Richard Bitange Nyaoga

The aim of this paper was to determine the effect of Automated Teller Machines usage on operational performance of commercial banks in Nakuru County, Kenya. The study was guided by the research objective: to establish the effect of automated teller machines (ATMs) usage on operational performance of commercial banks in Nakuru County, Kenya.The study employed the following theories namely: Diffusion of Innovation and The Theory of Reasoned Action. The study adopted a correlational-cross-sectional research design. The study population comprised 56 employees of the 28 commercial banks. There are 31 commercial banks branches in Nakuru County, Kenya with Kenya Commercial Bank, Co-operative Bank and Equity bank having 3, 2 and 3 branches respectively which makes a total of 31 commercial banks out of which the researcher, through a simple random sampling, chose 28. Data was collected using structured questionnaires. A pilot study was conducted in Eldoret Town, Uashin Gishu County to determine validity of the research instruments where Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was employed. For the purpose of determining the effect of ATMs usage on operational performance, correlation and regression analysis were carried out. The study established that ATM usage has a positive significant relationship with operational performance. The study recommends that managements of commercial banks should highly invest in ATMs as it positively influences operational performance. The study suggests that further studies should be conducted to relate ATMs with other variables like quality and flexibility.

Tea processing firms have increasingly recognized the role of capacity utilization and management in the creation and maintenance of competitive advantage. This study intended to determine the link between capacity utilization and value chain performance of tea processing firms. Specifically, the study determined the relationship between capacity utilization and value chain performance of tea processing firms in Kenya. To achieve this, a sample of eighty-five (85) Tea processing firms was used. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design. The unit of analysis of the study was the individual tea processing firm. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. Multiple linear regression model was adopted to study the linear relationships among the study variables. The study established that the relationship between capacity utilization and the firm’s value chain performance is positive and significant. It is therefore recommended that management of the tea processing firms should improve the capacity utilization of the bottleneck resources if they are to increase the throughput and create competitive advantage of their firms. This study contributes by providing empirical insights from the tea processing on capacity utilization and value chain performance. Key words: Capacity utilization, value chain performance, tea processing firms.