Enterprise ownership, market competition and manufacturing priorities in a Sub-Saharan African emerging economy: Evidence from Ghana

The economic liberalization policies being implemented by many African economies have led to significant efficiency and performance improvements in the activities of privately owned enterprises. This study examines the effect of the economic liberalization policies on the entrepreneurial development of domestic-owned enterprises. This is done by examining how the type of enterprise ownership (wholly domestic-owned enterprises vs. foreign-domestic joint ventures enterprises), and the increase in competition affect the manufacturing priorities of privately owned enterprises in Ghana. The results show that the enhancement in manufacturing efficiency and quality improvement in privately owned enterprises could be traced to the activities of foreign-domestic joint venture enterprises. However, as market competition increases, wholly domestic-owned enterprises emphasize manufacturing efficiency and quality improvement more that foreign-domestic joint venture enterprises. Implications for policy are discussed. © Springer 2005.