1.1: Introduction
The dynamic function of Small & A ; Medium graduated table Enterprises ( SMEs ) in developing states towards employment coevals & A ; income creative activity has over clip been extremely emphasised by several writers ( Kayanula & A ; Quartey 2000, OECD 2004 ) . While it is by and large accepted that SMEs are of import subscribers to the domestic economic system, non many authoritiess have framed policies to heighten their part or increase their fight ( UNCTAD 2005 ) .
Previously insulated from international competition, many SMEs are now faced with greater external competition & A ; the demand to exp & amp ; market portion. As indicated by OECD 2002, SMEs fast-changing engineerings & A ; globalizing economic systems are seting increased force per unit areas on houses to reorganize their constructions to heighten adaptability & A ; flexibleness. Upgrading the accomplishments of all types of employees is therefore cardinal to tauten public presentation in SMEs which must be able to accommodate rapidly to germinating markets & A ; altering fortunes, but which frequently have limited resources. Indeed there is preliminary grounds that competency development activities can cut down the failure rates of little houses, which are far more likely to neglect than larger houses, peculiarly in the early old ages ( OECD 2002 ) .
1.2 SMEs in Ghana: Definition & A ; Role towards Economic Development
As per statistics from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa 2010, Ghana ‘s GDP grew at an one-year rate of 5.4 per cent between 2001 & A ; 2007. Such impressive public presentation was partially contributed to the robust growing of the SME sector in Ghana. Available informations from the Registrar General in Ghana indicates that 90 % of companies registered are micro, little & A ; medium endeavors ( Mensah 2004 ) . This mark group has been identified as the accelerator for the economic growing of the state as they are a major beginning of income & A ; employment.
Analogous to the state of affairs in other states though, Kayanula & A ; Quartey 2000 province that there is no individual, uniformly acceptable, definition of a little house in Ghana as these houses differ in their degrees of capitalization, gross revenues & A ; employment. Hence, definitions which employ steps of size ( figure of employees, turnover, profitableness, net worth, etc. ) when applied to one sector could take to all houses being classified as little, while the same size definition when applied to a different sector could take to a different consequence. Kayanula & A ; Quartey in their research nevertheless identified a figure of common definitions used when mentioning to SMEs in Ghana that could be used for intents of this essay. These definitions are summarised below:
The Ghana Statistical Service ( GSS ) considers houses with less than 10 employees as Small Scale Enterprises & A ; their opposite numbers with more than 10 employees as Medium & A ; Large-Sized Enterprises. An alternate standards used in specifying little & A ; medium enterprises is the value of fixed assets in the administration. However, the National Board of Small Scale Industries ( NBSSI ) in Ghana applies both the fixed plus & A ; figure of employees ‘ standards. It defines a Small Scale Enterprise as one with non more than 9 workers, has works & A ; machinery ( excepting cubic decimeter & A ; , edifices & A ; vehicles ) non transcending 1000 GHS. From these definitions nevertheless, it would be prudent for intents of this essay to observe that the procedure of valuing fixed assets in itself poses a job as uninterrupted depreciation in the exchange rate frequently makes such definitions out-dated.
It is further noted that SMEs in Ghana can be categorised into urban & amp ; rural endeavors. The former can be sub-divided into ‘organised ‘ & As ; ‘unorganised ‘ endeavors. The organized 1s tend to hold paid employees with a registered office whereas the unorganized class is chiefly made up of craftsmans who work in unfastened infinites, impermanent wooden constructions, or at place & A ; employ small or in some instances no salaried workers. They rely largely on household members or learners. Rural endeavors are mostly made up of household groups, single craftsmans, adult females engaged in nutrient production from local harvests. The major activities within this sector include: soap & A ; detergents, cloths, vesture & A ; tailoring, fabric & A ; leather, village blacksmiths, tin-smithing, ceramics, timber & A ; excavation, bricks & A ; cement, drinks, nutrient processing, bakeshops, wood furniture, electronic assembly, agro processing, chemical based merchandises & A ; mechanics ( UNECA 2010, Kayanula & A ; Quartey 2000 ) .
