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The Impact of the Financial Crisis: Developments in the Mobile Telecommunications Industry in Africa
(African Journal of International Affairs,, 2011-01-01) Chanakira, Maxwell
The purpose of this article is to examine the impact of the financial crisis on the mobile telecommunications industry in Africa. The study focuses on five transnational telecom- munications operators - Millicom, MTN, Orascom, Vodacom and Zain (now Bharti Airtel). In order to achieve its objective, a time series analysis was carried out on key balance sheet and investment indicators of these five operators before the onset of the financial crisis in the years 2006 and 2007 and during the financial crisis in the years 2008 and 2009 in order establish a trend. The results show a clear trend of slowing telecommunications growth, revenue, EBITDA and ARPU in the years 2008 and 2009, a consequence of the financial crisis. Although affected, the effect was moderate, demonstrating the residence of the industry. For an industry of such importance, African governments must further expand the service until every citizen has access and encourage companies to integrate telecommunications service in their operations in order to improve efficiency.
On how to find the norming constants for the maxima of a folded normally distributed variable
(Journal of Statistical Research, 2011-08-05) Mutangi, Kudakwashe; Matarise, Florence
A general procedure when one is looking for a limiting distribution of Xn = max(X1, . . . , Xn) is to first center Xn by subtracting cn and then scale by dn,[6]. This article is focused on finding the norming constants cn and dn for the maxima of the folded normal random variable Xn, where X = |Z|, Z ∼ N(0, 1). We also show that after appropriate normalisation, Xn has a limiting distribution H(x) = exp(− exp(x)), which is the gumbel distribution.
Enhancement of professionalism among beginner university teachers
(Kenya Journal of Education Planning, Economics & management, 2012-02-12) Nezandonyi, Jacob
University teachers play a very important role of grooming educational learners. They are responsible for grooming highly skilled manpower that develop and sustain national economy. Beginner university teachers come with varied academic and professional qualifications. Some of them come straight from university whilst the others will be coming from the industry. On attaining higher degrees, teachers from high school, teacher education and polytechnics also join the university education system. Beginner university teachers must receive proper socialization from the university. Such socialization is called beginner teacher induction and it has to be offered very early before the new teachers experience a lot of adjustment problems. The nature of induction received by a beginner university teacher has a bearing on his/her professionalism. In order to nurture competent teachers, university leadership and its advisory committee must appoint mentors who will in turn design, develop and implement induction programs for beginner teachers. Beginner teachers’ induction programs will develop new teachers into lifelong learner masters. Accreditation of such teaching qualifications has to be done by the concerned university or a regional board that controls higher education teaching qualifications. Research showed that inducted beginner teachers stayed in their respective institutions and profession for a longer time than those without. Inducted teachers also performed better than non-inducted ones in classroom instructional practice and overall learner performance.
AN ANALYSIS OF PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS AMONG SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (SET)
(Kenya Journal of Education , Planning, Economics & Management., 2012-04-05) Nezandonyi, Jacob
Whilst educational instruction aims at enabling learners to solve problems, there seem to be less written or oral discussion on learning how to solve problems than knowing the answers. Social, economic and technological dynamics are creating diverse and novel problems that require well thought out solutions. As such it is necessary to teach problem solving (learning skills, tools, procedures, planning and evaluation processes) to learners. In order to investigate this important task a qualitative research approach was adopted. Data were collected from four focus groups of science, engineering and technology (SET) programme learners at two higher learning institutions in Harare urban. Purposive sampling method was used for selecting research participants. Twenty four students responded to ten open ended interview questions that solicited students’ awareness of problem solving skills, procedures and tools. Data from text books, internet and non –participant observations were collected, analyzed and interpreted. The results revealed that the majority of the learners do not know anything about problem solving techniques/procedures. The other group constituting about a quarter of the population believe that research and hard working promote problem solving ability but they lack the principles and skills of problem solving. A very small group indicated that they are aware of how to plan, maneuver learning processes and evaluate their performances. The study recommends that teachers must teach (SET) learners heuristics that form the basis of all problem solving activities. Learners must know the principles, skills, tools and constraint analysis processes involved in problem solving activities. These aspects must be imbedded in classroom learning activities, out of classroom assignments and examinations
INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH CULTURE: A GROWING NEED FOR UNIVERSITY EDUCATORS.
