Abstract

The importance of power supply to a country’s economic prosperity cannot be overstated. The availability and accessibility of a stable energy supply has a cascading influence on society’s productivity and wellbeing. The study was aimed at analyzing the effect of both intermittent power outages and competitiveness on profitability using business types as a mediating factor. Primary data was obtained from the two notable markets, Kejetia and Asafo, in Kumasi metropolis and was subsequently modelled using structural equation model. The results showed, among other things, that the mediating role of enterprise type had indirect positive effect on MSEs profitability for both intermittent power outage and enterprise competitiveness. The intermittent power outage directly influenced profitability negatively and on the contrary indirectly affected same positively, whilst enterprise competitiveness directly impacted MSEs profitability far more than it did indirectly. Business type played a key mediating role on the degree of influence of intermittent power outage and enterprise competitiveness on MSEs profitability. For policy making purposes, stakeholders are encouraged to pay attention to market innovation and networking as key indicators of competitiveness to improve their profitability.