ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
The impact of customer relationship management on the granting of consumer and retail credit: a case study of CAL Bank (Gh) Ltd.

Customer Relationship Management is an effective weapon for organizations to build and develop a good relationship with customers. Under current circumstances, new customers are difficult to acquire by most banks in Ghana and CAL Bank Ltd is no exception because of the keen competition prevailing among the banks in an attempt to mobilize customers. An alternative way to prospect new customers is to attract the customers from the competitors and also provide them the service they require and also prevent your customers from being attracted by your competitors. Though Customer Relationship Management has come into existence for more than ten years, the application of CRM in the banking industry is still a new topic to study. In this thesis, the researcher assesses the impact of customer relationship management on the granting of consumer and retail credit of the bank as well as the recovery of loans at CAL Bank Ltd. The researcher aimed to establish how Customer Relationship Management affects the granting of consumer and retail credit to clients of Cal Bank (Gh) Ltd. The Study population was Relationship Managers/Officers and Clients who have accessed consumer and retail loans at Cal Bank (Gh) Ltd. It was found out that good relation between officials of the bank and customers of the bank has increased the granting of loans to the clients of the bank. This was made possible because if the hank knows everything about the client it will not hesitate to give out loan to such a client especially when the relationship with the client reveals that the client is credit worthy.

Source: KNUST
The impact of different tillage and soil amendments on soil moisture storage, erosion and the yield of maize in the moist semi-deciduous forest zone of Ghana

The impact of different tillage practices and soil fertility amendments on soil loss and moisture storage has not received the needed research attention in Ghana. A study was conducted at the KNUST Agricultural Research Station at Anwomaso, Kumasi to evaluate soil moisture storage and erosion under four tillage practices with some soil amendments. This was to recommend the best soil management option for sustainable maize production. The experiment was conducted in 2014 for two consecutive seasons (major and minor) on a sandy loam to sandy clay loam soil (Plinthic Vetic Lixisol). The field layout was split-plot in a randomized complete design with three replications. Tillage practices (no tillage, plough- plant, plough-harrow plant and hoe) constituted the main plot factor and four soil fertility amendments (100% NPK fertilizer (60-60-60 kg ha -1) + Urea, Poultry Manure (3 t ha -1), ½ Rate of PM/ha (30-30-30 kg ha -1) + ½ Rate of NPK Fertilizer ( 1.5 t ha -1) + ½ Rate Urea and Control) were the sub plot factor. Three bare plot plots were included from which runoff and soil loss measurements were made. The tillage practices had significant effects (P< 0.05) on runoff and soil loss. The results showed that no tillage, with ½ Rate of PM/ha (30-30-30) + ½ Rate of NPK gave higher agronomic characteristics of maize (grain and stover yield) and produced minimum runoff and soil loss. Soil loss increased with increasing rainfall with coefficient of determination ranging from 0.43 to 0.77 to 0. 63 to 0.74 under tillage practices in the major and minor seasons, respectively. Tillage practices and soil fertility amendments interacted to significantly reduce soil loss and runoff. Combinations of plough-harrow x 100% NPK and hoe tillage x 100% NPK recorded the highest added benefits of -3.09 and -2.53 respectively in the major season whilst hoe tillage x ½ NPK + ½ PM produced the highest (-7.19) benefit in the minor season.

Source: KNUST
Impact of Dimension Stone Production on the Environment: A Case Study at Granites & Marbles Company Limited, Ghana.

The study evaluated the impacts of dimension stone production on the environment at the Tongo Quarry and the Factory at Accra. The variables studied were the blasting noise, pollution of nearby water sources and pollution of effluent discharge from factory. The study described the standard procedures for collecting and processing samples for water and sediment, and field analyses of conductivity, pH, temperature, and dissolved oxygen. An experimental study was carried out on sediment and water samples in the laboratory to assess the level of heavy metal pollution. For this study, several composite samples were collected and analysed. The pH and turbidity values of the water samples were 6.3-7.45 pH and 0.15-118 NTU respectively. Curves were drawn that relate metal concentrations in Water and Soil Samples. With the exception of chromium concentration in samples, GM1s and FS1 which have very high values of 2.64 mg/l and 1.34 mg/l respectively, all the other samples were below the maximum permissible level of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Ghana guidelines for discharge into natural water bodies. Quality assurance is maintained by strict collecting and processing procedures, replicate sampling, equipment blank samples, and a rigid cleaning procedure using detergent, hydrochloric acid and methanol. In this thesis, blasting operation and its possible environmental effects are defined. To achieve the study objectives, 24 blasts were carried out and 3 sets of recordings were taken for each distance of 4m, 210m, 416m, 622m 824m and 2000m. A measurement was recorded for each site for ambient noise levels. From this, experiment curves were drawn that relate average ambient and noise levels in decibels with distance from blasting point towards the community. The evaluation was performed if the noise level were within safe limits or not. The field experimental work conducted indicated that the highest blasting noise of 92.3 dB and 85.2 dB recorded at distances of 824m and 2000m respectively are within acceptable maximum permissible level of 115 dB with 5% allowable to 120 dB or less in an annual period.

