THE IMPACT OF INTEREST RATE ON INVESTMENT DECISION

THE IMPACT OF INTEREST RATE ON INVESTMENT DECISION IN NIGERIA. AN ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS (1981-2010)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of the Study

Investment is the change in capital stock during a period. Consequently, unlike capital, investment is a flow term and not a stock term. This means that capital is measured at a point in time, while investment can only be measure over a period of time.

Investment plays a very important and positive role for progress and prosperity of any country. Many countries rely on investment to solve their economic problem such as poverty, unemployment etc (Muhammad Haron and Mohammed Nasr (2004).

Interest rate on the other hand is the price paid for the use of money. It is the opportunity cost of borrowing money from a lender to finance investment project. It can also be seen as the return being paid to the provider of financial resources, for going the fund for future consumption. Interest rates are normally expressed as a percentage rate. The volatile nature of interest is determined by many factors, which include taxes, risk of investment, inflationary expectations, liquidity preference, market imperfections in an economy etc.

Banks are given the primary responsibility of financial intermediation in order to make fund available for economic agents. Banks as financial intermediaries move fund. Surplus sector/units of the economy to deficit sector/units by accepting deposits and channeling them into lending activities. The extent to which this could be done depend upon the rate of interest and level of development of financial sector as well as the saving habit of the people in the country.

FACTORS THAT REDUCE SAVINGS

FACTORS THAT REDUCE SAVINGS IN NIGERIA (1980-2010)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Financial institution, market, regulator and instrument all comprises a set of complex and closely interconnected financial system, proving financial services in an economy, such services includes mobilization and allocation of resources, distribution of investment funds among firms, financial intermediation and foreign exchange transactions.

The Nigeria financial system can be categorized into two via: the formal or organized and informal or unorganized financial system, the banks and non banks financial institutions make up the organized financial system while the unorganized sector comprises of indigenous bankers local money lenders‟(ISUSU), shop-keepers or traders, merchants, landlords, saving associations, friends and relatives etc. the system is poorly developed, limited economics information, defective system of according are not integrated into the formal financial system, but very important to the Nigerian financial system. Capital formations, buying and selling of bonds and securities, creation of new assets and liabilities, executing monetary and credit policies of the central bank etc.

Are the roles and functions of financial system geared towards economic development of an economy? Patriotic researchers and policy makers have observed a declining savings rate in Nigeria over the past decades; this is due to the critical importance of saving for the maintenance of strong and sustainable growth in the world economy particularly in Nigeria.

A sound, healthy and reliable financial system relates to savings mobilization and efficient financial intermediation roles:

MATERIALS MANAGEMENT IN A MANUFACTURING COMPANY (A CASE STUDY OF 7UP BOTTLING COMPANY PLC, ILORIN PLANT, KWARA STATE)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study

As a manager in a manufacturing company. It is more necessary than ever to improve the overall productivity of the operation while such improvement requires an integrated effort involving all functional areas of the facility, specific actions are required within each functional area one of the functional areas in a manufacturing operation that is critical to the overall productivity of the company is material management. The material management involves purchasing supplier management, material handling within the facility and extensive coordination among all functional areas of the facility in conjunction with material management sapiens, Jazayeri (1998).

Once the production process is under way the attention of the operations manager shifts to the daily activities of material management the daily composes materials purchasing, inventory control and work scheduling.

Material management has a philosophy close to that of a modern marketing. In marketing the organization and its staff has to think in a marketing oriented way for example how will customers react to product change? What will be the effect on sales if we alter the packaging? With material management the same principle apply the organization and its entire staff have to consider their decision in relation to how they will after it the material side of the business topics under material management include purchasing, control, transportation, material production, planning stores, inventory control Bret (2001).

Therefore, the main point of materials management is to satisfy the need to all operating system such as manufacturing production line, promotional activities and physical distributor times. It is the operation as the customer, manager must work around the system till everything his and needs are satisfied. The material manager organization and it entire staff should however consider their decision in relation to how they will affect the materials side of the business. It is in view of the above stated facts that this study is being carried out using 7up Bottling Company PLC Ilorin plant a manufacturing company to study the issue of material management.

