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The case is targeted at undergraduate students in international finance, international business, entrepreneurship and strategic marketing classes.

At the broadest level, the case represents an opportunity for students to discuss internationalisation of local firms. It focusses on getting students to analyse the costs and benefits associated with the foreign entry decision as well as the strategies for foreign entry.

The Exploring International Markets: Unique Quality Heads to Kenya case study provides a chronological report of how Unique Quality, a cereal production company, grew locally up until the point when it considers internationalisation. It details the key considerations the firm makes as it considers its foreign entry decision. Unique Quality is a cereal production company in Ghana, which operates within the agriculture industry. The industry operates at almost all the points along the value chain including coordinating the growing of the cereal until it is harvested, packaged and marketed for sale. The company which started operations in 2013 has made great gains in penetrating the Ghanaian market. Salma, who is currently at the helm of affair at the company, together with the board is considering entering into Kenya. This decision is one that must not be taken lightly and has left Salma in a dilemma.

The expected learning outcomes of the case are:To enable students:a) identify the reasons why firms go international;b) identify opportunities for cost-cutting benefits or revenue maximisation opportunities for Unique Quality in Kenya;c) understand and identify the various sources of country risk that Unique Quality could face in its attempt to enter the Kenyan market; andd) identify and analyse the various foreign entry strategy options available to Unique Quality.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com_to_request_teaching_notes

CSS 1: Accounting and finance.

The poverty puzzle persists in sub-Saharan Africa decades after some other regional bodies have recorded substantial gains in their poverty reduction efforts. This study seeks to explore the extent to which social inclusion influences poverty outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa.

The study constructs a social inclusion index and its sub-indices using principal component analysis and employs the Lewbel instrumental variable estimation method to test the impact of the computed social inclusion indices on poverty outcomes for 19 sub-Saharan African countries.

The results have shown that social inclusion reduces the proportion of the poor and the depth of poverty within sub-Saharan Africa significantly. We also observe a U-shaped relationship between social inclusion and poverty outcomes; thus, social inclusion’s poverty-reducing effect sees a reversal when it hits a certain threshold.

The study provides the evidence needed to inform the policy discourse on the poverty problem, which continues to plague sub-Saharan Africa.

With sub-Saharan Africa’s position as the region with the worst poverty statistics, the results of this study will prove useful in tackling poverty to ensure improved quality of life.

This study presents original evidence on social inclusion and its relationship with poverty.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-08-2023-0640

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the bank-specific and macroeconomic determinants of nonperforming loans (NPLs) as well as the impact of NPLs on bank profitability.

Using a sample of 22 Ghanaian banks over the period 2005-2010, the study employs a fixed effect panel model in estimating three different empirical models.

The study finds new evidence of bank-specific factors as well as macroeconomic factors determining NPLs. Inflation and industry concentration are not significant in determining NPLs, although both are positively related to NPLs.

The findings of this study have important implications for policy makers and bank managers.

The paper offers significant value in shaping and improving the banking sector of emerging markets.

The objective of this paper is to explore how anchoring affects the dynamics of investor decision-making with regard to mutual funds and how this bias differs amongst gender and level of financial knowledge.

An experimental research design was adopted to uncover the relationship between the variables under study; this involved the use of a questionnaire with an embedded experiment. Data obtained from the study were analysed using Pearson's chi-square test and two-way analysis of variance.

The findings show that, overall, investors were prone to be significantly influenced by the anchoring bias. The study finds a strong, albeit not significant, association between participants' susceptibility to anchor and both gender and the level of financial knowledge of participants. Females were observed to be more likely to anchor than their male counterparts. Also, a higher level of financial knowledge did not help to reduce the possibility of anchoring; it rather increased it.

The findings of the study cannot be interpreted as suggesting causality as the study only tests for association between variables and not causality. Additionally, external validity cannot be fully established as a result of the quasi-experiment approach used.

The study adds to the body of knowledge on the influences of behavioural biases in the sub-region to make investors aware of their biases in order to minimise the influence of these biases on their investment decisions.

This study differs from earlier studies in that it analyses the presence of anchoring as influenced by a completely different set of variables (expertise and gender) and also does it within the context of an African country where there remains a paucity of research on behavioural finance.

The aim of this paper is to promote the local consumption of cassava through its utilization in baked products such as cocoa powder‐based biscuits.

Wheat flour was substituted with cassava flour at different levels – 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 percent in the production of cocoa powder‐based biscuits. The products obtained were analyzed for protein and ash contents. Sensory analysis was also conducted on the products to determine the optimum level of inclusion of cassava flour.

The incremental addition of cassava flour to the biscuits reduced the sensory and chemical quality of the products. The use of sole cassava flour (100 percent) could not form dough to produce biscuits. However, biscuits with 20 percent cassava flour were found to be most acceptable. Regression analysis of the data showed that the quality of the products depended on their texture and protein content since these attributes had R² values higher than 0.80.

This study was done to determine the potential use of cassava flour in baked products to meet the needs of the dynamic consumer market and also help in the reduction of excess cassava on the Ghanaian market.

The purpose of this study is to identify the various traditional foods available in two towns in Ghana and to assess consumer perception about these traditional foods. Traditional foods provide nutritional and health benefits, but their consumption keeps declining, such that some are becoming extinct.

The level of knowledge of consumers and their attitude toward the consumption of traditional foods were determined. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Sekondi and four areas in Kumasi, with a sample size of 200 in each of the two towns. The data obtained were analyzed using Pearson correlation and Chi-square test for independence.

While consumers had very good general knowledge of the traditional foods, most of them had little knowledge on nutrient compositions of the foods. About 95.5 per cent of respondents in Sekondi consumed traditional foods relative to those in Kumasi (62.5 per cent). There was no linear relationship existing between respondents’ knowledge, attitude and consumption of traditional foods (r < 0.50). More so, respondents’ attitude, knowledge and consumption of traditional foods, mostly, did not depend on the demographic factors (age and education). Other factors such as convenience, economic status of respondents and safety of traditional foods may be contributory factors to the low patronage and consumption of traditional foods.

Most researches on traditional foods in Ghana have mostly focused on food ingredients; therefore, there is little or no available information on consumer perception of prepared traditional foods. Because consumer opinions change over time, there is a need to consistently gather data to help food industries and food service operators meet consumer needs and expectations.