Vol. 10 No. 4(J) (2018)

Globally, entrepreneurship has steadily become the leading trend associated with growth regionally as well as nationally. It has lent itself to the significant and sustainable development of locally available resources and of human and social capital. More so, the establishment of microenterprises, together with small and medium scale businesses by women, is the most recognizable route to job creation, poverty alleviation, family well-being and women empowerment; apart from the social benefits accrued and direct impact to the community and environment. Unfortunately, despite the substantial resources invested by national and regional governments, international development organizations and other stakeholders for the enhancement of women entrepreneurship, several constraints still prevent women from attaining optimal performance in terms of business growth, annual turnover, and market capitalization. The use of information and communications technologies (ICT) has been suggested as another appropriate medium to assist with some of these challenges. A total number of 50 targeted female entrepreneurs in Uyo metropolis, Nigeria, were purposively sampled to take part in this study. Quantitative research design using semi-structured questionnaires was used to explore the influence of ICT on the entrepreneurial activities of female entrepreneurs. Descriptive and inferential statistics were adopted to interpret the primary data. Binary Logistics Regression resulted in Wald value =1.353 and p=.245, which is >> .05. The Wald chi-square test led to the rejection of the null hypothesis because of the p -value. Therefore, the leveraging of ICT tools did not have a significant effect on entrepreneurial activities among women entrepreneurs in the educational sector.

The study estimates the efficiency of public health centre II (HCII) facilities in Southwestern Uganda. Specifically, it determines the level of technical efficiency (TE), scale efficiency (SE) and estimates the economic savings required to make inefficient public health facilities efficient. An output-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is employed in the estimation of TE and SE. It was found out that 73 % of the HCIIs were technically inefficient while 27% were technically efficient. Mean TE stood at 72.3% implying that an average HCII could potentially improve its efficiency by increasing its outputs by 27.7%. In addition, 77% of the facilities were SE implying that they obtained the most productive scale size given the input-output combination. 23% of the facilities were scaled inefficient implying that they have more input waste attributable to their size. There is great potential for economic savings shown by different magnitudes of input reductions and output augmentations required to make inefficient facilities efficient. The study has important policy implications. The health sector should embark on rigorous periodic research and development to enhance healthcare delivery efficiently. Since the health units are small, there is a need to augment their scale sizes and improve on their management practices so as to enhance their overall productivity and efficiency. Stakeholders should scale up efforts to attract, align skills with needs and improve retention and motivation of the health workforce. Holistic investment in resource inputs is essential. A comprehensive monitoring and evaluation plan with key verifiable indicators to monitor the overall health sector performance is required.

The topic regarding the impact of foreign direct investment net inflows, exports and domestic investment on economic growth has resulted in mixed research findings across the globe. Literature related to the above variables in five selected African countries drawn from the five sub-regions is critically reviewed in this article. Furthermore, an econometric analysis of these variables is done to ascertain their impact on economic growth. The findings are compared to previous findings in other studies. The researcher found similar results in some variables when compared to previous researches in other countries. The study found that the independent statistical variables significantly predicted gross domestic product, with F (3, 63) = 5.84, P > F 0.0014, R__2 = 0.2176, a djusted R__2 = 0.1804 and root mean squared error (RMSE) = 0.54976. The independent variables added significantly to the prediction of p < 0.05. The researcher challenges the notion that the impact of foreign direct investment net inflows, exports and domestic investment on economic growth should always be positive and significant. This study provides a refreshed appreciation of the relationship between foreign direct investment net inflows, exports, domestic investment and economic growth in light of rapid socioeconomic changes in the sampled countries. The article also proposes some critical considerations regarding this relationship.

The study examined the dynamic interaction between government bonds, exchange rate and inflation in South Africa. The study follows a quantitative research method, using monthly time series data from 2007 to 2017 within the framework of a Vector Autoregressive Analysis (VAR). Evidence from the empirical analysis shows that government bond accounts for significant variation in the exchange rate and inflation rate within the study period. The causality test also suggests the presence of uni-directional causal relationships from government bonds to exchange rate, and also to the inflation rate. The principal conclusion that emanates from the empirical analysis is that government bonds are an important policy instrument in the management of the exchange rate and the inflation rate in South Africa. The study recommends that the South African Reserve Bank is a coordinator of government bond and should carry out an in-depth analysis of the economic conditions before issuing the government bonds, taking into account its impeding effects on the exchange rate and inflation rate and many other macroeconomic variables.

Work life conflict negatively impacts entrepreneurs and the economic performance of their businesses. The study explored the work-life conflict (WLC) of native and immigrant entrepreneurs in South Africa. Also, the study examined the effect of gender and work-related factors (long working hours and work overload) on the WLC of native and immigrant entrepreneurs. The study adopted the survey method (selfadministered questionnaires) for data collection. The participants in the study were identified through convenience and snowballing sampling methods. The methods of data analysis included descriptive statistics, T-test, Pearson correlation and regression analysis. The results showed high levels of WLC for both native and immigrant entrepreneurs. Native entrepreneurs have a higher level of WLC compared to immigrant entrepreneurs, however the difference is not statistically significant. Male entrepreneurs have a lower level of WLC compared to female entrepreneurs. Long working hours and work overload significantly impact on the WLC of native and immigrant entrepreneurs. Recommendations to reduce WLC include goal setting, scheduling and delegation of work by entrepreneurs .

