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On the Competitiveness of Africa: A Paradoxical Economic Region https://doi.org/10.31920/1750-4562/2017/v12n1a1
Nnamdi O. Madichie5
This paper examines the impact of exchange rate depreciation on the performance and development of Manufacturing Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. Data were obtained from a questionnaire survey of 500 manufacturing SMEs in Nigeria and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Chow test was used to determine whether there was structural change in Nigeria’s non-oil export after the deregulation of exchange. The results of the data analysis suggest a very high sensitivity of SMEs’ performance and cost of operations to exchange rate fluctuations. The results further suggest that SMEs’ efficiency did not improve; neither were they able to take advantage of the liberalized trade to export their products. The policy did not positively affect Nigeria’s non-oil export. Considering Nigeria’s re-basing of its GDP and in effect becoming Africa’s largest economy, there is a real interest in understanding how fluctuations in exchange rates impact on SMEs activities which account for a substantial part of Nigeria’s economic activities.
This paper examines the gap between Ethiopia’s actual and potential exports and the extent to which country-specific social, political and institutional factors have impacted the export gap. A stochastic frontier analysis of gravity model of trade is applied to panel data that covered Ethiopia’s 45 trading partners during 2001–2012. Empirical results demonstrate that Ethiopian exports are very distant from their frontier levels with significant influence of country-specific socio-political-institutional constraints. Thus, the paper stresses the need for Ethiopia to look beyond trade policy if it is to realise its full export potential. It appears particularly beneficial to eliminate internal constraints such as those related to the legal and institutional framework, bureaucracy, politics, macroeconomic policy, skills of personnel, and infrastructure.
This study explores how technology transfer can help firms to build capability through market orientation and outsourcing to impact their performance in Ghana. Quantitative data were collected from Ghana’s Club 100 companies with questionnaires and analysed using various statistical tools, including the partial least squares approach and structural equations modelling. It was found that technology transfer, outsourcing and market orientation were key sources of organisational capability in Ghana’s leading firms. Although the overall effect of technology transfer, outsourcing and market orientation in building capability to impact performance is significant and positive for domestic and foreign firms, the impact is relatively stronger amongst domestic firms. The paper concludes with highlights of the specific contribution it makes to existing knowledge and managerial implications of the findings as well the study’s limitations and directions for future research.
The purpose of the present study is to assess innovation in public sector organisations using a structural equation modelling (SEM) approach to test the structural relationships between latent variables that are predictors to innovation. Data were collected from participants of three public sector organisations in Kenya. The sample consisted one hundred and eighty-six employees participated in the present survey. Measurement instrument consisted 115 items rated on Likert-type scale ranging from 1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree. Data were analysed using AMOS 16 software integrated with SPSS 17 to test the model. The results of the SEM identified top management practices, leadership practices, technology, social and overcoming barriers as having strong positive relationships with innovation outcomes / indicators. The study suggests a model for the assessment of innovation in the public-sector organisations. The results of the present research have implications for policy makers as well as public sector practitioners. A measurement scale was developed based on a literature stream from both public and private sectors, a model was developed and tested using structural equation modelling.
This study set out to examine the impact of retail outlet brand on mall personality, mall personality on product and service quality, product and service quality on shopping value and shopping value on behavioural response, as well as the overall consumer retail branding on purchase intensions in Botswana. The study was quantitative in nature utilizing a mall intercept survey in Gaborone and Francistown. Gaborone and Francistown were chosen because of the large concentration of retail outlets in these two major commercial hubs. A cross-sectional survey was conducted while a non-probability sampling technique was adopted due to non-availability of sampling frame for customers patronizing retail outlets in Botswana. Using the non-probability sampling techniques, regression analysis and correlation analysis with the aid of SPSS, it was discovered that the overall consumer retail brand with respect to retail outlet, mall personality, and product and service quality, shopping value has an impact on consumer purchase intensions in Botswana. The results of this study have far-reaching implications for research and practice. For instance, the results provide additional evidence of the need for continued brand equity research in emerging economies such as Botswana. The results also offer empirical evidence of the essence of retail branding to companies and consumers in Botswana. Retail branding is thus a significant predictor of a positive consumer response hence consumer retail branding value proposition is considered a significant approach for firms to facilitate growth in Botswana.
The main purpose of this research is to gain a better understanding of the relationship between consumers’ emotional brand attachment and sustainable consumption and how it pertains to anti-consumption and consumer well-being. Relevant literature was used to develop a conceptual model depicting the relationships between constructs at hand. The empirical research context was the Egyptian food industry. The research methodology encompassed a mix of qualitative (represented in depth interviews) and quantitative research techniques (using structural equation modeling). Results revealed that socially responsible behaviour positively affects attachment to sustainable brands and their purchase intentions of these brands. Brand attachment also proved to have a positive effect on the purchase intentions among sustainable brands. Although the lack of product sustainability was found to cause consumers to exhibit anti-consumption behaviour against these brands, other factors, such as the quality of the brand, were found to be more important. Finally, consumers’ well-being was found to be positively affected by their attachment to sustainable brands, and socially responsible consumption behaviour.
Misinformation is very prevalent in Nigeria – as it is in most low trust societies where the level of literacy is low. Some misinformation become ‘alternative facts’ to the extent that they are believed to be true by a section of the population even when empirical evidence does not support such beliefs. The article examines two widely believed misinformation namely – that previous governments in the country have done nothing to diversify the economy; and that going back to farming is the solution to youth unemployment and the problem of declining earnings from crude oil. Based on data from secondary sources and using content analysis, it interrogates these assumptions and concludes that first, contrary to the prevailing misinformation that Nigerian economy is not diversified, the country could at worst be called a ‘diversifying economy;’ and second, that the assumption that farming is the antidote to youth unemployment and declining earnings from crude oil is grossly exaggerated.
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