Ghanaian SMEs’ perspective on the interrelationship between market and entrepreneurial orientations

PurposeThis research examines the interrelationships between market orientation (MO) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in the small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector. Due to the conflicting results associated with each orientation's influence on firm performance, some researchers advanced that scholars should resort to concurrent observation of the constructs. To the researchers, concurrent deployment of the constructs by businesses is likely to result in an enhanced performance. However, what is lacking in their proposition is how the deployment of these resources should be, thereby leading to a knowledge gap in the literature. The aforementioned gap is what this paper seeks to address.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed deductive research approach, and data were collected from 366 SMEs' owners or owner-managers of SMEs in two metropoles in Ghana. For this study, the hand delivery and collection of questionnaire technique was deployed. The reason is that most respondents may be reluctant to respond to the questionnaires through the post or Internet. Partial least square-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed for the data analysis due to its importance in allowing the testing of relationships among constructs. Furthermore, seven-point Likert scale was used to generate responses from the respondents.FindingsThe result indicates that MO and EO have a positive and significant influence on each other. However, the influence of EO on MO is greater. Therefore, when owners of SMEs are embracing the two constructs in their businesses, EO should precede MO. The finding is a novelty of this study. Through this result, the owners of SMEs would have knowledge of embracing EO before MO during the employment of the two constructs in their firms. The study further revealed that not all the components of MO have positive and significant influence on EO, and the reverse is true. Without this study, the owners of SMEs would have placed equal attention on each construct and their components. The study also indicates that deployment of MO in its composite form rather than components is the best way for improving EO.Practical implicationsThe more SMEs engage in MO activities, the likelihood of an increase in their entrepreneurial spirit and the opposite is true. However, engaging in more EO activities would result in higher MO than the reverse.Originality/valueThe findings add to the empirical literature by revealing the interrelationships between MO and EO, which serve as a guide to owners of SMEs and practitioners in their concurrent deployment of the two constructs. The findings would also open replication doors for future researchers in different settings.

Fabrication of WC-Graphene-Al Composites by Rapid Sintering and Their Mechanical Properties

Tungsten carbides are very attractive because of their superior properties, e.g., high thermal and electrical conductivities, high melting point, high hardness, and relatively high chemical stability. Tungsten carbides with a binder metal, for example Ni or Co, are mainly used to fabricate nozzles, molds and cutting tools in the composite form. Al has been reported as an alternative binder in Tungsten carbide since Al shows a higher oxidation resistance than Ni or Co and is less expensive. Nanostructured WC-Graphene-Al composites were sintered rapidly using pulsed current activated sintering (PCAS). The mechanical properties (hardness and fracture toughness) and microstructure were investigated using scanning electron microscopy and Vickers hardness tester. The PCAS method successfully obstructed grain growth, resulting in nanostructured materials, and induced a very fast consolidation nearly at the level of theoretical density. The grain size of WC in WC-Graphene-Al composite decreased with the addition of Al content. The fracture toughness and hardness of the WC-5vol.% graphene-x vol.% Al (x=0, 5, 10, 15) were 4.7, 5.5, 5.9, 7.9 MPa·m1/2 and 2008, 1961, 1883, 1731 kg/mm2, respectively. The fracture toughness was improved without remarkable decrease of hardness due to the small dimensions of the WC grain and the consolidation facilitated by adding Al to WC-Graphene matrix.

Alginate oligosaccharides can maintain activities of lysosomes under low pH condition

The objective of this study was to report that lysosome extracted from egg white could be used as a drug through oral administration for treating diseases by using pH sensitive alginate oligosaccharides. Lysosome-alginate oligosaccharides composite were formulated for oral administration of lysosomes. The dissolution test confirmed the availability of the oral dosage form. When lysosome were used as an independent drug, the activity of protein was lost due to influence of low pH. Its antibacterial activity was also remarkably reduced. However, when lysosome-alginate oligosaccharides composite form was used, antimicrobial activity of lysozyme was maintained. At low pH, a gel-like matrix was formed by alginate oligosaccharides to protect the lysosome. When the pH was increased, alginate oligosaccharides were dissolved and the lysosome was released. SDS–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of released lysosomes revealed that alginate oligosaccharide could effectively protect the lysosome from degradation or hydrolysis under acidic conditions for at least 2 h. The results of this study are important for application of lysosomes as therapeutic agents, and also it was confirmed that alginate oligosaccharides have potential as direct delivery system for the oral application of protein derived therapies.

