Towards a Sustainable Business Model for E-Learning in Ghana

In this paper, a thorough look at how a business model could be used to develop and implement a sustainable and effective e-learning strategy in higher educational institutions in Ghana is considered. As defined by Timmers (2000), a business model is the “architecture for product, service and information flows, including a description of the various business actors and their roles; and a description of the sources of revenues”. It therefore not only identifies what product or service is to be developed and provided to the potential customers, but also who the core players in the business environment are and their roles,   what potential for collaboration exist, and also what costs and revenues are involved. This case for a sustainable and effective business model can also be argued for e-learning. As put forward by Hoppe & Breitner (2003), there is a lack of theories and models ensuring economical “quality” in terms of marketable and sustainable products. They posit that a rigorous business model is essential to compliment the pedagogical and technological goals of an e-learning strategy in order to ensure sustainability and effectiveness (Nagle & Golden, 2008). Though a number of business models exist, the adoption of a particular model is dependent on a number of factors as even national and cultural characteristics can influence the success of a particular business model (Hoppe & Brietner, 2003). It is as a result of this dichotomy of potential usefulness of business models with a high degree of variability due to unique factors that this paper considers their adoption for e-learning in Ghana.
Higher Educational Institutions, e-learning, and the e-learning industry in Ghana.
Ghana is a developing country with a population of about 23 million citizens. Although the population size increased from 3.6 million in the 1960s to something around 23 million in the 2000s, the number of educational institutions, with a particular emphasis on tertiary institutions have... [continues]

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