Corporate Social Responsibility as a Determinant of Sustainability of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

In the pursuit of profit maximization as a major objective of business organizations, several firms forfeit their social and economic responsibility whilst focusing on activities that are deemed to solely profit the firm, without taking into cognizance the effect of their operations on the society in which they operate. Business analysts have however, realized the determinant role of social responsibility in corporate performance, such that firms that are able to imbibe corporate social responsibility in their core business operations may be able to take advantage of the social reputation gained across their several stakeholders. Small and medium enterprises operating in highly competitive markets are also advised to leverage on this reputation gained from being socially responsible, if they seek ways to remain relevant in the same markets dominated by multinational corporations. Adapting a case study approach, this study highlights the advantages (such as employee and customer loyalty) gained by House of Tara, a small business operating in the beauty and make-up industry in Nigeria, resulting from the firm’s commitment to advancing the society in which it operates through several social responsibility activities. It is observed that although competing with major makeup brands such as MAC, Maybelline, Dior, Mary Kay and others, House of Tara has been able to not only thrive, but gain a sizeable market in the Nigerian makeup industry, because several consumers purchase their products not solely because of the quality or price of their product, but because they perceive themselves as buying into the firm’s CSR vision. This study therefore recommends that small and medium enterprises that may lack adequate resources (manpower, technology, capital) needed to successfully compete with multinationals, can harness the potentials in the reputation and loyalty gained from adequate investment in corporate social responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility as a Determinant of Sustainability of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

In the pursuit of profit maximization as a major objective of business organizations, several firms forfeit their social and economic responsibility whilst focusing on activities that are deemed to solely profit the firm, without taking into cognizance the effect of their operations on the society in which they operate. Business analysts have however, realized the determinant role of social responsibility in corporate performance, such that firms that are able to imbibe corporate social responsibility in their core business operations may be able to take advantage of the social reputation gained across their several stakeholders. Small and medium enterprises operating in highly competitive markets are also advised to leverage on this reputation gained from being socially responsible, if they seek ways to remain relevant in the same markets dominated by multinational corporations. Adapting a case study approach, this study highlights the advantages (such as employee and customer loyalty) gained by House of Tara, a small business operating in the beauty and make-up industry in Nigeria, resulting from the firm‘s commitment to advancing the society in which it operates through several social responsibility activities. It is observed that although competing with major makeup brands such as MAC, Maybelline, Dior, Mary Kay and others, House of Tara has been able to not only thrive, but gain a sizeable market in the Nigerian makeup industry, because several consumers purchase their products not solely because of the quality or price of their product, but because they perceive themselves as buying into the firm‘s CSR vision. This study therefore recommends that small and medium enterprises that may lack adequate resources (manpower, technology, capital) needed to successfully compete with multinationals, can harness the potentials in the reputation and loyalty gained from adequate investment in corporate social responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility as a Determinant of Sustainability of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

In the pursuit of profit maximization as a major objective of business organizations, several firms forfeit their social and economic responsibility whilst focusing on activities that are deemed to solely profit the firm, without taking into cognizance the effect of their operations on the society in which they operate. Business analysts have however, realized the determinant role of social responsibility in corporate performance, such that firms that are able to imbibe corporate social responsibility in their core business operations may be able to take advantage of the social reputation gained across their several stakeholders. Small and medium enterprises operating in highly competitive markets are also advised to leverage on this reputation gained from being socially responsible, if they seek ways to remain relevant in the same markets dominated by multinational corporations. Adapting a case study approach, this study highlights the advantages (such as employee and customer loyalty) gained by House of Tara, a small business operating in the beauty and make-up industry in Nigeria, resulting from the firm‘s commitment to advancing the society in which it operates through several social responsibility activities. It is observed that although competing with major makeup brands such as MAC, Maybelline, Dior, Mary Kay and others, House of Tara has been able to not only thrive, but gain a sizeable market in the Nigerian makeup industry, because several consumers purchase their products not solely because of the quality or price of their product, but because they perceive themselves as buying into the firm‘s CSR vision. This study therefore recommends that small and medium enterprises that may lack adequate resources (manpower, technology, capital) needed to successfully compete with multinationals, can harness the potentials in the reputation and loyalty gained from adequate investment in corporate social responsibility

Financial Systems and Control. Organisational Capability and Employee Satisfaction for Competency in the Consumer Goods Industries.

Organisational capability is considered as organisations developing its strength of competencies in the midst of economic hardship, and when faced with stiff competition so as to secure a place especially with its workforce in this present dynamic business environment. This study aims to examine if organisational capability can enhance employee satisfaction. Survey research design was adopted to assess the subject matter. Four hundred and eighty (480) respondents were surveyed among the selected Fast-Moving-Consumers- Goods (FMCGs) in Nigeria using purposive and stratified sampling technique. Moreover, three hundred and fifty-eight (358) which accounted for 74.6% response rate were duly filled and returned for the analysis of this study by using the Structural Equation Model (AMOS 23). The results from the test of hypotheses showed that organisational capabilities have significance influence on employee satisfaction @ (R2= 0.531 p-value =0.000). The study recommends in identifying the development of human expertise and skills which generates a distinctive competency for the organisation in knowledge generation, and learning, it serves as a potential for growth and sustained proficiency for the employees. The insights from this study would be of great value to the management of Fast-Moving-Consumers-Goods (FMCGs) industry, as well as other stakeholders towards the development and investment in building their capabilities that will enhance the proficiency and satisfaction of the employees

