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Enterprise, Strategy.

This case study is about a used car retailer in an African country, specifically Ghana. Lessons drawn from the case could be applied in societies which are highly socialised; not individualistic.

Ghana is one of the first African countries to be hooked up to the internet. However, there has been a very slow uptake of “traditional” e-commerce applications due to a number of critical factors including a legal framework, and electronic payment system. Despite these challenges, some firms are making strides to use the power of the internet to enhance their operations. For example, the case firm uses social relationships to sell its first stock of cars and to re-design its website. Other findings and lessons from this case could be applied to similar contexts.

An understanding of how society influences business operations, especially in an African or Ghanaian context. Learners can also draw lessons that could be applicable to enhancing and growing the e-commerce capabilities of offline firms.

Teaching notes.

Given the significant contributions of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across several economies, calls for investigations into their branding strategies are burgeoning. However, the literature is unclear, scattered and relatively scanty. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the existing literature on branding with a focus on SMEs.

The study uses a systematic review by identifying and evaluating peer-reviewed journal publications focusing on branding within the context of SMEs. The systematic design is based on papers published within the period of 2004-2014.

The review shows that significant progress is being made in the area under discussion. With several gaps in issues and empirical evidence, as well as in theoretical and methodological approaches, the paper signals promising lines of inquiry for both empirical and theoretical research.

By highlighting the research issues, as well as providing some pertinent research questions across various themes, the paper aims at directing future research efforts to critical areas which require immediate attention. The implications of the review are discussed in the paper.

The study identifies and describes the state of research issues and evidence in branding literature within the context of SMEs over a 10-year period, prompting insightful avenues to the academic and practitioner communities.

This study aims to explore the business models and strategies of digital enterprises in a developing economy context to understand the nature of their operations, as well as their survival tactics.

A review of literature on digital enterprise models led to the adaptation of a 16 business model archetype for analyzing digital enterprises in Ghana. Using a critical realism perspective, survey data from a sample of 91 digital enterprises were used for the study.

The findings suggest that among human, physical and intangible assets, financial assets were the least used assets in the operations of the digital enterprises. This stems from the fact that the online financial business sector is still in its nascent stages in most developing economies. The findings further suggest that all digital enterprises leverage on accessible and low-cost social networking services as part of their operations and use them as an avenue to engage with their target customers.

The findings from this study provide guidelines to entrepreneurs who wish to venture into the digital ecosystem of Ghana, particularly with regard to the economic, financial and technological factors that enable digital enterprises to survive in the competitive digital economy.

The findings suggest that it is important for governments to realize that there is an increasing rise in digital enterprises in the developing economies and these enterprises are creating jobs and providing business solutions locally that would hitherto be sought from developed economies. There is therefore the need for the requisite legal infrastructure and financial support that will cushion these enterprises from the fierce competitions that stagnate their growth.

The study provides a mapping of the digital business models of Ghanaian digital enterprises. This knowledge is arguably the first of its kind in the context of a developing economy. Hence, it serves as a stepping-stone for future studies to explore other areas in the digital economy, especially from a developing economy perspective.

Focused on peer-to-peer accommodation sharing, this paper aims to investigate the effect of perceived value on the two dimensions of satisfaction (transaction- and experience-based) and continuance intention involved in using a platform featuring triadic relationships.

Survey data were collected from 392 Airbnb users and analysed using the partial least squares approach to structural equation modelling.

All dimensions of perceived value had a significant effect on transaction-based satisfaction. Symbolic value did not have a significant effect on satisfaction. Transaction- and experience-based satisfaction had a significant effect on continuance intention.

The findings highlight the differential effects of dimensions of perceived value for understanding customer satisfaction and continuance intention in the peer-to-peer accommodation context. The study focused on only one sector of the sharing economy, namely, the peer-to-peer accommodation sector.

The study offers fresh insights on the nexus between value perceptions and continuance intention in the context of peer-to-peer accommodation.

