Strategic Marketing and Firms Performance:a Study of Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of strategic marketing and firms performance of the Nigerian oil and gas industry. This study adopted a survey research methodology to examine strategic marketing and firms performance of Nigerian oil and gas marketing companies in an attempt to attain their desired level of performance. One hypothesis was formulated from the statement of research problem. Analysis of Variance, Pearson Moment Correlation Analysis, Factor Analysis among other statistical tools were used in testing the hypotheses. The overall results suggest that strategic marketing is a driver of organizational positioning in a dynamic environment, and that it helps to enhance the development of new product/service for existing markets. These findings,along with other interesting findings of the study, are discussed. From the empirical and anecdotal managerial evidence as well as from the literature implications are drawn for the efficient and effective strategic marketing in the Nigerian oil and gas industr

Determination of the Optimal Manpower Size Using Linear Programming Model

There would be no meaningful development lllltil manpower that involves in the transformation of production facilities into useful goods and services is well trained and planned. Recent advances in mathematical programming methodology have included:development of interior methods, competing with the simplex method, improved simplex codes, vastly improved performance for mixed-integer programming using strong linear programming formulations and a renewed interest in decomposition. Application areas have been expanding from the traditional refinery planning and distribution models to include finance, scheduling, manufacturing, manpower planning and many others. We see the acceleration of better methods and improved codes moving together with faster, lower-cost and more interesting hardware into a variety of application areas, thereby opening up new demands for greater fi.mction of optimization codes. This study applies Linear Programming (LP) model based on integer programming to the determination of effective size of manpower to be engaged. The study also incorporates global constraints such as production capacity/demand rate and allowable time of operation into the model to reflect the reality activities in production organizations in developing colUltries. The results obtained show that the model is more efficient than the existing model for effective manpower determination

A Critical Assessment of Environmental Impact on Workers Productivity in Nigeria

It is generally acknowledged that the productivity of Nigerian workers is rather low. A major challenge of this research therefore was to ascertain the extent to which the environment has influenced the productivity of worker in both the public and the private sector of the Nigerian economy. To this end, a descriptive survey research design was employed and, a sample of 300 employers was drawn from among many organisations in both sectors that are located in metropolitan Lagos. Investigation revealed that factors in both the external and internal work environment as well as employment policies as they currently obtain are llllfavourable to the enhancement oflabour productivity. It is therefore imperative for goverrunents at the federal and state levels to explore ways of improving and updating infrastructural facilities in order to make the work environment more conducive for enhancement oflabour productivity. Similarly, job and organisationally related factors and employment policies must be looked into by the respective employers for possible reviews so as to make them more favourable and thereby challenge workers to be more productive

Strategic Marketing Management in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry:a Theoretical Framework

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on strategic marketing management .. This study adopted a expost facto research methodology to examine the strategic marketing management literature in an attempt to attain their desired level of performance. The overall findings suggest that strategic marketing is a driver of organizational positioning in a dynamic environment, and that it helps to enhance the development of new product/service for existing markets. These findings, along with other interesting findings of the study, are discussed. From the empirical and anecdotal managerial evidence as well as from the literature implications are drawn for the efficient and effective strategic marketing practices in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. Based on the findings of the study, the concepts and principles of total quality management within a holistic framework it is recommended that (i) efforts should be made by organizational marketers towards understanding the relevant economic factors that affect both clients’ behaviour and the strategic options that may be adopted to cope with such behaviours; ((ii) in a constantly changing business environment, firms can adopt different strategic marketing practices since the yardstick is the enhancement of business performance

SERFing in the Scottish heartlands: artefacts and the research strategy

This paper describes the first phase (2006–11) of the SERF (Strathearn Environs and Royal Forteviot) project and outlines the research strategy developed by a team of prehistorians and medievalists. Particular attention is given to our approaches to material culture and its role in providing a context for field monuments. Previously known archaeological and historical evidence has been utilised to frame the research programme, which has engaged university archaeologists from Glasgow and Aberdeen, public sector archaeologists from Historic Scotland, the RCAHMS and Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust. The fieldwork was undertaken as part of a field school which provides training to university students and volunteers

