Factors influencing franchisees' business performance : a study on the Nigerian franchise system

This study explores factors that influence franchisees’ business performance in Nigeria. Using a model of factors influencing franchise system performance as a conceptual framework, an extensive review and synthesis of literature was done. The literature synthesis led to the development of four (4) research issues and a preliminary theoretical framework for the research. The issues and the framework were subjected to empirical exploration using data collected through in-depth interviews. The research was conducted in two stages: preliminary stage and main stage. A total of thirty-two (32) purposively selected franchisees participated in the study; six (6) in the preliminary stage and twenty-six (26) in the main stage. Data were managed and analysed using NVivo version 11. Through the analysis, a total of twenty-one (21) factors were confirmed as having influence on franchisees business performance in Nigeria. Fourteen (14) of these factors are as identified in the preliminary theoretical framework while seven (7) were newly found in the study. Based on the findings of this study, eight (8) key conclusions were drawn. It was concluded that four (4) major issues and a total of twenty-one (21) factors have influence on franchisees business performance in Nigeria. Among these factors are four (4) business format factors, six (6) contract factors, six (6) relationship quality factors and five (5) franchisees attitude and skill factors. Being the first comprehensive attempt to study the practice of franchising in Nigeria, this study makes contributions to franchising literature in three important ways, namely; it reaffirms current understanding, identifies new insights and enhances contextual knowledge of the business model. Finally, the study highlights four (4) major managerial implications and offers recommendations that could address these implications

De-evolution of Urban Markedness in Nigerian English Accent(s

While variation in Nigerian English (NigE) accents has been linked to speakers’ ethnicity and education, the effects of corresponding factors such as urbanity and age await assessment. Towards defining their areal implications, this paper investigates the predictive dimensions of age and urban membership in lectal differentiation within the NigE systems. Based on variationist paradigm, patterns of contrast between typically non-contrastive vowels in the system are assessed for speakers living in major municipals. Results support the preservation of fusion between GOOSE and FOOT by younger generation, whereas both age groups are unanimous in the achievement of contrast between FLEECE and KIT, USE and GOOSE, and TRAP and lettER. The patterns thus suggest a budding feature distinction and an urban-driven convergence. More importantly, the near evenness in vocalic trajectories, despite differences in the speakers’ age and cities, confirms the levelling force of Nigeria’s metrolingual climates in dialect emergence.&nbsp

Ownership structure and loan quality of deposit money banks in Nigeria

Purpose - This study examined the effect of Ownership Structure (Management Shareholding and Ownership Concentration) on the loan quality (LDR) of banks in Nigeria for a period of 10 years (2008-2017). The study utilized data extracted from the annual reports of the fourteen (14) studied banks.Method - Robustness tests were carried out to determine: the existence or otherwise of multi-collinearity, fitness of the model and appropriate regression analysis for the study. Descriptive statistics, correlation and Fixed Effect GLS regression were used to describe and analyze the data.Result - The study found that, ownership structure (ownership concentration and management shareholding) has significant negative effect on loan quality of banks in Nigeria.Implication - The implications of this research is that increased ownership concentration as well as management shareholding can strengthen banks’ loan quality owing to reduced proportion of depositors funds used to finance loan. This could spur confidence in the bank by the general public with regards to the safety of their deposits.Originality - This study is different from other studies that concentrated on the use of ownership structure in relations to various financial performance measurements such as ROA, ROE, NPM among other. In this study, effort was made to consider the financial health of banks owing to the nature of their business (loan)

Logistics Management and the Performance of Manufacturing Firms in Selected States of Northern Nigeria

The study examined the role of logistics in manufacturing firms’ performance in some states in Northern Nigeria. A firm-level survey was conducted in a cross-sectional examination of members of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), with a sample of 144 firms. The study was underpinned by the resource-based theory, and data was analyzed using multiple regression analysis through the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). It was discovered that both inbound and outbound logistics have positive relationships with performance. However, the relationship between outbound logistics and performance was not significant. The findings implies that managers of manufacturing firms cannot entirely rely on the contributions of logistics to enhance performance. It was therefore recommended that management in the manufacturing sector could find ways of improving those outbound activities they perform; contemplate involving drivers, such as information technology to boost performance; and consider outsourcing those outbound activities

Ownership structure and loan quality of deposit money banks in Nigeria

Purpose - This study examined the effect of Ownership Structure (Management Shareholding and Ownership Concentration) on the loan quality (LDR) of banks in Nigeria for a period of 10 years (2008-2017). The study utilized data extracted from the annual reports of the fourteen (14) studied banks.Method - Robustness tests were carried out to determine: the existence or otherwise of multi-collinearity, fitness of the model and appropriate regression analysis for the study. Descriptive statistics, correlation and Fixed Effect GLS regression were used to describe and analyze the data.Result - The study found that, ownership structure (ownership concentration and management shareholding) has significant negative effect on loan quality of banks in Nigeria.Implication - The implications of this research is that increased ownership concentration as well as management shareholding can strengthen banks’ loan quality owing to reduced proportion of depositors funds used to finance loan. This could spur confidence in the bank by the general public with regards to the safety of their deposits.Originality - This study is different from other studies that concentrated on the use of ownership structure in relations to various financial performance measurements such as ROA, ROE, NPM among other. In this study, effort was made to consider the financial health of banks owing to the nature of their business (loan)

A study of the effect of diversity in the board and the audit committee composition on earnings management for low and high leveraged banks in Nigeria

