Although the development of small businesses is generally considered important for
income generation and job creation, there has been relatively little research in developing
countries such as Ghana on understanding why some small firms succeed and grow rapidly
while others do not in. This thesis investigates the influences on small firm growth rates in
Ghana using data from a random sample of 252 manufacturing and services firms from the
database of the Association of Ghana Industries.
The general hypothesis is that, growth is a function of the characteristics of the
entrepreneur; characteristics of the firm; strategic factors; environmental factors; and
cultural factors. Consequently, the research tests 36 hypotheses drawn from the five main
categories of variables using the turnover and the employment growth measures. It also
uses logistic regression analysis to isolate significant factors differentiating rapid-growth
firms from slow-growth firms.
Overall, the research finds strong evidence which suggests that, perception of a market
opportunity; university education; multiple founders; entrepreneurs with marketing skills;
workforce training; new product development; presence of a clear vision and mission
statement; majority non-family members in management and membership of professional
or business associations were associated with rapid-growth firms.
iv
Factors which were significant in discriminating between rapid-growth and slow-growth
firms but were more likely to be associated with slow-growth firms included threat of
unemployment or actual unemployment as a motivation for starting a business; production
skills; legal form (limited liability companies); access to external equity (post-formation);
exporting; access to public or external aid; unionization and frequent management
meetings.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/4457 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Dzotefe, S.A. |
| Contributors | Neale, Bill |
| Publisher | University of Bradford, School of Management |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, doctoral, DBA |
| Rights | <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>. |
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