本文以点对点住宿共享为重点, 研究了感知价值对使用具有三元关系的平台所涉及的满意度（交易和体验）和持续使用意图两个维度的影响。

从 392 名 Airbnb 用户处收集调查数据, 并使用结构方程建模的偏最小二乘法 (PLS-SEM) 进行分析。

感知价值的所有维度对基于交易的满意度都有显着影响。象征价值对满意度没有显着影响。基于交易和体验的满意度对持续意向有显着影响。

研究结果强调了感知价值维度对理解点对点住宿环境中的客户满意度和持续意图的不同影响。该研究仅关注共享经济的一个部门, 即点对点住宿部门。

该研究对点对点住宿环境下的价值感知和持续意图之间的关系提供了新的见解。

Enterprise, Strategy

This case study documents the history of e-commerce adoption and usage in a fabric and garment manufacturing firm operating in an African country. Lessons drawn from the case could be applied to understanding the achievement of e-commerce benefits through the complex interrelationships between firm-level, national and global resources.

The case study presents a summary of e-commerce capabilities in the firm, the key resources developed and actions taken to deploy e-commerce capabilities and the notable benefits obtained through these e-commerce capabilities. The study shows that, first, the ability to access information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure matters in developing countries, but managerial capabilities matter more. Managerial capabilities enable firms to find external resources (both in-country and globally) to substitute for internal resource deficiencies. Second, intangible social resources – trust, reputation and credibility – play a critical role in determining whether the e-commerce strategies of firms are successful or not.

An understanding of how managerial capabilities influence the creation of e-commerce capabilities and the achievement of e-commerce benefits, especially in an African or Ghanaian context. Learners can also draw lessons that could be applicable to understanding how a firm's strategic orientation, resource portfolio and the nature of its target market differentiate the extent of integration or adoption and usage of e-commerce in the firm.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Digital platforms increase their function and scope by leveraging boundary resources and complementary add-on products from third-party developers to interact with external entities and producers. Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are essential boundary resources developers use to connect applications, systems and platforms. This notwithstanding, previous API studies tend to focus more on the technical dimensions, with little on the social and cultural contexts underpinning API innovations. This study relies on the new (neo) institutional theory (focusing on regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive pillars) as an analytical lens to understand the institutional forces that affect API integration among digital firms.

The study adopts a qualitative case study methodology and relies on phone calls and a semi-structured in-depth interview approach of a Ghanaian digital music platform to uncover the institutional forces affecting API integration.

The findings reveal that regulative institutions such as excessive tax regimes mostly constrained API development and integration initiatives. However, other regulative institutions like the government digitalization agenda enabled API integration. Normative institutions, such as the growing use of e-payment options, enabled API integration in digital music platforms. Cultural-cognitive institutions like employee ego constrained the API integration process in music digital platforms.

This study primarily contributes to deepening understanding of the relevant literature by exploring the institutional forces that affect API integration among digital firms in a developing economy. The study also uncovered a new form of an institution known as motivational institution as an enabler for API development and integration in digital music platforms.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical evidence concerning the influence of Corporate governance and voluntary disclosures in annual reports: a post-International Financial Reporting Standards adoption evidence from an emerging capital market.

Data were collected from the annual reports of all 22 listed non-financial firms over a five-year period. Using content analysis, the audited annual reports of the firms were scored on the extent of overall and four specific types of voluntary disclosures made. The panel data obtained were analyzed using a generalized ordinary least squares regression model.

The findings of the study show that voluntary disclosures among the firms are low even after the adoption of IFRS. Corporate governance attributes of board size and board leadership structure are significant determinants of the extent of voluntary disclosures made by the firms. However, board independence and auditor type exhibit only a significant positive effect on voluntary financial and forward-looking information disclosures.

Firms’ voluntary information disclosure and governance variables were restricted to those in annual reports, which may partially reflect the reality of firms’ disclosure and governance practices.

The present study offers useful insights to regulators of the capital market to strengthen monitoring of firms to ensure strict adherence to corporate governance best practice guidelines as a means of improving information environment.

