Research Articles[FSS-Eco]

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://192.168.30.20:4000/handle/123456789/131

Browse

Start date: 2011End date: 2019

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 17
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    E-Government in marketing a country: A strategy for reducing transaction cost of doing business in Tanzania
    (International Journal of Marketing Studies, 2011) Kachwamba, Muhajir; Sæbø, Øystein
    There are limited studies examining the role of Investment Promotion Agencies (IPA’s) and their respective marketing techniques used in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Using an exploratory case study approach, this article addresses this research gap by exploring the role of e-government as a promotion technique in eliminating barriers to FDI inflows in Tanzania; particularly barriers related to information accessibility and bureaucratic procedures facing foreign investors in acquiring relevant licenses and business permits. The findings indicate that foreign investors utilize information to create knowledge of business environment in the host country, though some additional information may not be found due to informational specificity of a particular investment project. In addition, the findings indicate that implementation of e-government has reduced some monetary and non-monetary transaction costs of complying with government authorities. The article contributes to the existing body of knowledge in the field of marketing by examining the role of e-government services in the public sector marketing within a macro-marketing domain.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Internet-based information and foreign direct investment (FDI) location decision making: An information cost perspective
    (Acadenic journals, 2012) Kachwamba, Muhajir; Sæbø, Øystein
    Information and communication technology (ICT) is considered to play an important role to reduce information cost for potential foreign investors. While a growing body of literature has suggested such connections, conceptual clarity is yet to be achieved. This study introduces a conceptual framework based on the Information-theoretic approach and transaction cost perspective to explore how ICT may reduce information cost. To illustrate our proposed framework, we apply it to examine the role of Internet-based information, published by the Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) on the information needs for foreign investors intending to invest in Tanzania. The findings indicated that general information on investment opportunities and regulatory entry procedures is mainly accessible through IPA´s web pages. Nevertheless, the findings revealed that more specific information on industry competitiveness is not found, although it is important for strategic investment location choice. Public information is combined with alternative sources of information to meet the information requirement for potential investors. Our findings indicate that Internet-based sources of information can reduce part of the information cost facing foreign investors, if properly organized. Our proposed framework extends the discourse on how ICT may influence information cost for foreign investors and contributes to our knowledge on the impact of ICT in the business sector focusing on the Government to business domain. Based on our findings we propose insights into studying and developing ICT-based services for IPAs in their efforts to attract Foreign Direct Investment.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Examining the effect of child labour in the profitability of women owned enterprises: A case of microcredit supported enterprises in Tanzania.
    (Springer, 2018) Tundui, Charles S.; Tundui, Hawa P.
    This paper examines the effect of child labor in the profitability of women owned enterprises. The study covered 429 women respondents who had access to microcredit in Morogoro and Iringa towns. We used the Ordered Prohibit to model the relationship between the predictors and the outcome variable. The findings show that the use of child labor plays a more significant role in the profitability of women businesses than any variable included in the analysis. Results have also shown that owners who possess business skills, who have access to markets and those who do not separate business resources from household resources are more likely to experience a profit increase in their enterprises than otherwise. On the other hand, access to loans doesn’t seem to translate into increases in enterprise profit. From these results, we gather that as a poverty alleviation strategy, microcredit access and micro enterprising are not a panacea, but will require other supporting policies and services to enable women to find their way out of poverty. It is also important that job creation and employment patterns of microcredit supported enterprises are studied and valued accordingly.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Microcredit, micro enterprising and repayment myth: The case of micro and small women business entrepreneurs in Tanzania
    (World Scholars, 2013) Tundui, Charles S.; Tundui, Hawa P.
