ASSESSING THE ROLE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL IN WOOD CLUSTER INDUSTRIES. THE CASE STUDY OF WOOD CLUSTER INDUSTRY IN SUNYANI MUNICIPALITY

ABSTRACT

The study examines the role of social capital in wood cluster industries in Sunyani Municipality. Descriptive survey was used for the study. The population of the study consists of artisans in Sunyani wood cluster, wood suppliers, machine operators, buyers, sellers of wood products and financial institutions in the Sunnyani wood cluster. Convenience method of sampling was employed to arrive at a sample size of 200. Questionnaires were used as data collection instruments for the study.  Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) was used to process and analyse the data. Findings from the study indicated that the wood cluster industry consist of two groups of actors; the core actors and the supporting actors. The core actors are the artisans and they produce the wood products in the cluster. The supporting actors are members in the cluster who provide the needed goods and services to complement the activities of the artisans. The study further showed that the wood cluster facilitates the activities of the actors in terms of availability of materials, tools and equipment which resulted in reduction in production cost, improved sales and profit margins, number of artifacts produce, market price control and access to new market. The study also reviewed that social capital plays major roles in the wood cluster industry; these resulted in easy access to information, sharing of ideas and tools among artisans, networking, social ties and easy access to sub-contract. It is also worthy of note that the wood cluster industry has a lot of challenges that affect the activities of the actors. These include access to credit, high interest rate, raw materials, promotion and marketing of wood products, utilization of wood residue, cost of utilities, lack of interaction between firms and educational institutions and unavailability of research findings to firms.