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Despite the government’s efforts to protect domestic industries from foreign competition through tariffs, the industrial sector’s contribution to GDP continued to decline in Nigeria. Based on the scenario, this study assessed the symmetric and asymmetric effects of tariffs on industrial performance in Nigeria for the period 1988–2021. Tariff was captured with a tariff rate applied to the weighted mean of all products, while industry value added as a percent of GDP was used as a proxy for industrial performance.

Linear and nonlinear ARDL techniques were used for the analysis.

The symmetric (linear ARDL) results revealed that tariffs have a significant positive effect on industrial performance in both the short and long term. The asymmetric (nonlinear ARDL) results showed that a long-term asymmetry exists between tariffs and industrial performance. It revealed positive effects on industrial performance for both positive and negative tariff changes, with the negative change having a greater impact.

Generally, the results showed that the use of tariffs to protect domestic industries in Nigeria promotes industrial performance. The implication is that the declining contribution of the industrial sector to GDP in Nigeria is not a result of the tariff policy. It shows that the government should look beyond tariff policy to enhance the industrial contribution to GDP.

Nigeria should exercise caution in using tariff policies to protect domestic industries to avoid retaliation from their trade partners that could reverse the positive impacts.

The great recession of 2008–2009 busted the market bubble and highlighted the loopholes in the banking sector related to excessive leverage and inadequate capital. It has led to the increased rigidity of financial regulations, forcing banks to focus more on compliance rather than moving towards innovation. All these factors together led to the emergence of new players in the financial market in the name of financial technology (Fintech) companies. With the help of Fintech, banking operations are now being revolutionised and transformed into techno-friendly systems. They, hence, can promise to act as a game changer for the banking sector as a whole.

This chapter aims to understand different perspectives of Fintech and how it helps the banking sector to improve its operations. This chapter will also offer insight into various types of Fintech instruments used by the banking sector, collaboration between banks and Fintech, and the benefits of its application to the banking sector.

This chapter attempts to lay out a literature review on Fintech. It examines the implications of applying Fintech in the banking sector to revolutionise its traditional banking operations and achieve its pre-established targets. Different techniques banks use to match up with Fintech and adapt it easily in its organisational structure.

This chapter presents a list of challenges linked to the application of financial technology in the banking industry. The chapter will also address the difficulties of using Fintech and ways to deal with them.

The network capacity deployed to manage the busy hour (or peak-hour) traffic remains underused during the nonbusy (off-peak) hours. Transferring some traffic from peak-hour to off-peak hours is likely to improve the utilization of network resources during the off-peak hours. This paper aims to examine whether diverting traffic from peak-hour to off-peak hours is possible by adopting the differential pricing policy.

The peak-load pricing theory suggests that the policy of differential pricing is socially optimal when there is peak demand for a particular duration and then there is off-peak demand. In this study, hourly traffic data from both peak and off-peak periods were collected from the Indian telecom service provider, “Aircel.” The paper analyzed the disparity in traffic between peak and off-peak hours using the nonparametric Tukey’s test. An experiment was also conducted to analyze whether a significant shift in telecom traffic occurs from the peak to the off-peak period when a price discount is applied during the off-peak period.

Statistically significant differences were observed in network traffic between peak-hour and off-peak hours. The network utilization of the telecom service provider Aircel was notably lower, particularly during the off-peak hours. The experiment demonstrated a high degree of price sensitivity among telecom service subscribers. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has not considered network utilization of telecom service providers as a key performance indicator. Based on the outcomes of the study, this paper recommends that TRAI should adopt a more proactive approach by encouraging telecom service providers to follow the policy of differential pricing to enhance utilization of their network capacity.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to explore the issue of pricing as a tool for bringing about more uniform movement of telecom traffic, thereby enhancing network utilization within India’s telecommunications sector.

This study aims to re-examine the relationship between financial accessibility and performance of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in developing countries using a large database.

This study uses cross-sectional firm-level data from the World Bank Enterprises Survey database collected under Wave II from 2006 to 2019. Controlled for firm level and country level factors, OLS and instrumental variable regressions have been used for analysis. Firm performance has been measured in terms of labour productivity.

The study observes a positive association between access to finance and MSME performance measured in terms of sales and value-added per worker. Along with firm characteristics (like size, age and managerial experience), country’s development level, institutional quality (i.e. corruption and regulations) and economic openness also impact MSMEs’ productivity.

Strengthening the financial system to allow the financial sector to meet the requirements of MSME finance is very important. Better access to external finance will enable MSMEs to invest in upgrading technology and expanding operations, thus improves their labour productivity. As the MSME sector is vulnerable to economic shocks, policies facilitating their access to formal credit during crises could strengthen resilience.

Credit constraint to MSMEs is a multi-stakeholder problem. It requires a coordinated approach from MSME owners, financial institutions and policymakers to address it and enhance the credit flow to the MSME sector. Timely research inputs from academia, research institutions and think tanks may help assess MSMEs promotion policies and their revision if needed.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that examines the effect of access to finance on the labour productivity of MSMEs in developing countries. Given the mixed results in the recent past between access to finance and firm performance, it highlights the critical role of financial accessibility in improving their labour productivity and thus enabling MSMEs to realise their full potential in developing countries.

Hoisting is an essential construction work package, but there is still a high incidence of accidents due to insufficient attention to coping strategies. This study aims to provide decision support to practitioners on safety protocols by developing a multi-stakeholder risk response model and a novel evaluation method.

Firstly, the study summarizes the hoisting risk response strategies system through a literature review and stakeholder theory. Secondly, the study constructed a quantitative theoretical model based on GLS-SEM and questionnaires. Third, the EWM-VA evaluation method was developed to determine the value coefficients of strategies.

The strategic interaction between government and consultants, consultants and builders, and government and builders are in the top three pronounced. Three coping strategies, “Increase funding for lifting equipment and safety devices,” “Improve the quality of safety education and training on lifting construction,” and “Conduct regular emergency rescue drills for lifting accidents,” have the optimal ratio of benefits to costs.

The hoisting risk strategy model from the perspective of multi-interested subjects proposed by the study is based on the global thinking of the project, which reduces the troubles such as the difficulty of pursuing responsibility and the irrational allocation of strategies that were brought by the previously related studies that only considered a single interested subject. In addition, the EWM-VA evaluation method developed in the study also provides new options for evaluating risk strategies and has the potential to be extended to other fields.