Yes / This article examines the impact of small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) proactive environmental strategy on market performance through the mediating mechanism of environmental reputation. In addition, we investigate the potential moderating role of competitive strategies on the environmental reputation-market performance nexus. Data were collected from 223 SMEs. Using the hierarchical multiple regression analysis, the results show that a proactive environmental strategy positively enhances environmental reputation. Also, the influence of proactively environmental strategy on market performance is mediated by environmental reputation. In addition, our findings show the relationship between environmental reputation and market performance is greater for firms that adopt the differentiation strategy but not significant for firms adopting the low-cost and integrated strategies. Our study offers several theoretical and practical implications.

Yes / Purpose: Although start-ups have gained increasing scholarly attention, we lack sufficient understanding of their entrepreneurial strategic posture (ESP) in emerging economies. The purpose of this study is to examine the processes of ESP of new technology venture start-ups (NTVs) in an emerging market context. Design/methodology/approach: In line with grounded theory guidelines and the inductive research traditions, the authors adopted a qualitative approach involving 42 in-depth semi-structured interviews with Ghanaian NTV entrepreneurs to gain a comprehensive analysis at the micro-level on the entrepreneurs' strategic posturing. A systematic procedure for data analysis was adopted. Findings: From the authors' analysis of Ghanaian NTVs, the authors derived a three-stage model to elucidate the nature and process of ESP Phase 1 spotting and exploiting market opportunities, Phase II identifying initial advantages and Phase III ascertaining and responding to change. Originality/value: The study contributes to advancing research on ESP by explicating the process through which informal ties and networks are utilised by NTVs and NTVs' founders to overcome extreme resource constraints and information vacuums in contexts of institutional voids. The authors depart from past studies in demonstrating how such ties can be harnessed in spotting and exploiting market opportunities by NTVs. On this basis, the paper makes original contributions to ESP theory and practice.

No / Croton membranaceus is used by herbalists and traditional healers in Ghana for the management of various cancers, especially prostate cancers. A methanolic extract of the roots showed cytotoxic activities against two cancer cell lines, and bioassay-guided fractionation of this extract revealed that the cytotoxic activity resided mostly in the ethyl acetate fraction. Six compounds were isolated from this fraction, including a new furano-clerodane diterpenoid (1), for which the trivial name crotomembranafuran is suggested. This compound exhibited an IC50 value of 4.1 microgram/mL (10.6 microM) against human prostate (PC-3) cells, providing some support for the traditional use of C. membranaceus in the treatment of cancers

Yes / Water is essential in everyday life hence, there is a need for it to be available in quality and quantity to all. This study aimed to review relevant published studies on water accessibility and safety in Ghana from 2015 to 2022 to determine the plausibility of Ghana achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6.1 by 2030. METHODOLOGY A systematic review was conducted based on the PRISMA guidelines using four databases including ProQuest, Science Direct, Web of Science and Scopus. Studies with data on specified keywords and published in English from January 2015 to June 2022 were included in this study. Duplicated titles were removed and the title, and full text of remained studies were reviewed by two independent coders. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify themes. RESULTS Ten studies met the criteria and the majority of them used qualitative design (60%). Five main themes were identified including; causes of water contamination, the prevalence of waterborne diseases, types of water sources, implemented policies and challenges for policy implementation. The government implemented policies to provide safe and potable drinking water for the citizen and now, about 72% of the population have access to treated pipe water. Some challenges facing implemented policies include political interest in illegal mining, inadequate waste disposal facilities, and poverty. CONCLUSION This study shows that Ghana can achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6.1 which is "Access to clean and affordable water for all" by 2030. The government, public health organizations and stakeholders should work together to alleviate the challenges faced in achieving this goal.

While obesity is now recognized as a major health concern in Ghana, the major drivers, causal factors, and their spatial variation remain unclear. Nutritional changes and lack of physical activity are frequently blamed but the underlying factors, particularly cultural values and practices, remain understudied. Using hot spot analysis and spatial autocorrelation, this research investigates the spatial patterns of obesity in Ghana and the explanatory factors. We also use focus group discussions to examine the primary cultural factors underlying these patterns. The results show that wealth, high education, and urban residence are the best positive predictors of obesity, while poverty, low education, and rural residence are the best (negative) predictors of obesity. Consequently, improving the socioeconomic status, for example, through higher levels of education and urbanization may increase obesity rates. Furthermore, the cultural preference for fat body as the ideal body size drives individual aspiration for weight gain which can lead to obesity. Thus, reducing obesity rates in Ghana is impossible without addressing the underlying cultural values.

