Department of Economics

Permanent URI for this community

https://hdl.handle.net/10566/489

Browse

Browsing by Subject "Africa"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Clustering and incubation in Africa’s small business development: some experiences and lessons
    (University of Western Cape, 2012) Chisenga, Desmond Chalwe; Thomas, Wolfgang H.
    There is a general recognition and acceptance that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are important contributors to social and economic development. However, in Africa which hosts many developing economies, SMEs must endure numerous challenges that tend to repress small enterprise development. Formal cluster development programmes have been identified as one progressive way of assisting SMEs to overcome the obstacles. It involves deliberately instituting and supporting small enterprise clusters. Although this idea of formal clustering of firms is relatively new to Africa, cluster development programmes are increasingly taking the form of small business incubation. Business incubation essentially aims to provide a systematic method of rendering business support services to fledgling small businesses to help them continually rise above market challenges and thrive. Some governments in Africa have embraced the notion and are incorporating plans into their local economic development (LED) programmes to enhance small business development through incubation. Countries like South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria have amongst the most conspicuous incubator programmes and cluster experiences on the African continent. This study interrogates the effectiveness of and hence the scope for formal business incubation or rigid clustering programmes in Africa. It assesses examples of both rigid and flexible clusters in a few African countries in order to identify their main differences and to thus establish some critical areas of business clustering needed for useful small and medium enterprise development in Africa. Upon reviewing case study literature, it is observed that formal incubation programmes are likely to be less effective in creating new SMEs compared to the more flexible clusters in Africa. Rigid clusters also tend to rely heavily on state funding, are more subjected to political interference, are prone to expansion capacity constraints, and are unlikely to sustain themselves financially in the long run. The study notes that rigid clustering mainly favours a high-tech environment. Hence, incubation programmes may be more suitable for advanced economies. For low-tech industries, on the other hand, formal business incubation may be inappropriate.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    A critical overview of regional trade integration: lessons from COMESA
    (University of the Western Cape, 2005) Umurungi, Francine; Huda, S. N; Dept. of Economics; Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences
    The aim of this study was to determine which strategy would be most appropriate to enhance regional trade integration in COMESA so that it can provide to its member states the benefits they expect to have from it.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Foreign direct investment and governance: an empirical evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa
    (University of the Western Cape, 2004) Habtemariam, Tedros Redie; Black, Philip A.; Dept. of Economics; Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences
    This thesis employed a panel data of 36 countries from sub-Saharan Africa over the period 1996-2000 to examine the impact of governance on foreign direct investment flows. Within the governance variable there are six sub-indices which are the rule of law, political stability, control of corruption, voice and accountability, government effectiveness, and regulatory quality. The estimates show that political stability, regulatory quality and accountability have a positive impact on foreign direct investment, while corruption, government ineffectiveness, and lack of rule of law do not affect foreign direct investment. The conclusion drawn from this research was that besides market size, trade openness, human capital, macroeconomic stability and physical infrastructure, governance plays a great role in attracting foreign direct investment into the sub-region.