Scholars appear to agree on the need for foreign direct investment for a country's prosperity, but their views on its influence differ. The main point of their divergence is how foreign direct investment affects the performance of local economy a concern that need to be reflected on before developing policies to spur foreign investment. The general objective of the research was to look into the effect of foreign direct investment, absorption capacity, and the business environment on performance of manufacturing firms in Kenyan. The specific objectives were to determine the effect of foreign direct investment on performance of manufacturing firms, the mediating and moderating roles of absorptive capacity and the business environment respectively on the relationship. The joint contribution of foreign direct investment, absorption capacity and the business environment on performance of Kenyan manufacturing firms was also investigated. The study was based on eclectic theory, dynamic capabilities theory, knowledge based theory and resource dependence theory. An empirical gap in the literature of foreign direct investment, absorptive, and business environment was identified to guide the formulation of the conceptual framework. The study included 100 firms that were registered with KAM and had 10% or more foreign ownership. The Chief Executive Officers or their appointed officers in the organizations were the respondents. A structured questionnaire was used to acquire primary data. The data was found to be reliable by Cronbach's Alpha reliability tests. The study received a response rate of 75%, which was higher than the recommended response rate of 50%. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods. Diagnostic tests were performed prior to regression analysis and the data found to meet all of the required conditions. The findings of the study confirmed the link between foreign direct investment and performance of manufacturing firm. Furthermore, the research affirmed that absorptive capacity mediated and the business environment moderated the relationship between foreign direct investment and manufacturing firm performance. These findings add to our understanding of foreign direct investment inflows and support the significance of foreign direct investment in the economic development of Kenya. According to the findings, the country's authorities should be concerned not only with attracting foreign direct investment but also with ensuring spillover to domestic businesses. Furthermore, they should ensure that concerns such as absorptive capacity and business environment that impede the flow of capital, technology, and expertise to domestic enterprises from foreign direct investment are fully remedied. The study contributes to our knowledge by proposing a model that links foreign direct investment, absorptive capacity, the business environment and firm performance. Future research could include more respondents from different levels of the organization and improve generalizability by focusing on organizations in similar industries and with similar levels of foreign direct investment.

Somalia is one the lowest countries in the world with access to clean and improved water supply projected at 32% while access to improved sanitation is about 24%. Because of limited regulation of private water suppliers in Somalia, most of them do charge high prices that are not sustainable to most of the poor people. The outcome of this is that majority of the families are forced to fetch water in open waters that are highly prone to health challenges occasioned by open defection due to poor sanitation facilities in the country. The inquiry aimed atestablishing the influence of M&E on performance of water supply and sanitation projects using a case of KBUWS&SP. More specifically, the study examined the influence of M&E planning, M&E tools, M&E reporting and M&E results utilization on performance of KBUWS&SP. The theory of change and realistic evaluation theory were used to underpin this study.Descriptive survey and correlational research designs were adopted targeting 47 project staff of KBUWS&SPworking in the M&E department and census was used. Primary data was gathered using questionnaire that had undergone pilot testing to determine reliability. Validity was ensured through the review of the questionnaire by the supervisor and the experts. The collected data was analyzed through SPSS version 24 using means and percentages as well as regression analysis and presented through tables. The study established that M&E planning (M=3.81, β=.021 p<0.05), M&E tools (M=3.79, β= .051, p<0.05), M&E reporting (M=3.83, β=.099 &<0.05) as well M&E results utilization (M=3.78, β=.123 p<0.05) were significant predictors of performance of Water Supply and Sanitation Project. The study concludes the M&E is a significant predictor of sanitation and water projects in Somalia. The study recommends that the M&E officers and managers working with KBUWS&SPshould come up with clear plans to guide the M&E The project managers of KBUWS&SPshould adopt modern tools for collection and analysis of data

