Historically, research by African scholars has been significantly underrepresented in international academic publications. Helping to change that situation has been among CARISCA’s top goals since its inception.
In the three years before CARISCA’s creation in June 2020, KNUST supply chain faculty had published only 13 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Since that time, they have published nearly 100, including a record 30 in the 12 months between October 2023 and September 2024.
Below are brief overviews of a few articles that CARISCA team members and scholarship recipients have published in highly regarded journals in the past six months. Visit the publications and resources page on the center website to read the full journal articles and other CARISCA research output.
Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics
Antecedents of sustainable agricultural supply chain financing for achieving food security in resource-constrained developing economies: A complex adaptive systems theory perspective
Financing the agricultural supply chain has been a lingering issue in Ghana since independence in 1957. So CARISCA senior technical advisor Abdul Muntaka and his research team set out to identify solutions. They did so by exploring the antecedents of sustainable financing of the agricultural supply chain.
What they found shattered the notion that it should be up to financiers and creditors to determine appropriate loan terms. Instead, financing packages should be flexible and tailored to the unique needs of the debtors, their research showed.
“Our study suggests that financiers—including banks, credit unions and individuals—should develop tailor-made financing packages for agribusinesses,” explains Isaac Akurugu Apike, a co-author and 2024 KNUST PhD graduate. “These packages should be accessible to clients and offer flexible repayment options, such as payment in products rather than cash, to accommodate the unique circumstances of farmers.”
Adds co-author David Antwi, another 2024 KNUST PhD graduate: “Our research clarifies that farmers do not intentionally default on loans for their farming operations. The challenge lies in the appropriateness and accessibility of funding rather than in farmers’ unwillingness to repay.”
Muntaka says he hopes the study will help bring an end to Ghana’s “merry-go-round search” for a suitable and sustainable financing scheme for the agricultural supply chain. He says the journal editors acknowledged that the paper tackles an important subject and provides useful insights into agricultural supply chain financing in developing economies.
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research
Firm resilience, stressors, and entrepreneurial well-being: insights from women entrepreneurs in Ghana
Business resilience is crucial for entrepreneurs, their family and communities. But is greater business resilience always beneficial for the owners? The authors of this study wanted to find out. What they learned is, it depends.
According to the research findings, greater business resilience is helpful for women entrepreneurs with more people depending on them. For women entrepreneurs with less dependent burden, it is only helpful if their business encounters a high level of disruptions.
“Local governments and corporate bodies should prioritize training initiatives that equip women with resources to manage crises and improve their economic independence,” suggests lead author Dominic Essuman. “More importantly, they should align these initiatives with the specific disruptions and dependency burdens that women entrepreneurs face.”
Essuman, a CARISCA research faculty member, says the journal editors praised the paper for its originality and nuanced insights. He hopes his research inspires more studies to explore the consequences of building resilient businesses among entrepreneurs.
“Our study captured two core dimensions of entrepreneurial well-being,” says Essuman. “Future studies might consider other dimensions to offer a more comprehensive insight into the relationships between firm resilience and entrepreneurial well-being.”
International Journal of Production Economics
Clarifying supply chain disruption and operational resilience relationship from a threat-rigidity perspective: Evidence from small and medium-sized enterprises
Supply chain disruptions can wreak havoc on any business. But small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in low-resource settings like sub-Saharan Africa are especially vulnerable.
This study found that top managers are more likely to view disruptions as threats when they are exposed to them more frequently. This mindset reduces firms’ ability to build operational resilience. However, firms with systems in place to learn from and gain insights into disruptions are better positioned to overcome this challenge.
“When a disruption occurs, SME owners/managers, in their attempt to respond swiftly, tend to limit their information search,” says lead author Felix Dankyira. “We show that supply chain disruptions, while undesirable, can be a major source of opportunity as opposed to a threat.”
Dankyira, who completed a master of philosophy in logistics and supply chain management at KNUST in 2023 with the support of a CARISCA scholarship, based the paper on his master’s thesis. Recently, he was selected from among 175 applicants to pursue a PhD at LUT University in Finland, starting in January.
“My publication in the International Journal of Production Economics played a crucial role in my acceptance,” says Dankyira. “The interviewers were very impressed with how I have been able to publish an article in a three-star journal despite completing only an MPhil.”
One of his co-authors is CARISCA Director Nathaniel Boso, an internationally recognized scholar, who supervised Dankyira’s thesis. Boso says Dankyira’s success in getting published in a leading journal should motivate other African students.
“Students writing their master’s and doctoral theses should always aim for the best scholarly outlets for their works,” says Boso. “There is always room in leading journals for the publication of high-quality research from Africa. There is so much the world can learn from Africa’s supply chains.”