Revisiting the “matching managers to strategy” argument in the context of a firm’s internationalisation strategy

Purpose: This paper aims to revisit the long-standing in the management literature argument of “matching managers to strategy” in the new empirical context of the top management team (TMT) and firm internationalisation. The purpose of this paper is to examine the consequences of matching nationalities of the TMT members to the multinational corporations’ (MNC) countries of operation. Design/methodology/approach: This research is based on the quantitative methods. The authors use the traditional regression analysis, with the ordinary least squares estimation, in the moderated multiple regression models. Findings: The study findings point to the importance of the asset-based exposure to international environments for the benefits of the TMT nationality matching to materialise. They re-affirm the critical remarks on the early “matching managers to strategy” frameworks, which indicated that the effectiveness of matching is underpinned by the detailed specification of the matching contingencies that influence the matching process. Originality/value: The measure of matching the TMT foreign nationals to the MNCs’ host countries constitutes a novel way of capturing the TMT internationalisation, as opposed to measuring the incidence of foreigners on the TMTs or the TMT nationality diversity variable. It therefore underlines the aspect of matching in terms of the cultural fit between the TMT nationalities and countries of MNCs’ operations

Non-Governmental Organizations’ approaches to women’s empowerment amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Towards decolonizing development praxis in northern Ghana

YesThis article examines local non-governmental organizations (LNGOs) approaches to women's empowerment amid crisis and the implications for decolonizing women's empowerment praxis. The article draws on lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic and decolonial critique of development praxis to analyse LNGOs approach to women's empowerment. The study relied on snowballing to select twenty-six LNGOs operating in northern Ghana for in-depth interviews. Our study found that LNGOs deploy local and international frameworks on women's rights and combine these with indigenous knowledge principles and economic empowerment. Yet there are tensions between negotiating culturally appropriate approaches and meeting the interests of philanthro-capitalist donor agencies. The LNGOs are dependent on Western donors for financial resources and have become more vulnerable due to Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath as funding for women's empowerment work continues to dwindle. LNGOs have modified their interventions to address specific needs of beneficiaries arising from the consequences of the crises. This study enriches understandings of the specific vulnerabilities of LNGOs in northern Ghana, resource-scarce and semi-arid settings across the global South. For women's empowerment to achieve meaningful results, especially during and after crisis, activism needs to be centred on indigenous knowledge. This is central to building the resilience of LNGOs and women beneficiaries to effectively position themselves to absorb the shocks that attend crisis and to cope more effectively with it

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA): Taking stock and looking ahead for international business research

YesThe establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has opened new avenues of research interest in International Business and International Management. However, scholarly work in this fledgling area of research has been disparate and often lacking in the assessment of core international business implications of the emergence of the AfCFTA on member states as well as non-member states. This is because, as yet, no systematic attempt has been made to explore the AfCFTA in the context of IB research, or project future IB research directions. Hence, in this paper, using the PRISMA method we have systematically identified the current published research and scholarly work on the AfCFTA and provided a robust picture of the current state of knowledge and available literature on the AfCFTA while at the same time outlining potential areas for future international business researc

Human capital and strategic persistence:An examination of underperforming workers in two emerging economies

Despite the considerable research on strategic persistence, there remains a lack of understanding as to why companies persist with underperforming workers. Our study seeks to fill this gap in the literature by integrating the concepts of the paradox of success, external legitimacy, nepotism and the escalation of commitment perspectives to develop an integrated explanation for persistence with underperforming workers. Drawing on insights from two emerging economies in Africa: Ghana and Nigeria, we uncovered that persistence with underperforming workers stems from information hoarding, favouritism through tribalism and externally imposed constraints. Our study also articulates the underlying processes inherent in such persistence. The wider implications for theory and public policy are examined

Threading the needle of the digital divide in Africa,T he barriers and mitigations of infrastructure sharing