THE IMPACT OF UNEMPLOYMENT ON ECONOMIC GROWTH IN NIGERIA. (1982-2010)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION:

1.1  Background to the study

Unemployment is defined as an economic condition marked by the fact that individuals actively seeking jobs remain unhired. Unemployment is expressed as a percentage of the total available work force. It is seen as a macroeconomic and sociological problem which arises as a result of insufficient and non-availability of jobs to correspond with the growing population. Even those who are employed, sometimes live with the fear of retrenchment. The term unemployment could be used in relation to all the factors of production. But in reference to labour, there is unemployment if it is not possible to find jobs for all those who are eligible and able to work. Labour is said to be underemployed, if it is working below capacity or not utilized in production employment can either         be  ‘voluntary’  or  ‘involuntary.

Voluntary unemployment is a situation where somebody chooses not to work because they have means of support other than employment e.g. idle rich man. Voluntary unemployment is attributed to the individuals decision; it includes workers who reject low wage jobs, whereas involuntary unemployment exist because of socio-economic environment (including market structures, government intervention and the level of aggregate demand) in which individuals operate, involuntary unemployment include workers who are fired due to an economic crises, industrial decline, company bankruptcy or organization restructuring unemployment is seen as a worldwide economic problem and has been categorized as one of the serious impediments to social progress. Unemployment is a very serious issue in Africa (VandeMoortele, 1991 and Rama, 1998) and particularly in Nigeria (Oladeji, 1994, Umo, 1996). The need to avert the negative effects of unemployment has made the tacking of unemployment problem to feature very prominently in the development objective of many developing countries.

In the study of unemployment in Africa, Okonkwo (2005) identified three causes of unemployment; the educational system, the choice of technology which can be either be labour intensive or capital intensive and inadequate attention to agriculture. The use of machines to replace work done by labour and computerization has contributed to these social problem. Moreso, lack of enough education and skills to have access to credit and capital.

THE IMPACT OF MANAGEMENT INCENTIVE POLICIES ON WORKER’S PRODUCT (A CASE STUDY OF DANGOTE CEMENT FACTORY, OBAJANA, KOGI STATE.)

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study  

An incentive is a form of financial encouragement recognizing a particular contribution made by the work force, in other words, it is a sum of money paid in addition to the basic rate which the organization pays to ensure that its most important production aspects are being optimized . For instance, a capital intensive company might have an incentive linked to machine utilization.

Performance incentives are payment made to an employee or group of employee based on amount of output. The use of performance incentive policies is premised on the belief that output can be measured and performance by workers, it used dated back to the era of the scientific management movement championed by Fedrick Winslow Taylor who argued passionately for the use of incentive wage system as a way of getting more output from the workers. It was also aimed at combating “solde”oringbo on doggling” which was a restriction of output by workers on the job as at that time. Taylor believe that workers could always exert greater efforts if they were to be paid a financial incentive based upon the number of units of work they were able to produce. He then developed the differential rate system which gives a worker a lesser piece rate e.g #1.0 per piece if he produced less than the standard amount of output required by so doing; individual workers are motivated to produce greater output.

In every organization, large or small private or public enterprises, human resources (employees) are always the pillar of the success of the organization. The human elements have their individual drives, desires, needs, wishes and similar forces which they intend to satisfy when they are coming into an organization. The satisfaction or non-satisfaction of these needs by the organization has an impact on the behaviour or performance of the employee and eventually on productivity.

CORPORATE PERFORMANCE AND TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (A STUDY OF MILLENNIUM INDUSTRY LTD AWKA)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Experience has shown that consumers of goods and  services are becoming more sensitive to product quality more than before and as a result, producers cannot afford to take for granted the issue of quality which itself is a function of good performance. Corporations produced to sell and make maximum profit irrespective of consumers taste and style. For instance, bank consumer expects efficient, quick and courteous service from his banker and readers of newspaper anticipates clarity of production, grammatical soundness and dept of news coverage from the editor. Likewise consumer of manufacturing products expects high reliability and effectiveness of the products manufactured from that industry.

It is therefore not enough to meet specification, but also meet all the quality the customer expects from the product. In this context therefore, quality means “Total or Complete quality”. That is a customer is able to get the right quality and quantity of goods and services at the right time. All these should be achieved at first attempt and not when patronage is repeated on several occasions.

Total Quality Management according to Nwachukwu C.C. (2006) are set of principles and practices whose core idea include understanding customer needs, doing things right the first time and striving for continuous improvement. It is a management approach which is aimed at incorporating awareness of quality in all organizational processes.

Many organization are striving for quality products and services that will meet or exceed customers expectations and as a result of this, they are searching for approaches to manage people and production system that will assure that transformation of inputs into quality output.