Among their many functions, SMEs in Ghana have been important in call uping financess which otherwise would hold been idle ( Kayanula & A ; Quartey 2000 ) . The writers further point out that SMEs have been recognised as a seed-bed for autochthonal entrepreneurship, are labour intensive, using more labour per unit of capital than big endeavors & A ; promote autochthonal technological know-how. Furthermore, due to their regional scattering & A ; their labour strength, statement goes that little scale production units can advance a more just distribution of income than big houses in Ghana. They besides improve the efficiency of domestic markets & A ; do productive usage of scarce resources & A ; therefore easing long term economic growing.
1.3 Challenges confronting SME Growth & A ; Competitiveness in Ghana
Despite the wide-ranging economic reforms instituted in the state to advance SME development, SMEs in Ghana still face a assortment of restraints ( UNECA 2010, Kayanula & A ; Quartey 2000 ) . Mensah 2004 drew up a basic profile on such SME challenges: SMEs are dominated by the owner/manager who takes all major company determinations. The enterpriser possesses limited formal instruction, entree to & A ; usage of new engineerings, market information, & A ; entree to recognition from the banking sector is badly limited. Furthermore, direction accomplishments are weak, therefore suppressing the development of a strategic program for sustainable growing.
Kayanula & A ; Quartey in add-on note that SME fight in Ghana is chiefly constrained by the undermentioned factors:
1. Limited entree to finance remains a dominant restraint to little graduated table endeavors in Ghana. Credit restraints refering to working capital & A ; natural stuffs are frequently cited by little house & A ; these partially root from the fact that SMEs have limited entree to capital markets, both locally & A ; internationally.
2. SMEs have troubles in deriving entree to allow engineerings & A ; information on available techniques. This limits invention & A ; SME fight. This fact is ascertained by UNCTAD 2005 which notes that most SMEs besides lack the proficient know-how & A ; fiscal resources needed to get province of the art technologies & A ; equipment required to better productiveness & A ; to go internationally competitory.
3. Regulative Constraints: Although broad runing structural reforms have improved, chances for endeavor development remain to be addressed at the firm-level. High start-up costs for houses, including licensing & A ; enrollment demands, can enforce inordinate & A ; unneeded loads on SMEs. The high cost of settling legal claims & A ; inordinate holds in tribunal proceedings adversely affect SME operations. In the instance of Ghana, the cumbrous process for registering & A ; get downing concern were cardinal issues frequently cited.
4. Of existent importance to this essay nevertheless, is the deficient supply of skilled workers among SMEs in Ghana that limits specialization chances, raises costs, & A ; cut down flexibleness in pull offing company operations. This is coupled with the deficiency of entrepreneurial & A ; concern direction Skills: Lack of managerial know-how topographic points important restraints on SME development.
Mensah 2004 in decision notes that SMEs in Ghana have non been able to take full advantage of Government-sponsored concern support services. This paper hence seeks to place the possible deductions for beef uping SME fight through competency development that could be attained through the acquisition of cognition, skills & A ; new abilities.
Chapter Two: Literature Reappraisal
2.1 Competence: Definition of the Concept
Analyzing a construct such as competency is really complex as the construct is used otherwise by many people ( Awuah 2007 ) . Harmonizing to the writer, the term competency can be defined as the ability of a house to develop & amp ; manage dealingss with cardinal providers, clients & A ; other organisations. The term is further defined by the UN as the ownership of a set of accomplishments, related cognition & A ; attributes that let an single to execute a undertaking or an activity within a specific map or occupation ( UN 2007, UNIDO 2002 ) . A graphical show of how the UN explains competency is displayed in figure 1 that follows:
A more practical definition for the term competency is provided by the European Commission which defines competency as the combination of human cognition, skills & A ; aptitudes functioning productive intents in houses & A ; lending to their fight ( EC 2003 ) . From the EC definition, we notice that the ownership of necessary accomplishments & A ; abilities should be able to supply a house with a certain competitory advantage over its rivals. In this paper hence, the term competency will be used to intend the ability to show cognition, accomplishments, experience, & A ; attributes necessary for a house to accomplish a sustainable competitory advantage. In general, competency in a occupation means being competent at all facets of each map or competence required to be performed within the function. The term competence is diagrammatically explained in figure 1.
