Entrepreneurship Education: Towards an Innovative Approach

Over two decades into the introduction of the entrepreneurship education in Polytechnics in Ghana as a compulsory course, little assessment has been done on the teaching and learning of the course. This paper presents the findings on the assessment of the progress of entrepreneurship education in Ghanaian Polytechnics. This study is expected to contribute to existing empirical knowledge regarding the teaching and learning of entrepreneurship in higher educational institutions in a developing country context. The evaluation criteria of entrepreneurship education was based on what is taught, how it is taught and the context in which the entrepreneurship education is taking place in the polytechnics. Mixed method research design was used to collect and analyze data from five Polytechnics out of the ten which were selected in random. It was primarily found that entrepreneurship education in the polytechnics involves more of theoretical and foreign knowledge impartation than the development of practical skills which can be applicable to the Ghanaian ecosystem. It concludes with a discussion on innovative approaches to teaching and learning of entrepreneurship to reflect the needs of the local ecosystem. Keywords: entrepreneurship education, higher educational institutions, innovative pedagog

Marketing Strategies and the Performance of SMEs in Ghana

Marketing strategies constitute one of the key functional strategies that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) adopt to enhance performance. This study examines the effect of marketing strategies on the performance of SMEs in Ghana in terms of their profitability, brand awareness and market share. Data was collected through a survey research methodology. 363 SMEs were sampled from a population of 900 through stratified random sampling. Hypotheses were tested to ascertain the relationship between marketing strategies and performance. The overall results of this study suggest that strategic marketing are drivers of organizational positioning in a dynamic environment, and that it helps to enhance the development of new product/service for existing markets. Results of the study also reveal that the SMEs in Ghana mostly use traditional form of marketing to reach potential customers and also to entrench their brands. Interestingly, only few of them use modern technology in marketing their product and services; the SMEs should thus adopt more modern technological marketing tool such as mobile marketing to improve on their performance. The findings provide valuable insights for decision makers and SMEs owners on the relationship between strategic marketing and performance of SMEs in a globalized developing economy context. Keywords: Marketing strategies, strategic marketing, performance, SMEs, developing econom

Determining the Efficiency of the Government of Ghana’s Network of Grain Storage Facilities

Governments in developing countries design networks of grain storage facilities to help farmers store excess agricultural produce to prepare for climate induced crop failures. The efficiency of such networks has serious economic and food security implications on respective countries. Periodic review of the efficiency of such networks is necessary to identify lapses and opportunities for optimization. Past studies on efficiency of networksof facilities, which usually assume scenarios peculiar to the developed world used data that are usually unavailable or unreliable in developing countries. This work therefore developed an integrated approach that relies solely on readily available and reliable governmental and open source data to compute the short and long-term efficiencies of networks of grain storage facilities. This approach was used to analyze the efficiency of the government of Ghana’s network of forty-eight grain storage facilities. A transportation model was used to compute the total transportation cost within the existing network. A P-median model was then used to develop and compute the transportation cost of a theoretically optimal network. Outputs from a forecasting model were used with the transportation andP-median models to study the short and long-term efficiencies of the existing and optimal networks. The average short and long term efficiencies of the existing network were 66% and 26% respectively. The study also investigated the efficiencies of a rank network which is created by siting GSF’s in only high grain production districts. The short and long-term efficiencies of this network were 87% and 72% respectively. The study showed that Ghana’s GSFs were sub-optimally sited hence farmers would have to travel excessively longer distances than necessary to use it. This offers some explanation for its low patronage. Furthermore, the study shows that a rank network was not as efficient as the optimal network. This study therefore demonstrates the use of this integrated approach coupledwith readily available data to analyze networks of grain storage facilities in developing countries

Drying Characteristics of Dried Banana (Musa sapientum)

Drying characteristics of banana slices were determined for 4, 6 and 8mm thickness in a conventional oven dryer at temperatures between 50-70 °C. Six empirical models were used for fitting the experimental drying curve. The influence of banana thickness and temperature on the moisture diffusivity and drying rate were investigated. Temperature strongly affected moisture diffusivity and drying rate. Drying rate increased with decreased thickness while moisture diffusivity dropped at higher banana slice thickness. The Lewis model fitted well the experimental data

Blockchain-IoT peer device storage optimization using an advanced time-variant multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm

The integration of Internet of Things devices onto the Blockchain implies an increase in the transactions that occur on the Blockchain, thus increasing the storage requirements. A solution approach is to leverage cloud resources for storing blocks within the chain. The paper, therefore, proposes two solutions to this problem. The first being an improved hybrid architecture design which uses containerization to create a side chain on a fog node for the devices connected to it and an Advanced Time‑variant Multi‑objective Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm (AT‑MOPSO) for determining the optimal number of blocks that should be transferred to the cloud for storage. This algorithm uses time‑variant weights for the velocity of the particle swarm optimization and the non‑dominated sorting and mutation schemes from NSGA‑III. The proposed algorithm was compared with results from the original MOPSO algorithm, the Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm (SPEA‑II), and the Pareto Envelope‑based Selection Algorithm with region‑based selection (PESA‑II), and NSGA‑III. The proposed AT‑MOPSO showed better results than the aforementioned MOPSO algorithms in cloud storage cost and query probability optimization. Importantly, AT‑MOPSO achieved 52% energy efficiency compared to NSGA‑III. To show how this algorithm can be applied to a real‑world Blockchain system, the BISS industrial Blockchain architecture was adapted and modified to show how the AT‑MOPSO can be used with existing Blockchain systems and the benefits it provides

Growth Performance of Grasscutters (Thryonomys Swinderianus) in Captivity Fed on Pelleted Forage and Cassava Tubers with the Peel in Ghana

