JOURNAL OF MARKETING DEVELOPMENT AND COMPETITIVENESS
Utilising Online and Offline Information in Export: The Case of Firms
Operating in Ghana’s Non-Traditional Export Sector
Author(s): Robert Ebo Hinson
Citation: Robert Ebo Hinson, (2011) "Utilising Online and Offline Information in Export: The Case of Firms Operating in Ghana’s Non-Traditional Export Sector" Vol. 5, Iss. 2, pp. 139 - 161
Article Type: Research paper
Publisher: North American Business Press
Abstract:
Information is useful for enhancing the success of export firms operating on the advantaged and
disadvantaged end of the global digital divide; in developed and developing economy contexts. As part of
a larger e-readiness survey of Ghana’s non-traditional export sector, this study aims at identifying the
nature of information which players in Ghana’s export sector need to enhance export-competitiveness.
This study focuses on players in a horticultural export cluster comprising non-traditional export firms,
export logistics providers, financial institutions, export associations, government/regulatory agencies and
export-related NGOs. NTE firms regularly receive information on payment, demand trend and orders.
Overall, respondents do not often share market, technical and logistics information with representatives
of firms in the same line of business as theirs. At the micro-level of Ghana’s non-traditional export sector,
e-business could be used as a tool for better acquisition, storage, sharing and utilisation of information.
Strategies for enhancing the e-efficacies of export industry players are discussed in the paper. This paper
presents a modest contribution to the export firm-electronic business/information management literature
from a developing economy context.