Henry Okwo

The use of value management tools in non-management and non-business domains appears to be high, as exemplified by numerous studies conducted on the subject matter in the construction based disciplines, but understanding how such essential tool works in the consumer based domains seems lacking, this study becomes relevant in this regard. The aim of the study therefore is to understand how consumer based and construction based firms differ with regard to the use, focus and control of value management on a firm-by-firm basis, locational basis and on the basis of industrial typology. The researchers adopted a survey research design using a 16-item questionnaire instrument administered to 509 respondents across 10 firms: 5 being consumer and the other 5 being construction based firms. The formulated hypotheses were tested using Kruskal-Wallis and Mann Whitney’s U-test for non-parametric comparisons. The results obtained showed that consumer based firms ranked higher than construction based firms, both on a firm-by-firm (CSB = 256.9, CTB = 247.4, ; CSB=264.6, CTB = 234.3, ) for focus and control, respectively, and on an industrial type (CSB = 267.65, CTB = 235.93, ; CSB = 268.71, CTB = 234.33, ; CSB = 269.21, CTB = 233.58, ; CSB = 268.38, CTB = 234.83, ) comparison basis on actual usage, perceived usage, focus and control of value management, respectively. For the locational difference, there were no statistical significance. The study concludes that there is a case for a multidisciplinary study of value management as it appears more present in consumer than construction based firms.

The need for improved institutional interventions aimed at increasing access to financial services by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has been emphasized. Complimenting these efforts, this study proposes that building social networks capable of informing requisite financial behaviors would facilitate the financial inclusion of SMEs co-existing in business clusters. This study aimed to empirically test the moderating influence of collective action, bonding, trust, and bridging on the effect of financial behavior on financial inclusion. Using a sample of 311 owners/managers of small and medium scale businesses in sub-urban clusters in South-Eastern Nigeria, the hierarchical moderated regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses of the study. Results show a positive main effect of financial behavior on financial inclusion
(βf = 0.162; t (304) = 1.503; p < 0.05). Also, collective action (βfca = 0.201; t (304) = 6.906; p < 0.05) and bridging (βfbr = 0.201; t (304) = 6.906; p < 0.05) had positive moderating effects, bonding (βfb = 0.032; t (304) = 1.423; p > 0.05) and trust (βft = 0.014; t (304) = 0.9609; p > 0.05) were statistically insignificant. For policy implications, social virtues such as bridging and collective action are more veritable tools for financial inclusion than the personal virtues of trust and bonding and should be factored into economic and social intervention being deployed by institutions interested in meeting the banking/financial needs of businesses.