The main purpose of this study was to determine the influence of external environmental and managerial discretion on the relationship between Top Management Team (TMT) characteristics and Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA) of Chinese Multinational Corporations (CMCs) in Kenya. The empirical studies conducted on TMT characteristics influence on SCA have produced mixed results some agreeing and others disagreeing, thus these empirical studies are inconclusive. On the same line, there is no agreement on the moderating influence of external environment on the relationship between TMT characteristics and SCA. The intervening influence of managerial discretion on the relationship between TMT characteristics and SCA is also not conclusive. Thus, there was a need to establish that existence of these association between and among these variables. The present study covered CMCs in Kenya and the broad objective of this study was establish the influence external environmental and managerial discretion on the relationship between TMT characteristics and SCA of CMCs in Kenya. From the broad objective, the study specifically had four objectives, which were to assess the influence of TMT characteristics on SCA; determine the influence of external environment on the connection between TMT and SCA; assess the influence of TMT characteristics and managerial discretion on SCA; and the joint influence of TMT characteristics, external environment, managerial discretion on SCA of CMCs in Kenya. A cross-sectional design was employed where data was gathered from 72 CMCs in Kenya using a semi-structured questionnaire. The respondents in the study were top managers in 72 CMCs operating in Kenya for more than three years. Two questionnaires were sent to each of the 72 CMCs adding up to a total of 144 questionnaires. Both descriptive and inferential statistics was employed to analyze the data and the formulated hypotheses were subjected to tests using Chi squares. The analysis of the findings revealed that TMT characteristics had a statistically significant influence on SCA of CMCs in Kenya. Similarly, on the moderating influence of external environment on the relationship between TMT characteristics on SCA and the intervening influence of managerial discretion on the relationship between TMT characteristics on SCA were found statistically significant. Further, the study revealed that when TMT characteristics, external environment and managerial discretion were combined all together, they statistically influence SCA of CMCs in Kenya. The findings of the study partially supported the agency, contingency, upper echelon and competitive advantage theories, respectively. This study gives to contributions in terms of knowledge to strategic management by influence of external environmental and managerial discretion on the relationship between TMT characteristics and SCA. The respective managers are to adopt the findings of the present study in ensuring that their firms embrace TMT characteristics to interpret the environment properly and formulate appropriate strategies for SCA and ensure that clear dimensions of managerial discretion are integrated in decision making process.

Energy is one of the critical factors to achieve sustainable development. Africa's development vision, as contained in African Union Agenda 2063, requires, inter alia, the provision of affordable, durable, and reliable energy. However, unsymmetrical resource, capital, and technological endowments at the global and regional level call on countries to increasingly cooperate and integrate their energy systems. Fittingly, the African Union's First Ten Years Implementation Plan (2014 – 2023) identifies regional energy cooperation through the implementing regional power pooling as a remedy to alleviate energy poverty and achieve socioeconomic development in the continent. Half a century after Africa embraces energy trade and two decades after instituting Regional Power Pools (RPPs), energy poverty remains to be a critical challenge undermining Africa's development. The study examined the roles of RPPs in fostering energy cooperation for socioeconomic development in Eastern and Southern Africa. In doing so, the study compares the state of energy cooperation by examining the implementation of power pooling in the two regions. The study targeted 100 leaders and senior experts from the regional power pools, regional economic communities, financial institutions, scholars, the African Union, and the United Nations. Qualitative data were analysed thematically, while quantitative data was analysed via descriptive and inferential analysis. Simple linear regression models were used to test the hypotheses. The study utilises the theory of liberal institutionalist theory of international relations to analyse the roles of regional power pools in addressing the cross-border challenge of energy security. From the findings, energy cooperation has been confirmed as the viable approach to energy security in Africa; in Eastern Africa, weak power pool arrangement has contributed significantly to the prevailing energy insecurity whereas strong regional power pool in Southern Africa contributes to energy security, thus depicting that strong regional power pool is a key predictor of energy security in the region; the study could not confirm that the challenges and opportunities are similar; and the existence of bilateral electricity trading arrangements does not necessarily undermine the development of regional energy trade. The study concludes that the institutionalised attempt to energy security in Africa can address most of Africa’s energy security challenges. However, Africa must embrace the role of these energy cooperation institutions by pursuing a deliberate policy to strengthen them so that its overall integration project, as stipulated in the African Union Agenda 2063, can be materialised.

