The strategic role of the Food Research Institute in productivity enhancement and the private sector development in Ghana

Yawson, Robert M. (2006): The strategic role of the Food Research Institute in productivity enhancement and the private sector development in Ghana. Published in: The Business of Innovation. Proceedings of 18th Biennial Congress of WAITRO. Saskatoon, SK, Canada

Abstract

The Private Sector Development Project (PSDP) was a culmination of the renewed commitment of the Government of Ghana to accelerate the pace of development of Ghana’s private sector. The project was also a direct result of the Business Community’s own assessment of Lingering issues which impeded growth of the private sector. The key policy objective of the project was to adequately develop the private sector to become the effective engine of growth for the country. The Food Research Institute’s component of the PSDP was initiated with a clear objective of re-orienting the Food Research Institute (FRI) from a subvention-oriented institute to a partly self-financing organisation able to operate and survive in a commercial setting and to support the growth of the private sector. After a decade of implementation, what are the experiences? This paper looks at the management of the commercialisation process. The implementation process, the attitude of research scientists towards the change and the impact of the commercialisation process on the socio-economic development of Ghana are discussed. The constraint of commercialisation including inadequate uptake of research, which is a reflection of inappropriate monitoring and evaluation, is discussed. The paper seeks to review among others the background of the PSDP, the original tasks targeted at project initiation, and the successes and failures of the project. An attempt has been made to review a number of relevant conceptual and practical issues of private sector development in Ghana in an evolutionary perspective. Against this backdrop, the paper seeks to define, in a focused manner, the management framework of the Food Research Institute: From “Strategic Planning” to “Strategic Learning”.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Strategic learning; Performance management; Productivity; Private sector
• Subjects: Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q16 - R&D ; Agricultural Technology ; Biofuels ; Agricultural Extension Services; D - Microeconomics > D2 - Production and Organizations; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O4 - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity > O47 - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth ; Aggregate Productivity ; Cross-Country Output Convergence; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J24 - Human Capital ; Skills ; Occupational Choice ; Labor Productivity; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O4 - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity; D - Microeconomics > D2 - Production and Organizations > D24 - Production ; Cost ; Capital ; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity ; Capacity; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor

References

CEPA (1996) “Macro-economic Review and Outlook” Centre for Policy Analysis, Accra

CSIR-CCID Task Team (2001) Report on In-House Review of CSIR Commercialization Plans. CSIR, Accra

GOG (2003) National Medium Term Private Sector Development Strategy: “Developing effective markets for the golden age of business” Volume 1: Strategy http://www.giacghana.org

FRI (2003) The Strategic Plan of the Food Research Institute 2003 -2008. Accra, Ghana

ISSER (2000) Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research “The State of the Ghanaian Economy in 1999”, Legon, Accra

Lalkaka, R. (1999), Evaluating Science and Technology Programs, NCSTE-UNDP, Beijing.

MEST (2000), Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology “National S&T Policy” Accra.

Parliament (1996) CSIR Act 521, The Parliament of the Republic of Ghana, Accra.

PSDP (1994) Credit and Project Summary. World Bank Ghana Office, Accra

PSDP (1996) Implementation Report, Private Sector Development Project, World Bank/MFEP, Accra

PSDP (2000) Implementation Completion Report, Private Sector Development Project, World Bank / MFEP/CSIR, Accra.

Smith D. R., with Sutherland A. (2002) “Institutionalising Impact Orientation – Building a Performance Management Approach that Enhances the Impact Orientation of Research Organizations” Chatham UK, NRI ITDG Publishing,

UNDP (2001) United Nations Development Program “Ghana – Country Profile”, Accra

UNIDO (2003) Developing Industry: Productivity Enhancement for Social Advance - UNIDO’s Corporate Strategy

Yawson R. M., Amoa-Awua, W. K., Sutherland A. J., Smith D. R. and Noamesi S. K. (2006)Developing a Performance Measurement Framework to Enhance the Impact Orientation of the Food Research Institute, Ghana. R&D Management 36,2, 161 – 172