Source: KNUST
The Impact of District Assemblies' Common Fund on the Performance of the District Assemblies: a Case Study of Ejisu-Juaben Municipal Assembly

This research work is an attempt to investigate and establish the impact of the District Assemblies' Common Fund (DACF) on the performance of the DAs in general and the EJMA in particular. The choice of this topic was influenced by the current discussions among the citizens of Ghana on the introduction and utilization of the DACF under Ghana's current decentralization process, its impact on the performance of the DAs and the need to investigate its contributions towards the development of a district and offer suggestions or recommendations for improvement. It has also been widely argued and discussed that the District Assemblies have relaxed in their efforts to collect internally generated funds (IGF) since the introduction of the DACF in 1994 and have heavily depended on the DACF. The need to investigate the extent to which this allegation is true can, therefore, not be overemphasized. Data for the study was collected from both « primary and secondary sources, that is, respectively they are from the field and the offices of the EJMA and the DACFA. As much as practically possible all categories of actors in community development at the local level were involved in the administration of questionnaire, so as to make the findings and conclusions universally accepted. The research revealed the following: • that the EJMA has benefited tremendously from the introduction and utilization of the DACF since its inception in 1994. • that the Assembly has utilized the funds as directed by the MLGRD&E and the DACFA for the benefit of the people in the district. • that there has been positive impact on the development of the districts using EJMA as a case study. • that it may not be wholly true to say that the Districts have in fact relaxed in their local revenue generation using the performance of EJMA in local revenue generation as a case study using the percentage achievement in IGF collection. However, if one critically looks at the credibility of the estimates (i.e looking at whether the estimates were actually realistic) a different conclusion could be made. In fact in the case of EJMA where IGF revenues were actually falling for three consecutive years one could agree with the notion that the EJMA had been relaxing in IGF collections at least for those years. Some challenges in the utilization of the DACF have also been identified in the study, leading to certain recommendations or suggestions, which if adopted and well implemented would improve upon the utilization of the fund at the EJMA in particular and all the Districts in Ghana in general. The challenges identified in the EJMA may not be different from other MMDAs. The recommendations offered in this study can, therefore, be applied in other districts, even though the study was limited to the EJMA.

Source: KNUST
The impact of different tropospheric models on GPS baselines in Ghana

The ionosphere and the troposphere are the two main layers in the atmosphere which delays GPS signals. Unlike the tropospheric bias, the ionospheric bias can be mitigated using dual frequency GPS receivers. Compensation for the tropospheric delays however requires a standard tropospheric model to be applied. Several tropospheric models are incorporated in commercial GPS processing software, including Trimble Geomatics Office (TGO), for correcting tropospheric delays. To investigate the impact of the different standard tropospheric models in TGO on GPS baselines so as to determine the best model for use by surveyors in Ghana, two simultaneous 24 hour observations were carried out at four selected COR stations in the Golden Triangle of Ghana. The RMS errors of the coordinates of the COR stations yielded by the five standard tropospheric models tested were 0.0287m for Saastamoinen and Hopfield models, 0.0297m for the Goad-Goodman model and 0.0317m for both the Niell and Black models. The RMS errors from all the models passed the USACE criteria of 0.04m for long baselines beyond 100km. However, whenever a tropospheric model was ignored in the baseline processing, the RMS error was more than three times greater than the 0.04m accuracy limit. Surveyors must therefore avoid processing GPS baselines without tropospheric models. In conclusion, any of the five models evaluated in this study can perform well in the study area. Nevertheless, the choice of either the Hopfield or the Saastamoinen models is optimum for the processing of baselines in Ghana.

Source: KNUST
The impact of dividend announcement on share price behaviour

The Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) provides that security prices reflect all information. However, despite dividend announcement made in 2005, three companies selected for study performed badly on Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE). The problem of the study was therefore to establish whether the GSE did not recognize company-specific information in pricing shares. The objective was to ascertain whether there was an instantaneous reaction of the companies’ share prices to dividend announcement in order to provide the basis for confirming or dispelling EMH conclusions. The event study methodology was used to achieve the research objective. Additionally, the Wilcoxon Matched-Pair Sign-Ranked Test was employed in testing the null hypothesis that dividend announcement did not have any significant impact on share price behaviour. The major finding was that GSE was not semi-strong efficient resulting in the conclusion that the GSE must address itself to three forms of efficiency – operational efficiency, allocation efficiency, pricing efficiency. Various recommendations were made to enhance the efficiency of the GSE.

