Developing a framework for sustainable manufacturing of technologies in Africa focusing on Ghana

This thesis is concerned with developing a framework for the sustainable manufacturing of technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on Ghana, for local industry. The interest here is on manufacturing and production technologies. Drawing on the work of Clemens and Dalrymple (2005), a three step...

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Main Author: Donani, Yao-Martin
Format: Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37127/
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author Donani, Yao-Martin
author_facet Donani, Yao-Martin
author_sort Donani, Yao-Martin
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This thesis is concerned with developing a framework for the sustainable manufacturing of technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on Ghana, for local industry. The interest here is on manufacturing and production technologies. Drawing on the work of Clemens and Dalrymple (2005), a three step approach emerged as an overarching methodology leading to the construction of the Ghana manufacturing of technology model (GMTM). The work of Sagasti (1992) provided the framework for its construction. The aim here is to investigate to understand what factors account for the state of technology drawback in Ghana, so as to be able to explain them. A multidisciplinary approach was therefore required and employed. Owing to the human and cultural understanding required here, a mixed-research approach involving ethnography, grounded theory and case-study was found to be most suitable. This involved data from two rural communities, expanding to the urban areas where government officials, policy makers and heads of institutions were interviewed. The corpus of data was analysed using grounded theory and a case study of the shea butter industry provided further insights. The findings, among other things, suggest that Ghana has no focused framework for technology manufacturing for local industry. The study noted that the cultural and ethnic division in traditional Ghana, inhibits knowledge and cultural exchange, hence, affecting the deployment and advancement of traditional technologies in the "closed" societies. This division is reflected in the formal Ghanaian sector, which side-lines the traditional sector from development and industrialisation decision making. Government Officials and policy makers were found to be vague on technology development for local industry, but were focused on developing high-techs, like nano-technologies and science parks. The study sees this as misplaced priority. The technology drive will require a business model, which falls outside the scope here, hence left for future work. A new concept of development engineering emerges from the study.
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spelling nottingham-371272025-02-28T11:51:04Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37127/ Developing a framework for sustainable manufacturing of technologies in Africa focusing on Ghana Donani, Yao-Martin This thesis is concerned with developing a framework for the sustainable manufacturing of technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on Ghana, for local industry. The interest here is on manufacturing and production technologies. Drawing on the work of Clemens and Dalrymple (2005), a three step approach emerged as an overarching methodology leading to the construction of the Ghana manufacturing of technology model (GMTM). The work of Sagasti (1992) provided the framework for its construction. The aim here is to investigate to understand what factors account for the state of technology drawback in Ghana, so as to be able to explain them. A multidisciplinary approach was therefore required and employed. Owing to the human and cultural understanding required here, a mixed-research approach involving ethnography, grounded theory and case-study was found to be most suitable. This involved data from two rural communities, expanding to the urban areas where government officials, policy makers and heads of institutions were interviewed. The corpus of data was analysed using grounded theory and a case study of the shea butter industry provided further insights. The findings, among other things, suggest that Ghana has no focused framework for technology manufacturing for local industry. The study noted that the cultural and ethnic division in traditional Ghana, inhibits knowledge and cultural exchange, hence, affecting the deployment and advancement of traditional technologies in the "closed" societies. This division is reflected in the formal Ghanaian sector, which side-lines the traditional sector from development and industrialisation decision making. Government Officials and policy makers were found to be vague on technology development for local industry, but were focused on developing high-techs, like nano-technologies and science parks. The study sees this as misplaced priority. The technology drive will require a business model, which falls outside the scope here, hence left for future work. A new concept of development engineering emerges from the study. 2014-12-12 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en arr https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37127/1/690901.pdf Donani, Yao-Martin (2014) Developing a framework for sustainable manufacturing of technologies in Africa focusing on Ghana. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. Sustainable development Technological innovations Social aspects Shea butter industry Ghana
spellingShingle Sustainable development
Technological innovations
Social aspects
Shea butter industry
Ghana
Donani, Yao-Martin
Developing a framework for sustainable manufacturing of technologies in Africa focusing on Ghana
title Developing a framework for sustainable manufacturing of technologies in Africa focusing on Ghana
title_full Developing a framework for sustainable manufacturing of technologies in Africa focusing on Ghana
title_fullStr Developing a framework for sustainable manufacturing of technologies in Africa focusing on Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Developing a framework for sustainable manufacturing of technologies in Africa focusing on Ghana
title_short Developing a framework for sustainable manufacturing of technologies in Africa focusing on Ghana
title_sort developing a framework for sustainable manufacturing of technologies in africa focusing on ghana
topic Sustainable development
Technological innovations
Social aspects
Shea butter industry
Ghana
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37127/