Influence of Alternative Financing on the Relationship between Managerial Competency and Efficiency of Small and Medium Enterprises in Kenya

Worldwide, Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) exhibit inimitable financial needs. While SMEs remain fundamental to economic growth, their mortality rate in Kenya approaches 90% by the second year, mainly owing to lack of credit. However, scholarly endeavors exploring the impact of alternative finance (AF) on managerial competency - efficiency nexus for manufacturing SMEs have received little attention in Kenya. To resolve this conundrum, a thorough study to investigate how AF impacts managerial competency - efficiency nexus is necessary. The study used a cross-sectional research design, employing both qualitative and quantitative research approaches. The target population was 171 SMEs registered with Kenya Association of Manufacturers. The accessible population was 136 SMEs owners/managers. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect primary and secondary data. Data envelopment analysis was used to measure efficiency, multiple regression modeling used to analyze the direct relationships while hierarchical moderated multiple regression analysis employed to test moderation. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling was used to test robustness of our results. The findings of this study demonstrate that managerial competency positively influences efficiency (? = 0.150, t-value =10.246, P<0.05), and that alternative finance does moderate managerial competency relationships with efficiency (R-Square change of 21.7%). We suggest trainings for manufacturing SME owners/managers in Kenya on the pivotal role of alternative finance to facilitate SMEs achieve higher efficiencies and accelerate economic growth

Influence of Alternative Financing on the Relationship between Firm Size and Efficiency of Small and Medium Enterprises in Kenya

Globally, small and medium-size enterprises(SMEs) hold great economic growth potential, however their mortality rate is high, due to lack of credit. The SMEs mortality rate in Kenya is 90% by the second year. Scholarly endeavors to explore the influence of alternative finance (AF) on operational characteristics - efficiency nexus have received little attention, more so for SMEs who have unique financial needs. Although AF appears to be the preferred mode of financing and maintaining start-ups, its impact on the survival, growth and success of manufacturing SMEs is not well documented in Kenya. This study focused on establishing the influence of alternative financing on the relationship between firm-size and efficiency of SMEs in Kenya. The study used a cross-sectional research design. The target population was SMEs registered with Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM). The accessible population was 136 SMEs owner/managers. The study used a self-administered semi structured questionnaire to collect primary and secondary data. Data envelopment analysis was used to measure efficiency of SMEs, multiple regression modeling to analyze relationships and hierarchical moderated multiple regression analysis was used to assess the influence of the moderator. The findings revealed that firm-size positively (? = 0.214, t-value =4.983, P<0.05.) influences efficiency and that alternative finance does moderate (R-Square change 11.1 %) firm size relationships with efficiency. The study recommends that owner/managers of manufacturing SMEs in Kenya should give attention to opportunities for sustainable increase in firm size to improve their efficiency

New excavations at the HWK EE site: Archaeology, paleoenvironment and site formation processes during late Oldowan times at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

This paper reports the results of renewed fieldwork at the HWK EEsite(Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania). HWK EEis positioned across the boundary between Lower andMiddle Bed II, a crucialinterval for studyingthe emergence of the Acheulean at Olduvai Gorge. Our excavations at HWK EEhave produced one of the largest collections of fossils and artefacts from any Oldowan site, distributed across several archaeological units and a large excavation surface in four separate trenches thatcan be stratigraphically correlated. Here we present the main stratigraphic and archaeological units and discuss site formation processes.Results show a great density of fossils and stone tools vertically through two stratigraphic intervals (Lemuta and Lower Augitic Sandstone)and laterally across an area of around 300 m2, and highlight the confluence of biotic and abiotic agents in the formation of the assemblage. The large size and diversityof the assemblage, as well as its good preservation, qualify HWK EEas a reference sitefor the study of the late Oldowan at Olduvai Gorge and elsewhere in Africa. In addition, thedescriptionof the stratigraphic and archaeological sequenceof HWK EE presented in this paper constitutesthe foundation for further studies on hominin behaviour and palaeoecologyin Lower and Middle Bed II

A New Horned Crocodile from the Plio-Pleistocene Hominid Sites at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

BACKGROUND: The fossil record reveals surprising crocodile diversity in the Neogene of Africa, but relationships with their living relatives and the biogeographic origins of the modern African crocodylian fauna are poorly understood. A Plio-Pleistocene crocodile from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, represents a new extinct species and shows that high crocodylian diversity in Africa persisted after the Miocene. It had prominent triangular "horns" over the ears and a relatively deep snout, these resemble those of the recently extinct Malagasy crocodile Voay robustus, but the new species lacks features found among osteolaemines and shares derived similarities with living species of Crocodylus. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The holotype consists of a partial skull and skeleton and was collected on the surface between two tuffs dated to approximately 1.84 million years (Ma), in the same interval near the type localities for the hominids Homo habilis and Australopithecus boisei. It was compared with previously-collected material from Olduvai Gorge referable to the same species. Phylogenetic analysis places the new form within or adjacent to crown Crocodylus. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The new crocodile species was the largest predator encountered by our ancestors at Olduvai Gorge, as indicated by hominid specimens preserving crocodile bite marks from these sites. The new species also reinforces the emerging view of high crocodylian diversity throughout the Neogene, and it represents one of the few extinct species referable to crown genus Crocodylus

