Social Capital and Technical Information Flows in the Ghanaian Manufacturing Sector

Social capital in the form of entrepreneurial networks is found to be a determinant of Ghanaian manufacturing enterprise performance. Entrepreneurs with larger, more diverse sets of contacts have more productive enterprises. Entrepreneurs also benefit from the networking activity of others. There is some evidence that the networks facilitate flows of knowledge between enterprises. A simple theoretical model indicates that where such flows take place, there is a potential for sustained endogenous economic growth. However, in Ghana, the flows are not sufficiently complementary to the enterprises’ own knowledge for this potential to be realized.