Abstract:The phenomenological study sought to explore the experiences of business owners who survived Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation without currency from 2003 to 2008. A gap in the literature justified this foundational study to investigate nontraditional risk management methods: diversification, adaptation, and nontraditional forms of currency. Fourteen Zimbabwean businesses responded to an open-ended survey. Six concurrent themes were (a) fuel as nontraditional currency; (b) constant innovation; (c) unorthodox assets; (d) barter and trade to sustain operations; (e) diversification into other businesses; and (f) stable base linked to the U.S. dollar. Four recommendations included: (a) operations between parallel market and regulations; (b) tangible stable asset and currency base; (c) communal barter trade; and (d) multiple simultaneous strategies. The implications included the potential to (a) allow businesses to sustain themselves through a hyperinflationary situation; (b) change practices for international businesses dealing with financial crisis and hyperinflation; and (c) contribute to organizational change in countries experiencing hyperinflation and economic crisis. Zimbabwean business owners enhanced survivability during hyperinflation by implementing multiple adaptations, diversification, and nontraditional currencies simultaneously to successfully navigate the unstable economic environment. Future quantitative research is needed within and outside of Zimbabwe to continue examining business survivability amid hyperinflation using nontraditional risk management.
Keywords:survivability of hyperinflation, Zimbabwe, nontraditional currencies, adaptation, diversification.

Abstract:Leaders are the most important role-models into an organization. They will exemplify the desired behavior for their employees and  share their ideas with others in the organization. Always search and learn for new knowledge and quickly engage team work. Moreover they are responsible for the education of the other employees and that is why they ought to be good coaches. The strategic process of management it actually presupposes the preparation, the planning and the execution of the plans of the business.
Keywords:Organizational model, willingness, effectiveness, ideas, market conditions, strategic process, leadership, talent management, mobilization, vision.

Abstract:It is evident that government in Nigeria have over the years spent huge amount of money in financing agriculture through its various programmes with main theme of achieving inclusive growth and sustainable development. But surprisingly, that has not translated to meaningful development in Nigeria. It is on this baseline that, this study investigates the relationship between agricultural financing and economic development in Nigeria using annual data from 1986 to 2015. Financing of agriculture is disaggregated into individual, co-operative and company base agricultural financing. This study further applied Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model for analysis. The results show that individual and company base agricultural financing have positive impact on economic development, while co-operative base financing and commercial banks loans to agriculture have negative impact on economic development. This study recommends the need for government to channel more of its funds to individual and company base agricultural financing. Additionally, commercial banks should redesign their existing policy on how the loans to agriculture are issued and effective monitoring and supervision should be given on how the loans are been spend.
Keywords:Agricultural Financing, Economic Development, ARDL, Nigeria.

Abstract:In these paper the author developed a framework on the effects of loans and savings services on the welfare of the households.  Homabay county being in the rural parts of the county is to greater extent dependent on farming and small scale enterprise as the main social economic activities. A large number of these people are low income earners whose main source of credit facilities is the micro lending institutions. The purpose of the study was to analyse the effects of loan and saving services offered by microfinance institutions on the welfare of households in Homabay County. A survey was conducted among the small scale traders and farmers who had been receiving loan from the selected microfinance institutions within the county. A survey was conducted to carry out the study in which questionnaires was used to collect data from the respondents. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the proposed hypotheses of the study and to verify the association between variables. The study observed that loans and saving services played a major role in changing and improving the living standards, income, diet patterns, health status and children's education of the respondents. The study recommends that emphasis on the importance of loan services on household welfare should be made. Further that the amounts borrowed be increased so as to meet the needs of the residents, residents should be encouraged to save with the microcredit facilities so as to raise their chances of gaining support from the facilities. Lastly continued appraisal process in the form of capacity building among households should be maintained so that residents can maximize potentials within the microcredit facilities for them to easily manage the repayment of the loans awarded.

Abstract:This study aims to find out how the process of formulation of turnaround strategy that was undertaken by PT. PN in the face of financial distress. The type of this research is quantitative descriptive with data collection method through non participant observation and unbounded interview. The scope of the study was taken from the time of PT. PN experienced financial distress up to the implementation of turnaround strategy (2006-2012). As a result of the formulation, the turnaround strategy undertook by PT. PN is divided into two strategies: strategic turnaround strategy and operating turnaround strategy. Strategic turnaround strategy is debt restructuring in the form of debt to equity swap for non-bank lenders and debt rescheduling for bank creditor. Meanwhile, operating turnaround strategy is streamlining company assets, streamlining human resources, increasing revenues, and turnover of company management. Implementation of this strategy in 2012 shows improvements in the Altman Z-score, but its value is still in the possibility of bankrupt zone.
Keywords:Distress, Financial, Formulation Process, Operating Turnaround, Strategic, Turnaround.

