International Journal of Advancements in Research & Technology, Volume 3, Issue 1, January-2014 100 ISSN 2278-7763 Copyright © 2014 SciResPub. IJOART Corporate Governance Practices in Ghanaian Family Businesses: A Conceptual Framework ALFRED SARBAH PhD Candidate, School of Management & Economics, University of Electronic Science & Technology of China (UESTC), No. 4 Section 2, North Jianshie Road, Chengdu, China. Email: sarbah@yahoo.com XIAO WEN (Corresponding Author) Associate Professor, School of Management & Economics, University of Electronic Science & Technology of China (UESTC), No. 4 Section 2, North Jianshie Road, Chengdu, China. Email: xiaowen@uestc.edu.cn 1.0 Abstract Family businesses are an often overlooked form of business ownership in today’s world, yet they are all around us. This means that families owns a significant share of businesses and can influence important decisions in today’s businesses, particularly the election of the chairman and chief executive officer. Today family business has become an important component of every economy as an organizational form, and played a critical role to promote the growth of a country’s economy. However, as they grow, these family businesses face the same challenges and pressures as any major corporation. To thrive, they must remain ahead of the competition through innovation, build strong relations with suppliers, develop a profound understanding of their customers, adopt good corporate governance practices and skilfully navigate through market changes. Corporate governance has dominated policy agenda in developed market economies for more than three decades, and it is gradually worming its way to the top of the policy agenda on the African continent and other developing economies. Developing countries like Ghana are increasingly embracing the concept of good corporate governance however, the emphasis on corporate governance, however, has largely been on the bigger enterprises. This paper examines the state of the Ghanaian corporate governance environment and the nature of the governance system employed by Ghanaian family businesses. The paper underlines why it is important to examine corporate governance and attempt to understand the point of view from the subjects’ perspective, due to the complex social situations that exist in the family businesses. This approach may stands valid for countries having similar corporate environment. Key words: Corporate governance, family governance, family business and culture. Paper type – Conceptual paper IJOART