The Impacts of Nigerian Training Programmes on Employees Performance

The success of any business organization, whether in the private or public sectors,lies mainly in the quality of its hlllllan resources. Literature confirmed that training of manpower is a major prerequisite for any organisation who wants to achieve maximlllll productivity through the efficient and effective performance of employee. Employee can only perform better through the acquisition of skills, knowledge and ability from training programme. This paper attempts to find out whether staff training has any implication in job performance, behaviour, attitudes, skills, knowledge and achievement of the goals of a business organization in Nigeria. The sample size was determined on the basis of three categories of staff namely: general staff, senior staff and management staff. Chi-square was used to test the postulated hypothesis. The study shows that effective training leads to acquisition of skill and knowledge required for employee to perform effectively on the job.It was also revealed that training has a high positive impact on employee and reduces the nature of hazards on the job in the accomplishment of corporate objectives. Finally, the paper made recommendation, which aimed at improving the job performance of staff with regard to trainin

Performance appraisal systems in private Universities in Nigeria: A Study of Crawford University, Igbesa- Nigeria

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of performance appraisal system at private universities in Nigeria. The focus of the study was on the administrative staff of Crawford University. The study evaluated the purpose of performance appraisal in private universities and identifies relevant factors for achieving an effective performance appraisal. A cross- sectional survey was selected for this study because it was easy to undertake compared to longitudinal survey and the results from the same can be inferred to the larger population. The study population was for all the administrative staff of Crawford University. The whole populations of staff were selected as respondents. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data for analysis. The analysis of collected data was done by the help of SPSS and presented using descriptive statistics, frequency tables and percentages. The findings from the study have established that performance appraisal system is the only tangible metric way by which an organization can know the level of performance of its diverse members of staff. The effectiveness of performance appraisal systems in private universities are only based on training the members of staff involved in the rating/ appraising process and are multi- rating systems. Conclusively because the performance appraisal systems used in private universities are not effective and that they exist just as a matter of formalities, the private universities cannot measure members of staff performance, hence making it difficult to achieve the intended human resource management objective

An Exploration of Customer-Defined Perception of Market Orientation:Antecedents and Consequences

As universities worldwide are being required to be more responsive to the needs of their customers, the literature has focused on identifying exactly who is the customer in the higher education industry. It is common to view the student as the customer but this notion is not universally accepted. This paper reviews the debate in the education and marketing literature about students as customers and reveals the difficulty in using the word customer to describe the student/university relationship. The author argues that the debate must move away from identifying the customer and focus on the university as a service provider. An emerging perspective on market orientation suggest that strategic insights may be gained when firms take into account their customers’ view on the organization’s level of market orientation. Recent research offers evidence on the applicability of a customer- defined market orientation construct. This study extends this line of research by exploring the customer- defined orientation antecedents and outcomes in higher education institutions. This paper accentuates the subject by initially reviewing a number of theoretical viewpoints as to why a customer perspective should be sought when assessing organizational phenomena such as market orientation. Consequently, a number of hypotheses were put forward followed by the results of this study. Correlation analysis and regression analysis among other statistical tools were used in this study. The result using regression analysis showed that all the proposed relationship were significant. The result further demonstrated that service quality acts as a partial mediator where customer satisfaction was not derived completely by service quality. This paper eventually concludes by elaborating the various conclusions derived from the study

Customers: Identifying the Needs in Higher Education

Many institutions of higher education are hesitant to consider themselves as customer-driven entities. It is common to view the student as the customer but this notion is not universally accepted. This paper reviews the debate in the education and marketing literature about students as customers and reveals the difficulty in using the word customer to describe the student/university relationship. The author argues that the debate must move away from identifying the customer and focus on the university as a service provider. An emerging perspective on market orientation suggest that strategic insights may be gained when firms take into account their customers’ view on the organization’s level of market orientation. Even the suggestion of the term customer can arouse many emotions, preconceptions, and misconceptions. The idea that students are partners in developing and delivering quality education threatens the historic, traditional academic role of faculty as purveyor of knowledge. Nevertheless, one fact has been proven over and over again. Customer-driven organizations are effective because they are fully committed to satisfying and anticipating customer needs. The future success of colleges and universities will increasingly be determined by how they identify and satisfy their various customers. This paper accentuates the subject by initially reviewing a number of theoretical viewpoints as to why a customer perspective should be sought when assessing organizational phenomena such as market orientation. The findings showed that all the proposed relationship were significant. The result further demonstrated that service quality acts as a partial mediator where customer satisfaction was not derived completely by service quality. This paper eventually concludes by elaborating the various conclusions derived from the stud

Market Orientation in a Small Scale Enterprise Environment: Importance of Product-Related Factors

This study uses the results of an evaluation programme to examine the value of a market orientation for small scale manufacturer in the mass retail market. Results show that an evaluator's assessment of a product's readiness for the marketplace and his/her recommendation for the type of market it should enter were better at predicting short-term and long-term performance than market orientation alone