GROUP 30

A SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS OF STUDENT ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT THE GHANA

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ............................................................................................ 2

Problem Statement ...................................................................................................................... 5

RESEARCH QUESTION ........................................................................................................... 6

Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................................... 7

FEATURES OF SWOT ............................................................................................................ 10

CONCEPTS .............................................................................................................................. 11

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................ 13

OBJECTIVES OF STUDY ....................................................................................................... 13

Specific objectives..................................................................................................................... 13

SAMPLE AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUE ............................................................................ 13

DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE ..................................................................................... 14

METHOD OF COLLECTION AND ANALYSES .................................................................. 14

References ..................................................................................................................................... 15
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

This chapter contains the overview of this study. It begins with the presentation of the research

background followed by a discussion on the research problem. Three main research questions are

formulated along with the purpose of the study.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

In recent years, university graduates face severe unemployment situation. In order to mitigate the

problem, there is the need to encourage students to start their own businesses. This will not only

solve the unemployment crisis but also create more job opportunities for society. The word

“entrepreneur” comes from the French verb “entreprendre” which means to undertake. Economists

have never had a consistent definition of “entrepreneur” or “entrepreneurship” However; scholars

have come out with many definitions for entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship, is an activity that

involves the discovery, evaluation and exploitation of resources to introduce new goods and

services, ways of organizing, markets, processes and raw materials through organizing efforts that

previously had not existed (Venkataraman, 1997) (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000). Other

definitions subscribe to the notion of innovation as a key attribute of entrepreneurship. From the

perspective of (Kirzner, 1973), the entrepreneur is an individual who is alert to opportunities for

trade. The entrepreneur is an individual who is an individual who is capable of identifying suppliers

and customers and acting as an intermediary where profit arises out of the intermediary function

(Deakins & M, 2006). The benefits that come with entrepreneurship cannot be overemphasized.
According to (Baumol, Litan, & Schramm, 2007), entrepreneurship, as one of the driving forces,

is very important for economic growth and development. (Drucker, 1985) point out that “the

drivers of growth in modern economies are not large industrial companies, but rather new and

small business”. Many countries of the world today can be seen devoting more resources to expand

the rate of entrepreneurship in their various countries. This is because entrepreneurship, no doubt,

has brought a breakthrough in technology and organization innovation which provides new

products and services for society (Qijie & Y, 2010). (McMillan & Woodruff, 2002) adds that

except for facilitating the economic growth, the main benefit of entrepreneurship is to create more

new employment opportunities for society.

From a development perspective entrepreneurship has recently come to be seen as a viable

alternative to formal employment in Africa. Much development aid is therefore being focused on

the ways to unleash the potential of the African youth through entrepreneurship which is believed

will lead to private sector- led growth and improve the competitiveness of the African economies.

It is apparent that entrepreneurial activity is beneficial for Ghana both at a micro level in terms of

creating stable and sustainable employment for individuals, and at a macro level where it

significantly increases the country’s GDP. In recent times, entrepreneurship and social change

among young people is on the rise in Ghana. The youth especially those in the university are

building the future of the country’s economy with their start-ups and the Ghana Institute of

journalism is no exception. Many students have seen the need to start a business whiles in school

since unemployment is a big issue in the country with a number of people leaving the universities

and not finding jobs.

Most of these students are combining academic work with the private businesses they operate.
Businesses such as bead making, dressmaking, makeup, wholesale and retail of goods such as

clothes, shoes, airtime, bags and event management are in operation at the Ghana Institute of

Journalism

This paper seeks to analyses the entrepreneurship situation at the Ghana Institute of Journalism

taking into consideration the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT).

In order to provide a better understanding of the current state of student entrepreneurship, and

potential strategies to achieve the stated objective, a SWOT Analysis can be undertaken. SWOT

Analysis is (one of many possible strategic planning tools) used to evaluate the Strengths,

Weakness, Opportunities and Threats involved in a project, or any other situation requiring a

decision.

