Journal of Economics and Business Research

Board Characteristics and Performance of Quoted Consumer Goods Firms: Evidence from Nigeria

Mon, 24 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Corporate governance has become a worldwide
concern over the year due to numerous corporate
financial failures which has redirected the
attention of policy makers to the significance of
board characteristics. This study examined the
relationship between board characteristics and
performance of quoted Nigerian consumer
goods firms. This study adopted historical
research design and ten firms were selected from
the population of twenty-seven Nigerian listed
consumer goods firms, as at 2017, using simple
random sampling technique. Secondary data
over a period of seven years (2011-2017) was
obtained from the annual reports of the selected
firms. Analysis was performed on data collected
adopting Auto Regressive Distributed Lag
(ARDL) Regression and other post estimation
techniques to determine the existence of
relationship between the variables. The results
of the study showed significant relationships
between board independence, board diligence
and performance of consumer goods firms
(p<0.05). However, there is insignificant relationship between board size, board
composition and performance of consumer
goods firms (p>0.05). The study concluded that
regular board meetings and board independence
play significant roles in timely decision makings
that affect the overall firmâ€™s objective. Hence,
the study recommended a regular board
meetings and board independence that will be
efficient in taking vital decisions that affect the
firmâ€™s overall performance.

Age and Work Experience as Antecedents of Ethical Decision Making of Managers: Nigerian Experience

Joy Chimebere Iyiegbuniwe, Wilfred C. Iyiegbuniwe — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Cognitive moral development theory posits
that an individualâ€™s cognition, emotion and
judgment changes as one move through
stages of moral development. Age and work
experience have been suggested as
determinants of ethical ideology which in turn
influences ethical behavior. This study
examined age and work experience as
antecedents of ethical decision making of
managers. Ethical judgment and ethical
intention were used to measure ethical
decision making. The findings indicate that
older managers are not necessarily more
ethical than younger managers. But the
evidence demonstrated further that more
experienced managers are more ethical than
less experienced managers. It can be
concluded that work experience rather than
mere age is the real antecedent of ethical
behavior. Further analyses showed that this
conclusion may be due to the evidence that
more experienced managers are more idealistic and less relativistic than less
experienced managers.

Subcontracting and Multinational Firms Performance in Nigeria Manufacturing Industry

Mon, 24 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0200

This study sought to investigate the effect of
subcontracting on the Performance of
Manufacturing Multinational Firms (MNFs) in
Nigeria. The study employed a survey research
design, through the administration of structured
questionnaire to a sample of 397 management
staff of the three selected firms. The validity of
the instrument was tested using content validity
index (CVI) through the assessment of five
academics and five top staff of MNFs service
firms and it was rated on a two-point scale
(relevant and not relevant) which gave a value of
.8819. A pilot study was conducted through test
re-test method to ascertain the extent of
consistency of the research instrument; the result
gave a Cronbach alpha of 0.82 which indicated
that the instrument is reliable. The findings
revealed that, performance elements (cost
reduction, production enhancement, market
expansion and risk sharing) have both individual
and combine effect on subcontracting, with tvalue
of 7.02 (0.0000), 9.88 (0.0000), 5.86 and 5.42 (0.0000) respectively. While the F-value of
(63.29*0.000), (96.96*0.000), (34.52*0.000)
and (29.49*0.000) respectively, suggests that the
model is reliable for decision and policymaking.
It further indicated that subcontracting has a
positive and significant effect on MNFs
performance It is therefore recommended that,
MNFs should continuously improve and adopt
subcontracting policy towards sustainable
performance and the government through the
ministry of trade, commerce and industry should
encourage both poly and geo centric orientations
in subcontracting practices of MNFs.

Analysis of Agricultural Wages, Trade Income and Income Inequality in Rural Nigeria

Richardson Kojo Edeme, I. Theresa Enweani, Henry Thomas Asogwa — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Apart from determining the sources of income
inequality, this study analyzes the extent
agricultural wages and trade income contributes
to income inequality in rural Nigeria. Findings
show high income inequality with a Gini
coefficient of 0.51. Also the sources of income
inequality were mostly trade and agricultural
incomes, with a share of income of 42.7% and
30.9% respectively in total inequality. The share
of income from wages and salaries in total
income was found to be 26.4%. Trade income
was found to be inequality-dampening, while
agriculture income is inequality-enhancing,
suggesting that trade income and agricultural
wages are major contributors of income
inequality in rural Nigeria.

