Business and government interdependence in emerging economies: Insights from hotels in Ghana

Abstract

Although social science research is replete with scholarly works on capacity building, relatively few studies have focused on how government can induce capacity building among privately owned enterprises in emerging economies. We seek to fill the lacuna in our understanding by examining how a government can induce capacity building among privately owned enterprises.The study adopted a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews with hotel owners, employees, and managers, as well as government officials in Ghana to examine the issue. We identified three unique stages through which such capacity-building initiatives unfold encompassing diagnosing, renewal, and customer centricity. The study revealed that capacity building through collaborative partnership was partly motivated by desire to overcome societal resistance to services seen as "tainted." The concluding section outlines a number of theoretical and practical implications. KEYWORDSAfrica, capacity building, Ghana, government, hotels | INTRODUCTIONOver the past four decades, accelerated globalization has been accompanied by the increasing contribution of services to the global economy (Jayaraman & Luo, 2006;Vargo & Lusch, 2004). In parallel, many governments have formulated and implemented industrial policies geared towards opening up their economies to capture the benefits of globalization. In many developing countries, capacity building is one such policy (Farazmand, 2009;Tjosvold, Peng, Chen, & Su, 2008). In general, such policy is consistent with findings from prior studies that have highlighted the view that governments can play a role in firm-level capacity building (Cammett, 2007;Cull, Navajas, Nishida, & Zeiler, 2015;Farazmand, 2009;Ha & Kang, 2015;Shao, Hernández, & Liu, 2015;Tjosvold et al., 2008). In many instances, governments in collaboration with companies, industries, customers, and suppliers have engaged in capacity-building initiatives to create a sustainable business model (see also Suntikul & Dorji, 2015).Yet a closer look at the existing literature suggests that, despite some research on business and government interdependence and collaboration (Tian, Shi, Hafsi, & Tian, 2017;Tjosvold et al., 2008;Wong, Wei, & Tjosvold, 2015) and capacity development (e.g., Farazmand, 2009;Stephens et al., 2017;Victurine, 2000), our understanding of capacity building through collaborative partnership between government and business remains severely limited (see Shao et al., 2015). By capacity building through collaborative partnerships, we are referring to a situation where multiple stakeholders are mobilized and resources marshalled towards building firms' capabilities and fulfilling their role within the national economy.Against this backdrop, the main purpose of this study is to examine how a government can induce capacity building among privately owned enterprises in an emerging economy. We focus on Ghana and the hotel industry for a number of reasons. Since the late 1950s, when Ghana gained independence, it has been touted as a "Bea...

Investigating intellectual capital, corporate environmental sustainability strategy, and management commitment: Evidence from Ghanaian hotels

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“…Hotels are major sector within the hospitality industry in Ghana. The hotel sector makes significant contributions to the socioeconomic development of the country, as they offer employment, stimulate the economy, and contribute to the gross domestic products (Amankwah‐Amoah et al, 2018). Recently, the hotel sector has been dragged into the global and national debate on environmental sustainability issues.…”

“…However, addressing these environmental sustainability issues requires managers who are not only capable and competent but committed to investing in green solutions within this sector. Studies have revealed that some hotels have environmental action plans (Mensah & Blankson, 2014); some managers especially those of the three‐to‐five‐star categories are making the necessary effort to resolve some of environmental sustainability problems (Mensah & Blankson, 2014); and hotels employ capable people with improved capacities and abilities to deliver quality services (Amankwah‐Amoah et al, 2018). Thus, the current study finds it necessary to examine the possible connections between IC, CESS, and MC in the hotels in Ghana.…”

Responsible Firm Behaviour in Political Markets: Judging the Ethicality of Corporate Political Activity in Weak Institutional Environments

“…The choice of Ghana as a suitable research context for exploring CPA ethicality is based on various reasons. First, Ghana is recognized as a beacon of democracy, hope, peace and stability in the Africa region and is popularly dubbed the "gateway to West Africa" (Debrah 2002;Amankwah-Amoah et al 2018). Hence, the sanity of her CPA is critical to the wider development of ethical business-government relations in the sub-region.…”

“…Hence, the sanity of her CPA is critical to the wider development of ethical business-government relations in the sub-region. Second, business-government relations positively affect Ghana's socio-economic development through their impact on public-private partnerships, policy formulation and capacity building (Amankwah-Amoah et al 2018). However, Ghana suffers institutional weaknesses (Acquaah 2007;, which gives rise to systemic corruption (van den Bersselaar and Decker 2011;Liedong and Frynas 2017) and poor corporate governance practices within politically active firms (Liedong and Rajwani 2018).…”