Academic literature on the topic 'Lebanese Authors'

Technological advances in the information and communication industry have changed many other sectors as well. Written, visual or oral, digital information is transmitted instantly, distributed around the world, stored, examined and sold. It thus acquires a commercial value that overlaps with the historical value of the information, which is a part of the collective memory of a country. This paper examines the information archives of Lebanese television stations from a technical and an intellectual point of view and discusses how they treat news and other television programmes and whether television information is considered a commercial product. It is argued that it is evident that an institution concerned with public interest (as opposed to commercial interests) looks after the conservation of the national patrimony and the collective memory, by forming a legal deposit system and respecting the authors' rights. Such an attitude could play a role in the frame of a national information policy.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to answer the following question: what motivates refugees to create their own businesses in a developing country, and how do they go about it? Design/methodology/approach A quantitative study was conducted before Syrian refugees in main camps in Lebanon. The self-administrated survey was translated into the Arabic language to fit the respondents understanding of the questions asked and answers choices. Closed questions with nominal ratio and Likert scales were used to gather the primary data in the line of the study of Wauters and Lambrecht. The data were analysed with a logistic regression analysis under SPSS. Findings The findings show that 71 per cent of Syrian refugees seem to have a willingness to start a new business in Lebanon. The respondents are mostly young, with 62 per cent being between the ages of 18 and 35. Most of them are men (66.67 per cent) against 33.33 per cent of women. 60 per cent have already been entrepreneurs, and they are mostly motivated by earning a living but in the sector they used to work in before in their home country. Finally, the obstacles seem to be linked to financial and administrative issues, but also to the local policies. However, the fact that they share some cultural values with Lebanese such as the language or food, allow them to integrate easier and to create social bonds. Research limitations/implications The research is limited by the fact that the authors cannot generalise the findings since the Lebanese environment is very different from other countries’ environment. Besides, the Syrian refugees share already a lot of values and lifestyle with Lebanese. So, the authors cannot transpose their case to other ethnic population. Also, the study is limited by the lack of a gender statement and the link between the education level and the decision of creating a new business. Practical implications The authors propose some recommendations to the Lebanese Government and NGOs in order to facilitate and support the entrepreneurship actions of refugees shortly after they arrive to Lebanon. Social implications This paper confirms the importance of social ties in encouraging entrepreneurship in the case of refugees. Originality/value In this paper, the authors make four contributions to the academic debate: first, the authors studied the entrepreneurial motivations of refugees in a middle-eastern developing country while the other studies have focussed upon the adaptation of such individuals in a western and developed environment. Second, the refugees are motivated by pull and push factors at once as the authors discussed in the precedent section. Third, although adaptation to the Lebanese culture is easier, resilience is nevertheless needed due to the Lebanese Government’s policies, which forbid refugees to work in the country. Fourth, with regard to migration studies in general, this paper stands half way between the various studies conducted on ethnic entrepreneurship, immigrant entrepreneurship and refugees. Indeed, the authors brought together many concepts such as social bonds, social capital, culture, political environment, and the service industry. On the managerial level, the findings allow the institutions and the government to target those refugees who show an appetence to entrepreneurship to stimulate their action, shortly after arriving in Lebanon, as their entrepreneurial intent decreases with the time they spend, often unemployed, in the host country. Should government policy change, both the integration of refugees, and entrepreneurship in general would benefit.

The Lebanese government in 2016 was presented with a proposal to abandon the middle-secondary Brevet examination. The Brevet acts as a filter for the upper secondary tier and channels considerable numbers of students into technical/vocational education. This article discusses the likely impact of the abolition of this public examination and presents data compiled from a survey of student views. The authors argue that the fundamental problem plaguing Lebanese education is its poor articulation with the labor market and warn against abolishing the Brevet unless the move is part of a package of reforms aimed at rectifying this dysfunctional interface.

Objective: Although the importance of emotional intelligence is noted by several authors, its significance should be emphasized in jobs where crises occur, such as Lebanese banking positions. The significance of the study lies in its main aim, which is to address this gap and examine how the emotional intelligence of Lebanese bank employees affects their performance during a crisis. The aim of the study is to examine the positive impact of emotional intelligence on the performance of employees working in the Lebanese banking sector during a crisis. Methodology: To verify this aim, a questionnaire was distributed to employees working in the Lebanese banking sector during the crisis that has been affecting Lebanon. A sample of 201 respondents was obtained, and the data obtained were analyzed using SPSS. Findings: It was found that employees working in the banking industry during the crisis performed better when they possessed high emotional intelligence. Implications/Value: It is highly recommended that bank managers become aware of the importance of their own emotional intelligence and that of their employees, as it will directly and positively affect their performance during a crisis, thus influencing the overall performance of the sector.