The paleoecology of Pleistocene birds from Middle Bed II, at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, and the environmental context of the Oldowan-Acheulean transition

Fossil bird data (community composition and taphonomic profiles) are used here to infer the environmental context of the Oldowan-Acheulean transitional period at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. This is the first comprehensive report on the Middle Bed II avifauna and includes fossils excavated by the Olduvai Geochronology and Archaeology Project (OGAP) and recently rediscovered fossils collected by Mary Leakey. Crane, ibis, darter, owl, raptor, crow, and vulture are reported from Bed II for the first time. The presence of these taxa, absent earlier in this Bed, point to a general opening and drying of the landscape with grassland and open woodland expansion. Taxa associated with dense, emergent wetland vegetation, such as dabbling ducks and rails, are uncommon and less diverse than earlier in Bed II. This suggests more mature wetlands with clearer waters. Cormorants continue to be common, but are less diverse. Cormorants and other roosting taxa provide evidence of trees in the area. Compared to lowermost Bed II, the Middle to Upper Bed II landscape is interpreted here as more open and drier (but not necessarily more arid), with matured wetlands, scattered trees, and a greater expansion of grasslands

Fossil herbivores and crocodiles as paleoclimatic indicators of environmental shifts from Bed I and Bed II times of the Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

© 2018 The radiation and extinction of East African vertebrate fauna have been linked to key climatic changes that occurred around 2.8, 1.7, and 0.5 Ma. This study tests whether vegetation and diet changes were linked to these climatic fluctuations, focusing on the climatic event at 1.7 Ma, by analyzing the stable isotope composition of fossil herbivore teeth from the Olduvai Gorge\u27s stratigraphic units Upper Bed I, Lower Bed II, and Upper Bed II, which span ~1.83–1.33 Ma, in order to detect shifts in herbivore diets from C3 to C4 plants in conjunction with their drinking water isotope geochemistry. C4 grass expansion is known to be favored by drier conditions, and this study tests whether herbivore diets permanently changed to being C4 dominant at this key time period. Crocodile teeth are also tested to determine if they may be used as paleoclimatic indicators, since large crocodiles prey on terrestrial herbivores in wetland settings. Vertebrate bioapatite carbon and oxygen isotope compositions are found to show similar trends as those of pedogenic carbonates (carbonate nodules, or concretions), which reflect a drying environment that was changing from C3 woodland dominated habitats to mixed woodlands and grasslands from Bed I to Lower Bed II times. While a return to more humid conditions in Upper Bed II might be expected to lead to a reversal to C3 plants, herbivores in this study retained mostly the drought-resistant C4 plant diet. These results indicate that vegetation and ecosystems passed through a threshold to C4 domination that did not revert to C3 despite partial reversals in climate that occurred later. Crocodile teeth were not useful in tracking C4 plant expansion, but the oxygen isotopes from modern crocodiles are able to show seasonal cycles from wet to dry seasons, and Bed I crocodiles indicate a degree of annual seasonal changes during that time as well

Don't cry over spilled ink: Missing context prevents replication and creates the Rorschach effect in bone surface modification studies

The scientific replicability crisis has recently focused on bone surface modification (BSM) analysis, which underlies zooarchaeological and anthropological conclusions about the ecology and evolution of tool-assisted carcass consumption behavior. We review a recent blind test of inter-analyst correspondence in morphometric analysis of experimentally generated butchery marks that advocates algorithmic methods for diagnosing and measuring BSM in an effort to standardize methodology and minimize inter-analyst error (Domínguez-Rodrigo et al. 2017. Use and abuse of cut mark analyses: The Rorschach effect. Journal of Archaeological Science, 86, 14–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2017.08.001). This study overstates concern about the inaccuracy of BSM measurement and interpretation, concluding that BSM analysis is a subjective, non-scientific endeavor. Based on a minimally described sample of cut marks, it measures variables that involve inherent inaccuracy and subjectivity and overlooks how the contexts of experimental sample generation – particularly the difference between immanent and configurational processes – differentially affect cut mark morphometrics. We illustrate this discussion with experimental taphonomic examples focused on analytical context including sample construction and control over factors that affect cut mark cross-sectional size. Our analysis suggests the relationship between tool attributes and cut mark morphology is not generalizable to all experimental and archaeological butchery contexts. We show that our experimental samples capture metric variability observed in archaeological cut marks, but that intentionally incised marks and realistic defleshing marks differ in width and depth. Further, when controlling for factors that impact cut mark size including animal size class, tool type, butcher experience, and density across bone portions, overlapping cut mark widths and depths produced by phonolite and ignimbrite flakes lead to poor classification of marks according to causal flake material, which casts doubt on the ability to discriminate cut marks made by different materials. We build datasets that include diverse experimental contexts and suggest that meta-analysis can disentangle how multiple configurational factors contribute to cut mark morphometric attributes. Ultimately, progress in BSM analysis rests on inter-analyst replicability, which must be preceded by clear discussion of all parts of the inferential loop – from the design of experiments that generate actualistic analogues, to their use in supporting archaeological arguments. Otherwise, problematic expert knowledge traditions may mask arguments from authority in sophisticated methodological language and under-reported experimental context