    The aim of this article is to examine the sources and determinants of loan repayment among women microcredit clients in Tanzania. We surveyed a random sample of 286 business owners who were PRIDE microfinance programme clients in Morogoro and Iringa towns. The study focused on loan conditions, household characteristics and business management experience, skills and management practises by the business owners. Loan repayment difficulties were reported among 19.6 per cent of borrowers. Logistic regression results have shown that loan size, interest rate and duration of membership in the programme do not predict loan repayment. Instead the results have demonstrated that business skills and management practises play a very significant role. We also found household size, the number of household members with fixed salaries and decision making regarding loan use to have a significant influence on loan repayment. From the results, it is established that the factors that limit growth of women businesses are also liable for their repayment difficulties. These results may imply that for the borrowers to increase their avenues for loan repayment, it is imperative that the measures used by microfinance programmes to ensure that borrowers repay their loans they also include support services that enable clients to expand their businesses; increase profit levels and generate enough surplus for loan servicing and re-investment in the business. Such services could include training in business skills and management. This further suggests that there is a need for an integrated and holistic policy approach in supporting and promoting micro enterprising among the women rather than piecemeal initiatives
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Social capital and willingness to pay for community based health insurance: Empirical evidence from rural Tanzania
    (Science and Education Centre of North America, 2014) Tundui, Charles; Macha, Raphael
    This study examines the effect of social capital on willingness to pay (WTP) for health services provided through community based health insurance schemes (Community Health Fund) in Tanzania. The study covered 274 household heads. We use prohibit regression analysis to model the relationship between the predictors and our outcome variable. Our results have shown that with the exception of religion, all other social capital variables have a positive and significant impact on the WTP for the Community Health Fund (CHF). Specifically, membership in social organizations and networks, trust among community members and trust of community members on scheme management are positively and significantly related to WTP. On the other hand, the age, education level, household size and number of children and participation in health insurance are not predicting WTP for CHF. Taken together, these results suggest that enhancing access to health care services in the rural areas and the sustainability of CHF would require building appropriate forms of social capital at individual and community levels. Specifically, CHF may increase enrolment through the existing social organizations and associations. Similarly, CHFs may well increase their membership if the avenues for trust building are created and nurtured
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Foreign direct investment (FDI) and its impact on employment creation: The case of manufacturing sector in Tanzania
    (International Journal of Current Innovation Research, 2016) Utouh, Harold M.L.; Rao, M Koteswara
    The purpose of this paper is to provide an analytical insight into Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on employment creation in Tanzania, centring on the manufacturing sector which is held as a conduit for social economic development. It analyses the concerted efforts on the part of the government in attracting conspicuous FDI, and in particular, the relationship between the increase in FDI and employment generation. Tanzania started to adopt economic reforms and open policy in the mid-1980s. However, the speed of the Tanzanian government's established policy to attract FDI was more felt in the 1990s and since then the degree of successful efforts to attract FDI has increased. Methodology - The data used in this study consists of total employment, GDP and inward foreign direct investment (FDI). These annual data covered the period from 1980 to 2012 because it is only in this period that the data is available. The methodology to test the effects of the variables i.e., FDI, GDP and Employment creation has been confined to the least squares technique. The co-integration of the variables has been ascertained via the application of the Augmented Dickey-Fuller Test and is found to hold in the long run. Findings – the findings indicate that FDI has a positive and significant effect on employment generation in Tanzania and GDP is translated to have influenced the economic growth. Practical implications – A conducive business environment, a more liberalised economy, institutional restructuring and enhanced private sector-led development will lead to an increase in foreign investment. Local entrepreneurial capacity should be empowered if the country wishes to have sustainable growth and employment creation. Originality - The paper presents original findings based on research related to FDI and employment creation in the sector of manufacturing industries.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Engaging the Tanzanian diaspora in national development: What do we know and what are the gaps?
    (African Journal of Economic Review, 2015) Utouh, Harold L.M.; Mutalemwa, Darlene K.
