University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB)

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Browsing University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB) by browse.metadata.advisor "Akotey, Joseph Oscar"

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    Energy and water demand management in the tourism accommodation industry : evidence from South Africa
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12) Idahosa, Love Ahuevbonmwan Odion; Akotey, Joseph Oscar; Marwa, Nyankomo; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. University of Stellenbosch Business School.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : The thesis explores the issue of Resource Management (RM) within the context of Environmental Sustainability (ES) in the Tourism Accommodation Industry (TAI) in South Africa. Focusing on demand side management of energy and water resources, it aims to understand the context of resource use in the TAI with the aim of influencing consumption towards more sustainable levels. The South African focus is motivated by the energy and water crisis in the country combined with growth in the tourism sector and international tourist arrivals, and the implications of this growth for the already strained energy and water resources in the country. The thesis document is composed of five separate but thematically connected papers which focus on understanding and addressing resource consumption issues in South Africa’s TAI. Each paper employs its own framework, data, and method to arrive at conclusions that support the objective of the thesis. The first paper demonstrates, using qualitative content analysis of semi-structured interviews, that the operators of Tourism Accommodation Establishments (TAEs) have an adequate understanding of the meaning and applicability of the ES concept to their industry. Although they were correctly able to associate ES to RM for their industry context, findings reveal that the adoption of RM initiatives were low, and at best basic. The next two papers, employing the same method as the first, investigate this low adoption rate by evaluating the motivation for, and barriers to, adopting ES practices in the industry. Paper two (Chapter 3) finds that TAE operators are motivated by the potential to improve their comparative advantage, and a desire to preserve the environment. Paper three (Chapter 4) however reveals that they are deterred from doing all they can by the high initial capital outlay and running cost of most ES initiatives, which these businesses cannot immediately afford despite the potential cost saving the initiatives offer. It also reveals that the service nature of the industry, which prioritises guests’ comfort over environmental concerns, was the most debilitating challenge to implementing ES in the establishments. The fourth paper (Chapter 5) makes use of quantitative data to investigate the key drivers of energy consumption in establishments in the industry. The findings of this paper suggest that establishments’ characteristics (such as size) and facilities offered (e.g. restaurant) drive energy consumption up in the industry. Combined with the findings from previous papers and extant studies, it shows that Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) is most likely the largest direct driver of energy consumption in TAEs. Building on the findings of the previous papers, the final paper (Chapter 6) demonstrates, within the framework of a randomised control trial, that thermal comfort is largely socially constructed, by evaluating the effectiveness of social normative messages in influencing the thermostat setting behaviour of hotel guests towards more sustainable levels. This finding is significant for TAEs who struggle with balancing guests’ comfort with the current unsustainable trend in HVAC consumption. This thesis hence provides new context and information on the South African TAI, and proffers and tests a solution to one of the most debilitating challenges faced in ES adoption in the industry. These findings are relevant for academic instruction in the field of Sustainable Tourism, for practitioners and decision makers within the industry, as well as for policy makers in the public sphere. The bottom up approach adopted (which focuses first on understanding the industry’s context before proffering solutions) has generated empirical evidence that challenge both conventional wisdom and existing theories in terms of Demand Side Management of Energy and Water Resources, and the position of the private sector, especially in the tourism accommodation industry, on their role in the sustainability movement. This method is also applicable to other private sector scenarios, and if adopted would provide valuable insights that could stimulate the private sector engagement in socio-environmental issues.
