Internet Use Patterns amongst Internationalizing Ghanaian Exporters

Abstract

Export firms are critical to the success of developing economies like Ghana. The Internet presents export firms with organizational improvement options and ways by which their value chain activities can be enhanced. The current study focused on the Internet use patterns amongst internationalizing Ghanaian non-traditional exporters (NTEs). Out of 150 questionnaires administered, 106 responses were obtained. We employed descriptive statistics in the presentation of results. The general pattern of Internet usage for information search varied among NTEs according to degree of internationalization. The most internationalized NTEs demonstrated a higher usage rate of the Internet for information search purposes, with about a third using the Internet for Public Relations (PR) activities, compared to less than one-fifth of the least internationalized group using the Internet for PR activities. Use of the Internet as a payment medium (getting paid for exports or paying for raw material inputs they need for operations) was significantly low among all NTEs in this study.

Same or Not the Same? Comparison Between Employees Prone to Overplacement, Overestimation, and Overprecision in Information Security

“…Apart from the business model perspective, Servais, Madsen, and Rasmussen (2006) showed that the internet facilitates product development and relationship building processes. Fourth, we found scholars providing in-depth studies on the influence of digital technology in foreign transaction processes of early internationalizing firms (e.g., Gabrielsson & Gabrielsson, 2011;Hinson, Sorenson & Buatsi, 2007;Andersen 2005;Gabrielsson & Kirpalani, 2004). These studies have contributed to our understanding of how digital technology has changed the conventional way of managing foreign transactions.…”

“…Before the era of digitalization, export and related foreign transactions were managed using intermediaries and agents. However, research indicates that international firms have adopted the internet as delivery and payment media, for example, receiving revenues and cash flow, getting paid for exports, or paying for raw materials used in production (e.g., Gabrielsson et al, 2004;Hinson et al, 2007). Similarly, concerning communication, studies provide evidence of the role of digitalization that encompasses how digitalization enables INVs to communicate cheaply with stakeholders and to meet the explicit and implied needs of global customers (e.g., Tanev, 2012).…”

Institutional actors, policy and internationalisation of emerging market SMEs: lessons from AGOA and the Ghanaian Textile Industry

“…In general, there has been a growing interest among academics in SME internationalisation research (see, e.g., Dana, 2017;Casado-Belmonte et al, 2020;Chetty and Holm, 2000;Paul et al, 2017;Steinhäuser et al, 2020). Similarly, research on emerging African market SMEs has increased on a broad range of topics (Dana, 2007;Amarteifio and Frimpong, 2019;Quaye and Mensah, 2019), however, studies of SME internationalisation are still rather limited (see, e.g., Hinson and Abor, 2005;Hinson et al, 2007;Ibeh et al, 2012;Kujala and Törnroos, 2018;Misati et al, 2017;Osei-Bonsu, 2014;Sibiya and Kele, 2019).…”