Africapitalism: A Management Idea for Business in Africa?

Amaeshi, Kenneth; Idemudia, Uwafiokun

doi:10.1017/9781316675922.003

Cited by 25 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…A recent study by Ibeh et al (in press) identified this “mission‐driven motivation” in one of the internationalizing firms, where the vision of the founders to build a pan‐African organization was the driving force for their intraregional expansion and location decisions. A notable exemplar is Nigerian businessman Tony Elumelu, who has been championing Africapitalism , and urging the African private sector and other Africans to invest in as well as play a transformational role in the region (Amaeshi & Idemudia, ). What makes this trend additionally remarkable is the apparent evolution of the pan‐African vision from a mainly political philosophy driven by national governments and regional agencies to a management orientation increasingly embraced by private‐sector players (Ibeh et al, in press).…”

Section: Internationalization Opportunities For African Firmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The internationalization of African firms: Opportunities, challenges, and risks

Boso

Adeleye

Ibeh

et al. 2018

Thunderbird Intl Bus Rev

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There has been a marked increase in the internationalization activities of African firms over the last two decades or so, resulting in the emergence of regional challenger firms that are aggressively competing with foreign multinationals in terrains historically dominated by the latter.However, our understanding of this phenomenon is limited, as empirical research examining the nature of internationalization of African firms is scarce, and research directly investigating drivers, outcomes, and boundary conditions of the internationalization of African firms is lacking. The goal of this special issue, therefore, is to contribute to the scholarly understanding of the increasingly prevalent internationalization of African firms. This guest editorial provides a summary of the six articles in this special issue, and highlights three broad thematic issues:internationalization opportunities for African firms (accelerated private-sector development and regional integration, and ability to overcome institutional voids); internationalization challenges (global competitiveness challenges, limited management and cross-cultural capabilities, and overcoming the liability of Africanness); and internationalization risks (losing focus on home markets and over-internationalization).

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Section: Internationalization Opportunities For African Firmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The internationalization of African firms: Opportunities, challenges, and risks

Boso

Adeleye

Ibeh

et al. 2018

Thunderbird Intl Bus Rev

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“…In the Sub-Saharan African context communities play an important role in supporting entrepreneurial activity (Ansari et al 2012;Amaeshi and Idemudia, 2015). Families operating businesses through embedded social relationships internally with family members, and externally with communities and wider stakeholders will use these close social connections to navigate the "institutional voids" in order to mobilise wider networks to access necessary resources and information.…”

Section: An Institutional Perspective On Business Familiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Where less is more: institutional voids and business families in Sub-Saharan Africa

Murithi

Vershinina

Rodgers

2019

IJEBR

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Where less is more: Institutional Voids and Family Entrepreneurship in Sub-SaharanAfrica Abstract Purpose-The article offers a conceptual interpretation of the role business families plays in the institutional context of sub-Saharan Africa, characterised by voids within the formal institutional setting. Responding to calls to take a holistic perspective of the institutional environment, we develop a conceptual model, showcasing the emergence of relational familial logics within business families that enable these enterprising organisations to navigate the political, economic and socio-cultural terrain of this institutional context. Design/methodology/approach-We undertake a review of extant literature on institutional theory, institutional voids, family business and business families and examine the relevance of these theoretical constructs in relation to the institutional environment of Sub-Saharan Africa.We offer tentative propositions within our conceptualisation, which we discuss in an inductive fashion. Findings-The review underlines the relevance of informal political, economic and socio-cultural institutions within the sub-Saharan context, within which the family as an institution drives business families engagement in institutional entrepreneurship. In doing so, we argue business families are best positioned to navigate the existing Sub-Saharan African institutional context.We underline the critical relevance of the embeddedness of social relationships that underpin relational familial logic within the sub-Saharan African collectivist socio-cultural system. Originality/Value-By challenging the assumptions that institutional voids are empty spaces devoid of institutions, we offer an alternative view that institutional voids are spaces where there exists a misalignment of formal and informal institutions. We argue that in such contexts within Sub-Saharan Africa, business families are best placed to harness their embeddedness within extended family and community for entrepreneurial activity. We argue that family and business logics may complement each other rather than compete. The discussions and propositions have 2 | P a g e implications for future research on business families and more inclusive forms of family organisations.

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“…It is even suggested that Ubuntu not only mitigates the individualistic and profit maximization instincts associated with global capitalism but, in fact, that it offers an entirely alternative model for business management (Lutz, ). Recently, Amaeshi and Idemudia (), two leading scholars of CSR in Africa, have suggested that Africa's perennial crisis of development could be perhaps tackled through the promotion of a new concept of “Africapitalism”—a “perspective that is rooted in the values of Ubuntu” (p. 212) and upholds the common good, rather than utilitarian economic calculus, as the core purpose of management.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determinants of Nigerian managers’ environmental attitude: Africa's Ubuntu ethics versus global capitalism

Vincent

Mordi

2018

Thunderbird Intl Bus Rev

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We investigate the impact of economic, institutional, and ethical pressures on African managers' corporate social and environmental attitude based on a survey involving 377 Nigerian executives in the extractive industry. We find that environmental orientation and behavior are mostly induced by instrumental economic motives, while ethical considerations exert a weak impact. This finding is significant because it contradicts mainstream corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature in Africa, which suggests the dominance of the culturally based, altruistic African Ubuntu philosophy. Based on this research finding, we suggest that economic globalization has spurned a transnational capitalist cadre of managers whose values are shaped far more by global capitalist instincts than any putative cultural philosophy. The findings also undercut the fundamental logic underpinning the numerous global initiatives to promote environmental responsibility by multinational corporations in developing countries, which assumes that managers will pursue environmental sustainability voluntarily in the absence of robust regulations and strict enforcement.

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Africapitalism: A Management Idea for Business in Africa?

Cited by 25 publications

References 26 publications

The internationalization of African firms: Opportunities, challenges, and risks

The internationalization of African firms: Opportunities, challenges, and risks

Where less is more: institutional voids and business families in Sub-Saharan Africa

Determinants of Nigerian managers’ environmental attitude: Africa's Ubuntu ethics versus global capitalism

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