Manufacturing Firms In Ghana Research Articles

Just‐in‐time manufacturing in Ghana

Just‐in‐time (JIT) production has received a great deal of attention worldwide in the last couple of decades. Most research has examined the effects of the JIT philosophy and practice in developed countries (such as the USA, Canada, and Australia). Barring a couple of studies, not much attention has been paid to the study of the implementation of JIT in less developed countries. Based on a survey of 48 manufacturing firms in Ghana, this paper examines the implementation of JIT production systems in a developing country. The results suggest that Ghanaian manufacturing firms which have invested in JIT production systems are different from firms that have not invested in JIT production in terms of their efforts in employees’ training, setup time reduction, cellular manufacturing, continuous quality improvement, and supplier partnership. At the same time, JIT firms are not significantly different from non‐JIT firms with regard to the use of measurement systems.

Perceptions of Marketing and Approaches to Implementation

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to conduct an empirical investigation into the differences between the marketing practices of foreign and domestic manufacturing firms in Ghana. More specifically, an attempt was made, firstly, to determine the differences in the perceived importance of different elements of marketing practice and, secondly, to distinguish between the actual performance of these activities in the firms selected. Data were obtained from 75 firms representing domestic and foreign businesses in 8 foreign countries spread across Europe, North America and Asia. The analysis indicates that, on the whole, foreign firms perceive marketing practices as more important and tend to perform more marketing activities compared with their domestic counterparts. Managerial implications of the findings and the study's limitations are discussed alongside future research directions.

Manufacturing planning and control practices and their internal correlates: A study of firms in Ghana

This paper presents results of a survey study of 48 manufacturing firms in Ghana. Using the Whybark and Rho (1993) survey instrument on manufacturing practices, data were collected from firms across several industries. We discuss our findings on the general use of manufacturing planning and control practices and present several internal correlates of the use of some of those practices. The documentation on the extent of use will illustrate how well-known practices are being used in Ghana, while the analysis on the internal correlates is an attempt to understand factors that might induce a firm to adopt a specific practice.