Systemic Lean Intervention: Enhancing Lean with Community Operational Research

This paper explores how theory and methodology from Community OR can enhance Lean initiatives. We are driven by the paucity of the literature discussing the involvement of non-obvious stakeholders, particularly local communities, in the adoption of Lean. We present a project undertaken with a food production company in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria, where we employed a Systemic Intervention methodology to integrate theory and methods from Community OR with those from Lean. Based on this example, we argue that the inclusion of community representatives is necessary if Lean waste-reduction initiatives are to benefit both organizations and their local communities. Our only proviso is that, in the spirit of Community OR, the involvement of community representatives must be meaningful, so change is agreed through stakeholder engagements that respect their inputs and framings, and do not result in organizations imposing ‘solutions’ on communities. The paper ends with some reflections on the added value that Community OR can offer Lean practitioners

Addressing operational complexities through re-inventing leadership style:A systemic leadership intervention

This research investigates leadership practice in private organisations in Nigeria. It focuses on learning about theapplication of leadership styles to address operational complexities in organisations. The research is based on acase study of a commercial livestock farm in Nigeria using systemic intervention as the methodology. Datacollection tools, such as a workshop, semi-structured interviews, boundary setting and participant observation,were applied. Key leadership issues identified in the case study were addressed via the creation of an effectiveapproach from different leadership underpinnings. Part of thefindings is the difficulty in sustaining the imple-mentation of a particular leadership style(s) due to unstructured nature of complexities involved in the deter-mination of suitable leadership style at different stages of the research. The research wrapped up with thesuggestion for further research on systemic leadership intervention to consider exploring the public sector, as wellas the need to further review on the use of CATWOE in the research process, to avoid the occurrence of mar-ginalisation in its apllication

SMEs Succession Education and Family Business Succession: A Conceptual Review

This research focused on investigating the effect of succession education on family-owned business succession in small and medium-scale enterprises in Nigeria. The study adopted a conceptual review of extant literature and theories. Findings from extant literature revealed that level of education, on-the-job training, mentorship and willingness to learn have a strong impact on family-owned business succession in small and medium-scale enterprises. Succession education can form effective resilience to address the challenge of family business succession. The study highlighted the necessity for family-owned SMEs to promote succession education for their potential successors since the higher the level of education of the incumbent and successors are, the more likely the success of the succession process. It is also recommended for the potential successors to be exposed to learning the business early to enable them to acquire adequate on-the-job training for a smooth transfer of ownership and entrepreneurship which is intended to enhance sustainability among Nigerian family-owned businesses

ACHIEVING ZERO WASTE OPERATION IN A PRIVATE ORGANISATION THROUGH EXTENDED STAKEHOLDERS CONSULTATION: A CASE IN THE NIGER DELTA REGION, NIGERIA

This paper focused on addressing the effects of operational issues on the stakeholders to a private organisation. The findings show that the implementation of stakeholders’ involvement lent support to effective zero waste practice in this research. It is an action research, carried out in a case study of a commercial livestock farm, using workshop and interviews as key data collection methods. The research considered the interest of the affected and involved stakeholders in identifying and deliberating on key operational issues such as live-stock waste management and mortality. Suggestions and decisions result in effective approach to addressing stakeholders’ marginalisation through a participatory research process, which led to a zero-waste operational practice. The research concludes with the suggestion for a mixed method to explore the topic in future research in a private sector organisation

BUSINESS INCUBATION AND STUDENT IDEA VALIDATION: A FOCUS ON NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

This study critically examined the role of university business incubation initiatives in fostering business idea validation of university students in Nigeria. To achieve this objective, a total of 362 students drawn from covenant university Ogun State, Nigeria, were sampled. The data were analysed using regression analysis. The result showed that business incubation activities have positive significant influence on validating business ideas generated by university students. Based on the result of the study, it was recommended that business incubation activities should be an embedded policy in Nigerian universities to motivate business idea validation potentials of undergraduate students. Hence, the provision of the necessary and relevant facilities and infrastructure should be prioritized

Change Management and Capacity Utilisation: A Critical Requirement for Business Sustainability among Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria

