Governance and Management Reforms in Banking Sector: Impacts on Service Quality in Tanzanian Commercial Banks

This paper examines critically the impact of governance and management reforms in Tanzanian banking sector on service quality of commercial banks. The study adopted qualitative method for data collection. Data were collected from bank customers and bank officials from thirty two commercial banks in Tanzania that were already registered by the Bank of Tanzania at the end year 2010. A self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 1600 customers and 184 bank officials. Of these, 893(60%) bank customers and 81(44%) bank officials responded. Data were analysed using SPSS 17.0 to estimate the mean scores, standard deviation and association between reforms in governance and management and service quality. Study findings reveal that despite of the reforms on governance and management banks still do not have customer based policies, private banks  having Mean(SD) Scores [(2.71(1.136) vs. 2.59(1.019), p= 0.142) as per customer perception and [(3.30(1.205) vs. 3.12(1.333), p= 0.542)as per bank official perception. This was also confirmed by the results of the hypothesis tests which confirmed that there is negative relationship between reforms on governance and banks having customer focused policies (P=0.240: > 0.05, P=0.323 >0.05).The study also show that banks still offer same products that do not meet variety of needs of their customers, semi quasi banks being ahead of private banks with Mean (SD) scores [(2.68(1.138) vs. 2.65(1.062), p= 0.721)] .These results are confirmed by hypothesis tests that there is negative relationship between reforms in governance and management  and banks having different products that meet variety needs of customer (P=0.695: > 0.05). Findings also show that banks do not have specific products that address the needs of SME’s. Semi-quasi banks had higher mean (SD) scores than private banks [(2.94(1.074) vs. 2.80(1.101), p= 0.120)] respectively. These results are confirmed by hypothesis tests that there is negative relationship between reforms on governance and management and banks having different products that meet the needs of SME’s. (P=0.109: > 0.05).Also the findings show that banks do not have products that address the needs of all genders, semi-quasi banks have higher mean (SD) scores than private banks [(2.62(1.203) vs. 2.56(1.230), p= 0.573)] respectively. This is also confirmed by hypothesis results that there is negative relationship between reforms on governance and management and banks having products that address needs of all genders (P=0.403, P.>0.105). Overall, financial sector reforms in governance and management has less impact on service quality of commercial banks in Tanzania. Keywords: Financial sector Reforms, Commercial Banks, Governance and Management Reforms.  Service Qualit

Bank Ownership Structures Influence on Economic Efficiency of Commercial Banks: Case of Tanzanian Commercial Banks

This paper examines the impact of bank ownership structure on economic efficiency of Tanzanian commercial banks. The study adopted qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection by collecting  primary data from bank customers and bank officials of thirty two commercial banks in Tanzania that were already registered by the Bank of Tanzania at the end year 2011.We distributed 1600 Self-administered questionnaires to customers and 184 to bank officials. Of these, 893(60%) of bank customers and 81(44%) of bank officials responded. Data analysis used SPSS 17.0 version to estimate the mean (SD) score and to perform the correlation test.  Study findings show that there is no significant relationship between bank ownership structure and banks efficiency i and there is no significance difference in bank efficiency indicators between semi-quasi and private banks. Further findings reveal that Private Banks are more likely to have adequate operating hours convenient to customer and have more transparency in dealing with customers as compared to semi-quasi banks. Private Banks are more likely to have proper and accurate disclosure of financial statements while Semi-quasi banks are more likely to have adequate number of staff to deliver services. Therefore all banks should investigate if there other factors that might have caused the changes of these bank efficiency variables over time as indicated by the trend analysis. Key words: Bank Ownership, Economic Efficiency, Tanzania

Financial Sector Reforms in Bank Regulations and Supervision and its Impact on Banking Competitiveness and Economic Efficiency of Commercial Banks in Tanzania

