Small agribusinesses play a vital role in sustaining the gross domestic product (GDP) of numerous economies in Africa. The survival and continual growth of these businesses in the global economy is essential to poverty minimisation, sustaining the livelihoods of individuals and subsequently the growth of African economies as a whole. The strategy to stimulate agricultural development advocated by prominent African agricultural organisations and policy makers is to boost investments from the private sector into agriculture by getting domestic and global financial organisations to invest in agroindustry and therefore, agribusiness. This paper argues that such a strategy has the potential to increase the debt of African countries and proposes a more effective alternative. By adopting the strategic logic of value innovation, African small agribusiness owners and/or managers can use and even reduce their current resources or create new ones that can lower their costs substantially, and at the same time, allow them to differentiate themselves. This approach, which has the potential to transform the industry, has had very little exposure in terms of its application in the agricultural industry in Africa. Also, very limited research on value innovation in the context of small agribusinesses in Africa exists. A theory building study was conducted using empirical evidence from a theoretical sample of cases. Reasons why value innovation as strategy is not utilised by small agricultural businesses in Africa were identified and a theoretical modelthe awakening modeldeveloped to assist small agribusinesses in Africa to adopt this logic and boost their growth and increase their profits for a more prosperous Africa.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between "social identities" and "innovation as a collective act", specifically how multiple social identity processes construct, reconstruct and revise organisational identity, and create positive commitment and motivation for collaborative innovation (co-innovation). Design/methodology/approach -The paper adopted an inductive theory building from cases (particularly, theory building from a singular case) methodology. As the purpose of the research is to develop theory and not to test it, theoretical sampling was used. The particular case was specifically chosen because the business -a successful co-operative for over 30 years -enables the investigation of organisational identity construction and development on different levels including intra-and inter-organisational interactions. Findings -While still leaving scope for the readers to make interpretations and conclusions from the case themselves, the study suggests some general conclusions drawn from the interrelationship of key concepts in the case, and from the subsequent model of evolving multiple social identity processes for co-innovation that emerged. These conclusions may not only broaden "the social identity approach to organisations" and "organisational innovation", but also link their underlying theories.Research limitations/implications -The case explains the phenomena in a particular social system, namely a co-operative business with a common purpose. The co-operative model can be associated with organisations with poor democratic governance and accountability. The ultimate success of the case depended on the ability of the organisation and its members to construct and maintain a common organisational identity of innovation and to innovate collectively. Originality/value -This paper extends "the social identity approach to organisations" and "organisational innovation" by developing a model, inductively sourced from a "real-life" case, for explaining the construction, reconstruction or revision of social identities that result from the reciprocal relationship between co-innovating organisations. The proposed model suggests an evolutionary (rather than a revolutionary) framework for the presentation of co-innovation as a product of social identity construction.

Purpose: This paper describes the implementation of and lessons learnt with an action research project on management teaching and learning in a 21st century transitional university. The project focuses on the problem of how to elicit and shape students' tacit knowing for meta-innovation and is part of a drive to find a new identity for the newly merged comprehensive University of Johannesburg (UJ).Design/methodology/approach: The project under discussion focuses on an undergraduate module, Developing and Managing Innovation, presented by UJ since 2003 as part of the B.Com Intrapreneurial Management degree. This degree has been developed in the light of the recent requirements placed upon managers by the innovation era. Creating new knowledge is not simply a matter of processing objective information but rather of tapping tacit and often highly subjective insights, intuitions and hunches. To find ways to elicit and shape tacit knowing for meta-innovation, an extensive literature study was conducted and a model identified for this purpose. An action research spiral was constructed to validate the teaching and learning interventions. Findings:The paper presents a teaching and learning framework to build theory that is in accord with the African Ubuntu spirit. The framework supports students within powerful learning environments to develop meta-cognition skills by focusing not only on the acquisition of explicit knowledge, but also on ways to elicit and shape tacit knowing. Implications:A community of practice is the bedrock of powerful learning environments in which action and learning, improvisation and experimentation, tacit and explicit knowledge feed on each other to stretch the students' capacity for meta-innovation. This enables them to continually deploy their talents, knowledge, resourcefulness and creativity to best effect as managers and to transform their life and that of their business and of others. Originality/value:The innovative curriculum and instructional design model generated in this project will assist UJ and other universities in transition to become engaged 21st century universities of excellence that can meet the societal, cultural and economic needs and interests of the national transformative agenda, aimed at shared growth and wealth in Africa.

This paper describes how a public-private partnership bolsters the quality of a business learning programme aligned to South African national transformation imperatives. This regional learning programme, empowering adult learners working and learning in vineyards in rural South Africa, was initiated by a partnership between public institutions of higher learning, AgriSETA (Agriculture Sector Education and Training Authority) and, a regional private farm company and community in the Green Kalahari. To run this Public-Private Partnership Project, a stakeholder learning collaboration was formed consisting of community leaders, agriculture practitioners, farm managers, organised business and labour, pre-, un-and employed prospective learners and knowledge workers from professional bodies and higher education institutions ensuring the provision of contextualised quality education and training. By working together, the stakeholders created a sustainable innovative learning and work environment. The paper gives an account of how the beginning (programme development and review to contribute to the transformation of a particular target group) and end of the learning process (student assessment and success) had been planned, delivered, and quality assured by social dialogue and collaboration between social partners. It examined what have been the concrete achievements.

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