The majority of the Zimbabwean retail companies were in the collapsing mode over the past ten years. This miserable predicament necessitated the government to craft locally-driven remedies, and one of them was the Buy Zimbabwe campaign. This prompted the researcher to assess the impact of the “Buy Zimbabwe” campaign on the performance of the Zimbabwean firms. The study objectives were to establish the impact of “buy Zimbabwe” campaign on demand for local products and factors affecting demand for local products. Furthermore to establish if a company participating in the “buy Zimbabwe” campaign performs better than non-participating firms, earnings per Share was used in the inter-firm performance comparison. The descriptive research design was employed, although the research was both quantitative and qualitative in nature. The classical linear multiple regression analysis was used to establish and explain the relationship between company performances. The results indicated a positive linear relationship between “buy Zimbabwe” campaign and company performance in case of those that adopted Buy Zimbabwe, whereas in case of those that did not adopt Buy Zimbabwe there was a negative linear relationship. The results also discloses that quality and affordability of the product are the most influential factors affect demand for local products and buy Zimbabwe campaign was regarded as the least factor to be considered by consumers. Results from this study point towards the need to put in place supportive policies for the “buy Zimbabwe” campaign to be effective. Keywords: Buy Zimbabwe, retail sector, local products, competitiveness, customer loyalty

This study concentrates on the impact of firm specific determinants on financial performance in the power industry. The firm specific determinants used in this study as independent variables were capital structure, firm size and liquidity whilst ROA, ROI and profitability were used as proxies of financial performance. Modigliani and Miller (1958) argue that capital structure has no impact on financial performance whilst the Trade-off theory suggests that the ideal capital structure that helps firm remain financially healthy is the trade-off between cost of leverage and the advantages of debt. Beyond that trade-off point, a firm will start making losses. The target population included 60 employees from all the 5 subsidiaries of the Holding company and researchers used 40 respondents as sample size to enhance reliability. A relationship was established between firm specific determinants and financial performance as measured by ROA, ROI and profitability. The results showed a negative but significant relationship between capital structure and financial performance and they support the pecking order theory which suggests that capital structure is a significant determinant of financial performance. Firm size and financial performance were also negatively related. However, a significant positive relationship was established between liquidity and financial performance. From the findings the researchers concluded that firm specific factors have a significant impact on financial performance. Researchers therefore recommend that ZESA holdings should use its internal funds such as retained earnings and more equity than debt when financing its activities so as to reduce leverage costs which lead to poor performance.