Purpose of the study: The main objective of this study is to analyze the profile of Lebanese ski resorts’ visitors, their motivations, preferences, and perceptions. Thus, authors seek to analyze the characteristics of seasonal tourism demand in Lebanese ski resorts for the sake of reducing seasonality.
 Methodology: Quantitative methods were used and four out of the five ski resorts in Lebanon were analyzed. An online questionnaire was distributed to visitors, using a mix of self-selection and snowball sampling techniques. The questionnaire resulted in 206 respondents. Responses showed high internal validity with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.83.
 Main Findings: The relationship between place attachment and annual visitations was validated and authors were able to point the deteriorated value for money among resorts. Furthermore, the K-mean clustering resulted in segmenting visitors into three groups of interest to be targeted in order to reduce seasonality.
 Implications: This study helps the winter and snow tourism stakeholders in Lebanon to reduce tourism seasonality and consequently develop sustainable tourism products. It also enhances previous studies conducted on seasonal tourism demand.
 Limitations: The main limitation is that not all stakeholders were examined. Further research is needed to be conducted on visitors’ decision-making processes and their actual behavior. The proposed segments in this study are subject to future tests and investigations.
 The novelty of the study: With no previous research attempting to analyze seasonal demand in Lebanese ski resorts; this study has a vital role to play in developing sustainable tourism products and helping winter and snow tourism stakeholders to reduce tourism seasonality. The clusters presented at the end of this paper are considered as a new proposition for ski resorts’ managers who are shifting toward all-season operations.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the direction of the causality between tourism development and economic growth in Lebanon between 1995 and 2013, after taking into consideration terrorist incidents and their intensities. These are considered as exogenous shocks that affect tourism development and economic growth instantaneously and with a lag. Design/methodology/approach – To reach the objectives, the authors estimate a vector auto regressive model with exogenous variables, applying a series of unit root tests with and without structural breaks and the Granger causality test. Findings – The findings suggest a positive unidirectional causality running from tourism development to economic growth in the short run. Thus, the authors find evidence for the tourism-led growth hypothesis (TLGH) in Lebanon despite the exposure of the country to frequent terrorist incidents. The impulse response functions reveal that tourism development (economic growth) responds positively to a positive shock to economic growth (tourism development). Practical implications – The findings call for Lebanese policy makers aiming at promoting growth to design policies that encourage tourism, such as implementing tourism marketing policies and building the needed tourism infrastructure. Such policies will have positive but transitory effects on economic growth. The findings may also be useful for regional representatives of intergovernmental organizations and the offices of statistics of United Nations World Tourism Organization and the World Bank to better understand the tourism industry in Lebanon and similar countries suffering from instabilities. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the existing literature in three points: despite the importance of the tourism industry to the Lebanese economy, this topic did not receive careful attention in the literature; it takes into consideration the presence of structural breaks and possible nonlinearities in the number of tourist arrivals; and it investigates the TLGH after accounting for instability in the country.

This paper examines the narratives of a group of Lebanese authors and artists on nature in Lebanon, collected in an anthology entitled The Lost Space: The Views of Lebanese Authors and Artists on Nature (2009) published by the cultural association of George Yammine, the deceased Lebanese poet media officer and critic of literature and art (1955-2000). The essays of Etel Adnan, Antoine al-Daouihy, Hassan Daoud, Fifi Kallab and Claudia Marchelian, among some others, will form the core of the study. I will deal with their objective description and /or subjective experience and perception of Beirut, nature and the environment in Lebanon as a separate entity, and in its relation to their creative work, whence the symbiosis of the natural, the aesthetic and the creative. I will undertake to analyze in the artists’ discourses the residues of forms and frame of minds of what may be regarded as Mediterranean orientalism, namely the subjective romantic experience of nature, the nostalgia for the green Lebanon of the past, as well as the focus on the beauty of the Lebanese landscape. I hope to show that these elements are paralleled and often dialectically intertwined with a more objective image of a degraded environment, one that is moving towards greater entropy. I will conclude with a sample of variegated reactions and solutions some of the authors put forward: paradoxical expressions of love and pride for this degenerated environment, philosophical arguments that inculcate ecocentric values to public consciousness, and pragmatic solutions that consist of a reconfiguration of landscape in sound ecological manner. Resumen Este trabajo analiza la obra de un grupo de autores y artistas libaneses sobre la naturaleza en el Líbano, recogida en la antología titulada The Lost Space: The Views of Lebanese Authors and Artists on Nature (2009), publicada por la asociación cultural de George Yammime, el fallecido poeta y critico literario y de arte (1955-2000). Los ensayos de Etel Adnan, Antoine al-Daouihy, Hassan Daoud, Fifi Kallab y Claudia Marchelian, entre otros, formarán el núcleo del estudio. Exploraré su descripción objetiva y/o experiencia subjetiva y su percepción de Beirut, la naturaleza y el medio ambiente del Líbano como una entidad separada, y la relación con su obra creativa, razón de la simbiosis de lo natural, lo estético y lo creativo. Comenzaré analizando en los discrusos de los artistas las formas y estados de ánimo de lo que puede considerarse orientalismo mediterráneo, concretamente la experiencia subjetiva y romántica de la naturaleza, la nostalgia por el Líbano verde del pasado, así como la atención a la belleza del paisaje libanés. Espero demostrar que estos elementos son paralelos a, y a menudo están dialécticamente entrelazados con, una imagen más objetiva de un medio ambiente degradado, que se mueve hacia una mayor entropía. Concluiré con una muestra multicolor de reacciones y soluciones propuestas por algunos de los autores: expresiones paradójicas de amor y orgullo por este medio ambiente degenerado, argumentos filosóficos que inculcan valores ecocéntricos a la conciencia pública, y soluciones pragmáticas que consisten en una reconfiguración profundamente ecológica del paisaje.