(International Journal of Business, Management & Social Sciences Vol.ii, Issue7(1), 2013-03-01) Nezandonyi, Jacob
This study analyzes the development of interdisciplinary research culture (IDRC) among the 21st century university educators. Increased demand for interdisciplinary research skills by the society prompted this research study. The few universities that offer interdisciplinary study programs indicated that interdisciplinary research principles must be enforced at departmental and institutional level. The university educators must do a compulsory diversity training course that is tied to tenure. Institutional leadership plays a crucial role in developing (IDRC). University leaders should facilitate interdepartmental and inter-university cross disciplinary research activities.
The impact of value chain constraints on potato farmers: A survey of Nyanga District smallholder Irish potato farmers (2008-2013)
(Prime Journal of Business Administration and Management (BAM), 2014-02-17) Makoni, Ephraim; Tsikirayi, Catherine M.; Urombo, Jack; Mandisodza, Farai
The impact of value chain constraints for low resourced smallholder farmers in developing countries is not readily known, making it difficult to prescribe how the same farmers could penetrate high value formal markets. This study investigates the impact of value chain constraints on smallholder Irish Potato farmers in Nyanga district in the eastern province of Manicaland in Zimbabwe. The results assist the smallholder Irish potato farmers in ascertaining value chain bottlenecks to resolve and in accessing high value potato markets. A survey of the smallholder Irish potato farmers in Nyanga was done in which the Rapid Participatory Market Appraisal (RPMA) and a semi-structured interview questionnaire were the dominant data collection instruments. The study found out that the core actors in the Nyanga smallholder Irish potato value chain included input suppliers, business services developers (market linkage and production support), the Irish potato farmers themselves and the fresh potato commodity buyers. Results also show that the value chain presents several constraints for the smallholder Irish potato farmers with the main bottleneck being their inability to afford transportation of both inputs and produce. The road network is poor and the few truckers who come to the area charge high fees which the farmers cannot afford. As the smallholder potato farmers lie in the middle of the value chain, there are middlemen on either side (between the farmers and the input suppliers and between the farmers and the market) who take advantage of the farmers’ inability to raise the exorbitant transportation charges. These middlemen dictate the prices at which to sell seed and other fertilizer and chemical inputs to farmers and at the same time dictate the prices at which to buy produce from the same farmers. Irish potato supply chain constraints are thus hindering farmers from accessing high value markets in the absence of farmer consortiums through which collective bargaining especially in relation to transportation could be negotiated. Meanwhile, Irish potato farmers should carefully screen out the middlemen they deal with as a good number of them are motivated by profiteering at the expense of the farmers.
Scholarship in Innovation Leadership and Internationalisation- The Case of Harare Institute of Technology, Harare, Zimbabwe
(Harare Institute of Technology, 2014-06-01) Muredzi, Perkins
The Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) is a new age university which prides itself in being the stimulant of scholarship in innovation and whose overarching principle is governed by developing a technopreneurial oriented graduate. Internationalising the curriculum in HIT’s understanding refers to course content and teaching and learning approaches which incorporate an intercultural and international perspective. The focus, therefore, is not only on the subject matter of the curriculum, but also on the pedagogical implications of teaching and learning approaches that will promote the inclusion of international students. The case of Harare Institute of Technology is given in this paper highlighting the efforts made in internationalising curriculum for Bachelor of Technology degree programmes in engineering and technology established in four schools since 2005. The paper also highlights attempts to enable education that produces global citizens cognisant of the developmental needs of Zimbabwe and aligning the issue to fundamental principles in global citizen education. Emerging knowledge societies around the world are creating global competition for the best students to provide skilled labour. As the global knowledge paradigm is embraced , requiring swift access to a highly skilled work force, there will be increased competition for international students, many of whom will stay on to fill the skills shortages of their host countries.
The Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility (Csr) on Corporate Brand Positioning
(Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences MCSER Publishing,, 2014-09-01) Makasi, Africa; Govender, Krishna. K; Munyoro, Tendai
The purpose of this paper was to investigate the role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in corporate brand positioning in the printing and packaging industry in Zimbabwe. The research was conducted by reviewing various streams of literature and interviews with 10 representatives from 5 companies and 10 customers also participated in this research. A semi-structured questionnaire was used. Two representatives from each of the ten competing companies were selected while customer representatives (both industrial and ordinary) were selected using the companies’ customer records as the sampling frame. These were selected on the basis of the ratio of their revenue contribution which stands at 1: 2 in favour of industrial customers. All qualitative responses were grouped into themes for coding purposes. The data gathered was coded and captured to form panel data for further analysis using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19. Results of the research indicated that15 out of the sampled respondents of 20 confirmed that indeed CSR directed towards employees through provision of health care services and education and other activities as highlighted help to improve corporate image and position. The research also concluded that communities are intertwined with companies and their perceptions matter in corporate brand positioning. Using results of the T-Tests, it was concluded that CSR programs directed towards the environment play an important role in positioning corporate brands. Future research can refine CSR input by recognizing these differences and theorizing about employees’ reactions.
Building Brand Equity through Advertising
(Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences MCSER Publishing,, 2014-09-01) Makasi, Africa; Krishna, Govender; Rukweza, Cephas
The study examined the impact of advertising on building brand equity in Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Auction floors. In this study, 100 farmers were selected from 88 244 farmers registered in the four tobacco growing regions of country. A structured questionnaire was used as a tool to collect primary data. A pilot survey with 20 participants was initially conducted to test the reliability of the questionnaire. Results of the pilot study were analysed to test for reliability using SPSS.Results of the study found that advertising affects brand awareness, brand loyalty, brand association and perceived quality. 55% of the respondents agreed that advertising changed their perceived quality on auction floors. A linear regression analysis was performed to predict brand quality as a function of the type of farmer, source of information, competitive average pricing, loyalty, input assistance, service delivery, number of floors, advert mode, customer service, floor reputation and attitude. There was a strong relationship between brand quality and the independent variables as depicted by the regression coefficient of 0.885 and the model fit is perfect at 78.3%. From the ANOVA tables, a good fit was established between advertising and brand equity with p=0.001 which is less than the significance level of 0.05. While previous researches concentrated on the elements of brand equity as suggested by Keller’s brand equity model, this research has managed to extend the body of knowledge on brand equity by exploring the role of advertising. Future research should assess the relationship between advertising and a brand association
Succeeding through Disruption: Exploring the Factors Influencing the Adoption of Disruptive Technologies in the Mobile Telecommunications Industry in Zimbabwe
(Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences., 2014-09-01) Makasi, Africa; Govender, Krishna. K; Tapfuma, Lloyd
The research explored factors influencing the adoption of disruptive technologies in the mobile telecommunications industry in Zimbabwe. Data was gathered from the second biggest competitor in the industry with over 3 million subscribers. A survey was conducted by purposively selecting 70 respondents from a population of 3,000,000 (three million) active subscribers from the company’s database. A skip interval of 42,857 was used to randomly select the sample. Customer representatives were selected from the company’s five regional offices using a two-stage cluster sampling technique. Employee participants were purposively selected from the company’s head office. A pilot test was conducted to assess the reliability of the research instrument used. Self-administered questionnaires were used in the research. Research results were collected, recorded and analyzed. All T-tests conducted produced results with p= 0.001 (which was less than 0.05 at which the tests were conducted) indicating that internal company influences such as staff competence, availability of funding and the type of infrastructure help impede or accelerate the rate of adoption of disruptive technologies in companies. Future research should however look at organizational ambidexterity as well as exploitation and exploration paradigms in organizations in the telecommunications industry and their impact on the adoption of disruptive technologies
Re-Branding and Its Effects on Consumer Perceptions: A Case Study of a Zimbabwean Bank
(Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences MCSER Publishing, 2014-09-01) Makasi, Africa; Govender, Krishna. K; Madzorera, Nyasha
The purpose of this study is to investigate re-branding and its effects on consumer perceptions. Relevant theoretical data were critically reviewed, compared and contrasted as they relate to the topic of rebranding and consumer perceptions. A mixed research methodology was adopted hence the combination of questionnaires and interviews in the data collection process. The study used a sample size of thirty customer representatives and five staff members of a local bank which has recently rebranded. Data was gathered, recorded, analyzed and interpreted on the basis of the research objectives and research questions using the Statistical Package for social sciences (SPSS) software. The mean and standard deviations of the responses were 1.08 and 0.277 respectively which reflected respondents’ strong positive impression of the bank after it rebranded. Based on these and other results, the study therefore established that rebranding has positive effects on consumers’ perceptions and can be used as a marketing tool in order gain competitive advantage and has an impact on the financial performance of an organization.