Entrepreneurship as one of the driving forces, is very important for economic growth. The main

benefit of entrepreneurship is to create more new employment opportunities for society

development. (Kuratko & Hodgetts, 2001)

SWOT analysis framework is the framework tool for a fundamental requirement for the marketer,

entrepreneur or business person. It is a framework tool for identifying and analyzing the internal

and external factors that can have an impact on the viability of a project, place, product or person.

A scan of the internal and external environment is an important part of the strategic planning

process during entrepreneurship. SWOT analysis guides to identify the positives and negatives

inside an institution, or an organization.

should collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative information and to establish management

systems for future use in monitoring and evaluation, to consider economic and individual

development opportunities in all sectors. (Popescu, 2003)

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Entrepreneurs are prime movers of economic change. They stand out like economic heroes whose

creativity invigorates the economy with new ideas that lead to economic growth of the nation. The

student entrepreneurs as independent bodies, lead us to research the students’ entrepreneurship

activities, which become needful for more economic impact. (Schumpeter, 1934)

There is a high increase in the number of people who graduate from our various universities in

Ghana. Hence, the number of undergraduate students graduating from Public and Private Higher

Educational institutions in Ghana is ever increasing over time. This trend will continue as per the

vision of the country towards higher education.

There are no cut-out jobs for people who finish university, unlike in the past when job openings

were assured. Therefore there are a lot of unemployed graduates. However, in the past

entrepreneurship was not thought in schools. Currently, people have seen the need to incorporate

it in their curriculum so that students don’t have to wait for white collar jobs.

In the system, we already have student entrepreneurs. However, the study wants to examine their

situation so that we can commend what will enhance their enterprises, and what will encourage

other people to become entrepreneurs. Society. Therefore, understanding and analyzing what

factors influence entrepreneurship becomes a starting point of the study

one of the most important areas of research. The study of student entrepreneurship is still growing

however, just few researches have been done in the composite factors of influence of student

entrepreneurship.

RESEARCH QUESTION

Therefore, in order to make a contribution to the integrated factors from the multidimensional

perspective, the study will focus on answering the following research questions

1. What are the external factors that lead to success rates student entrepreneurship in the Ghana

Institute of Journalism?

2. What are internal factors that lead to success rates student entrepreneurship in the Ghana

Institute of Journalism?

The major aim of this study is to find out reasons behind the low entrepreneurship rates of students

and success rates by analyzing the external and internal factors through SWOT in

entrepreneurship. Moreover, this study will present a framework to explain the composite factors

of influence of student entrepreneurship and fill this gap in theoretical concepts. Another is its

practical application, by combining theorized studies with empirical studies; hopefully this thesis

will shed some lights on future student entrepreneurship development.

As the foundation of the entire study, the theoretical part needs a clear logical frame. The main

theme of this study is the evaluation for entrepreneurship of students, thus we begin from

introduction for two related concepts. These two concepts are what entrepreneurship is, and the

SWOT analysis framework. On the other hand, one of the purposes of this paper is to find out

reasons that might have resulted in the success rates of student entrepreneurship. For this purpose,

we work out two investigating directions (external and internal) through the analyzing model of

SWOT in the entrepreneurial process.

That is to say we are going to find out influential variables both externally and internally. After

confirming research direction, we further discuss which external and internal variables are, and

which will be the main part of theoretical framework.

Entrepreneurship is one of the most important elements for a growing economy and plays a major

role as critical contributors to economic growth through leadership, management, innovation,

research and development effectiveness, job creation, productivity and formulation of new

industries.

In recent years, students from the tertiary institutions face the severe employment situation.

Students who completed university don’t have a job afterward and thereby join the larger

population with no jobs. As graduates, as years pass by, the situation of employment is becomes

increasingly severe. In order to promote social economic development and reduce employment

pressure, one way to mitigate the problem is to encourage students to start their own businesses.