Thesis (MTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2004 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The worldwide phenomenal growth of Pentecostalism is a well-acknowledged fact, which no one can deny. Research shows that much of the growth is in the neo- Pentecostal or charismatic wing of the movement. Ghana is not left out of this. One phenomenon that has become so pronounced in the charismatic movement in Ghana is the practice of the so-called "deliverance". This phenomenon purports to let Christians attain to the abundance of life that Christ offers as part of God's salvation package to humankind. Most of the deliverance ministries, to a large extent, attribute situations such as sicknesses, poverty, late marriage, denial of visa to travel abroad and even some natural disasters among others to supernatural causes. These supernatural causes, which are said to hinder Christians from achieving the abundance of life, are mainly identified as demonic contamination, demonic influence, demon-possession, witchcraft or ancestral curses. The prescribed antidote to these is to be taken through deliverance by a special person of God. Due mainly to a very bad economic situation which has made many Ghanaians live below the poverty line; it makes it very difficult for many people to afford the cost of western medical care. Many Ghanaians are also daily looking for avenues to go and better their lot in other countries. The traditional Ghanaian like many Africans has a worldview, which believes in a supernatural dimension to every physical occurrence including difficulties in the acquisition of visa to travel abroad. The emergence of the deliverance ministries has therefore provided a legitimate haven to which people who would otherwise have gone to the traditional shrines to seek solutions to their problems can now go. The challenge that this phenomenon poses to evangelical Christianity is highlighted in this research. A critical assessment of the phenomenon as it pertains in Ghanaian Christianity has been done from the perspective of a specific definition of evangelicalism. Much as the fact cannot be denied that some of the deliverance ministries are meeting real felt needs of people in biblically unquestionable ways, there are obviously, some who are for various reasons employing anti-Christian and superstitious principles. The purpose of this research therefore, is to inform evangelical Christians on what the whole phenomenon is about in the light of Scripture so that practices that are not in line with the whole truth of the word of God can be avoided. On the other hand, evangelical Christian ministers can find ways of inculcating some of the useful practices of the phenomenon into their ministry for the benefit of their congregations and all people who might need such assistance. This is very necessary because the people from these congregations are patronizing the services of the deliverance ministries anyway. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die wereldwye fenomeniese groei van die pinksterbeweging is 'n welbekende feit wat niemand kan ontken nie. Navorsing toon dat die meerderheid van die groei binne die "neopinkster" of charismatiese deel van die beweging plaasvind. In Ghana is dit geen uitsondering nie. Een verskynsel wat so prominent geword het in die charismatiese beweging in Ghana is die beoefening van die sogenaamde "bevryding". Hierdie verskynsel beweer dat die Christene lewe in oorvloed sal he wanneer hulle Christus aanbid, as deel van God se verlossingsplan vir die mens. Meeste van hierdie bevrydingsbewegings, in 'n groot mate, skryf situasies soos siekte, armoede, die weiering van 'n visum vir ander lande en selfs sommige natuurlike rampe, onder andere toe aan bonatuurlike oorsake. Hierdie bonatuurlike oorsake waarvan gepraat word wat die Christene daarvan weerhou om die lewe in oorvloed te geniet, word hoofsaaklik geidentifiseer as demoniese kontaminasie, demoniese invloed, demoniese heksery of bloedlynvloeke. Die voorgeskrewe teenmiddel hiervoor is om deur bevryding te gaan deur mid del van 'n spesiale persoon in God. Hoofsaaklik as gevolg van 'n haglike ekonomiese situasie, leef baie Ghanese onder die broodlyn en is dit werklik moeilik vir baie mense om Westerse medisyne te bekostig. Ghanese soek ook daagliks 'n ander heenkome en probeer hulle lot verander in ander lande. Die tradisionele Ghanees, soos meeste Afrika inwoners, het 'n werelduitkyk wat glo in die bonatuurlike dimensie vir elke fisiese verskynsel, insluitend die probleem om 'n visum te kry. Die verskyning van die bevrydingsbedienings, het gevolglik 'n legitieme toevlugsoord gebied aan mense wat andersins na tradisionele heiligdomme sou gaan, om antwoorde op hulle probleme en vrae te soek. Die uitdaging wat hierdie verskynsel aan die Evangeliese Christendom bied, is onderstreep in hierdie navorsing. 'n Kritiese evaluering van die fenomeen, soos dit voorkom in Ghanese Christendom, is vanuit die perspektief van 'n spesifieke definisie van evangelisasieleer gedoen. Net soos die feit dat sommige bevrydingsbedienings werklik die mens se egte behoeftes op 'n onbetwisbare, bybelse manier aanspreek, net so is dit duidelik dat sommige mense om verskeie redes anti-Christelike en bygelowige beginsels implementeer. Die doel van hierdie navorsing is dus om Evangeliese Christene in te lig waaroor hierdie verskynsel handel, in die lig van die Woord. Sodoende kan praktyke wat nie ooreenstemend met die waarheid van God se Woord is, me vermyword. Aan die anderkant, kan Evangeliese Christen predikers maniere vind om die nuttige praktyke van hierdie verskynsel in hul eie bedienings te integreer tot voordeel en opbou van die gemeente en aIle mense wat sulke bystand mag benodig. Dit is noodsaaklik omdat die mense van hierdie gemeentes in elk geval die bevrydingsbedienings ondersteun.

