That, he said, was crucial to finding a solution to help businesses in the country to thrive and create jobs for the many unemployed youth.

At the launch of a book titled Corporate Social Responsibility and Brand Equity on February 27 in Accra, Mr Afrifa stated that the country needed to emulate other countries where academia, businesses and bureaucrats collaborate in order to find solutions based on the context of the challenges affecting their operations.

The book

 The 213-page book written by Dr Prince Kodua, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship of the University of Ghana, seeks to provide more insight into corporate social responsibility (CSR) and branding by companies operating in the country.

Topics explored in the book include building a good corporate image through initiatives that mutually benefit the companies as well as the communities in which they operate.

It also focuses on topics such as the philosophies underlying branding and CSR, and the role that marketing and communications play in the grand scheme of making companies more relevant to the communities they serve.

It includes a special feature involving case studies on top brands such as MTN Ghana, Vodafone Ghana, Unilever, Ghacem, Kosmos Energy and the Multimedia Group.

Building strong brands

Beyond the general public, Mr Afrifa indicated that business students, researchers, business persons would find the book a useful source of information for best practices in branding and CSR.

He asked Ghanaian indigenous firms to build strong corporate brands in the country.

According to him, building strong corporate brands would position the firms well in order to penetrate the global market and compete with other international brands.

Need for CSR

Dr Kodua said it was expected of corporate entities to contribute to the good of the societies in which they operated.

He stated that CSR was a very important strategic tool adopted to help build the image of an organisation in the eyes of the public.

"In the book, I highlighted how CSR could be deployed strategically.

We are calling on all organisations to get a copy of the book to enhance their corporate brand," he said.