Purpose: Kaizen in construction is a new paradigm stemming out of lean production systems. Construction companies in developing economies, such as Nigeria, have a task to innovate to liquidate in certain cases. With the aid of kaizen, which encompasses the benefit of stakeholder relationship improvement and management, profitability enhancement and delivery of projects to satisfied clients, construction companies can realise expected growth. An exploration of the critical success factors and associated drivers within the limits of the scope is essential. Methodology: Exploratory factor analysis statistical tests categorised the critical success factors identified in the literature review section. A detailed sampling approach extracted 135 questionnaires under the 5-point Likert scale format from a larger population in Nigeria. An exploration of important drivers and iteration of eigenvalues combined with asymptotic significance of the drivers provided the critical success factors and significant drivers. Findings: Construction management function (CMF), operational efficiency (OE), construction business ethics (CBE) and construction cost management (CCM) were the critical success factors established from the exploratory factor analysis tests. It was confirmed that kaizen can be adopted in Nigerian construction companies with reflections on the principal drivers for the critical success factors. Practical implications: The exploration of the critical success factors and drivers associated with kaizen implementation can be applied to other developing countries with considerations of implementation in terms of cost and time. Originality/value: The identification of critical success factors provides ample opportunity for consideration of kaizen in construction companies. The findings of this study are a basis for investigations into cost and time implications of kaizen adoption in construction companies.

Since the discovery of oil and gas (O&G) in commercial quantities in 2007, Ghana has made some progress in passing several policies such as Local Content and Participation Framework, ostensibly to stem the effects of resource curse – connotes countries with more natural resources turned to be undeveloped than countries without natural resources. Put it differently, the country’s local content is meant to stimulate industry development by indigenizing the needs of the petroleum industry. However, the above aim is constrained by the country’s infrastructure deficit of about US$ 2.5 billion annually needed to provide the enabling environment for the growth of indigenous companies. The study, therefore, is to propose policy options for enhancing local content implementation through infrastructure development. To that end, the policy implementation in Angola, Brazil and Norway is reviewed, and the research participants are purposively sampled and interviewed. Consequently, the study found that the regulatory institutions and legal framework should be strengthened to attract private investment in infrastructure development. In addition, a special provision should be inserted in future petroleum contracts to support the Infrastructure Fund; through infrastructure-for-oil trade; and encouraging voluntary contribution from oil companies in exchange for reduced taxes into the Infrastructure Fund. The findings contribute to the existing literature in local content development by moving the discussion from training, local employment and goods and services targets to developing host country’s local infrastructure for sustainable development of indigenous and foreign businesses.

Most resource-rich countries in Africa are introducing or reinforcing Local Content Policies (LCPs) and regulations to propel socio-economic development since its introduction in the North Sea. Local content is now a prerequisite for granting exploration license to international oil companies (IOCs) and suppliers in the Gulf of Guinea region (GGR). The paper analyses and compares LCPs - successes and impediments factors - from two perspectives: the North Sea – Norway, UK, and Denmark; and the Gulf of Guinea – Angola, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Equatorial Guinea to glean policy lessons for the Gulf of Guinea countries. The study of the comparator countries found that the policy implementation in the GGR is constrained, inter alia by inadequate infrastructure, industrial base and supplier base, technical and financial capacity of domestic firms and weak regulatory institutions. Also, the LC policy is overly ambitious and prescriptive which ignores the GGR’s state of industrial development. To engineer resource-based development in the GGR these countries must move beyond its preoccupation with local content regulations to addressing the above challenges conducive for the development of linkages.

This study espouses a multi-strategy method comprising of a qualitative study and system dynamics (SD) to deliver the long-term dynamic behaviour of human resource development (HRD) in Ghana’s oil and gas sector. The adoption of the SD differed from previous studies addressing the local content implementation challenge of human resources, thereby allowing HRD to be considered a ‘system’ which, in turn, aided in comprehensively identifying and analysing the interrelationships among the dominant variables. Focal articles were reviewed to develop a causal loop diagram (CLD) for human resource and subsequently validated qualitatively. The CLD was used for analysing interconnections among the variables in the HRD and as a basis for developing the stock and flow diagram for projections. The study found that local content investment is projected to increase from $799 million to $3.0807 billion in 50 years, with a corresponding revenue increase from $29 billion to $44 billion in 50 years. Subsequent sensitivity analysis compared the local content model results under varying situations, which indicated the possibility of a demand for 20,000 local staff. The study further uncovered two critical issues affecting HRD, namely policy coordination and harmonisation and sustainable funding. These issues are exacerbated by the pervasive political interference in the administrative and operational functions of state oil and gas institutions.

This paper investigates the role of tacit knowledge in establishing competitive advantage using the resource-based view (RBV) theory. A framework for studying tacit knowledge, organisational performance, value creation and competitive advantage is introduced and used to analyse the oil and gas industry. The findings show that value creation and improved organisational performance play a mediating role between tacit knowledge and competitive advantage. On the one hand, the findings suggest an indirect relationship between tacit knowledge and competitive advantage, and it was instrumental when directed at creating avenues for improving organisational performance and innovations, i.e. value creation, which places an organisation in a competitive advantage position. On the other hand, organisational performance, which has a direct relationship with value creation has an indirect relationship with a competitive advantage.