The dynamics of managing people in the diverse cultural and institutional context of Africa

Purpose The purpose of this article is to introduce the special issue which considers some of the contemporary debates in managing people in Africa. Design/methodology/approach The papers that constitute this special issue were selected from submissions to various events hosted by the Africa Research Group, a community of scholars committed to researching Africa, and from a more general call for submissions. Findings The papers highlight the changing picture of the African organisational landscape and provide both theoretical and empirical insights about the opportunities and challenges of managing people in a culturally complex continent. Originality/value Taken together, the papers make an important contribution by engaging current debates and demonstrating potential new areas for further research

When Suits Meet Roots: The Antecedents and Consequences of Community Engagement Strategy

citizens, community engagement, community groups, corporate philanthropy, social partnerships, social strategy, stakeholder engagement, systematic review,

Value co-creation in multinational enterprises’ services marketing at the bottom-of-the-pyramid markets

This book chapter addresses determinants of value creation by multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the still largely neglected research context of bottom of the pyramid (BoP) markets. Consisting of consumers living below the poverty line, BoP markets exhibit significantly different characteristics compared to the affluent developed or the aspirational emerging markets. Dealing with a wide range of diversity within a market where it is difficult to obtain reliable, generalisable information means that MNEs tend to face challenges upon entering them. Yet, the potential demand offered by BoP markets cannot be ignored and MNE’s have shown increasingly that they are willing to innovate market-specific approaches to cater to BoP needs. We discuss the applicability of service-dominant (S-D) logic in subsistence context and identify commitment to the market, strategic CSR, and service quality as key firm-level determinants of effective service marketing in BoP markets. We further identify social trust, technological outreach and performance orientation characteristics in target BoP market as key country-level determinants. Finally, the book chapter offers a number of academic and managerial implications.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed