Business Administration

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Effect of Leverage on Performance of Non-financial Firms Listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange
(Science Publishing Group, 2015-08-13) Mukaria, Henry Kimathi; Mugenda, Nebat Galo; Akenga, Grace Melissa
Managers strive to maximise shareholder wealth by making rational financing decisions regarding optimal capital structure which would minimise its cost of capital. In attempt to magnify the return to shareholders, managers employ the use of debt. When excessive debt financing is employed by a firm, it increases the cost of financing and the financial risk of the firm leading to decreasing the return on equity as a result of financial distress. Do the various debt equity ratio levels lead to different financial performance when compared for high levered and low levered firm, high growth and low growth firm or large and small firms? A causal research design was used to establish the cause and effect relationship between financial leverage and the financial performance of the firms. The target population was 61listed firms on the Nairobi securities exchange by December 2013.Purposive sampling was used to select 38 non-financial companies. Financial companies were eliminated because the company’s capital structures have specific characteristics affected by industry regulatory requirements. Secondary data was obtained from published financial statements of the sampled companies for the six year period from 2008 to 2013.Ordinary Least Square method was used to establish the cause effect relationship among variables; Hypotheses were tested at 5% significance level using t-statistic. The study found that there was no significant difference in financial performance between highly levered and lowly levered firms and that there existed a negative relationship between Leverage and firm’s performance. There were also no significant differences in financial performance between high growth levered firms and low growth levered firms and that there existed a negative relationship between a firm’s growth opportunity and financial leverage ratio. There was no significant difference in financial performance between large levered firms and small levered firms. The findings of this study may act as a policy guideline to finance managers involved in managing firms on the contribution of financial leverage and its association with return on equity to maximise shareholder wealth.
ANALYSIS OF THE VOLATILITY OF REAL EXCHANGE RATE AND EXPORTS IN KENYA USING THE GARCH MODEL: 2005-2012.
(Journal of Multidisciplinary Scientific Research, 2015-08-16) WASSEJA, MOHAMMED MUSTAPHA; MWENDA, SAMWEL N.; MUSUNDI, SAMMY W.; NJOROGE, ELIZABETH
The real exchange rate has proven to be an important factor in international trade because it is expected that exports respond to real exchange rate movements with respect to the characteristics of the importing and exporting countries. Exchange rate volatility increases uncertainty of profits on contracts denominated in foreign currency and subsequently dampens trade and economic growth. This study investigated how real exchange rate volatility affected exports of key Kenyan commodities to the European Union and United Kingdom, namely; tea, coffee and horticulture to the European Union. The presence of exchange rate volatility was determined using the GARCH model. A Bounds testing and Autoregressive Distributed Lag model was used to establish the presence of a long run relationship between exchange rate volatility and commodity exports. Findings revealed that exchange rate volatility affected tea exports to the UK and horticulture exports to the European Union. Foreign income played an important role in explaining tea and coffee exports to the UK and EU respectively.
DENOTATIVE MEANINGS OF NAMES GIVEN TO BUSINESSES IN CHOGORIA TOWN: A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS
(International Journal of Economics, Business and Management Research, 2019) Kinegeni, Mr. Loyford Kariuki; Atieno, Dr. Christine
Naming is an important aspect of our everyday life. Practically everything in the world has a name. This Article sought to provide a pragmatic analysis of names given to businesses in Chogoria town, Tharaka Nithi County in Kenya. The objectives of the study was to establish the denotative meanings of business names in Chogoria town. The study adopted a descriptive research design and used the Frame Semantic Theory to explain how encyclopedic knowledge can be used to arrive at the meanings of these business names. Literature was reviewed on meaning, naming, other studies on the same and how context determines meaning. Stratified sampling and purposive sampling were used to sample thirty business names from the various business types in the area of study to determine those names that would help achieve the objective. Interview schedule was used as the data collection instrument. The data was analyzed using the thematic analysis.
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND PERFORMANCE OF NATIONAL HOSPITAL INSURANCE FUND IN NAIROBI CITY COUNTY, KENYA
(International Academic Journal of Human Resource and Business Administration, 2021-06-11) Karimi, Catherine K.; Kavindah, Dr. Lucy
In the corporate world, the business environment is rapidly changing necessitating organizations to adopt strategic management practices that give them a competitive edge and lead to improved performance. National Hospital Insurance Fund has instituted strategic management practices in bid to boost overall organizational performance as well as improve service efficacy and productivity. However, the current practices have not attained the envisaged results. As much as various scholars have pointed out adoption of strategic management approaches such as strategic planning and strategic formulation often have a tendency to trigger improved organizational performance, limited studies have attempted to prove that these practices can actually yield tremendous results, considering the role of NHIF in the Kenyan populace. The general objective of the study was to determine the influence of strategic management practices on performance of National Hospital Insurance Fund in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study’s specific objectives were to determine the influence of; strategic planning practices, strategic formulation practices, strategic implementation practices and strategic evaluation practices on performance of NHIF in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study was anchored on dynamic capability theory, Management by objective theory and Congruence Model Theory, which was useful in supporting the variables of the study. The study employed a longitudinal descriptive research design which was appropriate for a single organization, which in this case was the National Hospital Insurance Fund. The study’s target population comprised of 250 employees from NHIF head office hailing from human resource, administration, research and development, marketing, finance and strategic department. Stratified simple random sampling technique was utilized to choose respondents to get a sample size of 153 respondents. The data was acquired from primary and secondary sources. Primary data was collected through structured (close-ended) questionnaires. Self-administration and drop and pick methods were adopted for questionnaires administration. Collected data was analyzed using Statistical Packages for Social Science. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Descriptive statistics were limited to frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviations. Inferential statistics were limited to Product moment correlation and regression modelling. The research findings were presented using tables. Multiple regression model was adopted to test the strength of the relationship between variables. From the regression model, the findings indicate that study variables significantly influenced performance of National Hospital Insurance Fund. Coefficient of adjusted determination was 0.734 which translates to 73.4%. This indicates that variations in dependents variable was explained by the independent variables (strategic planning practices, strategic formulation practices, strategic implementation practices and strategic evaluation practices). The residual of 26.6% could be explained by other factors beyond the scope of the current study. The study concluded that strategic management practices influence performance of National Hospital Insurance Fund. Further, the study recommend that National Hospital Insurance Fund should ensure that its strategic formulation practices are completely working with negligible hitches as this contributes emphatically towards the improvement of its exhibition regarding the development of client base, upheld hospitals and National Hospital Insurance Fund commitment.
Influence of Procurement Plan on the Effectiveness of Procurement Process among Public Universities in Eastern Region, Kenya
(International Journal of Economics, Business and Management Research, 2022) Oenga, Naftal O.; Thogori, Dr Miriam; Wabwire, Dr. Joseph Masinde
The study sought to determine the influence of procurement plan on the effectiveness of procurement process of public universities in Eastern region, Kenya. The study employed a descriptive research design with a study population of 94 departmental heads of the user departments in 5 Public Universities in the Eastern Region of Kenya. A census was conducted on all the 94 departmental heads under consideration, and primary data was obtained. Out of the 94 targeted, the study managed to obtain only 91, giving a response rate of 97%. Linear regression model was employed to bring out the effect of procurement plan on the effectiveness of the procurement process of public universities in Eastern region, Kenya. Chi-square analysis test statistics implied a significant association between procurement plan and the procurement process .The significance of independent variable was tested using t- test. The results obtained a p value of 0.000 and coefficient of 0.285 implying a statistically significant positive effect of procurement plan and effectiveness of the procurement process. The study concluded that public universities should encourage user departments to actively participate in procurement plan since it impacted positively on the effectiveness of the procurement process of public universities in Eastern region. The study recommends that universities should involve user departments in the preparation of procurement plan to enhance effectiveness of procurement process. The study will form a basis of policy formulation on procurement matters and provide a basis for further research in the field. The study findings will be useful to procurement policy makers in streamlining public procurement practices. The findings will also be of great importance to procurement professionals while making procurement decisions for user departments’ requirements. Academicians and researchers will also benefit by adding new insights into the existing body of knowledge on procurement practices.
Effectof Organizational Values onEmployee Productivity in Public Universities in Mt. Kenya Region
(EdinBurg Peer Reviewed Journals and BooksPublishers, 2022) Mutuma, G.; Moguche, A.; Mutea, F.
The presence of insensitive employees who are not flexible enough to fit into the organizational culture could be a barrier to employee productivity and thus fail to realize the benefit associated. The purpose of this study wasto determine how organizational values contribute to employee productivityinMt. Kenya Region.The study adopteda descriptive research design and a convenient sampling design wasused to come up with asample of seventy-sixrespondents from the respective Universities in the Mt. Kenya Region. Primary data wascollected using close-ended questionnaires.Analysis ofdata wasdoneusing descriptive and inferential statistics. The study established that the organizational values when regressed severally against employee productivity have a significant effect. The study concludes that employee attitude occupied a huge placein the daily operations of the employees thus the need to ensure employees have the right attitudes towards work at all times. The attitude that one has is a very big influencing factor towards employee productivity as the wrong attitude could affect the employee productivity negatively. The study recommends that for an organization to thrive and enjoy improved performance, it has to formulate very articulate organizational values which are the blueprints for employee conduct while within the university. Itis also recommended that universities should have programs that help model the employees’ attitudes to ensure that productivity is not ruined by the wrong and negative attitudes of employees.
ROLES OF WORKPLACE STRESSORS ON JOB PERFORMANCE AMONG FRONTLINE EMPLOYEES IN SELECTED STAR RATED HOTELS IN NAIROBI CITY COUNTY, KENYA
(African Journal of Emerging Issues, 2022-03) Kinoti, L.K.; Mugambi, R.; Maranga, V.
Purpose of the Study: The hotel industry growth has been felt globally. Being an industry that requires fast and efficient services, there is need for the industry to establish the work place stressors that may affect its frontline employee’s job performance. Overall objective of the study was to investigate the roles of workplace stressors on job performance among frontline employees at selected star hotels in Nairobi City County, Kenya. Statement of the research problem: According to a joint Health Advocate report, stress has a profound negative impact on worker productivity reaching $ 300 billion each year. Around 60% to 80% of workplace accidents are caused by employee stress, around 1,000,000 employees do not attend routine tasks due to work-related stress and 60% of employees they are guilty of absences due to stress. Overloaded workers spend 46% of their time seeking medical attention, while 14% of workers intend to hit their colleagues. Additionally, 29% of employees yelled at their co-workers due to stress, and 43% of workers believed their employers were concerned about work-life balance. Methodology: Adescriptive cross-sectional survey and convenience-sampling technique was used in order to get the required number of respondents. The former was used to put hotels into different categories (strata) whereas the latter was used to select the required number of the study participants from the hotels included in the sampling frame. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through interviews and self-administered questionnaires issued to 353 frontline employees from the thirty-one (31) star rated hotels in Nairobi City County. Result: A weak positive relationship between work life balance(r =.346, p<0.05) and job performance was depicted. Thus, null hypotheses indicate a relationship between the variables. It can be concluded that job performance increases with employee’s assurance of work-life balance. Conclusion and Recommendation: Results of the study have vital practical implications regarding how management of star rated hotels can enhance frontline employee’s job performance by minimizing work place stressors, Designing jobs to reflect the demands of the changing environment as well as the organization’s technology, to enhance work life balance.
The Influence of the Entrepreneur’s Open Innovation Strategy on Firm Performance: Empirical Evidence From SMEs in Kenya
(IGI Global, 2019-10) Chege, Samwel Macharia; Wang, Daoping
This article helps identify the main factors influencing the performance of small and medium agribusiness enterprises in Kenya. The study proposes five research hypotheses, each tested on a sample of 150 agribusiness enterprises using multiple regression analysis. The results show that the use of external partners, such as scientific research establishments and commercial consultants, influences the firm’s performance. This influence is moderated by factors like internal capabilities and the firm’s degree of openness to innovation.
Evaluating Secondary School Examination Results: Application of Principal Component Analysis
(2014-05-15) Njoroge, Elizabeth W. 1,; Njoroge, Gladys G. 2; Muriithi, Dennis K. 3
Results from Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) indicate that there are schools that have had an upward trend in performance while others have continued to show a decline. This paper seeks to find out the principal components, in terms of subjects, that contribute to this performance. Principal Component Analysis (PCA), a data reduction procedure was applied to assess the performance of the national examination at the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE) level for the last three years. The schools were purposively selected from Nyanza, Nairobi, Rift Valley and Eastern provinces. Secondary data from KNEC was used and analyzed using SPSS software. The PCA brought out the component loadings and the correlation structure between the different subjects; as a result one component was extracted. The results provided evidence that all the subjects are highly correlated and the first component having the highest variance. This principal component emerged to be English language. Being the subject with the highest sum of the squared loadings, it was concluded that it played the greatest role in performance of the examinations.
Application of Simplex Lattice Design in Watermelon Production
(2019) Muriithi, Dennis K.
This paper discusses the use of Simplex Lattice Design approach to plan the experiment for yield of watermelon with an overall objective of optimizing the multiple responses of watermelon to organic manure. Multiple linear regression models have been adopted to express the output parameters (responses) that are decided by the input process parameters. Poultry manure, cow manure and goat manure were the independent variables to optimize the response values of interest that includes; watermelon fruit weight, number of fruits of watermelon per plant. Mixture experiments are appropriate to use when a researcher wishes to determine if synergism exists in mixing components which increases productivity. Three-component design presented in this study illustrated how to apply mixture designs in agricultural research. Mathematical Model evolved for response show the effect of each input parameter and its interaction with other parameters, depicting the trend of response. From, the equation of fruit weight and number of fruits, it can be concluded that goat manure has a more important role on watermelon production in the current study. Conclusively, the current study attained the optimal condition of 17.68 ton/Ha, 11.69 ton/Ha and 19.16 ton/Ha of poultry manure, cow manure and goat manure respectively, would guarantee the farmer a maximum yield of 22.13kg fruit weight of watermelon per plant and 7.74≈8 Fruit of watermelon per plant. The study exemplified that the development of statistical models for crop production can be useful for predicting and understanding the effects of experimental factors.
Influence of Gender in the Saving Culture of Sacco Members in Nyandarua County, Kenya
(2015) Muriithi, Martin 1; Muriithi, Dennis 2
Saving is a key component in any development endeavor as it is believed to be the surest way of increasing income and boosting productivity in an attempt to break through the vicious cycle of poverty. A number of studies have demonstrated that the investment and retirement saving behaviors of women and men differ. However, inconsistencies in findings exist in the few studies conducted on the differences in general saving behaviors between men and women. The purpose of this study was to establish gender differences in saving culture with a special bias on SACCO members. Specifically, the study aimed at assessing the influence of income levels on saving culture; evaluate the effect of marital status on saving culture and establish the influence of age on saving culture of SACCO members in Nyandarua County. The research adopted a descriptive survey design and targeted all business and agricultural based SACCO members and officials in Nyandarua County. 18 SACCO officials and 375 SACCO members were sampled using purposive and stratified random sampling respectively. The researcher collected data using structured questionnaires. A descriptive analysis of the data after processing involved computing mean, mode and median with the help of Statistical Package of Social Sciences Software and Microsoft Excel and presented in frequency tables and charts. Marital status of the respondents was found to be statistically significant in terms of the annual saving. The result implies that a change in marital status will affect the annual savings negatively. The researcher is 99.952% confidence that the change in marital status will negatively have an impact on annual saving. The researcher recommends nurturing of marriage institution as a way of protecting saving culture among women and men members of the SACCO in Nyandarua County.
Ordinal Logistic Regression Versus Multiple Binary Logistic Regression Model for Predicting Student Loan Allocation
(2012) Muriithi, D. K.; Kihoro, J.; Waititu, A.
This paper examines two different methodologies to a classification problem of higher education loan applicants. The paper looks into the allocations made by the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) relative to the economic status of the applicant. In this article, we modeled Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) loan application data from three public universities to determine whether the loan was allocated based on the needs of the respective applicants. The data was classified into two natural categories of those not allocated the loan (0) and those allocated the loan (1). This paper classified further to consider the amounts awarded by the HELB. This was possible since we observed that HELB loans were awarded in distinct categories (Kshs 0, Kshs 35,000, Kshs 40,000, Kshs 45,000, Kshs 50,000), Kshs 55,000 Kshs 60,000). In this study, we used ordinal logistic regression and multiple binary logistic regressions in classifying the applicants into the identified categories. The models were generated that included all predictor variables that were useful in predicting the response variable. This study found that HELB allocate a loan amount to Kshs 40,000 but anything behold Kshs 40,000 is based on information provided by an applicant. The study revealed that the loans were not awarded based on the need of respective applicants. This has led to misclassification when allocating loan. The study found that wealth and amount of fees paid for siblings were other factors that could be considered to identify needy applicants. This results show that an ordinal regression model gives accurate estimates that can enable HELB make a viable awarding decision. It is expected that proper determination of the most accurate model will go a long way in minimizing the number of mis-classifications when awarding HELB loan. The study raises questions on the criteria used by HELB in loan allocation but further studies may be commissioned to confirm or disapprove our findings.
