The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between strategic performance management practices and employee retention in commercial banks in Kenya. A survey design was used to gather the information needed to achieve the objectives. Qualitative and quantitative techniques were used. The study was carried out in commercial banks in Kenya which had operating Licenses from the Central bank of Kenya. Questionnaires were used to collect the data. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics mainly percentages and frequency distribution. Correlation and regression analysis were used to test the relationship between the variables. The study established that organizations used strategic performance management through clear action value plan, target setting, setting of the realistic budgets, forecasting, performance measurements and review and finally compensation based on performance. The strategic performance management influenced the employee retention. The study recommended that the management of all commercial banks should employ more strategic performance management practices with the view of enhancing employee retention.

The horticulture sector is estimated to employ over 50,000-60,000 people directly and 500,000 people indirectly through affiliated services to the industry for example farm inputs, transport, packaging and banking (Kenya Flower Council, 2010). It is therefore imperative that the welfare of the workers working in this sector is given paramount importance by both government and the stakeholders as a whole. This study therefore sought to explore the effect of employee engagement on organization performance in Kenya's horticultural sector. This study was carried out in flower farms in Kenya. The population of this study was all flower farms in Kenya which were the 14 flower farms registered in the KFC directory (2013) and based in Naivasha. The study targeted the employees in the identified farms. Cross sectional survey research design was used for the study. Stratified sampling technique was used to sample the study respondents. A total of 2460 respondents were targeted by the study out of which 1888 responded giving a response rate of 76.7%. Questionnaires were used as instrument for data collection. Both quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques were used. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics while qualitative data was analyzed thematically. Inferential statistics such as correlation and regression analysis were used to test on the relationship between the variables of the study. The study found that 55% of the respondents agreed that there were clear policy on staff supervision and performance development. It was also found that 55% of the respondents agreed that there are clear guidelines on time for reporting to work and leaving. The results of correlation analysis show that employee engagement is statistically significant with a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.533 at a level of significance of 0.000. The study concluded that employee engagement is a major determinant of organization performance in the horticultural sector in Kenya. The study recommended that organization should emphasize on induction training as it will help in clarifying the roles of employees thus improving the general organization performance.

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A number of new seed entrepreneurs were established in Kenya, however, the majority of them fail to achieve the required business growth and competiveness. As a result, they remain small and producing less quantities of seed compared to the few large seed companies in the same market. This study evaluated the influence of product quality on organizational performance of seed maize companies in Kenya. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey research design to collect data from the target population which comprised of seed maize companies in Kenya. The sampling frame of the study was the registered seed maize companies at the Seed Trade Association of Kenya which was the unit of analysis while the respondents were the managerial employees within the seed companies and key seed experts in Kenya. Primary data was obtained by administering questionnaires to four employees within each seed company. The four employees were randomly selected from the production, marketing, finance and warehousing departments. The key seed experts were selected through snow balling and judgment technique. Interviews were conducted with the selected seed experts. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS software. Factor analysis was done to establish the appropriateness of the questionnaire constructs. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Inferential statistics included the use of bivariate analysis and the study used the Pearson correlation coefficient. The study also ran a multiple regression model in order to establish the effect of product quality on organizational performance of seed maize companies. Results indicated that the original source of seed can affect product credibility and sales, seed certification standards influenced product credibility and sales, characteristics of seed varieties affect product performance and use of hotlines to report seed failure influences the credibility of the seed and the distributor. The study concludes that managers can increase profitability by putting in place appropriate quality management systems (QMS) and product quality standardization of seeds produced to ensure high quality seed. The study recommends that the management of seed companies should ensure they embark on improving the product quality of seeds produced so as to meet customer requirements and enhance the firm's performance. This can be achieved by implementing appropriate QMS, securing contracts with large farmers who have irrigation facilities to guarantee adequate seed fields isolation, high productivity and quality seed production.

All business enterprises are mostly acknowledged as an important contributor of poverty eradication and increasing economic growth all over the world. Despite the role of SMEs in building economic development in Kenya, they are facing several challenges among them being choosing the best source of finance for their successful performance. Purposely this study was to determine the effect of sources of finance on financial performance of small and medium sized enterprises in Kenya. The specific objectives were; to determine the effect of loans on financial performance of SMEs in Kenya, to identify the effect of trade credit on financial performance of SMEs in Kenya, to find out the effect of equity financing on financial performance of SMEs in Kenya, to establish the effect of informal finances on financial performance of SMEs in Kenya, to determine the moderating effect of firm size on the effect of sources of finance on financial performance of SMEs in Kenya. The target population of the study was 291,449 licensed SMEs in the selected counties by operational wholesale and retail trade. Simple random techniques were used to collect the sample for the study. 384 respondents made up the sample and were selected from the six selected counties which comprised of Nairobi County, Mombasa County, Machakos County, Makueni County, Kajiado County and Kitui County. Secondary and primary data were useful to provide information in this study which was either quantitative or qualitative. Through a structured questionnaire data was collected and these questionnaires were dropped and later picked as the method gave respondents enough time to think about their responses carefully without interference. Determining of the reliability of the questionnaire was done by using Cronbach Alpha. The study made use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0 to aid in coding, entry and analysis of quantitative data. By using regression and correlation analysis data was analyzed and this helped to test the connection between the independent and dependent variables. Data was analyzed by use of descriptive and inferential statistics and then presented through figures, tables, percentages, arithmetic means, standard deviations and tabulation to show differences in frequencies. The findings revealed that there is a statistical significant relationship between the independent variables which comprised of Loans, Trade credit, Equity financing and Informal financing and the dependent variable Financial performance of the SMEs in Kenya. The study established that the trade credit had the strongest relationship with the financial Performance of SMEs in Kenya, then equity financing, loans and finally informal financing respectively. The study clearly concluded that there is no one source of finance that fully contribute to the financial performance of the SMEs in Kenya. The recommendation by this study was that, the SMEs in Kenya should use the four sources of finance together but should embrace more use of trade credit.