The productivity of knowledge mobilisation, knowledge capitalisation and product-related firm transmutation : exploring the case of small-scale garment-makers in Nairobi, Kenya

Highlighting the limitations of R&D, this paper champions design activity as the phenomenon that captures knowledge mobilisation at the firm level, especially amongst small firms in developing countries. Still, knowledge becomes a capital (factor input) proper when employed in production. Volumes of new products sold could suggest the market value of utilised knowledge capital the same way the resale value of plant and equipment often approximates the stock of physical capital. Conversely, shares of sales of new products arguably capture an altogether different phenomenon: product-related firm transmutation. Findings suggest that the deeper utilisation of knowledge has significant productivity effects and supersedes mere mobilisation of knowledge. Further, undergoing transmutation towards the production of more of new products relative to incumbent products has no significant relationship with labour productivity. Firms should therefore prioritise the deeper exploitation of given new knowledge rather than potentially prodigal shifts in production towards new products as such

Estimation of economic burden of Cholera in Africa

The burden of disease for cholera remains high especially in low and lower middle income countries. Africa is the most affected by the disease among countries in this category. Severe outbreaks and persistent endemicity with high case fatality ratio (CFR) continue to rock the continent due to poor water and sanitation conditions. The outbreaks are also a result of prevailing internal and regional conflicts resulting to numerous Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugee camps which lack sufficient sanitation facilities. The epidemics are also attributable to perennial droughts and flooding during the rainy season in the region. Out of the 172,464 cholera cases reported to the WHO in 2015, the Africa region accounted for 55.8%. This study aims to estimate the economic burden of cholera in Africa in order for the respective countries to be appraised on the levels of preparedness that they require to put in place as well as allocate more resource in cholera prevention programs. This was expressed by evaluating economic burden inputs such as cost of treatment borne by facilities, out-of-pocket expenditure, loss of productivity borne by individual families, from both patients and caregivers and cost effectiveness of interventions. The countries were classified by income level and based on the WHO mortality stratum. Reported cholera cases used in this analysis were derived from WHO reports in 2015. However, due to under-reporting by some countries due to fear of negative economic impact, cases estimated by a 2015 study on cholera burden by Ali et al were also utilized. Our analysis included 44 African countries where it was estimated to have a total of 1,756,703 cholera cases and 66,416 deaths in 2015. In contrast, the WHO cholera report documented 16 countries with 71,176 cases and 937 deaths in Africa. Through this analysis we estimated $74.4 million (I$186.4 million) in out-of-pocket expenditure, US$104.2 million (I$258.2 million) in public health sector costs and $54.0 million (I$131.9 million) in lost productivity of patients and caregivers. Lost productivity due to premature death due to cholera was estimated to be $1.6 billion (I$4.1 billion). The total economic burden of cholera in Africa was estimated at $1.9 billion (I$4.6 billion). Information on the estimation of the economic burden of cholera will give policy makers insight to make informed decisions in regard to prevention, detection, response and control of the disease. 전세계적으로 콜레라에 대한 질병의 부담이 지속되고 있으며 이는 저소득 국가들에서 꾸준히 높게 나타나고 있으며 특히 아프리카에서 가장 많은 영향을 받고있다. 높은 사망률 (case fatality ratio, CFR)을 수반한 고질적이고 심각한 발병은 열악한 물과 위생환경으로 인해 본 대륙을 지속적으로 뒤흔들고 있다. 이러한 발병은 만연한 내부 및 지역간 갈등으로 인해 수많은 난민들과 충분한 위생시설이 부족한 난민촌의 환경에 의해 발생한다. 또한 장마철에 따른 가뭄과 홍수에 의해 발병이 되기도 한다. 2015년 세계보건기구 (World Health Organization, WHO) 에 보고된 콜레라 환자 17만2464명 가운데 아프리카 지역이 55.8%를 차지했다. 본 연구는 콜레라 발병 국가의 콜레라 예방 프로그램에 더 많은 자원을 할당할 뿐 아니라, 콜레라 예방 프로그램을 시행하기 위해 필요한 준비 수준을 평가하기 위해 아프리카 내 콜레라의 경제적 부담을 추산하는 것을 목표로 한다. 이를 위해 의료시설 부담 치료 비용, 환자 또는 가족 부담 치료비, 환자본인 및 간병인의 생산성 손실과 치료의 비용효과성과 같은 경제적 입력변수를 평가한다. 연구에 포함된 국가들은 소득별 및 WHO의 사망층으로 구분되었다. 콜레라 발병사례는 2015년에 WHO에 보고된 수치를 사용하였다. 그러나 부정적인 경제적 영향을 우려하여 과소신고 될 수 있는 점을 감안하여 2015년에 발표된 Ali 외 연구진의 콜레라 질병부담 연구 결과도 사용하였다. 연구결과 2015년 총 175만6703명의 발병자와 6만6416명의 사망자가 44개 아프리카 국가에서 집계되었다. 대조적으로, WHO 콜레라 보고서는 아프리카에서 71,176명의 발병자와 937명의 사망자를 16개국에서 기록했다. 이 분석을 통해 환자 부담 비용 금액이 미화 7,440만 달러, 공공 의료 부문 비용은 1억 420만 달러, 환자와 간병인의 생산성 손실을 5,400만 달러로 추산했다. 또한 콜레라에 의한 조기 사망으로 인한 생산성 손실은 약 17억 달러로 추산되었다. 전체 경제적 부담금액은 약 19억 달러로 추산되었다. 본 연구와 같은 콜레라 경제적 부담의 추정에 관한 연구로 인해 정책 입안자들에게 질병의 예방, 탐지, 대응, 통제와 관련하여 정보에 입각한 결정을 내릴 수 있는 도구가 될 것으로 예상된다.open석