THE IMPACT OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCE AS A CRITICAL FACTOR IN THE BANKING SECTOR (A CASE STUDY OF FIRST BANK OF NIGERIA PLC MAIN BRANCH ENUGU).

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Many  years  ago,  the  concept  of  training  and  development  were  misunderstood and not given full consideration in most Nigeria organization. Today the situation has change totally, such that many organization, business and non business organization has come to realize the need for training and development of employee as vital for organization development and operation.

Training and development has started since the existence of man, as the action of man is directed on what to do and when to do it. Just as a little child is trained on various ways of walking, standing and sitting, it is done in order to develop the child with skills to adapt to his environment. The above statement is applicable to an employee, in order to train him so as to be able to adapt to the environment and organization which he finds himself. With this, it is clear that every organization need to train its employee so that there will be improved growth and productivity. According to Abolo, E.M. (2000), Banking business in Nigeria started in 1892 by African Banking Corporation. The bank was taken over by now standard bank, now First Bank in 1894.

The two expatriate banks dominated the banking scene until 1933, when National bank of Nigeria was established. Many indigenous banks were established between 1929. But most of them failed due to probably, lack of training and development. Only three indigenous banks and the two foreign banks survived the period, by 1952, the first bank ordinance was introduced, it stipulated the minimum capital based and licensing for banks. The period that followed, 1952 to 1962 and 1970, there was no new banks establish in Nigeria, presumably because of the impact of regulations and the civil war (1967 –1970).

THE IMPACT OF MANAGEMENT STYLE ON THE EFFICIENCY OF SELECTED GOVERNMENT OWNED COMPANIES (A STUDY OF ENUGU METROPOLIS )

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The problem of management in effectiveness and bad attitude to work among Nigerians is widespread in government owned companies. There has been growing concern among Nigerians on the poor organisational performance and managerial ineffectiveness recorded in these organisations. This concern perhaps is a result of the size of economic and social influence of these government institutions on Nigerian development. (Akpala, 1990:193).

In spite of the huge capital investments in these companies, the results have been extremely poor. As a result of government, as trustees for the ultimate owners of public enterprises have appointed tribunals, commissions and panels to find ways and means to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the enterprises (CMD, 1985:5).

At the managerial and operative performance levels, the problem is also a general one. In an attempt to explain and subsequently liniment government owned companies, two schools of thought emerge. One is of the opinion that the problem is from ill implication of the known theories and  principles of management in government owned companies. The other holds that the problem stems from not applying management philosophy that is based on Nigerian culture.

This takes us to the meaning of management. Management can be defined as the art or science of working in an organisation through being directed by and by directing and co-ordinating the activities of people’s goals in the context of the goal(Ejiofor,1985:3).

Management involves the performance of all the management functions which include planning, organizing, staffing, directing, controlling and co-ordinating of activities to attain optimum result with organisation resources. Management is concerned with the achievement of objectives, performances result, success, efficiency and effectiveness.

THE IMPACT OF MONETARY POLICY ON NIGERIA ECONOMY (1980-2010)

 

  CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Nigeria still presents a clear reflection of the third world economy in which the growing economy has some working machinery, monetary and fiscal policies that are aimed at maintaining a balance in the entire economy so that growth and development, which is the ultimate goal of every economy, is realized.

Generally, monetary policy refers to combination of measures designed to regulate the values supply and cost of money in an economy in consonance with the level of economic activity. Monetary policy refers to the credit control measure adopted by the central bank of a country.

Monetary policy according to Olumechere (1988) is a deliberate effort by the monetary authorities to control supply and credit conditions for the purpose of achieving certain broad economic goals Johnson K (1956) define monetary policy as policy employing central bank control of the supply of money as an instrument for achieving the objectives of general economic policy.

THE EFFECTS OF UNETHICAL PRACTICES IN ADVERTISING: (A CASE STUDY OF VITAFOAM IN NIGERIA)

1.1.            Background To The Study

Advertising as a concept, can be defined as a form of communication through the media about product, services, ideas, personalities or organizations, paid for by an identified sponsor writer Alide in Okunna (2002: 99).

Bovee and Arens (1985) gave a more widely accepted definition of advertising as the non-personal communication of information, usually paid for any usually persuasive in nature about products (goods and services) or ideas by an identified sponsor through various media. It is an exciting, dynamic, and challenging enterprise. Its often a persuasive communication in that it tries to persuade the reader, the listener or the viewer to take to the sponsor’s own point of view and also to take some appropriate action. It is not personal or face to face communication, rather it is directed to a group of people.

