ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION AND INNOVATION OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN KANO STATE, NIGERIA. .

This study investigates the role of entrepreneurial orientation in shaping firm innovative performance. A cross sectional survey using questionnaire was conducted on a sample of 261 manufacturing SMEs operating in Kano State, Nigeria. Pearson correlation and linear regression analyses were performed to analyze the data. The results indicate significant relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm innovation, and that among the dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation, pro activeness contributes most to innovation. Firms should therefore constantly evaluate the level of their entrepreneurial orientation in order to find out whether it is sufficiently adopted, and that they should concentrate on pro activeness. - See more at: 

THE EFFECT OF AUDITOR COMPETENCE, INDEPENDENCE, AUDIT EXPERIENCE, ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND LEADERSHIP AGAINST AUDITOR PROFESSIONALISM AND ITS IMPLICATION ON AUDIT QUALITY. -

. This study aims to analyze and explain 1) Relationship of auditors competences, auditor independence, audit experience, organizational culture, and leadership. 2) the auditors competences, auditor independence, audit experiences, organizational culture, and leadership directly in the professionalism of auditors. 3) the effect of auditors competences, auditor independence, audit experience, organizational culture, and leadership are directly or indirectly on audit quality. 4) Direct effect of professionalism auditor to audit quality. The research method using exploratory method by conducting a survey on General Inspectorate State Ministries and Non-Ministerial Agencies as the Situs. The analysis tool used is Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with sample used in this research were 250 respondents from those in Central Government. Hypothesis testing results show that the variable competence of auditors, auditor independence, audit experience, organizational culture, and leadership, on average, have a strong relationship. The results showed the professionalism of auditors directly and significantly affected by the variable competence of auditors amounted to 23.8%, 13.3% auditor independence, audit experience 25.7%, 17.7% organizational culture, and leadership at 27.4%. Medium quality audit directly and significantly affected by the variable competence of auditors amounted to 25.1%, the independence of auditors of 12%, 20.9% of audit experience, and organizational culture of 14.7%, and the leadership has no direct influence on the quality of the audit, and direct leadership does not have a significant effect on audit quality. The theoretical implications of leadership should be able to affect audits quality indirectly, by first influencing professionalism on will have an impact on audit quality. - See more at: .

INTEREST RATE VARIATIONS AND THE PROFITABILITY OF ISLAMIC BANKS IN KENYA. - .

. This study examines the impact of market interest rate fluctuations on the profitability of Islamic banks in Kenya. Kenya is fast developing as the Islamic finance hub of East Africa. Gulf African Bank and the First Community Bank have operated in Kenya as fully fledged Islamic banks since the year 2007. The Central Bank of Kenya has also licensed several conventional banks to offer Islamic banking products. Most studies done on the profitability determinants of Islamic banks have been mainly focusing on the Middle East countries. This study therefore contributes to literature by examining the Islamic banks within the East African region. Islamic banking financial model does not involve the charging or receiving of interest which is prohibited under the shariah rules. As opposed to the conventional banks which derive their profits mainly from interest charged on borrowings, islamic banks derive their income from arrangements that include joint ventures (musharakah) as well as cost-plus (murahaba) and profit-sharing (mudharabah) undertakings. Though these financial institutions do not charge or receive interest, they exist in an economy characterized by market interest rates which quite often fluctuate. This study therefore sought to establish whether such market interest rate fluctuations directly or indirectly affect the profitability of the Islamic banks. The study adopted a longitudinal survey design in which the banks’ financial data and the average central bank rates (CBR) over a five-year period (2009-2013) were analyzed. The study concluded that there is a positive relationship between the market interest rate changes and profitability of Islamic banks in Kenya. - See moreat:.

BASEL III: A FRAMEWORK FOR STRONG AND RESILIENT INDIAN BANKING SYSTEM. - .

In the last two decades there has been a remarkable change in the functioning of the banks. Technological changes, Liberalization since 1990 have introduced contemporary and complex financial instruments. Due to this the sales has raised in the financial markets and has resulted in the different types of risks in the banking sector. In the recent years many financial crisis have raised a particular challenge for the central banks in different countries. Basel Committee of Banking Supervision has taken various steps to face these challenges by introducing Basel I and Basel by making the global banking sector more resilient. But the late 2000 financial crisis in US highlighted the loopholes in the Basel II framework in making the banking sector more stable and sound. Therefore the Basel III norms were introduced by the Bank for International Settlements. The Basel guidelines has been drafted by the Bank for International Settlements in agreement with the regulatory authorities of the global banking sector in fifteen developing countries with the main aim of prescribing codes of banking supervision and enhancing financial stability. This research paper analyzes whether Basel III norms are required for the strong and stable resilient banking sector in India. For this purpose some of the important facts have been examined like the significant elements of the Basel III norms, time-line for the implementation of these norms in India, Basel III banking norms in the Indian Banking System with the Implications of these norms on the Indian Banking System. - See more at

SMART CITIES IN INDIA: A SMARTER WAY TO BUILD‘NEW INDIA’ THROUGH SMART CITIES .

