Strategic Planning And Performance Of Businesses In Ghana: A Comparative Study Of Micro, Small, And Large Firms

Over the last three decades, numerous studies have been conducted on the relationship between strategic planning and organizational performance; all these studies have yielded inconclusive results. This article investigates this relationship using data from micro, small, and large firms operating in a developing economy. The results suggest that the planning-performance relationship is positive and very significant in micro level firms where strategic planning approximates disequilibrium. In small firms, we found that this relationship was positive and moderately significant. In large firms where strategic planning approximates equilibrium, however, the planning-performance relationship was positive but not significant. Accordingly, we present a new dimension to the strategic-planning-performance debate and suggest that the relationship differs on the basis of the firm’s level/size and economic environment

Business Strategies And Competitive Advantage Of Family Hotel Businesses In Ghana: The Role Of Strategic Leadership

Although family businesses contribute largely to the world output, little is known in literature about their mode of operations in the family hotels. The study aims to address the knowledge deficit on this critical component of the economy by investigating the experiences of family hotels in Ghana to gain a better understanding of the factors that facilitate the competitive positioning of family businesses. This paper investigates the moderating influence of strategic leadership on business strategies and performance of family hotel businesses in Ghana. The findings indicate that cost leadership, differentiation and strategic leadership enhance the performance of family hotel businesses in Ghana. It further showed that strategic leadership moderate the influence of both cost leadership and differentiation strategies on the performance of family hotel businesse

Perceived Quality of Work Life and Work Performance among University Academic Staff

Numerous studies in the field of Industrial and Organizational (I/O) Psychology have revealed that Quality of Work Life (QWL) is related to work related attitudes and behaviours. QWL advocates have argued that QWL have effects on job satisfaction, job involvement, job stress and organizational citizenship behaviours. However, most of these studies have only reported a direct link between QWL and these work related outcomes, and relatively few have looked at the role that other variables play in these relationships. This study examined the mediating effect of orgnisational commitment in the relationship between university staff perceived QWL and work performance. Questionnaires were distributed to fifty (50) randomly selected academic staff of the Kumasi Campus of the University of Education. Results from mediated regression analysis and Pearson r showed that organizational commitment partially mediated the relationship between QWL and work performance. In addition QWL related positively with work performance. This study presents new information on quality of work life and work performance of university staff in a Ghanaian context

Strategic Uncertainty And Environmental Scanning Behaviors Among CEOs In Ghana

Fifty-nine CEOs from sectors across the country were sampled concerning their views on perceived uncertainty in seven environmental sectors and how it affects scanning behavior across the sectors. It was observed that the sectors in the task environment produced more strategic uncertainty than did sectors in the general environment. The results also showed that environmental scanning correlated positively with strategic uncertainty but that the frequency at which the environment is scanned varied across firms and industries and was CEO-specific. Moreover, when sector uncertainty was high, scanning involved a greater use of personal and external sources

Making Corporate Social Responsibility Work: Do Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) in Ghana Care at All?

Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) were set up to provide banking services by way of funds mobilization and offering of credit to cottage industry operators, farmers, fishermen, and regular salaried employees. These banks are not obliged to undertake Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities but are expected by some stakeholders such as citizens in the community to devote part of their profits to meet social developmental activities. This study examines the CSR practices among RCBs in Ghana by adopting a mixed method approach. A combination of Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and cross-sectional survey was employed to gather detailed information from 86 respondents who are associated with the selected RCBs. Data collected from Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and annual reports were analyzed using content analysis and presented in themes and models. Using the binomial test and descriptive statistics, questionnaire responses were analyzed and presented. We found that among RCBs, CSR has become synonymous to community and social development as managers accept the value that CSR can create in business. Additionally, it was found that three major stages are involved in the planning and implementation of CSR by RCBs. The researchers recommend that RCBs put together CSR policy guidelines, which will form the basis for CSR engagements in their respective banks

Environmental orientation and sustainability performance; the mediated moderation effects of green supply chain management practices and institutional pressure

This research delves into the examination of how green supply chain management practices serve as a channel, and how institutional pressures act as limiting factors, affecting the connection between environmental orientation and sustainability performance. The investigation draws on data collected from 202 small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana. The results of the study indicate that while environmental orientation has a positive impact on environmental performance, it does not significantly influence economic performance. Moreover, the study highlights that the relationship between environmental orientation and environmental performance is mediated by the adoption of green supply chain management practices. However, this mediation is not observed in the context of economic performance. Notably, the research underscores that the positive indirect correlation between environmental orientation and environmental performance, facilitated by green supply chain management practices, remains significant with the boundaries of regulatory institutional pressure. This study makes a noteworthy contribution by offering empirical evidence from an African economy, shedding light on the effectiveness of institutional pressures and environmental orientation on both economic and environmental performance

Promoting resilience and sustainability amongst informal sector artisans: the case of Sokoban Wood Village

