Working conditions and employee commitment in indigenous private manufacturing firms in Nigeria: managing business organisations for industrial development

2000 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chikwendu Christian Ukaegbu

Investment in medium and large-scale manufacturing enterprises by Nigerian entrepreneurs has continued to grow; but little is known about their organisation and management in general, or the nature of working conditions and employee commitment in particular. This study examines the relationship between working conditions and employee commitment in twenty indigenously owned private manufacturing firms in Igbo states of southeastern Nigeria. The findings show that these firms have the potential to contribute to the industrial future of the country. However, a substantial number of their workers were dissatisfied with the extrinsic and equity factors of their work, which are stronger predictors of employee commitment than the intrinsic/responsibility component. To build a viable workforce for enterprise success and industrial development, entrepreneurs should invest in the long-term goals of their workers, and learn to balance their own interests with those of their employees.

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2.4) ◽  
pp. 136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suresh N ◽  
Hemamala K ◽  
Ashok N

Purpose-This research examines Small and Medium manufacturing Enterprises (SME’s) awareness, current capability, willingness and ability to identify the challenges involved in implementing Industry 4.0(I 4.0) at their premises.Design/methodology/approach-A set of questionnaire was framed to collect qualitative and quantitative data from five manufacturing SME’s and they were analyzed to gain insight.Findings –3 out of 5 manufacturing SME’s are aware, capable, willing and have ability to identify the challenges for implementing Industry 4.0 at their premises. The study also found that implementation of I 4.0 depends on size of the firm. Medium size manufacturing firms had started investing in Information Technology but small scale industries is still struggling to figure out their long term benefit.Practical implications – The advancement and the integration of the technologies such as Cyber Physical system, Internet Of Things, Artificial intelligence, Big data, Cloud computing and 3D printing provides greater flexibility to the manufacturing firms. In today’s global competition with a huge demand for personalized products at low price with best quality, innovation and capability to full filling batch size of one is becoming important. Hence, to meet the market demand many large-scale industries started investing in advanced technology where SME has yet to pay attention.Originality/value –Paper indicates the Indian manufacturing SME’s preparedness for Industry 4.0. It contains five cases capturing the current manufacturing practices followed in the SME’s and their capability towards implementing Industry I 4.0 in Indian environment.  


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 1309-1336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarang Joshi ◽  
Manoj Kharat ◽  
Rakesh Raut ◽  
Sachin Kamble ◽  
Sheetal Kamble

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between supplier development practices (SDPs) and supplier-buyer relationship practices from the supplier’s perspective (SBRSP), and seek to understand how specific SDPs may impact a buyer’s operational performance as well as supplier-buyer relationship practices. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a survey of 512 respondents from the different manufacturing firms in India and applied structural equation modelling to test a structural model that proposes the impacts of various efforts of SDPs on a buyer’s performance as well as SBRSP. Findings The study concludes that SDPs and SBRSP together improve the relationship between a buyer and supplier, and this improved relationship leads to competitive advantages (CAs) followed by profitability. Results indicate that supplier perspective of buyer-supplier relationship can be improved under the condition of SDPs and SBRSP together. SDPs are driven by productive measure and competitive pressure, whereas customer uncertainty is found to be statistically insignificant. Research limitations/implications The study was carried out in North Maharashtra Industrial Zone of India, where the auto sector and machine/components manufacturing firms have been established for a considerable period of time. Results of the study are limited to manufacturing organizations predominantly focussing on the automobile sector and machine/components manufacturing firms. Practical implications This study provides significant insights into the specific impact of various SDPs and SBRSP for both academics and practitioners. SDPs along with SBRSP practices lead to improvement in the relationship leading to CAs. SBRSP suggests that trust, long-term commitments and the supplier’s perspective are important practices for relationship improvement. Originality/value The current study attempts to identify what are the success factors for the supplier-buyer relationship from the supplier’s perspective and SDPs and how the supplier-buyer relationship can be improved under the condition of SDPs and SBRSP. Hence, the aim is to develop a more thorough understanding of the outcomes of a supplier-buyer relationship improvement from both buyer’s and supplier’s perspective, under the conditions of supplier development to achieve CAs leading to profitability. Furthermore, the study analyses the effect of the improved supplier-buyer relationship for achieving CAs leading to profitability.


2021 ◽  
pp. 348-374
Author(s):  
Pamela Mondliwa ◽  
Simon Roberts

The orientation of large corporations is at the heart of how countries develop. These firms make large-scale investments and realize economies of scale and scope, as well as make long-term commitments to the learning and research necessary to build capabilities required for industrial development. In many industries and sectors the large firms have key technologies, govern access to markets, and control material inputs which can shape the structure of an economy. The chapter reviews the changing corporate structure in South Africa focusing on the implications for industrial development, the evolving internationalization of South African businesses, and the political economy of economic policy. While the South African economy has remained highly concentrated, the corporate structure has altered in fundamental ways. The chapter identifies key elements of continuity and change to explain the implications of the continued high levels of economic concentration for the economy through the lens of the corporate structure.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 1097-1114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bang-Ning Hwang ◽  
Mu-Yen Hsu