The Impact of Operational Customer Relationship Management on Customer Loyalty
(Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences MCSER, 2014-11-01) Makasi, Africa; Saruchera, Fanny
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of operational customer relationship management (OCRM) on customer loyalty with special reference to the mobile telephone industry in Zimbabwe. Motivation for the research was generated by the need to find out how customer loyalty can be created through OCRM. The research was conducted by reviewing various streams of literature and interviews with 7 representatives from the 3 dominant companies in the industry and 15 sampled customers from these three competing companies in the mobile telephone industry (MTI). A semi-structured questionnaire was used. All qualitative responses were grouped into themes for coding purposes. The data gathered was coded and captured to form panel data for further analysis using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS0. Results of the research showed that because of the highly dynamic market environment, consumers have become highly demanding calling for the strategic significance of the intelligent network in OCRM for the creation of customer satisfaction. The research also revealed that increasing organizational performance through operational CRM implementation can increase customer perceived value which results in customer loyalty and competitiveness. Our current research focused on operational CRM’s influence on customer loyalty. Future research should assess the impact of analytical CRM on customer loyalty. The measurement and critical analysis of customer life time value against company investments in building loyalty should redirect future research towards this area
Price as a Proxy of Quality: Achieving Something Out of Nothing through the Placebo Effect
(Journal of Economics, 2014-12-20) Makasi, Africa; Govender, Krishna. K
The purpose of the present paper is to critique the concept ‘placebo effect’ as applied in marketing. Most of the researches explain this concept largely by drawing on the expectancy and classical conditioning theories, which theories, together with the consideration of extrinsic and intrinsic product attributes, have largely shaped the price-quality relationship, hence the concept of placebo effect. A variety of literature, albeit not most recent, is reviewed from both the medical and marketing perspectives in order to create a rich expose. It is concluded that despite the ubiquity of price and consumers’ substantial experience with this attribute, a strong convergent support for the prediction that utility judgments are more precise and preferences are more stable, when price is considered as a proxy of quality. Future researches should transgress from expectations, beliefs and theories of conditioning to assessing how demand-related factors such as income, influence this phenomenon within the marketing field.
Time Series Analysis of Road Traffic Accidents in Zimbabwe
(International Journal of Statistics and Applications, 2015-01-02) Mutangu, Kudakwashe
In this paper, focus is on finding a suitable model for the annual Zimbabwe Traffic Accident statistics from 1997 to 2013 and to forecast the number of annual traffic accidents likely to occur in future. The Box-Jenkins model building strategy is used. The Augmented Dickey Fuller test showed that the accident data was non-stationary. After first order differencing, the data became stationary. Three ARIMA models were suggested based on the ACF and PACF plots of the differenced series, these were ARIMA(0,1,0), ARIMA(1,1,0) and ARIMA(1,1,1). The model with the smallest corrected Akaike Information Criteria (AICc) and Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC) was chosen as the best model. The Ljung-Box statistics among others were used in assessing the quality of the model. ARIMA (0,1,0) was the best model for the Zimbabwe annual Traffic Accident data. Forecasting retained the value at the forecast origin. The implications of these findings are that based on the annual road traffic accident data for the period under consideration, it is difficult to make reasonable forecasts of the number of road traffic accidents for the years ahead of 2013. This is due to the fact that the values at different times of a white noise process are statistically independent.
