Influence of Porter’s Diamond Cluster on Pakistan Automotive Industry’s Performance

The purpose of this study was to conduct a theory based contextualization of Porter’s diamond related and supporting industries determinant and investigate the influence of clusters, fostering knowledge and innovation, on the performance of automotive firms in Pakistan. In this empirical study the research methodology entails applying axiology of positivism philosophy, self-administered structured questionnaire after pilot study. The research design was cross-sectional, probability technique was constructed in data collection; data analysis was performed by descriptive and inferential statistics. Hypothesis was tested through regression model. Size of sample was 194. The study findings noted absence of empirical research on Porter’s diamond in Pakistan in the automotive industry. Related and supporting industries of Porter’s diamond attribute have theoretical and conceptual perspective to provide impetus for firms in automotive industry to realize competitive advantage (CA). The study findings conclusively confirmed the determining force of clusters of related and supporting industries and its significant impact on the performance of the auto sector in Pakistan. The study investigated the automotive industry across multinational corporations (MNCs), private companies and joint ventures (JV). Practical implications are significant for constituencies like practicing managers, academia, and government policy makers. The research study is important owing to its conceptual and practical perspective for industry players and policy makers to help this key large scale manufacturing industry to realize CA by internalizing the related and supporting industries determinant of Porter’s diamond.Keywords: automotive industry, clusters, competitive advantage, national competitive advantage, related and supporting industries.DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-19-05Publication date:July 31st 201

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE STRATEGIC PLANNING EFFECTIVENESS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM: A SURVEY OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN KENYA

A Journal article by Dr. Paul Katuse, a Lecturer at the Chandaria School of Business in USIU- AfricaThis study seeks to do a critical analysis of the strategic planning effectiveness on the public sector reform with special reference to local authorities in Kenya. This study targets public sector institutions as well as strategic planners. They will be able to know how to strategically and effectively plan for the realization of reforms with the foreknowledge that all the players will be involved in the process. Importantly, they will learn the value of strategic planning in the public sector reforms. The literature review was obtained from the secondary data. This was from journals, published books, articles and seminar papers. Theories on public sector have also been given attention in the study. The design of the study used was descriptive. This is because descriptive studies are not only restricted to fact findings but may often result in the formulation of important principles of knowledge and solutions to significant problems. A sample of 30% was drawn from each stratum from which the respondents were randomly picked. The stratified random sampling method was suited for this research because the population was heterogeneous. There were pre-determined written down questions that were delivered to the personnel in the middle and lower management of local authorities in the Country. The questions comprised of both open and close ended questions. The data was analyzed using qualitative and quantitative techniques. The information generated was able to create descriptive statistics namely regression analysis, correlation analysis, percentages and frequencies. The study found that strategic planning can only work if the employees already have the tools required for good strategic thinking. Further, incorporation of internal corporate governance control and organizational learning into the strategic planning process can enhance the strategic planning effectiveness. The research concludes that personnel practice and the governance issues affect the effectiveness of strategic planning in public sector reforms. It has been recommended that the whole idea of public sector reforms be overhauled and that further in-depth studies be studied on the root cause of rot in public sector

The challenges of going green to the small and medium sized Enterprises in Kenya

Proceedings of 2011 Kabarak Univeristy 1st annual International research conference. A Paper presented by Dr. Paul Katuse, a Lecturer at the Chandaria School of Business in USIU - AfricaIn the quest for a sustainable society, environmental leadership and green entrepreneurship have taken the fore front. Day by day going green has become the new environmental ethic. The literature on environmental protection and green values was reviewed with an aim of gaining useful insights for the green context. The scope for the investigation encompasses all forms of greening in a business, their internal motivation and external structural influences. The research paper will examine how Kenyan companies are likely to react with the world accelerating concern over climate change; because this is affecting industries more specifically their plans to meet the growing clamour for environmentally friendly products and services. The objectives of this research will be to assess the importance of environment conservation to companies and whether compliance to environmental policies influences competitiveness, to find out the force behind a company’s environment concern and adoption of green values and to find out if green values or going green can be used as a management tool. The ultimate purpose of this study was to collect data to assess the importance of environment conservation to companies and whether compliance to environmental policies influenced competitiveness. The research design used to be used will be descriptive in nature, which will describe the characteristics that relate to the subject population. Questionnaires will used. The research will provide an analysis of going green practices in Kenya, based on the assumption that most of the businesses do consider environment protection least in their priorities. Descriptive statistics will be used for the analysis.National Council for Science and Technolog

