This thesis is dedicated to my beloved mother, Abena Konadu, and my wife, Charity Adomah Gyimah and my children Raymond Adjei Gyimah, Yaw Asante Gyimah, Sarah Adobea Gyimah, and Kwabena Konadu Gyimah, and all my siblings. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to the Almighty God for His mercies, guidance, strength, and favour throughout this journey and for ensuring its success. I doff my hat off for Prof Paul-Francois Muzindutsi of the School of Accounting, Economics, and Finance (SAEF), University of Kwazulu-Natal (UKZN), the lead supervisor for this project. Great appreciation also goes to Prof. Joseph Olorunfemi Akande, the co-supervisor whose swift response to my submission helped complete this project. Your patience, cooperation, support, constructive suggestions, and critique enormously helped improve the content of this thesis.My appreciation also goes to Prof. Kwame Boasiako Omane-Antwi, whose support and encouragement pushed me to undertake this project. Finally, I cannot end without acknowledging the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) staff who assisted in collecting data.