Source: KNUST
Impact of dividend decisions on the share price of listed companies on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).

The study examines the impact of dividend decision on share price of listed companies on the Ghana Stock Exchange. How dividend decisions affect a company’s share price is a widely researched area in the field of investments and finance but it still remains a mystery as to whether dividend decisions affects the share prices or not. A secondary data of 26 companies listed on GSE having a six years audited financial statements (2009-2014) was sampled through purposive sampling technique for the study. The linear regression model was used to achieve the research objective. The major findings were that the three variables used as a proxy for the measure of dividend decision had a positive relationship with the share price of listed companies. The independent variables dividend yield, dividend payout and dividend cover showed a positive relationship with share price and this were consistent with the body of literature. Again, shareholders had a positive perception about dividend. Lastly the beta of a stock positively predicts the returns of the stock. Hence the companies listed on the GSE were less risky thereby generating lower returns to its shareholders. Perspective shareholders who tend to be risk-adverse in investment are recommended for the study since the listed companies on the GSE were less risky and generated lower returns to its shareholders. Also, perspective investors who require higher dividends from their investments should not conclude as a matter of necessity that companies should always pay dividends and at a higher rate giving the positive relationship between dividends payment and shareholders perception because dividends can be postponed which can enable companies to reinvest its earnings into projects in order to enhance the growth prospects of the companies and also consequently lead to the increase of the company’s capital gains. Measures of dividend decision of listed companies on the stock v exchange should be readily available to enable finance analyst and perspective investors make informed decisions

Source: KNUST
The Impact of District Assembly Common Fund On Socio-Economic Activities in the New Juaben Municipality

The research investigates the impact of the District Assembly Common Fund on socio-economic activities in the New Juaben Municipality. The objectives of the study were to determine how the New Juaben Municipal Assembly (NJMA) has been using its share of the common fund over the past 5 years; analyse the socio-economic impact of the use of the DACF on the people in the Municipality and also analyse the problems the Municipal Assembly encounters in the use of the DACF in the Municipality. The population for the study was all the people in NJM. However, it was divided into five main respondent groups based on the five main research questions. This elicited the use of a variety of sampling techniques and sampling sizes. The main data collection instruments were questionnaire, interviews and observations, and these were focused on education, health, poverty alleviation, social amenities and infrastructural development. It was found that the NJMA has used its share of the DACF to promote education in the municipality. This has benefited the communities through an increase in enrolment in schools. There is an improvement in the health delivery system as a result of the use of the DACF to build a community health clinic in one of the communities, which other communities can easily have access. On the benefits from the poverty alleviation fund, there were mixed feelings. Some people have benefited, others have not derived any benefit. On social amenities, it was revealed that none of the six communities used as the research area has benefited from any form of social amenity. The NJMA has used its share of the DACF to provide infrastructural facilities. Infrastructure like septic tank latrine, hand dug well, feeder roads and electricity have been provided through DACF. It is recommended that government and other stakeholders should strengthen the financial management and use of the DACF and other public resources by the MMDAs and also streamline the system through: Public education on the DACF and its uses, transparency in the disbursements and utilization of the Fund. Reconsideration of the allocation of the Fund; flexibility in the guidelines f the allocation, disbursements and utilization of the Fund to cater for peculiarities in the various communities ; strengthening of mechanisms for mobilization of internally generated funds (IGF);ninimization of political interference in the administration of the DACF; and Institutionalisation of the tracking of the DACF, using participatory methods.

Source: KNUST
THE IMPACT OF DIVIDEND POLICY ON SHARE PRICES: EVIDENCE FROM THE GHANA STOCK EXCHANGE.

This study seeks to examine the impact of dividend policy on share prices of listed companies in Ghana. The analyses are performed using data derived from the financial statements of 20 listed companies on the Ghana stock Exchange (GSE) over a ten-year period from 2004 to 2013. A pooled panel regression model is used to estimate the regression equation. The results show that both dividend payout ratio and dividend yield have positive and significant impact on share prices. The results further show that market capitalization, profit after tax and return on equity have significant effect on share prices of the listed firms. However, long term debt shows insignificant effect on share prices. The study, therefore, concludes that dividend policy is relevant in the valuation of a company‟s share price. The study recommends, among other things, that Ghanaian firms should adopt an optimal trade-off policy between dividend payment and retained earnings that would increase the shareholders‟ wealth through share price appreciation and investors seeking to invest in Ghanaian listed firms should consider their dividend policies before making investment decisions. The study also recommends that future studies should examine the relationship between dividend policy and share prices using data from specific industries, for example, manufacturing, financial, trading, mining and so on to determine whether variations exist among different sectors of the economy as far as dividend policy is concerned.

