The bear run experienced in 2016 has provided an opportunity for investors to venture into the securities market, a need exists for the individual organizations to assess their capital structures to assure entrant and existing shareholders of sustainable and economically viable financial returns. The study looked at the connection between capital structure and performance of companies quoted at the securities market in Kenya. To be specific, the study looked to determine the effect of equity financing, short term, and long term debts on performance. Two theories informed the research namely trade-off and pecking order theories. A census survey was used where data was collected from all the listed firms that were operational from the year 2009 to 2016. Questionnaires were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics for each study variable were computed, summarized in tables, and discussed. Multiple linear regressions were used to determine the significance of each variable to the firm's performance. The results revealed that there exists a significant relationship between equity financing, long term debt financing, and performance. On the other hand, the study could not establish a significant relationship between internal financing, short term debt financing, and performance. It was also found that internal financing and mean for long term debt financing of the firms had increased consistently over the years. The study concludes that a firm that utilizes equity finance excels financially. In addition, affordable long term debt assists a firm to access productive technologies and hence improves its performance. Therefore, equity financing and affordable long term debt were recommended as a source of financing. It was proposed that the analysis should be applied to non-listed companies to determine whether contrasting conclusions can be made when relating capital structure to the output of the business.

This study sought to establish the relationship between credit reference bureau services and financial performance of the commercial banks in Kenya. Banks’ financial performance is compared against customer information sharing, credit scoring, market research, and information capital. The study adopted a descriptive research design which was suitable to answer the questions concerning relationship between credit reference bureau services and financial performance of commercial banks in Meru County. The study was a census and focusing on all the eighteen banks operating in Meru County. Self - administered questionnaires were employed to collect data. The data was processed and analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics and linear regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between credit reference bureau services and financial performance of commercial banks in Meru County. The results are presented in summary reports, charts and tables. The study established that there is a significant relationship between customer information sharing and performance of commercial banks in Meru County.Credit scoring is imperative in the success of commercial banks and significant in sustaining a competitive advantage and assessing of borrowers credit worthiness. It was hence concluded credit information sharing and credit scoring were significantly associated with financial performance of commercial banks in Meru County.

Since elementary school student performance on the end-of-year summative Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) Standards of Learning (SOL) Reading test is vital in impacting school accreditation, computer-assisted instruction has become popular. Online reading programs have existed in many elementary schools in Norfolk Public School district since 1996, such as Breakthrough to Literacy (McGraw-Hill Companies, 2002a), Istationin 2014 (Mathes, Torgesen, & Herron, 2015), and the i-Ready program from 2015 to 2017 (Curriculum Associates, 2014). The problem is that there is insufficient empirical research supporting the use of the ReadWorks program at several Norfolk, Virginia’s elementary schools.
The purpose of this sequential, explanatory mixed methods study is to investigate the effects of teachers’ implementation of the ReadWorks online reading program on second-graders’ reading fluency and comprehension test scores in one Norfolk elementary school. The teachers’ choices of ReadWorks tests and the teachers’ design of reading lessons can impact students’ reading test scores on the STAR reading test (Renaissance Learning, Inc., 2018).