Objectives: This paper examines potential approaches to improving the resilience and sustainability of informal sector enterprises in sub-Saharan Africa. It builds on the results of a recent educational initiative in an informal sector community of woodworking artisans. The pilot project examined how social and technological innovations, including open educational resources (OERs) might be used to create new learning experiences that responded to the artisans’ context-specific enterprise development needs. This paper reflects on this initiative, with a particular focus on promoting the resilience and sustainability of these enterprises and of the forest eco-system on which they depend. Prior Work: The paper draws on three main strands of research: (1) informal sector and artisanal enterprises (e.g. Debrah 2007; Chen 2008; Palmer 2007; Robson and Obeng 2008); (2) entrepreneurship and enterprise education, with particular reference to sub-Saharan Africa (e.g. Afenyadu et al. 2001; Higgins 2009; Paton 2011); (3) social-ecological resilience and socio-technical transitions, with an emphasis on the role of entrepreneurial actors (e.g. Folke et al. 2010; Geels and Kemp 2006; Blundel and Monaghan 2011). Approach: The problem is contexutalised with reference to recent evidence on the state of Ghana's forest eco-system and to the challenges facing its forestry industries, and to woodworking artisans in particular (Osei-Tutu et al. 2010; Nketiah and Owusu 2011). We then summarise the outcomes of the pilot study. This is linked to a broader discussion about the ways in which enterprise education initiatives might contribute towards multiscale resilience and a sustainable socio-technical transition in this sector (Folke et al. 2010; Smith and Sterling 2010). Results: The paper suggests that enterprise education initiative may help in building resilience and sustainability. It explores how such initiatives might be expanded, with reference to existing models and to approaches adopted elsewhere. The discussion section also extends the scope of the original study to consider resilience at higher levels, locating the woodworking artisans within a broader social-ecological system. Implications: There are a number of implications in relation to pedagogic practice for enterprise education in the informal sector. The findings on multiscale resilience also have implications for public policies involving informal sector artisans and in the role of enterprise support policies in promoting social, economic and environmental sustainability. Value: The study provides new empirical insights by reporting on a pilot study in enterprise education. It makes a contribution to theoretical development by providing examining and applying current conceptual frameworks on multiscale resilience and sociotechnical transitions to a concrete case in sub-Saharan Africa. It also identifies a number of implications for policy and practice

Nexus between social capital and performance of micro and small firms in an emerging economy: The mediating role of innovation

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among social capital, innovation, and performance of micro and small businesses (MSBs) in emerging economies using data from a sub-Saharan African Country—Ghana. Specifically, the study sought to examine the mediating role of innovation in the relationship between social capital and performance. The study relied on a survey design and a cross-sectional data collected with the aid of questionnaire from 500 MSBs operating in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The scales and measures of the study were validated using confirmatory factory analysis in LISREL 8.50, while the study’s proposed model was estimated using ordinary least square regression analysis in SPSS 20. The following results were obtained: (1) social capital positively influenced performance, (2) there is positive relationship between innovation and performance, (3) social capital has a positive effect on innovation, and (4) innovation was observed to partially mediate the relationship between social capital and performance. The results indicate the important role social capital and innovation play in the success of MSBs in emerging economies and the fact that managers and owners of such businesses need to pay attention to these concepts and use them to their advantage

Enterprise education for small artisanal businesses: a case study of Sokoban Wood Village, Ghana

This chapter reports on a recent educational initiative involving academics from Ghanaian universities and members of an informal sector community of woodworking artisans. This pilot project examined how social and technological innovations, including open educational resources (OERs) might be used to create new learning experiences that were capable of addressing the artisans’ context-specific enterprise development needs. The concluding discussion identifies a number of practical lessons from the project. These findings are related to current debates regarding the potential role of education and training interventions in addressing the persistent policy challenge of transitioning enterprises to a more formal basis, and of promoting their growth and resilience

Preservice Teachers’ Motivations for the Accounting Teaching Profession: Fit-Choice Findings from a Selected Public Universities in Ghana

Teacher motivation influences teachers’ actions in the classroom and student achievement. Grounded in the FIT-Choice model, the study investigated the perception of preservice teachers about accounting teaching profession. Again, the study examined the motivational factors that attract preservice teachers to the accounting teaching profession. Descriptive cross-sectional survey design was used for the study. The population comprised all final year Bachelor of Education accounting students of University of Cape Coast and University of Education, Winneba (i.e 2018/19 academic year). Proportionate stratified sampling technique was utilised to engage 226 preservice teachers (students) in a survey. FIT-Choice scale developed by Watt and Richardson (2007) was adapted and used. Data to answer research question 1 and 2 were analysed using mean and standard deviation. Findings revealed that preservice teachers have a positive perception about the accounting teaching profession. Again, findings showed that preservice teachers were attracted to the accounting teaching profession predominantly by social utility value and personal utility values. The study recommends that academic advisors, counsellors and faculty must continue to strengthen career guidance and counselling among students (i.e., preservice teachers) to sustain the positive view that preservice teachers have about the accounting teaching profession. Keywords: Accounting, Teaching, Motivational factors, Career Choice, Interest DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-6-06 Publication date: February 28th 202