External Environmental Factors and Failure of Small and Medium Enterprises in Kano Metropolis

This study examines the relationship between external environmental factors and failure of SMEs in Kano metropolis, using samples of failed SMEs in Kano metropolis. Questionnaire was used to collect primary data from the sampled failed SMEs using snow ball method. The data was analyzed using multiple regression technique and descriptive statistics in order to establish the significance of the estimated relationships. The outcome reveals that external environmental factors have significant impact on the failure of SMEs in Kano metropolis, and inadequate infrastructure (II) is the major contributing factor to the failure of SMEs in the Kano; followed by market competition (MC), market demographics (MD), and financial inadequacy (FI). In order to reduce SMEs failure and achieve significant positive contribution of SMEs sub-sector to the economic development of the state, the study recommends that government and relevant stakeholders should create an enabling business environment with adequate infrastructures, fear competition, sound market places and financial support

International Financial Reporting Standards Adoption and Liquidity Performance of Food and Beverages Listed Companies: Empirical Evidence from Nigeria

Despite the relevance and adaptations of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) in Nigeria, the literature indicates very few studies have attempted to investigate the effect of IFRS adoption to the firm’s performance, specifically, the relationship between IFRS adoption and liquidity performance of food and beverages listed companies in Nigeria. The literature suggests that there is not only limited information on the impact of IFRS adoption but also little research in this important area of study. Based on this information and research gab, the objective for the study is to investigate the effect of IFRS adoption on liquidity performance of food and beverages listed companies in Nigeria. By using Secondary data was collected from the annual reports of the sample companies. Multiple ordinary least square (OLS) regression was used to analyse the data collected from the audited financial statements of the sampled companies. I-T test and J-T test were also applied to test for any significant increase in firm performance after the adoption of IFRS. The analysed result showed that there is significant relationship between IFRS adoption and liquidity performance of food and beverages companies listed in the NSE. The implication of this study is that, the practice of the adoption of IFRS should be given more emphasis by organisations in Nigeria. The finding of the study indicates that, organisations that adopt IFRS would be able to improve their liquidity performance

Financial Instruments: Islamic Versus Conventional

The financial system of any economy is made up of its financial institution, financial instruments and financial regulators. However, the nature of the instruments, institutions and regulations depend on the economic system and philosophy prevailing in that economy. This chapter presents a simple and precise narrations on the meaning of financial instruments, their forms and characteristics, fundamental principles of Islamic finance as well as the similarities and differences between convention and Islamic financial instruments. A case study reflecting the core merits and pitfalls of financial instruments is presented to further press home the understanding of the topic. This piece is intended to provide readers with the basic understanding of issues raised

Barriers affecting export performance of Nigerian SMEs in the leather industry

Despite the large amount of research that has been carried out to investigate the factors that affect export performance, very little research has been conducted for specific industries operating in developing countries like Nigeria. This is the case even though findings from past studies seem to indicate that export barriers are not only country but also industry specific. The specific roles of moderating and mediating variables have also being seemingly neglected in past research. This present work therefore, is a study of the factors that affect export performance of SMEs in the Nigerian leather industry. In so doing, this research evaluates the relationship between nine categories of export barriers grouped into tangible resources, intangible resources and facilitating factors on the one hand and firm export performance on the other. Based on the contingency paradigm and the resource-based view,this study posits that (1) knowledge resources barriers, (2) communication resources barriers,(3) exogenous barriers, (4) export support structure barriers, (5) image resources barriers, (6) operational resources barriers, (7) financial resources barriers, (8) marketing resources barriers and (9) human resources barriers are all strongly related to firm export performance. The study also hypothesizes that firm size moderates the relationship between tangible resources barriers and export performance and that entrepreneurial orientation moderates the relationship between tangible as well as intangible resources and export performance. Perception of export difficulty is hypothesized to mediate the relationship between intangible resources barriers and export performance. The survey type of data collection whereby self-dministered questionnaires were distributed to respondents was used for data collection. Questionnaires were mostly directly distributed and collected by trained enumerators. Data for the study was collected in Nigeria and the target sample was drawn from (1) Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), (2) the Nigerian Industrial Directory and (3) the Nigerian Exporters directory. In addition, the lists of members of the local tannery councils in the study areas were used to obtain the names of SMEs to include in the sample. Given that this research is centred on firm level activities and their impacts, the unit of analysis is at the firm level. All in 623 questionnaires were distributed and 458 were collected over a period of nine weeks for a response rate of about 74% and out of the 458, 449 usable questionnaires were obtained finally 117 questionaires were used for the analysis on exporting SMEs. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the relative severity of export barriers and multiple regression analysis was used for hypotheses testing. Findings from the data analysis provide support for all the hypothesized relationships thus suggesting support for the theoretical model of the study

The Role of Quality Assurance in Pahang Halal Food Industry in Malaysia

Malaysia in its effort towards developing its various products for consumption particularly Halal foods for both domestic as well as international market developed and launched what is reffered to as Malaysian Standard MS 1500 “General Guidelines on the Production, Preparation, Handling and storage of Halal food”. The reason behind it is the fact that Malaysia needed a platform that will improve the standard as well as the quality of its products for consumption particularly Halal food. Quality control is a key determinant that covers and influence success in all aspects of modern industry, services, as well as manufacturing and the essence of quality control is to achieve high level of customer satisfaction which will boost thebusiness performance. This Paper therefore, examined the capability of quality control towards enhancing business performance particularly in Halal food industry in Pahang. The specieficobjectives of this paper is to examine the relationship between quality control and business performance and also to identify mean difference and years in the industry. In order to generate data questioniers were distributed between the managers and the owners of the companies. Also, in this paper reliability and pearson correlation was employed as the method of analysis, the paper concludes that quality control is very vital to the survival of the company in particular and the economy of the country in general. Finally, the paper recommend that crucial attention must be given towards constant improvement of quality control process throughout organizations to ensure high ends deliverables especially when it involved food based products and services

The Intersection of Self-Actualization, Entrepreneurship and Transformational Leadership: A Review of Maslow’s Perspective of Eupsychian Management

An entrepreneur is someone often associated with venture creation, through what could be termed as bold undertaking; a process of treading an unfamiliar terrain characterized by overwhelming challenges known as entrepreneurship. Similarly the self actualizing individual is perceptive of possibilities and engaged in pursuits of interest that could otherwise be deemed unattainable by the multitude. These two, share commonalities akin to commitment to a purpose, meaningful enough to be sustainable and yet do not operate in isolation. They both work to inspire, motivate and organize people of shared vision in the direction of their dreams through transformational leadership. Interestingly too, there seem to be a point of convergence that characterize the seemingly varied motives, leadership style, and what could be seen as distinct set of attributions in the definitions of an entrepreneur and the self-actualizing individual. This possibility stems from the assumption that the quest for entrepreneurial success is more or less associated with the need for self actualization and forms the phenomena of interest this paper aims to explore with a view to establishing a meaningful convergence. Drawing from qualitative analysis of related literature and Abraham Maslow’s works in particular, effort has been made towards this end. The findings revealed a synchronized form of the phenomena with implications that resonate around Maslow’s Idea of Eupsychian Management with a recommendation for practical adoption of the concept. &nbsp