Effects of Women’s Cooperatives on Capabilities and Gender Relations: Empirical Evidence from Women’s Dairy Cooperatives in Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania (Published)
Existence of gender imbalances is among the challenges of the agricultural production and marketing cooperatives Sub-Saharan Africa. Promotion of women-only cooperatives have been regarded as a better avenue to enabling women’s inclusion in the labour force and to achieve women’s empowerment. The ability of the cooperatives to achieving women’s empowerment and improving gender relations is still a debate which requires more empirical investigations. The study focused on two women’s dairy cooperatives societies in Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania to assess their effects on capabilities among women and gender relations in the households and community. Explorative research design was employed, which used in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with women cooperative members and their spouses. The findings revealed that through women’s cooperatives, women’s capabilities improved in terms of being able to run dairy production businesses, to generate more income and they gained full control over milk revenues. The findings further show that capabilities had little influence on the gender relations. The study found that in most households, the capabilities attained had widened the gap between couples. It was found that joint decision-making between the couples was impaired whereby men perceived women’s increased income and a fully control over generated income as a threat. The developed women’s agency could not change gender roles and social norms. As women’s workloads increased, men continued to dominate political leadership positions in the local government and the secondary agricultural cooperatives. The study concludes that women’s cooperatives do not lead to significant improvement in gender relations and gender equality. It recommends the involvement of men in women’s cooperatives activities to challenge intra-household gender relations, cultural and social norms.
Citation: Judith Samwel Kahamba, XU Xiuli (2021) Effects of Women’s Cooperatives on Capabilities and Gender Relations: Empirical Evidence from Women’s Dairy Cooperatives in Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania, International Journal of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Studies, Vol.8, No.4, pp.62-80
Keywords: Agency, Capabilities, Gender roles., gender relations, gender transformation, women’s cooperatives
Business Resources and Capabilities as Drivers of Environmental Strategy: A Case Study of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) (Published)
This study investigates the activities of the NTDC in relation to the environmental marketing strategies of hotels in the Nigerian hospitality industry. Specifically, it studies the relationship between resources and capabilities as drivers of the environmental marketing strategy of hotels. Buildings on the resources-base view, this study explains the drivers and outcomes of environmentally friendly marketing strategies in the Nigeria hotel services. Data collected from 152 hotels personnel reveals that possessing sufficient physical and financial resources is an instrument towards achieving effective green marketing strategies. Furthermore, the study confirms that there is a significant effect of environmental marketing strategy on the competitive advantage level in the hospitality industry
Keywords: Capabilities, Ecology, Environmental Marketing, Hotel, NTDC, Resources-Base View
Building Sustainable Organizational Capabilities through Supply Chain Innovation (Published)
Organizational performance directly affecting supply chain management practices. A continuous innovation in supply chain is important for corporations to achieve sustainable competitive advantage, to differentiate from competitors. Contemporary supply chain management stresses coordinating supply chain stakeholders into seamless unit in meeting customers demand and enhancing competitive advantage. Although companies concentrate on innovating independently for developing capabilities, companies however demonstrate reliance on creating their supply chain innovation capability. As markets became global, competition intensified. This forced the companies to innovate to be competitive and carryout holistic, fully integrated approach to their supply chain designs. This can replace traditional thinking in pursuit of effective and responsiveness supply chain. The research addresses gap in the literature between supply chain innovation and organizational capabilities. The study explore how organizations expand their efforts in improving relationships for developing capabilities of supply chain and what capabilities do firms develop to create innovation capacity within a supply chain. Companies in Karnataka, India surveyed to examine the inter relationship beteen organizational capability and supply chain innovation. The results showed that supply chain innovation has positive relationship with organizational capabilities and supply chain integration mechanisms do impact supply chain innovation.
Keywords: Capabilities, Competitive Advantage, Innovation, Performance, Supply Chain
