Browsing by Author "Mbega, Mwalimu Kassimu"

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    Consumer awareness towards quality assurance and standardization of products in Tanzania: the case of Dar es Salaam, Tanga, Morogoro and Coast regions.
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2011) Mbega, Mwalimu Kassimu
    Issues of standardization can bring real benefits in all fields of economic activity. Standards are needed as well to solve social problems on the other hand. In such context, standardization has a decisive importance in modern economies as a tool to support the supply of products and services that are competitive, safe, efficient, effective, and reflecting the needs and expectations of the society. This study examined the public awareness on standardization and quality assurance issues in Tanzania with the aim of finding out suitable ways of sending message to the public for sensitization. The study took place in Dar es Salaam, Tanga, Morogoro and Coast regions and deployed both quantitative and qualitative methods in data collection through simple random sampling techniques. The information through questionnaires from a sample of 250 respondents was collected; frequencies, percentages, distributions and Chi-square Test for significance (at 0.05) were used in data analysis. Results revealed that there is knowledge gap in overall issues of standardization and quality assurances of products in Tanzania. The overall awareness is greatly affected by promotion and level of education and slightly by age of people. About 218 (87.2%) respondents have claimed that they are aware on standardization and quality assurance as compared to 32 (12.8%) respondents who are not aware. For the purpose of protecting the health of citizens, environment, safety and promoting economic growth; this study recommends that TBS and other related organizations must put efforts on promoting standardization and quality assurance of products in Tanzania.
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    Governance and the quality of imported products in Tanzania: the case of Dar es Salaam City
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2020) Mbega, Mwalimu Kassimu
    Developing countries are experiencing high level of imported products as a result of free trade and globalization. The products originate from various countries across the world, mostly from Europe and Asia. This scenario is caused by measures put forward towards reduction of trade barriers, various trade agreements and the globalizing influence of associations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). Despite of presence of Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) as Regulatory Authority for quality control in the country, still the number of substandard imported products increased for the past five years at an average of about 5.3 percent (NBS, 2015). The central objective of this study was examining the role of governance on quality of imported goods in Tanzania. Specifically, the study aimed at examining the influence of institutional setup, laws and regulations as well as corruption on the quality of the imported products. A total of 200 consumers of imported products in Dar es Salaam were surveyed using a well-structured questionnaire to answer the intended objectives. The study employed log it regression approach to examine the role of governance on quality of imported products. Suitability of the approach is attributed to the binary nature of the dependent variable with the value of 1 if the quality of imported product is good and 0 if otherwise. Findings revealed that corruption is significant negatively related to the quality of the imported products. However, institutional setup and laws and regulations were not found significant in explaining the quality of the imported products. Therefore, this study recommends that there should be strong measures to control corruption practices especially regarding the importation of the products. These measures should include strategies that will monitor imported products, ensure conducting of quality checks and remove rooms for providing and receiving corruption. Furthermore, strong punishments need to be enforced against all people who involve themselves with corruption, who eventually jeopardize the quality of the imported goods.