Transferring Marketing Concepts to Sub-Saharan African Countries: An Adaptive Approach to Marketing Education

• Published in: Journal of transnational management development 1996-03, Vol.1 (4), p.55-77
• Main Authors: Gregory, Gary D., Buckler, Brian, Okonkwo, Patrick
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1068-6061
• DOI: 10.1300/J130v01n04_04

The drive towards market-oriented economies is accelerating in many sub-Saharan African countries, resulting in numerous opportunities for teachers, scholars and educators to disseminate the business knowledge of a free market economy. Since the macroenvironmental variables (culture, politics, socioeconomic conditions, etc.) within many sub-Saharan African countries often do not lend themselves to teaching marketing as it is practiced in Western societies, a framework for an adaptive approach to lransferring marketing howledge is proposed. Realizing the significance of the local environment, a model was applied that further illustrates two broad categories involved in the teaching approach: the content to be transferred (the knowledge itself), and the rocess by which such transfer taku place. Lastly, implications for the transference of Western marketing concepts are discussed along with suggestions on how to improve the teaching of marketing knowledge in sub-Saharan Africa.