What Makes Firms Perform Well? Evidence from Ghana Retail Shops

摘要

Small and MediumEnterprises are an integral part of the modern world. In today’s intensivelycompetitive business environment, the retail industry will be more importantfor developing economies because of the rising unemployment rate. The growth ofthe retail shops, however, is hindered to a large extent of challenges.Observing the growth of the retail industry in Ghana recently, one can conclude that the sector is significantly developingwith numerous challenges surrounding it. Hence the question,what makes small firms perform well needs to beaddressed properly, particularly in the case of retail shops in Ghana. The data used in this study was collected bydistributing questionnaires to retail shop owners. 348 out of 423questionnaires were answered and returned successfully. The study then employedOLS, logit, and probit regression models to analyze the impact of numerousfactors that influence the growth of retail shops. The study revealed thatfactors such as training, access to market, business experience of retail shopsowners, and access to transportation are positively associated with the growthof retail shops whereas factors like gender, age, education, start-up capital,access to credit, and social network are negatively associated with the growthof retail shops. Based on the findings, this study recommends that thegovernment of Ghana should pay much attention to the sector by providingtraining to retail shop owners and their employees in order to have access tothe necessary entrepreneurship training that will equip them to manage theaffairs of their business which will at long-run influence economic growth.