Assessing the Contribution of Rural Banks to Agribusiness Performance in Ghana.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Business Administration
Agribusiness in Ghana is considered the catalyst for economic growth and poverty reduction. It is a business solution to rural poverty and food security if redistribution mechanisms work. The agribusiness initiative is both a strategy to accelerate development and a business solution to rural poverty and food security. Ghana’s vision is to make agribusiness a more profitable business entity to curb poverty and improve food security. It is based on this vision that the government of Ghana introduced banking systems in the rural areas (rural banking) to help the rural dwellers whose main economic activity is agriculture. Contributions from these rural banks will accelerate the performance of the agribusinesses thereby improving food security in the country. This study examined the influence of rural banks contributions on agribusiness performance in Ghana. The specific objectives of the study were to identify and assess the contributions of rural banks towards agribusiness, in relation to performance and food security in Ghana. These objectives were achieved through the various primary and secondary data collected from the respondents in the ten regions of Ghana. Each region was assigned 40 respondents or agribusinesses making a total of 400 agribusinesses in Ghana. The study revealed a positive relationship between rural bank’s contribution and agribusinesses’ performance. Although the agribusinesses are doing well, they face several challenges. However, in order to improve agribusiness performance, these challenges identified in the study have to be looked at.
Assessing the Effect of Brand Development on Organizational Performance: A Case Study of Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited (GGBL).
Brand development plays an essential role in any business environment and is considered as an asset of a company. This research assessed and deepens the understanding of the effect of brand development on organizational performance. The study examined Employees knowledge on brand development as a marketing strategy, the factors that influence brand development strategies, effect of branding development on the Organizational performance and identified the challenges of brand development at Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited (GGBL). The research design adopted an exploratory design method using qualitative and quantitative methods in the study. The researcher used a case study approach in assessing the impact of brand development strategies on the operations of GGBL by collecting the opinion of One Hundred and ninety- seven (197) questionnaires respondents. Descriptive analysis of findings was generated by use of SPSS and Microsoft Excel. The study revealed Brand development strategy has a significant effect on organizational performance. The findings also revealed the existence of adequate knowledge on brand development as a marketing strategy at GGBL among employees. Furthermore, majority of the respondents stated GGBL has a unique brand development strategy which has a significant effect on the organizational performance. The various factors identified as key reasons for branding supports the study conceptual framework dimensions with respect to customer-based, market-based and financial-based perspectives in determining brand development effect on organizational performance of GGBL. The study further recommends to the management of GGBL to ensure sufficient investment of resources into brand development and also find more ingenious ways of communicating their brand to all their stakeholders that does not involve spending so much money.
Assessing the Impact of Big: Data on the Growth of Smes Industry in Ghana
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are non-subsidiary, independent firms which employ fewer than a given number of employees and these numbers differs from one country to the other. Notably, Small-and Medium-sized businesses (SMEs) often lack the resources to invest significantly on technology needed to leverage big data. Therefore SMEs can take advantage of cloud computing techniques to avail the advantages of big data without significant investments in technology and manpower. Big data have been regarded as a strategic approach for organizations to enhance their effectiveness through technology adoptions and implementation. This study seeks to find out how the concept of big data can impact on the growth of the SME sector in Ghana. The researcher employed a mixed methodology approach in undertaking this study. Both simple random and purposive sampling techniques would be used to select the two SME entrepreneurs who use big data for their operations; purposive sampling was used because the respondents might offer biased responses based on their position and expertise. The study found out that that perceived advantages, ease of use and compatibility of big data technologies have wide-scale impacts on SMEs’ current adoption level and future usage plan. However, interestingly, perceived costs of implementing big data revealed a more diverse picture. It was shown that big firms would not view costs as a major adoption barrier in the future, while most small businesses are still currently concerned about the implementation and maintenance costs. The study recommended that in the future this research should be examined in a few chosen or specific industries to test for generalisability, particularly among those with different business models
Assessing the Influence of Petroleum Pricing and Deregulation on Ghana’s Downstream: A Case Study of Selected OMCS and BDCS
The price liberalization of petroleum products was considered a good policy direction years ago, but it seems to be losing its relevance today. Thus, the study assessed the influence of petroleum pricing and deregulation on Ghana’s downstream in current times. The specific objectives of this study were to; examine the current nature of Ghana’s petroleum retail price deregulation policy in the downstream sector; assess the current overall implications of petroleum price deregulation on OMCs and BDCs in Ghana and explore profitable business operations adopted by OMCs and BDCs after post deregulation. The study employs descriptive methods research design. The research approach used mixed research which employs both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The study population is made up of 116 Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) and 33 Bulk Distribution Companies (BDCs) which sums the study population to 149 companies. In determining the sample size for administering the questionnaire confidence level of 95% with a margin of error of 5% of the population was calculated to result in 108 respondents representing the population. The sample size for the interview was 3 respondents as officials from the National Petroleum Authority, Association of Oil Marketing Companies and the Ministry of Energy were interviewed. Thus, the total sample for the study was 111 respondents. The study concludes that the current nature of Ghana's petroleum retail price deregulation policy in the downstream sector is more centered on taxation and revenue generation for the country. Also, the implications of price deregulation policy on OMCs and BDCs are increased market competition, improved services, increased cost of operations, reduced profit margins, customer complaints about prices, no shortages of petroleum products, inability to generate adequate funds, political interference, more taxes, stricter monitoring, and boost of economic recovery. Further, the study concludes that the profitable business operations OMCs and BDCs have adopted are buying cheaper products on the market, buying, and selling quality petroleum products, providing additional services to clients, advertisement, and promotions.