Empowering Nigerian Women Entrepreneurs through Microfinance

Faith Ekele, Umaru Zubairu, Afisat Ayorinde, Dauda Abdul- Waheed — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0200

This study investigated the impact of
microfinance interventions on the psychological
and economic conditions of women
entrepreneurs. Specifically, it focused on 15
women entrepreneurs who had benefited from
micro loans and leases from the Federal
University of Technology Microfinance Bank
(FMB) in the Nigerian city of Minna. A
thematic analysis of the interview sessions with
these women revealed that both microfinance
interventions had a significant positive impact in
empowering them psychologically and
economically. However, it was recommended
that for this positive impact to be amplified to
include more women entrepreneurs, the
qualifying requirements had to be made more
flexible by adopting a social collateral approach
rather than the traditional physical collateral
approach currently adopted.

Entrepreneurship Education at Tertiary Level in Bangladesh

Saptarshi Dhar, Tahira Farzana — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0200

This study presents the results of a need
assessment survey on entrepreneurship
education conducted at BBA and MBA
programs of a tertiary level university in
Bangladesh. For this purpose, Institute of
Business Administration (IBA-JU) and four
departments of Faculty of Business Studies:
Department of Finance & Banking, Department
of Marketing, Department of Management
Studies and Department of Accounting and
Information Systems at Jahangirnagar
University were targeted for this survey. Survey
on needs assessment was carried out based on
factual data and perceptual data. Factual data
were collected through review of BBA and
MBA curricula of the target institutions.
Perceptual data were collected from
undergraduate and graduate level students,
alumni and faculty members through structured
questionnaires, focus group discussions (FGD)
and key informant interviews (KII). It is
observed that neither the target institutions offer
major/minor in entrepreneurship, nor the need for entrepreneurship education is fulfilled by the
existing curricula. There seems to be interest
among students in learning entrepreneurship and
pursuing such a career, however, institutional
support is lacking significantly in case of
Bangladesh. Recommendations to address the
need are also discussed.

Effect on Entrepreneurship Skills Development on Youth Employment in Kwara State, Nigeria

Isaac I. Aun, Falilat A. Abdul, G. Taiwo Oladipo, Olota O. Omotayo — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Nigerian economy is regarded as one of the
largest in Africa; the nation however, is faced
with many problems of which unemployment is
one of them. Youths are said to be the strength
of a nation, but many of them are unemployed
and hence cannot in any way contribute to the
growth and development of the economy.
Therefore, the objective of the study was to
examine the Effect of Entrepreneurship Skills
Development on Youth Employment in Kwara
State, Nigeria. The population of the study
comprised of 195 students enrolled in
International Vocational, Technical &
Entrepreneurship College (IVTEC), of which a
sample of 131 respondents was selected.
Primary data were used; the data were gathered
through a structured questionnaire. The data
were analyzed using both Pearson correlation
and simple regression analysis. The results of
the study revealed that a positive relationship
exists between entrepreneurship skills development and youth employment generation,
which is significant at p-value of 0.000 (R =
0.714, R2 = 0.510, (0.000) < 0.05). The study
concluded that entrepreneurship skills
development has effect on youth employment.
The study recommended that private sectors and
government should invest in programmes and
schemes that focus on the development of
entrepreneurship education.

A Theoretical Analysis on measuring the Quality Disclosure of the Economic Financial Information

Ioana Mot — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0200

In the current economic context, disclosure
quality (DQ) became a decisive factor in
communication policies of the entities, playing a
fundamental role in the economic growth and
the efficient functioning of entities on the
market, and especially in creating or destroying
the competitive advantage they hold.
Many authors place the accounting information
in the perimeter of the objectivity and the
accuracy, which is essential in making economic
decisions by the leadership. Thus, in support of
decision-makers, accountants apply professional
judgment (judgment of International Financial
Reporting Standards), taking decisions in terms
of the use of accounting treatments to achieve a
quality of financial reporting information.
The objective of this paper is to analyze the DQ
measurement of economic-financial information,
considering the debate existing today on this
issue, especially as we note that the accounting
information can be the best friend of actual and
potential investors if itâ€™s used properly.