Strategic Investment Alternatives for the Travel Agency Sector in Kenya in the Face Of a Turbulent Global Environment

A Journal article by Dr. Paul Katuse, a Lecturer at the Chandaria School of Business in USIU- AfricaThe highly unpredictable and competitive environment has had a profound impact on the travel sector, with travel agents, who had a very fruitful relationship with the airlines increasingly facing reduced incomes due to the increased use of the internet by travelers and the removal of agency commissions by airlines. This has resulted in travel agency owners and managers searching for strategies to adopt in order to survive the turbulent business environment. This paper explores the alternative strategic business options available to the Kenyan travel agency owners / managers in the face of this turbulent environment and suggests the most viable for adoption. The author uses desktop research, through the International Franchise Assessment Model and Uniglobe Travel International as case to analyze the franchising as a strategic option for travel agents. The findings indicate that Kenya is an acceptable destination for franchisors to invest in and the benefits of Kenyan travel agents adopting franchising as a business model are enormous making it the best option for them. The study recommends the create of awareness about franchising in the country, the enactment of a franchising law to guide and regulate the business and promote the development of the franchising business in the country

Enhancing Capacity Building for Food Security: The Role of Private Agricultural Companies In Kenya

A paper Presentation during the EAMARC III Conference held at USIU-Africa from 15th November to 17th November 2016Enhancing capacity building for food security is one of the ways of eradicating hunger and realising UN sustainable development goal of Zero hunger. Mohajan (2014), one of the backbones of Kenya’s economy is the agriculture sector which has seen to contribute upto 26% of the GDP of Kenya and it also supplies up to 65% of Kenya’s total exports and provides approximately 18% of the employment formally. While food insecurity still remains a big concern in Kenya according to FEWSNET (2016), the role of private agricultural companies in enhancing the capacity building to address food security has not been critically studied to ascertain their impact since they can facilitate services and programs efficiently to ensure profitability of the sector. The desk research was conducted to analyse the role of the private agricultural companies in Kenya in enhancing capacity building to reduce food security and it was organised around the following four objectives which are presented sequentially as follows: Promoting partnerships to provide agricultural training and educational programs. Enhancing strategies for agricultural biological diversity. Providing stakeholders opportunities to participate in the development and implementation of agricultural policies. Promoting networks for exchange of information and experiences

Study of key success factors in the management of youth affirmative action funds in Kenya

A paper Presentation during the EAMARC III Conference held at USIU-Africa from 15th November to 17th November 2016Affirmative Action Funds in Kenya have been funds which have been set aside for the development of the youth. Among such funds in Kenya have been the Youth Enterprise development fund (YEDF) meant to help the youth engage in development activities to uplift their standard of living. The UWEZO fund was rolled to fund youth small enterprise. These funds have been so beneficial to the youth as they have been able to take loans and grants from the funds to uplift their lives. The current study will dwell much on establishing the key success factors in the management of the youth affirmative action funds in Keny

Role of government as moderator: Porter’s diamond firm strategy, structure, and rivalry attribute and industry’s performance

The prime purpose of the research was to examine, through empirical study, and help determine the government’s role as moderator in the relationship between Porter’s diamond firm strategy, structure, and rivalry construct and the firm’s performance in Pakistan’s automotive sector. In the study, the research philosophy was positivism, and a deductive approach was applied as the main reason to establish generalizations in the results. With a view to determining the magnitude, direction, and significance, researchers emphasized descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. Data was solicited from 166 sample respondents through a structured questionnaire. To establish the reliability perspective and validity context of the questionnaire constructs, a pilot study was part of the research study. Parametric and nonparametric statistical techniques also became an integral part of analysis for drawing objectively based conclusions. For moderation purposes, the tool was macro, Process v3.0 (model 1). The study findings aptly indicate that in a theoretical context, the relationship is not significant, whereas the practical perspective reflects that government policy does influence industry firms’ performance; however, the mediating role of government between Porter’s constructs, viz., firm strategy, structure, and rivalry, and industry firms’ performance documented no impact. In the constituencies of academia, automotive sector players, and policymakers, the moderation results shed light on theoretical and practical contextualization

The Impact Of Independent Oil Dealerson Marketing Activities Of Multinational Oil Corporations In Kenya

