Social capability deficits and productivity behaviour of African manufacturing firms: Evidence from Lesotho garment producers

Figures & data

Figure 1: Garment exports from selected sub-Saharan African countries to rest of the world (2000–05) (US$)

Figure 2: Global Competitiveness Index 2007

Table 1: Summary of production technology attributes of sampled garment firms, 2004

Production technology	Mean value
Output (y)	14 4679.2
Capital stock (k)	7568.89
Labour (l)	1117
Energy input (e)	16 599.17

Table 2: Summary statistics of main social capability deficit variables introduced in inefficiency model

Variable	Mean	Std dev	Min	Max
infr	2.824	0.951	1	4
skl	2.412	0.939	1	4
crdt	1.176	0.883	0	3
brc	2.118	1.054	0	4
crp	2.118	1.317	0	4

Table 3: Generalised likelihood ratio tests of hypotheses for parameters of the stochastic frontier production function

Null hypothesis	LR statistics	Critical value	Decision
H0: γ = 0 (no inefficiency)	13.80	11.07	Reject
H0: δ1 = δ2 = … δ5 = 0 (no functional relationship)	13.80	11.07	Reject
Note: All values of the generalised likelihood ratio statistics are significant at 5% level.

Table 4: Maximum likelihood estimates for parameters of Cobb-Douglas Stochastic Frontier Production Function with embedded inefficiency model for Lesotho garment firms

Variables	Parameters	Coefficient	t-statistics
Intercept	ß0	3.67	3.80***
Labour	ßl	0.55	2.77***
Capital	ßk	0.33	2.16**
Energy	ße	0.17	2.54**
Inefficiency model
Intercept	δ0	−4.91	−1.85*
Infrastructure	δ1	0.96	2.04**
Employee skill level	δ2	0.70	1.88*
Access to credit	δ3	−0.79	−2.32**
Bureaucracy	δ4	0.39	0.87
Corruption	δ5	0.41	1.21
Variance parameters:	σ^2	0.43	2.11**
	γ	0.52	2.25**
Log-likelihood		−15.27
Mean TE		0.53
*, **, ***: statistical significance at 10%, 5% and 1% level of confidence, respectively.

Figure A1: Public infrastructural service delivery as an obstacle* (%)

Figure A2: Skills shortage as an obstacle (%)

Figure A3: Efficiency* of financial institutions (%)

Figure A4: Bureaucracy* as an obstacle (%)

Figure A5: Corruption as an obstacle* (%)

UNComtrade (United Nations Comtrade), 2008. Comtrade database. http://comtrade.un.org/ Accessed 10 June 2008.

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World Economic Forum, 2007. The Africa competitiveness report. www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Africa%20Competitiveness%20Report/index.htm Accessed 12 June 2008.

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