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An Analysis of the use of Toll Concession Public Private Partnership Projects(PPP) in the Road Sector
Innocent Nuwagaba, Muhiya Tshombe Lukamba, Costa Hofisi Alex Nduhura, Thekiso Molokwane and Alfred Ochora7
The objective of the study was to identify the various types of toll concession PPP projects commonly found in the roads sector. An exploratory design was employed, utilizing a qualitative approach. Data was collected from secondary sources, including scholarly journals, websites, and newspapers, by reviewing existing literature and analysing documents on toll concession PPP projects in the Road Sub Sector. The data was analysed through descriptive analysis and narrative synthesis. The findings revealed the presence of different types of toll concession PPPs, such as fixed, freestanding direct payment, and traffic guarantee models. The study concludes that toll road PPPs continue to be valuable in addressing infrastructure gaps globally. As a recommendation, policymakers and implementers of PPPs should carefully consider the rationale behind using toll concessions in order to enhance the performance of PPPs in the Road Sub Sector.
Arising from the signing of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement by 54 African countries, that established the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the paper examined the competitiveness of the Nigerian economy vis-à-vis the newly signed free trade agreement. The main objective was to investigate whether the economy is competitive enough to benefit from the AfCFTA. The paper adopted the auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) model with real GDP as the dependent variable and real effective exchange rate (REXR), index of openness (OPEN), gross capital formation (GCF), labour force (LAB), a dummy variable (DUM), used as a proxy for the AfCFTA agreement, and an interaction term between the “dummy” and “openness” (DUM_OPEN), as the independent variables. Time series data spanning 2000-2021 were used in the analysis. The findings showed that no long-run relationship existed among the variables in the model. In the short-run, however, the proxy of free trade agreement impacted the economy negatively and significantly in line with the findings of Nieto, Soler, Moscoso and Valbuena (2014); the index of trade openness was statistically insignificant, in tandem with the findings of Hur and Park (2012); DUM_OPEN was not statistically significant; the economy, not competitive enough to benefit from the AfCFTA in the short-run, consistent with the findings of Olamade (2015). Consequently, the paper concluded with policy recommendations to boost the economy for Nigeria to benefit from the AfCFTA.
This study investigated the effect of organisational capabilities such as processes, resources and values that are pivotal to organisations and contribute to their competitive advantage. The study focused on the role of organisational capability in the financial services sector in Kenya. Specifically, the study examined the effects of values, processes and resources in the performance of selected organisations in the financial services sector in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design and focused on 204 respondents. The arguments were anchored on the Resource Processes Value (RPV) model and Dynamic Capabilities Theory. The data gathered were analysed, using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of the study showed that values, processes and resources have a positive and significant effect on the performance of the financial services sector in Kenya. The study recommended that there is a need to focus on organisational capabilities with the aim of improving the financial services sector in Kenya and related contexts. It also recommended that organisations and those in the financial services service sector to give more focus to their organisational capabilities.
The loss suffered by many stakeholders from mismanagement of resources in companies such as African Petroleum, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, WorldCom, and Enron, has resulted in many environmental and institutional changes for so many companies. In an effort to safeguard the rights of investors, shareholders, and other stakeholders and to restrain managers from this dysfunctional attitude, the concept of leverage is employed. This study examines the impact of leverage on the real activity manipulation of listed oil and gas marketing firms in Nigeria for ten years (2009–2018). The study employed multiple regressions to analyse the data obtained from the reports and accounts of the firms. The residuals from the Roychowdhury (2006) model were used as the proxy for real activities manipulation. Leverage was used as the independent variable of the study. The finding from the fixed-effect regression reveals that financial leverage has significant negative impacts on real activity manipulations, while total debt has a negative but insignificant impact on real activity manipulations. This implies that there is a tied debt covenant that reduces management’s ability to manipulate earnings to their desired level. As a result, boards, and other users of accounting information should strive to control management’s activities of manipulating real activities through qualitative auditing and proper division of labour. Tax authority should factor in leverage in placing reliance on the earnings reported by firms since it reduces instances of earnings management.
