MPPM Thesis and Dissertations (2023)

Permanent URI for this collection

http://hdl.handle.net/11071/13370

Browse

Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 5 of 12
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Enhancing public financial management in county governments: the case of Laikipia County
    (Strathmore University, 2023) Mpaima, N. L.
    County governments in Kenya have made significant efforts towards the establishment of the foundations for comprehensive public financial management practices. Despite the implementation of the public financial management systems being in its developmental stages, the counties have made considerable achievement in several fronts. The aim of this investigation was to assess the public financial management enhancing practices in county governments: the case of Laikipia county. The specific aims of the investigation was to assess the budget reliability and policy-based fiscal strategies as practices of enhancing public financial management in Laikipia County government. The investigation was anchored on two key theories: theory of fiscal decentralization and theory of financial controls. This study used interpretivism philosophy and adopted a descriptive research design. The research was a case study of Laikipia county government. Secondary data related to the study objectives was gathered for analysis. Secondary data was gathered from existing county records. Content and descriptive analysis were utilized to analyze the collected data. The findings established that budget reliability performance in terms of aggregate expenditure outturn and revenue outturn was below the minimum required level in Laikipia County. However, budget performance in terms of expenditure composition outturn was within the minimum required level. Further, policy-based fiscal strategies performance in terms of macroeconomic and fiscal forecasting was below the minimum required level in Laikipia County. However, the performance in terms of fiscal strategy, budget preparation process and legislative scrutiny of budgets was above the minimum required level. The study concluded that budget reliability and policy-based fiscal strategies are key towards service delivery. The researcher recommended that the County government of Laikipia should strengthen budget reliability indicators such as aggregate expenditure outturn, expenditure composition outturn and revenue Outturn. The county government should also strengthen policy-based fiscal strategies indicators including macroeconomic and fiscal forecasting, fiscal strategy, medium term perspective in expenditure budgeting, budget preparation process and legislative scrutiny of budgets. This will be vital in achieving improved implementation of budget as planned, resulting to provision of better services to the citizens.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Leveraging Machine Learning in housing price prediction in Nairobi county
    (Strathmore University, 2023) Nduati, J. W.
    Housing prices have in the recent years dominated social and economic discussions in both developed and developing countries such as Kenya. Literature shows that modelling housing pricing in Kenya is predominantly based on conventional statistical theory and methodologies that are increasingly becoming sub-optimal in the wake of big data and technological advancements. To fill this gap, this research leveraged Machine Learning (ML) in housing price modelling and prediction in Nairobi County. The project further sought to achieve four objectives, namely: 1) to determine the features that significantly influence housing prices in Nairobi County; 2) to compare different ML models and techniques used to predict housing prices in Nairobi County; 3) to predict housing prices in Nairobi County using trained ML models based on unseen data in production; and, 4) to make policy recommendations on determination of housing prices. Primary data was collected from homeowners and potential homeowners from Shauri Moyo and Kibra. Further, Key Informant Interviews (KII) were undertaken with respondents from the State Department for Housing. The survey achieved a response rate of 85.3% and established that participants strongly agreed that; presence of tarmacked road within 5 Kilometres (Km), electricity connection/generator, a hospital within 5Km, a school within 5 Km, internet connectivity, age of the house et cetera significantly determined housing prices. Secondary data on the other hand was retrieved from Property24.co.ke. Fourteen ML/ Deep Learning models were trained, optimized and tested based on the evaluation metrics; Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) and R-Squared. Insights from the secondary data showed that; number of bedrooms, bathrooms, parking lots, location and type of the house accounted for at least 88% of variations in the predicted house sale price in half of the ML models. The best ML candidate was the Light-Gradient Boosted Machine (Light GBM) with a RMSE of 11.21635 and an R-Squared score of 88.65%. The least performing was the Elastic Net model with a RMSE of 15.405066 and an R-Squared score of 78.59%. Four models with the best predictive accuracy were used to predict housing prices in Nairobi County based on real world data points from 9 random locations, resulting to predictions that had minimal disparities. The study recommended to property developers and policy makers as stakeholders in the housing sector to: allocate resources towards consistent and efficient collection, storage and sharing of quality data on housing features that significantly influenced housing prices in Nairobi County. Additionally, the study advocated for data-oriented Government policies in the housing sector and the implementation of new-age technologies such as AI/ML for efficient modelling and prediction of housing prices. Keywords: Machine learning; price prediction; supervised learning; housing features.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Examining the relationship between corporate governance and financial accountability in state-owned enterprises in Kenya
    (Strathmore University, 2023) Muyonga, T.
    State corporations have been instrumental to the development of society, serving as the main avenue for governments to deliver public services. They have been instrumental in the delivery of health, education, transport and other critical services and they continue to account for a significant portion of economic activity. However, locally their performance has been below par resulting from lack of financial accountability and transparency which limits their ability to deliver public services and maintain a good standing. The focus of this research was to examine whether corporate governance factors do have an influence on the financial accountability of state-owned enterprises. The study specifically looked at board diversity, board independence, ethical practices and risk governance practices influence on financial accountability of state-owned enterprises. Further, the impact of political environmental was considered as moderator variable in the stated main objective. The survey was premised on the stakeholder and agency theory. A descriptive research design was applied in the survey with a total of 138 state-owned enterprises considered for the research. A sample of 102-ranking officer in the finance/governance and compliance departments were considered in