At present, there has been a growing interest in improving the quality of working life between businessmen, administrators, the government and the employees themselves.
The objective of the research was to determine the validation of an instrument that measures the perception of quality of work life through multivariate analysis. The instrument had 70 items that identified the workers' appreciation with respect to 15 dimensions, through the Likert-type scale, 82 surveys were randomly applied in different organizations during the year 2017.
The results of the validation indicate that: The global reliability of Conbrach's alpha was 0.952; The Pearson Correlation established that the strongest correlation was participation and extrinsic motivation, job satisfaction and remuneration, morality and extrinsic motivation and the dimensions with less correlation, direction and remuneration, direction and health, remuneration and health, communication and security, communication and health motivation with equity and remuneration, intrinsic motivation and health.
The total variance explained is expressed in two factors: safety and conditions of work rotated and occupational health; in relation to the analysis of main components, a new variable was identified and it was called the Quality of Work Life Index.
As for the communalities, it is verified that job satisfaction and remuneration explain the greater proportion of the variance. And the rotated components show that there are 3 dimensions that converge remuneration, job satisfaction and extrinsic motivation.
It is concluded that based on the multivariate analysis the instrument is valid to be used in other research, both in private, public and educational organizations.
Abstract: Brand-building in SMEs is an area of study in its infancy. However, considering how literature has been published about branding in general, all theories and studies are based on large firms.
The purpose: This paper proposes exploring understanding of branding practices among SMEs in the NTEs and the possible challenges they face in their attempt to brand in this competitive marketing environment.
Design/methodology: A qualitative approach based on in-depth interviews with six (6) SMEs in the NTEs was undertaken. Striking results were obtained from this exploratory study.
The findings: The study found that SMEs in the NTEs have a shallow understanding of brand building; used at least two brand elements with the brand name, logo and symbol dominating.
The study also revealed that limited understanding of brand-building; difficulty in getting sufficient funding; general slowness and time related challenges; operational-level challenges in marketing communications campaigns; and the increasing costs of new product introduction are the challenges facing SMEs in the NTEs. Other notable challenges emerged out of the study were lack of technical expertise among SMEs; difficulty in obtaining a patent right; the proliferation of brands in the market place; and the pronounced economic crisis.
Research limitation: The findings of the study is limited to only NTEs in the manufacturing sector in Ghana and may not be necessarily projected on to SMEs in other sectors of the Non-Traditional Exports in Ghana and hence the sample size is relatively small.
Practical implication: The directors of NTEs see branding as something that belongs to only the big companies. However small companies (NTEs) with limited resources are not restricted to branding and therefore can brand their products or services as well. Also, the means of branding are often different. The current study encourages SMEs in the NTEs to systematically think of the potential benefit of branding for their business and develop innovative, targeted and affordable approaches for brand- building in their respective firms.
Originality/value: The recent empirical study makes an original contribution to the existing literature by augmenting knowledge of branding in the context of SMEs in the NTEs sector.