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The Impact of Technological Innovation on a Country’s Development: A Case of Listed Companies in Kenya
No full textA Thesis Submitted to the School of Humanities & Social Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts in International Relations (Development Studies)This study focused on the impact technological innovation has on a country’s development; a case of listed companies in Kenya. The objectives of the study were to establish the influence of technological innovation adopted in introduction of new products on sustainable development, secondly, to examine the influence of technological innovation adopted in introduction of new methods of production on sustainable development, to determine the influence of technological innovation adopted in opening new markets on sustainable development and lastly, to establish the influence of technological innovation adopted in sourcing appropriate raw materials on sustainable development. The study employed both descriptive and inferential research design. The research focused on 63 listed companies in Kenya which formed our target population. The research used self-administered questionnaires to collect data. The data was processed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 17, Descriptive statistics, Regression analysis and Chi square statistics were used for analysis. The results were presented in summary reports and tables. The study established that technological innovation plays a key role in enabling firms expand their markets both locally and internationally, therefore having a positive impact on the firm’s revenue and consequently the country’s economy. The study also established that technological innovation plays an important role in enabling firms source for raw materials locally or internationally therefore building on the inter-organizational communication and trade. The study also established that technological innovations can be used in the creation of new products that help a company achieve a competitive edge at a global level. The study concluded that technological innovations have a huge impact on a country’s development and on an organization’s sustainable development. The study recommends that governments should prioritize to support firms in employing technological innovation as this has a direct impact on a country’s development. The study also recommended that public private partnerships between the government and private sector should be encouraged as this will enable both entities tap into each other’s strength
Influence of Sports Innovation on Organizational Performance: A Case of Football Kenya Federation
No full textA Research Report Submitted to the Chandaria School of Business in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Master of Business Administration (MBA)This study sought to determine the influence of sports innovation on organizational performance and it focused on Football Kenya Federation (FKF). The specific objectives that guided the study included: to determine the extent of sports innovation in sports federations, to examine the challenges of sports innovation in federations, and to examine mitigating strategies that facilitate the adoption of sports innovation in federations.
This study used the descriptive research design. The target population of the study comprised of all employees that worked at FKF who were 57 in number. The sampling frame of the study was obtained from the federation’s Human Resource (HR) department. This study employed a census study, which means a complete count meaning that the sample size for the study was 57 respondents. The study relied on primary data, which was collected using questionnaires. The respondents were given a week to fill the questionnaires. The study used descriptive analysis. The collected data was subjected to analysis using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for windows. Analysis involved percentages, means and standard deviation. Correlation analysis was used to determine the relationships between the study variables.
The study showed that FKF as an organizations aims at adopting new types of service innovation most relevant to it, as opposed to product innovation and it introduces new services to existing customers in order to increase its effectiveness, its quality and its customers’ satisfaction. The study also shows that FKF focuses on promoting sports through ‘the provision of programs and services to its members and it receives support to promote innovation from its inter-organizational network and the government. The study also shows that the federation can increase its attractiveness by promoting innovative services to get more people involved in the sport and that a continuous support of a recognized leader within FKF is important in the success of innovation.
The study shows that FKF faces various challenges and some are in the form of innovation in the service context being intangible in nature, makes it harder to assess as it involves both consumption and production in the same time period. The study shows that sports fans attentiveness to team statistics and data is required in order to retain current consumers by integrating new ideas and information and that FKF finds a challenge of providing multiple languages on their websites to entice new fans. The study shows that the federation needs to change to meet the expectations of other businesses and consumers who see innovation as a core part of the sport and that innovation processes take time to be integrated into FKF, despite some having immediate changes.
The study shows that FKF has an innovation strategy that involves the organization being committed to developing ideas that involve planning and forecasting and that it does not have to adopt an innovation but, it responds to it by investing in the area of interest. The study also shows that the federation is more open to innovations and tends to be more interested in being proactive about its future trends and its size does not affect its ability to focus on innovation due to resource and time issues. From the study, it has been noted that, FKF can take risks with innovation processes due to their continual government support and funding and that its managers have forward thinking, which influences the rate of innovation occurring within the organizations.