the research. Semi-structured questionnaires were designed to collect research data with drop and pick method used in the collection of study data. The collected survey data was analyzed using a mix of quantitative and qualitative research approach. The survey obtained eighty responses which presented a 78% response rate which was dependable for utilization in quantitative analysis of the interaction between the predictor variables and financial accountability of the state-owned corporations. The study used the Spearman rank correlation in analysis with the results affirming that there is a significant correlation between corporate governance factors, political environment, and the operational performance of state corporations in Kenya. Regression tests affirmed there was significant predictive power of corporate governance factors on the financial accountability of state-owned firms in Kenya. The findings of the study led to the conclusion that corporate governance factors (board diversity, board independence, ethical practices, risk governance practices) have positive and significant effects on the financial accountability of State-Owned Enterprises in Kenya. This shows that the state firms can increase their financial accountability through the application of proper corporate governance practices. The study found out that board diversity and board independence did not have a significant influence on the financial accountability of State-Owned Enterprises in Kenya. Individually, the coefficients supported the conclusion that ethical practices and risk governance practices have a positive impact on financial accountability of State-Owned Enterprises in Kenya. Overall, the findings found out that political factors do have a positive moderating effect on the relationship between corporate governance factors and financial accountability of State-Owned Enterprises in Kenya. The study suggestions are that for state firms to increase the degree of financial accountability, the study recommends that they embrace the best governance practices and ensure that these practices specifically address how to properly manage shareholders’ assets, provide adequate risk management and that the codes of conduct and standards of operation are enforced in day-to-day operations and not just put in writing. The study further calls on the government to develop sector specific governance frameworks that would complement the guidelines from the Mwongozo code of governance. Finally, the study calls on the government to enact legislations that makes the provisions of the Mwongozo code mandatory and not just mere suggestions.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Study on sound management of Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya through demand elasticity analyzing
    (Strathmore University, 2023) Yang, Y.
    Railway is intuitively more of competitive advantage in long haulage and mass carrying by decreasing the cost of factors of production, and optimizing goods distribution channel. For the purpose of sound management within railway industry, the demand elasticities of SGR in Kenya are taken into assessment. Time series data in monthly interval was procured from 2017 to 2021. The sensitivities of SGR demand to critical elements are determined by econometric approaches. Within the scenario of passenger, the demand is expressed by fare, GDP per capita and fuel price. None stationary data was analyzed by Autoregressive Lag Distribution, in the long run, elasticity to fair is elastic at -2.6, elasticity to GDP per capita is 4.2, and elasticity to other road mode is -4.2. Results show that passenger demand has positive relation with GDP, while modal competition advantage to other road mode is not significant. Within the scenario of freight, volume moved is expressed by freight charge, international trade, GDP in transport sector, and fuel price. Stationary data was evaluated by Johansen co-integration approach. In the long run, elasticity to charge is 0.4, to GDP and international trade are 1.0 and 1.63 respectively, to other road modes is 2.6. Findings imply that price increase can raise the revenue, freight volume is positively affected by GDP and international trade, and mode shift to other road mode is also not significant. In the short run, any disequilibrium will be adjusted with a speed at 0.47. Therefore, the price framing policy can be employed to increase the revenue in freight sector solely, while subtler works should have been done, which may lead to competitive advantage for both passenger and freight sectors.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Effect of destination management on tourism destination competitiveness in devolved governance after COVID-19: a case of Kakamega County
    (Strathmore University, 2023) Musee, S. M.
    Kakamega County is one of Kenya’s devolved units. It is an emerging destination in one of the lowly ranked tourism competitive regions of the Western Tourism Circuit. Similar to other destinations, Kakamega was adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The study’s main objective was to determine the effect of destination management on the tourism destination competitiveness of Kakamega County in Kenya’s devolved governance in the aftermath of Covid-19. Specific objectives were to determine the effect of tourism policy in enhancing the tourism destination competitiveness of Kakamega County after COVID-19; establish the influence of destination marketing in promoting tourism destination competitiveness of Kakamega County after COVID-19; and, evaluate the effect of environmental sustainability management in fostering tourism destination competitiveness in Kakamega County after COVID-19. Porter’s theory of competitive advantage of nations and sequential theory of decentralisation provided a theoretical foundation for the study. On the other hand, Dwyer and Kim’s model of competitiveness enhanced the conceptualisation of the link between destination management and competitiveness. An interpretivism philosophy informed the adoption of a descriptive survey research design. Stratified purposive sampling targeted a sample size of 50 tourism and hospitality practitioners in the public and private sectors in Kakamega County. Data was collected using a close-ended questionnaire. Multi linear regression analysis was used to establish that the construct of destination management, that is, tourism policy, destination marketing and environmental sustainability all had a moderate and positive effect on tourism destination competitiveness. Overall, destination management had a moderate and positive effect on the competitiveness of Kakamega County as a tourism destination. The study recommends community inclusion in tourism ventures in Kakamega county; adequate resource allocation to tourism and travel sector development; regular market intelligence to understand current tourism trends in competitor destinations to integrate destination marketing in all tourism product development phases; and, entrenched sustainable tourism through better environmental management and conservation of unique natural and cultural heritage tourism attractions. The study proposed a need for further research on tourism destination competitiveness in devolved units based on other indicators and determinants like decentralised governance policy. Keywords: Tourism Destination Competitiveness; Destination Management; Devolved Governance