MCOM Theses and Dissertations (2009)

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Browsing MCOM Theses and Dissertations (2009) by Author "Dr. Ruth Kiraka"

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    An Examination of staff layoffs in Kenya : evidence from companies quoted in the main investment market segment of the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
    Mwandembo, Christopher; Dr. Ruth Kiraka
    Staff layoffs in Kenya seem like the most prevalent solutions available to management teams of companies faced with economic difficulty. This study targeted companies quoted in the Main Investment Market Segment of the Nairobi Stocks Exchange, with a view of finding out the drivers to downsizing; its outcomes (costs and benefits); other factors impacting these outcomes and ways of enhancing the success of the strategy. Consistent with the review of literature, the study found out that downsizing is motivated by economic, strategic and technological reasons. the positive outcomes are increased profitability, improved productivity, better strategic networks and leaner structures. on the flip side, the adverse effects include reduced staff morale, hampered innovative capacity, injured corporate reputation and loss of stock knowledge. In order to enhance the success of downsizing, business leaders may use financial incentives, pre and post retrenchment counseling to the exits and survivors respectively, and offering alternative training or sources of income. however, this study also found that the positive outcomes of downsizing may also be achieved using other ways. For example, increased profitability may be attained by boosting the number of units sold, enhancing market penetration or improving production efficiency. a review of outcomes of downsizing vis-a-vis their underlying drivers therefore suggests that staff layoffs in themselves may be more injurious to the firm than beneficial. positive outcomes can be achieved by other means. downsizing should therefore only be used as strategic initiative aimed at increasing productivity and /or efficiency while retaining the most valuable resource in production - the human capital.
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    Perspectives on the transformation of microfinance institutions in Kenya into regulated status under the Microfinance Act.
    (Strathmore University, 2009) Gikang'a, Peter Njogu Munyambu; Dr. Ruth Kiraka
    The government's move to regulate Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) was primarily to create an enabling environment for MFIs to maximize outreach on a population without access to financial services in Kenya. The Microfinance Act, 2006 will allow qualifying microfinance institutions to transform into deposit-taking institutions. The Act lays the legal and regulatory framework of licensing and supervision of microfinance institutions. The primary objective of this thesis was to assess the prevailing institutional capacity and preparedness of the existing microfinance institutions to transform into deposit taking MFIs. Secondly, was to establish the perception of microfinance practitioners on the appropriateness of the legislation and regulations for the microfinance industry in Kenya. The study employed surveyed methodology to explore issues such as institutional capacity and preparedness of microfinance institutions. A researcher constructed questionnaire was administered to elicit responses from the microfinance institutions that are members of the Association of Microfinance Institutions (AMFI). Face-to-face interviews with executives of microfinance institutions were conducted to supplement the questionnaire and also for an in-depth understanding and analysis of certain key aspects of the research. findings of the study suggest that there are considerable challenges to the transition from informal to formal institutions. the institutions expressed concern with respect to certain regulatory requirements in microfinance legislation and regulations that make the costs of implementation quite high. the requirements that were considered to be most difficult and by extension considered inappropriate for the microfinance industry were the requirements for business premises, loan loss provisioning and disclosure and reporting requirements. the branch infrastructure and overall cost of transformation, in particular modernization of Management Information Systems (MIS) are considered quite significant, especially for smaller or rural MFIs which will have to incur additional costs of upgrading their MIS.