The study conceptualized a relationship between employee rewards, employee job related attitudes, organizational leadership, work environment and employee performance in the Kenya Police Service. Employee rewards has been proposed to influence employee performance, however there is lack of consensus with regard to this position which called for further empirical studies. The main objective of this study was to determine the influence of employee rewards, job related attitudes, organizational leadership and work environment on employee performance in the Kenya Police Service. In order to achieve this objective, five specific objectives were set and corresponding hypotheses formulated. The study was anchored on four theories, that is; Expectancy theory supported by Social Exchange Theory; Transformational & Transactional Leadership theory and the Ability, Motivation and Opportunity (AMO) theory. The study used descriptive cross sectional research design. The population was all police officers and a sample of 397 officers was selected using stratified random sampling method. Data was quantitative and collected using structured questionnaire. The hypotheses were tested using simple linear regression, path analysis, stepwise regression analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. The findings indicated that employee rewards significantly influence employee performance, employee job related attitude mediates the relationship between employee rewards and employee performance. Organizational leadership style and work environment has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between employee rewards and employee performance. The results of the study further supported expectancy theory, social exchange theory, transformational & transactional Leadership theory and the Ability, Motivation and Opportunity (AMO) theory. The study contributed to the knowledge in the area of human resource by establishing the effects of employee job related attitude and organizational leadership styles; work environment through mediation and moderation on the relationship between employee rewards and employee performance. Human resource managers could use the findings of this study to improve employee performance through putting in place key employee rewards, right employee attitudes, good leadership style and conducive work environment. For policy makers this study justified incorporating rewards, job related attitudes, organizational leadership and work environment when designing performance improvement policies.

Despite various initiatives both from state and non-state actors to empower urban refugees and provide them with protection systems upholding their rights and privileges, there still exist significant gaps in their ability to support themselves and have an impact on host communities. The study sought to assess urban refugee protection project strategies on the socioeconomic development of host communities in Nairobi County. Objectives for the study were hinged on four variables namely, advocacy support, finance and donor funding, human capacity building, social capital support and how these four influences the socioeconomic development of urban refugees’ host communities. Refugee aid and Development theory and the World Society Approach were used. Descriptive survey research design was applied. It targeted, urban refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) staff in Nairobi, Government officials from the Department of Refugee Services and staff from NGOs involved in Refugee Protection programmes. The study used 128 participants. All these were selected through purposive sampling. The study adopted purposive sampling to obtain the sample of respondents from each of the subjects under study. Questionnaires and the interview guides were used. To evaluate various indicators of the variables, methodological changes to instrument rollout or administration, and the efficacy of research instruments and methodologies, a pilot study was conducted on a small sample of 10% of the sample size. Urban refugees and other participants from the target population were given questionnaires, but they were not included in the sample. To examine the degree of consistency of the results, questionnaire was divided into two parts and distributed to participants, with the results statistically connected using the Spearman correlation method. The composite mean for all the constructs for the dependent variable was 3.67 with a standard deviation of 0.708 implying that majority of the respondents agreed that the refugee protection project strategies had a positive impact on the socioeconomic development of host communities in Nairobi County. From the findings, all the independent variables greatly affected socioeconomic development of urban refugees’ host communities. All the variables had positive correlations with advocacy support having the highest correlation of 0.774. The study recommended that in order to lessen the financial burden that refugees place on the host economy, the Kenyan government and international refugee organizations should work together to improve refugee inclusion in national, regional, and global development projects. To do this, they should allocate enough financial resources and technical assistance for the construction of infrastructure and social amenities for refugees and refugee host communities. The report also recommended that rather than providing refugees with short-term humanitarian aid, the international community and the Kenyan government should come up with development-oriented measures that create employment prospects. This will lessen the over-dependence of refugees on foreign help. To help Kenya's socioeconomic development and the realization of Vision 2030, the host nation should provide employment opportunities for refugees. According to the findings of the survey, participants were unsure of the impact of donor funds on the socioeconomic growth of host communities. As a result, a study on the variable can be conducted to support the influence of financial assistance to refugees on the economic development of host communities.

