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The aim of the paper is to elaborate a framework of project business as a distinct mode of internationalization. The uniqueness and complexity of project business as a core mode are portrayed by comparing it with other internationalization modes. It is agreed that a single project sale is a discrete form of direct involvement in a foreign market. However, this provides opportunities for network interactions that can facilitate further project business openings in a foreign market and on a global level.

Using the abductive method, the paper constructs a comparative framework of project business and other forms of internationalization. It illustrates the discussion with a longitudinal case study of a company that uses project business as its strategic choice for its internationalization.

The paper finds that, using project business as its core internationalization mode, the company has expanded its global business as well as entering and succeeding in foreign business networks. It proposes that the network and relationship‐based project business approach is viable as a strategic alternative for internationalization on its own or in combination with other modes.

The study provides a framework for positioning project business as a separate internationalization mode. It provides a comparative framework for internationalization modes.

This study provides managers with an understanding of project business as a distinct and profitable mode of internationalization. It illuminates the network and relationship‐building aspects of project business.

According to the research, this is the first study that proposes project business as a distinct mode of internationalization. Much previous research has either not mentioned project business or subsumed it as an unimportant part of exports. The framework developed in this study should spur new research on the issue.

The purpose of this paper is to identify user-generated content (UGC) features that determine web purchase decision making.

The authors embed a spike-and-slab Bayesian variable selection mechanism into a logistic regression model to identify the UGC features that are critical to web purchase intent. This enables us to make a highly reliable analysis of survey data.

The results indicate that the web purchase decision is driven by the relevance, up-to-dateness and credibility of the UGC information content.

The results show that the characteristics of UGC are seen as positive and the medium enables consumers to sort information and concentrate on aspects of the message that are similar to traditional word-of-mouth (WOM). One important implication is the relative importance of credibility which has been previously hypothesized to be lower in the electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) context. The results show that consumers consider credibility important as the improved technology provides more possibilities to find out about that factor. A limitation is that the data are not fully representative of the general population but our Bayesian method gives us high analytical quality.

The study shows that UGC impacts consumer online purchase intentions. Marketers should understand the wide range of media that provide UGC and they should concentrate on the relevance, up-to-dateness and credibility of product information that they provide.

The analytical quality of the spike- and- slab Bayesian method suggests a new way of understanding the impact of aspects of UGC on consumers.

The changing health care market is affecting consumers who are now expected to take greater responsibility for their health. Their means for doing this include purchasing self‐medication and medical self‐service, which coincides neatly with an increase in the number of over‐the‐counter (OTC) pharmaceuticals. Additionally, OTC pharmaceuticals are progressively becoming available in a wider range of stores, where the pharmacists' knowledge of the OTC products is absent. This study aims to examine packaging as media that conveys the product message at the point of purchase, and to explore the impact of its extrinsic verbal and visual product cues.

An exploratory conjoint analysis was conducted in Finland, the USA, and Ghana. In total, 89 respondents conducted conjoint tasks for two product types, i.e. a painkiller and sore throat medicine.

The results showed differences and similarities in the impact of the packaging product cues across Finland, the USA, and Ghana. Differences and similarities were also detected across the two different, but related, product types. The study found that the impact of product cues is contextual, varying across the samples and product types.

The results are limited by the exploratory nature of the conjoint analysis. They highlight that medical marketers should recognize the varying impact of salient cues on consumers' product preferences and choices.

The study deals with a mostly unexplored issue and provides exploratory insights into the phenomenon.

While mortgage markets have gradually emerged in many African countries, substantial barriers still hinder their growth and expansion. Affordability has been widely cited as a prominent issue that doggedly remains at the core of urban housing problems. Hence, this paper aims to investigate the determinants of mortgage price affordability.

Data were gathered using semi-structured questionnaires obtained from a sample drawn from three major West African mortgage financing institutions. Respondents rated the variables using a five-point Likert item rating. The survey results were analysed using exploratory factor analysis.

In total, 11 variables that influence mortgage affordability were categorised within five principal components, namely, economic factors, financial factors, property characteristics, developmental factors and geographical factors.

The results provide insightful guidance to policymakers and practitioners on how to mitigate affordability issues within Ghana’s fledgling mortgage market. Failure to address the mortgage price affordability conundrum will place enormous pressure upon social housing and rental accommodation.

The research findings expand existing frontiers of knowledge by investigating and reporting upon the determinants of mortgage price affordability. The work also engenders wider debate on the need to establish mortgage packages targeted at low-to-middle-income earners. The culmination of analysis and debate will provide a robust basis for developing a future housing policy framework.

When entering foreign markets, multinationals can acquire part of a foreign firm and can increase or decrease their equity stake over time. However, extant studies have mainly focused on equity stake acquired during initial market entry. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

This study fills this gap by using the Uppsala model to analyze six cases of international acquisitions of Finnish multinationals in global markets.

