African Enterprise Clusters and Industrialization: Theory and Reality

How Can Micro and Small Enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa Become More Productive? The Impacts of Experimental Basic Managerial Training

“…The literature on industrial clusters reports several cases in which negative external shocks turned out to be blessings in disguise in the sense that they triggered multifaceted improvements within clusters. 1 In many other clusters, however, negative external shocks have worsened the downward trend in profitability, and firms are struggling to survive (e.g., Altenburg and Meyer-Stamer, 1999;Kennedy, 1999;McCormick, 1999;Akoten and Otsuka, 2007).…”

Inter-firm Cooperation and Firm Performance: An Empirical Study of the Lao Garment Industry Cluster

“…Therefore, there are a number of studies dealing with the characteristics and the growth paths of clusters in developing countries. These studies provide a wealth of information about the functioning of clusters, but more fundamentally demonstrate the prevalence of clusters across sectors and countries (Schmitz, 1995 andRabellotti, 1995 andCawthorne, 1995;Tewari, 1999;McCormick, 1999;Knorringa, 1999;Visser, 1999;Nadvi, 1999a, Weijland, 1999.…”

“…However, the literature on the topic has mainly consisted of descriptive case studies (Cawthorne, 1995;Tewari, 1999;McCormick, 1999;Visser, 1999;Oyelaran-Oyeyianka, 2001). There are a few papers that have quantitatively investigated the effects of inter-firm cooperation on performance in clusters (Schmitz, 1999;Rabellotti, 1999;Knorringa, 1999;Nadvi, 1999a).…”

Business Constraints and Growth Potential of Micro and Small Manufacturing Enterprises in Uganda

“…Other authors mention limited access to differentiated markets, which might be related to a lack of forward linkages (Kappel, Lay, and Steiner 2004), the concentration of MSEs in low-quality production (Sengendo et al 2001), high transport and transaction costs (Rudaheranwa 2000(Rudaheranwa , 2006Wood and Jordan 2000), corruption (Svensson 2002), low trust and minimalist entrepreneurial strategies (Kappel 2004;Sørensen 2001), education and poor managerial and skills competence (Nalumansi et al 2002;Nel and Shapiro 2003), weak support institutions (Krasemann 1996;Kyomugisha 2001), a lack of sectoral competitiveness, and an overall neglect of MSEs in Uganda (Cotton et al 2003). 2 2 For development of African micro-and small enterprises see McCormick 1999, Kappel 2004; for medium and large manufacturing firms, Teal 2004a, Bigsten andSöderbom 2005;and in general, Liedholm and Mead 1999. The observations of most of the reviewed studies are based on descriptive results, which are unable to show how the stated business constraints affect the performance of MSEs while controlling for other factors (viz., owner-managers' attributes and firms' characteristics and resource endowment). Similarly, the majority of studies conducted in other developing countries on factors (particularly the business environment) explaining the growth potential and performance of MSEs are more descriptive/exploratory in nature.…”