E-business adoption in the banking industry in Ghana

This thesis is based on a case study of four banks, in Ghana: two private and two state banks. The study only sought to examine the adoption of e- Business in the Ghanaian banking industry with respect to the expected benefits derived by adopting e-business, the barriers that prevent firms from taking advantage of e-business adoption and the challenges firms encounter when adopting e-business. The study idea was conceived on the premise that businesses are always looking for ways of improving their products and services deliveries and will thus be useful to understand how the adoption of e- Business can benefit the banking industries in Ghana that is seen to be in the fore-front of national development. The researchers also wanted to understand how electronic commerce as a new way of doing business can be introduced effectively in the Ghanaian banking business especially with the understanding that E-business involves the fundamental reengineering of business model into a internet based networked enterprise. The result of the study indicated that the benefits of e-business are well known to the banks and represent a formidable force to drive the adoption by many banks in Ghana. The benefits of e-business are experienced whether or not the bank is state or private. The various areas where the banks are preparing to use e-business approach includes familiar and relatively mature electronically-based products in developing markets, such as telephone banking, credit cards, ATMs, and direct deposit. This means that most of the banks have recognized the need to change their business process to conform to changing business trends in order to keep up with competition. Despite the perceived and experienced benefits of e-business in Ghanaian banking, they also identified several barriers and challenges that could be described as: economic: technical and technological: ethical and institutional: and socio-cultural. The results also revealed that the banks consider technology as the most important challenge to the effective adoption of e-service in the banking industry in Ghana. The study provides some recommendations towards improving e-business adoption in Ghanaian banks.Validerat; 20101217 (root