Trading on the margins: locating continuities of exchange in Guinea-Bissau

Lundy, Brandon D.

doi:10.1080/14725843.2015.1023254

Cited by 3 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Second, the country's continuing insecurity seems to be fostering a shift in with whom Guinea‐Bissau is doing business (Lundy ). The World Bank reported a visible uptick in foreign merchants, chiefly from “neighboring countries in the sub region (particularly Senegal, Mali, Guinea‐Conakry, Mauritania, and Nigeria)” (Gacitua‐Mario et al :66).…”

Section: Guinea‐bissau: An Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, this study follows up on a pilot project that began to establish who these foreign entrepreneurs were and how their businesses were able to successfully set up shop in Guinea‐Bissau (Lundy ). The broader ethnographic treatment of the foreign entrepreneurs' social and political contexts, including descriptions of specific businesses and how some of the business owners contended with risk, can be found there.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The broader ethnographic treatment of the foreign entrepreneurs' social and political contexts, including descriptions of specific businesses and how some of the business owners contended with risk, can be found there. Preliminary findings from the pilot study showed that regional South–South investment was gaining ground through the exploitation of both traditional and new forms of social capital and social networks (Lundy ; see also Gacitua‐Mario et al ; Woolcock and Narayan ). These social networks were largely based on kinship (see also Stewart ) and long‐established trade networks that cornered niche areas of the economy .…”

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confidence: 99%

“…These social networks were largely based on kinship (see also Stewart ) and long‐established trade networks that cornered niche areas of the economy . Successful entrepreneurs maintained increased flexibility when dealing with the state apparatus; employed social networks and social capital to a high degree to ensure stock, credit, and additional assistance; and relied on specific microenvironmental knowledge to warrant success in an unsecure environment (Lundy ; Milgram ).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Drivers and deterrents of entrepreneurial enterprise in the risk‐prone Global South

Lundy

Patterson

O'Neill

2017

Economic Anthropology

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Through the case of Guinea-Bissau, this article considers how small-scale, often cross-border entrepreneurs mitigate risk and establish resilient businesses able to cope with ongoing political and economic shocks. Nineteen interviews and 153 surveys were conducted over two months with business leaders and regulators within the commercial centers and markets of Guinea-Bissau to assess entrepreneurial profiles and activities. Findings show that small-scale private investment from the Global South is increasing. Through thematic analysis, 18 different drivers of foreign business and 23 impediments to foreign entrepreneurship and investment were identified within this risk-prone environment. Limited assets imply limited opportunities, suggesting a need to mobilize all available resources to achieve entrepreneurial success. The implications of this research are that resiliency for these foreign investors has improved and risks are mitigated through established social capital that can be converted into financial capital, linked social-business networks across borders, microenvironmental knowledge, and maintaining relatively small businesses able to fly "under the radar." In understanding foreign entrepreneurs' motives, the social and structural undergirding of South-South investment is exposed.

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Section: Guinea‐bissau: An Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Drivers and deterrents of entrepreneurial enterprise in the risk‐prone Global South

Lundy

Patterson

O'Neill

2017

Economic Anthropology

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“…Like entrepreneurs from many other African countries, Guineans have traveled to China in large numbers since the early 2000s. While some African traders have settled in cities like Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Yiwu, many more have made short visits focused on buying Chinese products and shipping them home (Lee ; Lundy ; Lyons, Brown, and Zhigang ; Mathews ; Mathews, Lin, and Yang ; Zhou, Xu, and Shenasi ). Many Guineans, already placing a high value on transnational mobility and entrepreneurship as the proper means of achieving a successful life (Fioratta ), have sought to build on existing migration and business practices by directing their energies toward trade in Chinese goods.…”

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confidence: 99%

A world of cheapness: Affordability, shoddiness, and second‐best options in Guinea and China

Fioratta

2018

Economic Anthropology

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For people who trade and consume low-priced, low-quality goods, cheapness shapes their experiences of the world. In Guinea, West Africa, affordable Chinese-manufactured goods expand the limits of people's everyday lives, while Guinean traders seek their fortunes by traveling to China to buy cheap merchandise. However, shoddy products that break easily often disappoint consumers, and traders find their journeys to China risky and difficult; many of them would migrate elsewhere if they could. Exploring the parallels between traders' and consumers' perspectives, this article considers how cheapness and second-best options allow people to participate in a globalized economy of manufactured goods, thereby improving their quality of life in ways that work sometimes, but not as well as they would like.

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