Coopetition is prevalent in today's dynamic business environment and has attracted research interests. Using coopetitive-based view, this study examines the antecedents and drivers of infrastructure sharing (IS) among local and multinational mobile network operators (MNOs) in Africa. Based on 21 interviews with different stakeholders in seven sub-Sahara African (SSA) countries, we develop an integrative framework of industry/market, technological, and institutional factors that affect IS between MNOs. We find evidence of institutional factors shaping the impact of the industry structure and technological factors on firms’ propensity to engage in coopetitive strategies. There is evidence that in contexts with low-level IS, inadequate regulatory interventions mean that the existing market conditions are reproduced, leading to further competitive behaviours from MNOs. For high- level IS, MNOs tend to engage in further coopetitive strategies through strategic learning and cooperate to resolve technological incompatibilities and engage in standards settings. We extend the existing scholarly works on coopetition and IS literature by providing an in-depth understanding of the obstacles faced by MNOs in adopting IS. The study further highlights that IS requires a shift from the competitive-based logic to a dynamic, coopetitive one, which is nonetheless challenging to achieve with limited institutional capacity and support

Threading the needle of the digital divide in Africa,T he barriers and mitigations of infrastructure sharing

Coopetition is prevalent in today's dynamic business environment and has attracted research interests. Using coopetitive-based view, this study examines the antecedents and drivers of infrastructure sharing (IS) among local and multinational mobile network operators (MNOs) in Africa. Based on 21 interviews with different stakeholders in seven sub-Sahara African (SSA) countries, we develop an integrative framework of industry/market, technological, and institutional factors that affect IS between MNOs. We find evidence of institutional factors shaping the impact of the industry structure and technological factors on firms’ propensity to engage in coopetitive strategies. There is evidence that in contexts with low-level IS, inadequate regulatory interventions mean that the existing market conditions are reproduced, leading to further competitive behaviours from MNOs. For high- level IS, MNOs tend to engage in further coopetitive strategies through strategic learning and cooperate to resolve technological incompatibilities and engage in standards settings. We extend the existing scholarly works on coopetition and IS literature by providing an in-depth understanding of the obstacles faced by MNOs in adopting IS. The study further highlights that IS requires a shift from the competitive-based logic to a dynamic, coopetitive one, which is nonetheless challenging to achieve with limited institutional capacity and support

South African MNCs' HRM Systems and Practices at the Subsidiary Level: Insights From Subsidiaries in Ghana

Despite the extensive literature on the human resource management (HRM) systems and practices of multinational companies (MNCs) from developed countries, there are serious gaps in our understanding of emerging countries multinationals HRM practices and systems at both home and host countries. This study empirically examines the similarities and differences of South African (SA) MNCs' HRM systems and practices at both the headquarters in SA and at the subsidiaries operating in Ghana. The study reveals that with the exception of compensation and industrial relation practices which are localised, EMNCs HR systems and practices are mainly transferred to subsidiaries with minimal adaptation to contextual realities. Further research and practical implications are discussed

Critical perspectives on international business in Africa: An overview and proposed new research agenda

Purpose: This paper aims to highlight the different intellectual discourses and contributions made to the “special issue” on critical perspectives on international business in Africa. The authors also introduce the details of the contributions included in this issue. Design/methodology/approach: The paper briefly presents Africa as a fertile but under-researched context for international business scholarship notwithstanding the growing number of contributions in recent times. This is followed by a brief review and discussion of each paper in this issue. Findings: The paper captures the findings and contributions of the papers featured in this issue. Originality/value: The paper sets the context in which the other papers that are included in this special issue can be situated. Moreover, the paper engages with key issues and challenges relevant to African business and offers critical perspectives on the theory and practice of international business within Africa

Owner-managers failure experience and business model innovations in B2B firms: The roles of coopetition, managerial persistence, and financial resource slack

YesThis study proposes and tests a model of how and when previous failure experience can impact on subsequent business model innovation of business-to-business (B2B) SMEs. Analysis of survey data from a sample of 182 B2B SMEs in Ghana indicates that failure experience is positively related to business model innovation – and that coopetition capability mediates this failure experience. Further analysis of boundary condition effects reveals that high levels of financial resource slack strengthen the positive relationship between coopetition and business model innovation, while the level of managerial persistence has no effect on failure experience and coopetition relationship. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings