Africa rising: Opportunities for advancing theory on people, institutions, and the nation state in international business

Africa is rising, but IB scholars have largely failed to take notice. We argue that this is a missed opportunity. Not only is Africa a dynamic and distinctive region, but its rise presents a number of puzzles for international business (IB) research, with phenomena that seem to challenge fundamental...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of international business studies 2023-07, Vol.54 (5), p.938-955
Main Authors: Nachum, Lilac, Stevens, Charles E., Newenham-Kahindi, Aloysius, Lundan, Sarianna, Rose, Elizabeth L., Wantchekon, Leonard
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attention
Business
Business and Management
Business education
Business Strategy/Leadership
Entrepreneurs
GDP
Gross Domestic Product
Human capital
Informal economy
International Business
Investments
Management
Nation states
Organization
Pandemics
Point
Social networks
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Summary:Africa is rising, but IB scholars have largely failed to take notice. We argue that this is a missed opportunity. Not only is Africa a dynamic and distinctive region, but its rise presents a number of puzzles for international business (IB) research, with phenomena that seem to challenge fundamental assumptions underlying IB theories. In order to unravel these puzzles and better explain business dynamics on the continent, we contend that there is a need for IB theorizing to place greater emphasis on the role of people , to balance IB’s traditional emphasis on institutions, location-specific assets, and other macro-level attributes. We explore how this conceptual shift presents new avenues for inquiry into issues that are of importance for IB but have received limited attention to date. Such issues include entrepreneurial human capital, social networks, institutional co-evolution, and the informal economy. As such, we argue that, while extant theories in IB inform explanations and predictions regarding business activity across the continent, Africa’s diverse and distinctive characteristics offer the potential to serve as a context for testing and developing generalizable, cutting-edge IB theory.
ISSN:0047-2506
1478-6990
DOI:10.1057/s41267-022-00581-z