Sustainable supply chain management for Cocoa in Ghana
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Date
2015-07-12
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Abstract
Among development priorities, the Government of Ghana is very committed to securing
the sustainability of the cocoa supply chain due to its important role in Ghana’s economy.
Yet, Ghana must confront serious challenges regarding the maintenance of future
sustainability of the cocoa value chain. This study assesses the management of
sustainability in the cocoa chain in Ghana. Among other things, the study sought to: map
the flow process of cocoa in the domestic chain in Ghana; identify the risks within each
stage that impact on goals of sustainability; establish the relationship that exists between
engagement in sustainable practices and the performance of players in the chain and to
find out whether supply chain improvement programmes play any moderating role in the
linkage between sustainable practices and the performance of players in the chain. To this
end, a mixed method approach was employed to collect both qualitative and quantitative
data. Results of the quantitative method indicate differences in sustainability practices
among key players. Specifically, it is observed that farmers are highly involved in
economic initiatives than environmental and social and for the Cocoa Marketing
Companies (CMC) efforts are invested in internal operations specifically those that
border on social and economic sustainability. The qualitative results also reveal that the
cocoa chain is exposed to enormous risks. These risks revolve around the following:
farm level risks which include stock-out, spoilage, environmental, pest infestations,
shrinkage, theft and loss of cocoa land; Purchasing Clerks (PCs’) risks include weight
loss of cocoa beans, theft, unpaid credit, environmental and pest infestations; License
Buying Companies (LBCs’) risks include poor quality supply, stock-out, contractual,
technical, commercial, reputational, employee turnover, performance, environmental,
shrinkage, spoilage, theft, pest infestations, smuggling, robbery/theft, short-landed,
outsourcing, accident and spoilage; and the CMC risks include shortages, add-mixture,
spoilage, health, over-supply, theft/robbery and smuggling of cocoa. This study
contributes to the literature on Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) by
demonstrating that SSCM relates positively with the competitive performance of actors
and that Supply Chain Management (SCM) Investments moderate the linkage between
SSCM and the performance of actors. Furthermore, by adopting a system-wide analysis
that reveals the inherent risks in the chain and with emphasis on the Supply Chain (SC)
phases for which existing literature is limited, this study makes a significant contribution
to the field/discipline.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Department of Information Systems and Decision Sciences, College of Social Sciences
in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
2015