This will not only solve the employment problem but also create more job opportunities.
In order to alleviate the employment pressure, society, government and universities have begun to

actively encourage and support student entrepreneurship.

Examining the factors that determine success or failure of a business, facilitated the creation of

specific methodologies for analysis and diagnosis of business activity by determining the role of

entrepreneurial skills. Environmental analysis method, and competitiveness in the company is the

SWOT analysis.

The analyses were first developed by Philip Selznick who related organizational factors with

environmental parameters in general and points out the complex dependencies between them in

1957. In his book “Leadership in administration” he also presents the overall influences on the

business itself (Selznick, 1957). This first idea of matching internal and external parameters in

general was transformed in a more precise method of the SWOT in the 1960’s. SWOT was

promoted by Uric and Orr in Great Britain (Urick & Orr, 1974). It becomes clear that the SWOT

is not a method that was introduced first by one inventor or a team of inventors. In fact, the SWOT

model was developed step by step and grew over time to a powerful technique. According to this,

other variations basing on the fundamental idea of the SWOT were developed.

The SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses,

Opportunities, and Threats of a company. It provides information that is helpful in matching the

company’s resources and capabilities to the competitive environment in which it operates. The

resulting SWOT matrix contrasts the results of the internal analysis (strengths and weakness) and

the external analysis (opportunities and threats) to define strategic fields of action. That application

of a SWOT analysis is therefore instrumental in strategy formulation and selection. (Agarwal,

Grassl, & Pahl, 2012)

and threats which it faces. SWOT analysis can be applied to develop and extend the conclusions

drawn from investigation of the study.

It seeks to identify the opportunities and threats in the external environment and the strengths and

weaknesses of existing resources and activities which might be used to take advantage of

opportunities or avert threats. The analysis enables informed decisions to be taken about the ability

of the existing records service to contribute to the development of a new program.

SWOT analysis is considered a complex research of economic, technical, sociological, legal and

managerial activities that characterize a company that identifies the strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities, threats and causes it generates, it makes recommendations to eliminate or minimize

negative aspects and/ or recovery of the positive. (Stan & Nedelcu, 2015)

‘A SWOT analysis is a strategic balance sheet of an organization; that is the strengths of the

organization, the weaknesses of the organization, the opportunities facing the organization, and

the threats facing the organization. It is one of the cornerstone analytical tools to help an

organization develop a preferred future. It is one of the time-tested tools that has the capacity to

enable an organization to understand itself. To respond effectively to changes in the environment,

we must understand our external and internal contexts so we can develop a vision and a strategy

that link the two. We need to weave together our understanding of our organization and our actions

to develop a future’

(Chang & Huang, 2006) (Coman & Ronen, 2010 )

Strengths

Strengths are considered mostly internal. For example, what do you and your family, employees,

and management team bring to the business? If you are planning to start a business, you or an

employee or family member may have previous experience in that business. If it is then is a

strength, but if not, this may be viewed as a weakness. If you already know where to go to find the

help you need, this would be considered a strength for this analysis.

Weaknesses

Weaknesses are also generally considered internal and are the factors you will need to address to

run a successful business. For a start-up business, an example might be a lack of experience in the

selected business. Another example may be that your family members do not completely support

you in this venture.

You may lack qualified employees, or perhaps your business will not support full-time employees.

Opportunities

Opportunities are considered mostly external. What opportunities are available for your business?

For example, you may be able to take advantage of low interest loan packages for start-ups or

grants for feasibility studies. You may have an idea that has not been tried in your area and know

there is a demand for the product you plan to produce. Be aware that people with potential

businesses tend to be much more optimistic than those with existing operations.
Threats

Threats are also considered mostly external. Threats from outside of your business will directly

affect you, but you may have very little control over them. If you are starting a new business, there

may be local regulations that negatively impact your business. Unforeseen competition (local or

foreign), dissolution of markets, and adverse weather may also have a negative effect on your new

business. Many of these threats will also negatively affect an existing business. Rising interest

rates may have a greater impact on existing businesses than on start-ups.