The study also concludes that FKF focuses on promoting sports through ‘the provision of programs and services to its members and it receives support to promote innovation from its inter-organizational network and the government. The federation needs to change to meet the expectations of other businesses and consumers who see innovation as a core part of the sport and that innovation processes take time to be integrated into FKF, despite some having immediate changes. From the study, it can be concluded that, FKF takes risks with innovation processes due to their continual government support and funding.
The study recommends FKF to provide tools for innovation. These tools can be administrative innovation points to the procedures, policies and new organizational forms that would be founded on innovation implementation procedures. With the progress of innovation globally and the availability of academic specialists, applying these tools could be effective for FKF
An Assessment of the Human Rights Attitudes toward Sexual Diversity in Kenya: A Case Study of Universities in Nairobi
No full textA Thesis Submitted To The School Of Humanities And Social Sciences In Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirement For The Award Of The Masters Of Arts Degree In International Relationsthe adoption of liberal constitutions that provide for extensive bills of rights in the world, there has been strong resistance among African countries to extend these rights to include minority groups, particularly the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTI) community. To date, same-sex sexual relations, particularly male to male sexual relations remain outlawed in more than two thirds of African countries, Kenya included. Although several African leaders have spoken out against homosexuality in very strong terms describing it as „un-African,‟ most laws criminalizing same-sex sexual acts were inherited from the colonial era and were enacted without the input of the people that currently enforce them. This study examines the opinions of ordinary African students in universities within Nairobi Kenya. It analyzes public opinion data from a questionnaire survey on the human rights attitudes toward homosexuality in Nairobi, Kenya, where the topic has been a subject of major debate in recent years especially with the current Kenyan president labeling same-sex sexuality as a “non-issue” in Kenya. This study also analyzes data from in-depth interviews with key informants in the LGBTI and human rights field in Kenya, and some within the Kenyan government. The author analyzes whether young educated adults in universities think homosexuality is ever acceptable, while trying to understand their moral, religious, and legal attitudes, and finding out whether they are willing to accept homosexuals living among them. The results indicate that the Kenyan students in universities still hold negative moral and religious attitudes toward homosexuality, with some minor variation by age, gender, and religion. However, they hold positive legal attitudes toward same-sex sexuality as a human rights issue which suggests that it may be possible to live in a country where laws do not have to specifically be made with respect to what is considered religiously correct by the population
Post Conflict Interventions in Africa: Assessing the Consolidating Peace Process and Setting the Foundation for a Peaceful Transition in Kenya 2010- 2013
No full textA Thesis Submitted to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts in International RelationsDuring the clamour for multi-party politics in the late 1980s and early 1990s due cynicism with the Moi government, the President responded by predicting that the introduction of multi-partyism would lead to increased tribalism and violence. This self-fulfilling prophesy of the danger of inter-ethnic strife has come to pass as the country has had cycles of violent electoral conflicts since the introduction of multiparty politics in 19991 starting with the General elections in 1992, 1997 and 2007. Only in 2002 was there no violent electoral conflict.
With the political transition that ushered in NARC 2002, UNDP begun to provide support to the government of Kenya to establish and/or strengthen institutions to develop and sustain national capacity to anticipate and manage violence and conflict; to respond more pro-actively to incidents of crime and violence occasioned by the use of small arms and light weapons, and to develop capacity to respond to the structural issues behind the violence. In the run-up to the 2007 general elections, UNDP provided support for training programmes and other capacity development activities that supported the political parties, parliamentarians, women’s and youth groups, the media, community and civil society organisations, among others, to develop rules of conduct for political party campaigning and mobilisation; strengthened media capacity in conflict and elections reporting; led to the establishment of a civil society network, the “partnership for Peace” which became the umbrella coordinating framework for CSO activities towards peaceful election; organised training programmes and briefings for women groups and strengthened their role in the resolution of conflict around the elections at the community level, and supported the government to establish/strengthen district peace committees in key areas.
