistant director at STV channel and worked as a lecturer at Kocaeli University. She has been working as a lecturer at Istanbul Arel University since 2010. She published her book Medyada Milliyetçilik ve Şiddet “Medyada Milliyetçilik ve Ötekinin Yaratılması: Mc Carthy Döneminde Amerikan Milliyetçiliğinin Hollywood’a Yansıması ve Türkiye’yi Etkileme Süreci.” Her article, “Visual Discourse of the Clove: An Analysis on the Ottoman Tile Decoration Art,” appeared in International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science, and she has presented her works of “Gelişim Süreci İçinde: Televizyonun Çocuklar Üzerindeki Etkileri,” “Mitoloji ve Sinema: Türk Sinemasında Kadın Oyuncu Rol Maskeleri,” “Mizah ve İkna: Televizyon Reklamlarında İkna Aracı Olarak Mizah” both in national and international workshops. 394 About the Contributors Nevin Ozgur Cambaz is currently an instructor of English at the School of Foreign Languages, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey. She studied Foreign Language Education at METU, Ankara, and has a degree of MA in Translation Studies at Dokuz Eylül University. The main focus of her thesis was a pragmatic analysis on certain translated works. She previously taught English to young learners at a private school in İzmir. Her main interests are language teaching, literature, and translation studies. Hilal Çelik is an assistant professor of Business Administration at Beykent University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey. Dr. Hilal Çelik graduated from university with a first graduate degree of Bachelor’s in 2004. She received PhD in Department of Business Manage- ment and Organization at Faculty of Business Administration in Istanbul University (2011). Her thesis was entitled “Information Technologies’ Effects on Organizational Performance at Higher Education Institutions.” The main pillars of her interdisciplinary studies are strategic management, information technologies, organizational performance, competitiveness, and service quality. İsmail Erkan Çelik is an assistant professor of Finance at Beykent University. He received PhD in Finance and Banking with his thesis entitled “The Role of Investment Banks in Development.” He is the editor of International Journal of Finance and Banking Studies (IJFBS) and International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science. Solaiman Chowdhury is involved in teaching and research at the Department of Management Stud- ies, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. He received MBA (Management) in 2005. Mr. Chowdhury is the author of one book and has published research papers in international journals. His research interest lies in the area of CSR, entrepreneurship development, and innovation management. Dilaysu Çınar is lecturer at Beykent University, teaching international marketing, total quality man- agement, and introduction to business at Vocational Studies. She has an MBA degree and completed her thesis entitled “Technical Analysis Methods for Stock Market: An Application on ISE.” Ramesh Chandra Das has done Masters degree in Economics at Calcutta University. He has obtained the M. Phil degree from the same university. He has also obtained Ph.D award from the University of Calcutta on the aspects of allocation of commercial bank credit in Indian states. He is presently teach- ing economics at Katwa College, West Bengal, India, for about fourteen years and designated Associate Professor in the department. He has carried out several research projects in the field of banking. He has made several publications in different areas of environmental economics and the economics of banking and finance, governance, etc., including a book on Microeconomics. He has been one of the honorable members in the international editorial board of the Society for the Study in Banking and Finance (SSB- FNET) and acting as editor-in-chief of Asian Journal of Research in Business Economics and Manage- ment published by Asian Research consortium, India. William R. DiPietro is professor