Browsing by Author "Sarpong, David"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Can university-industry-government collaborations drive a 3-D printing revolution in Africa? A triple helix model of technological leapfrogging in additive manufacturing
    (Elsevier, 2022-03-11) Kolade, Oluwaseun; Adegbile, Abiodun; Sarpong, David
    The protracted disruption of Covid-19 pandemic on global supply chains has renewed calls for a new model of manufacturing that removes the need for centralised high-volume production and large inventory stocking. Drawing ideas from the Triple Helix model of university-industry-government innovation, this paper analyses the prospects for a 3D manufacturing revolution in Africa, a continent which was disproportionately affected in the rounds of international border restrictions imposed in response to the Omicron variant. Taking a conceptual approach supported with case illustrations, the paper reviews the evolution of 3D printing technologies, the disruptive impact they have had on the traditional supply chain and the global expansion of the 3D printing market. Highlighting the favourable conditions for technological leapfrogging within the African context, the paper proposes a new integrative framework that explains how the emergence of new hybrid organisations from the Triple Helix can drive a promising manufacturing future for the continent -with small and medium enterprises playing a key role
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    Collecting badges: Understanding the gold rush for business excellence awards
    (Wiley, 2022-03-02) Asante, Shadrack; Sarpong, David; Bi, Jianxiang; Mordi, Chima
    Business excellence awards (BEAs) have become all too commonplace. Entering and winning one has now become part of contemporary organising. However, scholarly work examining these awards remains scattered, with the dominant narrative focusing on what could even be described as the intense obsession with award ceremonies. In this paper, we articulate the mechanisms through which the dual demands for managing competitive pressures and achieving competitive advantage drive organisations to enter these awards. In doing this, we integrate and expand upon prior work to explicate an integrative framework for examining how the interactions between various contextual and environmental factors may induce organisations to enter BEAs and the potential outcomes, particularly for those who win or are shortlisted for these awards. We go on to present a set of propositions constituting a contribution, after which our study's implications for the theory and practice of BEAs are outlined.
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    Crafting Organisational Resilience Through Managerial Performance
    (Emerald, 2022-10-10) Atiase, Victor; Sarpong, David; Agbanyo, Senyo; Ameh, Johnson Kwesi
    Organisational resilience is a strategic resource within the contingencies of organising in Small and Micro businesses (SMEs). In this regard, the notion of resilient human capital in propelling a resilient organisation has come to dominate the contemporary discourse on the performance of SMEs. Drawing on human capital theory as a meta-theoretical lens, we examine the cumulative effect of managerial training on managers’ performance in the context of relatively underdeveloped institutions and markets. Employing a quantitative research methodology, data for our empirical inquiry comes from a survey of 506 Ghanaian SMEs operating in diverse sectors of the economy. Following SMEs being at the convergence point of resource constraint, we show why some firm managers are more likely to exhibit managerial resilience than those in other firms. Our data evidence suggests that targeted managerial training, in practice, has the potential to strengthen organisational resilience. Nevertheless, the content, efficiency and frequency of the training received, we argue, accounts for the differential performance of managers within the contingencies of everyday organising. We conclude by delineating some relevant implications of our study for the theory and practice of managerial resilience nurturing in organising.
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    Environments for Joint University-Industry Laboratories (JUIL): Micro-level Dimensions and Research Implications
    (Elsevier, 2021-05-28) Adegbile, Abiodun; Sarpong, David; Kolade, Oluwaseun
    Societal demands for innovations to address market opportunities while simultaneously generating positive human capability impacts has radically transformed how innovation is organised. This new turn has focused attention of scholars, policy makers, and practitioners to exploring the potential of Joint University-Industry Laboratories (JUIL) to generating impact from university research through knowledge and technology transfer to industry. Although there is considerable scholarly work on the environmental conditions necessary to support JUIL, specific conditions that foster the identification of opportunities for innovation in JUIL at the micro-level remains unclear. Emphasising the persistence, but also transience nature of the context within which JUIL operate, we synthesize diverse literature streams on university-industry collaborations, and the conditions in which they are induced to explicate an integrative framework that specifies how the three distinct but interrelated dimensions: individuals, processes and interaction, and structure, may drive the development of successful JUIL. We go further to present a set of propositions constituting a contribution and outline the implications of our study for the theory and practice of managing and formulating policies to developing conducive environments for JUIL.
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    How managers ‘make meaning’ of business tournament rituals
    (Elsevier, 2025-01-23) Sarpong, David; Asante, Shadrack; Siaw, Christopher Agyapong; O’Regan, Nicholas; Boakye, Derrick
    In this paper, we examine how managers ‘make meaning’ of business tournament rituals (BTRs)— recognition-based contests in which participating firms get social endorsements and winners receive prestigious awards. In exploring two UK BTRs, we found that managerial orienting systems, made up of beliefs about the identity of their firm, competitors, and customers, and what it takes to compete in their environments, drive managers to compete in BTRs. Their interpretive view of BTRs as sources of strategic capabilities and hard market power, we argue, is constructed, and projected to the viewing public through a set of four distinct but ‘durationally indivisible’ temporal frames: validating identity and values, competence signalling, product/service differentiation, and market and industry visibility; these may operate in combination or serially account for the observed managerial preoccupation with BTRs. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory, practice, and future research.
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    ‘Mining women’ and livelihoods: Examining the dominant and emerging issues in the ASM gendered economic space
    (Sage, 2024-01-09) Asante, Shadrack; Ofosu, George; Sarpong, David; Torbor, Mabel
    The intractable challenges faced by female mine workers have come to dominate the discourse and scholarship on artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) operations. However, the extensive focus on the informal and labour-intensive segments has engendered a failure to capture the nuances in the duality of ASM operations and how it impacts female outcomes. Drawing on intersectionality as a lens, in this article the authors map the dynamics on how issues related to the gender, situatedness and positionality of female mine workers interact to shape their situated labour outcomes. Highlighting the differentiated outcomes for female mine workers within the contingencies of the broader socio-cultural context in which ASM work is organised, the article sheds light on how the social identity structures such as gender, sexuality and class interact to give form to the marginalisation, occupational roles, the ‘boom town’ narrative and occupational and health challenges that characterise the ASM gendered economic space.