Purpose For most manufacturing firms, technological innovations are usually the key strategies to gain their competitive advantages. However, competing strategically through service provision is becoming an important strategy for most industries. A growing demand for packaged product and service delivery is blurring the traditional boundaries between manufacturing and service firms. This trend is called “servitization.” Prior research had different perspectives on the relationship between technological innovations and servitization. Some argued that as servitization exerts the innovative convergence of products and services, the possession of appropriate readiness and absorption capacity through technological innovations for a manufacturing firm is critical to the success of servitization. In contrast, some argued that the knowledge gained from developing technological innovations cannot be applied to the creation of services due to the fundamental difference between technology and service. These contradicting arguments motivated the authors to study the relationship between technological innovations and servitization a step further. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach To address the research gap, the authors conducted an empirical study based on the large-scale samples from the second Taiwan Community Innovation Survey (Taiwan CIS). A multivariate logistic regression model was applied in the research. Findings The authors found that different types of technological innovations, namely product innovation and process innovation, have different impacts on servitization. The innovativeness level of the technological innovation moderates the relationship between technological innovation and servitization. Based on the above findings, this research specifically explains the causes of the contradictory results of the prior research. Originality/value The values of this research are twofold. Its academic contribution rests on bridging the literature of innovation and servitization, and on providing a model to clarify the relationships among technological innovation type, level of innovativeness and servitization. Its practical contribution lies in its establishment of a guideline that illuminates manufacturing firms reinforcing service delivery through their existing technological innovation trajectory.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 1033-1040
Author(s):  
Ashfaq Ahmad ◽  
Hazrat Bilal ◽  
Palwasha Bibi ◽  
Jawad Hussain

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of remuneration on the level of commitment of full-time restaurant staff working in Hotel industry of Malaysia. This study also looks into the moderating effect of Special Peer Support (SPS) on the relationship between remuneration and employee commitment (EC). Data were collected from 380 full time employees working in large scale restaurants of Malaysia. Smart PLS-2 software was used to analyse the data. The findings reveal that there exists a significant and positive impact of remuneration on EC. Moreover, the results also indicate that SPS moderates the remuneration and EC relationship. The findings of the current study suggest that the practitioners and policy makers should increase the level of employee commitment through enhanced remuneration for the purpose to achieve organizational objectives.


1993 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 166-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Motori Nishimori ◽  
Ryuichi Kawamura

Atmospheric circulation patterns associated with snowfall fluctuations in Japan are examined using a rotated empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. We also compute correlation coefficients between the scores of EOF modes in the 500 hPa geopotential height field of the Northern Hemisphere (NH) and amounts of snowfall in Japan on annual, monthly and pentad time scales. It is found that recent variability of snowfall amount in Japan is closely related to the long-term variations of large-scale circulation patterns. It is suggested that the dominance of teleconnection patterns such as Pacific/North American (PNA) and Northern Asian (NA) are responsible for the increase of snowfall in the coastal regions of the Sea of Japan during the cold period for Japan (1977–86).


Author(s):  
Mykola Prokopenko

The article provides an analytical review and analysis of stresses and deformations of parts moving at high speeds in a liquid or gas. The working conditions of materials and parts of turbines (blades, rotor and casing) operating at high temperatures and loads are analyzed. The main ways of solving the problem of ensuring the strength of such parts are presented. The main ways to solve the problem of reliability of parts or the product as a whole are given: mathematical modeling (calculated determination of strength, durability and reliability); physical modeling (model testing); testing of full-scale products in reproducible real or operational conditions.It is impossible to speak about the strength of a part only from the calculation of deformations and stresses, even taking into account their change over time, so it is necessary to have strength criteria that establish the relationship between the strength parameters. It is emphasized that in the general case, the criterion of strength should answer the question: will the part collapse or not with the known laws of change in time of stresses, strains and temperatures It is shown that the considered standard characteristics of creep and long-term strength can be directly used in calculations only for those parts in which the uniaxial stress state at constant stresses and temperature is realized, when the working conditions of the material fully meet the test conditions of materials.An analytical view of deformation diagrams is considered as the main means of carrying out practical calculations of material strength. It is shown that in order to determine the stresses and strains in parts that move at high speeds in a liquid or gas, it is necessary to take into account the model of parts exploitation, the processes of creep and thermal fatigue of the material, and the unsteadiness of load processes. Keywords: stresses and deformations of turbine parts; deformation diagram; operating model of turbine parts; creep and thermal fatigue; nonstationarity of loading processes  


2008 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Rigt Poortman ◽  
Marieke Voorpostel

This study examines long-term effects of parental divorce on sibling relationships in adulthood and the role of predivorce parental conflict. It used large-scale retrospective data from the Netherlands that contain reports from both siblings of the sibling dyad. Results show limited effects of parental divorce on sibling contact and relationship quality in adulthood but strong effects on sibling conflict. The greater conflict among siblings from divorced families is explained by the greater parental conflict in these families. Parental conflict is a far more important predictor than parental divorce per se. Siblings from high-conflict families have less contact, lower relationship quality, and more conflict than do siblings from low-conflict families. Finally, when it comes to sibling relationship quality, the effect of parental divorce depends on the amount of parental conflict. Parental divorce has little effect on the quality of the relationship in low-conflict families, but it improves the relationship in high-conflict families.


2012 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 532-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Inoue ◽  
Y Nishimura ◽  
Y Fujita ◽  
Y Ono ◽  
T Fukunaga

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