This study is one of the very few ones in Africa, especially in the context of Ghana Stock Exchange, to use post-IFRS data and examine a disaggregated voluntary disclosure by firms.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how higher education institutions (HEIs) in developing countries can migrate their physical administrative work environment to a virtual platform to improve information management.

The paper employs an interpretive case study approach and a combined lens of activity and agency theories to understand how a developing country HEI attempted to improve its information management by migrating from a physical to a virtual administrative work environment.

The findings show how contradictions caused by role conflicts, administrative staff’s fear of elimination and external consultants’ limited understanding of administrative rules and procedures can hamper work environment virtualisation. Such challenges should be resolved in order to achieve a successful virtual work environment that supports timely and accurate information management.

The study is limited by its single case perspective in one developing country. However, future studies can compare the experiences of HEIs from developed and developing countries in order to account for contextual differences.

The study provides practitioners with insight into how to address conflicts between employees (as potential users) and external consultants during virtual system development and implementation. In particular, role conflict, fear of eliminating some administrative staff and consultants’ limited understanding of administrative work procedures should be resolved for successful work environment virtualisation.

The study is the first attempt to offer rich insight into the challenges associated with administrative work environment virtualisation for improved information management in HEIs, through the principal-agent relationship.

This study aims to investigate the gratifications driving the attitude and continuance use of mobile payment services in developing country context, such as Ghana. Also, the moderating effect of income and education on gratifications and attitude of users is explored.

Data was collected from conveniently sampled 361 users of mobile payment services in Ghana. A questionnaire, which mainly contains five-point Likert scale questions, was used to collect the data. The study adopted the Uses and Gratification (U&G) theory, where income and education were used as moderating factors. The data was analysed with SmartPLS for Structural Equation Modelling.

Among the other factors from the U&G theory, integrative, ease of use and usefulness gratifications were found to significantly influence attitude towards the use of mobile payment services in Ghana. In addition to this finding, user attitude significantly influences the continuance use intention of mobile payment services. Furthermore, the study revealed various effects of the moderating factors. These findings suggest that promoting mobile payment technology inclusiveness by creating a favourable environment would enhance the use of mobile payment services in Ghana.

Given that this study was conducted in Ghana, a developing country, it is difficult to generalize the results to encompass the developed economies. In future, similar research should compare the developed and developing economies by considering culture as a moderating effect.

This study intends to provide information on the gratifications that drive the attitude and continuance use of mobile payment services in Ghana. The findings seek to augment mobile money service providers’ capabilities by providing them with an understanding of user gratification experience on mobile payment services. Additionally, the study will serve as a guide to policymakers in the government, telecommunication companies and mobile banking providers, to improve customer intimacy and gratification through their user behaviour.

Previous studies on user gratification have primarily focussed on the functional benefits derived from mobile payments and how they influence the service’s adoption. This study has contributed to literature by considering both the functional and non-functional benefits of mobile payment in developing country context. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to consider income and education as moderating variables to study the gratification levels of mobile payment users in Ghana and among few in Africa.

E‐commerce is diffusing into developing countries (DCs), and is assumed to help deliver the international development agenda. But how can the connection between e‐commerce and socio‐economic development be conceptualised? The aim of this paper is to analyse that connection by drawing from the development studies discipline to take a broader perspective on e‐commerce than that so far provided by firm‐level research.

The authors adopt a literature survey approach, drawing their conceptual foundations from development studies, and supplementing this from the e‐commerce literature.

The paper develops a new, integrated model that explains the way in which e‐commerce can contribute to socio‐economic development.

This new model can help provide a foundation for future research on e‐commerce in DCs; research on e‐commerce policy as well as impact assessment research.

The discussion and model provide development agencies, governments, consultants and business people working in DCs with a clearer sense of the contribution e‐commerce can make; assisting them in prioritization, planning, and evaluation of e‐commerce projects.

The paper provides the first integrated perspective on the broader contribution of e‐commerce to the growth and development of DCs.