Innovative Service Delivery and Competitive Advantage of Deposit Money Banks in Port Harcourt, Nigeria (Published)
Excellent service delivery is important for any firm to establish a strong position in its industry. This study examined the relationship between innovative service delivery and competitive advantage of deposit money banks in Port Harcourt. Its specific objectives were to examine the relationship between each of the dimensions of innovative service delivery (process innovation and customer interaction) and competitive advantage of deposit money banks in Port Harcourt. The population of the study consisted of sixteen (16) deposit money banks in Port Harcourt. Data conveniently collected from 112 senior staff of the banks studied at the ratio of 7 staff per bank. The hypotheses were tested using Spearman Rank Order Correlation Coefficient for the acceptance or rejection of the two hypotheses stated in the study. The findings showed a strong, positive and statistically significant relationship between innovative service delivery (process innovation and customer interaction) and competitive advantage (customer value) of deposit money banks in Port Harcourt. Therefore, the study concluded that innovative service delivery has a significant relationship with competitive advantage of deposit money banks in Port Harcourt and thus recommends that service firms especially the deposit money banks should endeavour to always integrate new methods that would help boost the ways through which customers can be attended to, thereby, aiding them to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors.
Keywords: Competitive Advantage, Customer value, Process Innovation, customer interaction, innovative service delivery
Continuous Production and Competitive Advantage in Selected Aluminum Company in South- South, Nigeria (Published)
The study investigated Continuous Production and Competitive Advantage in Selected Aluminum Companies in South- South, Nigeria, with specific objectives: to examine the relationship between mass production and customer collaboration, to determine the influence of process production on customer retention, to investigate the impact of assembly production on customer advocacy. The Study adopted a descriptive research method which is structural deigned questionnaire techniques that allows the gathering of data from desired respondents that will be used for analysis, the data employed for the study was primary data. The primary data used for analysis were response gathered from selected aluminium companies in south-south Nigeria. This study considered the total number of seventy-five (75) respondents. The research assign Alphabet to the items responds VE= Very effective, E=Effective, U= Undecided and I = Ineffective. The data analysis method used in this study is percentage frequency counts to determine the result of each items in the research questions and mean value decision rule is 2.5. SPSS was used to determine the decision rule of mean.
Citation: Odita, A.; Kifordu, A. A.; Nwankwo, C.N. (2022) Continuous Production and Competitive Advantage in Selected Aluminum Company in South- South, Nigeria, International Journal of Business and Management Review, Vol.10, No.7, pp.1-12
Keywords: : continuous production, Competitive Advantage, Nigeria, South-South, aluminum
Queuing System and Performance of Guaranty Trust Bank Nigeria Plc, Ekpoma, Edo State (Published)
The broad objective of this paper is to determine the effect of queuing system analysis on performance of Guaranty Trust Bank Nigeria Plc, Ekpoma, Edo state. Specifically, this paper seeks to examine the effect of system (facility) utilization rate on competitive advantage of the focused institution. The study was anchored on resource base theory propounded by Robert Grant (1996). Survey design was used, a population of 1,129 which emanated from the service rate of a five- day study was used for the study, the data was analyzed using tables, bar charts and tora soft- ware version 1.00. Findings revealed that facility (system) utilization impacts the competitive position of Guaranty Trust Bank Nigeria Plc. Ekpoma since (Rho/c) value = 0.435, (Mu) value = 15.05 and (Ws) value = 0.07. The study concludes that an analysis of the queuing system of the institution from time to time could aid its performance level. Sequel to the conclusion, the researcher recommended an increase in the number of servers used by the financial institution in focus because of the number of local governments (Esan West, Esan Central, Igueben and Uhunwonde) it serves.
