Cocoa Processing Case Study

4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Based on the objectives of the study, the following research questions will be investigated to establish a clear understanding of procurement management practices in the processing of cocoa.
i. What are the best practices in the development of a benchmarking framework to facilitate the implementation processes responsible for planning and managing procurement in the Ghanaian cocoa industry? ii. What factors pose challenges to effective procurement management within the Ghanaian cocoa industry? iii. How does procurement activity happen within cocoa processing industries? iv. What role does procurement play in the Ghanaian cocoa processing industry?
v. What is the effect of procurement management on financial performance

In order to increase precision and to minimize sampling bias, five districts out of the twenty-seven districts in the Ashanti Region were randomly selected. These include Atwima Mponua, Atwima Nwabiagya (Nkawie), New Edubiase, Offinso and Ahafo Ano South districts. It was not possible to survey the entire population within the selected areas however, efforts were made to ensure that the sample size had equal representation to address the research questions. Two hundred thirty (230) cocoa processors from Ashanti region out of about 8,000,000 cocoa processors were selected. The study also ensured that the selected cocoa processors have had a fair exposure in the industry and a performance trend that provided in-depth information for analytical purposes. Hence, it is expected that the data to be obtained from the study would give a broader perspective of procurement management practices in the industry. The infusion of publicly funded project and large private participants is purposeful, as this would help gather enough empirical data on both categories of cocoa processors in the industry to determine potential innovative strategic determinants that enhances procurement management practices in the Ghanaian cocoa

The research methodology to be adopted in this study will be the mixed approach (qualitative and quantitative research) and consisted of literature which elaborated based on the objectives of the research. The extant literature review will help to discover the academic paradigms supporting the subject area and to identify the scope of procurement management among cocoa processors in the country. This will help identify an innovative strategic determinant that enhances procurement management practices and logistics collaboration in the Ghanaian cocoa industry to facilitate the conceptualization and contextualization of the study. The review will be on credible and scientific data from the existing literature through journals, conference papers, publications of corporate bodies and textbooks. The quantitative research will apply to both the fieldwork and desk study. This approach is also known to generate rich, detailed and valid data that contributes to in-depth understanding of the context of the research area (Fugar,