Ghana Communication Technology University Library
Assessing the Preparedness of the Ghanaian Construction Industry for the Implementation of Building Information Modelling (Bim) .
Building Information Modelling (BIM) has evolved in definitions and concepts over the past three decades to becoming an information technology strategy and productivity tool in the architectural engineering and construction (AEC) industry. Globally, the construction industry is considered one of the largest, with a key feature of bringing together a multidisciplinary group of professionals that usually face great challenges with coordination. In Ghana, the construction industry has experienced these challenges impacting its rate of productivity. The main objective of this work was to assess the preparedness of the Ghanaian construction industry for the implementation of Building Information Modelling (BIM) looking at four key assessments – level of BIM awareness, level of BIM preparedness towards implementation, perceived BIM implementation benefit and lastly, challenges/barriers associated with BIM adoption and implementation. Adopting and using qualitative research methodologies, an online survey was conducted targeting relevant stakeholders in industry and academia. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistical analysis to reveal perceptions, ratings/rankings, and frequencies based on categorical and coded Likert-scale data types. The results show that majority of industry players have a conceptual knowledge than of applied knowledge when it comes to the level of awareness of BIM. Generally, the preparedness of Ghana towards the implementation of BIM can be rated as “Pre-BIM Capable”. In essence Ghana is not implementing BIM from the results of the analysis. The analysis also points to the fact that a successful implementation of BIM in Ghana will be extremely beneficial and will impact positively on productivity in the industry. It is highly recommended amongst others that steps should be taken to commission a body of professionals to critically review cost benefits ratios and recommend an action plan that leads to a strategic blueprint for BIM implementation in Ghana. This work was limited by having a number of no responses given to some of the issues and can be attributed to the possible newness in the area of research or field.
Assessment of Maintenance Management Practices and Their Contribution to Oil and Gas Production and To Operational Performance a Study on Modec Ghana Limited
The study assessed the various maintenance practices available at MODEC Ghana and top management support and contribution to operational performance. In order to assess the effects that the quality of maintenance management practices has operational performance. Primary data obtained from engineers, maintenance supervisors, technicians and top level managers was used for the analysis. Descriptive statistics using the relative importance index method and regression analysis was performed on the obtained data. SPSS and Microsoft Excel were used for the data analysis. The findings revealed that MODEC Ghana Ltd has adopted ten (10) key maintenance management practices in its operations. Out of these ten practices, five emerged as the most frequently used. They are preventive maintenance, computer based management maintenance, scheduled maintenance, productive maintenance and condition based maintenance. It emerged also from the findings that top managers at MODEC Ghana Ltd contributed tremendously towards effective implementation of maintenance management practices. Key areas that their contributions were highly rated by respondents are budgetary allocation, their ability to make provision for technical training, provision of contemporary tools or equipment and provision of expert diagnostic or trouble shooting systems among others. From the result it emerged that “non-occurrence of accidents” and “reduction in the overall plant operation cost are the two major benefit of maintenance management that contributed positively to operational performance at MODEC Ghana Ltd. Maintenance practice have also resulted to “efficiency of the machines” and has reduced the occurrence of forced shutdowns counts per month, and increased plant reliability at MODEC. However if maintenance management is not done properly it can lead to machinery breakdown which can extend to plant shutdown. The regression results revealed that preventive maintenance, computer based management maintenance, scheduled maintenance, productive maintenance and condition based maintenance explained a positive and significant association with operational performance.
