The African continent is rapidly growing its global economic impact and becoming a more attractive sourcing context. However, very little is known about current purchasing practices, successes and challenges on this continent. The authors investigate the specific features that characterize supply management in Africa by conducting a systematic review of the literature on sourcing in and from Africa. Their aim is to help scholars direct their future research efforts. The authors take a thematic approach in their analysis of 57 articles, and identify key findings, research challenges and opportunities. They focus on four areas previously identified as distinguishing the sourcing context in Africa: African culture and ethics; the role of African countries and suppliers in global value chains; an increasing emphasis on sustainability; and the gradual development of professional procurement practices. It is found that research in the area of supply management in the African context is still scattered, with an evident need for more theoretically rich and methodologically rigorous inquiry. The authors propose a structured, theoretically grounded research agenda for each of the themes identified, and make general observations on potential future directions.

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This article analyses the competitive priorities underlying manufacturing location initiatives in developed economies. Specifically, building on secondary data, we compare and contrast manufacturing backshoring from China by companies headquartered in developed economies (308 cases) and Chinese foreign direct investment to developed economies (155 cases). Results suggest that both types of initiatives share some common priorities, such as exploiting the 'country of origin' effect and innovation opportunities in developed countries. At the same time, results highlight differences that may be attributed to the home country of the firm. In particular, cost priorities appear to be more important for Chinese companies than for backshoring ones. Findings offer insight into why manufacturing in developed economies may expand as a result of both repatriations and of foreign direct investments from emerging economies such as China, and point to potential areas of policy intervention.

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