The authors found that firms change their equity stake in partially acquired foreign subsidiaries: when they have learned about the host country and businesses of the partially acquired firms, when they have gained target-specific experience, when they build trust and ensure relationship commitment and finally, when they jointly develop and exploit opportunities.

This study is one of the first to apply the Uppsala model to empirically analyze international acquisitions, thus paving the way for behavioral and process-oriented approaches. The study contributes to knowledge of post-entry strategies of multinationals.

The study of house prices has become more relevant in recent times after the global financial crisis. Using a housing data set from three regions of Ghana (collated from real estate agents), the purpose of this paper is to estimate the relative importance of housing attributes to house prices.

The hedonic regression analysis conducted indicates that location is the most powerful determinant of house prices. Other relevant factors are the number of bedrooms, the number of floors, the total floor area, land size, age of the house and luxury finishing.

The implications of these results are many. Policy wise, the study provides an evidence-based empirical study that supports the need for better urban planning to improve communities, which in turn is associated with house price appreciations. Homeowners, investors and creditors, particularly mortgage lenders could be the immediate beneficiaries. Drawing on this, improved urban planning could mitigate strategic defaults that results from house prices falling below mortgage loan balances. This is important for financial market stability.

The paper provides a comprehensive and unique understanding of the hedonic determinants of house prices in Ghana. Future studies could examine the effect of location upon mortgage lending in Ghana.

The paper aims to identify and analyze the actors and their interrelationships in realizing local content objectives in African oil- and gas-producing nations.

The paper includes content analysis of relevant research papers and reports within the oil and gas industry, local content and industrial networks published between 2000 and 2014.

The study developed a framework that integrates the literature on local content with the industrial network theory. The framework classifies the various critical actors for achieving local content, proposing that achieving local content requires the development of business network links and a resource alignment among local companies and institutions and foreign companies and institutions, in addition to multinational oil companies.

The framework of this study contributes to an emerging theory on local content by integrating the industrial network theory, which provides specific frameworks for analyzing embedded business environments, along with the previous economic and legal-based studies of local content achievement.

The way the relevant actors organize their resources and business networks provides potential for local content in an emerging oil and gas industry in Africa.

The paper is one of the few to integrate studies of local content with the industrial network theory. The literature review provides a summary window of the research on the subject over a 14-year period.

The purpose of this paper was to analyse the demographic, crop choice, institutional and environmental factors that will influence the vegetable growers in Bono and Ahafo regions of Ghana to produce organic vegetables. The study also assessed the knowledge level of vegetable growers on organic certification processes.

Primary data were collected with the help of a structured questionnaire from 120 vegetable growers via a multistage sampling technique. The Heckman selection model was used to analyse the factors that influence farmers' willingness to adopt organic production as well as the intensity of adoption.

In this study, pepper (Capsicum spp) production, residential status, knowledge of organic certification processes, perceived negative environmental effect of conventional farming on the soil, and climate change positively influenced willingness to produce organic vegetables. Likewise, pepper production perceived negative environmental effect of conventional farming on the soil positively influenced the intensity of adoption. Household headship status, garden egg (Solanum integrifolium) production, perceived knowledge on grading and standards of vegetables, as well as the perception that only pesticides can be used to control vegetable pests negatively influenced the willingness to produce organic vegetables however perceived expertise of the farmer on grades and standards influenced intensity of adoption negatively.

In Ghana, even though most vegetable farmers do not have the requisite knowledge in the safe handling of pesticides, usage is widespread. Subsequent to this, is a health risk to farmers, consumers and the environment. As a result, there is a growing awareness that organic agriculture has a role to play in addressing problems associated with agrochemical use and over usage. However, most studies are consumer oriented with limited empirical research on the willingness to produce organics by farmers.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-12-2019-0723

This study examines the possible nonlinear effect of size on stakeholder and shareholder profitability in the Ghanaian insurance brokerage industry.

This study employs a panel dataset of 64 Ghanaian insurance brokerage firms spanning 2011–2015. Static [ordinary least squares (OLS), fixed effect and random effect and dynamic (two-step generalized method of moments (GMM))] estimation techniques are employed to analyze the data.

The study finds the existence of both economies and diseconomies of scale and scope theories in the Ghanaian insurance brokerage industry confirming the existence of nonlinear nexus between size and performance. This finding is consistent for both stakeholder and shareholder profit performance. Thus, the results show that size improves profitability of insurance brokerage firms, but beyond a certain threshold, the relationship turns negative as size negatively affects profitability.

The research findings have implications for both policy and research; the study recommends that Ghanaian brokerage managers should understand that not all growth is good and exercise a duty of care when applying growth strategies by monitoring size effect on performance so as not to go beyond the inflection point. Further research can be done to examine this effect in other contexts, timeframes and jurisdictions.

This research is unique in that it employs a panel dataset consisting of 96% of insurance brokerage firms in Ghana whilst employing both static and nonstatic regression models to examine the effect of size. The research analysis adopted is robust, and the findings are significant. Also, the lack of empirical studies on the operations and dealings of auxiliary institutions such as the insurance brokerage firms adds value to this research.