No description available.

Football clubs have multiple stakeholders sometimes with different and conflicting objectives. If a club concentrates solely on achieving sporting success at the expense of its financial objectives, it risks jeopardizing its long-term stability, which may affect the sporting integrity of the league as a whole. The behaviour of one club potentially has externality implications for other stakeholders which cannot always be internalised. There is therefore the need for regulation of the pre-emptive type to avert such negative consequences for clubs. FIFA has requested all member associations to implement club licensing to improve upon professionalism in management and to ensure long-term stability of club football. This thesis picks up on this theme to review the financial regulatory system in Ghana, obtain lessons from other jurisdictions and develop an incentive-based context-specific Football Financial Clearinghouse framework that is applicable in Ghana. The thesis employs a mixed-method research approach to evaluate the financial disclosure, position and performance of professional football clubs in Ghana, utilising critical reviews, interviews, focus group discussions and questionnaires to answer specific research questions. The empirical analysis in this thesis shows that financial licensing and monitoring needs to be complemented by the provision of incentives and support services to clubs to achieve optimal regulatory compliance. The key incentive in the specific case of Ghana is to ensure regulated access to credit. This thesis makes four significant contributions to knowledge by showing that: Ghanaian football clubs are in a difficult financial situation; there is an appetite for change amongst Ghanaian football’s stakeholders for a new financial regulatory framework; the existing financial regulatory frameworks, especially in Europe, are not applicable in the Ghanaian context as they were made for a different jurisdiction; and that the FFC framework would be an appropriate context-specific framework to deal with the financial regulation of Ghanaian football clubs.