Advertising is also controlled, identifiable information and persuasion by means of mass communication media. Defined by Wrignt and Zeight (1982:10).

Gillran Dyer says that in its simplest sense, the word “advertising” means drawing attention to something or notifying or informing somebody of something.

According to the understanding of Advertising practitioners council of Nigeria (APCON) “advertising is a form of communication through the media about products, services or ideas, paid for by an identified sponsor”.

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIAN BREWERIES PLC, NINTH MILE ENUGU.

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1             Background of the Study

Within any organization, there are usually different positions and jobs. People occupying these positions have different perceptions, goals, thought and concerns. It is difficult to conceptualize a society or an organization without inherent differences and contradictions and these leads to conflict. Conflict can be a serious problem in an organization. It can create organizational climate that makes it nearly impossible for employees to work together. Conflict is a natural and inevitable part of people working together and should be kept at a manageable level where it will not disorganize the activities of the organization towards the attainment of it’s objectives.

Conflict can also said to be beneficial to the organization where it brings about radical change in the organization existing power structure, current interaction pattern and entrenched attitude and also can lead to increase in productivity. While some conflicts are functional others are not. It can also affect the organization negatively when it is associated with decreased employee satisfaction, insubordination, decreased productivity, leads to economic loss, fragmentation to mention but a few. It is the management major responsibility to device strategies in bringing down conflict as low as possible, which will enable the organization to still function to succeed (Robbins & Sanghi, 2005:418) against this background the study was being carried out on the negative effect of conflict.

THE ROLE OF MICROFINANCE BANK CREDIT ON AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA: (1980-2010)

  

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

 Nigeria is endowed with natural resources, large fertile farmland, wide range crops, and river amongst others. Despite its abundant natural resources it is faced with poor food situation. The poor food situation is traceable to the decline in the agricultural sector. The problem of feeding and provision of natural resources is increasing by the day. However several efforts are being made to improved the standard.

Prior to the discovery of petroleum in Nigeria agriculture used to be the highest foreign exchange resources earner and contribution to gross domestic product GDP has been estimated to about 62.63% in 1960, 48.08% in 1970s, and 20.63% in 1980. Recently due to the growing awareness of the role of agriculture, the various governments have intensified efforts aimed at transforming from its present subsistence level to a market oriented production. One of those efforts was the ban made on importation of agricultural products like palm oil, maize and rice. This was done to encourage improvements on our production standard.

Due to the fall in the level of production from decade to decade, the country could no longer feed the large population, provide raw material for domestic-industries, engage in export of agricultural produce and employ the labor force of the country despite the abundance of human and material resources.

THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF WOMEN ORGANISATIONS IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA.

 

CHAPTER ONE:INTRODUCTION

1.1              Background to the study

It is a truism the adage that says; behind every successful man is a  woman. Women have been regarded as fragile and should be subordinate to the man but they can play very important role for the betterment of the society. This fragile nature has proved her taking domineering influence on many occasions in the history of mankind. Across the country, women have created innovative, comprehensive programs to meet the needs of their communities. Women have established themselves as leaders in the community development process and acquire the skills that have brought positive changes to their communities. As effective builders of social capital, Christian women leaders play key roles in establishing and maintaining important relationships and networks in their communities.

They are facing the challenges of racial, culture, economic and political barriers that exist in the community development process and in many cases overcoming those barriers become their motivation. While their comprehensive approach has influenced the evolution of the community development field, Christian women’s contributions have explicitly credited. The result of the Christian women groups in community development study provide deeper ins community development, the barriers t the kind of efforts that should be made to facilitate and promote their status and roles in the field. Christian women groups demonstrate variety of effective ways women create social capital that is central to the existence of healthy communities.

CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF COMMERCIAL SEX WORK AMONG AKWA IBOM GIRLS

 

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1              Background Of The Study

Commercial sex is basically sex for money. It is not restricted to any culture, its global and it transcends all age barriers as some cases girls as young as eight years are involved. Commercial sex has evolved over the last two decades, (National Behaviour Survey 2004). According to the National Behaviour Survey (2004), commercial sex work has indeed become complex in different ways as there are male sex workers in Nigeria who have sex with men for commercial reasons and there is an organization0 that support them which based in Ibadan, Oyo state.