Effect of Debt Finance on Financial Performance of Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies in Maara Sub-county, Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya
(Science Publishing Group, 2017-08-03) Kirimi, Peter Njagi; Simiyu, Justo; Murithi, Dennis
Debt financing is the acquisition of funds through borrowing. Most Sacco’s results into borrowing to finance their increased customer’s demands thus increasing the leverage if not controlled. This study determined the effects of debt finance on financial performance measured ROE. The study investigated the effect of interest rate, loan tenure, debt/equity ratio, and interest coverage ratio on financial performance of savings and credit cooperative societies in Maara Sub-County, Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya. Causal research design and a target opulation of 10 Sacco’s and census survey were used. Secondary data from the Saccos financial statements for the last eight years used. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used with help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and results presented in tables. A strong positive relationship of 0.984 between debt and ROE was revealed. A negative relationship existed between interest rate, loan tenure and ROE while a positive relationship was revealed between debt equity ratio and interest coverage ratio on ROE respectively. Interest rate, loan tenure and debt equity ratio had significant effect on ROE at t-statistics of 3.474, -2.938, 9.217 and 8.728 respectively with their P-values 0.018, 0.032, 0.000 and 0.000 less than 0.05 respectively.
Impact of cost Reduction Strategies on Performance of Tea Factories in Embu County, Kenya.
(2014-12) Namu, Nelson Njiru; Kaimba, George K.; Muriithi, D.K.; Nkari, Isaac M.
Kenya’s overall economic and social development is highly dependent on the growth and development of the agriculture sector. Tea as a leading cash crop has made significant contribution to the economy. Tea exports increased by nearly 30 percent in 2010 reaching 441 tonnes valued at USD 1.3 billion. However the tea industry is faced withmyriad challenges that threaten its survival if immediate intervention measures are not put in place. The tea industry is challenged by high cost of labour, farm inputs, energy/fuel, numerous taxes and levies. This study aimed at determining the impact of the cost reduction strategies initiated by various tea factories in Embu County. A total of 18 managers, 40 employees and 225 tea growers were sampled from the targeted population. Data from the respondents was ollected through structured questionnaires. Data collected was analyzed descriptively using frequencies and percentages. The study found that the factories employed cost reduction measures. Some of measures were acknowledged to be applicable at 100%. These were strategies like staffing, technology and energy sources. The results further indicated that considering equal period of time before and after 2006 (when cost reduction strategies were introduced), the results obtained statistically showed that the amount of tea processed was not correlated with cost reduction strategies. This is because the quantity of tea decreased from 191,258,695 kilograms to 189,880,652 kilograms. The rate of annual returns for the farmers increased from a mean of 67.47% to 72.6% which implied that cost reduction measures had a correlation with the annual returns.
The Optimization of Multiple Responses of Watermelon to Organic Manure Using Response Surface Methodology
(2017-03) Muriithi, Dennis K.; ArapKoske, J. K.; Gathungu, Geofrey K.
This paper discusses the use of Central Composite Design approach to plan the experiments for growth and yield of watermelon with an overall objective of optimizes the multiple responses of watermelon to organic manure. Response Surface methodology (RSM) has been adopted to express the output parameters (responses) that are decided by the input process parameters. Poultry manure, cow manure and goat manure were the independent variables to optimize the response values of interest that includes; watermelon fruit weight, number of branches and vine length per plant. The predicted values were found to be in good agreement with the experimental values which define the propriety of the models and the achievement of CCD in the optimization of multiple responses of watermelon. The results of the study found that the optimal values of responses were 93.148 ton/Ha of fruit weight of watermelon in the study area, 8 branches of watermelon plant and vine length of 224 cm at 8weeks.Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that farmers in the study area apply 17.125 tons/Ha of poultry manure, 13.27 tons/Ha of cow manure and 18.08 tons/Ha of goat manure for increased growth and yield of watermelon. Finally, this study represented the development of mathematical models for crop production based on statistics that can be useful for predicting and understanding the effects of experimental factors. Also, it would be a scientific and economic approach to obtain the maximum amount of information in a short period of time and with the lowest number of experiments.