Several writers such as EC 2003 & A ; Moe 1995 distinguish between competences at single & A ; organizational degree. Individual competences imply a individual ‘s internal cognitive abilities & A ; accomplishments. Such competences may be gained through instruction & A ; experience in the work topographic point ( Nordhaug 1992 ) . On the other H & A ; institutional competency is more than the amount of competencies of the persons. It consists of institutional qualities such as the ability to mobilise teamwork & A ; interactive effects of interactions between persons ( Moe 1995 ) . EC 2003 nevertheless cautiousnesss that a high degree of single competency does non automatically ensue in a high degree of organizational competency & A ; therefore an optimum grade of organizational competency requires a transportation mechanism that facilitates interplay between an single & A ; the administration ‘s models & A ; modus operandis.
Figure 1: Definition of Competence
Beginning: UNIDO 2002, Page 9
In this respect, Nordhaug 1992 adds that much expertness based on practical experience is accumulated by persons working within any company. To transform the experiences of the persons into institutional cognition is a great challenge to which there barely exists any cosmopolitan solution. The end therefore must be to implant this experience in the organisation in such a manner that it is at any clip available to those who need it, even after the person who made it has left the company.
In contrast to many modern-day writers, UNIDO 2002 distinguishes competences as being managerial, generic & A ; proficient. Managerial competences are considered for staff with managerial or supervisory duty in any house, including managers & A ; senior stations. It is further noted that some managerial competences could be more relevant for specific businesss nevertheless they are applied horizontally across a house for illustration analysis & A ; determination devising & A ; team leading.
Generic competences are considered indispensable for all staff irrespective of their map or degree for illustration communicating, programme executing & A ; linguistics. Technical or functional competences on the other H & A ; are specific competences that are considered indispensable to execute a occupation within a defined country of work for illustration environmental direction, finance direction & A ; human resource direction among others. In decision, UNIDO 2002 notes that any map within a house requires a set of indispensable managerial/generic & A ; technical/functional competences to be performed efficaciously.
2.1 Competence Development in SMEs
2.2.1 Definition of Competence Development
Competence development is defined by Koch, Gill & A ; Ellstr ‘m 2006 as an overall appellation for the assorted activities that can be used to impact the supply of employee competency & A ; accomplishments on the internal labor market. In this definition, it should be pointed out that the term competency development is sometimes besides used to denote the single acquisition procedures through which competency is developed. A simpler definition is provided by the EC, which defines competency development as the steps taken by any endeavor to develop its competency base
Competence development in this instance refers to activities that are planned & A ; organized in order to further larning as a primary purpose, but besides to activities that have larning as a secondary & A ; possibly unintended result. Harmonizing to the EC, any endeavor can develop its competency base by a figure of different possible steps, that is to state, by enrolling the right competency from outside or by developing the human resources the administration already possesses. This end can be obtained from a dual position: foremost of all, through the development of the competency base of its human resources, fundamentally through different signifiers of formal & amp ; non-formal acquisition such as preparation classs, internal seminars, work groups, aid to expos. This sort of position was termed by Nordhaug 1992 as the ‘Development of in-house competency ‘ , which represents the step a house takes to develop their competency position available within their in-house human resources.
Further more competency development activities may be formal through internal or external classs that are intentionally planned & A ; organized as agencies for work topographic point larning. These activities may or may non ensue in a certification, a sheepskin or a grade that is recognized by the educational system or on the external labor market. In many instances, classs are carried out to run into more specific demands at the workplace, & A ; make non ensue in some sort of officially recognized certification or grade. Workplace larning through formal activities are normally financed by the employer & A ; carried out during working hours.
