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Entrepreneurial Skills and Industrial Development: The Case of a Car Repair and Metalworking Cluster in Ghana

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  • Alhassan Iddrisu
  • Yukichi Mano
  • Tetsushi Sonobe

Abstract

In sub-Saharan Africa, manufacturers operating in spontaneously developed industrial clusters are very small in size, have low productivity, and, except when they are at a young stage, become stagnant. The literature has related the preponderance of such enterprises to their socioeconomic surroundings. This paper reconsiders the issue by looking at the way small entrepreneurs engage in business in a car repair and metalworking industrial cluster in Ghana. We hypothesize that these entrepreneurs are unaware of or unskilled in basic techniques in marketing, management, and accounting, which are necessary for enterprise growth. Evidence suggests that small entrepreneurs in the cluster are in dire need of such techniques. Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Alhassan Iddrisu & Yukichi Mano & Tetsushi Sonobe, 2012. "Entrepreneurial Skills and Industrial Development: The Case of a Car Repair and Metalworking Cluster in Ghana," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 3(3), pages 302-326, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jknowl:v:3:y:2012:i:3:p:302-326
    DOI: 10.1007/s13132-011-0047-6
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    Cited by:

    1. Mano, Yukichi & Iddrisu, Alhassan & Yoshino, Yutaka & Sonobe, Tetsushi, 2012. "How Can Micro and Small Enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa Become More Productive? The Impacts of Experimental Basic Managerial Training," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 458-468.
    2. Tanja D. Hendriks & Rafael Verbuyst & Mayke Kaag, 2022. "Fraught with Friction: Inclusive Development for Informal Workers in Urban Ghana," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(5), pages 2305-2323, October.
    3. Mano, Yukichi & 真野, 裕吉 & Suzuki, Aya & 鈴木, 綾, 2013. "Industrial Development through Takeovers and Exits: the Case of the Cut Flower Exporters in Ethiopia," Discussion Papers 2013-05, Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University.
    4. Abera Alemu & Zerhun Ganewo, 2023. "Impact Analysis of Formal Microcredit on Income of Borrowers in Rural Areas of Sidama Region, Ethiopia: A Propensity Score Matching Approach," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(1), pages 65-85, March.
    5. repec:unu:wpaper:wp2012-99 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Mohammad Reza Jalilvand & Leila Nasrolahi Vosta & Rashid Khalilakbar & Javad Khazaei Pool & Reihaneh Alsadat Tabaeeian, 2019. "The Effects of Internal Marketing and Entrepreneurial Orientation on Innovation in Family Businesses," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(3), pages 1064-1079, September.
    7. Otsuka, Keijiro & Sonobe, Tetsushi, 2012. "The Role of Training in Fostering Cluster-Based Micro and Small Enterprises Development," WIDER Working Paper Series 099, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Mano, Yukichi & Akoten, John & Yoshino, Yutaka & Sonobe, Tetsushi, 2014. "Teaching KAIZEN to small business owners: An experiment in a metalworking cluster in Nairobi," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 25-42.
    9. Tetsushi Sonobe & Keijiro Otsuka, 2012. "The Role of Training in Fostering Cluster-Based Micro and Small Enterprises Development," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2012-099, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. Tetsushi Sonobe & Keijiro Otsuka, 2015. "Cluster-Based MSE Development: The Role of Kaizen Training," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 54(4), pages 609-626.
    11. Tetsushi Sonobe & Keijiro Otsuka, 2012. "The Role of Training in Fostering Cluster-Based MSE Development," GRIPS Discussion Papers 12-14, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Africa; Ghana; Industrial development; Industrial cluster; Entrepreneurial skills; Training; Propensity score matching; Impact evaluation; O14; O33; O55;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

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