Innovation and Financial Inclusion in Kenya Innovation and Financial Inclusion in Kenya

This chapter analyzes the role of financial innovation and mobile phone technologies to financial inclusion in Kenya. In order to do so, a case study on M-PESA is conducted, the leading mobile service of money transfers in Africa, which is offered by Safaricom. M-PESA services are cheap and easy to use in comparison to other formal and informal providers of financial services. It solves two different problems in Kenya: customers do not have to travel anymore long distances to reach financial services and more people can afford them. As result and in line with the literature, this chapter suggests that M-PESA services can be considered a type of disruptive innovation that promotes financial inclusion and wealth growth in Kenya.

Role of Credit Constraints on Product Quality

We analyze firms' investment on R&D in an imperfectly competitive setting. Our focus is on cost asymmetries in a duopoly model. The baseline model setting assumes firms invest in a quality ladder type of R&D process with probabilistic returns and have to borrow both at the innovation stage and the production stage. We find that if the firm is more efficient than the rival, effort on R&D will decrease less upon facing a common interest rate. We test our theoretical predictions using World Bank's Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Surveys (BEEPS, 2002, 2005) for Turkey.

Economic Development Through Regional Approach

Entrepreneurship has potentially short, medium, and long-term consequences for regions, including the creation of employment and wealth. Efficient firms grow and survive while inefficient firms decline and fall. Regions have gained a position at the forefront of the economic development policy agenda. However, the regional approach to economic strategy remains contested. The ability of regions to gain from the positive effects of entrepreneurship will depend on their institutional arrangements, the social payoff structure, and their ability to turn knowledge into regional growth through the creation and dissemination of knowledge. Through in-depth observation, examining policies, and content analysis of relevant documents, this chapter through case study of Pune Auto Component Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) from India attempts to explore and understand the extent economic development occurs when regional approach is adopted.

Electronic Government

This chapter indicates the prospect of Electronic Government (e-government); e-government, Actor-Network Theory (ANT), and network management; e-government and transparency; the adoption and diffusion of e-government systems; the usability and use of e-government websites; the implementation of e-government systems; and the significant perspectives on e-government. To the extent that e-government makes it easier for citizens to conduct their affairs with government and to simply retrieve important information they need, e-government can both increase efficiency and increase the relevance of the government in the aspects of the citizens and businesses. The significant advantages of e-government for businesses and governments include the reduced cost of doing business, increased access to information, and the growth in public esteem for governments. The chapter argues that utilizing e-government has the potential to increase performance and achieve strategic goals in the public and private sectors.

IPRs and Innovation, Technology Transfer, and Economic Welfare

The TRIPS agreement states that Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) protection should contribute to the promotion of technological innovation, economic welfare, and to the transfer and dissemination of technology. However, there is still no consensus on whether IPRs protection has achieved its goal. Thus, the chapter provides a discussion on how the impact of IPRs on innovation, technology transfer, and economic welfare is affected by the difference in the income level of the countries. The results suggest that in high-income and upper middle-income countries, IPRs have a positive impact in these variables. Nevertheless, it seems that in lower middle-income and low-income countries, IPRs have not increased innovation, spurred transfer of technology. or created economic welfare.

Analysis of the Change in the Audiovisual Ecosystem

This chapter presents a comprehensive analysis of the audiovisual sector in a moment of change and disruption thereof. The different elements of the ecosystem (platforms and technologies, regulation, uses and business models) are analyzed by making a deep diagnosis of their evolution and future perspectives. The sector is heavily impacted by the emergence and integration of technologies that modify the economic status-quo, and the evolution of the sector is guided by the uncertainty of the consumers' behavior, requiring adaptive strategies and innovation on the business models, making them imaginative, flexible and collaborative between the consumer and the platforms. In this analysis of the audiovisual industry and its integration strategies from a technological, regulatory and consumer point of view, relevant phenomena of this market's evolution have been identified, opening new avenues of research to delve in the industrial and economic impact of the observed changes in order to understand the future of this challenging sector.

Work Engagement in the Era of Industry 4.0

Understanding the human factor becomes increasingly important in technological innovation processes. To that end, different types of knowledges are needed in order to build a more engaging work environment for future productivity. This chapter brings theoretical and empirical insight into the processes of developing software tools for computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW), enhanced for cross-departmental functionality in a European founded multinational enterprise (MNE). Working with the assumption that knowledges are obtained via different perspectives, the deictic function of Pronouns is applied in the Götheborg IV (G4) model. The model shows how relative perspectives can be defined and applied in a systematic manner towards an understanding of greater work engagement for future human capital productivity. Three departments with global operations in a European enterprise is studied in how they manage human capital productivity in relation to technological advancements.

The Emergence of Social Media and Its Impact on SME Performance

This study aims to critically analyze the emergence of social media (SM) and its impact on Small- and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) performance. This study employs a qualitative methodology for gathering information which has been able to provide clear insights, good quality, and rich data from the direct source. The evidence from this study suggests there is a relationship between the growth of a company's market share and the adoption of social media. There is also evidence that SM helps to improve sales figure, brand image and awareness. The findings in this study also suggest that SM helps to improve communication between companies and customers. The main implication of these findings is that SMEs should be encouraged to establish their presence on different social media networks in order to enhance their performance.