In contrast, informal competency development may happen through the engagement of the person in development undertakings at the workplace, staff-meetings, occupation rotary motion & A ; team-based work among others. Such activities are by and large characterized by a low grade of planning & A ; organisation from the position of acquisition.
The 2nd attack is through obtaining the coveted competency externally. Examples include the enlisting of new employees, the purchase of adviser services or co-operation with other external stakeholders. Nordhaug 1992 complements this attack by observing that external competency acquisition, where houses get ( purchase or by other agencies get entree to ) different external competences that are outside the endeavor ‘s boundaries that they internally lack but may be regarded as indispensable for the optimum public presentation of the house. Associating to the work of Griffiths et Al 2007, the definition of competency development in this paper will stress the focal point on the uninterrupted updating & A ; edifice of both single & A ; organizational cognition, skills & A ; abilities.
2.2.2 A Four Phase Model of Competence Development
To simplify analysis, a theoretical account of competency development which consists of four phases is presented in this subdivision:
Figure 2: Competence Development Model
Adapted from Griffiths et al 2007: Page 134
Harmonizing to the figure above, the rhythm of competency development starts with a procedure of orientation, in which the scholar determines which competences that need to be developed. Once this determination has been made, the scholar has a pick. One really speedy path, typical for informal acquisition & A ; competences related to leisure activities, is to travel straight to the competency development activities, based on the scholar ‘s involvements & A ; merely really small cognition of their current proficiency degree. The other path, more related to formal acquisition & A ; to professional development is to continue by roll uping grounds, which shows the scholar ‘s current proficiency degree. After the scholar has collected this grounds, they can once more take: either they can hold their proficiency degree officially recognized by others, or they can travel straight to the competency development activities. Again, the latter path is the more informal larning path.
Griffiths et al 2007 emphasizes appraisal by others is the point where the formal acquisition path starts, where old acquisition, which might hold been either informal or formal, is turned into a formal acknowledgment. When the rhythm is passed through for the first clip, the minute of appraisal carried out by others is frequently referred to as intake appraisal. The theoretical account is supplemented by Ogrean 2009 who notes that through orientation & A ; appraisal, the theoretical account serves as the footing for guaranting that the administration is good positioned to accomplish its vision & A ; strategic ends.
2.3 Challenges towards SME Competence Development
An introductory image into the challenges confronting SME competency development is provided by EC 2003 that notes that specific SME research & A ; surveies taking a more holistic position of competency development in SMEs are really hard to happen. As a consequence, the portion of SMEs take parting in competency development is lower than the several 1 for larger endeavors ( M & A ; l & A ; Dorr 2004 ) .
SMEs are nevertheless non merely constrained by limited information on competency development. Harmonizing to M & A ; l & A ; Dorr 2004 & A ; EC 2003, smaller companies are so confronted with a wider scope of barriers impeding the battle in competency development than larger 1s. The most of import one they note constitutes the deficiency of clip to both, strategically plan & amp ; take part in several steps due to the laterality of the day-to-day concern.
M & A ; l & A ; Dorr 2004 specifically note that limited fiscal & A ; human resources constitute the chief barriers for SMEs to prosecute in competency development activities. By and large, employees are excessively much involved in the day-to-day concern life to hold clip to prosecute in making steps & A ; due to the restricted figure of employees no placeholder is available in many instances.
It is further noted that SMEs are frequently doubting towards external advice & A ; developing as they are non informed about what is offered & amp ; /or are diffident about the quality or the price-performance ratio. Furthermore, the programmes offered do in most of the instances non match precisely to their demands. Rock 2010 observes that little houses frequently report trouble accessing preparation tailored to their demands in footings of type & A ; quality, scheduling & A ; location.