South Africa has a dualistic economic structure that includes the on-farm and off-farm economic sectors. This paper is concerned with whether it is the on-farm or off-farm economic sector that serves as the main driver of economic development in South Africa. Agriculture has been previously regarded as the main driver of economic development in South Africa. The Lewis model of economic development is used to gain perspective on the dualistic economic structure of South Africa. This study relied extensively on secondary data, using thematic analysis for qualitative data and Microsoft Excel for quantitative data presentation and analysis. The findings show that the off-farm economic sector holds a major contribution to South African economic development compared to the on-farm economic sector. For example, in 2019, the on-farm economic sector made a significant distribution of employment with about 4.2% but still, the main distribution of employment has been made by the off-farm economic sector through community and social services which recorded about 4.6% of employment. The main issue related to the on-farm economic sector is that it consists of informal economic activities that are struggling to contribute to economic growth. This is because the information generally and statistically on the trade, value and main input of these economic activities is not well recorded in South Africa. There is a need for the government to introduce policies that will guide the operation of the informal economic activities associated with the on-farm economic sector.
This study assessed the effect of public service motivation and individual work performance. The research design was cross-sectional, and a convenience sample was obtained through self-report questionnaires. The questionnaires prepared from established scales on the three variables were completed by 161 workers, 68% men and 32% women, with an age mean of 39.4 years (SD, 6. 14) drawn from government establishments. Descriptive statistics revealed that the participants had moderate scores on the variables investigated. The hypotheses test showed that public service motivation related to all aspects of individual work performance as predicted, while psychological empowerment related to contextual performance and counterproductive work behaviour as predicted. None of the hypotheses on moderation was supported. In conclusion, without the intervention of psychological empowerment, public service motivation has the potential to enhance employee performance
Livestock production constitutes an integral part of livelihood activities in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa because of its contribution to households’ food security, but the demand surge is currently triggering sustainability challenges. Using the 2021 South African General Household Survey datasets from 1499 households, this study used the non-economic indicators and economic components of human functionality for a comprehensive analysis of human welfare. Welfare index score approach and Simultaneous Quantile Regression model were used for households’ welfare profiling, and to estimate the welfare impact of special grant, respectively. The results indicated that socio-economic, demographic features and access to grant had direct and inverse effects on households’ welfare. These factors also dictated the distribution of households into different quintiles of welfare conditions. Given the findings, policy efforts on social investment programmes should be directed at the vulnerable individuals, because this can induceimproved households’ welfare situation in the study area.
In addition to the fulfilment of a basic human need of protection and functionality, fashion clothing can also be used by individuals as a means of improving self-image and communicating one’s social class. However, fashion has a very short product life cycle and is dependent on changing trends. There is scant research into the impact of both psychological and marketing concepts on the intention to purchase fashion clothing. The purpose of the study was to use both the psychological antecedents of attitude and motivation and marketing concepts of product quality, advertisement and availability, to explain customer’s purchase intention. Data were collected from 178 participants aged between 18 and 60 and analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and structural equation modeling. The outcome of the investigation reveals a positive relationship between attitude, motivation, advertisement, availability, quality and customers’s purchase intention. The contribution and limitations of the study were also discussed.
Supplier involvement occurs at different stages in the production process, from the design phase through the procurement phase, supplier phase to the manufacturing phase. This study examined how early supplier involvement in each phase of the production process influences cost reduction objectives and firm performance and whether firm size matters in this arrangement. A sample of 80 respondents, comprising firm owners, managers, executive board members, chief finance officers, procurement directors, marketing managers and production managers of both small and large manufacturing firms, was selected. Inferential statistical data analysis was employed, using LISREL 8.5. The study found that cost reduction strategy mediates the relationship between the procurement phase and manufacturing phase of ESI and firm performance, while firm size moderates the relationships between all the dimensions of ESI and cost reduction at the design phase.
Product performance is crucial in any organisation because it can make or destroy the organisation. Positive new product performance could extend the life of an organisation and enable it to be competitive, both internally and externally, worldwide. The objective of this study was to examine the antecedents of new product performance among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Gauteng province of South Africa. This study considered three of these drivers, namely market orientation, risk taking and innovative performance on product performance. A quantitative approach was implemented in which a survey questionnaire was used to collect data from 225 managers and staff members from SMEs in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The study used a non-probability convenience sampling technique to select respondents. Information was analysed through two software packages, namely the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 26.0) and the Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS version 26.0). The main goal of this research was to evaluate the influence of these three predictors on new product performance in SMEs. A confirmatory factor analysis was applied in examining and testing the relationships between observed constructs and their causal latent constructs while structural equation modelling helped in testing the hypothesised relationships among variables. The results of the investigation indicate that market orientation, risk taking and innovative performance have a meaningful impact on new product performance. This investigation concluded that to achieve greater new product performance, SMEs should expedite the levels of market orientation, risk taking and innovative performance.
