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The paper examines the influence of procurement capabilities (skills) and procurement planning on project success in Ghana. The paper further examines the mediating role of procurement planning.

Drawing insights from human capital theory, a model of four hypotheses was developed and validated. The proposed model was validated using survey data from 200 procurement and construction professionals at construction firms in Ghana. The data gathered was analysed using structural equation modelling. Confirmatory factor analysis using Amos software was conducted to establish reliability and validity of the constructs. Hayes process was employed to test the structural model.

Our study revealed that procurement capabilities and procurement planning directly improve project success in the construction sector in Ghana. We found procurement planning acts as a pathway for achieving greater success in construction projects.

This study is among the very few attempts to demonstrate how project success could be enhanced through developing procurement capabilities for effective procurement planning. Theoretically, this study is among the first attempts to theorise the effect of procurement capabilities and planning on project success from the human capital perspective. Our findings also offer practical insight to practitioners in the construction setting by emphasising the need to pay crucial attention to capabilities and planning in the quest to enhance project success in the construction setting. The findings indicate that building capabilities alone is not enough; rather, the ability to deploy such capabilities for effective procurement planning is necessary for driving project success.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic represents one of the most significant disruptions to supply chains (SCs), stimulating both practitioners and scholars to seek ways to enhance supply chain performance (SCP). Recent advancements in technology, particularly supply chain analytics (SCA) technologies, offer promising avenues for mitigating risks associated with SC disruptions like those posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the existing literature lacks a comprehensive analysis of the connection between SCA and healthcare SC (HSC) performance. To address this research gap, we employed the dynamic capability perspective to investigate the mediating roles of supply chain innovation (SCI), resilience (SCR) and flexibility (SCF) in the relationship between SCA and HSC performance. The study further examined the moderating role of a data-driven culture (DDC).

The proposed model was tested using survey data from 374 managers of healthcare facilities in Ghana. SPSS and Amos were used to analyze the data gathered.

The results showed that while SCA may drive HSC performance, the presence of SCI, SCR and SCF may serve as channels to drive enhanced HSC performance. Additionally, we also found that different levels of a DDC induce varying effects of SCA on SCI, SCR and SCF.

The study’s results have theoretical and practical implications, offering valuable insights for the advancement of SCA in healthcare literature. They also deepen SC managers’ comprehension of how and when SCA can boost HSC performance. However, as the study was limited to healthcare facilities in Ghana, its findings may not be universally applicable.

This study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that SCI, SCR, SCF and a DDC could serve as transformative mechanisms to reap superior HSC outcomes. This study also offers contemporary guidance to managers regarding SCA investment decisions.

Though business analytics capability continues to attract considerable industrial and scholarly attention, its holistic performance implications, especially in the post-COVID-19 period, have not been fully understood. Thus, there have been calls for a full understanding of the implications of BAC for achieving holistic, sustainable outcomes among firms. This study therefore examines the influence of BAC on the three dimensions of sustainable performance. We also proposed the mediating role of circular economy implementation.

We tested the proposed model using survey data from 246 managers of manufacturing firms in Ghana. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was employed to validate the model.

Our findings showed that BAC significantly enhances both sustainable performance and circular economy implementation. We also found a significant association between CEI and sustainable performance. We further found significant partial mediation of CEI in the BAC sustainable performance nexus.

Our study offers thoughtful insights for managers, policymakers and the academic community that firms should simultaneously implement circular models alongside building analytics competencies in the quest to achieve balanced performance outcomes.

To the best of our knowledge, our study is among the very few attempts to understand the mechanism that channels the benefits of BAC for a holistic, sustainable outcome.

With the empirical evidence on the purchase behaviour of tinned tomatoes, food labelling and the safety consciousness of consumers in Ghana were examined.

Primary data were obtained from 130 consumers. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis and multinomial probit analysis were applied.