This research tries to shed light on the case of Lebanese conflict, an example of identitarian conflict that has been alive for centuries, and given its location in the Middle East, an area of international interests, the country has been exposed to many external interventions. Said interventions have taken advantage of the political inexperience of local communities to sow division as part of a master plan to redesign the area according to occidental interests. The objective is to rethink a Peace Process based on the urgent need for a change of mentality among the human mosaic that integrates and defines Lebanese society. For this purpose, a qualitative methodology was used, through an analytical study of works by major authors who masterfully deal with the theme of identity and multiculturalism as well as an inclusive humanism, where people resemble rather than differ by sharing common basic values. As a result, it is observed that the identity of the Lebanese people has been instrumentalized to guarantee the sustainability of the local conflict, dissecting it into small characteristics such as confession. It concludes with a peace process based on a change of mentality on the perception of identity and specifically religious characteristic, in order to move forward with a better inclusive identity.

Purpose Terrorist attacks on schools and colleges have disrupted educational processes and caused fear, deaths and tragedies. Considering the recent increase in terrorist attacks on educational facilities in different parts of the world, vulnerability and risk assessments have assumed crucial importance in the design and evaluation of mitigation plans to reduce the traumatic impacts of such events. This paper aims to assess the vulnerability and risk of Lebanese high school assets to terrorism. Design/methodology/approach Through site visits to various high schools in Lebanon, the authors evaluated specific features common in the majority of Lebanese high schools and identified six categories of schools. Using Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA 428) guidelines, one high school from each category was surveyed and analysed. Findings The results reveal a relatively high vulnerability to and risk of the threat of terrorism and a lack of protective plans and mitigation measures to minimise this risk among the majority of the investigated high school facilities. Originality/value This paper should alert school administrators, public leaders and government officials regarding the terrorist threats and their subsequent effects on the structural safety of school buildings in Lebanon. The risk assessment of schools to terrorism has rarely been performed or even discussed in the Lebanese-related literature.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the contrasting views of banks and banking authorities in Lebanon regarding the corporate governance (CG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) nexus. Design/methodology/approach Using survey responses collected from the managers of five Lebanese banks and banking authorities, the authors conduct a qualitative comparative study of the opinions on CG, CSR and CG–CSR nexus. Findings The findings of this paper reveal that while a CG culture is well-instituted by the authorities and that some forms of CSR are already practiced by banks, disagreements exist between the Lebanese banks and banking authorities in defining the CG–CSR nexus. While CG is viewed as an all-encompassing concept by the banking authorities, most banks ascribe to the paradigm that CG is component of CSR. Research limitations/implications The sample of this paper consists of large banks that have clear CG and CSR agendas. The results, therefore, cannot be generalized for the wider population of Lebanese companies that are characterized by family ownership and non-separation of ownership and control. Practical implications This paper informs both managers and policymakers on the differing views of the CSR–CG nexus while also contributing to informing the policy dialogue. Theoretically, this paper sheds light on the CG–CSR nexus in a developing country context. Originality/value There is a paucity of research on the CG–CSR nexus in the context of developing countries and for the banking sector in specific. This paper aims to address the gap in the literature by providing an in-depth qualitative examination of the CG, CSR and the CG–CSR nexus in the context of the Lebanese banking sector.