This paper examines critically the impact of financial sector reforms in bank regulations and supervision on competitiveness of commercial banks in Tanzania in respect of economic efficiency. The study adopted qualitative method for data collection. Data were collected from bank customers and bank officials from thirty two commercial banks in Tanzania that were already registered by the Bank of Tanzania by the end year 2010. A self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 1600 customers and 184 bank officials. Of these, 893(60%) bank customers and 81(44%) bank officials responded. Data were analyzed using SPSS 17.0 to estimate the mean (SD) scores of economic efficiency variable constructs and chi-square tests to determine the association between reforms on bank regulations and economic efficiency. Results show that there is negative relationship between reforms on banking regulations and economic efficiency leading to conclude that the level of competitiveness of commercial banks has not been impacted by the financial sector reforms. Keywords: Financial Sector Reforms, Banking Competitiveness. Bank Regulations, Economic Efficienc

Information Accessibility for Sunflower Growers in Tanzania

The role of information for the effectual functioning of businesses is a central concern for many economists. According to Bello and Obinne (2012) as cited by Ozawa (1999) and Adefuye and Adedoyin (1993), the extent to which people progress in as far as agriculture is concerned largely depends on the availability and access to accurate and reliable information. According to one survey conducted on Marketing and market access for  Tanzanian  financial institutions which included both agricultural marketing cooperative societies (AMCOs) and savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs), results clearly implicated that there were various  inadequacies to many variables (URT, February 2012). Many stakeholders acknowledged to lacking adequate knowledge on marketing skills and market information dissemination. Rebekah (2005) argues that communication plays a major role in nearly every aspect of life. Effective communication does not only help people solve problems but also improve life. Communication experts have further argued that poor communication is at the root of many problems and that effective communication is one solution to these problems. She defines communication as the processes of understanding and sharing meaning. Communication is considered a process because it is an activity, exchange or a set of behaviors that occur over time, its components include people, the message, channel, feedback, encoding and decoding. Key words: information flow, communication, agricultural value chain, sunflower, capability

Tanzania

A questionnaire using a psychometric scale investigated how small-scale sunflower farmers perceive the role of building relationships based on demand-driven upgrades, such as knowledge, skills, technology, and support services within the value chain. The study focused on small-scale sunflower farmers in the Singida region of Tanzania. The survey was conducted in twelve Agricultural Marketing Cooperatives (AMCOs) with 229 respondents. The respondents had positive opinions about creating core competencies, concluding that adopting new capabilities, especially with tangible assets such as extension officers, financing, warehouses, and technology, can lead to improved productivity and quality. The information flow from sunflower buyers and consumers is crucial for creating a positive image and hence creating value for farmers. Farmers require negotiating skills that could be attained through improved associations or cooperatives. Respondents also indicated positive benefits if the secto

The Effects of Trust in the Development of Business Linkages and Relationships Between Sunflower Growers and Buyers: A Case 0f Small Scale Growers in Singida Region, Tanzania

Edible oilseeds, with their related industrial value chains of activities, represent growing components of the agricultural economy in Tanzania. Through its initiative of Kilimo kwanza (agriculture first) policy, among other things, the government of Tanzania intends to improve its agricultural sector by building strong domestic economic capacities of production and processing of agricultural produce for both the domestic and export markets. This paper provides a framework for analyzing the role of trust in the development of business linkages and relationships between sunflower growers and buyer firms in Singida region, Tanzania. The paper discusses key concepts of trust in light of value chains governance theory. Various studies have concluded that the essence of trust is to improve business performance of the participating parties. Trust is viewed as a lubricant or enabler of cooperation. It creates stability between business partners, facilitates cementation of their relationships and guarantees continuity in business relationships

Earnings warning framework predicting bank financial failures – the case of Nigeria in the 1990s

This study evaluates the CAMELS tool, which bank regulators use to gauge bank financial condition as part of off-site surveillance. Both the choice of variables and the factors that they represent affect regulatory opinion on the nature of bank problem and policy measures applicable. By performing discriminant analysis on typical variables used in formulating the framework of CAMELS, the study shows that some variables in the Nigerian formulation did not influence bank financial condition. In addition, typical variables that prove useful in explaining bank financial condition in the case of Nigeria were not included in the Nigerian formulation. The study further reports the adequacy of the so-called earnings-warning factor alone in discriminating across categories of weak, normal and strong banks. It reflects structural operating problem that had plagued Nigerian banks over the years which policy prescriptions appeared to miss.earnings warning; Nigerian banking; bank financial condition; CAMELS; discriminant analysis; critical accounting; Nigeria; financial failures; bank failures.