EFFECTIVENESS OF GOVERNMENT EXPORT SUPPORT PROGRAMMES IN NIGERIA: AN EXPLORATORY INQUIRY

Abstract Current statistics indicate a considerably untapped potential in overseas market

Total Quality Management Practices and Organizational Performance

This article examined Total Quality Management (TQM) practices and organizational performance using data gathered from Cway Water Group, Lagos to consummate the study. Total quality management aims at enhancing the quality of products, services and processes in all departments and sections in an organization. Sometimes improvement in quality gives rise to increased cost. The paper, therefore, critically examined the extent to which drive for total quality ultimately impinges on corporate performance. Descriptive research design was adopted. Data were gathered from respondents using structured questionnaire.  A total of 325 respondents were used as sample size for the study. The data gathered were analyzed using tables and percentages.  Three hypotheses were formulated and tested using SPSS statistical software with regression and correlation analysis. The test of hypotheses revealed that TQM has significant effect on organizational performance as the P-Value was found to be less than 0.05 occasioning the rejection of the null hypothesis.  The test also revealed that TQM has positive effect on customer satisfaction.  The paper recommended that top management of organizations should make TQM practices top priority in their operations in the interest of sustainable performance

Total Quality Management Practices and Organizational Performance

This article examined Total Quality Management (TQM) practices and organizational performance using data gathered from Cway Water Group, Lagos to consummate the study. Total quality management aims at enhancing the quality of products, services and processes in all departments and sections in an organization. Sometimes improvement in quality gives rise to increased cost. The paper, therefore, critically examined the extent to which drive for total quality ultimately impinges on corporate performance. Descriptive research design was adopted. Data were gathered from respondents using structured questionnaire.  A total of 325 respondents were used as sample size for the study. The data gathered were analyzed using tables and percentages.  Three hypotheses were formulated and tested using SPSS statistical software with regression and correlation analysis. The test of hypotheses revealed that TQM has significant effect on organizational performance as the P-Value was found to be less than 0.05 occasioning the rejection of the null hypothesis.  The test also revealed that TQM has positive effect on customer satisfaction.  The paper recommended that top management of organizations should make TQM practices top priority in their operations in the interest of sustainable performance

Data Mining Approach for Target Marketing SMEs in Nigeria

Presently, in addition to the lack of funds experienced by SMEs in Nigeria, the main challenges experienced by SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) in Nigeria has to do with them not being able to understand and the apply marketing concept. Also there are a lot of resources being wasted inmarketing campaign which does not target anybody in particular. This study is therefore focused on finding the target market of SMEs using the K-means clustering technique in combination with sentiment analysis, also known as opinion mining. The study also aims at recommending the best medium to market these SMEs as discovered from the output of the analysis. The result of this research will give positive direction to improving the profit of small and medium business through target marketing. Also, this study is not trivial because it will help to reduce marketing cost through target marketing. The study also helps to discover the opinion of the populace on the small andmedium business and the medium through which they can be targeted. This discovery will definitely form solid foundation for further marketing action and improve their profit.Keywords: Data Mining, K-means Clustering, Target Marketing, Sentiment Analysis, SME, Opinion Mining

A Review of the Impacts SMEs as Social Agents of Economic Liberations in Developing Economies