Additionally, SMEs fear that higher qualified employees will go forth the company because of a deficiency of inducements such as higher wages & A ; calling opportunities in larger endeavors. Larger houses frequently pay higher pay rates, so formal makings are perceived by many little employers as more valuable to employees than the concern itself ( Stone 2010 ) . This is worsened by the fact that these houses lack competency development specializers in the company: really few SMEs so dispose of experts in the field of competency development taking to a deficiency of a systematic competency development strategy in these houses. This barrier is besides mentioned in footings of missing programs & A ; forces for carry oning the preparation or placing the company competency demands
Another obstruction identified from empirical research ( Stone 2010 ) is that that little employers normally lack information on what preparation is available to them, every bit good as grounds of the benefits of preparation to put against sensed & A ; existent barriers to developing activity. Even where they perceive developing to be of value, let go ofing employees for particularly formal preparation is more hard for smaller employers. Lost on the job clip is an particularly of import restraint with regard to owner-manager preparation.
Harmonizing to OECD 2002, for a assortment of grounds, smaller houses are less likely than larger endeavors to supply external preparation to all classs of workers, including directors. In add-on to fiscal restraints, information spreads make smaller houses less cognizant of the benefits they would obtain from direction preparation & A ; few see developing as a strategic tool. Due to higher turnover in managerial staff, little houses may non gain the same benefits from developing investings as larger houses.
Chapter Three: Competence Development for SME Growth & A ; Competiveness in Ghana
3.1 Competitiveness: Definition & A ; Concept
Competitiveness can be assessed at either the national or the endeavor degree ( UNCTAD 2005 ) . At the national degree, fight has been defined as a state ‘s ability to bring forth goods & A ; services that meet the trial of international markets while at the same time keeping & A ; exp & A ; ing existent incomes of its people over the long term. The ability to vie in international markets is normally thought to be dependent on macroeconomic policies & A ; conditions ( trade policies & A ; exchange rates among others ) every bit good as on a state ‘s comparative advantage that is its factor gift ( fifty & A ; , labour & amp ; capital ) .
At the endeavor degree, fight is the ability to prolong a market place by, providing quality merchandises on clip & A ; at competitory monetary values through geting the flexibleness to react rapidly to alterations in dem & A ; & A ; through successfully pull offing merchandise distinction by constructing up advanced capacity & A ; an effectual selling system ( UNCTAD 2005 ) . The difference between the fight of an endeavor & A ; that of a state is that the endeavor will discontinue to be if it remains uncompetitive for long whereas a state ne’er goes out of concern no affair how severely it is managed or how uncompetitive it is. When a state loses its fight, this is reflected in its deteriorating public assistance conditions instead than riddance from the market.
To accomplish uninterrupted fight, enterprises must transform their ways of viing: they must switch from comparative advantages such as low-cost & A ; labour, to competitory advantages, viz. the ability to vie on cost & A ; quality, bringing & A ; flexibleness. Such fight may depend on the concern environment, edification of company operations & A ; inter-firm cooperation.
Harmonizing to UNCTAD 2005 nevertheless, since an endeavor does non bring forth in a vacuity, its fight can merely be measured within assorted types of market districts at the sub national, national & amp ; supra-national degrees. The optimisation of its capital resources ( finance, engineering, labor ) comm & A ; s its ability to perforate each of these three market districts. In general, OECD 2004 identifies that it is up to the SMEs to implement competitory concern operating patterns & A ; concern schemes. However, the options available to SMEs are besides closely related to the quality of establishments, markets & A ; organisations that constitute the concern environment. These will nevertheless depend on the efficiency & A ; effectivity of establishments, markets & A ; organisations that encourage or deter SMEs to take their cues for larning new ways of making concern, compare their ain competitory features with those of their challengers, & A ; makes their determinations to put, including the debut of inventions into their concern schemes.