Literature has shown that firms have failed due to financial performance issues linked to funding structure with firms that adopt wrong funding structure mix experience reduction in their financial performance. The trade-off theory, pecking order theory, and Modigliani and Miller (M&M) theory were all used in this research. A descriptive survey design was adopted in this investigation. Paper’s target population was all the registered MFBs in Kenya between 2012 and 2021. According to CBK (2021) there were 14 registered MFBs in Kenya as at the year 2021. The investigation made use of secondary related sources on the study variables. A data capture sheet is used to obtain the information. The data was collected from CBK’s bank supervision report for the period between 2012 and 2021. Investigation employed descriptive and inferentially articulated methods. The study employed a multiple regression to establish the impact of predictors on dependent. This investigation made use of SPSS tool for for generation of statistics. The regression analysis was done to establish the effect of funding structure on financial performance. The study findings indicated that funding structure has a positive and significant effect on financial performance among MFIs (β = 0.158; P-Value < 0.05). It was also established that firm size has a positive and significant effect on financial performance among MFIs (β = 0.044; P-Value < 0.05). However, liquidity did not significantly determine financial performance of MFIs. Based on the findings that funding structure has a positive effect on financial performance of Microfinance banks in Kenya. This study recommends the MFIs to come up with avenues of attracting more equity from external investors. This is because an increase in equity ensures that MFIs have more funds to loan out hence increasing their interest income which ultimately increased ROA. In addition, more equity ensures that the MFIs have more funds to invest in other investments which can generate more income. There was hence a need to attract more equity through investors. Given the findings that firm size positively affects the financial performance of Microfinance banks in Kenya, the study recommends the management of MFIs in Kenya to invest towards increasing their firm size through increased assets. This is because bigger MFIs were established to perform better because of economies of scale. In addition, bigger MFIs are able to cushion themselves against bad loans in cases where there is a high rate of non-performing loans. Furthermore, bigger MFIs had more assets to liquidate in cases where there was an urgent need to invest or cushion the firm in cases of short term liabilities hence boosting performance.

Research on the interactions between budgetary compliance and economic performance has turned inconclusive results on the actual interplay of the variables. Generally budgetary compliance is used as a financial performance measure in government institutions but particularly it is not the only determinant of performance as other factors also account to the overall achievement of its goals. The excellent performance of an organization can be realized starting from mounting of clear objectives, accounting of true financial performance and evaluation of performance based on consistency of the budget with the set goals. The main intention of this research was to examine budgetary compliance influence on performance of county governments in Kenya. Agency theory, modern decentralization theory and attribution theory were adopted to anchor the study. A descriptive research design was used in this research. The target population was the 47 county governments in Kenya. Secondary data was obtained from the Office of the Auditor General and individual county governments annual reports for a 5 year period (2017 to 2021). Upon collection of the data, inferential as well as descriptive statistics generated included frequencies and percentages and simple and multiple linear regression respectively. The regression results produced an R square of 0.2472 which implies that 24.72% of the changes in performance among county governments in Kenya can be explained by the four selected variables for this study. The overall model was found to be statistically significant as exhibited by a p value of 0.000 which was less than 0.05. The study further revealed that revenue transfer and local revenue collection had a positive and significant effect on performance of county governments in Kenya. Budgetary compliance and recurrent spending had no significant effect on performance. This study concluded that revenue transfer and local revenue collection are essential for county governments’ performance. “The study recommends that policy makers such as members of parliament should come up with policies that increase revenue transfer to the counties as this will lead to an increase in performance of devolved units. County heads should also advocate for an increase in revenues allocated to the counties. The study further recommends that heads of devolved units should develop strategies aimed at increasing local revenue collection without hurting the businesses as an increase in local revenue leads to a rise in performance. Members of the county assembly should also develop policies aimed at increasing the local revenue tax base.