    Over the past ten years, there has been a significant change in African governments’ perception of their diasporas. In the previous three decades, diasporas were not seen as a resource that countries of origin could tap into for their development needs. This is no longer the case. Now, diasporas are increasingly seen as positive actors: as countrymen and women abroad who can contribute to development efforts in their homelands. In this context, this paper reviews the literature on the major policies and initiatives used by countries to help support and promote diaspora engagement. To be specific, countries which have successfully engaged their diaspora in the national development process. The paper also highlights key factors of the success of Tanzania’s neighbouring countries and other countries. It attempts to relate these practices to the case of Tanzania, given the current social, economic, political and cultural contexts. The Tanzanian experience reveals a wide range of interventions taken to facilitate participation by its diaspora in national growth efforts. While these interventions are highly laudable- especially considering financial limits - there remain important weaknesses. Suggestions to improve existing measures are provided
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Foreign direct investment (FDI) into Tanzania manufacturing sector for promotion of employment : A demystification
    (Int. Journal of Management and Development Studies, 2016) Utouh, Harold M. L.; Rao, M Koteswra
    Lately, the African Sub–Saharan nations have witnessed massive inflows of FDI, Tanzania inclusive. This calls for the need to evaluate the effect of the FDI on the economy of the recipient nations. A range of theoretical and empirical literature suggests various links through which FDI exert a positive impact on the economy of the recipient country, including the positive effect that FDI have on growth and employment creation. This paper used secondary data and time series data from 1990 to 2012 and argues that there exists a positive relationship between FDI inflow and Economic growth. This means that the FDI inflows in the industrial sector have a direct positive impact on economic growth in Tanzania. The study also confirms that there exists a positive relationship between FDI inflow in the manufacturing sector and employment creation.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Institutional context, household access to resources and sustainability of river basin resources in Tanzania:Towards an analytical framework
    (University of Antwerp, 2015) Shitima, Christina M.
    River basin resources contribute in diverse ways in the livelihoods of rural people in Tanzania. People living around these areas depend on small scale agriculture, subsistence forestry, artisanal shing, livestock keepings, artisanal mining and small-scale trade as sources of livelihoods. While it was expected that these important livelihood assets would be used in sustainable ways, the destructive practices behaviour related to the use of basins resources are increasing. Increase of population, declining of agricultural productivity without increase of employment in industrial sector are among the factors that lead to competition for the use of river basin resources. This paper aims at providing an analytical framework that elaborates the relationship between people’s access to and control over resources and sustainability of River basin resources in Tanzania. It uses the concept of livelihood framework, together with insti- tutional theories to build the analytical framework that elaborates multiplicity of factors that affect sustainability of river basin resources in Tanzania. The livelihood framework is modi ed to include the concept of Ostrom’s polycentric governance system to study how different institu- tions interact in the governance of river basin resources in Tanzania to affect the sustainability of River basin resources. This is the rst paper to link the concept of polycentric governance sys- tem with the livelihood framework. This paper is part of the literature review that will feed into the PhD research on household development strategies and their linkage to RBR degradation in Tanzania.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Micro-credentials in higher education institutions: An exploratory study of its place in Tanzania
    (IJEDICT , 2019) Ghasia, Mohamedi ; Machumu, Haruni; Smet, Egbert
    Micro-credentials represent an alternative approach to career and professional development whereby an individual’s skills, achievements, and accomplishments get to be recognized. They offer the possibility to enhance skills, to manage career pathways as well as adding practicality in the academic content. Moreover, micro-credentials are the cost-effective professional development strategies that significantly minimize employees training cost and time. Also, micro-credentials in higher education institutions (HEIs), refers to the integration of digital badges within universities curricular and community engagement activities to inspire connected and lifelong learning for the professional development of students, educators and communities in formal learning settings. This paper explores ways in which micro-credentials can be offered in the Tanzanian Universities. Specifically, we explore educators’ perception, readiness and implementation strategies. The qualitative methods such as in-depth interviews with thirty-one lecturers, fifty-four students and twelve educational technologists were deployed. The four Tanzanian universities were purposively chosen whereas theoretical sampling was used to identify respondents. Data were analysed within NVIVO software in accordance with the Strauss and Corbin Grounded Theory. The results suggest that university lecturers and students are optimistic that micro-credentials stimulate lifelong and connected learning as well as expand the scope of the universities’ mandate. However, to leverage from these potentials, multi-level interventions are needed. We recommend the creation of micro-credentials ecosystem, formulation of strategies and policies, deployment of necessary infrastructure as well as building relevant skill-base. Implications, contributions and limitations of the study are discussed in line with the findings. Finally, the paper contributes to the literature on the implementation of micro-credentials in higher education (HE).