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    Performance & financing of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMES) in Nigeria : implication of transaction costs and collateral
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Ajuwon, Oluseye Samuel; Ikhide, Sylvanus I.; Akotey, Joseph Oscar; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. University of Stellenbosch Business School.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : This thesis examines the performance of MSMEs in the Nigerian economy and how transaction costs and collateral constitute constraints to accessing finance for a better MSMEs performance. This thesis looks at the sources of financing for MSMEs in Nigeria, the performance of MSMEs in employment generation, output contribution and the implications of transaction costs and collateral on MSMEs access to finance in Nigeria. World Enterprise survey data was used to analyse the performance of MSMEs in employment generation, as well as MSMEs output contribution, using the non-parametric variance estimation of the locally-weighted scatterplot smoothing (LOWESS) method. For the analysis of transaction costs, and issues with collateral determinant, the survey method was used. The thesis takes the form of five papers. The first paper enumerates the external sources of financing options available for MSMEs in Nigeria. The study also investigated the role of lending vis-à-vis stock markets especially for MSMEs, the Micro Finance Banks (MFBs) role and growth in Nigeria and lending to MSMEs to see if MFBs can mitigate the costs of lending to MSMEs. Finally, the major obstacles to bank lending to MSMEs, which are cumbersome application procedures, high interest rates, inaccessible collateral requirements and loan terms (maturities) were examined. The second paper analysed the importance of MSMEs in employment generation. Using a non-parametric variance analysis on the data obtained from World Bank Enterprise Survey, the analyses found MSMEs to performed better than large firms in term of employment generation in the Nigerian economy, with micro and small size enterprises leading the way. This confirms Birch’s (1979) claim that small businesses are the most important source of employment generation. We conclude that governments and other relevant stakeholders in developing countries such as Nigeria dealing with issues of high unemployment should consider MSME support and development as a necessary condition in their effort to reduce unemployment. Secondly, policymakers in developing countries such as Nigeria should provide the necessary infrastructure for MSMEs development through the creation of innovation hubs and clusters to enhance MSMEs’ ability to generate more employment. The third paper measured MSMEs’ productivity growth rate using annual sales of firms from the World Bank enterprise survey data for Nigeria. The study employed the non-parametric variance estimation using the locally-weighted scatterplot smoothing (LOWESS) method on three sets of two-points data (2006 and 2003, 2008 and 2002, and finally 2012 and 2009) of annual fiscal sales for each category of firms (micro, small, medium and large) surveyed. The results showed that small businesses recorded high productivity growth rates in some subsectors of the economy that specialises in product customisation such as garment, metal works, and furniture. Therefore, this study validates the flexible specialisation theory of Piore and Sabel (1984) that emphasises the economic importance of MSMEs in the post-industrial era where product customisation is the new order of production. The policy implication of the study is that any targeted intervention in the MSMEs sector designed to increase productivity must be channelled towards the subsector with the most employee specialisation as well as product customisation. Also, drawing from a synthesis of the flexible specialisation theory and pro-SME policy thesis, MSME production hubs similar to what is done in Silicon Valley and New York’s garment district should be encouraged as this can help spur MSME output because it prompts easy knowledge transfer and skill adaptation. The fourth paper investigated the impact of transaction costs in MSMEs access to finance. This was done by analysing transaction costs on access to credit from the view point of both MSMEs and financial institutions (commercial banks and microfinance banks). From the MSMEs’ side, borrowing experience, decision lag, firm size and borrowers’ distance to the loan office were investigated. On the financial institution’s side, the costs of information gathering, loan administration, monitoring and loan enforcement were investigated. We used the questionnaire survey method, in-depth interviews and case studies, as well as the annual financial statements of the banks. We identified interest rate and collateral value as constraints to accessing finance for MSMEs. We also found financial institutions’ attitude on MSMEs access to credit not being friendly. Financial institutions need to do more to bring down transaction costs of lending. This hopefully can be achieved by investing more in agent banking which would lower operating costs, as well as spreading risk, and ultimately increase credit intermediation to small businesses. Finally, the fifth paper looked at how collateral affects MSMEs’ access to credit facility from financial institutions. Using the questionnaire survey method and in-depth interviews, we found that collateral was a huge constraint to accessing finance with 45% of the firms surveyed revealing that collateral pledging has denied them access to debt financing from banking institutions. In the light of this finding, we believe that if the alternative collateral, explained in the chapter, is given proper consideration by all stakeholders, it would go a long way to reduce the problem of collateral as an obstacle to debt finance for MSMEs in Nigeria.