The Pokot-Turkana conflict in the North Rift region particularly in Kapedo area has persisted since pre-colonial era. The two pastoral communities continue to attack each other in a bid to steal livestock and gain control over grazing fields. While interventions of different natures have been rolled out, Government of Kenya’s (GOK) deployment of the military in 2012 was perhaps a move of the last resort. While ethnic-based conflicts have attracted the interest of numerous researchers, the effectiveness of military intervention in inter-community conflict in Kenya has not been exploited. It is against this background that this study sought to examine the effectiveness of military security intervention in inter-community conflict management with specific emphasis on the deployment of Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) to manage the Kapedo conflict. For this reason, the study’s specific objectives were to investigate the influence of the presence of military personnel in managing the Pokot-Turkana conflict and to examine the strategies applied by the KDF in intervening the Pokot-Turkana conflict. Descriptive research design was used to guide this research. The study targeted a population of 5,000 within Kapedo, Nyangaita, and Alale villages. Through purposive and random sampling techniques, the study sampled a population of 112 respondents. Data was collected through interviews and questionnaires. Validity of the research instruments were established by experts from the University of Nairobi. Qualitative data was analysed through descriptive analysis while hypotheses were tested by the use of F-test statistics. The general result indicated that military intervention strategies were effective in intercommunity conflict management in Kapedo. The strategies that were adopted by KDF included military presence in the area (Kinetic responses strategies), Raiding bandit’s hide-outs strategies and disarmament strategies. The results indicated that military presence strategy did not significantly contribute towards inter-community conflict management in Kapedo area. However, the strategy adopted by KDF in raiding bandits’ hide-outs was fairly effective and disarmament strategy was very effective in inter-community conflict management. The two interventions measures were effective because the operation achieved peace and calmness across the North Rift region within a short time. However, the study established that the presence of KDF military personnel did not effectively manage the Pokot-Turkana conflict, most likely because the bandits were not intimidated by the presence of KDF personnel. The military was not very effective in the conflict management as they ignored the post-conflict integration of the warring communities.

This study focused on the role of Chief Executive Officers’ (CEOs’) Performance, Power, Firm Size and CEO’s Compensation at the firms listed with the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). Previous research examined the factors influencing CEO compensation revealed a lack of consensus on the explanation of CEO’s level of compensation. While most of the studies confirm association between CEO’s Performance and Compensation, they measured Performance using financial indicators. The current study investigates association of CEO’s Performance and their remuneration but differs from previous ones by expanding the measures of CEO’s Performance to include the “balanced scorecard measures of financial indicators, consumer satisfaction, internal processes and learning and growth”. Additionally, the study tested the moderating role of CEO’s Power and Firm Size in the relationship between CEO’s Performance and their remuneration. This study was supported by “Reinforcement Theory, Agency Theory and Expectancy Theory”. A conceptual model and four conceptual hypotheses were drawn from literature and provided direction for this study. The study’s population consisted of sixty firms listed at the NSE. Descriptive crossectional survey was adopted in the study. Primary data was obtained from members of the board of directors on factors that determine levels of CEO’s Compensation using semi structured Likert questionnaire. Secondary data on financial performance was captured from the financial statements of the listed organizations for the period 2016- 2018. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, linear, multiple and hierarchical regression techniques were applied in analyzing and interpreting the data that was collected. The first hypothesis for the study was that CEO’s performance influences CEO’s compensation. The research outcomes revealed a significant and positive relationship between CEO’s Performance and their Compensation. The second hypothesis tested the moderating effect of power on the association between CEO’s performance and their compensation. The study revealed that CEO’s power had a significant but negative moderating influence on the association between CEO’s Performance and their Compensation. The third hypothesis tested moderating effect of firm size on the association between CEO’s performance and remuneration. The results revealed that Firm Size had a significant moderating influence on the association between CEO’s Performance and their Compensation. Joint effect of CEO’s Performance, Power and Firm Size on their remuneration was also significant. The findings of this study can be of benefit to boards of directors in identifying the performance measures that are important to consider when making decisions on CEO remuneration. It will also help them understand the influence of a powerful CEO with a good performance in the determination of their compensation. Based on this the board can formulate a policy on good governance to distinguish the powers of the CEO from those of the board. Future researchers could consider increasing the span of the study to embrace firms that are not listed at the NSE.