The general and presidential elections of 2007 in Kenya were the triggers for unleashing hitherto suppressed anger and animosities that resulted in violence targeted at ethnic groups across many parts of the country. This resulted in the deaths of 1,500 people and the displacement of more than 500,000 others.
However, according to the Kenya Government/UNDP Analysis (2010), the 2007/8 PEV merely demonstrated the deep-seated structural and other contexts and problems that had shaped and defined the state and nature of its interactions with the citizens. There was a historicity of violence, displacement, poor governance and insecurity that was largely unaddressed and which remained the biggest challenges facing the Kenya state.
Peace consolidation will therefore required policies and strategies that would address these factors that have lead to a recurrence of violent electoral conflicts since 1992 and build the conditions for peaceful transitions during elections. It is useful to make a distinction between activities that have a direct impact on the recurrence or non-recurrence of violent electoral conflicts and activities that have general and longer-term peace-supportive effects.
In the face of scarce resources, however, activities that prevent the recurrence of violent electoral conflicts should be given priority because they provide the space and time needed for the country to recover and build a more peaceful society. These activities specifically seek to address the key causes and sources of violent electoral conflicts as well as critical conflict opportunities. In contrast, peace-supportive activities have wider objectives and may include the building or rebuilding of physical and social structures and economic and political governance systems in order to place the country on the path of peace and development. Despite the importance of prioritization, some activities will need to be carried out simultaneously rather than sequentially. Finding the right balance between the two is the recipe for success.
The paper has two between related postulations. The first is that universal peacebuilding has a few inborn shortcomings that don't loan themselves to simple arrangements. One of these, which likewise is the center worry of the WSP International/IPA Peacebuilding Forum Conference, is the perpetual trouble confronted by outer performing artists in adjusting their endeavors and hobbies to the residential political substances of the war-torn social orders they try to bolster. The second postulation is that while peacebuilding arrangements and practices have progressed altogether in the most recent decade, the earth inside which peacebuilding prospered in the 1990s has significantly changed after 9/11. Along these lines, the advances that were accomplished amid a brief and test decade did not have an opportunity to be united adequately before they were surpassed by other worldwide needs.
As the paper illustrates, tending to complex political, institutional, arrangement or operational difficulties in a global situation ideal to post-struggle peacebuilding is sufficiently troublesome. Tending to them in a universal domain described by profound cleavages, absence of agreement on the dangers to worldwide peace and security, and continuous wars including real states presents overpowering difficulties to the whole peacebuilding venture. The paper contends that there is extensive space for the United Nations and the worldwide group everywhere to enhance peacebuilding arrangement and practice.
Nonetheless, it additionally cautions that the post-struggle peacebuilding venture is at danger of being overwhelmed by different motivation which have developed in the post 9/11 environment, including the endeavor to conflate peacebuilding with the barely cast national security plans of capable part state
Entrepreneurial Orientation: A Comparative Approach between Global Social Sustainable Enterprise and Strategic Management Students at United States International University-Africa
No full textA Research Project Report Submitted to the Chandaria School of Business in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Masters in Business Administration (MBA)Entrepreneurial orientation looks at engaging the employees in an organization to ensure they are innovative in their workings, are proactive while handling the duties, assignments and responsibilities of then job and take necessary risks that would yield in high returns. This study was meant to determine the factors affecting global social sustainable enterprise and strategic management students at United States International University with a view to learn from those challenges and iiiform Entrepreneurship students. The study's objectives were to determine influence of risk taking, innovation and pro-activeness factors on global social sustainable enterprise.
The study employed a descriptive research design was used as an attempt to lay the
groundwork that would lead to fiiture studies on the subject. The population of this study
comprised 350 post-graduate students studying entrepreneurship and Strategic management at the USIU- Africa. Stratified random sampling was used to sample 105 post-graduate students from Strategic management in USIU- Africa. A close ended questiormaire that was presented through drop and pick method. The collected data was screened, coded and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics, through frequencies and percentages. This was presented though the use of graphs, tables.
