This article brings to light the powerful connection between supply chain agility (SCA) and lean marketing as tools for gaining competitive advantage in this modern era of business. For ...organizations, achieving a competitive advantage is of the highest importance. Businesses use a variety of techniques to position themselves against their rivals as a result of rising competition. The study also looked at how SCA and firm competitiveness are moderated and mediated by lean marketing. In Ghana, information was gathered from 225 businesses via a questionnaire-based survey. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data obtained. The study demonstrated that the relationship between SCA and competitive advantage is highly influenced by lean marketing. The findings highlighted that lean marketing partially mediates the connotation between SCA and competitive advantage, while the moderating variables revealed that lean marketing has a significant but unfavorable influence on this association. The main goal is to ensure that firms focus on effective use of SCA and lean marketing to achieve competitive advantage. Firms should continually adapt to the fast-changing business environment and search for creative ways to satisfy new market needs.
The need to prepare teacher trainees to have a sound grounding in the theory and practice of teaching to make them effective practitioners has long been recognised by teacher educators. This need has ...given rise to designing and implementing schoolbased teacher education programmes in both developed and developing countries to help trainees acquire theoretical and professional experience. In Ghana this desire has led to the introduction and implementation of mentorship scheme at the postsecondary teacher training level with the idea of using mentor support and assessment to enhance trainees' professional development. The purpose of this research was to examine the implementation of the mentorship scheme in Ghana to find out the problems that have to do with the implementation. The research also examined the preparation and training given to the mentors, the guidance and support they provide to trainees and the impact of their support upon the professional development of trainees. A qualitative case study was conducted in two selected teacher training areas from the months of December 2002-February 2003 and July -September 2003. The selected case study areas were considered to be a fair representation of the teacher training system in Ghana. The field research included interviews with mentors, link tutors, trainees and key officials associated with the post-secondary teacher training system in Ghana. Findings from the multiple-site case study evidence were presented and analysed for their significance. The findings of the research suggest that problems continue to threaten the implementation process and the benefits derivable from using mentorship as an approach to initial teacher education in Ghana. The evidence from the findings were used as a basis for conclusions about improving the scheme at the post secondary teacher education level in Ghana. Recommendations to help improve the mentorship scheme are set out.
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