The study examines the effect of board diversity and audit committee on earnings management of listed Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria, for low and high leveraged Banks. Earnings Management is measured using Chang, Shen and Fang (2008) model. All the 15 banks listed in Nigerian Stock Exchange as at 2015 were used for the analysis. Data were obtained from the financial statements covering the period 2008-2015. Multiple regression technique was employed, while the tool of analysis is Stata 13. The findings revealed that, all the variables have significant effect on earnings management of banks except for women directors and board size under the low leveraged banks, while board ownership was also found to have weak impact on earnings management under the high leveraged banks. Meanwhile, the findings also revealed that the explanatory variables under the low explained earnings management better than high leveraged.peer-reviewe

Trends in monkeypox research: A sixty year bibliometric analysis

Aim:  The purpose of the study was to identify common descriptors and publication hotspots that may form reference themes for future monkey pox research. Method: Bibliometric analysis of monkeypox related studies between 1962 and 2022 was carried out to ascertain and describe this body of literature. Results and conclusion: A total of 1,134 documents were analysed for bibliometric indicators. The studies had 3,478 authors, an average of 5.72 co-authors per publication and a 3.73 author collaboration index. Annual scientific production peaked in 2004 (5.5%) and 2020 (5.3%). Monkeypox research accumulated 128 grants, 68 policy documents, 9 clinical trials, and 50 patents. The United States placed first in terms of the number of documents and citations, followed by Germany with 73, United Kingdom with 53, Russia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with 34 documents each. The DRC and Nigeria had the most documents among African countries. Text mining showed researchers have put their efforts into studies related to infectious disease ‘epidemiology’: the ‘emergence’, ‘Case diagnosis and ‘surveillance’ of ‘outbreaks’. The top keywords were ‘monkeypox’ (570 times), ‘monkeypox virus’ (411 times), ‘poxviridae infections’ (332 times), ‘small pox’ (266 times), ‘orthopox virus’ (248 times), ‘vaccinia virus’ (203 times), and ‘disease outbreaks’ (179 times). The most cited treatment related noun phrases were ‘tecovirimat’ (brand name Tembexa), ‘Cidofovir’/ ‘CMX001’ (Brincidofovir), ‘ACAM2000’ (imvanex vaccine) and ‘Vaccinia’ Immune Globulin (‘VIG’). This result will serve as a foundation for future research, guiding decision-making in monkeypox research and therapy

Comparative haematological changes in experimentally infected Savannah brown goats with Trypanosoma brucei and Trypanosoma vivax

A comparative study of haematological changes in Savannah brown goats experimentally infected with Trypanosoma brucei and Trypanosoma vivax was carried out using thirty (30) goats aged between 20 and 48 months and average weight of 13.00 kg. The parameters determined before and after infection included parasitemia, rectal temperature, weight, PCV, and total plasma protein. The mean weight, rectal temperature, parasitemia, packed cell volume, total plasma protein of T. brucei infected goats were 11.88 kg, 39.18°C, 2.40, 22.1% and 11.88 g/dl, respectively, while T. vivax infected goats were 12.34 kg, 39.18°C, 2.20, 23.2% and 12.34 g/dl, respectively. The values of the same parameters in the controlwere 14.89 kg, 38.70°C, 25.8% and 7.06 g/dl, respectively. The parasites significantly (P < 0.05) affected the haematological parameters of the animals. T. brucei infection in the goats was more severe than theT. vivax infection

Firm Attributes and Earnings Quality of listed Oil and Gas Companies in Nigeria

This paper is an empirical investigation of firm attributes  and earnings quality of listed oil and gas companies in Nigeria for the period of 2007-2011. The listed Oil and Gas firms are Nine (9) in numbers out of which a sample of Seven (7) were used for the study. Firm attributes  as the independent variable was proxy with firm size , leverage, Institutional ownership, profitability, liquidity and firm growth), While the residuals from the modified Jones model by Dechow et ‘al (1995) was used to proxy earnings quality. The study adopts multiple panel regression techniques and data were collected from secondary source through the annual reports and accounts of the firms. The findings reveal that leverage, liquidity and firm growth has a significant positive impact on earnings quality while firm size , institutional ownership and profitability have a significant but negative influence on earnings quality of listed oil and gas companies in Nigeria. It is recommended among others that the oil and gas companies may choose to go for more debt especially where the interest rate is considerably low and also increase their liquidity asset and turnover as it has been found empirically to enhance the quality of the firms reported earnings. Keywords: Firm Attributes, Earnings Quality and Oil and Gas Companie

A Qualitative Analysis of the Influence of Exclusive Territory and Tying Clauses on Franchisees’ Business Performance and Overall Satisfaction

The fortunes of the Nigerian franchise industry has been on a downward spiral over the past few years. Practitioners and scholars have observed that the design of franchise contracts is a key element in the performance of franchise systems and franchisees in particular. No prior empirical study has investigated the influence of non-fee contract terms on franchisees business outcomes and long-term commitment in Nigeria. The objective of this study is to explore the influence of exclusive territory and tying arrangement on franchisees’ business performance and overall satisfaction. Face-to-face in-depth interview involving 26 franchisees was used to collect data from across different franchise brands in Nigeria. Each of the two contract terms investigated was found to have some form of influence on franchisees’ business outcomes. The study provides the first-ever exploratory insight into issues relating to franchise contracts in Nigeria, thereby helping to strengthen theory in the subject. The actionable recommendations offered will potentially help in reviving the industry for the benefits of the players and the economy at large. Key Words: Contract Design, Exclusive Territory, Tying Arrangement, Franchisees Overall Satisfactio