Effect of Power Supply on the performance of Small and Medium Size Enterprises: A comparative analysis between SMEs in Tema and the Northern part of Ghana

Electricity provision in Ghana has been marred by low generation, poor supply and frequent power outages. The situation compel firms to adopt strategies to cope with this poor public supply of power for their business. To this end, this study analysed the effect of power supply on the performance of SMEs: a comparative analysis between two regions in Ghana where Small and Medium firms are located. The study uses the current World Bank 2013 Enterprise Survey on Ghana which consist of 710 firms. The study employs both chi-square and t-test to do pattern analysis. In addition, ordinary regression analysis (OLS) was employed to regress firm performance variable on electricity supply variable and other covariates. The results show that, the presence of power outages, thus, the number of times power outages experienced and hours of power outages negatively affected firms performance (profitability). In addition, it was further realized that power outages (power interruptions) severely affects SMEs located in the Northern part of Ghana than SMEs located elsewhere. The study therefore recommends that government should implement policies and programs such as power mix approach and renewable energy and bring in private sector participation to install competition and efficiency. This is in the interest to mitigate the unreliable electricity supply. Also, SMEs should consider alternative sources of power such as solar power, inverter, biogas, generators, which would help curb the cost power outage brings to their production and to boost output

Effect of Power Supply on the performance of Small and Medium Size Enterprises: A comparative analysis between SMEs in Tema and the Northern part of Ghana

Electricity provision in Ghana has been marred by low generation, poor supply, and frequent power outages. The situation compels firms to adopt strategies to cope with this poor public supply of power for their business. To this end, this study analyses the effect of power supply on the performance of SMEs: a comparative analysis between two regions in Ghana where Small and Medium firms are located. The study uses the current World Bank 2013 Enterprise Survey on Ghana with 403 sampled firms. The study employs chi-square and t-test to do pattern analysis. In addition, ordinary regression analysis (OLS) was employed to regress firm performance variable on electricity supply variable and other covariates. The results show that the power outages affected firm’s performance (profitability). In addition, it was further realized that power outages (power interruptions) severely affected SMEs located in the Northern part of Ghana than SMEs located elsewhere. The study, therefore, recommends government intervention in policies and programs such as power mix approach and renewable energy, as well as private sector participation to install competition and efficiency should be encouraged. In addition, SMEs should consider alternative sources of power such as solar power, inverter, biogas, generators, which could help curb the cost that is associated with power outage

Effect of Power Supply on the performance of Small and Medium Size Enterprises: A comparative analysis between SMEs in Tema and the Northern part of Ghana

Electricity provision in Ghana has been marred by low generation, poor supply and frequent power outages. The situation compel firms to adopt strategies to cope with this poor public supply of power for their business. To this end, this study analysed the effect of power supply on the performance of SMEs: a comparative analysis between two regions in Ghana where Small and Medium firms are located. The study uses the current World Bank 2013 Enterprise Survey on Ghana which consist of 710 firms. The study employs both chi-square and t-test to do pattern analysis. In addition, ordinary regression analysis (OLS) was employed to regress firm performance variable on electricity supply variable and other covariates. The results show that, the presence of power outages, thus, the number of times power outages experienced and hours of power outages negatively affected firms performance (profitability). In addition, it was further realized that power outages (power interruptions) severely affects SMEs located in the Northern part of Ghana than SMEs located elsewhere. The study therefore recommends that government should implement policies and programs such as power mix approach and renewable energy and bring in private sector participation to install competition and efficiency. This is in the interest to mitigate the unreliable electricity supply. Also, SMEs should consider alternative sources of power such as solar power, inverter, biogas, generators, which would help curb the cost power outage brings to their production and to boost output

The Role of Financial Institutions in Export Financing in Ghana

The study on the role of financial institutions in export financing in Ghana, aims to determine the economic policy finance as well as their effectiveness on the export business. It also hopes to ascertain the problems encountered by the financial institutions in export production finance. Further, to examine the prospects of export financing in Ghana, and to ascertain the extent to which oriented industries benefit from export financing. Various literatures and theories were reviewed so as to have a good knowledge background on the research topic. The study adopted the method of primary data (questionnaires) to elicit information from the respondents. The study considered a total of 200 questionnaires and a sample size of 150 respondents were selected for the purpose of the research work. The study made useful findings and recommendations

Finance Challenges of Manufacturing Companies in Ghana and Their Contributions to the Economic Growth of Ghana

This study sought to outline some of the financial challenges of manufacturing companies in Ghana as well as their contributions as companies to the economic growth of Ghana. Moreover, it also aimed to analyze some of the effect of adequate financing on the growth of the manufacturing companies in Ghana and the diverse effects of financial challenges on the performance of manufacturing companies in Ghana. Again, the study intended to determine the relationship between the activities of the manufacturing companies in relation to economic growth and development in Ghana as well as to investigate some the factors affecting the availability of finance for the manufacturing sector in Ghana. Various literature and theories were reviewed so as to have ample knowledge background on the research topic. The study adopted the method of primary data (questionnaires) to elicit information from the respondents. The study considered a total of 400 population and a sample size of 200 respondents were selected for the purpose of the research work. The study made useful findings and recommendations. Keywords: Finance, Manufacturing, Economic growt

Comparative study of antibody titres in layers boosted with inactivated Newcastle disease vaccine and the thermostable ND I-2 vaccine

Despite effective vaccination schedules employed in the control of Newcastle disease (ND) in Ghana, the preponderance of ND outbreaks is still high. This study was therefore carried out to compare booster effects of inactivated ND vaccine and thermostable ND I-2 vaccine in layers and its impact on egg production at a private farm in Kumasi, Ghana. Thirty thousand layers (10,000 per group) of 36 weeks old were used for the study. Group C was vaccinated with inactivated ND vaccine (Nobilis Newcavac, South Africa), Group D with ND I-2 vaccine and Group F was the control group, which was not vaccinated. Antibody titres of the birds were determined 10 days and a day before vaccination and from day 4 to day 28 after vaccination using haemagglutination-inhibition (HI) test and the mean titres were calculated. Both inactivated ND vaccine and thermostable ND I-2 vaccine produced booster responses. The inactivated ND vaccine produced a higher average titre increase of 37.20 % compared to ND I-2 vaccine, 33.33 %. Average titres of the control population reduced by 24.26 %. Egg production reduced by 8 % and 3 % in populations vaccinated with inactivated ND vaccine and ND I-2 vaccine respectively. In conclusion, inactivated ND vaccine and the thermostable ND I-2 vaccine produced booster effect with ND I-2 causing minimal reduction in egg production, indicating that the use of easily applicable ND I-2 vaccine should be encouraged