Implementation Of Strategic Management: The Challenges And Implications For Organizational Change

Creativity and innovation is the new game plan inherent in strategic management. Only the discerning organizations can manage the changes and vagaries through the implementation of effective strategic management. This article examines the concept of strategic management and its implication for organizational effectiveness in line with the trend of globalization. African Research Review Vol. 1 (1) 2007: pp. 95-11

Entrepreneurship with Special Reference to the Status of Small Business Entrepreneurship: A Case Study Of Gondar, Ethiopia

This paper looks at the concept of Small Business Entrepreneurship in Gondar, Ethiopia, reviewed its performance using some basic indicators. The study revealed that entrepreneurship development is essential not only to solve the problem of economic development but also to solve the problem of unemployment, unbalanced area development, concentration of economic power and diversion of profits from traditional sources or avenues. It noted that financial and physical facilities are not the only crucial inputs in the development of small business entrepreneurship, other inputs like government and support service systems. The small business enterprises and entrepreneurs faced the main problems of poor start-up capital and other financial constraints, technological obsolescence, poor managerial skills and knowledge, irregular supply of raw materials. Other problems include, poor marketing techniques and strategies, unorganized nature of operations, sole proprietorship dominated ownership structure, unskilled labour force and family management dominance, other infrastructural deficiencies and poor government support and encouragement, etc. It recommended that to improve the functioning and performance of small business entrepreneurship in Gondar, the following issues should be critically addressed: liberalization of government policies, attitudinal changes and proper training and development of existing and would-be entrepreneurs in the use of latest technology. Other recommendations include, 20 adequate training on modern management practice on human resource, financial, marketing, production, and innovation, effective management information systems, setting up an apex institution to regulate and monitor entrepreneurship education, etc. African Research Review Vol. 1 (2) 2007: pp. 19-4

The Impact of Information Communication Technologies in the Strategic Management of Financial Institutions

ICTs have contributed a lot in the strategic and operations management of financial institutions all over the world. Today, ICT is employed in all the departments of most financial institutions such as operations, customer services, marketing, administration, human resource, procurement, accounting, financial management, etc. The general consensus among various academicians is that ICTs have improved the processes of operations and management. It has also played significant roles in strategic and operational management and also determined the marketing mix, strategic decisions, ownerships, management and partnerships such as alliances and mergers. This study investigated the role of ICTs in the strategic and operational management of financial institutions using a qualitative research method involving the interview of top managements and operational staffs of four selected banks in the United Kingdom and Nigeria. Findings revealed that ICTs have indeed contributed a lot in improving the functioning of all departments of the selected banks such as marketing, operations, HR, finance, call centers, customer services, etc. The benefits gained by the various banks after the implementation of ICTs include better online and offline support for their customers, ROI justification, profitable sales volume, reduction of queues in the banking halls, and very interactive websites. There are however, many departments and other functional areas where ICTs have not been fully utilized. Moreover, many financial institutions have not fully adopted and applied ICT to all functional areas. The study recommends that these can be resolved through proper training, i.e. the provision of ICT related training to employees with respect to the strategic and operational management of the banks as well as exploration of the importance of the recruitment of external consultants who are specialized in their respective fields to render solid support

Adoption Triggers and Barriers of Mobile Banking Services in Nigeria

There has been tremendous growth in mobile banking penetration in many countries in the developed and developing economies and most interestingly in a number of developing countries such as Nigeria. Yet there are numbers of opportunities and threats in the mobile banking systems. However the major threat of mobile banking is its non-adoption by the banking customers. This research focuses on the perceived barriers to mobile banking adoption in Nigeria as a developing economy. The study adopted an exploratory qualitative method and this was conducted among banking customers spread across three regions of North, West and East of Nigeria. The basis of participants’ selection was being active customers of the Nigerian banks. Findings indicate that there is intention to adopt the mobile banking services; unfortunately, the intentions cannot be translated into action due mainly to lack of trust on issues such as the delivery channels/technology, communication infrastructures, government policies, etc. Findings further revealed that majority of respondents do not use internet and mobile banking services, due to several identified barriers. There is however a preference for the traditional banking approaches as opposed to the mobile banking services. The study recommends that banks and other financial institutions embark on massive awareness campaig

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF OPERATIONAL RISKS IN FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Risks abound in all spheres of life and mitigating same and its effects has become an uphill task especially for profit making organisations and financial institutions all over the world. The global financial crisis of 2008 has been attributed to depletion of trust in the banking sector and demise of some business organisations. One wonders if the banks and organisations concerned are doing anything to manage the risks of market failures with a view to maintaining good reputations in order to win back customers’ trusts and loyalties. The new formidable cyber warfare was also x-rayed with a detailed exploration of its debilitating effects on business continuity. In achieving the objectives of this study, the risk management strategies adopted by banks and other business organisations was explored. And the organisational culture was also explored to ascertain the extent of its effects on the risk management strategies adopted. Among others, this study recommends that in the spirit of contributing to the international convergence of modern supervisory practices, organizations and financial institutions must extend their arms of cooperation to other international bodies

Quantum flux effects on the energy spectra and thermo-magnetic properties in 2D Schrodinger equation with Mobius square potential

A 2D Schrodinger equation with interacting Mobius square potential model is solved using Nikiforov-Uvarov Functional Analysis (NUFA) formalism. The energy spectra and the corresponding wave function for the linearly and exponentially varying quantum magnetic flux are obtained analytically in a closed form. The evaluated energy spectra are used to obtain an expression for the partition functions for the two cases comprises of the linearly and exponentially varying quantum magnetic flux and vis-a-vis is use to evaluate other thermodynamic and magnetic properties for the system. The results are used to study the free energy, mean energy, the entropy, specific heat, magnetization, magnetic susceptibility and the persistent current of the system. The numerical bound state energies are computed.Comment: 39 Pages, 64 figure

Measurement of triple gauge boson couplings from WW production at LEP energies up to 189 GeV

A measurement of triple gauge boson couplings is presented, based on W-pair data recorded by the OPAL detector at LEP during 1998 at a centre-of-mass energy of 189 GeV with an integrated luminosity of 183 pb^-1. After combining with our previous measurements at centre-of-mass energies of 161-183 GeV we obtain k_g=0.97 +0.20 -0.16, g_1^z=0.991 +0.060 -0.057 and lambda_g=-0.110 +0.058 -0.055, where the errors include both statistical and systematic uncertainties and each coupling is determined by setting the other two couplings to their SM values. These results are consistent with the Standard Model expectations.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J.

Search for the Standard Model Higgs Boson with the OPAL Detector at LEP

This paper summarises the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies up to 209 GeV performed by the OPAL Collaboration at LEP. The consistency of the data with the background hypothesis and various Higgs boson mass hypotheses is examined. No indication of a signal is found in the data and a lower bound of 112.7GeV/C^2 is obtained on the mass of the Standard Model Higgs boson at the 95% CL.Comment: 51 pages, 21 figure

W Boson Polarisation at LEP2

Elements of the spin density matrix for W bosons in e+e- -> W+W- -> qqln events are measured from data recorded by the OPAL detector at LEP. This information is used calculate polarised differential cross-sections and to search for CP-violating effects. Results are presented for W bosons produced in e+e- collisions with centre-of-mass energies between 183 GeV and 209 GeV. The average fraction of W bosons that are longitudinally polarised is found to be (23.9 +- 2.1 +- 1.1)% compared to a Standard Model prediction of (23.9 +- 0.1)%. All results are consistent with CP conservation.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, Submitted to Phys. Letts.