It was also observed that it would cost GHȻ 21.70 for one kilogram weight gain feeding the grasscutter with Elephant grass whilst with the pelleted feed it would cost GHȻ 9.83 and GHȻ 6.85 for ration 1 and   ration 2 respectively feeding the grasscutter. Grasscutter farmers in Ghana are encouraged to feed their grasscutters with pelleted combination of Elephant grass, gliricidia leaves and cassava with the peel  with either urea or soy meal with other commercial ingredient as complete diets for sustainable grasscutter production in Ghana and countries south of the  sub-Saharan region . The study was to investigate the growth performance and quality of the meat of grasscutters in captivity fed on two pelleted diets made of Elephant grass, gliricidia leaves and cassava with the peel with urea as ration 1 and with soy bean meal as ration 2. The control was feeding with only Elephant grass. Feed intake, feed wastage, weight gain were measured and feed conversion ratio was calculated.  Feed intake and feed conversion ration were not significantly different at P> 0.05. Although the feed intake of the experimental animals was low on the pelleted feed their growth rate was numerically higher as compared to those fed on the Elephant grass ( Pennisetum purpurenum) only. The final body weight of the animals fed on the pelleted feed were not significantly different but were significantly different to those fed on the control feed p>0.05. Grasscutters are noted for their feed wastage, in the study feed wastage of the three rations were significantly different p>0.05.with the control feed recording the highest feed wastage. The dressing percentage of carcass  as well as the protein content of the meat of the animal fed on the pelleted diets were not significantly different but were significantly different to those of the control ( p>0.05).

Moisture Dependent Diffusion and Shrinkage in Yam during Drying

Crank's analytical approximations for Fick's diffusion equation were used to investigate the effect of moisture dependent sample thickness and diffusivity on the behavior of yam (Dioscoreaceae rotundata) cubicles during drying processes. Drying and shrinkage experiments were separately conducted at temperatures of 30, 40 and 50 °C in a cabinet drier. The comparative study of moisture dependent shrinkage and moisture dependent diffusivity justifies the interdependence of diffusivity and shrinkage due to water loss during drying. The behavior for yam is best explained by a combination of fractal moisture dependent shrinkage and moisture dependent diffusion, describing both the drying and rate curves better with good prediction of the high moisture regions. This assertion was reached as a result of low mean square error, standard error, percentage relative deviation, Akaike's Information Criterion and high coefficient of determination. The results may indicate a varying mobility of water in food matrix of different moisture content in the multilayer and monolayer regimes.</p

A gender perspective on entrepreneurial leadership:female leaders in Kazakhstan

The paper proposes a conceptual model to understand female entrepreneurial leadership through an exploration of the perceptions and experiences of women entrepreneurs within their leadership roles. The paper addresses an existing knowledge gap on entrepreneurial leadership by bringing together three key constructs of gender, leadership and entrepreneurship. We apply Stewart's model of role demands-constraints-choices (DCC) to women entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan in order to understand their perceptions of the demands, constraints and choices they experience within their leadership roles. The results of in-depth interviews with women entrepreneurs present deeper conceptualization of their leadership enactment as a co-developing, co-constructed relational activity between leaders and others in their wider business environments and context

Knowledge dynamics in the tourism-social entrepreneurship nexus

Tourism is often employed as a vehicle for facilitating social-economic development, however its usefulness has been somewhat limited in relation to addressing social issues, and in particular, those issues relating to poverty. This is partly due to the lack of cross-sectoral interactions and knowledge exchange between private, public and third sectors that are needed to create effective and appropriate initiatives to leverage tourism for social benefits. Such traditional sectoral boundaries can be broken down through social entrepreneurship approaches which concomitantly, facilitate the creation and synergizing of social innovation that addresses persistent social issues. Yet to date, the utility of cross-sectoral knowledge dynamics still remains largely under-researched in both the social entrepreneurship and tourism literature. This chapter introduces readers to the concept of knowledge dynamics and discusses knowledge dynamics in the tourism and social entrepreneurship nexus via a case study of community-based tourism in Mai Hich, Vietnam. We argue that by gaining an enhanced understanding of cross-sectoral knowledge dynamics, we can strengthen the overall praxis of tourism and social entrepreneurship, and in particular, assist policymakers in fostering conditions that generate increased innovation.Griffith Business School, Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel ManagementNo Full Tex

COVID-19 and household energy implications: what are the main impacts on energy use?

This study explores the impacts of COVID-19 on household energy use. Some of these impacts are associated with longer-term energy demand changes and some could just be temporary. The study intends to present the results of a small pilot study conducted in China, by addressing household energy use. The samples are from 352 households and particularly focus on primary energy use in three periods of pre-pandemic (and pre-lockdown), start of COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown, and post lockdown. Each period is identified as a timeframe of 2.5 months, from November 2019 to late June 2020. The samples of this study highlight the primary implications of energy use, some that are understood as interim changes and some that may appear to be more prolonged. The results from the study highlight a variety of impacts on household energy use as well as prolonged impacts on transportation use. The primary household energy use are assessed in six fundamental elements of (1) transportation for commuting and leisure (for both private and public modes), (2) cooking, (3) entertainment, (4) heating and cooling, (5) lighting, and (6) the others. The results are summarized in three sections focused on major impacts on transportation use (comparison between private and public modes), cooking and entertainment, heating/cooling and lighting. The results could provide early suggestions for cities/regions that are experiencing longer lockdown. Furthermore, this study provides insights for larger-scale research in assessing household energy use/demand during times of health emergency and crises, such as the event of a pandemic