The study investigated the relationship between strategic planning and performance of devolved healthcare, through a survey of public hospitals in Meru County. Strategic planning refers to the process of envisioning the future of the organization and breaking it down into executable strategies, goals, tactics and timelines. Organizational performance on the other hand refers to the outputs/results realized by an organization in line with their goals and objectives. The specific objectives of the study were to establish the relationship between the individual components of strategic planning (mission and vision statements, business environmental analysis, strategic formulation, strategic implementation and strategic monitoring and evaluation) with the performance of public hospitals in Meru County under the devolved healthcare context. Strategic planning is part of the strategic management process which entails the alignment of the organization’s activities alongside its long term objectives. Despite the evident challenges in devolved healthcare in form of frequent industrial strikes, lack of medical equipment and essential institutional structures among others, no studies had investigated these problems from a strategic planning standpoint, justifying the study. Performance of devolved healthcare was considered in light of the WHO framework for measuring the performance of health systems, which focuses on health improvement, health responsiveness and financial fairness. The study covered six Level 4 hospitals in Meru County (Nyambene, Kanyakine, Muthara, Timau, Mikinduri, Miathene) and one level 5 facility (Meru Teaching and Referral Hospital). It took the design of a descriptive survey with a semi-structured questionnaire used in data collection. Analysis of collected data was done using SPSS version.21 with descriptive statistics such as means and percentages generated. Elsewhere, linear regression model was used in inferential analysis that establishes the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The results were consequently presented using charts and tables. The findings indicated that all the components of strategic planning had an impact on performance, with a positive relationship evident except for in business environmental analysis and strategic implementation. The components of strategic planning were also fully implemented except for strategic monitoring and evaluation. However, all the components of strategic planning except mission and vision were only found to contribute to performance (health improvement, financial fairness and responsiveness) to a moderate extent. Other findings included that financial fairness was the least attained area of performance while strategic planning could only explain around 85% of the performance of public hospitals in Meru County. Consequently, the study concluded that Meru County hospitals significantly practiced strategic planning which in turn affected performance, performance was still poor with respect to financial fairness, each component of strategic planning could be improved on and not all the performance of Meru County hospitals could be explained by strategic planning. It was recommended that strategic planning is fully implemented, the strategic planning components improved to better impacts on performance and specific strategies devised to improve on financial fairness. For future studies, it was recommended that research focuses on non-strategic factors affecting performance, strategic management as a whole and also investigate strategic planning with respect to other frameworks of performance such as financial metrics

The work environment which encompasses several factors impacts on the way the employees perform their work. A comfortable and all inclusive workplace environment will boost the employees‘ performance hence boosting the organizational performance. The general objective of the study was to establish the relationship between working environment and the performance of the employees among Non-Governmental Organization‘s in Tharaka Nithi County.The Specific objectives were to determine the influence of employees, communication, remuneration and work life balance on performance of employees among NGO‘s in Tharaka Nithi County. The study adopted descriptive survey research design.The total number of employees working in those Non-Governmental Organization‘s was 55. Data was collected by use of the questionaires and presented using tables,pie charts and graphs. The study found that trainings are carried out in NGOs in Tharaka Nithi County however they did not address the work requirements of the employees though results showed that training had a direct correlation to the performance of employees. The study also found that there was a direct correlation between communication in the organisations sampled end employees performance as captured in the results of the study, though the frequency of communication was not ascertained though respondents felt that they received adequate information. The NGOs also have a reward and remuneration policy in place which provides adequate guidelines with regards to employee compensation., but this did not have a direct influence on the perfroamcen of the employees and thus had not direct correlation with the performance of employees in the NGO‘s. The worklife balance in NGOs was found to have a direct correlation with the performance of the employees as many respondents felt that there should be a heallthy work-life balance to enable them work properly while also looking at their individual, family and social lives. The study recommends NGOs need to have clear training policies that are relevant for each role in the organization and the frequency of the trainings. They should also equip their employees with the relevant communication tools and increase the frequency of periodical meetings to ensure communication is timely. The NGOs should ensure that they continuously review their remuneration policy so as to continuously motivate their employees.

SSuccession planning practices in an organization contribute a lot on employee retention which means that the period which an employee productively stays in an organization could be determined by the succession planning practices in an organization. The way employees behave in an organization in a big way determines the overall outcome. Human resource studies and experiences have revealed that if proper succession planning practices are followed the employees in an organization are motivated to work since they are always in the same direction and the goals and strategies are common. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between succession planning practices and employee retention in Tea Factories in Meru County: a survey of tea factories in region four of KTDA divisions. The researcher adopted a descriptive design and it is suitable since the study collected data from several respondents. Primary data was obtained using the self-administered semi-structured questionnaire as the main data collection instrument and secondary data was obtained from the published factory records. The target population was 66 employees working in the respective tea factories and the sample size was 66 employees from the respective Tea Factories. The researcher did a census whereby the whole population was examined to acquire the intended information. The researcher used both primary and secondary data to seek information. A pilot study was done to enhance the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using IBM SPSS v.22 and further explained using descriptive statistics. The study combined data into a coherent knowledge through the descriptive statistical analysis of the collected data and further analyzed and tested the hypothesis using Spearman correlation analysis and presented the knowledge in the workable recommendations for easier consumption by the business community. The study found out that employee involvement in management, talent management, training & development and human resource planning had an influence on the succession planning practices in tea factories. The study therefore encouraged that the tea factories had a task to put more emphasis on employee involvement in management, talent management, training & development and also human resource planning.