Application of Central Composite Design Based Response Surface Methodology in Parameter Optimization of Watermelon Fruit Weight Using Organic Manure
(2017-03-18) Muriithi, Dennis K.1,; Arap Koske, J. K. 2,; Gathungu, Geofrey K. 3
Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is a critical technology in developing new processes, optimizing their performance and improving the design. In Kenya, watermelon cultivation is gradually gaining ground. It is a crop with huge economic importance to man as well as highly nutritious, sweet and thirst- quenching. In order to increase crop production, there is need to increase soil nutrient content with organic manure such as poultry, cow or other animal wastes. At present, there are no recommended standards with respect to rate of poultry manure, cow manure and goat manure for enhancement of yield of watermelon in Kenya. The main objective of the study was to develop an approach for better understanding of the relationship between variables and response for optimum operating settings for maximum yield of watermelon crop using Central Composite Design and Response Surface ethodology. Response Surface Model evolved for response shown the effect of each input parameter and its interaction with other parameters, depicting the trend of response. Verification of the Fitness of the model using ANOVA technique shows that the model can be used with confidence level of 0.95, for watermelon production. Further validation of the model done with the additional experimental data collected demonstrates that the model have high reliability for adoption within the chosen range of parameters. The optimal value for each factor was found as 17.13tons/Ha of poultry manure, 13.3tons/Ha of cow manure and 18.1tons/Ha of goat manure. At optimal conditions, the actual value of the fruit weight of watermelon was 93.148tons/Ha. This translates to 37.3tons per acre piece of land of watermelon fruit weight for a period of 75-85 days after sowing. In addition, a peasant farmer can generate about 745,184 Kenya shillings within a period of 75 day in one acre piece of land at a low price of Kshs 20 per kilogram of watermelon fruit. RSM has resulted in saving of considerable amount of time and money hence recommended in similar study.
Determination of Infant and Child Mortality in Kenya Using Cox-Proportional Hazard Model
(Science Publishing Group, 2015-09-10) Muriithi, Daniel Mwangi 1; Muriithi, Dennis K. 2
Abstract One of the Millennium Development Goals is the reduction of infant and child mortality by two-thirds by year 2015. To achieve this goal, efforts need be concentrated at identifying cost-ffective strategies as many international agencies have advocated for more resources to be directed to health sector. One way of doing this is to identify the important factors that affect infant and child mortality. This study is necessary because, Infant and child mortality is one of the most important sensitive indicators of the social economic and health status of a community. This is because more than any other age group of a population, infants and children survival depends on the socioeconomic condition of their environment. This study addresses factors affecting infant and child mortality in Kenya. The main objective of the paper is to determine the effect of socioeconomic and demographic variables on infant and child mortality. Childhood mortality from the, KDHS 2008-09 data, was analyzed in two age periods: mortality from birth to the age of 12 months, referred to as “infant mortality” and mortality from the age of 12 months to the age of 60 months, referred to as “child mortality”. Data from Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS 2008-09) was collected by use of questionnaires, after carrying out a two-stage cluster sampling design. The Cox regression survival analysis was used to compute relative risk of the socioeconomic and demographic variables, on infant and child mortality. The study revealed that the socioeconomic and demographic factors affect both infant and child mortality. The relative risks were higher for infant’s mortality as compared to child’s mortality. The place of birth has the greatest impact on infant mortality. The study recommends policy makers and programme managers in the child health sector to formulate appropriate strategies to improve the situation, of children less than five years in Kenya, by creating awareness on these factors and improving on them.
