Determinants of marketing innovation among SMEs in Vietnam: a resource-based and stakeholder perspective

There is a growing concern about the lack of skilled municipal employees who can deliver essential services to under-resourced local communities in South Africa. However, coaching and mentoring appear underutilized to train municipal employees to improve service delivery to local communities. The study aims to investigate whether coaching and mentoring could capacitate municipal employees whose performance appraisal reveals a lack of skills to provide essential services. A cross-sectional research design was adopted to conduct a survey. The target population comprised 265 municipal employees, and a stratified random sample of 115 employees completed a questionnaire. The employees held positions of general managers, general assistants, and administrators, with varied years of experience. Cronbach’s Alpha indicated an overall high 0.8 questionnaire reliability score.
Using a quantitative method, responses from municipal employees were collected to examine their perceptions of the influence of training and development on employee performance and service delivery. Hypotheses were tested using the bivariant inferential statistical tests of correlation (r) and Chi-square (χ2). The results indicated that training and development were more likely to improve employee performance. Furthermore, the results showed that trained employees were more likely to improve service delivery. In particular, coaching and mentoring could be used to improve performance. Therefore, the study found that the municipality was not providing employees with relevant training and development to enable them to address poor service delivery. Finally, the study recommends that the municipality invests in training and development to enrich employees with new skills and knowledge to improve the quality of service delivery.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies on consumer patronage of telecommunication industry: an MTNF Science and Technology State. It specifically aims to determine the influence of MTNF Science and Technology Scholarship Scheme as a CSR strategy on consumer patronage of MTN and also, to assess the influence of MTN Foundation Restructured Schools Connect Project as a CSR strategy on the corporate image of MTN. The survey research method was chosen for the study. The study population comprises subscribers of MTN in Enugu State, which is 1,295.918. A sample size of 400 was determined using Taro Yamane’s formula. Applying the simple linear regression, the findings revealed that MTNF Science and Technology Scholarship Scheme as a CSR strategy has a significant influence on consumer patronage of MTN (r = 0.945; t = 56.377; F = 3173.334; p < 0.05). Similarly, it was revealed that there is significant influence of MTN Foundation Restructured Schools Connect Project as a CSR strategy on corporate image of MTN (r = 0.978; t = 92.313; F = 8521.649; p < 0.05). Consequently, the study concludes that CSR is an effective marketing strategy for acquiring customer patronage and generating goodwill and good corporate image. Therefore, MTN should consolidate on executing and improving on CSR projects. This is highly significant as improved CSR will ensure improved customer patronage and boost good corporate image for MTN.

Economic development of any country depends on its natural resources, as well as availability of human resource. Every aspect, actions and activities in an organization involve people. Out of various resources, the human resource management has become critical resource for gaining the competitive edge. Today, most of the countries are giving attention and putting their effort to the development and training of their human resources. Training is effort initiated by an organization to foster learning among its workers. Training and development are a continuous effort designed to enhance employee learning, as well as his/her creativity, which is helpful in improving employees’ competence and organizational performance. The present research work examines the moderating and mediating role of organizational climate between employees training and creativity. In a survey of 324 employees working in various SME of Dehradun area, it was found that both employee creativity and employee learning foster organizational climate. Further, the mediation effect of organizational climate on learning and creativity is different. The study shows that creativity is partially mediated, but learning has no significant effect on organizational climate. The study suggests that companies must focus on training their employees so that employees become creative and learn new practices for improving their competencies at work. The study also suggests finding the means of improving organizational climate because of its rich contribution towards improving employee creativity and learning.