EVALUATING VALUE CHAINS IN TERTIARY EDUCATION: SETTING THE DEVELOPMENTAL AGENDA FOR AFRICA
(European Journal of Business and Social Sciences,, 2015-05-01) Makasi, Africa; Govender, Krishna. K
In comparison to the World average (15.25%), a relatively large (17.4%) share of the national budget in SubSaharan Africa is devoted to education. However, upon closer scrutiny of the value chain, it would become evident that education is not really addressing the broader development agenda of Africa. Porter’s generic ‘value chain’ model requires activities of an organization to be separated into discrete components for value chain analysis to be performed, and recent trends in higher education make such segregation possible, since Higher Education Institutions (HEISs) are seemingly under intense pressure to create value and focus their efforts and scarce resources on activities that drive up value for their respective customers and stakeholders. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of value chains on Tertiary Education (TE) in Zimbabwe through information gathered by conducting in-depth interviews with 12 representative authorities from the 17 registered universities (13 public and 4 private), and a sample of graduates and captains of industry. From a qualitative study using a structured questionnaire, it became evident that while both primary and secondary activities need to be well supported, it is critical that universities develop industry- driven value adding programmes in order to make the degrees awarded more relevant and addressing the broader development agenda. It is therefore proposed that by unbundling the academic process into its discrete components with well developed performance measures, a balance between university output and industry demand can be created and, thus help drive Africa’s developmental agenda. Key Words: Value chains, tertiary education, impact, knowledge creation, development. I
Globalization and Sustainable Development: A Conceptual Mode
(Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences MCSER, 2015-08-12) Makasi, Africa; Govender, Krishna. K
The purpose of this paper is to argue conceptually, that globalization entails challenges, opportunities and realities. It integrates and extends existing theory, focusing on the three pillars of sustainable development into a general framework presenting the fundamental importance of sustainable development strategies in a globalized world. Moreover, the objective of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for globalization and how development can be sustained. A critical review of the multidisciplinary literature on globalization and sustainable development reveals a lack of a comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding sustainable development and accompanying strategies for sustaining development. Through a schematic representation of the relationships of the three pillars of sustainable development the paper concludes that a lasting solution to the impact of globalization on sustainable development can be crafted when current debate shifts from theory to the development of strategies to sustain development. The model if empirically evaluated, could serve as a blue print to guide policy and global discourse on how to achieve sustainable development; particularly so in developing economies.
A Collaborative Framework between Industry and Academia to Stimulate Entrepreneurship through Business Incubation
(World Technopolis Review, 2016-06-01) Chanakira, Maxwell. A; Kanhukamwe, Quinton,C
Entrepreneurship development has increasingly become a global solution to address the problem of rising unemployment. Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) have become important tools in improving the economic performance and social well-being of nations. When universities and industry work together to push the boundaries of knowledge, they become a powerful engine for innovation and economic growth. This paper is based on focus group interviews and discussions conducted with key players involved in the HIT-Sandown-UNDP Business Incubation Programme in Harare Zimbabwe. The business incubation project sought to support young Zimbabweans to transform their technical prototypes into commercially and socially viable ventures. As a result, a total of 10 prototypes were refined and investor ready business plans were developed for capital sourcing purposes. It was only through the coming together of the partners that real transformation of the lives of the participants was achieved through learning valuable business skills, coaching and mentoring. University-industry partnerships are a useful vehicle of setting up sustainable business incubation centres.
A Heuristic Approach to a Sustainable Science and Technology Park Development: The Case of Harare Institute of Technology (HIT)
(UNESCO – WTA International Training Workshop on STP (Science & Technology Park)’s Ecosystem, 2017-11-14) Kanhukamwe, Quinton,C; Chanakira, Maxwell. A
This paper describes a heuristic approach that Harare Institute of Technology has adopted for the growth of its Science and Technology Park- an area of growing international interest. The study utilises extant literature to map the activities that HIT is engaged in, in the development of develop its STP. Expanding investment in R & D activities, ramping up investment in infrastructure services, raising the training of key STP personnel, acceleration of PPPs with major technology firms and measuring the success of the STP, form a clear growth trajectory for HIT. The findings are important to HIT, local and international universities and research institutes engaged in or with intentions to develop STPs. The key contribution of this study is theoretical and practical insights in the process of STP development as encapsulated in the growth trajectory.
Teaching and learning in higher education
(HIT, 2024-12-03) HIT, HIT
Applied education technology
(HIT, 2024-12-03) HIT, HIT