Staffing and the Development of Small Scale Enterprises in Owo Local Government, Ondo State, Nigeria (Published)
Regardless of long list of responsibilities and functions that require sufficient number of employees of different professional background, enterprises most especially in developing countries are still manned by insufficient staff. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are now taken different steps to curb the situation and bridge the gap between the required staff and the existing ones. The study therefore seeks to investigate Staffing and the development of SMEs in Owo local government, Ondo State, Nigeria. The specific objective of the study is to determine the extent effect of recruitment and selection on productivity and examine the effect of Placement and orientation on the development of staff on the survival of selected SMEs in Owo local government. Survey research design which is quantitative approaches to the study was employed by the researcher. Questionnaire was used as means of selection of the respondents that included questions measuring perceptions of the respondent. The population of the study covers a total number of 1005 staff of twenty-three (23) Retails enterprises, ten (10) production small scale enterprise and eighty-one (81) agro allied enterprises, with a sample of six hundred and fifty (650) drawn from the population using Krejcie and Morgan (1970). The findings of the study revealed that recruitment and selection has significant impact on the survival of SMEs in Owo Local Government, Ondo State. The study also revealed that placement and orientation significantly affect SMEs productivity, most especially in the studied area, with R2 value of 0. 787, which indicate that placement which comprises of marching the right skill with the right job and familier staff with established rules and policies actually increase productivity. Therefore, it is recommended that SMEs should identify the need for adequate staff and recruit the right candidate for the job. It is also recommended that owners and/or management of SMEs should not just recruit for the recruitment sake but place them in the appropriate place within an organization to ensure and guarantee the continuity and the survival of the business. This is because, when employees when employees are placed where they are supposed to be or based on their profession, they will be able to demonstrate professionalism which bring about continuity SMEs in terms of development.
Keywords: : Enterprises, Development, Recruitment, Selection
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
Leadership and Economic Development in a Developing Economy: A Critical Look at the Nigeria’s’ Experience (Published)
The ability of a person to effectively and efficiently harness as well as influence the material and human resources of a country is very fundamental to the development of an organisation as a sub-system and all sectors of a country as a whole. In this circumstance it will be appropriate to state unequivocally that leadership (those who occupy public positions) plays a fundamental role in making sure that the lives and welfare of the citizens is improved through the provision of basic infrastructural amenities of life. It is in line with the above assertion that this paper aims at studying the role of leadership in ensuring the development of a country while beaming our search light on a developing economy. The research paper approach adopted for the study conforms to qualitative research, as it reviews the literature relating to organisational behaviour and human resource management. After critical x-ray of related write-ups on the topic under study, we found out that some factors such as corruption, wrong value-system, greed and selfishness, patriotism, ethnicity to name but a few, hinder leaders in developing countries from raising the standard of living of the citizens. Finally the study recommended among other things that Nigeria leaders should be able to see, project and assemble a vision of a desired future for the nation. In addition, they should be selfless, sensitive, moral credent and engaging as these are the fundamental perquisite for mobilising followership, particularly in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multicultural society like Nigeria.
Keywords: Development, Economic development and Developing Economy, Leader, Leadership