Information Use and Decision Making by Market Women in Lagos, Nigeria
The purpose of this study was to investigate how the use of information assists market women in making informed decisions. It is well documented in literature that businesses that boom in the 21 st century are businesses that are information driven. However, it’s not clear if market women do make information a priority to make business decisions. A survey research design was used with disproportionate stratified sampling technique. Four hundred market women  in Alade market Lagos participated in the study. A self developed questionnaire  Out of 400 copies of questionnaire distributed, 300 (75%) of them were returned. The findings indicated that there was  a significant relationship between information utilization by market women and their  decision making practices. The use of  newspapers,  information about distributors, radio and television were among the key sources women consulted in order to make their decisions concerning their businesses. The study recommended that information professionals and the Ministry of Commerce should work together to conduct and sponsor research on trends in the market and  make them available to market women in formats such as daily and business newspapers. Keywords : Information sources, Information use, Decision making, Market women
An Investigation into Health Information Environment of Market Women in Offa, Kwara State Nigeria
The study examined the health information environment of market women in Offa, a semi-urban area in Kwara State of Nigeria. The aim of the study was to identify the information needs of market women, to investigate the information sources, information seeking behaviour and the challenges associated with the use of information sources. Data was collected through a questionnaire. The return rate of the questionnaire administered was 93.5 percent. The findings revealed that the market women have diverse health information needs which include among others malaria fever, hygiene, anti-natal/post-natal care. The main sources of health information used by the market women include family / neighbours and radio. The study made recommendations such as the state government supporting the state library board. The public library should also assist to provide unlimited access to information through the audio-visual materials. Keywords : Health information environment, market women, Offa Metropolis
Complexity, Network-Decisions And Alternative Risk Premia: Some New Theories Of Structural Change And Portfolio Decisions.
Structural Change is the basis for many decisions such as government fiscal and monetary policies, government interventions, corporate-expenditure decisions, corporate strategic decisions, portfolio management decisions in finance; household allocation decisions, etc.. Structural change in industries and national economies is increasingly more difficult to detect partly because of the growth and dominance of Complex Systems and “Networks” in modern industries and economies – such Networks and Complex Systems include GVCs (global value chains), retail store networks; franchising networks; internet networks; services networks; credit-chains in industries; online social networks; etc.. The relationship between Complexity and Structural Change is well established in the physics, applied math and economic dynamics literatures. Traditional definitions and modeling of structural change have erroneously focused on changes in labor, technological progress, market share, and or capital – which are grossly inadequate in the new economy and post- global financial crisis (as confirmed by changes in the global retailing and housing industries and other industries). Also the modeling of structural change seems to be constrained by the availability of data, and often omits the relationship between structural change on one hand, and globalization, financial stability and international financial contagion. This article: i) introduces the Operations Strategy Model of structural change, explains how it differs from the Lewis Model of Structural Change; and explains the often omitted relationship between operations strategy (of companies and government agencies) and structural change; ii) introduces other new Complexity-based models/theories of Structural Change in industries; iii) reviews the relationships among Operations Research, Complexity and Structural Change; iv) explains the symbiotic relationship between structural change on one hand, and economic growth, financial stability, financial contagion and globalization; v) discusses the significant gap between academic research and practice and explains some issues and factors that should be considered in the development and testing of structural change models; vi) explains how alternative risk premia can be generated from new models of Structural Change.