In decision, UNCTAD 2005 notes that fight is embodied in the features of the house, viz. through: the current efficiency & A ; effectivity of the usage of resources ; the willingness & A ; the ability to associate profitableness to growing of capacity through continued investing. Although the writers concur with the position that fight is created at the house degree, it is besides emphasized that this is partially derived from a systemic context, emerging from complex forms of interactions between authorities, enterprises & A ; other histrions, & A ; will therefore exhibit different signifiers in each society. In add-on, external fight can be achieved by houses through exports, prolonging variegation & A ; /or better quality of production, upgrading engineering & A ; accomplishments, & A ; exp & A ; ing the base of domestic houses to vie regionally & amp ; globally. A house is competitory in external markets depending on its ability to provide quality merchandises on clip & A ; at competitory monetary values & A ; to react rapidly to alterations in dem & A ; by constructing up advanced capacities & A ; market schemes.
3.2 Associating Competence Development Activities to SME Growth & A ; Competiveness
In the current competitory & amp ; complex economic environment, human capital is progressively recognised by both states & A ; by concern administrations as a cardinal engine for growing & A ; fight ( L’fstedt 2001, EC 2003, Moe 1995 ) . Moe farther identifies that companies will seldom be allowed to profit significantly from competitory advantages in footings of monopolies or privileged entree to certain natural stuffs, particular agencies of production or protected markets. The success of any company will depend on its ability to vie in the direction of resources & A ; in working markets which are in rule available to all.
Competitiveness in the market-place, every bit good as for the best people, will besides progressively depend on the environmental qualities of the company. Therefore, the key to success is in a superior ability to enroll, develop & amp ; mobilise human resources. The best manner to accommodate to the altering environment & A ; new demands is to increase the organisation ‘s competency & A ; to utilize it in the best possible manner ( L’fstedt 2001 ) .
Against such a background of globalization & A ; competition, the handiness of up to- day of the month cognition, besides within the smallest endeavors, is of increased significance non merely for the single company but besides for the economic system as such ( M & A ; l & A ; Dorr 2004 ) . The writers further note that the current economic environment is characterised by planetary competition, fast engineering developments, shorter merchandise life rhythms, more dem & A ; ing consumers & A ; altering endeavor constructions through merges, confederations & A ; take-overs. Therefore, the new growing theories make economic growing dependant on the rate of accretion of both physical & A ; human capital, defined by the degrees of cognition, skills & A ; competences of the work force ( EC 2003 )
Another of import construct of how SME fight could be advanced through competency development is provided by Koch, Gill & A ; Ellstr ‘m 2006, who argue that competency development can ensue into increased single & A ; organisational public presentation. This position is supported by Stone 2010 ; in his celebrated citation that ‘Firms that train their workers are significantly less likely to shut than those that do non ‘ ( Kock, Gill & A ; Ellstr ‘m 2006 ) . In add-on to this, Fretwell 2002 notes that employee morale is created by & A ; straight proportional to the grade of employee competency supported by leaders throughout the organisation. Employee morale within an organisation in bend has a direct impact on the satisfaction degree of its clients & A ; the company ‘s ultimate success. When relationship-based leaders promote nucleus competence development of its work force throughout the organisation, an chance exists for guaranting high employee morale & A ; client satisfaction, an addition in employee & A ; client keeping rates, & A ; a positive long-run mentality for the company ‘s successful public presentation. Common cognition suggests that employee morale has a direct impact on the satisfaction degree of an organisation ‘s primary external clients.
In general, houses that are able to put in the development of their human capital & A ; the betterment of organizational capablenesss will be able to derive a competitory advantage demand to last in today ‘s competitory universe.
3.3 Deductions for SMEs in Ghana
A clear analysis of the prevailing environment for SMEs in Ghana indicates that the combined forces of globalization, technological advancement & A ; turning market dem & A ; present a challenge to SME fight. However, there are a figure of ways in which little houses can acquire around this state of affairs. To back up analysis, several deductions for SMEs in Ghana have been identified through the model for SME fight as displayed in the figure that follows:
Harmonizing to ECA 2001, the model distinguishes between factors that are internal & A ; external to the endeavors. The big circle in the Centre of the diagram captures the cardinal internal necessities & A ; processes that might take to increased fight in endeavors. These inputs are frequently called technological capablenesss & A ; they are defined as the cognition, skills & A ; attempts required for houses to convey about an autochthonal procedure of technological development.
