عنوان

Firm Characteristics, Business Environment, and Performance of Non-Traditional Agricultural SME Exporters in Ghana

Number

TL58028

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Firm Characteristics, Business Environment, and Performance of Non-Traditional Agricultural SME Exporters in Ghana

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Abban, Rita

Subsequent Statement of Responsibility

Omta, S. W. F.

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Wageningen University and Research

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2020

Text of Note

216 p.

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Body granting the degree

Wageningen University and Research

Text preceding or following the note

2020

Text of Note

Primary agriculture and agribusiness are considered vital to the economies of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) countries. However, contribution of Africa's agricultural exports to world trade is less than 15% which is limited, given Africa's vast amount of arable land and resources. The main agricultural features of SSA economies are small farm holdings, dependent on rain fed agriculture, and working on a small portion of arable land. Agricultural produce (until the 1970s) were traditional exports, horticultural produce and high value cash crops including: cocoa, tea, coffee, cotton, oranges, and, timber. With agriculture employing close to 60% of the work force in Africa (majority classified as rural poor) and contributing averagely 30% of gross domestic product, the foreign revenues generated could not stimulate development. This is associated with the fact that African economies do not control world market prices, not much investments went into agriculture, and exports had little added value. Two strategic interventions stand out namely: improving the agriculture, and agribusiness environment, and, diversification of export portfolios. African economies given the earlier status quo did not have possibilities to leverage or exploit opportunities to their advantage. So, it comes as no surprise that Africa's agriculture and agribusiness is receiving increasing attention from governments, international partners, and donors, for the agri supply chains. In the last three decades, African Union (AU) member states have sought to reverse the status quo and improve interventions by commitment to more effective agriculture and agribusiness policies (CAADP targets). African governments have embarked on export diversification (programmes/strategies) primarily nontraditional exports including agricultural exports. Ghana is no exception, and in 2017, Ghana was listed in World Development Indicators as one of the best performing countries in Africa (30 percentage points away from the frontier-best performing country, New Zealand). In 2019, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) discussing the fastest growing SSA economies (per GDP growth %) stated Ghana (7.6%) as one of the top three, behind Ethiopia (8.5%) and Rwanda (7.8%). In spite of these positive statistics, Ghana has not met all CAADP targets. It is a general perception that AU and state level policies on agriculture and agribusiness are not properly aligned to positively impact agri supply chains and non-traditional agricultural exports. The thesis explored this misalignment, focusing on NTAE SMEs in Ghana, their characteristics, environment and export performance. It is considered that the findings will contribute relevant information to support Ghana's Global Agenda 2030 and the sustainable development goals (SDGs). This thesis addresses the following central research question and sub-questions. Within the theoretical context of the Resource Based View (RBV), Supply Chain Management (SCM), and network theories, which characteristics (specifically internal capabilities, resources and network relationships) of NTAE SMEs and their business environment are positively related to their export performance? The sub-questions to be addressed are: 1. Which of the firms' internal capabilities are most relevant to NTAE SME export performance? 2. What are the challenges that confront exporting NTAE SMEs and what could be done to improve the situation? 3. What combination of the firm resources and network relationships are positively linked to NTAE SME performance?

Subject Term

Agribusiness

Subject Term

Agriculture

Subject Term

Corporate governance

Subject Term

Economics

Subject Term

Entrepreneurship

Subject Term

Exports

Subject Term

Financial management

Subject Term

Globalization

Subject Term

Informal economy

Subject Term

Marketing

Subject Term

Small & medium sized enterprises-SME

Subject Term

Social sciences

Subject Term

Strategic management

Abban, Rita

Omta, S. W. F.

Wageningen University and Research

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y