Consumers use tinned tomatoes for cooking because of its easy accessibility in nearby shops, guaranteed constant supply, attractive package, it being affordable/cheaper, its better colour, advertisement/promotion, and longer shelf life. There is a low level of food safety consciousness among consumers since only one-fifth read labels on tinned tomatoes very often, and one-fifth do not read labels at all. Consumers frequently check on tinned tomatoes' most essential information: brand/type, manufacturing and expiry dates, and weight/volume. Age, residential status, contact information, nutritional benefits and affordability influence the choice of retail brand of tinned tomatoes. The health label consumer segment and conventional label consumer segment were identified, with the majority being the former.

The sample size used for the study could be improved in terms of number and geographical coverage. This is because the study was limited to only one main urbanised area in Ghana. Therefore, it will be worthwhile for a further study to be conducted by comparing urban and rural consumers in Ghana and other countries within Africa, to either validate or reveal a different trajectory of consumer behaviour relevant to marketing, policy and practice.

Tomato paste (tinned tomatoes) is consumed in almost all homes in Africa, but there are food scare concerns about tinned tomatoes due to reported cases of adulteration with unhealthy materials such as starch and food colour, leading to negative health implications on consumers. This makes the reading of tinned tomato labels very crucial. Thus, it is of policy relevance to investigate consumers' reading behaviour of label information on tinned tomatoes in Ghana. However, previous studies on food labelling focussed on food and nutrition labelling and implications of food labelling on consumers' purchase behaviour, with most of them outside Africa.

On completion of this case study, students will be able to understand collaboration and synergy between farmers and organisations through value creation, like fundraising, based on the comprehension of the resource-based theory; understand the overview and concept of the value chain and supply chain management in the agribusiness to reduce costs of inventories; understand the concept of segmentation and positioning to increase revenue for organisations by leveraging existing resources – human and financial; and understand the branding strategy to create a sustainable competitive advantage for Suguna Foods.

Suguna was started by two brothers, B. Soundararajan and G.B. Sundararajan, to help other farmers. Suguna, with just 200 broilers in 1984, grew to be the number 1 poultry company across India. Soundararajan was a pioneer and innovator who started “contract farming” in India in 1991. This model helped both the farmers and the company to became successful. The farmers always struggled to pay the cost of feed and other materials, as credit was not readily and easily available from financial institutions. Suguna helped farmers by providing feed, medicines, etc., free of cost in return for the good rearing of chickens. Because of the success of this venture, they decided to continue with it. Today, Suguna is a successful company that sells chicken, eggs and processed meat. They modernised the retail chain to supply consumers with fresh, healthy and hygienic meat. Suguna’s vision was to “Energize rural India” by helping farmers succeed. They helped over 40,000 farmers from 15,000+ villages in 18+ Indian states. Although the growth helped both farmers and Suguna, the increased cost of raw materials for Suguna and increased input costs/power costs for farmers had to be tackled on a war footing so that both could have good income despite the increased inflation. Moreover, the retail price of live chicken was more or less stagnant in the past five years, especially after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This case can be used as the basis for a 90-min class discussion. This case study is suitable for use in an master of business administration course module or in an executive education program on developing an understanding of value creation in the business model in a rural market and also how the supply chain works. This case study can also be used to teach pricing, segmentation in marketing and supply chain perspectives and decision-making skills.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS8: Marketing.

Taking instances from extant findings from the literature, the study aims to examine the community perception toward renewable energy (RE) off-grid (mini-grid/microgrid) intervention, the underlying rationales for engagement of communities in RE off-grid projects, the different alternatives/models to engage communities in various phases of RE off-grid project deployment.

The study has followed the structured literature review to explore the identified research question of the study.

Based on findings from the review, the framework for effective community engagement in RE mini-grid projects is suggested. Furthermore, the study also draws suggestions and implications for future research and practice.

Based on such understanding the present study offers the framework which suggests the steps for the engagement of the communities in the off-grid projects. The key steps are managing the perception of the community (including generation of awareness among the community), planning for the benefits of the community, linkage the sustainable development goals (SDG), planning for the inclusion of the community and measuring performance (in the line of social and economic criteria and SDG).

This study finds the gap in the literature on the nexus of community, off-grid energy projects and SDG. Following the findings from the scholars in this field, a few gaps in the policy and practice have been highlighted which could be useful for practitioners and policymakers in this area.