1/w hene.f/ts 1!1 o hooming .\ 1//~ sector can be seen in the creation of a sound industrial hm,· for an emerging eumonn It rang!'~ .fi"om the prm·iswn of' employment, sources of subsistencl'. ,·,luiwble distrthution of IIK0111es to its citi::ens. to deployment of domestic savings for investments. It ul.111 include. bw not limited. to the increase in capital financial gains. important contribution to Cross I >omestic Product (CIJI'i lwrnessing c1{ natil·e raw materials. curtailing rural-urban migration and efficient uti!i::ation o(a nation·.\ resource. as can b~ seen in the case of Taiwan. South Korea, Singapore. <'t( These are cowuries that were huilt on a d\'namic SML sector 1/owever. many less developed economies /w,·e not bel'n a hie to jullt· utili::e the 111cmv henejits of this sl'ctor. perhaps due to ignorance. This revietr <'\llmined the ntenlto which these .1ocial agems (S\1/~s) which hm·e libera!i::ed several economies oflhe d, l'e!opl'd coumries. such as the { nitecl States. { nited 1\ ingdom. Wider Europe and the BRICS countrh ' 1 Bra:: if. R11.11i11. India. ( 'llina wul So111h .lji-icaJ is being treated with levity within the developing econnlllll'.\. The sttu!r howet'l.'r. focuses 011 the .)',\/Es operating within the Nigerian state. It employed in its ennrety !he re1•ie1r ofsecondw:t· duta , 1171/findings revealed a plethora of issues. Of note was the facl that despite the benefit~ of this l'ihrulll sector to the \'igerian economy. the government policies, infrastructures. finances ammtgst others are not Jhl'omble for its gr01111t all(/ sustainability. The authors recommend that the 1\igerian gm·~mlll<'llt as well os gm·emme/11 of other developing economies must invest substamial!t·to the growth. de,·elollllte/11 011(/ sustainohility of SM!~·s through the provision of essential inji·a.1tructures. 1111111111111 er. microfiiiWICI'. 1·ecurin• am/ adequate po!inji-cunework

A Systematic Review of Consumer Behaviour Prediction Studies

Due to the importance of Customer behaviour prediction, it is necessary to have a systematic review of previous studies on this subject. To this effect, this paper therefore provides a systematic review of Customer behaviours prediction studies with a focus on components of customer relationship management, methods and datasets. In order to provide a comprehensive literature review and a classification scheme for articles on this subject 74 customer behaviour prediction papers in over 25 journals and several conference proceedings were considered between the periods of 1999-2014. Two hundred and thirty articles were identified and reviewed for their direct relevance to predicting customer behaviour out of which 74 were subsequently selected, reviewed and classified appropriately. The findings show that the literature on predicting customer behaviour is ongoing and is of most importance to organisation. It was observed that most studies investigated customer retention prediction and organizational dataset were mostly used for the prediction as compared to other form of dataset. Also, comparing the statistical method to data mining in predicting customer behaviour, it was discovered through this review that data mining is mostly used for prediction. On the other hand, Artificial Neural Network is the most commonly used data mining method for predicting customer behaviour. The review was able to identify the limitations of the current research on the subject matter and identify future research opportunities in customer behaviour prediction.Keywords: Consumer Behaviour, Prediction, Statistics, Data Mining, Dataset, Customer Relationship Management, Literature Revie

SMEs Succession Education and Family Business Succession: A Conceptual Review

This research focused on investigating the effect of succession education on family-owned business succession in small and medium-scale enterprises in Nigeria. The study adopted a conceptual review of extant literature and theories. Findings from extant literature revealed that level of education, on-the-job training, mentorship and willingness to learn have a strong impact on family-owned business succession in small and medium-scale enterprises. Succession education can form effective resilience to address the challenge of family business succession. The study highlighted the necessity for family-owned SMEs to promote succession education for their potential successors since the higher the level of education of the incumbent and successors are, the more likely the success of the succession process. It is also recommended for the potential successors to be exposed to learning the business early to enable them to acquire adequate on-the-job training for a smooth transfer of ownership and entrepreneurship which is intended to enhance sustainability among Nigerian family-owned businesses

Organisational Branding, A Strategic Tool for Engineering Customer Satisfaction in Service Industry: A Study of Selected Banks

Effective brand strategies cannot be developed without the customers in mind, hence the need to examine how brand strategies affect the behaviours of these customers to yield a good result. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of organisational branding on the levels of customer patronage. A descriptive and survey design was adopted for the study. The population for this study consist of customers from Wema and Zenith bank within Lagos metropolis. The questionnaire was used in eliciting information from respondents, which contained two sections. Two research questions and hypotheses were raised and tested. The data collected was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 20.0), for frequency distribution. Further analysis was carried out using linear regression and correlation analysis. From the findings made in the study, there is a significant role played by brand identity in meeting customer expectation and there is a significant effect of brand culture on customer satisfaction. It was recommended that management should be conscious of their peculiar corporate identity once established in order to capitalize on their strengths and opportunities, as well as improve on their weaknesses and address their threats in good time and Managers should strive to create a peculiar brand culture in line with their given brand identity, as the creation of a strong brand culture will enable the staff of the organisation to deliver quality service for good customer satisfaction