En 2015, avec 7 milliards d'usagers, le téléphone portable devient la technologie de communication la plus utilisée dans le monde. Du rappel de rendez-vous par SMS au glucomètre mobile, les systèmes de santé y recourent de manière croissante. Les programmes qui utilisent le téléphone portable pour améliorer la santé constituent un nouveau secteur de la télésanté appelé mHealth ou mSanté. Peu de recherches ont été réalisées sur leur déploiement en particulier dans les pays du Sud. A travers l'étude d'un programme global de santé maternelle au Ghana et Inde, la thèse apporte un premier regard sur ces dispositifs. S'appuyant sur une enquête multi-située et des méthodes de sociologie de la santé, des usages et d'analyse de discours, elle précise les assemblages sociotechniques propres à ces objets dans le champ biomédical mondialisé et se penche sur l'action effective des technologies mobiles sur la prise en charge et la santé des femmes ciblées. Cette triple approche permet de mettre en lumière les enjeux de pouvoir sous-jacents au développement de cette technologie dans les Suds. La thèse explore d'abord le modèle de « développement numérique » promu par les dispositifs de mSanté : un modèle qui établit une relation particulière aux savoirs et à la science, qui intègre l'expansion des technologies numériques d'une part et de leurs marchés d'autre part comme source de progrès et de croissance pour les Suds. Ce modèle techniciste et mercantile du développement reconduit des logiques impérialistes et déplace des inégalités Nord-Sud. Ensuite, la thèse analyse la place de l'information et des données de santé dans ces projets. Présentées comme le moyen principal de combattre la mortalité prématurée et de maintenir en bonne santé les populations, la responsabilisation du patient dans une logique consumériste et béhavioriste et la mise en données de la santé à des fins de surveillance caractérisent le dispositif étudié. L'enquête montre que le soin ne peut être entièrement capturé par des techniques d'encodage et de transmission et qu'en cherchant à rationaliser les services de santé à travers la sous-traitance du soin à des patients « informés » et à des personnels bon marché et précarisés, le dispositif technique dégrade les relations interpersonnelles indispensables au soin. Enfin, la thèse examine les rapports de pouvoir multiples dans lesquels s'inscrit la mSanté. Les acteurs de la mSanté déploient des programmes ciblant les femmes et entendent compenser des inégalités de genre grâce au téléphone portable, considéré comme un outil d'empowerment. Le dispositif étudié participe de cette tendance mais ne tient pas compte de la structure complexe des rapports de genre et propose de manière superficielle une inversion des rôles sans travailler sur les facteurs et les sphères de détermination. L'enquête multi-située montre comment loin d'annuler des relations inégalitaires, le dispositif technique transforme des inégalités de manière différente selon son contexte d'insertion. L'idée que les technologies numériques permettent une amélioration de la prise en charge, une diminution des disparités de santé et une optimisation des systèmes de santé a pris corps ces dernières années dans un ensemble de dispositifs techniques variés. Ainsi, la mSanté dans les pays en développement participe d'un mouvement plus général de globalisation et de technologisation de la biomédecine. L'analyse dépasse donc le cas de la téléphonie mobile pour montrer comment les technologies numériques participent à l'émergence de nouveaux pouvoirs, à la globalisation et à la mise en données de la santé, à la transformation du soin et des pratiques de santé. / With 7 billion mobile users in 2015, mobile phones became the most widespread communication technology worldwide. From appointment reminders by SMS to mobile glucometers, healthcare systems are increasingly using mobile technologies. However, the use of mobile technologies for health called « mhealth » or « mobile health » has not been well documented so far, especially in the Global South. Through the study of a global mHealth program on maternal health implemented in Ghana and India, this research offers a first glance at those devices. Based on an interdisciplinary approach combining sociology of health, users studies and discourse analysis, and a multisite ethnography conducted in Ghana and India, this dissertation describes those particular socio-technical assemblages deployed in a global biomedical context and details the specific impact of those mobile technologies on care provision and health practices for women targeted by those programs. This triple approach reveals power relations underlying the expansion of those new technical artefacts in the Global South. First of all, this work examines the model of « digital development » promoted by mHealth programs: a model that establishes a special relation to knowledge and science, that defines mobile connectivity and mobile market extension as key sources of progress and economic growth in the developing world. This technological and market-based model of development perpetuates imperialist dynamics and reshapes North-South inequalities. Moreover, the thesis studies the role of information and health data in those projets. Seen as central weapons to fight mortality and to preserve health for everyone, patient empowerment and data-driven health are strong characteristics of the studied device that increase the commodification and datafication of health. The research shows that care practices cannot be entirely captured by encoding and transmission techniques, by delegating care to the « digitally engaged patient » and to poorly trained-insecure-low-paid healthworkers, the project deteriorates interpersonal relationships that are essential for care practices. Finally, the thesis examines the multiple power issues at stake in mHealth projects. Those maternal programs are specifically targeting women and intend to compensate gender inequalities thanks to the alleged empowering effect of mobile phones. The studied program contributes to this trend and offers a shallow inversion of the traditional assignment of gender roles thus hardly taking into account the complexitiy of gender determination. This multisite research shows how the technical device far from erasing inequalities transforms them in different ways depending on its context of insertion. The idea that digital technologies contributes to improving care, reducing health disparities and optimizing health systems has taken shape in recent years in a diverse set of technical devices. mHealth or mobile Health is a particular vector of this global movement, which goes beyond the use of mobile phones, and shows how digital technologies contribute to the emergence of new powers, to the reorganization of care, to the globalization, the datafication and the commodification of health.

