Finance

The aim of this paper is explaining the challenges of Indonesian maritime development. The research methodology used is literature review through the documents and focus group discussion of the members of the Maritime Working Group in Rumah Transisi. Indonesian vision as a maritime country is a strategic way in promoting national upgrading. The combination of good economy and strong security in the concept of maritime, is expected to make Indonesian society prosperous and sovereign.

The study finds the relationship between abnormal lower discretionary expenses and future financial performance. Four measures of financial performance measures; Return on Asset (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE) and Earning per Share (EPS) and Price to Earnings ratio (PE) are taken. Manufacturing firms listed on Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) are selected for analysis and data is collected from year 2004 to 2011. Financial data is collected from the annual reports of the firms and data of market value is collected from business recorder site. Panel data analysis technique, Generalised least square methods is used for analysis. It has been revealed that there is negative impact on firm’s subsequent performance which reduced discretionary expenses to report higher earnings but this impact is not significant.

This paper investigated yield determinants among catfish farmers in Epe Local Government Area of Lagos State. A total of 65 catfish farmers were purposively selected for the study. The analytical technique employed include: Descriptive Analysis, Budgetary Analysis and Multiple Regression Analysis. Descriptive analysis was used to analyse the socio-economic characteristics;Budgetary Analysis was used to determine the profitability of the enterprise; and Multiple Regression Analysis was used to analyse the determinants of catfish yield in the study area. The various profitability ratios such as Expense Structure Ratio (0.76), Benefit Cost Ratio (3.13), Gross Revenue Ratio (0.45)and Rate of Return (0.96)indicated that catfish farming enterprise is profitable in the study area. The factors that significantly affect catfish output in the study area are: quantity of feed, quantity of labour, quantity of fingerlings and total pond size. Quantity of labour, quantity of fingerlings and total pond size had positive relationship with output of fish, while quantity of feed had an inverse relationship with yield output of catfish.

In the modern commercial era, companies and their managers are subjected to well publicized pressure to play an increasingly active role in society – so called “Corporate social responsibility”. It has been argued that an element in this development is simply enlightened self-interest in that social responsibility enhances corporate image and financial performance. To date the evidence to support this thesis derives from North America. Outside this continent evidence for any relationship is sparse. This study will initially attempt to define. The concept of corporate social responsibility and to examine its guiding principles. Subsequently, the available empirical research into the link between corporate social responsibility and economic performance will be evaluated this study examines different impacts of positive and negative CSR activities on financial performance of hotel, restaurant and airline companies, theoretically based on positivity and negativity effects. Findings suggest mixed results across different industries and will contribute to companies’ appropriate strategic decision-making for CSR activities by providing more precise information regarding the impacts of each directional CSR activity on financial performance.

Financial leverage is an index of how much company uses equity and debt to finance their cash-flow and improving the financial condition of the company. The objective of this study is to empirically investigate the relationship between the leverage and profitability of 13 Automobiles and allied companies listed on Karachi Stock Exchange companies from year 2010 to 2014. A Cross sectional random effect estimation for the dependent and independent variables were carried out in order to understand the direction of the impact between them. The results indicated a negative correlation between the leverage and profitability for automobile and allied companies of Pakistan.

The use of ICT in the banking industry is now a global phenomenon. For over a decade now, Nigerian banks have imbibed ICT culture. Hitherto financial and business transaction in Nigeria is largely cash based. This study examines the role of ICT in banking operational activities, appraise the impact of ICT on the sectors performance, determine the level of customers’ satisfaction and identify the problems with the use of ICT. It was found that ICT devices is knowledge driven process, and the procedure calls for certain level of literacy and training; but greed, ignorance, low moral value and unethical behavior have been responsible for fraud and abuses that underpin the success of ICT devices. Graphs from time Series analysis showed the performances of the 24 recapitalized Nigeria banks on pre and post ICT mass deployment basis and it was discovered that performance has not dramatically improved as expected, though better. This means a lot of work should be done on public mass enlightenment, intensification of training on ICT, moral value and ethical behavior for banks staff and hiring of dedicated people in the banking industry. Also there is a need to intensify research and development work on engineering and reengineering of soft and hardware, especially in a consortium and partnership between Banks, Academic and Research Institutions that will create a synergy effect and beneficial symbiotic relationship in ICT training and performance otherwise investment on ICT capital will be a drain.

Shareholders are normally owners of the corporation’s assets and the fact that such assets are controlled by the management body is the cause for many of the problems dealt by corporate governance. Shareholders meeting as management organ can play sizeable roles in corporate governance. The problem addressed by this article is therefore what necessary measures can further strengthen the shareholders controlling mechanisms on the corporation upon which they invested their capital. Even though there are many theories concerning their roles in corporate democracy, none of them seem to win the battle. The query of the paper is how to enhance role of shareholders in corporate governance. The paper mainly uses doctrinal research method. Therefore the rules governing shareholders meetings should be well designed in a way of enabling them play their part. It may include access of electronic voting, possibility of voting by mail, facilitating sufficient information disclosure mechanisms, adopting advisory voting and the rules necessary to such vote, facilitating easy exit mechanism to shareholders dissatisfied by majority holders, introduction of stock exchange market could enhance shareholders governance role. Moreover possibility of derivative suits by shareholders is also another mechanism that should be available to them to promote control.

