Research Articles

The relationship between market orientation and firm innovativeness:

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

The relationship between market orientation and firm innovativeness: Kisamo, Ansila.; Kayunze, Kim.; Allan, Tumaini. Food-processing enterprises contribute significantly to the global economy. Yet, many struggle in their growth and face early failure. Innovation, therefore, becomes critical to their survival. This paper investigates how market orientation (MO) influences innovativeness in Tanzanian food-processing firms and tests whether gender roles moderate that relationship. The study is echoed in dynamic capability theory supported by institutional theory. The study employed an explanatory cross-sectional survey design. The simple random sampling technique was used to obtain a sample of 224 food processing firms from the population of 284 registered food processing firms which had updated their business licence in the year 2022/2023. The data were collected using a structured questionnaire which comprised Likert-scale questions. The analysis of the objectives was done by using structural equation modelling (SEM). The findings reveal that all of the MO dimensions had a positive and significant effect on innovativeness. Customer orientation had (β = 0.372, p < 0.001), competitor orientation had (β = 0.404, p < 0.001), and inter-functional coordination had (β = 0.196, p = 0.035). Gender roles moderated customer and competitor orientation links. The findings imply that firms that stay sharply focused on their markets by listening to customers, keeping an eye on competitors and making sure their teams work smoothly together tend to be more innovative. Furthermore, owner/managers should build a routine of gathering customer feedback, track competitor moves, and encourage teamwork. Policy makers offering trainings, networking events and targeted support can help smaller firms develop this market-orientated mindset and spark more innovation across the whole sector. This is Research Article

Exploring the nexus between procurement contract administration and quality attainment of force account construction projects in Tanzania

2024-01-01T00:00:00Z

Exploring the nexus between procurement contract administration and quality attainment of force account construction projects in Tanzania Mwaiseje, Shadrack S.; Mchopa, Alban D.; Panga, Faustine P.; Nkuhi, Mathias S. Currently, there is an increasing focus on procurement contract administration as among of the key variables in explaining the performance of construction projects. Despite such observations, their relationship with quality attainment of the Force Account (FA) construction projects is not well postulated to cement the observed causal relationship. Therefore, this study assesses the role of procurement contract administration in the quality attainment of FA construction projects in Local Government Authorities (LGAs) in Tanzania. The study employed a cross-sectional research design, and data was collected by using structured questionnaires from primary schools in Dodoma, Tanzania. The study used 318 respondents to analyse data by using Partial least square structural equitation modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings of the study reveal that risk management, relationship management, dispute management, and monitoring and control are positive and significant factors in explaining the quality attainment of FA construction projects. Notably, risk management is the strongest predictor of quality attainment of FA construction projects. It was concluded that the quality attainment of FA construction projects is highly influenced by procurement contract administration. These findings have practical implications, as procurement practitioners and FA committees can use them to make decisions concerning the quality attainment of the projects through the implementation of procurement contract administration practices This is Research Article

Cost efficiency of small scale sunflower processors in Dodoma region in Tanzania

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Cost efficiency of small scale sunflower processors in Dodoma region in Tanzania Mushi, Cuthbert W. This study was undertaken to analyse the cost efficiency of sunflower processing firms in Dodoma Region. The specific objectives were to: (i) analyse the level of cost efficiency, and (ii) determine the factors affecting the cost efficiency in small scale sunflower processors. Simple random sampling was employed to select 70 sunflower processors from Kongwa and Dodoma urban districts in Dodoma Region who were then interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data analysis techniques included the collating field data and decomposing it into descriptive statistics and estimating translog cost frontier. Descriptive statistics showed that cost of raw materials accounted for 61.21% of total cost of production (whereby sunflower seed accounted for 94.5% of raw material cost, transport cost (5.1%), and storage cost (0.5%)) followed by cost of fixed assets (22.68%), overhead costs (11.45%), and labour (4.67%). The sunflower processing sub-sector is dominated by male (92.7%) compared to 7.8% of their female counterpart. Empirical results also indicate that the average cost efficiency of sunflower processors was 112%; however, this ranged from 110% to 129%. Additionally, the output elasticity and cost elasticities due to materials, energy and transport significantly affected the total cost of sunflower oil production. Formal education, type of machine used by processors, access to finance had positive effect on the Cost Efficiency (CE) while membership to processors’ association had negative effect on CE. In general, the study found that the high cost of production of sunflower oil was due to high sunflower seed prices and unreliable power supply which significantly affect sunflower processors’ in Dodoma Region. The study recommends a number of measures to enhance sunflower processing efficiency in the study area to include: improving processors’ skills through capitalizing on specific efficiency-enhancing trainings e.g. KAIZEN’s and TFDA’s; upgrading the type of machinery i.e. integrating the currently in use Chinese technology with the up-coming iii Indian technology; improvement of individual processor’s credit rating through relocation of plants to the municipality’s planned industrial area which well versed with requisite infrastructure (building, electricity, water etc.), expanding creditor base to include also non-bank and other informal lenders, building internal competencies for processors in developing their business plans in a manner that enables them to have better appraisal of their financial transactions This is Research Article

Mind the gap? Investigating the Curriculum- Labour Market Nexus in Tanzania

2020-01-01T00:00:00Z

Mind the gap? Investigating the Curriculum- Labour Market Nexus in Tanzania Kaleshu, Jones; Ouma, Stefan; Towo, Esther; Katundu, Mangasini Tanzanian higher education faces many challenges due to ongoing expansion and increased enrolment rates partly caused by increased number of universities and university colleges. This mass enrolment has affected the quality of graduates. Proposed solution to this challenge is a shift from knowledge to competency-based curriculum; which has the potential to link the theory with the practical experience. This paper explored the factors that shape the development of competency-based curricula. The study was conducted using a cross-sectional design and answered the following key questions: Through which processes, practices, and milieus are curricula developed at Tanzanian universities. What factors contribute to the development of competence-based curricula (internal and external? What are the challenges in developing competence-based curricula? In this study, 160 graduates and 21 employers were sampled using conveniently; whereas, purposive sampling was applied in selecting university graduates, regions, and districts. Data were gathered using household surveys, skey informants interviews and the documentary review. The findings show that resource constraints, insufficient competent staff, the lack of ownership of curricula development and bureaucratic decision-making processes are the main barriers towards developing of the true competency-based curriculum. It is recommended that Tanzanian Universities, Government and educationists should contextualized on the education landscape that fits Tanzanian environment if possible try to decolonize higher education in order to provide local solutions to local problems.