This article draws on aggregate evidence from 54 relevant studies to improve understanding of internationalization behavior of African firms. Its major findings include an upward trend in internationalization activities among African firms; a significant level of informal exporting (which indicates a potential for further growth in firm‐level internationalization within Africa); and the importance of managerial and organizational resource factors and formal and informal networks in improving the internationalization behavior of the study firms. Based on the review evidence, the article calls on African governments and supranational institutions to prioritize the provision of more enabling environments (with lower transaction/operational costs) in Africa. It also tasks policy makers to incorporate well‐targeted capacity‐building measures (managerial and organizational) and international networks activation mechanisms as part of their core strategies for improving the participation of African firms in global trade. The article ends with an invitation to the world's corporate giants and investors to demonstrate greater resolve toward confronting Africa's developmental challenge, by unleashing their investment resources on the many and varied opportunities offered by the continent. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Previous research on export performance has been criticized for being both a mosaic of autonomous endeavours and for a lack of theoretical development. Building upon extant models of export performance, and a review and analysis of research on export performance in the UK for the period 1990-2005, an integrated model of export performance is developed and theoretical explanations of export performance are put forward. It is suggested that a multi-theory approach to explaining export performance is viable. Management and policy implications for the UK emerging from the review and synthesis of the literature and the integrated model are discussed.

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PurposeThis study aims to explore the key factors of the electronic service quality (e‐SQ) perceptions of UK banking customers and to evaluate the customers’ perceptions of their banks’ actual performance on the identified e‐SQ dimensions.Design/methodology/approachA survey has been used to collect primary data and 135 usable questionnaires were used in the analysis. Questionnaire items were developed through a two‐stage process involving a review of the main measurement scales employed in previous studies and two focus group interviews to identify a series of attributes for assessing electronic banking service quality. Factor analysis procedure was employed to identify the underlying structure among the explored e‐SQ attributes.FindingsExploratory factor analysis uncovered six composite dimensions of electronic service quality, including the provision of convenient/accurate electronic banking operations; the accessibility and reliability of service provision; good queue management; service personalisation; the provision of friendly and responsive customer service; and the provision of targeted customer service. Further analysis using importance‐performance analysis revealed that the UK customers’ perceptions of their bank actual performance on these revealed that e‐SQ dimensions were largely modest.Research limitations/implicationsGenerally relate to the one industry focus, the exploratory factor analysis employed, and the rather generalized view of electronic banking adopted. Future research should aim to improve on these by replicating the study in multi‐industry settings, assessing the stability of the revealed factor structure, and examining whether particular e‐SQ factors vary in importance across different technology types.Originality/valueThis study has drawn on a sample of 135 UK retail banking customers in exploring the key dimensions of the relatively new electronic service quality (e‐SQ) construct, and evaluating how the survey respondents perceive their respective banks' performance on those critically regarded e‐SQ dimensions.

Explores the entrepreneurial underpinning of the low export involvement level of manufacturing firms from Nigeria, a sub‐Sahara African, developing country. Using a pre‐validated export‐entrepreneurial orientation construct (and a 78‐firm representative sample), a high versus low export‐entrepreneurial taxonomy was derived. High export‐entrepreneurial firms are typically more innovative in developing exporting, less averse to exporting risks, and have more proactive motivations for exporting. They perceive domestic environmental problems as much as other firms, but appear better able to adapt, hence their higher tendency to initiate exporting. Policy recommendations are presented for four groups of firms, linked to high/low export entrepreneurial orientation and exporter/non‐exporter categorisations.