Balancing Public Interest and Market Orientation: ‎‎Governance Challenges in ‎Research Commercialisation within Ghana’s Public ‎‎Sector |Chapter 2 | New Advances in Business, Management and Economics Vol. 12

 

Many public sector institutions in developing economies whose primary mandate is to produce public goods are also enjoined to marketise their products and services to supplement governments’ budgetary allocations. The main objective of this paper is to advance our understanding of how the internal environment is strategically aligned with public sector marketisation in the context of developing economies. Therefore, this chapter critically assesses the internal environment in relation to commercialisation within the most prominent public research organisations in Ghana. The assessment was aided by McKinsey’s 7S analytical framework and underpinned by the Social Contract Theory. The source of data was strategic plans from 2018-2023, a corporate strategic marketing plan, and archival records (including organisational structure and annual reports) from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Ghana, and secondary data from desk research. The process was driven by the question: “How can the internal structures of a public research organisation be strategically aligned with its human and material resources for effective market-oriented outcomes? It argues that commercialisation challenges the normative foundations of the social contract that underpin public research, particularly the principles of equity, accessibility, and collective benefit from the commercialisation of research. The findings reveal a need to develop appropriate internal systems for monitoring processes, procedures, and improving efficiency within the internal value chain of commercial-oriented research organisations. The chapter concludes that a renewed social contract that aligns public interest with innovation-led economic growth would situate Ghana's experience within broader debates on science governance and commercialisation of knowledge in developing contexts. The chapter provides theoretical and policy insights for balancing profit objectives with the developmental roles of public institutions through continuous internal improvement to remain competitive.

 

Author(s) Details

Theophilus Francis Gyepi-Garbrah
Management Department, University of Gold Coast, Ghana.

 

Please see the book here :- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/nabme/v12/6723