The Financing of Diverse Enterprises : Evidence from the SME Finance Monitor

This paper contributes to our understanding of the finance issues currently facing diverse SMEs by presenting a new analysis of the SME Finance Monitor. While prior studies have contributed substantial evidence regarding the effects of either gender or ethnicity on finance outcomes, these analyses have typically focused on either women-owned or ethnic minority owned enterprises. This study considers the experiences and outcomes of both women-owned and ethnic minority-owned enterprises, including the interaction effects of ethnicity and gender

Influence of Individual Counselling on Self-Actualisation Of Students in Public Technical Colleges of Kisumu County, Kenya

Individual counselling is slowly gaining popularity as a measure for matching student’s sense of fulfilment with the general goals of technical and vocational education. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of individual counselling on self-actualisation of students in public Technical colleges.The study was conducted in public technical colleges in Kisumu county, Kenya. A sample size of 120 students was selected at random. The findings indicated that individual counselling has a significant beneficial influence on student self-actualisation tendencies at the p<.05 level [F(1, 366) = 30.221, p = 0.000]. This indicates that those who had less benefitted from individual counselling had a low self-actualisation tendency while those who had highly benefitted from individual counselling had higher self-actualisation tendency. Implications of this finding are discussed

Commeedalism : Why Capitalism Fails and How We Can Build a Robust, Equitable and Sustainable Alternative

Capitalism is bad for our economy, our society and our planet, and we know that full well. But until now, we have had no feasible alternatives to consider for a replacement. We have never actually quite figured out what is inherently wrong with capitalism. Without a problem well stated, we have had no launch pad towards a credible solution. So we have been stuck with capitalism and sadly actually almost gave up on even the mere envisioning of an alternative. We acquiesced. This book bravely rejects such gloominess. Instead, it invokes ambition, scrupulous scholarship, conceptual iconoclasm, satire and theoretical rigour to dismantle the keystone and core pillars of capitalism. It then goes on to methodically construct the robust alternative we call commeedalism. This book demonstrates that we no longer have to see growth and equity as competing objectives. Under the proposed model of commeedalism, you will envision how we can coherently achieve economic development equitably and sustainably; how we can realise progress without the pain of boom and bust. Designed for prompt implementation and impact, commeedalism is not a utopian dream. This book sets out a draft blueprint to hash out so we can start constructing an upright economy forthwith

Households as a site of entrepreneurial activity

Entrepreneurial households have a central role in determining entrepreneurial choices, actions and outcomes. In this monograph we focus on the role of households in new venture creation and growth, arguing that our understanding of individual actions and firm level decisions becomes clearer if they are considered from the perspective of the household. A household perspective implies that the entrepreneur is viewed outwards from the context of their immediate family unit, and implicitly recognizes the blurred boundaries between the business sphere and the private sphere; business strategies and household strategies are interwoven, and business decisions are often made within the household. We review theoretical constructs of the household and examine the ways in which the household has been considered within entrepreneurship research. Not only is the household a vital component in fully understanding entrepreneurial actions, research attention should also be afforded to understanding the effects of entrepreneurship on business-owning households

No joy with banks 'round here : the geography of the usage of bank financing among UK SMEs

For many years, credit rationing has been cited as one of the major challenges universally faced by SMEs. This is thought to have important economic implications given the contributions such SMEs could make to the wider economy if they secured investment financing. Credit rationing has in the past included firms whose credit applications are rejected by banks, and discouraged bank borrowers - firms that do not seek bank credit at all, in part because they believe they would be rejected. Research into rejection and discouraged bank borrowing is abounding and a variety of policy interventions have been implemented over the years, such as government loan guarantee schemes and, more recently, direct initiatives by the UK banking industry through the Business Finance Taskforce. Such efforts have however only realised modest success. A potential shortcoming could be that since such initiatives are often implemented at the national level, they may have assumed that discouraged bank borrowing and loan rejection are evenly spread across the UK. If that was not the case, however, the limited success of initiatives to counter credit rationing could simply be attributable to a failure to deploy resources in areas and localities facing relatively higher incidences of discouraged bank borrowing and loan rejection. The purpose of this study is to draw out the geography of credit rationing among UK SMEs. The study employs the UK SME Finance Monitor data to map out the relative incidence of discouraged bank borrowing and loan rejection between local postcode areas in the UK

Taking steps to combat barriers to ethnic minority enterprise in Scotland

While it is widely recognised that Ethnic Minority-led Businesses (EMBs) make a variety of economic and social contributions to their communities and the wider society in Scotland, there are longstanding concerns that Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurs (EMEs) do still experience relative disadvantage in a number of areas. This report highlights ten areas of such disadvantage amongst EMEs in Scotland by examining statistics from three key entrepreneurship and small business databases (the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), the Longitudinal Small Business Survey (LSBS), and the SME Finance Monitor (SMEFM)). The report also draws on actual experiences of ethnic minority entrepreneurs in Scotland gathered from interviews with 45 business-owners from various ethnic minority backgrounds, and five key informants from local government agencies, charities, community associations and other organisations that work with entrepreneurs from ethnic minority communities