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This paper examines the nature and extent of organisational adaptation of international marketing involvement. The domestic and international marketing strategies of firms are compared. The results demonstrate significant differences between the domestic and international marketing operations of firms, including the product market strategies and the commitment of human resources.

In order to provide a better understanding of export financing in Ghana this exploratory study was undertaken on a sample of non‐traditional exporting firms and selected banks. The focus is on export financing in Ghana. Ghanaian exporters hardly obtain finance for export operations. Interest rates are high, and financial institutions prefer granting short‐term credit to medium or long‐term credit, and investing in government treasury bills and bonds rather than lending to small and medium‐sized firms. Small and medium‐sale exporters hardly meet the requirements of banks to access credit, especially collateral. Default on loans has been high. Exporters need to be more responsible in funds utilization, just as the financial institutions have to be more exporter‐friendly to ensure the success of the national export‐led growth strategy. The recent (2000) Export Development and Investment Act is likely to provide greater access to export finance for exporting firms.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate employment of positioning strategies in the retail bank sector of Sub-Saharan Africa, specifically using Ghana as the study context. In addition, it explores the applicability of western-based typology of positioning strategies in the Sub-Saharan African environment.

Six retail banks – three national and three foreign – are studied, each through an in-depth case study method: covert and participant observation techniques; and face-to-face interviews of chief executive officers, marketing managers, and bank branch managers provided data for the study.

The results show that the “service” positioning strategy is the most popular strategy employed by retail banks. “Value for money,” “attractiveness,” “brand name,” and “country of origin” positioning strategies are also dominant. “Top of the range” and “selectivity” strategies are minimally pursued by the sample of banks studied. The results reveal that both foreign and national retail banks employ multiple positioning strategies in the face of competition. However, foreign retail banks consistently employ a; large number of strategies relative to national retail banks. This paper supports the applicability of a western-derived set of positioning strategies in the Sub-Saharan African marketplace.

This study closes a gap in the understanding of positioning, as well as filling the empirical gap in the application of positioning. In addition, it helps resolve a contextual gap of knowledge in Sub-Saharan Africa’s retail banking sector.

This study responds to Porter (1996), Clancy and Trout (2002), and Knox (2004) for continued empirical research in positioning in service industries and specifically in Sub-Saharan African economies (Coffie, 2014, 2016; Coffie and Owusu-Frimpong, 2014). Moreover, this research adds value to the banking and marketing literatures through a qualitative case study method, which is an important yet overlooked research method (Yin, 2009).

The paper aims to investigate small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) bank selection and patronage behaviour in the Ghanaian banking sector.

A detailed literature review was used to identify five determinants of bank selection and other patronage factors which were used to survey 503 SMEs randomly selected from the data base of the National Board for Small Scale Industries in Ghana. Exploratory factor analysis, multiple regression and correlation analysis were used for the data analysis.

The study found price competitiveness, credit availability, perceived service quality, staff attributes and bank attributes as determinants of SME bank selection. In addition, loans and overdrafts, cash collection, transfers, bank guarantees, advisory services and training were among the core services patronized by the SMEs.

The study highlights the importance of factors considered important to the SME bank selection and patronage behaviour. It thus provides practical leverage to banks on how to attract, serve and retain SMEs in Ghana.

The study is the first of its kind that investigated both bank selection and patronage behaviour at the same time and provides important insight for banks on how to attract, satisfy and manage SMEs. It also makes a major contribution to the literature on SME banking behaviour especially in a sub-Saharan Africa and responds to the recent call for more studies on SME practices in emerging economies.