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

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