ECA farther emphasizes that such capableness acquisition can non be taken for granted & A ; frequently requires purposeful & A ; cumulative attempts aimed at absorbing & A ; modifying bing engineerings, accommodating them to local conditions. This is particularly the instance in Ghana since major inventions are still concentrated in technologically advanced states.
Figure 3: Model to back up SME Competitiveness
Beginning: ECA 2001 Page 12
On the other H & A ; , selling capablenesss are required to do the merchandise available & A ; attractive to the purchaser. They include activities concerned with set uping a selling channel from the mill to the purchaser ( direct gross revenues or mediators ) , organizing the logistics ( related to mode & amp ; velocity of conveyance ) , publicity ( advertisement, Br & A ; ing ) & A ; after gross revenues service.
Further more, research has shown that capableness edifice & A ; fight besides depend on factors external to the house. As shown in Figure above, this external context is given foremost by the type of web or bunch to which the houses belong. It is now good recognised that the alone endeavor is doomed & A ; the quality of relationships with other manufacturers, providers & A ; clients is critical for larning & A ; viing ( ECA 2001 ) .
The model farther identifies constellating to ease the mobilization of fiscal & A ; human resources. In drumhead, bunchs & A ; webs constitute the immediate external context in which SMEs operate. The benefits of constellating are widely acknowledged: the spacial & A ; sectoral concentration of houses generates outwardnesss, favours inter-firm cooperation & A ; constitutes a niche for effectual policy support. This fact is reaffirmed by UNCTAD 2005, that observes that the competitory force per unit area of globalisation brings about the demand for SMEs to come together in order to last & amp ; turn. The formation of trade associations & A ; industrial groups/clusters are consequently being promoted. A applaudable illustration of such constellating for fight is observed in the Ghana metalwork bunch in Suame that has generated positive outwardnesss for SMEs, viz. entree to markets, labour market pooling & A ; important technological spill-overs.
OECD 2010 for illustration farther suggests that SMEs get new cognition & A ; accomplishments that will enable them to obtain the thoughts they require for invention & A ; the markets to work them. A major message is that little houses do non introduce by themselves but in coaction with providers, clients, rivals, universities, research administrations & A ; others. These webs will so assist them get the better of some of the obstructions to invention linked to their little size. Acerate leaf to state nevertheless, the quality of their local entrepreneurship environments, strength of local engineering spouses, & A ; the quality of local science-industry linkages is critical to SME fight. In general, little houses ought to strongly take part in the flow of cognition within invention systems, non merely as cognition users but besides as cognition beginnings ( OECD 2010 ) .
The 2nd set of external factors concerns institutional support. It includes the regulative & amp ; policy environment provided by the province & A ; the scope of support services provided by public bureaus & A ; /or private administrations. Equally far as institutional support is concerned, SMEs can profit from authorities function in making an enabling regulative & amp ; policy environment or through direct proviso of fiscal aid & A ; proficient services to SMEs. Various public bureaus to this respect have been put in topographic point to back up the publicity & A ; development of SMEs in Ghana.
The Economic Recovery Programme instituted in 1983 has for illustration broadened the institutional support for SMEs. On the other H & A ; , the National Board for Small Scale Industries ( NBSSI ) has likewise been established to turn to the demands of little concerns & A ; has since so established an Entrepreneurial Development Programme, intended to develop & amp ; assist individuals with entrepreneurial abilities into self employment. In 1987, the industrial sector besides witnessed the coming into operation of the Ghana Appropriate Technology Industrial Service ( GRATIS ) . For SMEs seeking to beef up their competitory capablenesss, a simple visit to these establishments, would be a worthwhile start.
