4 research outputs found
An investigation on the impact of competition on the financial performance of MBC Accounting Services Private Limited
No full textAim
The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of competition on the financial performance of MBC Accounting Services (Pvt) Ltd. It was prompted by the noted decline in the annual profits and gradual decreases in the clientele base from the year 2013 to 2016 despite efforts by management to improve the financial performance.
Methodology
The study was conducted on a survey descriptive approach which uses quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. A census of 19 questionnaires were administered and 18 were provided for analysis yielding a response rate of 94, 74%.Six interviews were scheduled and successfully conducted. Data was presented through tables and analyzed using the measures of central tendency. To determine the relationship between competition and financial performance, linear regression was used to determine the hypothesis.
Key Findings
Major research findings indicated that the rivalry amongst existing firms, threat of new entrants and the bargaining power of supplier were the majors forces influencing the degree of industrial competiton. Besides these forces the company was affected by firm size. However challenges were being faced in adapting to the competitive environment which includes lack of managerial support which demotivated the moral of employees.
Key recommendations
The researcher suggested recommendations were that MBC management should have continuous employee training programmes so that they are abreast with changes in the macro-economic environment thus successfully adapt to the competitive environment.
Originality
The research showed that besides competition, there are more important mediating variables in the influence on financial performance and management should take an active role
Just energy transitions
No full textAuthor`s Accepted Manuscript title: "Interface Issue on Just Energy Transitions"Contents:
- Introduction. "Fayola Jacobs, Elise Harrington, and Ward Lyles";
- "Energy Poverty in the Global North: Precarity and Participation in Informal Communities". Sergio Tirado-Herrero, Carolina Yacamán-Ochoa, Ulpiano Ruiz-Rivas, Jorge Martínez-Crespo, Ariadna Reyes, Josh Newton, and Evan Mistur;
- ·Socially and Ecologically Just Energy Transitions". Neelakshi Joshi and Tariro Kamuti;
- "Opening up the Politics of Resistance to Planning for Just Energy Transitions". Elisa Arond, Claudia Strambo, José Vega-Araújo, and Garret Zastoupil;
- "Debilitating Debt and Planning’s Role in a Just Transition". Miriam Solis, Dalia Vazquez, Lourdes Flores, Salma Elmallah, and Veronica Jacome;
- "Navigating Compound In/Justice: The Dual Role of Urban AI in Energy Transitions". Mennatullah Hendaw
The Smell Hits You First
No full textThis collection of poems and prose poems is a record of my life, from growing up in the small town of Bindura in Zimbabwe to landing in the small town of Grahamstown in South Africa. It is a story of dislocation: physical, emotional, and political. It is a story about borders and boundaries; although not rich, I was raised among the rich; although not white, I spent a considerable part of my childhood in white spaces. These fragments are told through the voice of my younger self and also retrospectively by my adult self. Two important influences on my style and my struggle to write about my identity have been Woman Hollering Creek by Latino American author Sandra Cisneros and Citizen: An American Lyric by US poet Claudia Rankine
CARTA fellows’ scientific contribution to the African public and population Health Research agenda (2011 to 2018)
No full textJournal ArticleBackground: Since its inception in 2009, the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) program has focused on strengthening the capacity of nine African universities and four research centres to produce skilled researchers and scholars able to improve public and population health on the continent. This study describes the alignment between CARTA-supported doctoral topics and publications with the priorities articulated by the African public and population health research agenda. Methods: We reviewed the output from CARTA PhD fellows between 2011 and 2018 to establish the volume and scope of the publications, and the degree to which the research focus coincided with the SDGs, World Bank, and African Development Bank research priority areas. We identified nine key priority areas into which the topics were classified. Results: In total, 140 CARTA fellows published 806 articles in peer-reviewed journals over the 8 years up to 2018. All the publications considered in this paper had authors affiliated with African universities, 90% of the publications had an African university first author and 41% of the papers have CARTA fellows as the first author. The publications are available in over 6300 online versions and have been cited in over 5500 other publications. About 69% of the published papers addressed the nine African public and population health research agenda and SDG priority areas. Infectious diseases topped the list of publications (26.8%), followed by the health system and policy research (17.6%), maternal and child health (14.7%), sexual and reproductive health (14.3%). Conclusions: Investments by CARTA in supporting doctoral studies provides fellows with sufficient training and skills to publish their research in fields of public and population health. The number of publications is understandably uneven across Africa’s public and population priority areas. Even while low in number, fellows are publishing in areas such as non-communicable disease, health financing, neglected tropical diseases and environmental health. Violence and injury is perhaps underrepresented. There is need to keep developing research capacity in partner institutions with low research output by training more PhDs in such institutions and by facilitating enabling environments for researc
