Donor facilitated strategic business alliances: an assessment of DANIDA's private sector development programme in Ghana.

Abstract

Due to the inability of firms from developing countries to attract collaborative partners from the developed economies, donor agencies have set up schemes that facilitate business to business collaboration between firms in the developed economies and developing country based counterparts. One such scheme is Private Sector Development (PSD) Programme initiated by DANIDA, which aims at inter-firm collaborations between firms in Denmark and other developing countries, including Ghana. In the paper, the impact of the PSD on firm capacity development and the possible implementation challenges facing the scheme are assessed. The findings indicate that such donor facilitated inter-firm linkages provide critical resources for companies in developing countries, in areas such as financial/capital mobilization, technology and managerial skills, which are vital for improving competitiveness. The difficulties encountered in the implementation of such schemes are presented, and suggestions are made to the effect that such linkages should not be
seen as panacea to the problems of enterprise development in Ghana. The policy and strategic implications of the business alliances are also highlighted in the paper.

Journal of Business Research Vol. 1 (1&2) 2007: pp. 31-40