This study focuses on the practice of change management and operational resilience among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. The research adopts an empirical approach, relying on secondary data sourced from the 2014 enterprise survey of the World Bank and applied the logit regression analysis. Results showed that product development and experience are statistically significant and positively related to capacity utilisation. While political instability, spoilage (loss of product in transit, due to theft, breakage or spoilage) and financial constraint are negatively related to capacity utilisation. This implies that the increased level of product development is capable of increasing capacity utilisation by approximately 0.4, 0.5 and 0.7 units, respectively. In the same way, the manager's experience increase capacity utilisation by 0.44units, which conforms to the ‘a priori’ expectation, for managers to be resilient, the experience is highly required. Similarly, the results show that political instability is statistically significant and has negative (0.61, 0.69, 0.50, 0.80 and 0.65) impacts on capacity utilisation. Based on findings, the study recommends the need for further research to consider other approaches such as longitudinal research, comparative research to unearth learning about the factors that affect change management practice. It is also suggested for further research to consider critical change management effects such as resistance and ethical balance in practice, especially in developing economy like Nigeria

Accountability in agricultural governance and food security in Nigeria

This study explores the relationship between agricultural governance and food security in Nigeria and employs two main approaches: descriptive and econometric. The econometric approach engages Autoregressive Distribution Lag (ARDL) in examining the long-run relationship between the indicators of food security and agricultural governance for the period 1985 to 2016. The results show that in the long-run, agricultural performance contribute to food security in Nigeria. The findings from the descriptive analysis unveil that Nigeria has the highest number of undernourished people, which increased by 22% between 2000 and 2001. Between 2000 and 2015, the population grew by 30.60% with the rate of violence increasing by 55%. The study recommends, among others, that accountability in addressing the challenges in the implementation of food security programs and ensuring timely distribution of food resources is germane

Social services provision and stakeholder engagement in the Nigerian informal sector

The informal business sector has made enormous contributions to Nigeria's economic growth and development, but this sector is not given the necessary attention to transforming these businesses toward sustainability. This study explores the depth of informal business sector practices in Nigeria. It underscores the inputs of stakeholders in the transformation of businesses in the Nigerian informal sector to increase tax remittances and employment generation for job security in the Nigerian economy. Also, it underpins value chain performances to transform the informal sector and rescue it from liquidation through voluntary company arrangements, administration, merger, takeover, and acquisition schemes. The study adopts a conceptual review. The research relies on extant literature relating to the antecedence of informal business sector activities in Nigeria. It relies on reports from tertiary data sources such as academic articles, books, newspapers, the Internet, and website sources. It further explores the views of researchers, covering the informal sector development and the support of the provisions of the social services in Nigeria. There is the absence of a model for the transformation and sustainability of the informal sector enterprises in Nigeria. This study recommends a model approach to address informal sector enterprises' issues and challenges necessary to transform the businesses into a formal status while supporting their sustainability and resilience

Exploring The Influence of Environmental Complexity on Entrepreneurial Decision Making: A Conceptual Review

Practicing entrepreneurs make decisions in their business operations. These decisions are influenced by the environmental force and contextual issues that affect their operational process. This research paper focuses on exploring environmental complexities and their influence on entrepreneurial decision-making. The research applies a conceptual approach to unpack the effects of complexities, stakeholders’ perspectives and contextual issues on entrepreneurial decision process. A key suggestion is the adoption of meaningful engagement approach to addressing emerging complexities between entrepreneurship practice and environmental issues. While the research finds that interactive engagement can be slow

Recognition and Employees’ Behavioural outcomes: A Case of Covenant University, Nigeria

Background: This study is focused on talent retention strategies and employees’ behavioural outcomes in Nigeria. The study is based on the Nigerian higher education sector and uses Covenant University, Ota, as a case study. Methodology: The sample of the study consists of four hundred and forty-four (444) academic staff in the four (4) colleges of the University. The study used a semi-structured questionnaire to gather relevant data for analysis and interpretation. The Heterotrait-monotrait discriminant (HTMT) ratio of correlation was utilised in ascertaining the Partial List - Equation Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) was engaged in understanding the predictive relevance of the measurement construct. Results and Recommendation: From the analysis, recognition significantly influences employees’ behavioural outcomes. The study recommends that there is a need for an organisation to embrace continuous evaluation and adjustment of recognitionpolicies to maintain its talent retention competencies. It is also recommended for the case study organisation’s management to consistently project career support initiatives for the enhancement of staff behavioural outcomes