Business Excellence and Management

5-18

Authors: Matthew Adekunle Abioro, Samuel Abimbola Odunlami

Product branding is said to be a veritable tool that can be adopted in achieving customer patronage in the highly competitive market. Hence, this study assesses the implication of product branding on customer’s patronage. The specific objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of brand perception, service quality and customer relationship management on customer’s patronage. A survey research design was used for the study, with a structured questionnaire administered to collect data from the firms’ customers. The inferential statistical tool of regression analysis was adopted to analyze the formulated hypotheses. Findings revealed that brand perception has a significant effect on customer patronage (R2 = 0.308, P=0.000), it also shows a significant effect of service quality (R2 =0.623, P=0.000) on customer patronage, and a significant effect of customer relationship management (R2 = 0.585, P=0.000) on customer patronage. The study concluded that product branding if properly managed can influence customers patronage, and also having the ability to increase the customers base and profitability of the firm. It was therefore recommended that firms should give proper consideration to issues of customer relationship management; as well as enhancing the product service experience of customers so as to improve the perception of the brand in the mind of customers to foster brand loyalty.

36-51

Authors: Heuk Yosef Fernando Coopertino, Aryani Dwi Nita, Munfaqiroh Siti

The purpose of this research is to determine the causal relationship between organisational citizenship behaviour, organisational commitment, and psychological empowerment at the employees of Hartono Electronics Company Malang. The sample taken from the population is 89 people. Model testing was carried out by using Partial Least Square (PLS) analysis. Hypotheses testing used path analysis, r test, and t-test. The results proved that the relationship between organisational commitment, and psychological empowerment organisational citizenship behaviour towards employees had a positive significant effect. The Organisational Commitment is the intervening variable in the relationship between Psychological Empowerment on Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB). The adjusted R square is 53.5% means that OCB is explained by organisational variables namely Psychological Empowerment and Organisational Commitment, and the rest may support by other variables.

69-86

Authors: Mabika Shingirirayi, Tengeh K. Robertson

As many are effectively excluded from availing themselves of the services of financial institutions in the formal sector, they often form stokvels, an informal method of saving which is commonly practised in their home country. The research study was conducted to investigate the dynamics of Zimbabwean grocery stokvels in Cape Town and the factors which have encouraged their formation. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, and both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used to collect the data. The quantitative data was obtained through the administration of a survey questionnaire. In contrast, the qualitative data was obtained by conducting one-on-one semi-structured interviews with leaders of Zimbabwean grocery stokvels, their spouses, and members of their families who did not belong to their stokvels. The qualitative data was augmented through the taking of field notes during the interviews. The results indicate that Zimbabweans in Cape Town form grocery stokvels due to severe shortages of basic necessities in Zimbabwe. Their participation in stokvels enables them to accumulate funds to purchase the groceries which they need to sustain themselves and their families in the absence of assistance from financial institutions in the formal sector and also to assist their families and relatives in Zimbabwe to cope with their dire economic circumstances by sending groceries to them.

95-107

Authors: Nicolae Pintilie

More and more public and private organizations are trying to integrate the concept of circular economy into their daily operations. Given the existing pressures related to climate change, there are various debates in the literature on how to reduce the impact, and one of these debates is the use of renewable energy to the detriment of fossil fuels. This paper aims to create an image of the link between circular economy and the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy through specialized papers published between 2000 and 2020 and through statistics published by International Agencies such as Eurostat. In this way, this paper is based on the study and analysis of the updated databases regarding the mentioned indicators. Moreover, the paper also discusses different possibilities of circular economy use and how they can be integrated into the European body, with a positive effect on the society and environment. The study found that European Union energy supply is increasingly based on renewable resources, the use of fossil fuels being limited from one year to another. At the same time, even if in the last decades the European Union has been characterized by industrialization and urbanization, there can be seen a growing efficiency of the energy system in the conditions in which the GDP per capita had a fulminant growth of over 50%. Moving forward, one of the most interesting result of the paper is related to a massive concentration of works in the last two years of the period considered in the analysis. In other words, there is a great opportunity for more scientific research in the field. Despite this, researchers agree that the principles of the circular economy contribute to the conversion of the energy system, with positive effects on society, ensuring sustainability, productivity and efficient waste management. At the end, in order to support the energy transition, a number of institutions such as the European Investment Bank are supporting initiatives that aim to invest in objectives such as new technologies which could adopt circular economy. The paper also presents possible limits of the research, but also future directions of its development.