Impact of innovation on business performance: the case of Zimbabwe united passengers company (ZUPCO)

Abstract

Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) is a government run public enterprise whose mandate is to provide safe and reliable passenger transport services to rural and urban populace. The company has not been able to execute its mandate as a result of operational and viability challenges which resulted in down scaling of operations, fleet abandonment, non-maintenance and employee retrenchments. In January 2019, the government went on a recapitalization drive of the company which resulted in the injection of a new fleet, innovation of operations by subcontracting other players and introduction of electronic ticketing as well as subsidization of the company’s operations. The main objective of this study was to find out if the introduction of innovation (subcontracting and electronic ticketing) had an impact on ZUPCO’s business performance. Literature shows that subcontracting can be a success if fares are set at reasonable levels and that if managed well can reduce costs like the case of Curitiba which resulted in more people opting for public transport and its per capita fuel consumption reduced by 30%. Literature also shows that Electronic ticketing was successful in Singapore as it resulted in revenue security and brought about convenience for both operators and consumers. Literature also highlights performance indicators that can be used to ascertain business performance and these include operating ratio, passenger volumes, revenue and operating costs among others. The researcher used observations and document analysis to gather data. The study used purposive sampling to select the sample of participants. The major research question was to establish the effectiveness of innovation in improving business performance at ZUPCO. The objectives of the study were met and independent samples t-test which were conducted showed that the innovation improved business performance. The study indicated that the Information Technology department of the company should help in ensuring that electronic ticketing does not face a still birth due to system failure and disruptions and that the government should minimize its interference in the operations, of the company.