Ghana: Capitalism for the Rest of Us

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• Abeeku Mensah 10 years ago

  In science effort is made to have a "control" sample for comparative analysis when hypothesis are tested and theories are confirmed or disproved.
  What is missing and seems to be ignored by Ghana's best is failure to consid ...
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  In science effort is made to have a "control" sample for comparative analysis when hypothesis are tested and theories are confirmed or disproved.
  What is missing and seems to be ignored by Ghana's best is failure to consider effects of culture and community as variables that significantly affect expected results; Ghana's learned elite class apply practices and procedures they acquired from industrialized nations. With no exception each of the economic theories and practices of western free market nations are sustained because of factors that can never exist or replicated in Ghana; it is a fool's paradise to pretend yields and growth levels can be achieved in Ghana. Wr cannot forget that it is still in mother Ghana where one can find people knowingly and actively engage in barter even in high end stores where prices are clearly marked and in plain sight for potential customers to see. In a culture where people think the total cash payment received on a sale is total profit there is bound be deviations from core economic principles. It is much more desirable that our men and women in control of policies refrain from espousing ideas and ideals they cannot replicate in our country that cannot change its stripes even in the smallest of things.

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• Kojo T 10 years ago

  I think the model of profit sharing and stock ownership models are things Ghana should seriously consider in our business model efforts.Workers will not steal from themselves and so reduces cost of security.Also patriotism is ...
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  I think the model of profit sharing and stock ownership models are things Ghana should seriously consider in our business model efforts.Workers will not steal from themselves and so reduces cost of security.Also patriotism is encouraged and good workers stay as they hope to reap the benefits of their work .The cultural aspect Abeeku you talk about is the lack of trust when 2 /3 people come together and start a company.They think the cash the till is profit and rush off to buy the latest cars and gadgets

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• Atwima Kwame 10 years ago

  Kwarteng, even though you might be making some points you are speeding too much with your comparatives and "self-conservative" idiologies. Just tone-down and remember neither you nor Prof? Lungu owns the whole Ghanaweb platfo ...
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  Kwarteng, even though you might be making some points you are speeding too much with your comparatives and "self-conservative" idiologies. Just tone-down and remember neither you nor Prof? Lungu owns the whole Ghanaweb platform.

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• Kojo T 10 years ago

  The trouble with developing countries is their failure to come up with a working model for development.Kwarteng is trying to argue that the old style capitalism will not work as even the USA the oft quoted capitalist success ...
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  The trouble with developing countries is their failure to come up with a working model for development.Kwarteng is trying to argue that the old style capitalism will not work as even the USA the oft quoted capitalist success story is being remodeled to be more competitive and at the same time fairer .That is a shift to Karl Marx .You need to also compare the more affluent Northern States(unionised) with the poorer southern states that have freedom to work laws( no unions)

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• Prof Lungu 10 years ago

  Kojo T,
  Our sense is, the "old style capitalist USA" was more a myth. In fact, there was more socialism in the USA, until African-Americans and other minorities won some basic rights.
  
  Then, the retrenchment to State's rig ...
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  Kojo T,
  Our sense is, the "old style capitalist USA" was more a myth. In fact, there was more socialism in the USA, until African-Americans and other minorities won some basic rights.
  
  Then, the retrenchment to State's rights and "individualism" seriously began.
  
  Your "...compare the more affluent Northern States(unionised) with the poorer southern states that have freedom to work laws( no unions)..."
  
  WE SAY: Great. All of that also fit into the "State's Right" mantra, and purposeful legal discrimination by race - in employment, education, policing, etc.
  
  Before all that, there was Jim Crow, after slavery was abolished!
  
  We believe that Nkrumah, having studied in the US, and having paid careful attention, had a good sense about "capitalist USA".
  
  Reckon there was Hoover Dam and the TVA, 100%-federally-funded power production and development scheme, before there was Akosombo Dam and the VRA.
  
  We will be addressing some of these ideas in due course.
  
  Greetings!

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• YAW 10 years ago

  I will compliment your last paragraph with the story of JS lewis.A man with the heart of gold.
  
  AN UNCOMFORTABLE VISION - THE STORY OF SPEDAN LEWIS
  Created: Sunday, 18 May 2014 18:28 | Written by Giles Lury |
  John Lewis - ...
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  I will compliment your last paragraph with the story of JS lewis.A man with the heart of gold.
  
  AN UNCOMFORTABLE VISION - THE STORY OF SPEDAN LEWIS
  Created: Sunday, 18 May 2014 18:28 | Written by Giles Lury |
  John Lewis - the store loved by middle England and the marketing media is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the opening of John Lewis' first drapery store on Oxford Street. However for me the man who merits more of the attention is his son Spedan Lewis.
  
  An uncomfortable vision
  
  Every spring in every John Lewis store, every partner, as employees are known, stops and gathers on the shop floor, in the office or in the warehouse. They watch one of their colleagues open an envelope. On a single sheet is printed a number. That number represents the percentage of their salary that each and every of them will receive as an annual bonus. Not surprisingly the event is nearly always greeted with a cheer.
  
  This practice of equally sharing a proportion of the firm’s profits can be traced back, not quite to John Lewis, but to Spedan Lewis, his oldest son.
  
  John Lewis was born in Somerset, England and became an orphan at the age of seven. He was subsequently brought up by an aunt, Miss Ann Speed. In 1864 he opened a small drapery shop, John Lewis & Co., at 132 Oxford Street in London. It flourished so John expanded, and the premises were rebuilt in the 1880s to form an all-encompassing department store
  
  Now married John’s first son was born in 1885 and was named in honour of his aunt – Spedan. (It is the year the picture of Oxford Street was taken)
  
  At 19, Spedan went to work with in the store and on his 21st birthday his father gave him a quarter-share of the business.
  
  It was then that Spedan realised that he, his father and his younger brother Oswald earned more from the business than all of the other employees put together. It was something that made him feel very uncomfortable.
  
  
  
  In 1909, Spedan had a serious horse-riding accident which meant he would not work again for nearly two years. However during the time he spent recuperating he clearly brooded on the inequality of the situation and developed a plan to revolutionize the business. His vision was for a business where success should be measured “By the happiness of those working at it and by its good service to the general community”
  
  When he finally returned to work and now running his father’s second store, Peter Jones, in Sloane Square he started to turn his vision into reality. He shortened the working day, started a work committee and increased paid holiday time. He wanted work to be “something to live for as well as something to live by”. While his ideas are said to have caused a rift with his father, they appeared to work as profits increased.
  
  After the death of his father in 1928, Spedan assuming control of the Oxford Street store too and in 1929 officially formed the John Lewis Partnership, and began the distribution of profits among its employees
  
  He completed the move towards employee-ownership in 1950, with the transfer of control for the whole business to the employees.
  
  Spedan Lewis resigned as chairman in 1955 but the legacy of his vision lives on.

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• francis kwarteng 10 years ago

  Dear Namesake,
  
  Good day.
  
  This is a touching story.
  
  And of course, it more than summarizes the entire article in a way I could not even have summarized. This is what the world should have been about.
  
  Thanks for sh ...
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  Dear Namesake,
  
  Good day.
  
  This is a touching story.
  
  And of course, it more than summarizes the entire article in a way I could not even have summarized. This is what the world should have been about.
  
  Thanks for sharing. Anyway I have more interesting stuff coming. Stay tuned.
  
  Thanks.

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