A paper presentation at the 3rd East African Multidisciplinary Research Conference (EAMARC III) held at the United States International University- Africa, 15th -17th November, 2016.PRE-LIBERALIZATION (1994) ONLY 6 MNC’S EXISTED (SHELL, BP, TOTAL, MOBIL, CALTEX + KOBIL) –MOE, 1995. 2016- 77 OIL REGISTERED COMPANIES IN KENYA. (PIEA, 2016) 76% OF THE MARKET SHARE CONTROLLED BY 6 CO’S. 4 MNC’S EXIT THE KENYAN MARKET POST LIBERALIZATION (SHELL, CALTEX, MOBIL, BP). Hypothesis 0 1: Independent oil dealers have led to changes in the product line and product mix strategies for the multinational oil corporations. Hypothesis 2: Independent oil dealers have led to changes in pricing strategies for the multinational oil corporations. Hypothesis 3: Independent oil dealers have led to changes in distribution strategies for the Multinational Oil Corporations. Hypothesis 4: Independent oil dealers have led to changes in the promotional mix strategies for the multinational oil corporations descriptive survey research design which enables a researcher to generate broad range of data from which to draw comparisons and differences Population- All the multinational oil Companies (7) were considered. The key respondents were the senior managers of the MNCs that included chief executive officers and heads of departments (Iravo, 2011) The questionnaire and interview guides were used as the main data collection instruments in order to gather accurate, less biased data and increase quality of the data collected (Oloko and Ogutu, 2012). Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires, interview guides, secondary data review and computer-based data review(Olsen, 2004 and Mugenda and Mugenda, 2003). A 5 Likert type scale was used, ranging from 5 – strongly agree to 1- strongly disagree, to indicate the extent to which the respondents agreed with the statements that were given. Such method was used by Oloko and Ogutu (2012) and showed a reliability coefficient of more than 0.70

Financial Implications of employee turnover in NEMA

A paper Presentation during the EAMARC III Conference held at USIU-Africa from 15th November to 17th November 2016Employee turnover is one of the aspects most studied in the organizational research (Mitri, and Gupta, 1992). The cost of high turnover can be substantial, and in fact, according to a study that was conducted by Hay Group (2004) cited by Prescott (1999), indicates that employees’ turnover could cost the companies up to 40% of their annual profits, organizations fail to recognize the cost of losing employees, particularly indirect costs. For example, if an employee leave, there could be a lost opportunity cost in terms of technical expertise, dedication, productivity, drive and determination, high achievement, creative capacity, experience, educational level, position in the industry or field or any combination of these and other factor. The biggest challenge for an org. like NEMA is to figure out how to optimize and retain their most experienced workers. To establish the financial implications of turnover on the cost of delivery. To examine the financial implications of turnover on enterprise cost. To identify the financial implications of turnover on third party turnover cos

Tourism Diversification in Kenya: Tea Tourism

A Journal article, abstract by Dr. Paul Katuse, a Lecturer at the Chandaria School of Business in USIU- Africa.Tea tourism is a new form of tourism where people visit tea plantations and tea factories. This study sought to investigate the benefits and challenges in implementation of tea tourism in Kenya’s tea estates. The study was a descriptive survey. The population of the study was drawn from four (4) organizations. These were Karirana Tea Estate, Kenya Tourism Board (KTB), the tour operators in Kenya and the Tea Board of Kenya. The study used multistage sampling to arrive at the sample size of 60 respondents. Both primary and secondary data were used in the study. Primary data was collected through a questionnaire and in depth interviews. Data was analyzed using univariate analysis and also using Chi Square tests. The study found that the level of awareness on tea tourism issues is low among the stakeholders. Plantations were found to be one of the main player as well as schools and other institutions of learning. The study found that tea tourism would have several benefits if effectively implemented. All the stakeholders including the farmers, the tea estates, the tour operators as well as the government would all earn extra revenues through tea tourism. The tea plantations were set to gain from the exposure as tourist would gain more information on tea farming and processing of the Kenyan tea. The study also found that tea tourism would boost tea consumption as it would shed light on the tea farming and processing. The study established that the major challenges that faces adoption of tea tourism in Kenya is lack of information on tea tourism issues. Another challenge was found to be lack of cooperation amongst the stakeholders. There is also lack of government support to the tea tourism stakeholders. The study recommends that for the tea industry to reap the benefits and overcome the challenges in the adoption tea tourism in Kenya, information be compiled and disseminated on tea tourism. There is also need for cooperation among the players in the tea sector to promote tea tourism