Generally, tourism is seen as an essential component to the growth and well-being of the economy of Mombasa County as whole. The main stakeholders of this industry are; the hotelier, and the Mombasa County local tour operators. Mombasa is the bedrock of the Kenyan tourism industry with a high annual influx of domestic and foreign tourists. There is also presence of wild life activity in Mombasa County with the presence of Bamburi nature trail. There has been a decline in recent years in the sector. Tourism and insecurity have contributed hugely to the dip. This has led to the decline in tourist numbers and thus led to the closure of majority of the hotels in the County which were a major source of employment and commerce for the locals. The presence of dilapidated infrastructure, mainly roads, has made Mombasa County not to be an attractive tourist destination that lives up to its tourist arrivals potential. An example is the Likoni ferry crossing channel which has made the south coast seem inaccessible thus stifling the potential that areas like Shelly beach have. Solutions must be sought to reverse this negative trend. There are strategic factors that will play a key role in ensuring the growth of the tourism sector in Mombasa County. Some examples of these strategic factors are; customer retention strategies, stakeholder participation and capacity building. Chapter one dealt with the introductory part, problem statement, objectives of the research, justification of the study, and scope of the study and limitation of the study. Chapter two of the study is the literature review which mainly deals with an introductory part, theoretical literature, empirical literature, conceptual framework, summary of literature, critique of existing literature and research gaps. Chapter three involved the study research design which used stratified random sampling technique to select the 30% of the target population whereby a random sample from each stratum was taken in a number proportional to the stratum`s size when compared to the population. The subset was then be pooled to form a random sample. The target population of the study was 112 members of staff from tour operators and 280 members of staff from local tourist hotels. The sample size was thus 118 respondents. Semi-structured questionnaires were used in to collect primary data. Content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data and findings were presented in a prose form. Statistical package for social scientists (SPSS Version 20) was used to analyze quantitative data. The quantitative data was analyzed using inferential and descriptive statistics. Data was then presented in tables, bar-charts and pie-charts. The study showed that there was a clear cause and effect relationship between customer retention strategies and the growth of tourism in Mombasa County. Stakeholder participation played an essential role in ensuring that there is growth in the tourism sector in Mombasa County and capacity building positively affected financial growth of output in the tourism in the county of Mombasa. The study showed that there was an influencing relationship between strategic factors studied in the research and the growth of tourism industry in Mombasa County.

The main focus of the study was to assess the effects of determinants of financial performance on manufacturing firms. The objective of this study was to examine the determinants of financial performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya. The study examined the effect of capital structure with reference to identify the effect of equity, debentures and retained earnings on financial performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya. The research scope focused on manufacturing firms in Kenya. The target population of the study being 199 manufacturing firms in Nairobi County taken to be a representative of all manufacturing firms in Kenya. The study adopted a survey design that was both descriptive and exploratory in collecting data. The key findings were that determinants of financial performance individually had a positive influence on the financial performance of manufacturing firms. The results indicated a moderately significant linear relationship between capital structure and manufacturing firm’s performance. Managers who were consulted about these results attributed the low explanatory power of variables to stiff competition, quality of the product and government policies. The study assists policy makers in coming up with better policies on improvement of financial performance. The study adds to the literature on manufacturing firm’s financial performance.

Drought in Kenya is not a new phenomenon. Drought is likely to become even more pronounced during the twenty first century due to climate variability whose impacts include unpredictable weather and seasons; increased frequency and intensity of droughts, floods and wind storms; warmer temperatures, resulting in heat stress, and sea level rise. Little is known and documented about Evaluation of drought mitigation and response strategies in Kenya. This study sought to contribute to closing this knowledge gap with a case study from Makueni County, Kenya. The County is located in the semi-arid environment, which is most often deficient in available moisture for meaningful agricultural engagements. Consequently, one of the unique features of the semi-arid Makueni County is vulnerability to drought events. The objective of this study was to evaluate the mitigation and response strategies adopted for drought Management in Makueni County, Kenya. To achieve the objectives of the study, both primary and secondary data were collected through a descriptive field survey design using focus group discussions, informal meetings, administration of household and institutional questionnaires, field observations, and a critical review of published and unpublished materials. Priority rank of use was used to identify the strategies. The findings of this study are anticipated to inform decision makers, development and Humanitarian actors in Kenya, whose interest is to mitigate, and respond to drought disasters on Kenyans lives, economy and development as a whole. Drought mitigation and timely responses not only saves lives but also saves funds, hence can be used to revamp the economy of the country to significant heights.