Abstract:Meaningful performance of mobile money agents allow decision makers to judge the results of their business strategies. The nature of competition and survival of the mobile money players, heavily depend on how a mobile money provider employs its strategic response capabilities and variables, to promote performance and gain competitive advantage as they must depend on their agents’ delivery at the end of the chain. Continuous promotion of a firms’ product creates constant visibility of the company thereby keeping the customer interested in its products. The main aim of the study was to establish the relationship between promotion as a strategic response tool and performance of Airtel money agents. It employed a correlational research design. A census was used to select the target population of this study which comprised of 100 Airtel money agents in Kisii town, Kenya. Primary data was collected using a structured questionnaire which consisted of 5-point Likert type questions. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics.  The findings of this study indicate that the agents were performing poorly and therefore made losses despite promotions being done by the main company. It was also found that the promotions being done by Airtel were not effective because promotions were done for other product segments owned by Airtel while the mobile money service segment was left out. The study therefore recommended that more promotions be driven toward promoting the Airtel money service segment in order to improve the performance of the agents’ and the general mobile money provider.
Keywords:Promotion, strategic response tool, Mobile Money Agents, Performance.
Title:PROMOTION AS A STRATEGIC RESPONSE TOOL AND PERFORMANCE OF MOBILE MONEY AGENTS

Abstract:Granting loans to customers is one of the most difficult decisions to be taken by banks because applicants are always categorized as good and bad .The aim of this paper is to examine the efficiency of the Artificial Neural Network to predict the credit risk of customers of the First Bank Nigerian Plc. The computations have been done by using MATLAB software. Number of samples was 131 including 81 creditworthy customers and 50 non creditworthy customers. In this paper, 11 independent (attribute) variables were used and 1 dependent variable.  The result of the neural network model shows that out of 50 non creditworthy cases, 78.0% are correctly predicted as non creditworthy and 22.0% are predicted as creditworthy. Out of 81 creditworthy cases, 95.1% are correctly predicted as creditworthy and 4.9% are classified as non creditworthy. Overall, 88.5% of the predictions are correct and 11.5% are wrong classifications.

Abstract:The construction industry entails high levels of risks, but often these risks are not dealt with adequately, resulting in poor performance, which is reflected in frequent cost and time overruns, as well as poor quality of work. Insurers traditionally avoid firms with high risk portfolios and subsequently will not offer insurance covers or may charge very high premiums to compensate for the increased risk. Previous studies have found an inconclusive relationship between adoption of risk management strategies and enhanced construction firm performance. As such, the general objective of this study was to determine the effect of insurance risk management strategies on performance of construction firms. The specific objective was to assess the moderating role of Government policy and regulation of the construction sector, on the relationship between risk management strategies and performance of construction firms in selected counties in Kenya. Performance was measured as a function of cost variance, time variance and quality control. This study used an explanatory research design and the research philosophy was based on positivism. The population of the study was all construction firms carrying out construction and public works in selected counties in Kenya, registered by the Republic of Kenya as of July 2011 to June 2012, a total of 2,414 construction firms. The sample size was 97 respondents, and simple random sampling was used for identifying respondent firms in Nairobi County, Nakuru County and Machakos County. Data collection was done using a self-administered semi-structured questionnaire. Data analysis was a mixture of descriptive statistics and inferential statistics.

Abstract:The main objective of this study was to examine the effect of diversification strategies on the performance of state owned sugar firms in Kenya. The specific objective was, to establish the effect of horizontal diversification on firm performance of sugar firms in Kenya. The study employed descriptive survey study research design. The target population of the study comprised of all sugar firms in western Kenya; Nzoia, Sony, Chemelil, Muhoroni and Miwani that were purposively selected. From the accessible population, a sample of 50 strategic and top managers were selected to provide data. Ten managers were selected from each firm using census sampling technique. Primary data was collected using questionnaires which were administered to the respondents. The data collected was coded and analyzed using descriptive statistics in form of percentages, mean and Standard deviation and inferential statistics applied Pearson’s coefficient of correlation and multiple regressions done to ascertain the relationship between organizational performance and horizontal diversification strategy. The Hypothesis postulated that there is no significant relationship between adoption of horizontal diversification strategy and performance of sugar firms. The null hypothesis was accepted and therefore concluded that there is no relationship between adoption of horizontal diversification strategy and sugar firms’ performance. The study recommends that in the current competitive business situation, firms have to strive to open other revenue streams to keep afloat. However, the sugar firms must analyze the effect of horizontal diversification on firm performance.