Determinants of Performance in the Wood Industry in Ghana: An Overview

Abstract

The potential that the wood industry presents for diversifying national economies through improved foreign exchange earnings, increased employment opportunities, and local economic development cannot be underestimated. At the global level, this potential of the wood industry has been deemed to be dependent on factors such as market orientation, firm size, management attitudes, and firm, industry, product and market characteristics. Thus, it is possible for countries and economies at different stages of development, different levels of industrialization and with differing levels of wood or forestry resource endowment to demonstrate or respond differently to the industry’s potential benefits also at the local or domestic level. The wood industry in Ghana contributes significantly in all three areas mentioned above. It also contributes about 4% of the national tax revenue in Ghana. It is clear therefore that the performance of the wood industry depends on the above-mentioned factors. This study aims to determine which factors are the most important for evaluating the performance in Ghana’s wood industry, especially in a global market space where being internationally competitive is essential. The study reviews empirical research that have applied factors that have generally been accepted by researchers to be the determinants of performance in the wood industry as a way to assess the usefulness of such factors in evaluating and making appropriate recommendations for improving performance in the wood industry in Ghana.