From the findings, the study deduced that Entrepreneurship orientation has a significant joint relationship with Risk taking, Pro-activeness and innovativeness because they are all
components that show the traits of an entrepreneur. The regression model was significant and thus used to assess the association between the dependent and independent variables. The regression coefficients further revealed that both positive and negative associations between the Entrepreneurship orientation. Risk taking, Pro-activeness and innovativeness in the predictor variables. The study established that the Global social sustainable enterprise and Strategic management students were confident in obtaining finance for a new business, putting a business without adequate resources, achieving high growth in their organization, living with uncertainty. It was seen through the responses that Global social sustainable students and Strategic management students were able to mobilize resources to start a new business without hesitation compared. They were confident on evaluating downside risk. were confidence on making a large profit wlien they sell their business and walking away from a potential by failure.
In the conclusion it was noted" Siat in regard to innovativeness the study concludes that
innovativeness is a major contributor towards realization of increased growth in enterprises, in that it gives the individual an advantage of working with the resources at their disposal. Risk taking ensured that individuals took more calculated and manageable risks. A proactive approach to business required initiative that helped anticipate further demand to an advantage.
The study recommended that through Proactiveness risk taking and innovativeness,
organizations will be able to continually monitor the market so as to identify emerging needs and be first movers in such markets. Developing an autonomy posture will involve
encouraging independent and creative thinking and also fostering a cultur
Effect of Cash Handling Practices on Financial Performance of Commercial Banks in Kenya
No full textA Dissertation Report Submitted to the Chandaria School of Business in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Award of the Degree of Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA)Poor cash handling practices by commercial banks leads to massive losses that ultimately leads to a negative performance and in extreme circumstances, closure of the commercial banks. The rising cases of fraud as a result of poor cash handling practices in the Kenyan commercial banks since 2011 have been overwhelming. This is evidenced by recent cases of cash in transit being stolen by security firms contracted to transport the cash. The continuous increase in cases of poor cash handling practices has not made the commercial banks to adopt better and more improved measures to curb the vice of cash fraud. If so, the financial sector is likely to continue experiencing losses of cash unless better cash storage, cash transportation, cash insurance and cash reconciliation are adopted. The general objective of this study was to establish the effect of cash handling practices on the financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya. Specifically, the study sought to establish the effect of cash reconciliation, cash transport, cash storage and cash insurance practices on financial performance of commercial banks of Kenya. The research was carried out through a descriptive survey research design. Descriptive design was used because it focused on complex analysis to bring out the correlation of variables. The study population was all the 43 commercial banks registered and licensed to operate in Kenya. These commercial banks formed the unit of analysis. A census was conducted on all the banks. The sampling frame of the survey of the banks was one head of operations and head of finance from each of the 43 commercial banks located in Nairobi County. The target respondents was hence 86. The study used both primary and secondary data for analysis. Inferential analysis techniques including correlation, regression and t-tests were used to achieve the study objectives. SPSS version 21 was used for analysis. The study findings indicated that the correlation between cash reconciliation, cash transport, cash storage as well as cash insurance and financial performance is positive. Further results indicated that cash reconciliation had a positive significant effect on return on equity (ROE) and return on asset (ROA), cash transport had a positive significant effect on ROA, cash storage had a positive significant effect on ROA but positive insignificant effect on ROE, cash insurance had a positive significant effect on ROA but positive insignificant effect on ROE. Organization size does not moderate the relationship between cash handling practices and financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The study concluded that cash reconciliation is positively and significantly related to financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya, cash transport is positively and significantly related to financial performance of commercial banks, the relationship between cash storage and ROA is positive and significant and the relationship between cash insurance and ROA is positive and significant. The study also concluded that organization size does not moderate the relationship between cash handling practices and financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The study recommends that commercial banks and other financial institutions involved in handling of cash should put in place proper reconciliation practices for instance increasing the frequency of reconciling books. The study also recommends that commercial banks and other financial institutions involved in handling of cash should put in place proper and advanced practices when dealing with cash in transit for instance having a cash transport policy which clearly stipulates how cash in transit should be handled and regularly reviewing the contracts of companies which transport cash for them. Furthermore, the study also recommends that commercial banks and other financial institutions involved in handling of cash should put in place proper and advanced practices of cash storage for instance investing in fire proof safes for storing cash and also in closed circuit television security cameras for surveillance of cash storage areas and also invest in alarm system in cash
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storage areas and also restricted access to cash storage areas by lock, key, passwords and other security measures so as to reduce fraud arising as a result of poor cash storage practices. Another recommendation made by the study is that, commercial banks and other financial institutions involved in handling of cash should put in place proper strategies and policies which favor cash insurance for instance establishing and implementing a clear a policy for insuring cash against uncertainties like internal theft by employee, general theft (from outsiders) and fire . The study recommends that further studies can be done to establish the effect of cash handling practices on financial performance of other financial institutions other than commercial banks
When baboons think like you
No full textA Newspaper article by Scott Bellows, an Assistant Professor in the Chandaria School of Business at USIU-AfricaImagine a scenario of a newly discovered isolated people group in a remote corner of the Amazon rainforest. The small clan of nearly two-hundred people never had any contact with the outside world of any kind.
They viewed airplanes passing overhead as a type of large but elusive bird. Several such uncontacted people still exist in the world today. Many speak unique ancient languages unchanged over the millennia from outside influences.
In our hypothetical new people group, imagine if the citizens still made their decisions on who leads them based on the physical attributes of their prospective leaders. The group’s leadership selection rotated on which male in the clan possessed the widest arm bicep. The members happily followed whoever possesses the widest bicep. Looking through our lens of modernity, we might mock such seemingly prehistoric thinking since surely we know that no correlation should exist between the physical attribute of someone and the worthiness of a leader.
Now, shift your thinking. What if you learned that the lost people were actually not in the depths of rural Brazil, but actually really exist as the politicians in the United States Senate
Will Trump policies hurt top Internet firms’ innovation?
No full textA Newspaper article by Max Musau, Laboratory Technologist in the School of Science and Technology at USIU-AfricaFacebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google or FANG as they are referred to in stock market parlance after their stocks out-performed markets in 2016, thrive as the biggest Internet firms in the world.
The four firms hold a combined market capitalisation of around Sh100 trillion. The valuation places FANG among the top 15 world economies based on a market capitalisation to GDP comparison.
The FANG companies all use the Internet as their main medium, thus leveraging it to build business models around the network effect that users have on their products. Put simply, the network effect is a phenomenon in which a good or service becomes more valuable the more people use it. It means that the more people are on the platform, the more valuable it becomes even if the firm has yet to generate profits.
Unquestionably Facebook holds the largest number of users on any social network in the world with a record of 1.4 billion monthly active users
How to gauge employee commitment at work
No full textA Newspaper article by Scott Bellows, an Assistant Professor in the Chandaria School of Business at USIU-AfricaSit quietly in a restaurant and take notice when managers who work together in the same firm come in and eat lunch. Invariably, discussion will shift to stories about the office and complaints about employees.
Supervisors often grumble that staff members display lazy behaviour and only work when they watch them.
However, managers across the globe do not realise that they cause most employee glitches. Problem workers do exist as a disgruntled employee, or a fraudulent pair, or a destabilising gossiper dragging down morale. However, when executives notice a trend of multiple employees or most staff displaying worrying trends of minimal work ethic and low motivation, then the source of the problem typically lies with either their manager or the organisation and not with the workers who merely react to their superiors.
Such situations encompass what researchers call low organisation commitment. Employees hold varying degrees of low to high commitment to their organisations in the following three ways