By Sabina Elago
WINDHOEK– The Polytechnic of Namibia School of Management Sciences held a successful Research Day on Friday.
Themed The role of research and innovation in transitioning economies, the event was impressive and informative. Areas of research on included the effectiveness of management systems in Namibia’s State Owned Enterprises: TransNamib as a case study. The study aims to determine the value of the effectiveness of the management systems in a State-Owned Enterprise (SOE), and to determine what can be done to enhance the good service delivery and to improve the parastatal (TransNamib) management and its operations. It is hoped that this study will assist the Namibian State-Owned Enterprises, TransNamib in particulars on the importance of implementing effective management systems. It will also help employees to understand what a management system is, what it entails, and what benefits and challenges it has and the solution it will bring to the issues and challenges facing TransNamib in order to bring improvements in the company, and to get rid of negative perceptions toward the company.
A number of activities were designed for the day to exhibit the school’s research capacities. According to Geoffrey Nambira, a senior lecturer at the School of Management Sciences and the event organiser, all the presentations are documented, for when they are needed. “These documents are reference for students when they are doing research or need them for study purpose,” says Nambira.
Students research topics included Curbing unemployment rate in the three Windhoek constituencies of Tobias Hainyeko, Moses ǁGaroëb and Windhoek Rural, by Esther Nakatana, Effectiveness of management systems Namibia State Owned Enterprises: TransNamib as a case study by Alexander Matshimba; Investigating the impact of agriculture on economic growth: Evidence from Namibia by Febronia Kashali; Investigating the determinants of investments in Namibia by R. I. Shiwayu; Assessment of relationship between share prices and risks of shares listed on the Namibia Stock Exchange market by Weddy Hangue and Adoption rate of online shopping in Namibia, by Antonia Smith. All the students are from the School of Management Sciences, says Nambira.
Adding that the presentations included other seven presentations by the faculty’s lecturers. “Research Day is an annual event in the Faculty of Management Sciences and the purpose is to show case the research output of the faculty and students, and to demonstrate that research innovations are tools for economic development,” says Nambira.