IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/csa/wpaper/2015-06.html

Firm Survival and Change in Ghana, 2003-2013

Author

Listed:
  • Elwyn Davies
  • Andrew Kerr

Abstract

How did Ghanaian manufacturing firms change in the period between 2003 and 2013? This paper presents results from a survey of 1000 firms in Ghana, conducted in 2013, which were randomly selected from the 2003 Ghanaian National Industrial Census. This survey allows us to track survival and exit of firms between 2003 and 2013. We find strong regional differences and also differences for small, medium and large firms. The exit rate of firms in Kumasi, the second city, is lower than in Accra, but the growth rate of firms in Kumasi was also lower. Small firms were more likely to exit than large firms. Overall, the picture we paint of manufacturing in Ghana is not a positive one: total employment by firms operating before 2003 decreased from 134 863 in 2003 to 74 319 in 2013. It remains a question to what extent this was compensated by new employment by firms that entered after 2003, who were not surveyed. We also consider the firm size distribution evolution, and show that selection plays some role in explaining the positive correlation between firm size and age, but that this is less strong than in earlier studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Elwyn Davies & Andrew Kerr, 2015. "Firm Survival and Change in Ghana, 2003-2013," CSAE Working Paper Series 2015-06, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    • Handle: RePEc:csa:wpaper:2015-06
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:a157cad3-b179-416b-a762-4c1e3cbf4291
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Van Biesebroeck, Johannes, 2005. "Firm Size Matters: Growth and Productivity Growth in African Manufacturing," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(3), pages 545-583, April.
    2. Nicholas Bloom & Renata Lemos & Raffaella Sadun & Daniela Scur & John Van Reenen, 2014. "The New Empirical Economics of Management," NBER Working Papers 20102, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Luís M B Cabral & José Mata, 2003. "On the Evolution of the Firm Size Distribution: Facts and Theory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1075-1090, September.
    4. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Peter J. Klenow, 2014. "The Life Cycle of Plants in India and Mexico," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(3), pages 1035-1084.
    5. Justin Sandefur, 2010. "On the Evolution of the Firm Size Distribution in an African Economy," CSAE Working Paper Series 2010-05, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    6. Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen, 2010. "Why Do Management Practices Differ across Firms and Countries?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(1), pages 203-224, Winter.
    7. Francis Teal & James Habyarimana & Papa Thiam & Ginger Turner, 2006. "Ghana : An Analysis of Firm Productivity," World Bank Publications - Reports 12595, The World Bank Group.
    8. Frazer, Garth, 2005. "Which Firms Die? A Look at Manufacturing Firm Exit in Ghana," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(3), pages 585-617, April.
    9. James R. Tybout, 2000. "Manufacturing Firms in Developing Countries: How Well Do They Do, and Why?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(1), pages 11-44, March.
    10. Carl Liedholm & Michael McPherson & Enyinna Chuta, 1994. "Small Enterprise Employment Growth in Rural Africa," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 76(5), pages 1177-1182.
    11. Nicholas Bloom & Renata Lemos & Raffaella Sadun & Daniela Scur & John Reenen, 2014. "Jeea-Fbbva Lecture 2013: The New Empirical Economics Of Management," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 835-876, August.
    12. Erzo G. J. Luttmer, 2007. "Selection, Growth, and the Size Distribution of Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1103-1144.
    13. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. David McKenzie & Anna Luisa Paffhausen, 2019. "Small Firm Death in Developing Countries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(4), pages 645-657, October.
    2. Andam, Kwaw S. & Asante, Seth, 2018. "Firm employment, exit, and growth in the food processing sector: Evidence from Ghana," IFPRI discussion papers 1755, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Florian Leon, 2019. "The elusive quest for high- growth firms in Africa: The (lack of) growth persistence in Senegal," Working Papers hal-02493326, HAL.
    4. Andam, K. & Asante, S., 2018. "Determinants of firm exit and growth in the food processing sector: Evidence from Ghana," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277487, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Riadh Ben Jelili, "undated". "Firm Heterogeneity and Productivity: The Contribution of Microdata," API-Working Paper Series 1013, Arab Planning Institute - Kuwait, Information Center.
    2. Prettner, Klaus & Strulik, Holger, 2018. "Trade and productivity: The family connection redux," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 276-291.
    3. Prabal De & Priya Nagaraj, 2014. "Productivity and firm size in India," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 891-907, April.
    4. Luis Medrano-Adán & Vicente Salas-Fumás & J. Javier Sanchez-Asin, 2019. "Firm size and productivity from occupational choices," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 243-267, June.
    5. Vincent Sterk & Petr Sedláček & Benjamin Pugsley, 2021. "The Nature of Firm Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(2), pages 547-579, February.
    6. Baltrunaite, Audinga & Bovini, Giulia & Mocetti, Sauro, 2023. "Managerial talent and managerial practices: Are they complements?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    7. Fredrik Heyman & Pehr‐Johan Norbäck & Rickard Hammarberg, 2019. "Foreign Direct Investment, Source Country Heterogeneity and Management Practices," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 86(342), pages 362-395, April.
    8. Andrew Kerr & Bruce McDougall, 2020. "What is a firm census in a developing country? An answer from Ghana," SALDRU Working Papers 262, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    9. Masashige HAMANO & Toshihiro OKUBO, 2021. "In Search of Lost Time: Firm Vintage and Macroeconomic Dynamics," Discussion papers 21015, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    10. Arimoto, Yutaka & 有本, 寛 & Kurata, Masamitsu, 2017. "Adoption of Management Practices in the Public Sector of Bangladesh," Discussion Paper Series 654, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    11. Andrew Kerr & Martin Wittenberg & Jairo Arrow, 2014. "Job Creation and Destruction in South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 82(1), pages 1-18, March.
    12. Chen, Cheng & Senga, Tatsuro & Sun, Chang & Zhang, Hongyong, 2023. "Uncertainty, imperfect information, and expectation formation over the firm’s life cycle," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 60-77.
    13. Yoshifumi Konishi & Nori Tarui, 2015. "Emissions Trading, Firm Heterogeneity, and Intra-industry Reallocations in the Long Run," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(1), pages 1-42.
    14. Ilayda Nemlioglu & Sushanta K. Mallick, 2017. "Do Managerial Practices Matter in Innovation and Firm Performance Relations? New Evidence from the UK," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 23(5), pages 1016-1061, October.
    15. Luca David Opromolla & Giordano Mion & Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano, 2020. "Dream Jobs," GEE Papers 0153, Gabinete de Estratégia e Estudos, Ministério da Economia, revised Jul 2020.
    16. Cassey Lee, . "The Exporting and Productivity Nexus: Does Firm Size Matter?," Chapters, in: Chin Hee Hahn & Dionisius A. Narjoko (ed.), Globalization and Performance of Small and Large Firms, chapter 8, pages VIII-1 - , Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).
    17. Sivropoulos-Valero, Anna Valero, 2021. "Education and management practices," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 114436, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Exadaktylos, Dimitrios & Riccaboni, Massimo & Rungi, Armando, 2024. "Talents from abroad. Foreign managers and productivity in the United Kingdom," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    19. Henrik Hansen & John Rand & Finn Tarp, 2009. "Enterprise Growth and Survival in Vietnam: Does Government Support Matter?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(7), pages 1048-1069, August.
    20. Roman Fossati, 2011. "Outsourcing versus Vertical Integration: A Dynamic Model of Industry Equilibrium," 2011 Meeting Papers 1421, Society for Economic Dynamics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:csa:wpaper:2015-06. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Julia Coffey (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/csaoxuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.