Small businesses (SBs) play a pivotal role, especially in developing economies. As they grow, there could be a need to do business through exports. This paper explored the role of government support on export activites. The qualitative research method in the form of participant observations and semistructured interviews was a chosen strategy. Data from 20 participants were analysed using Atlas.ti software. Both management and agency theories were explored from the view of both government agents and SB managers.
The findings indicated a void in the awareness of government export-enhancing programmes amongst SBs, while participation and benefits differ amongst firms. The findings further indicated that government export support programmes lead to commitments to foreign markets. A model is proposed to highlight evolving exporting constraints and opportunities for export support programmes.
Recommendations are made to government agencies to increase the awareness of export-enhancing programmes and to improve their assistance to emerging exporters.
Employers across the globe appreciate the growing need for maximum employee performance. The success of any organisation in a highly competitive environment has been widely credited to human capital at its disposal. Against this backdrop of fierce competition and height of performance crisis among organisations in South Africa that require properly qualified and skilled employees for them to survive, this paper sought to investigate the influence of capacity building on performance of designated employees in a financial organisation. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the impact of capacity building on performance of employees from designated groups at a leading organisation in Durban. Firstly, the study sought to determine the influence of provision of professional development on performance of employees from designated groups. Secondly, the study sought to establish the impact of organisational processes on performance of employees from designated groups. Lastly, the study sought to determine the influence of internal environment on performance of employees from designated groups. The study utilised a quantitative research method. For this study to eliminate sampling bias, the stratified-simple random sampling technique was used. A total of 95 responses were analysed. The findings indicated that capacity building is a prime contributor to the accomplishment of designated employees’ performance. The organisation needs to ensure that designated employees are supported by vibrant professional development interventions because mere appointment of them without competence improvement compromises performance.
Limited studies, if any, have investigated the investment-cash flow (ICF) sensitivities of emerging markets firms and how these were impacted by the 2007/2008 global financial crisis (GFC). This study investigated the validity of ICF sensitivity as a proxy for financial constraints and the impact of the 2007/2007 GCF on the ICF sensitivities of listed firms. The study used a panel dataset drawn from 100 non-financial firms listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) from 2001 to 2018 and the reduced ICF sensitivity model fitted with the error-corrected GMM5 and system GMM estimators to test its two hypotheses. The study documents that sampled firms had persistently positive and significant ICF sensitivities throughout the study period. This means that the firms remained financially constrained in the period 2001 – 2018, and the 2007/2008 GFC had an insignificant impact on these firms’ financial constraints. ICF sensitivity and firm size are valid proxies of financial constraints.
This paper examines the relationship between budget deficit and economic growth in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. A panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) technique was used to analyse the relationship between the variables, while the Pairwise Dumitrescu Hurlin panel causality tests were employed to determine the direction of causality among these variables. The findings for the long run reveal that the current account balance and exchange rate have a negative and significant relationship with the budget deficit. Gross domestic product, foreign direct investment, and total debt service have a positive and significant relationship with the budget deficit. There exists a causal relationship between the government budget deficit and the current account balance, and vice versa. The gross domestic product and foreign direct investment do cause the budget deficit. It is recommended that for the deficit to be reduced, there is a need to target gross domestic product and foreign direct investment first since they it will affect the deficit. Exchange rates should rise to lower the budget deficit, while total debt service needs to decrease the budget in BRICS countries.
Entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) is an emerging concept in the literature, owing to its ability to create a favourable environment for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs have a positive impact on a country’s economy. They operate in numerous industries, among them, national parks tourism, which offers business opportunities for related ventures. This qualitative study employed two rounds of the Delphi method with a Google question form. This gathered opinions from 15 participants who have experiences in a Gabonese or South African national park and expertise in SME entrepreneurship, hospitality and heritage, tourism, business and project management. The aim was to build an EE conceptual model for national parks tourism. Findings revealed a specific type of EE for national parks and provided important conceptual and theoretical implications for the existing body of knowledge on EEs. Practical guidelines for policy developers and SMEs entrepreneurs, limitations and future research perspectives are provided.
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