Completing the account for figure 3, we note that determiners of SME fight besides include direct intercession, which is normally subdivided into fiscal aid & A ; non-financial services. The job nevertheless does non look to be a deficiency of financess but instead how to do them accessible to SMEs. This therefore necessitates bettering the information flow between SMEs & A ; fiscal service suppliers.
In footings of non fiscal services, the ECA farther notes that many development bureaus seek to hike the technological capablenesss & A ; fight of SMEs through non-financial services. Broadly talking, they cover two countries ; services concerned with bettering production & A ; invention capablenesss, such as reding on production lay-outs, quality st & A ; adult respiratory distress syndromes & A ; care ; supplying information for engineering development, establishing co-operative joint operation of large-scale & A ; expensive equipment ; testing of natural stuffs ; & amp ; preparation of enterprisers & A ; workers.
Other services are concerned with developing commercial/marketing activities in houses, such as marketing preparation, information assemblage, concern linkages & A ; concerted & A ; gross revenues enterprises. Several chances that SMEs in Ghana could take advantage of in this respect include for illustration the one halt information resource Centre, established by MSME Program to some of the information demands of little houses ( PACF 2010 ) .
In a brief drumhead, a figure of deductions for SMEs in support by the Government of Ghana that could be undertaken to back up SME fight are detailed below: A first recommendation for authoritiess is to prosecute more consistently in the rating of SME plans that have so far been implemented. Extra stairss include the proviso of preparation at local degrees at sensible times for small-firm directors make greater usage of electronic bringing of preparation through the Internet & A ; surrogate entrepreneurship through the general educational system. Government could besides beef up VET programmes for concern laminitiss, SME directors & A ; work forces by altering the nature of vocational instruction & A ; preparation to better suit the demands & A ; motives of enterprisers, offering short continuance Innovation Boot cantonments for SME owner-managers such as weekend seminars & A ; short online classs ( OECD 2002 ) .
Further deductions include an addition the usage of informal acquisition beginnings, by easing coactions with houses & A ; advisers supplying knowledge-intensive service activities ( KISA ) , such as utilizing ‘innovation verifiers ‘ for SMEs. This can be coupled with beef uping knowledge-based entrepreneurship by supplying advice & A ; developing to start-up enterprisers who have strong technological cognition but deficiency market & A ; commercial expertness. SMEs will farther hold to advance partnership activities that that involve big & A ; little houses, universities & A ; research institutes, & A ; authoritiess & A ; their development bureaus. These partnerships could so be used to supply soft endeavor support substructure such as scientific discipline Parkss & A ; concern brooders, collaborative research chances & A ; services for cognition transportation.
Chapter Four: Conclusions & A ; Recommendations
In decision we note that SMEs can play a much bigger function in developing national economic systems, relieving poorness, take parting in the planetary economic system & A ; partnering with larger corporations. They do, nevertheless, need to be promoted. Such support requires committednesss by & A ; between authoritiess, concern & A ; civil society.
The best manner frontward in advancing SME competency development is to alter prevalent perceptions/culture, including the desirableness of skills-intensive production & A ; workplace development schemes. The following measure would be to organize effectual sectoral /regional outreach mechanisms for straight covering with little concern owner-managers, supplying them with information & A ; support.
There is besides farther necessitate to guarantee there is flexible proviso of preparation which individualises developing information, content & A ; bringing to the demands of each little concern. In this respect, there is demand for the integrating of formal preparation & A ; larning with informal larning procedures in the workplace, suiting developing around work dem & A ; s & A ; minimising clip spent off-site. Further suggestion include coaction between little concerns through pooling resources & A ; networking & A ; , more loosely, to supply chances for little concerns to portion accomplishments, cognition & A ; experience with other concern people & A ; to develop developing partnerships between larger houses & A ; little concerns
To sum it up all, the development of competences within little houses in can non be disregarded & A ; investings in this field must be systematic & A ; consistent over long periods. For house wishing to beef up their fight, indefatigable attempt will hold to be put into the acquisition of new accomplishments, information & A ; extra capablenesss suited to their gifts & A ; moreover upgrade them over clip.