Source: KNUST
Impact of dividend policy on the performance and value of firms listed on the ghana stock exchange

This study examines the impact of dividend policy on the financial performance and value of listed firms in Ghana. The study employs purposive sampling technique to select 15 firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange and uses secondary data from the audited financial statement of the firms that meet the inclusion criteria of the study. The study uses an ordinary least square regression model to establish the relationship between dividend policy and financial performance and firm value and simultaneously examines the effect of other control variables (leverage, liquidity, and firm size) on financial performance and firm value. From the findings of the study, the researcher concludes that dividend policy has a significant impact of the financial performance of listed firms in Ghana, thus firms perform well when dividend shareholders receive increases. More so, the findings also indicate that larger firms tend to perform better than firms of small sizes. Also, the researcher concludes that firms with higher levels of liquidity tend to perform better than firms with lower levels of liquidity. Furthermore, firms with a higher degree of leverage, thus using debt to finance their operations, perform better financially. Notwithstanding this, on the basis of the findings of this study, the researcher concludes that firms with higher degree of leverage experience a significant decrease in the valuation of the firm. However, liquidity does not have any significant effect on the value of listed firms in Ghana. Financial managers need to carefully evaluate the level of leverage that is right for their business, weighing the possible advantages of debt financing operations against the impact on the firm's valuation. For the firm to avoid taking on excessive risk and to maintain its overall financial stability, a careful approach to controlling leverage is essential. Financial managers should evaluate the company's financial standing and, if feasible, explore raising dividend payments. Since dividend policy has a substantial impact on the financial performance of listed corporations in Ghana, this may help the company attract investors and possibly improve its financial performance.

Source: KNUST
Impact of divestiture on the performance of selected state-owned enterprises

After independence, Ghana, like most developing countries, adopted state-led economic strategy of development - the development philosophy at the period. Consequently, public ownership and control of “commanding heights” of the economy was given special emphasis. This led to the establishment of many state-owned enterprises (SOEs) particularly in the early 1 960s. In spite of the heavy investment in the SOEs, the overall performance has been poor in terms of profitability and efficiency. To address the problems facing the SOEs, the divestiture programme was launched in 1988. The programme among other things was intended to reduce the size of the public sector and improve the performance of SOEs by mobilising private sector management and capital. The study was undertaken to assess the performance of divested SOEs. Questionnaire was used to collect data from 10 divested SOEs for the study. Analysis of the data revealed that divestiture has led to increased investment, employment, output and capacity utilisation; among others. The study further revealed a number of challenges to divested enterprises. These include over liberalisation, which has resulted in unhealthy competition; high interest and exchange rates, and inadequate bank credit to the private sector. On the basis of the findings, recommendations have been made for policy consideration. The study concluded that, though divestiture has led to the development of the private sector, there is the need to address the challenges of divested enterprises if they will continue to perform creditably. It is believed that if the recommendations are adhered to, then the prospects of divested enterprises look brighter.

Source: KNUST
The impact of E-learning on organizational training: a case study of Standard Chartered Bank Ghana Limited

Technology has penetrated and revolutionalised the training industry. The current economy requires knowledgeable workers. As information doubles and triples on a yearly basis, employees need to remain up-to-date and informed in order to match up with the changing trend. The introduction of e - learning helps organizations to gain competitive advantage over competitors. This training method is made possible through web browsers) e-mail, internet, live audio and others. It fits around work schedule, budgets and has the advantage of achieving corporate objective of cost cutting, better customer service, high employees' performance and the speed at which employees are trained both internally internationally, attracted Standard Charted Bank globally. This project work sought to investigate the impact of e-learning training over the traditional classrpom training using Standard Chartered Ghana Limited as case study. To aid the investigation questionnaires were designed and pre-tested before sending it out to respondents. The questionnaire was also supplemented by interview. Respondents include some employees of Standard Chartered Bank. Results were subjected to various tests and comparison was made between the two training methods. The findings revealed a strong relationship between the usage-frequency and what respondents like and dislike about both methods of training. These findings led to the conclusion that majority of the respondents advocated for e-learning over the traditional classroom training. From the analysis so far it has been deduced employees preferred the e-learning method to the traditional classroom training .1 can therefore conclude that e-learning is a better alternative.

Source: KNUST