Exploring the use of predictive analytics in reducing customer wait time in a college cafeteria

Thesis submitted to the Department of Computer Science, Ashesi University College, in partial fulfillment of Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, April 2016Predictive analytics, is a practice of extracting information from existing data sets in order to predict outcome and trends in the future. Techniques of predictive analytics such as data mining, statistics, modelling and machine learning are used extensively in the hospitality industry for predicting customer frequency, wait time, crop yields among others. For the purpose of this paper, we will be exploring the influence of forecasted data in reducing wait time at a college cafeteria, using modelling as the predictive analytics technique. Cafeterias provide meals and drinks to specific target groups of customers especially in schools, hospitals, organizations and companies at a charge. They are mainly different from the other food service providers in terms of their service styles, whereby there is no waiting staff but rather the customer serves from a buffets of meals and pays for meals by themselves. Due to this serving style, there is a challenge of preventing long queues and reducing wait time for customers to pick up food. An increase in wait time for customers could lead to customer dissatisfaction and this paper seeks to address this challenge. The objective of this study is to assess the impact of a predictive model in reducing the wait time at a cafeteria. To achieve this objective, a mathematical model is formulated to accurately predict the number of customers likely to visit the cafeteria at various times during the day. The impact of the predictions is then assessed in its ability to reduce wait time.Ashesi University Colleg

Determinants of Bank Lending Behaviour in Ghana

This paper investigates the determinants of bank lending behaviour in Ghana. Using the GMM-System estimator developed by Arellano and Bover (1995) and Blundell and Bond (1998), we find that bank size and capital structure have a statistically significant and positive relationship with bank lending behaviour. We also find evidence of negative and significant impact of some macroeconomic indicators (central bank lending rate and exchange rate) on bank lending behavior. Again, competition in the industry was found to have a positive and significant impact on bank lending behaviour. Finally, relationship banking was found to have a positive correlation with bank lending behaviour in Ghana. Thus, policies aimed at maintaining stable macroeconomic fundamentals would greatly accelerate bank lending decision. Keywords: Banks, lending behaviour, Ghan

Financial Analysis of Oil and Gas Firms

In this chapter, we show how to interpret the financial statements of firms in the oil and gas industry. We first provide a tour of the fundamental building blocks of financial statements noting items that are peculiar to the oil and gas industry. We present an analysis of typical oil and gas firm financial statements considering profitability, efficiency, liquidity, and leverage. We use ratios and present two approaches to analysis – trend analysis and common size analysis. We end the chapter with a note on non-financial information and how that complements the analysis of financial data. Financial ratios are only useful for financial information analysis, but other non-financial information should be considered when conducting analysis of performance to get a full picture

Risk exposure and financial policy: An empirical analysis of emerging markets

Purpose – This paper aims to evaluate the effect of risk on the financial policy of emerging market firms. Design/methodology/approach – Using data from 34 emerging markets during a 17-year period, 1990-2006, a panel data model is employed for the analysis. Findings – The results of this study indicate that firms with high probability of survival are likely to employ more debt. The level of risk exposure, particularly business risk is important in influencing the financial decisions of firms in emerging market economies. It is argued that since the use of debt increases firms' exposure to financial risk, firms with high business risk would shy away from using more debt. Also, finance providers in the financial market may not be interested in lending to firms with high business risk. This study also identified profitability, dividend, asset tangibility, growth opportunities, and GDP per capita as important determinants of the financial policy of emerging market firms. Originality/value – This study contributes to the extant literature by providing empirical evidence regarding the effect of risk on the financial policy of emerging market firms.Emerging markets, Finance, Risk management

Bank mergers and acquisitions and the post-merger and acquisition performance of combined banks: evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

AbstractThis study sought to ascertain the effects of bank mergers and acquisitions on the performance of merged banks in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries between 2003 and 2019. Specifically, the study aimed to investigate the impact of regulation-induced bank (M&A's) on the post-merger profitability of merged banks in SSA. The motivation for the study is to provide evidence for or against the regulator’s claims that regulation-induced bank M&As will improve the performance of merged banks in SSA. The article presents the results of the total sample of all mergers and acquisitions examined in the study and two sub-samples: the regulation-induced M&A sub-sample and the voluntary M&A sub-sample. We measure profitability by return on assets, return on equity, and net interest margin. The paper employed the dynamic panel Generalized Methods of Moments approach to analyse the relationship between bank M&As and profitability. The study found no profitability improvement after M&A across all profitability measures for the total sample and the two sub-samples. Instead, the empirical results reveal that bank profitability suffers after mergers and acquisitions across all profitability measures. The results show that, for regulation-induced mergers and acquisitions, a merged bank’s profitability is adversely affected from the beginning of the merger or acquisition to the sixth year of mergers and acquisitions. The findings also reveal that bank risk negatively affect profitability, while liquidity positively affect profitability except returns on equity. Bank costs-to-income ratios as expected all show negative relationship with profitability. All macroeconomic variables show the expected relationship, positive for GDP growth and negative for inflation

Central bank coordinated policies and bank market power: an insight from the African context

AbstractThe paper examines the impact of central bank regulatory policies on market power in Africa. The study presents a representative sample of 52 African economies over the period 2006–2020. The study shows that the individual regulatory policies of the central bank (i.e. monetary and macro-prudential policies) enhance banks’ market power. Also, it reveals that central bank regulatory policies are better coordinated, as complements, in achieving greater market power of banks in countries with strong central bank independence (CBI) framework. However, the coordinated policies are substitutes in determining bank’s market power in countries with weak CBI framework. The policy implication is that the right policy mix of coordinated central bank regulatory policy framework is important in determining an optimal outcome of bank’s market power in both an inclusive central bank (monetary-prudential) policy targeting economies and an independent policy targeting economies