Economic development requires the use of natural resources. Increasing population makes increasing demand on such resources thereby leading to the degradation of the environment. Excessive use of resources can lead to a situation where declining supply can no longer satisfy the demand. Hence,...

In industrialised countries water service providers (WSPs) must provide an appropriate level of service with an acceptable performance at an acceptable cost to customers. In the UK a move towards sustainable development is now also a major goal for WSPs. However, the imposition of institutional...

Recent trends in the provision of infrastructure development indicate that the private sector is playing an increasingly important role in the procurement process. This trend has partly arisen out of a necessity for the development of infrastructure to be undertaken at a rate that maintains and...

Document #PICRM-2004-06Research Area: Processes, Productivity and Profitability

This research focuses on urban water policy. The three papers extend the literature through economic application, taking theory in a direction that informs water resource managers on optimal decision-making or a better approach to management. Three primary results are: first, that the optimal...

Small and micro-enterprises play a significant part in most economies. However, in developing countries these enterprises have often been planned and implemented from a poverty alleviation perspective, rather than as entrepreneurial activities and growing businesses (Mead & Liedholm 1998, Toye...

Marriage is an important institution for both individuals and society as a whole. It is a significant event in the life cycle of individuals; for society at large it represents the creation of a new unit of production, consumption, distribution and exchange of goods and services. In most...

The study of demographic trends in sub-Saharan Africa though crucial in the assessment of the impact of population size and growth on the overall socio-economic development in the region, has received the least attention due to lack of reliable data for most of the countries. This paper focuses...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Globally the mining and minerals market is experiencing a decline. With this decline, focus is turning to Africa as an unexplored mineral wealth. In terms of global exploration expenditure, Africa is said to be experiencing the highest percentage growth of any other regional...

Although global changes like political security, depletion of natural resources,energy supply and global warming are affecting all continents; Africa strugglethe most to cope with these changes. This is due to the many historicalimpediments that Africa still has to overcome. Examples of these...