Journal of Business and Economic Analysis

The allocation and level of government spending is meant to be one major factor that can reduce poverty in a country. This study uniquely conducts the assessment of the effect of government expenditure on poverty incidence in Nigeria over the period of 1986 — 2020. Stationary features of the series were tested by the Augmented Dickey — Fuller (ADF) unit root test. The ADF result indicates that the series are stationary at I(1). The result of the Johansen cointegration test indicates that there exists an equilibrium relationship among the variables in the study. The Johansen normalization cointegration result presented gave a proof by indicating that in the long-run government expenditure on building and construction, and government expenditure on health (GH) has positive impacts on poverty incidence while, government expenditure on security has a negative impact on poverty incidence in Nigeria. The vector error correction model (VECM) result of about 2.77% also indicates that there is an existing positive relationship between government spending on education and poverty incidence in Nigeria. GH has an inappropriate sign; thus, is an indication that GH do not have the desired impact relating to poverty reduction in Nigeria. Hence, the study recommends that the Nigerian government should raise her spending on health by promoting excellent health care and health facilities that will enhance health and economic provisioning of the poor. Also, the government should stretch more of its spending on education such as the finance of teachers’ training, research and development in order to reduce poverty level in Nigeria. The study further suggests a cross-country analysis on public spending, and poverty reduction in order to generalize these findings in a wider perspective.

One of the main goals of a country is to achieve economic growth. This has led many researchers to understand and determine the factors that boost economic growth. The relationship between these two still remains to be unanswered. It has been discussed in many kinds of research that the variability could result from the different types of financial systems being observed by different countries. By taking 15 years of data from 32 OECD countries, this study attempted to identify if there is any difference in the effects of the factors of economic growth across two distinct financial systems (bank-based and market-based). The results of the study suggest that, overall, financial system differences influence the economic growth of a country. These insights give further clarification on how the economic growth determinants were acting differently in different countries.

The development of agriculture and agrifood-based products is at the forefront of Brunei Vision 2035, Brunei Darussalam’s most aggressive economic drive to date. One such instance of agri-food production is locally made coffee and tea products, which is taking place in the country despite the limited amounts of domestic raw materials available. The presence of this sector in the market, therefore, warrants further investigation. This case study uses Michael Porter’s Value Chain Analysis (VCA) and Gereffi’s Global–Regional Value Chain (GRVC) theory to analyze Brunei’s coffee and tea Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) by mapping and tracing the origins of inputs; identifying local and regional value-adding processes; and pinpointing firms’ strategies towards building their capacities and capabilities. The aim is to establish the competitiveness of this sector against regional and global well-known brands. As such, this paper highlights inter-firm linkages of coffee and tea production in Brunei and positions Brunei’s firms in Shih’s GVC smiling curve, relative to its partners based on levels of value-addedness and functional complexities. While limited to conventional coffee and tea producers, this study provides a starting point in the hybrid use of VCA and GRVC to understand local–regional development linkages that exist in small national economies like Brunei Darussalam which are necessary for firms to remain competitive. It also contributes to policy learning and knowledge enrichment for the government, consumers, and industrialists alike, by highlighting the lessons gained from this sector’s experiences.

This paper is a case study on Brunei Darussalam’s public sector employees’ observations regarding the new performance appraisal system introduced in 2018. While the new system was aimed at instilling a more “performance-driven” public sector, however, based on the survey findings of this paper, a majority of respondents raised their concerns on the key performance indicators (KPIs) and other aspects of the appraisal system. The findings highlight the need for more research to be done on appraisal systems and their processes, specifically in the public sector, where an effective appraisal system can create a performance-driven public sector which can improve overall governance.

This paper brings to light the powerful connection of visual branding of a product leading to customer loyalty. Thus, the visual impact of a product from the concept level, early sketches to trademarked logos, complements of branding approach, or the final endorsement level. The study relied on a survey that had 150 respondents as the sample. Purposive sampling and simple random sample procedures were used to select Nestle-limited graphic designers and customers. We show visual branding acts as a mediator between product development and customer loyalty. A survey is distributed to graphic designers of Nestle Limited in the manufacturing sector to collect empirical data. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) are used to analyze the data. The data was gathered using a standardized inquiry form specifically a five-point Likert scale. The results show that graphic designers contribute to product development leading to customer loyalty. We demonstrate that there is a partial mediating effect between product development and customer loyalty through visual branding. The main goal is to ensure graphic designers use visual branding to communicate reliable information to customers through drawing, color, shape, and design of a product, which would boost overall product performance, leading to customer loyalty.