CONCEPTS

This study seeks to evaluate the entrepreneurial situation of student entrepreneurs in the Ghana

Institute of Journalism. This will be done using the SWOT analysis.

SWOT analysis can help student entrepreneurs in achieving their targets by making the best

utilization of their resources. SWOT shows student entrepreneurs about themselves and the loose

corners on which they need to work for perfection. Student entrepreneurs in order to thrive better

need to know themselves and the circumstances better to walk along the path towards success.

The importance of this study will show how much and to what extent SWOT is required;

 Provide information from the study which is useful for policy makers, academics,

educational institutions and the public as well

programs and raise awareness of developing suitable entrepreneurship programs to is

prepare students’ as a career option

 It could also serve as documented source for drawing a curriculum to be integrated into the

school system to help students know more about entrepreneurship.

 To discover possibilities for new ways for solving the problems

 To make correct decisions as to which way entrepreneurs should go after exploring their

opportunities

 Get clearer directions and choices considering the threats involved in the work plan

 Make relevant change in plan as per the priorities and possibilities defined by

entrepreneurs’ strengths and weaknesses

 To help avoid midway modification in work plan if student entrepreneurs come across any

new and better opportunity for successful completion of their task.

 To encourage other students to become entrepreneurs.

OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

The aim of this work is to study student entrepreneurship using SWOT analysis. The aims of this

thesis are to find out possible reasons that cause entrepreneurship failure of some entrepreneurial

students and identify all factors that influence students to success, then to form a beneficial

framework.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

 To find the internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) that lead to success of student

entrepreneurs of the Level 400 students in the Ghana Institute of Journalism

 To find the external factors (opportunities and threats) that lead to success of student

entrepreneurs of the Level 400 students in the Ghana Institute of Journalism

SAMPLE AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

The Research was done targeting population of the final year students of the Ghana Institute of

Journalism particularly Journalism (JN) A, Journalism (JN) B, Journalism (JN) C, Public Relations

(PR) A. The total targeted is 10 from such strata making a total of 40 entrepreneurial students.

From which, they will be selected through the simple random sampling technique. The responses

well qualified will be analyzed. The final year students were selected as they are ready for the

labor market in the outside world, and ready to decide their career paths. The school was selected

since it offers a wide range of courses and entrepreneurship opportunities and might promote
entrepreneurship knowledge among students. The unit analysis of the study is an individual

student.

Empirical study is done using both primary and secondary data collected by an explorative use of

questionnaire. The questionnaire is quantitative method to which aims to provide a broaden

overview of the entrepreneur. It could consist of open- and closed-ended questions.

DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE

Data will be collected by means of personal interviews of the entrepreneur as well as self-

administered questionnaires. For the purpose of the study, a self-administered questionnaire will

be utilized for the advantages it offers compared to interviews which makes the data more robust.

The questionnaires offer quick and inexpensive process to obtain a vast amount of information

covering a large area within a relatively short time. It also tends to be reliable since it guarantees

confidentiality of the entrepreneurs or candidates filling them, helps avoid fear and embarrassment,

allows the respondents to be free to answer in their own time and their own pace, and also allows

the researcher to collect large quantities of data from a commendable number of people over a

short period of time.

METHOD OF COLLECTION AND ANALYSES

A random sampling technique method will be employed in order to avoid bias. A total of 10

students (5 boys and 5 girls) each will be sampled from each class making a total of 40. The

questionnaire has samples of questions which seeks to determine the individual’s strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities, threats and somehow determine their intent as to why they are

entrepreneurs. The quantitative techniques were employed. The data will be analyzed through
tabulation, correlation and SPSS to provide a more comprehensive and adequate data collected for

analysis.

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