To date, Indonesia has been facing the seventh ISDS (Investor-State Dispute Settlement) lawsuit case in ICSID, the most number of ICSID cases a particular country has in ASEAN. In the meantime, Indonesia had to initiate reform in its minerals mining sector policy since the sector had provided little benefit in Indonesian sustainable economic development thus far–a policy reform which is potentially highly exposed to ISDS lawsuit case. Yet, the reform once issued has no turning back and thus it should move forward. Indonesian reform policy to support more its mining downstream by Minerba Act issuance is intended to benefit from its scarce, limited non-renewable minerals so as to support national development and maintain its long-term interest and economic sustainability. Undoubtfully, the policy reform will be beneficial for Indonesian economy sustainability and thus it should be protected from any potential ISDS claims in the future. This study seeks to address such real, critical current challenges arising from contingent ISDS claims towards Indonesia. This study adopts a descriptive analytical method, which combines literature review, authors’ shared expertise in this field, and results of interviews and discussions with several other experts in relevant fields. This study concludes that in addressing ISDS contingent problems threatening Indonesian current reform policy in mining downstream sector, Indonesia should focus the emphasis on the prevention endeavor, those are a review of BITs and IIAs containing ISDS provisions; improvement in investment dispute management; which are mainly supported by continuous bureaucracy reform, capacity building, and better coordination.

Employment creation remains the pinnacle standard of sound social welfare and economic progress. It is a fundamental driver of economic development for any economy. However, such a pursuit faces tenacious challenges, especially amidst the growing global market integration. This study unravelled the effects of the underlying trade environment mechanisms such as trade openness, foreign direct investment(FDI) and the exchange rate on South Africa’s job creation efforts within the tradable sectors. The study employed a quantitative analysis and included time series explanatory variables of trade openness, netFDI flows and the real effective exchange rate. Employment series of both South Africa’s mining and manufacturing tradable sectors served as the dependent variables. The study made use of quarterly observations starting from 1995 to 2016. In doing so, various econometric methods were utilised. These included descriptive analyses, the standard Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model, and the TodaYamamoto Granger Non-Causality test. Empirical ARDL results of employment in the individual mining sector, established no long-run and short-run relationships with trade openness, the real effective exchange rate and net-FDI. Employment in the manufacturing tradable sector presented significant and negative longrun relationships with trade openness, the real effective exchange rate and net-FDI. Meanwhile, the short-run findings exhibited significant and positive relationships between employment in the manufacturing tradable sector with trade openness, and significantly negative for net-FDI. However short-run results of manufacturing employment and the real effective exchange rate were not significant. Based on these results, South Africa’s mining sector seems unresponsive to mechanisms in the trade environment while these relationships are relatively dynamic in the manufacturing sector. Further recommendations were thus provided to improve these interrelationships in promoting job growth and its responsiveness to trade components.

A move towards integrated supply chain management (ISCM) in the various manufacturing industries, with the integration of the different associated processes involved, is gaining prominence as a tool for achieving competitive advantage over rival companies. Various studies have been carried out on ISCM globally, with possible problems affecting competitiveness and effective customer service identified as nonintegration, ranging from internal processes to suppliers. This paper reviewed literature on the application of ISCM in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Manufacturing industry in Nigeria. This involved collecting, sorting, grouping and analysing of available papers to identify strengths and weaknesses and suggest the direction for future research. The review shows that, although some research has been conducted onISCM in the manufacturing industry, little has been done in the FMCG manufacturing industry globally, and in particular, ISCM is still in the initial stages of adoption in Nigeria. The aim of this review is to unearth the extent of application and implementation of ISCM in the FMCG industry in Nigeria, and advise on the status of ISCM and problems confronting its implementation and use. This paper posits that, based on the reviewed literature, there is a need for the FMCG manufacturing industry in Nigeria to implement ISCM, considering its importance as iterated by both academics and business managers. This review was carried out focusing on literature relating to ISCM in the FMCG Manufacturing industry and does not cover the entire manufacturing industry.

Technology has enabled banks to introduce new products that integrate markets, simplify operations and enable expansion of business at low cost, expand to new markets, take new risks and deepen their markets. Zimbabwe registered significant growth in adoption and diffusion of financial innovations over the past two decades, which coincided with a shift in the structure of credit portfolios of banks, and growth in credit as well as risk appetite. This study empirically evaluates the impact of financial innovations in influencing bank behaviour, specifically, portfolio structure risk appetite and delivery channels of banks in Zimbabwe. The study applied co-relational analysis, Fully Modified OLS and the Dynamic OLS estimation models as well as Autoregressive Granger causality approaches. Empirical results show that technology has the capacity to influence activities of banks in risk management, credit and delivery of banking service in lowincome countries. Precisely, financial innovation influences increase in credit towards previously high-risk areas, compositions of credit portfolios in banks and support growth in number of bank accounts. Causality was found to run from financial innovation to bank behaviour, and only in the long run.

The introduction of multi-skilling within organisations is normally conducted with the aim of improving efficiency, quality, production and cost-effectiveness. The study addressed the effect of using multiskilled workforce in the execution of project activities by studying the changes in project execution resource scheduling flexibility and project costs in response to workforce multi-skilling strategy. A quantitative research design was used, to test the concept of workforce multi-skilling to predict its influence on project resource scheduling, project cost saving, project duration, effect on optimal utilization of project technicians and members if adopted at Eskom PTM Central Group department. An electronic questionnaire was distributed to collect data and statistical analysis of data was conducted. The hypothesis testing performed concluded as follows; H1: The use of multi-skilling provides for flexible project resource scheduling; the research hypothesis was accepted. H2: Multi-skilling has a positive effect on the project cost savings; the research hypothesis was rejected. H3: The use of multi-skilling has no significant impact on project duration; the research hypothesis was rejected. H4 (i): The findings show that a positive relationship between multi-skilling and job redesign exists, and H4 (ii): Multi-skilling therefore has a positive impact on the adoption of multi skills; both research hypotheses were accepted.