Evaluating Secondary School Examination Results: Application of Principal Component Analysis
(Scienpress Ltd,, 2014-12-07) Njoroge, Elizabeth W. 1,; Njoroge, Gladys G. 2; Muriithi, Dennis K. 3
Results from Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) indicate that there are schools that have had an upward trend in performance while others have continued to show a decline. This paper seeks to find out the principal components, in terms of subjects, that contribute to this performance. Principal Component Analysis (PCA), a data reduction procedure was applied to assess the performance of the national examination at the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE) level for the last three years. The schools were purposively selected from Nyanza, Nairobi, Rift Valley and Eastern provinces. Secondary data from KNEC was used and analyzed using SPSS software. The PCA brought out the component loadings and the correlation structure between the different subjects; as a result one component was extracted. The results provided evidence that all the subjects are highly correlated and the first component having the highest variance. This principal component emerged to be English language. Being the subject with the highest sum of the squared loadings, it was concluded that it played the greatest role in performance of the examinations.
Effect of Leverage on Performance of Non-financial Firms Listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
(2015-09) Mukaria, Henry Kimathi*; Mugenda, Nebat Galo,; Akenga Gr, Grace Melissa
Abstract: Managers strive to maximise shareholder wealth by making rational financing decisions regarding optimal capital structure which would minimise its cost of capital. In attempt to magnify the return to shareholders, managers employ the use of debt. When excessive debt financing is employed by a firm, it increases the cost of financing and the financial risk of the firm leading to decreasing the return on equity as a result of financial distress. Do the various debt equity ratio levels lead to different financial performance when compared for high levered and low levered firm, high growth and low growth firm or large and small firms? A causal research design was used to establish the cause and effect relationship between financial leverage and the financial performance of the firms. The target population was 61listed firms on the Nairobi securities exchange by December 2013.Purposive sampling was used to select 38 non-financial companies. Financial companies were eliminated because the company’s capital structures have specific characteristics affected by industry regulatory requirements. Secondary data was obtained from published financial statements of the sampled companies for the six year period from 2008 to 2013.Ordinary Least Square method was used to establish the cause effect relationship among variables; Hypotheses were tested at 5% significance level using t-statistic. The study found that there was no significant difference in financial performance between highly levered and lowly levered firms and that there existed a negative relationship between Leverage and firm’s performance. There were also no significant differences in financial performance between high growth levered firms and low growth levered firms and that there existed a negative relationship between a firm’s growth opportunity and financial leverage ratio. There was no significant difference in financial performance between large levered firms and small levered firms. The findings of this study may act as a policy guideline to finance managers involved in managing firms on the contribution of financial leverage and its association with return on equity to maximise shareholder wealth.
Effect of Mortgage Market Risk on Mortgage Uptake: A Case Study of Mortgage Lenders in Kenya
(2015-12) Akenga, Grace Melissa; Olang, Margaret Akinyi; Galo, Nebat Mugenda
Mortgage market is a financial system that provides opportunity for originating and trading mortgage loans. A mortgage loan is used for financing real estate investments. Although there has been a remarkable increase in demand for real estate investments in Kenya the amount of mortgage uptake is still low. Studies reveal risks as important macroeconomic variables in the mortgage market. However the effect of these risks on mortgage uptake in Kenya is inconclusive. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of mortgage market risk on mortgage uptake. The objectives of the study were to determine the effect of credit risk, interest rate risk, price risk and liquidity risk on mortgage uptake in mortgage lending institutions in Kenya. Causal research design was used to establish the effect of mortgage market risk on mortgage uptake. Purposive sampling was used to select a sample size of 27 out of 37 mortgage lenders that had been involved in mortgage lending since 2008 to 2013. Secondary data was obtained from Central Bank of Kenya reports and mortgage special reports for the period under study. The assumptions that form a basis for use of the regression model were tested using homoscedasticity and autocorrelation. Ordinary Least Square method was used to determine the cause effect relationship among variables while hypotheses were tested at 5% significance level. The overall model was found to be significant with F=13.474 and p-value (0.00 < 0.05). The findings revealed that risks faced by lenders affect mortgage uptake such that if the risk involved in lending is high lenders limit the amount of mortgage lending. The study recommended that lenders should ensure risks are well managed so as to increase mortgage uptake. The findings would form a basis for lenders to formulate risk management strategies that would help to mitigate risks and increase mortgage uptake. The study also forms a basis for further research and adds to the existing body of knowledge.

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