Citation: Ohue Paul Itua (2021) Queuing System and Performance of Guaranty Trust Bank Nigeria Plc, Ekpoma, Edo State, International Journal of Business and Management Review, Vol.9, No.4, pp.22-38
Keywords: Competitive Advantage, Performance, Queuing system, system (facility) utilization
Components, theories and the business case for Corporate Social Responsibility (Published)
Though the relationship between business and society has been widely studied for decades, there are varying perspectives in the literature of a corporation’s responsibility to society, and many corporate managers have struggled with the issue of a corporation’s responsibility to a broader range of stakeholders beyond its shareholders. Contemporary advocates of corporate social responsibility (CSR) argue that business organizations have a responsibility not only to their respective shareholders but also to other stakeholders, such as, employees, customers’ suppliers, and the community in general, among others. However, a conservative view of corporate social responsibility (CSR) suggests that the only true purpose of a corporation is to generate maximum profits and promote the interests of its shareholders within the law by responding effectively to market demand through the production of goods or services. Though there is no singular universally accepted definition of CSR in the literature, in this descriptive and theoretical research paper, I synthesize the literature and identify many different forms of definitions of CSR from the point of view of various researchers. In this paper, I also attempt to further the theoretical debate about corporate social responsibility (CSR) by highlighting the main components and theories of CSR in the literature. Thereafter, I articulate the business case for CSR or the justification why business executives may be motivated to allocate resources to engage in CSR activities. I conclude this paper by outlining its contributions.
Keywords: Competitive Advantage, Corporate Social Responsibility, Stakeholder Theory, corporate citizenship, shareholder theory, social contract, synergistic value creation
The Relationship between Research and Development Alliance and Competitive Advantage of the Kenya Commercial Bank, Eldoret Branch (Published)
Strategic alliance relationship continues to be one of the leading business strategies. It is driven majorly by increasing competition in the global market. It is also increasingly becoming popular in the business world. The research sought to establish the relationship between strategic alliances and competitive advantage at the Kenya Commercial Bank. Based on the study, this paper explores the extent to which research and development alliance influences competitive advantage at the KCB. The rationale for carrying out the research was to provide evidence-based practice for KCB and other banks as they engage in strategic alliances. The study adopted a correlational survey research design. It targeted a population of 75 respondents. The sample size comprised 63 respondents selected using random sampling technique. Data was collected using a questionnaire. The data obtained from the questionnaires were coded, organized and analysed using descriptive statistics specifically employing frequency and percentages to analyse closed-ended questions while mean and standard deviation was used to analyse the five point Likert questions. Hypotheses were tested to determine the relationship between research and development alliance and competitive advantage of KCB. The research results revealed that that there was a significant relationship between research and development alliance and competitive advantage (p=0.000). The study concluded that the Kenya Commercial Bank has gained competitive advantage as a result of entering into research and development alliances with various partners across different industries. Therefore, the study recommended that KCB should continue partnering with other commercial banks and organizations through research in order to increase its market share. The paper is significant as it identifies ways in which banks can exploit research and development alliance to provide customers with quality needs-based services and achieve competitive advantage in the banking industry.
Keywords: Alliance, Competitive Advantage, Development, Eldoret, Kenya Commercial Bank, Research
GENERIC STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY FOOD AND BEVERAGE FIRMS IN KENYA AND THEIR EFFECTS ON SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE (Published)
The focus of this study was on competitive strategies that firms adopt in the Kenya beverage industry in order to create above average performance. The fundamental basis of above industry performance is sustainable competitive advantage which is either created by low cost or differentiation strategy. The study aimed at establishing the generic strategies food and beverage firms in Kenya employ for sustainable competitive advantage. This research entailed a descriptive study design. Descriptive design uses a set of scientific methods to collect raw data and create data structures that are used to describe the existing characteristics of a defined target population. This study sought to do that among the F & B firms in Kenya. The study population consisted of 138 food and beverage manufacturing firms in Kenya registered with the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) by 2011. The data was tested for central tendency and dispersion after confirmation of normal distribution by appropriate tests of normality. Since the sample size was 32 (over the minimum 30 required for statistical analysis), regression analysis was carried out and interpretation of results of tests of hypothesis done. The research showed that 56.2 percent of the firms embrace duo strategies of cost leadership and differentiation simultaneously while 25 percent were exclusively on cost leadership and 18.8 percent were exclusively using differentiation. The use of dual strategies is a company survival tactic in terms of diversification of risks especially in very competitive environments like that of the Kenyan F&B industry. Results from Pearson’s rank correlation coefficient between the dependent variable Y and the independent variables X1 and X2 gave coefficients of 0.653 and 0.279 respectively which was an indication of positive correlation.
Keywords: Competitive Advantage, Cost Leadership, Differentiation, Generic Strategies