A set of bone tools in the case from the settlement Asaviec 2 in the Krivina peat bog (northern Belarus)

In 2010, during the investigation of the site Asaviec 2 (Krivina peat bog, Beankovičy District, Viciebsk Region, Belarus) a unique set of tools in a case was revealed. It consists of an ornamented case made of the tubular bone of a large bird, an awl made of the lateral metapody of an elk, and a pointed bone item with an extension in the form of a wedge at one end. The method of experimental-traceological analysis was employed to determine the details of the manufacturing technology and the functional purpose of the find. According to the results of the study, a separate use of the tools was established - working with plant materials, which may indicate evidence of knitting or weaving products from organic fibers. Following experimental observations, some possible ways of working with these implements are considered. Thus, on the basis of the structural and contextual features of the artefacts, a variant of their use in a composite form, where the case served also as a handle is proposed. Bone awls or points are a widespread type of tools on sites from the Stone to the Bronze Age. However, the unique set found in situ allows us to expand our knowledge of the economy and productive activities of the past. Archaeological material, revealed an accompanying set of tools and a radiocarbon date from the underlying finding of conditional layer - 3810 50 BP (cal BC 2460-2064) (Le 10465), allow us to reconcile it with the antiquities of the Zhyzhyca-Kryvina stage of the Northern Belarusian Culture, middle of the 3rd-first half of the 2nd mill. BC.

A NEW AND EFFICIENT CENTROIDAL MEAN DERIVATIVE-BASED TRAPEZOIDAL SCHEME FOR NUMERICAL CUBATURE

This research presents a new and efficient Centroidal mean derivative-based numerical cubature scheme which has been proposed for the accurate evaluation of double integrals under finite range. The proposed modification is based on the Trapezoidal-type quadrature and cubature rules. The approximate values can only be obtained for some important applications to evaluate the complex double integrals. Higher precision and order of accuracy could be achieved by the proposed scheme. The schemes, in basic and composite forms, with local and global error terms are presented with necessary supporting arguments with their performance evaluation against conventional Trapezoid rule through some numerical experiments. The simultaneously observed error distributions of the proposed schemes are found to be lower than the conventional Trapezoidal cubature scheme in composite form

AN EFFICIENT TRAPEZOIDAL SCHEME FOR NUMERICAL CUBATURE WITH HERONIAN MEAN DERIVATIVE

This study focuses on the Heronian mean derivative-based numerical cubature scheme to better evaluate double integrals’ infinite limits. The proposed modifications rely on the Trapezoidal-type quadrature and cubature schemes. The aforementioned proposed scheme is important to numerically evaluate the complex double integrals, where the exact value is not available but the approximate values can only be obtained. With regards to higher precision and order of accuracy, the proposed Heronian derivative-based double integral scheme provides efficient results. The discussed scheme, in basic and composite forms, with local and global error terms is presented with necessary proofs with their performance evaluation against conventional Trapezoid rule through some numerical experiments. The consequently observed error distributions of the aforementioned scheme are found to be lower than the conventional Trapezoidal cubature scheme in composite form

HERONIAN MEAN DERIVATIVE-BASED SIMPSON’S-TYPE SCHEME FOR RIEMANN-STIELTJES INTEGRAL

In this paper, a new heronian mean derivative-based quadrature scheme of Simpson’s 1/3-type is proposed for the approximation of the Riemann-Stieltjes integral (RS-integral). Theorems are proved related to the basic form, composite form, local and global errors of the new scheme for the RS-integral. The reduction of the new proposed scheme is verified using g(t) = t for Riemann integral. The theoretical results of the new proposed scheme have been proved by experimental work using programming in MATLAB against existing schemes. The order of accuracy, computational cost and average CPU time (in seconds) of the new proposed scheme are determined. The results obtained show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme compared to the existing schemes.