Résumé Les conflits font partie intégrante de toutes les activités de la société. Ces conflits, cependant, deviennent indésirables lorsqu'ils parcourent la ligne de destruction élargie des biens et des personnes. La démocratie est un mécanisme visant à réglementer les opinions dissidentes et à harmoniser les intérêts multigrades pour une coexistence réussie et un développement national. La littérature suggère que la démocratisation est très difficile, sinon impossible, dans les sociétés pluralistes ou à clivage multiple. Pour surmonter cette difficulté, le consociationalisme a été suggéré comme une panacée qui permet un partage équitable formel du pouvoir et des ressources publiques parmi les facettes reconnues de la société plurielle. Sans cela, on suppose que toute tentative de démocratie est susceptible de s'effondrer et d'échouer. Le Ghana est un pays multiethnique avec au moins 92 groupes ethniques différents qui défie apparemment le raisonnement fondamental de la démocratisation consociative, parce qu'il a pratiqué la démocratie avec succès depuis plus de 25 ans sans nécessairement adopter des modèles consociatifs formels. Cette thèse situe le Ghana dans ce contexte théorique et examine les raisons de son succès malgré l'écart théorique par rapport au consociationalisme. L'approche de la méthode mixte a été adoptée dans l'étude, et 542 répondants ont été choisis à dessein pour l'observation. Les données recueillies par l'administration des questionnaires des entrevues ont révélé que le Ghana n'a pas connu de conflits violents à l'échelle nationale malgré les conflits ponctués à travers le pays en raison de la nature même de ses conflits internes; donc circonscrits par les circonstances géographiques, les causes des conflits, et les l'acteurs impliqués. Deuxièmement, l'étude révèle que, malgré l'existence de multiples clivages sociaux au Ghana, l'interaction sociale entre les personnes met plus d’accent sur les liens transversaux qui existent parmi les individus que sur les clivages qui les divisent, même s’il existe une prise de conscience du clivage élevée dans la société ghanéenne. En outre, la disposition constitutionnelle pour la démocratisation au Ghana englobe préalablement l'intérêt national au-dessus des intérêts de clivage. Elle interdit aussi les organisations politiques basées sur les clivages sociales. L'étude recommande qu'une plus grande attention soit accordée à l'éducation à la paix dans tout le pays, en impliquant formellement dans ce processus les pertinentes institutions traditionnelles et modernes, toutes formelles qu’informelles, au niveau de base de la société. Il est également impératif d'aborder d'urgence les causes profondes de la myriade de conflits qui couvrent la longueur et l'étendue du pays pour leur résolution durable afin d'améliorer la démocratisation pacifique. Les politiciens devraient éviter de s'immiscer dans les conflits locaux et permettre aux dispositions institutionnelles établies par le système démocratique ghanéen de traiter de manière décisive avec les questions de conflit. / Abstract Conflicts are part and parcel of every societal endeavour. These conflicts however, become undesirable when they travel along the widening line of destruction of property and persons. Democracy is one mechanism aimed at regulating dissenting views and harmonising multi-group interests for successful, peaceful coexistence and national development. There is growing establishment in the literature that democratisation is very difficult, if not impossible, in pluralistic or multi-cleavage societies. To surmount this difficulty, consociationalism has been suggested as a panacea which allows formal equitable sharing of power and public resources among recognised facets of the plural society. Without this, it is assumed any attempt at democracy is most likely to crumble and fail. Ghana is a multi-ethnic country with at least 92 different ethnic groups which is seemingly defying the basic reasoning of consociational democratisation because it has successfully practised democracy for over 25 years without necessarily adopting formal consociational models. This thesis situated Ghana within this theoretical context and examined the reasons behind Ghana’s democratic success despite the theoretical deviation from consociationalism. Mixed-method approach was adopted in the study, and 542 respondents were purposefully selected for observation. Data gathered through interview and questionnaire administration revealed that Ghana has not experienced nation-wide violent conflicts in spite of the dotted conflicts across the country due to the very nature of its internal conflicts; thus circumscribed by the geographical, issue, and actor-based circumstances. Second, the study found that despite the existence of multiple social cleavages in Ghana, social interaction among the people places emphasis on crosscutting ties that exist among them, than on the cleavages that divide them even if cleavage awareness is high in Ghanaian society. In addition, constitutional framework for democratisation in Ghana formerly enshrines national interest above cleavage interests and prohibits political organisations based on cleavages. The study recommends that more attention be paid to peace education across the country by formally involving both relevant formal and informal traditional and modern institutions at the basic level of society in this peace education process. It is also imperative to address as a matter of urgency the root causes of the myriad of conflicts that span the length and breadth of the country for their sustainable resolution to enhance peaceful democratisation. Politicians should avoid meddling in local conflicts and allow the institutional frameworks established by the Ghanaian democratic system to deal decisively with conflict issues