Management Thoughts in Politics: The Nigerian Perspective

Management is the coordination of activities within an organisation in a most effective and efficient way to achieve specific goals. Schools, private/government departments, religious bodies, financial institutions, sport teams, political parties are considered organisations because they share similar processes in their administration. Political parties are a group of people organised with same ideology to gain control of government by seeks for position in public office under the umbrella of the party through the electorates. However, organisations are guided by management thoughts/concepts. The findings from this study were able to establish that, management thoughts that are embedded and practiced in political parties as an organisation

Effects of Supply Chain Improvement on Operational Competency: Evidence From Engineering Employees of Oil and Gas Firms In Nigeria

This study focused on assessing the effect of supply chain operational competency of oil and gas firms operating in Nigeria. The study adopted the mixed methods approach where quantitative and qualitative methods (survey and interview) were used in order to enhance greater validity of the resear quantitative research, copies of structured questionnaire were distributed to 350 employees of the selected firms, while 30 respondents were interviewed for the qualitative research. Based on the results of the regression and thematic analyses, findings show that supply chain improvement does have a significant effect on the operational competencies of firms. It is thus recommended that oil and gas firms take into cognisance the benefits accruable when they reduce production and operation costs by investing in socially and environmentally responsible relationships with their local supplier

An Integrated Organisational Culture for Sustainable Environmental Performance in the Nigerian Context

To remain competitive within the present inherent business environment, there is a demand for organisations to embrace an integrated culture-behaviour for performance that enables them to adopt a critical engine for a more sustainable working environment. Organisational culture, which is a reflection of predominant valued beliefs, is expected to influence a sustainable environmental performance. Evidence abounds of several organisational activities with adverse impacts on humans and the environment. The study examines an organisation’s processes that can be incorporated as a culture to ensure a more sustainable working environment. This paper proposes the use of six organisational culture practices (core value, reporting system, task performance, clarity of roles, careful deliberations, and distinctive identity) to find out organisation values, as well as individual preferences in enhancing an immediate sustainable environment. The study selected 480 employees of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs) firms who are active in their organisational work processes; 358 responded, and as such, was deemed as a valid research sample. The empirical analysis was carried out using a variance-based Structural Equation Modelling with partial least squares for the path-modelling (PLS-SEM), both for the Algorithm Model, and the Bootstrapping Model with � and p-values obtained from the findings. The findings provide empirical evidence that there is a significant level of influence of organisational culture on environmental performance. However, among the organisational practices, task performance has the least influence on environmental performance. This implies that organisations should invest more in the dimensions of organisational culture with higher performance-importance, while adequate attention should be given to variables with the least influence on the target construct of environmental performance

Identification of differentially methylated CpG Sites in fibroblasts from Keloid Scars

As a part of an abnormal healing process of dermal injuries and irritation, keloid scars arise on the skin as benign fibroproliferative tumors. Although the etiology of keloid scarring remains unsettled, considerable recent evidence suggested that keloidogenesis may be driven by epigenetic changes, particularly, DNA methylation. Therefore, genome-wide scanning of methylated cytosine-phosphoguanine (CpG) sites in extracted DNA from 12 keloid scar fibroblasts (KF) and 12 control skin fibroblasts (CF) (six normal skin fibroblasts and six normotrophic fibroblasts) was conducted using the Illumina Human Methylation 450K BeadChip in two replicates for each sample. Comparing KF and CF used a Linear Models for Microarray Data (Limma) model revealed 100,000 differentially methylated (DM) CpG sites, 20,695 of which were found to be hypomethylated and 79,305 were hypermethylated. The top DM CpG sites were associated with TNKS2, FAM45B, LOC723972, GAS7, RHBDD2 and CAMKK1. Subsequently, the most functionally enriched genes with the top 100 DM CpG sites were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) associated with SH2 domain binding, regulation of transcription, DNA-templated, nucleus, positive regulation of protein targeting to mitochondrion, nucleoplasm, Swr1 complex, histone exchange, and cellular response to organic substance. In addition, NLK, CAMKK1, LPAR2, CASP1, and NHS showed to be the most common regulators in the signaling network analysis. Taken together, these findings shed light on the methylation status of keloids that could be implicated in the underlying mechanism of keloid scars formation and remission

An Organisational Diagnostic model for a Sustainable Organizational Performance

The study examines a comprehensive organisational diagnostic model, which can be used to diagnose for the root cause of failure within the processes, also to check for the state of health of an organisation. The Weisbord six-box organisational diagnostic model is consist of; purpose, structure, leadership, relationships, rewards, helpful mechanisms, attitude toward change. The model is applied by checking these key areas of operating within the organisation for problem-solving, towards a sustainable organisational performance. This paper provides a framework that managers can incorporate when performing a routine check, also a comprehensive model that can integrated for a sustainable performance