The industrialisation drive, he said, could not be undertaken in a vacuum, but should be based on research that would address the needs of industries.

He noted that there could be product research and market research that would deal directly with the challenges confronting the industries and expressed delight that the current government was making moves to industrialise the economy.

Professor Nsowah-Nuamah, who chaired the eighth Public Lecture of the Regent University, in Accra, said although some businesses in the country had experienced some impressive growth, there were various challenges that needed research to address them in order to sustain the growth.

He noted that businesses that over relied on buying and selling would not sustain the gains and therefore called for pragmatic approach in tackling the prevailing economic challenges.

According to him, product research was mainly done by scientists or technologists either to bring out new product or improve on exiting ones.

He said, market research was important to avoid the collapsing of businesses, adding ‘A company cannot just produce goods for the sake of producing, but goods are produced for customers, therefore, you need to know what customers need and at what price they are prepared to buy them’.

Prof. Nuamah explained that, the measurement of customer satisfaction was a vital aspect of research because it helped them to ascertain whether customers’ expectations had been met or not.

‘‘Knowledge of a customer’s perception will greatly enhance opportunity to make better business decisions, ’’he said.

Professor Paul Sergius Koku, the Guest Speaker and a Professor at the Florida Atlantic University, USA, who spoke on : ‘‘Business School Research and Needs in the Industry-A Two-Way Street or a Road to Nowhere’’, said modern research must address the needs of the industry.

He wondered why people continued to argue about a gap between business academic research and industry needs when the universities continued to graduate millions of students each year to go and work in the industry.

He challenged researchers to make known their research works through media publications so that industries would appreciate the importance of research and embrace it.

The lecture formed part of activities marking the University’s 10th anniversary, which brought together heads of faculties, senior lecturers, dignitaries and students.