Marketing Practices of Rural Micro and Small Businesses in Ghana: The Role of Public Policy

Marketing Practices of Rural Micro and Small Businesses in Ghana: The Role of Public Policy

Robert Ebo Hinson

Using social identity theory and social capital theory as a backdrop to understand the context of subsistence marketplaces, this
study investigates how rural micro and small businesses engage in marketing practices and how poverty reduction policies affect
micro and small business activities and growth. The results show that rural micro and small businesses weave morality and
religiosity into their commercial activities and survive in a competitive subsistence marketplace by engaging with social networks,
relationships with customers, and relationships with staff. The interdependence among these relationships contributes to the
competitive positioning of the business and its intelligence gathering. Despite the existence of government programs to fund
micro and small business startups, most owner-managers use social networks to initially fund and grow their businesses. The
paper ends with implications and future research directions.

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2017

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0276146717741067

English