Volume :4 Issue :9 Year : 2015

• AN EVALUATION OF AFRICA UNIVERSITY’S STRATEGIC FACILITIES MANAGEMENT
  ►Stanislas Bigirimana, Nelson Jagero and Engineer Hatina Murowe
  
   10.52283/NSWRCA.AJBMR.20150409A01
  
  ABSTRACT

   

  
  Facilities Management is an integrated function in which management issues pre-dominate over technical issues. Through examination of documents and participant observation, this study aimed at assessing the strategic direction and specific strategies that Africa University is pursing in managing its facilities. This study concluded that Africa University is pursuing a growth strategy given the ongoing increase of student numbers. Whereas the performance of the Facilities Management function was over-all above average and adequate for the current status of the University, the growth strategy will lead to inevitable need for changes in the facilities management strategies and procedures in order to match the increasing students population. 

   

  Pages:01-07         .   View Article
  

• ASSESMENT OF THE FACTORS INFLUENCING INNOVATIVE CAPACITY OF SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE ENTERPRISES IN NIGERIA
  ►Irefin I. A.
  
   10.52283/NSWRCA.AJBMR.20150409A02
  
  ABSTRACT

   

  This study assessed the innovative capacity of SMEs in South Western Nigeria through the analysis of the factors that determine their innovative capacities. Specifically, the following innovative factors were assessed; Size of the firm, Age of the firm, Level of employee training, Collaboration, and Entrepreneurship. One hundred and twenty SMEs were purposively selected from the database of National Association of Small and Medium Scale Industrialist and the directory of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN), from Ogun and Lagos States. The SMEs selected are those into manufacturing, construction and service industries. A total of 120 copies of questionnaires were sent to these firms, and 51 were returned representing 42.5% response rate. Multiple regression was used to empirically validate the research hypothesis of the study. The findings of the study revealed that Entrepreneurship is the most powerful factor that determines innovative capacity of a firm, also level of employees training is the second rated factor, while collaboration with other institutions, size of the firm, and age of the firm are other factors that influence firm innovative capacity in that order.

   

  Pages:08-13         .   View Article
  

• CONCEPTUALIZING AND RESEARCHING THE MODELS OF EMPLOYER BRANDING
  ►Varsha Rokade and Manisha Singh
  
   10.52283/NSWRCA.AJBMR.20150409A03
  
  ABSTRACT

   

  
  Now a days, Organizations are becoming conscious towards thepractice of Employer Branding. Organization have observed that with the help of Employer Branding, the best talent can be attracted, retained and motivated from the market. Employer Branding is a HR marketing strategy which communicates the goodwill or reputation of the organization to current and prospective employees, stakeholders and their clients. This practice reflects the all complete employment experience about the organization with the arrival of grueling competition between the organization to attract and hire the best talent  and work with them, provide Wow factor to the existing and potential customers, the concept of employer branding becomes an aspect of supreme importance. Today’s HR professionals spending their time trying to understand that, how can make their organization unique from the other organizations as well develop a sense among the existing and prospective employees that it is a ‘Great place to work’. This paper aimed for examination of the literature discovered the necessity for employer branding factor determination and contextualization of employer branding models – resulting in the projected model during this study supported the theoretical findings within the literature.

   

  
  Keywords: Employer branding, Employer, Employees, Brand association, Models

  Pages:14-21         .   View Article
  

• BANK MANAGEMENT AND RURAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA
  ►Ilori David Babafemi
  
   10.52283/NSWRCA.AJBMR.20150409A04
  
  ABSTRACT

   

  
  The study examines the effect of bank management on rural economic development with particular reference to commercial bank credit and rural economic development in Nigeria. The presence of a unit root in the time series data was tested using Augmented Dickey–Fuller (ADF) test, within the context of Ordinary Least Square (OLS) framework, and a double-log equation. Estimated regression model indicates that there is a positive and significant relationship between rural contribution to GDP (RGDP), a surrogate for rural economic development, and commercial banks credit to agriculture. The paper also reveals a passive commitment of the bank to financing SMEs and its weak drive for rural deposit mobilisation. The paper therefore, underscores the relevance of bank finance to enhancing rural and SMEs development to the nations’ economy. The paper recommends that monetary authority in Nigeria should ensure that banks adhere to monetary policy targets in order to enhance the campaign for rural economic development, and deepen financial inclusion of rural dwellers and small scale businesses, otherwise failure of which will continue to hurt rural lending and SMEs financing. Realizing that not so much have been achieved in the area of rural deposit mobilization, the paper also makes a campaign for an aggressive rural deposit mobilization by commercial banks.
  
  Keywords: Bank management, commercial bank credit, rural economic development,  small and medium scale enterprises, Nigeria.

  Pages:22-31         .   View Article
  

• PRODUCT CATEGORY: A Success Determinant for Store Brands
  ►Heifa Rzem, Rached Chtioui, Mohsen Debabi
  
   10.52283/NSWRCA.AJBMR.20150409A05
  
  ABSTRACT

   

  
  This paper examines the influence of product category characteristics on attitude towards store brands (SB). Our aim is to uncover the extent to which change in category quality, category complexity, category familiarity and category risk explain attitude towards store brands and to identify the intermediary role that perceived category risk may play. This study presents the results of a quantitative and a confirmatory analysis conducted on two product categories (detergents and food products). The results confirm the ability of product category to predict attitude towards store brands. Inter-category differences have been noticed, which explain differences in store brands performance from one product category to another.
  
  Keywords: attitudes, brands, category quality variation, category complexity, category familiarity, category risk.

  Pages:32-43         .   View Article