Small-Scale Industries and Economic Development in Ghana: Business Behavior and Strategies in Informal Sector Economies

Situation and problems of small businesses in Ghana.
Topics: location and area of the business; year of founding and
business founder; frequency of change of location and reasons;
necessity for a loan when the business was founded; type of financial
source and amount of financial aid received at the founding of the
business; biggest problems at the beginning and selected strategies
of solution; judgement on business performance; years with the
greatest and least success and changes introduced since; judgement on
current business situation as well as its duration; size of product
range; detailed information on the four main products; type of buyers
and origins of customers; change in regular customers; detailed
information on the tools and machines used most; storekeeping;
possible length of production with the materials in stock; changes in
storekeeping compared to last year and type of difference; exchange
of equipment and tools with other businesses in the area; sole owner
of the business or part owner; personal partnership in other
businesses; monthly business expenditures for materials, wages,
electricity, water, rent and other costs; amount of monthly income in
good and bad times; amount of investments up to now; value of the
company if it were to be sold; willingness to take out a loan and
financing sources used; granting credit to customers; passing work on
to other companies or receipt of orders from other companies;
detailed information on the number of employees; occupational
structure of workers, trainees and family members active in the
company at selected times of the company's existence; average time
worked each week by employees; intent to hire; amount of monthly
income for a full-time worker; problems in looking for qualified
workers and trainees as well as reasons for these difficulties;
duration of training and later employment of trainees; the number of
former trainees that have started their own business; detailed
information on business problems and judgement on them compared to
last year as well as chosen strategies of solution; planned business
expansion; assumed problems from a business expansion and possible
strategies of solution; government aid received and type of this aid;
association membership; association goals and aid received from the
association to help solve problems; year the association was founded;
reasons for not belonging to an association; earlier or present
membership in a savings institution; amount of contributions and
method of payment; ownership of account and type of account; year the
account was opened; taking out a loan at one's own bank;
book-keeping; regional origins; ethnic group affiliation; size of
household; education level; employment in industry or in the
government sector before founding the business; father's occupation;
preference for employment in the formal or informal sector;
information on the use of a particular amount of money for private or
business purpose; registration of the business or interest in
registering the business; advantages and disadvantages of
registration.
Additionally encoded were:
the city and part of town in which the interview was conducted as well as
the name of the interviewer.