Determinants of Rural Households’ Poultry Chicken Breeds Choice in Wolaita, Ethiopia

To achieve increased productivity in poultry chicken, households’ choice of poultry chicken breeds should be maintained according to their desirability. This study aimed at identifying determinants of rural households’ choice of poultry chicken breeds keeping in Wolaita, Ethiopia. Multistage sampling techniques were used. First, Damot Pulasa district was selected purposively because of high poultry production potential, and then simple random sampling technique was used to select five kebeles and at third stage systematic random sampling was used to select 160 rural households. Data were collected through interview schedule and analyzed using descriptive statistics and econometric regression. Result showed that 54.37% of households owned indigenous poultry chicken breed, 38% owned exotic poultry chicken breeds and 7.63% owned both indigenous and exotic poultry chicken breeds. Households attached socioeconomic, demographic and institutional factors and breed related traits to their poultry chicken breed choices. Indigenous chicken breeds were preferred in mothering ability, disease resistance, scavenging ability; taste of meat and egg traits whereas exotic poultry chicken breeds were preferred for growth rate, productivity and total eggs laid per chicken per year. In addition, Multinomial Logit model result indicated that age and education level of household head determined poultry chicken breed choice. To be effective and efficient any poultry chicken breed promotion effort in the future should consider these particular preferences of households.

Small and Medium Scale Enterprises’ Activities and Eonomic Developmemnt in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area, Rivers State, Nigeria

This paper assesses the impact of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) activities on economic development in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. To achieve this theme, an instrument Called Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Survey Questionnaire (SMEQ) was developed which focused more on employment generation and poverty reduction. The population of the study was chosen based on the two thousand six hundred and thirty-four (2634) registered SMEs with the Rivers State Ministry of Commerce and Industry in 2019. Based on simple random sampling technique, a total of three hundred and thirty-eight (338) respondents were sampled. Relying on descriptive statistics and logistic regression estimation techniques, the data were analyzed. Analyses of the respondents’ opinion suggest that the major businesses engaged in the study area were restaurant, tailoring and beauty/hair dressing. Again, majority of the respondents were of the opinion that SMEs operators do not have increased access to basic social-economic amenities. The output of the logistic regression result has it that an increase in firm size can improve the chances of SMEs fostering economic development in Obio-Akpor while increase in the salary of employees could also enhance the chances of SMEs to redress the rising poverty level too. The paper thus recommends that employment tax incentives should be granted to proprietors of SMEs and taming of the rising insecurity cases across the country. Received: 11 September 2021 / Accepted: 25 November 2021 / Published: 5 January 2022

The Practice of Total Quality Management and Sustainable Competitive Advantage: Perspectives from Commercial Banks in Nigeria

The practices of Total Quality Management result in stimulating property competitive advantage in elected Nigerian business banks. Was the fulcrum of this study. The survey analysis style was adopted to extract acceptable information from respondents (contract and permanent) staff chosen from old (3) and new (3) generation banks quoted within the Nigerian securities market. The five point Likert scale for structured questionnaire was administered by the investigator at the banks used in Delta State. The sampling technique used for the study is the chance sampling technique (simple random sampling) with a sample size of 262. The study used descriptive and inferential statistics in establishing the link among the freelance and dependent variables whereas multiple correlation analysis was accustomed to look at the hypotheses. The correlation result disclosed that the two independent variables for the study (leadership and high management commitment in management with total quality and continuous improvement have a powerful relationship with the variable quantity (sustainable competitive advantage). The regression result indicated that each one of the freelance variables had a positive result and an important relationship with a property competitive advantage. Amongst others, the study suggested that: the leadership/top management team should always live by example by incessantly exhibiting behaviors that support the operational objectives and show huge support in each means potential. They have to perpetually make sure also that there's no disconnect between the building blocks of operational excellence: individuals, strategy, structure processes, and technology and encourage perpetually on the means. The study additionally suggested that for Nigerian banks to perform optimally, there's a desire for all TQM practices to be tangled towards enhancing property competitive advantage, and there ought to exist a larger commitment to TQM practices.

Integrated Approach to Quantify the Impact of Land Use and Land Cover Changes on Water Quality of Surma River, Sylhet, Bangladesh

This study aims to assess the impacts of land use and land cover (LULC) changes on the water quality of the Surma river in Bangladesh. For this, seasonal water quality changes were assessed in comparison to the LULC changes recorded from 2010 to 2019. Obtained results from this study indicated that pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and total dissolved solids (TDS) concentrations were higher during the dry season, while dissolved oxygen (DO), 5-day biological oxygen demand (BOD5), temperature, total suspended solids (TSS), and total solids (TS) concentrations also changed with the season. The analysis of LULC changes within 1000-m buffer zones around the sampling stations revealed that agricultural and vegetation classes decreased; while built-up, waterbody and barren lands increased. Correlation analyses showed that BOD5, temperature, EC, TDS, and TSS had a significant relationship (5% level) with LULC types. The regression result indicated that BOD5 was sensitive to changing waterbody (predictors, R2 = 0.645), temperature was sensitive to changing waterbodies and agricultural land (R2 = 0.889); and EC was sensitive to built-up, vegetation, and barren land (R2 = 0.833). Waterbody, built-up, and agricultural LULC were predictors for TDS (R2 = 0.993); and waterbody, built-up, and barren LULC were predictors for TSS (R2 = 0.922). Built-up areas and waterbodies appeared to have the strongest effect on different water quality parameters. Scientific finding from this study will be vital for decision makers in developing more robust land use management plan at the local level.

