Purpose: Cement is a priority consumer good in all modern societies. Considerable portions of the countries’ income are invested in construction and reconstruction of houses, shopping centers, schools, universities, research centers, pavements, bridges, dams, among other infrastructures. In view of its importance, it becomes relevant to understand the determinant factors for the strategic management of the cement supply chain (SC). The knowledge of these factors can support the development of management strategies that adequately orientate the operation of the cement industry and ensure an agile and/or efficient structure that facilitates the distribution of the products from this industrial sector.Methodology: This article presents the results of a qualitative research, based on semi-systematic literature review and interviews, which aimed to identify the determinant factors and barriers in the management of the SC of the Angolan cement industry (CI).Findings: This research made it possible to conclude that the determining factors are: cement production capacity and quality; supply levels and channels; infrastructure capacity and quality; capacity and quality of transport modes; existence of cement distribution strategies; collaboration, integration, agility, effectiveness and efficiency in the SC; availability of qualified labor; geographic location of markets; competitiveness factors (price, quality, response time, flexibility, agility, services, reliability, process variability and differentiation). Some barriers that undermine the supply of cement in the Angolan market have also been identified.Originality/value: Based on the literature review and the analysis of the interviews, we found that, in general, the strategic management of the SC of the CI depends on the level of development of the infrastructures, logistics, communication and the degree of collaboration and integration between the entities.

No abstract

<p>This study seeks to analyze the impact of investment in road, rail, and port infrastructure on Angola’s exports growth, using imports and GDP per capita as control variables. This study uses annual data for the period 2000-2020. The Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag is applied to determine the existence of short-run and long-run correlation between the variables. The results of the model suggest that there is a short-run and a long-run relationship between transport infrastructure investment, imports, exports, and economic growth. The coefficient of the variables in the short run and in long run is statistically significant at 5% of significance, which means that all variables impact the growth of exports significantly.<br /> <br /><strong>JEL:</strong> R40; R41; F10; F15</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0231/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

<p>Africa has nine transit corridors, two intra-regional corridors and two main east-west corridors. Africa accounts for about 13% of the world´s population and includes 54 countries, of which 38 have coastline access along the continent´s 30,490 Km of coastline and 16 are landlocked. However, 90% of the volume of cargo between Africa and the world is transported by sea, which typifies the importance of port infrastructure in economic development. This research presents a comparative analysis of the port infrastructures in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) based on the weight capacity that the ports support, waiting time for ships in ports, the connection of infrastructure networks, the growth of GDP per capita and the entry of ships in the country during the year by type of cargo. Similarly, determinant factors of port infrastructure management were identified. The objective is to characterize the competitive position of Angolan’s port infrastructure in the SADC context. The results show that Angola’s port infrastructure is not the worst in SADC. However, the lack of good roads and railroads reduce its competitiveness in relation to Namibian and South African port infrastructure.<br /> <br /><strong>JEL:</strong> R40; R41</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0022/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Purpose: The airport infrastructure plays capital importance in the development of national trade. It facilitates the flow of people, goods, and services more quickly. Thus, given its importance, this study seeks to analyze the impact of the Angolan investment in airport infrastructure between 2000 – 2020.Design/methodology/approach: this article presents the results of quantitative and qualitative research, based on narrative review and output of the Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique, which aimed to analyze the impact of investment in airport infrastructure on the growth of Angola GDP per capita.Findings: The results of the stationarity tests performed shows mixed integration in both I(0) and I(1), which justifies the used ARDL. Similarly, the bounds test showed that there is a very strong relationship between airport infrastructure investment and GDP per capita growth in the short and long run. However, in the Angola case study, the impact that exists is negative, meaning that airport infrastructure negatively impacts per capita GDP growth in both the short run and in the long run.Research limitations/implications: this research has been among the first to analyze the impact of investment in airport infrastructure on the growth of Angola GDP per capita. Besides the contribution of this research, some limitations are the difficulty to find data of investment and the literature about transportation infrastructure in Angola.Originality/value: the analyze of the impact of investment in airport infrastructure in the growth of Angola GDP per capita is a fundamental step that can help public and private entities in making decisions that aim to improve the management of the Angola transport infrastructure.