Challenges in Implementing Total Quality Management (Tqm) In Building Construction Projects Resource Usage: A Case of Regimanuel Gray Limited Buildings
Ensuring Total Quality in the construction industry has been seen as the degree of excellence in meeting customer requirements or specifications. But it is not achieved most of the time mainly due to factors such as the employment of unqualified human resource; lack of compliance to standards, structural defects, deterioration as a result of abandonment of buildings, dampness, cracks, leakages, among others. The main objective of this study is to examine challenges in constructing building projects in the context of Total Quality Management Principles (TQM). The study examined the impact of ensuring compliance to Total Quality Management (TQM) principles by concentrating on four resource factors; Human, financial, equipment and material resources. The study adopted a quantitative method approach and used a survey research design. Research questions were sent out to gather data from respondents. SPSS was used to analyze the data with regards to factors that prohibit compliance of TQM Principles. The study found out that compliance is compromised when there are inadequate materials, lack of motivation and allowance for workers, and lack of advanced equipment. Moreover, it was found out that there are negative correlations between equipment, financial and material resources and challenges in implementing TQM. The researcher recommended that management must ensure Quality Assurances by conforming to and implementing ISO 9000 and concept of resource compliance
Developing a Business Model for an ICT-led E-Agriculture in Ghana.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) In ICT in Management
The use of information and communication technology (ICT) tools has been applied in many disciplines, including agricultural sector. Business Model (BM) as an emerging area of research in strategic management over a decade ago, has been used by the researcher together with ICTs to boost value creation and capture; sustainability and traceability in the agricultural sector. The critical success factors and critical design issues in the domain of business models and their interdependencies related to E-Agriculture ecosystem were considered. The main purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of how business models can be defined, redefined, and applied in the agricultural sector as a strategic public management tool. Consequently, the strong agreement as to the relevance of value creation within organizations, institutions, firms and sectors underlies existing business model literature is undisputable. In considering this context, agriculture is the primary economic growth engine for Ghana and strives to create and deliver value to citizens, businesses and other stakeholders in agriculture ecosystem. The design, methodology and approach stemming from the multi-faceted applications of the business model concept, the researcher has conducted exploratory research targeting the application of current business model concepts and frameworks regarding agricultural sector in Ghana. The approach involves review of inter-disciplinary literature coupled with conducting empirical studies on ICT issues in Agriculture due to its influence on GDP growth of Ghana. Findings for the study suggest that both Management and Farmers (crops, fisheries, animal husbandry, forestry and logging) appreciated the need for e-Agriculture (ICT in Agriculture) programme to be pursued and saw it very important to address bottle-necks in the agricultural sector as it brings among others effectiveness and efficiency. The practical implications among others are that the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) recommends implementation of e-Agriculture in all countries and this makes it unequivocally a useful BM model for agricultural sector worldwide. The proposed model contributes significantly to agricultural practitioners, academics, researchers among others. Keywords: Business model, value creation, value capture, strategic management, Business system, Critical design Issues and Critical Success factors, Information communication for development (ICT4D) and e-Agriculture
Developing the Downstream Petroleum Industry for a Sustainable Market in Ghana.
The government of Ghana realizing the significance of fuel products, founded the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) in 1961 to pursue the sole objective of processing crude oil into refined products for the indigenous market. Moreover, appreciating the increasing demand for finished petroleum products all over the country, there was some level of product circulation ineptitudes and threats in the midst of low capacity utilization of domestic refinery, deprived network of storage and pipeline structures. The government further brought into being the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST) with depots facilities all over the country. The research adopted the case study technique to discover the elements hindering the smooth operations within the petroleum downstream industry in the distribution of petroleum products all over the country. The targeted units of analysis were key players within the petroleum downstream industry such as Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), BOST, Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) as well as the Bulk Distribution Companies (BDCs). The study revealed certain ineptitudes hampering the development of the petroleum downstream sector for market sustainability in Ghana. Recommendations such as complete utilization of the domestic refinery, increase storage capacity of the petroleum depot, complete utilization of the various modes of product transfer and other recommendations were made. These were intended to develop the operations of within the downstream, in the distribution of petroleum products to all over the country in an effort to develop the industry for a sustainable market.
Essentials of Management Information Systems, 10th Edition