Impact of Financial Leverage on Profitability of Reliance Industries LTD

Oil and gas sector is among the eight core industries in India and plays a major role in influencing decision making for all the other important sections of the economy. The main purpose of the study is to examine the impact of financial leverage on the profitability of reliance industries ltd. The study verifies two hypotheses first is There is no significant relationship between financial leverage with Profitability and Second one There is no significant impact of financial leverage on profitability of Reliance Industries Ltd during the study period. Financial leverage is taken as independent variable and Net Profit Ratio (NPR), Earning per share (EPS), Return on Equity (ROE) and Return on Asset (ROA) are taken as dependent variable. The data collected over period of 2016-17 to 2020-21 regarding financial leverage and profitability from annual consolidated financial statement of Reliance Industries Ltd. Correlation is used to know the relationship between financial leverage with Profitability. Linear regression is used to examine the impact of leverage on profitability. The results showed that there is no significant relationship between financial leverage with NPR and significant positive relationship between financial leverage with EPS, ROE and ROA. Regression result shows that there is no significant impact of leverage on profitability of reliance industries ltd during the study period.

Assessing the Impact of Strategic Management Practices on the Performance of Commercial Banks in Makurdi – Nigeria

The aim of this study is to assess the impact of strategic management practices on the performance of some commercial banks in Makurdi – Nigeria. The study utilized primary data obtained through structured questionnaire administered to 160 respondents sampled from seven commercial banks in the study area. The collected data from the study were analyzed using descriptive statistics, percentages, correlation and regression analysis. The correlation results showed that strategic management practices are highly positively and significantly related to organizational performance. The regression result which explains about 99.9% variability in the model revealed that strategic management had positive and significant impact on the performance and profitability of commercial banks. The study recommended among other things that the management of the commercial banks should enhance the strategic management techniques in order to improve performance.

Evaluating Agripreneurs’ Satisfaction: Exploring the Effect of Demographics and Emporographics

This paper attempts to gauge the satisfaction of agripreneurs and seeks to explore the effect of demographics and emporographics on the agripreneurs’ satisfaction. This study proposes a seven-dimension survey instrument, called AprenSAT, for measuring agripreneurs’ satisfaction. Responses from 784 agripreneurs are analyzed by applying exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and multiple linear regression. The extraction of seven factors confirms that agripreneurs’ satisfaction is influenced by material availability, government support, farm growth, farm income, market performance, cultivation & production and perceived farm image. The linear regression result delineates that demographic factors such as age, education level and farming experience significantly influence the agripreneurs’ satisfaction. Similarly, variables of emporographics such as farm age, farm size, annual income, land ownership, sources of funds, and intercropping have a substantial influence on agripreneurs’ satisfaction. We recommend information dissemination, hands-on training, the creation of adequate infrastructure and technology adoption to enhance agripreneurs’ satisfaction and rural development.

Customers’ Patronage, Earnings of Deposit Money Banks and Nigeria’s Shrinking Economy

This study investigates the extent to which customers’ patronage has affected, caused and associated with the earnings of deposit money banks in Nigeria in the present Covid-19 era. An ex-post-facto design was adopted leading to data sourced from annual reports and accounts of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria. A simple regression model was applied in gauging the effect of Customers’ patronage on Profit before Tax, Granger Causality Test determined whether Profit before Tax was caused by Customers’ Patronage while Correlational Analysis confirmed the relationship between the focal variables. Simple regression result reveals that an increase in Total Deposit will significantly increase Profit Before Tax (87%) in the banking industry. Correlation analysis, which is the anchor tool, shows that Total Deposit has a strong relationship with Profit Before Tax of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria. Lastly, Granger Causality Test reveals that Total Deposit Granger Causes Profit Before Tax in Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria. The findings imply that Total Deposit is a strong determinant of movements in the level of earnings of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria. It was observed that a greater percentage of customers, even as the economy shrinks into recession after recession, prefer keeping their money with the bank as deposits expecting to earn interest on the investment. The study recommends that banks should strive, through enhanced packages, to mobilize deposits in order to enhance their earnings.

Does Real Earnings Management Explain Cost of Debt? Evidence from an Emerging Economy

This study tested the relationship between real earnings management and debt cost in Vietnam, a developing market. We used the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) Technique on a sample of 241 listed firms in Vietnam for 7 years from 2010 to 2016, with a total of 1687 observations collected. The regression result showed a positive association between real earnings management and cost of debt. The results of the study revealed that real earnings management is shown through the rising transactions and directly affected financial reports, thereby affecting creditors by affecting their cost of debt. This can be seen as the driving force for listed companies to increase the quality of their financial information. Our study only focussed on earnings manipulation through real earnings management (REM) to affect transaction costs in Vietnam. The research explains the relationship between managerial behavior (real earnings management) and direct influence on creditors' behavior (cost of debt capital). The result would give outside stakeholders an overall view about the usage of REM in Vietnamese listed firms, the reasonable action of investors, financial institutions, banks, etc on the debt market to reduce risk and the signal of warning for regulators and policy-makers. Keywords: real activities earnings management, cost of debt capital

The Impact of Sustainable Environmental Innovation on Companies’ Financial Performance in Far East Asia for the Period of 2012-2019

This study aims to determine the effect of environmental innovation on companies’ financial performance. The total sample used in this research is 275 publicly listed companies operating in China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines for the period of 2012-2019. In constructing the analysis, this study uses balanced panel data and robust fixed effect model. The result suggests insignificant relationship between environmental innovation and companies’ financial performance in the short-term. While in the longer term, this study shows a significant relationship between environmental innovation and companies’ financial performance. However, there are inconsistencies still found in the relationship between the two variables due to negative and positive associations in the regression result. This is mainly because the innovation success can be affected by other factors such as the innovation management and the market introduction timing as well. Thus, future research needs to take those factors into account when trying to identify the impact of innovation on financial performance.