Commercial sex has particularly taken a worrisome and indeed despicable turn on the continent through traffic human right and these have become major issues in West Africa (Human Right

Action, 1997). In recent time, commercial sex has become a lucrative business in Nigeria especially among the youths (Ikpe, 2008). Research has it that, 31% of sex workers are students particularly in Nigeria institutions (Onah, 2000). Onah (2000), is of the view that, there are different forms of sex workers, those that stay in the brothels, those that stand on the road side, those that operate from home etc.

Furthermore, sex work has now become an occupation especially for the girls in countries like Netherland, Brazil, Norway etc, sex work serves as one of the sources of revenue for government, hence, taxes are paid to the government (Aday, 1990). Aday further says that, sex workers face systematic discrimination throughout the world and are therefore, at risk of variety of abuses, these include police extortion, arbitrary detention and other. Violations of their human and labour rights which in some cases even amount to slavery.

In Nigeria, sex work is an illegal business because, the law prohibits its, but no active action has really been taken against it by the government (Onah, 2000). In AkwaIbom State particularly, Uyo local government, commercial sex workers can be found in hotels, bars, brothels and on the street, (Onah, 2000). Despite the efforts made by the government and other private organization to eradicate sex work in Uyo, it has rather grown to become one of the outstanding social problems that have really apprehended the people of Uyo (Onah, 2000). It is on this background that, this research work attempts to find a possible way of coping with this problem.

MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF INVENTORY IN GOVERNMENT HEALTH INSTITUTION

 CHAPTER ONE

  INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Inventories occupy the most strategic position in structure of working capital of most business enterprises. It constitutes the largest component of current asset in most business enterprises. In the sphere of working capital, the efficient control and management of inventory has paired the most serious problem to the health institutions. The turnover of working capital is largely governed by the turnover of inventory, that is the rate of working capital is largely governed by the amount of inventory which is largely provided by the government. It is therefore quite natural that inventory which helps to maximize profit occupies the most significant place among current and profit assets.

The American usage of the word ‘invent the word ‘stock’, this definition is synonyms of inventory and is stock by the Oxford Dictionary. The Oxford English Dictionary defined inventory as follows:

IMPACT OF EMPLOYEES MOTIVATION ON ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY. (A CASE STUDY OF POWER HOLDING COMPANY OF NIGERIA ENUGU, ENUGU STATE)

 

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1              BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

There is probably no concept more important than motivation, in the

study of employee’s behavior organization. Amanagerin may many consider motivation as an inducement (financial or otherwise) given to the employees to ginger them to work more. By this measure, organization goals and objectives are achieved. On the other hand, employees usually associate motivation with some monetary values.

Motivation is a pervasive function that cuts across all aspect of employee’s development. It is often organization. Management cannot operate in isolation of their employees because they are human beings and not machines or tools which are utilize recklessly or in a rough manner.

Human resources, both in private or public sector are the most assets essential in any given organization, hence must be handled with care. Motivation of the employee is the areas management should concern in other to ensure the realization of the planned goals and objective of their organization.

People go to work in organization not for the sake of work itself but with the aim of achieving their individual objective. It then follows that the key of motivation is the satisfaction of needs. A worker will be motivated if he feels his organization is helping him to satisfy needs to a reasonable extent.

A SURVEY OF THE EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT IN SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE INDUSTRIES

CHAPTER ONE:  INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The rate of increase in population in the world is fast growing especially in developing countries like Nigeria, that societal demands for essential goods and services are so much on the increase that government owned companies and industries cannot meet up with these demands. The government being aware of these pertinent problems created a healthy environment in which some multi-nationals, the societal demands for services and goods have been satisfied, but not completely.

Further, since human beings are insatiable and the satisfaction of a problem leads to another, the society at large demanded for some other smaller commodities in which

the government owned and multi-national companies cou demands because of either disturbance in their production schedules or the small quantities demanded. The government therefore gave legal authority by way of edicts

to interested individuals to establish their own small-scale companies of their choice. Not only that they were given legal authority, they were given loans by government to set up financial institutions to monitor and supervise the operations of these small scale industries.

Agason Nigeria limited an example of such a small scale company established under such edicts: it is purely a one man business which was established in 1990, but it started production in 1994. It is a soap manufacturing company located in Owerri industrial layout in Imo state and has a staff capacity of thirty, made up of three supervisors graduates, and the rest of the staff are semi-skilled and unskilled workers. Her products are Anchor quality bar soap, ladder bar soap, Anchor and ladder tablets.