Patrick Oseloka Ezepue

Weak-Form Market Efficiency of the Nigerian Stock Market in the Context of Financial Reforms and Global Financial Crises

The weak-form efficient market hypothesis for the Nigerian Stock Market (NSM) is explored using different statistical tests. The analyses use overall stock market returns collected over the period 2000–2010. It is shown that the NSM is not weak-form efficient which questions the benefits of the 2004 financial reforms. It is also shown that the degree of market inefficiency varies across the periods corresponding to the financial reforms and 2007 global financial crisis, for daily and monthly returns. The results are important to security analysts, investors, and security exchange regulatory agencies in their investment, stock market development, and policy-making decisions.

Factors stimulating initial export activity : Any difference for nigerian firms?

ABSTRACT This paper explores the key factors stimulating initial export activity among Nigerian firms against the backdrop of previous findings from studies undertaken in more advanced economies. Based on a sample of seventy-eight SMEs and a factor analysis procedure, it finds support for the view that proactive stimuli, including growth aspirations, opportunity search and managerial interest, predominantly trigger initial export activity among Nigerian firms. This diverges from the pre-eminent position of external-reactive stimuli, notably the receipt of fortuitous foreign orders, in North American and other Western studies, and adds to earlier calls for caution in generalising empirical findings across different geo-economic contexts. The possible reasons for the identified divergence are discussed in this paper, along with the policy and managerial issues raised by the nature of initial export stimulation among the study firms.

Digital banking, customer experience and bank financial performance

The purpose of this paper is to examine customers’ perceptions of digital banking (DB), customer experience, satisfaction, loyalty and financial performance (FP) in UK banks.,The research consists of a survey of UK bank customers’ perceptions of the above themes; use of banks’ financial reports to obtain FP ratios; multivariate factor analysis; structural equation modelling; and analysis of variance tests to explore research hypotheses on the relationships among the study factors.,The main factors which determine customer experience in DB are service quality, functional quality, perceived value (PV), employee-customer engagement, perceived usability and perceived risk. There is a significant relationship among customer experience, satisfaction and loyalty, which is related to FP.,This study concentrates on UK bank customers which limits its generalisability to other banks globally. However, the fact that banks typically adopt common standards in bank financial management implies that the findings are potentially robust for global bank management. Replicating the study in banks in other countries will further enhance this robustness.,Some significant effects of customer characteristics on the study factors were observed, which have useful implications for DB, bank marketing services and bank FP.,Unlike previous studies, this study uses both Net Promoter Score and financial ratios as dependent variables, to provide a combined study of the relationships among 14 study factors, with implications for bank marketing and FP.

Business Development Frameworks for Establishing Innovative Born-Global Firms in Nigeria and Sub-Sahara Africa

This conceptual paper explores different approaches for establishing born-global firms (BGFs) in developed and developing countries, with a special focus on Nigeria and Sub-Sahara Africa. It reviews the key constructs and frameworks that underpin new business development in born-global firms. Examples of these constructs are business development, dynamic capabilities, innovation, collaboration, entrepreneurship, and organisational learning. The research is important because of the relative lack of BGFs (Google, Amazon, Alibaba, and Facebook, for example) in Sub-Sahara Africa, compared to other parts of the world. Moreover, the frameworks for BGF new business development can be applied in subtly different ways in developed and developing country contexts. For example, BGFs in developed countries focus on niche products and services with breakthrough innovation, whilst those in developing countries, because of limited resources and capabilities, focus on underserved and mass markets, which do not require high level resources and capabilities. Realistic hypothetical examples of BGFs which directly underpin Nigerian and Sub-Sahara African higher education and economic development are used to illustrate the BGF business development constructs.

Addressing economic development goals through innovative teaching of university statistics: a case study of statistical modelling in Nigeria

A challenging problem in some developing countries such as Nigeria is inadequate training of students in effective problem solving using the core concepts of their disciplines. Related to this is a disconnection between their learning and socio-economic development agenda of a country. These problems are more vivid in statistical education which is dominated by textbook examples and unbalanced assessment ‘for’ and ‘of’ learning within traditional curricula. The problems impede the achievement of socio-economic development objectives such as those stated in the Nigerian Vision 2020 blueprint and United Nations Millennium Development Goals. They also impoverish the ability of (statistics) graduates to creatively use their knowledge in relevant business and industry sectors, thereby exacerbating mass graduate unemployment in Nigeria and similar developing countries. This article uses a case study in statistical modelling to discuss the nature of innovations in statistics education vital to producing new kinds of graduates who can link their learning to national economic development goals, create wealth and alleviate poverty through (self) employment. Wider implications of the innovations for repositioning mathematical sciences education globally are explored in this article.