Cities in the 21st century will account for nearly 90% of global population growth, 80% of wealth creation, and 60% of total energy consumption. It is a global imperative to develop systems that improve the livability of cities while dramatically reducing resource consumption.” - Massachusetts Institute of Technology Urbanization in India has historically been viewed as a by-product of failed regional planning. It is only now that it is being realized that it is inevitable. However, the policy and practice surrounding urbanization will only change when the benefits of urbanization overtake the costs involved, it is an opportunity for achieving faster growth. Indian cities will grow faster than those of any other country in the coming years. By 2050, India will add over 400 million urban inhabitants, while China will see an increase of 290 million inhabitants over the same period.8 By 2030, seven Indian cities will have a population of over 10 million; in 2011, only Mumbai and Delhi had populations over 10 million. This amounts to a 37% increase in India’s urban population. Cities will generate over 70% of the GDP and 70% of new jobs by 2030, driving a four-fold growth in per capita incomes nationwide. Indian cities are projected to require 700-900 million square meters of new commercial and residential space by 2030, or the size of a new Chicago every year.9 Overall, 2.5 million square meters of roads and 7,400 kilometers of metros and subways must be added to India’s urban expanses. This is 20 times the capacity that has been added over the last decade. - See more at: .

PSYCHOANALYTIC FEMINISM – A TOOL TO STUDY THE WORKS OF VIRGINIA WOOLF AND SYLVIA PLATH USING BEAUVOIR’S THE SECOND SEX. .

Studies on Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath depict their mental instability and ambivalence in their works. Psychoanalytic Feminism is a branch of feminism that works on the deeply ingrained patterns insisted on both men and women, who are unable to come out of the same in the latter parts of their lives. Psychoanalytic Feminism is not a protest, but a step forward towards Intersubjectivity. Intersubjectivity is the tension (balance) between assertion and recognition. When the equilibrium between the two is unstable, the problems of domination crop up. The works of Plath and Woolf seems to be ambiguous in such a way that the characters in the novels often shift from reality to eternity. The concept of Intersubjectivity seems to be almost lost and the characters in turn lose their stability. The Second Sex, at the outset derives the problems with women that occur due to the stereotypical set up, set by the men and women of the early generations. This revolutionary book is not only about the Power of Women, it is also about the limitations of women in a patriarchal set up and the decline of ‘Subjectivity’ (The power of being the Subject). This paper concentrates on the limitations of men and women, their problems with intersubjectivity and the stereotypical images that construct the psyche of them using the characters in the novels written by Plath and Woolf. Key Words— Intersubjectivity, stereotypes, reciprocal relationship, Self, Other, Subject Object, Society - See more at: .

ECOCRITICISM IN THE NOVELS OF WILLIAM GOLDING USING RAIMON PANIKKAR’S THE COSMOTHEANDRIC EXPERIENCE..

Insights on William Golding enlighten the readers with his setting, the setting that the novels are all the more constructed. The construction (premise), having nature as the backdrop, brings the essence of oikology (landscape ecology). Cosmotheandric principle is not about anthropos (justifying man’s stand) or ecology. Deviating from the usual path of ecocriticism, Cosmotheandric principle locates human beings amongst other organisms and supports the unifying process of making cosmos, organisms and the Spiritual united. This Unifying process is an exalted process (procedure), which Panikkar describes to be the most difficult of all in the Open Horizon. According to Panikkar, Open Horizon (The biggest perspective) is a place where many horizons meet together to form a bigger horizon and the lofty position that the mind is encompassed to create the unifying process. The novels of Golding, have an Oikological set up, where the characters seems to have lost the biggest perspective (Open Horizon) and try to boast the unrighteousness (Anthropos perspective), i.e. justifying the act for survival of the human species. The characters in the novels exploit and deplete the natural environment and in turn exploit themselves in the process of asserting their stand (Anthropos principle). This paper deals with the exalted Open Horizon concept and the unifying Process under Cosmotheandric perspective that the characters seem to have lost in trying to assert their Anthropos principle and the wild attitude of human beings towards nature and vice versa due to the lack of the exalted unifying\\\\ process. Key Words—Cosmotheandric Perspective, Open Horizon, Unifying Process, Oikology, Ecumenic consciousness, historical consciousness, anthropos, macanthropos. - See more at: