Biblical Texts: “The Lord said to Moses: Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. And I will come down and talk […]
The judgment of the flood (Gen 6 to 8) and that of the Tower of Babel (Gen 11) were not enough to convince humanity (peoples and nations) to turn away from their idolatry. Now God leaves aside the nations by choosing a man (Abram) from a people who worshiped other gods (cf. Joshua 24:2). From […]
In Africa as in other frontier markets, it’s not very useful to prepare for (or react to) corruption in isolation. Corruption typically coincides with other governance issues, such as overwhelming bureaucracy, a shortage of labor or skills, or even both. In this regard, businesses can learn from sociology. It’s better to think about how a […]
I’m much more of an expert in the business field, and when it comes to commerce, I can say that the Chinese are winning because they deserve it. The Chinese are winning in Africa because they handle uncertainty well, get their hands dirty, demonstrate remarkable tenacity, and adapt their economic model locally. These are common […]
A successful relationship with a government goes beyond tit-for-tat. This reciprocity is not collaboration and quickly devolves into a mere balancing of accounts. A productive relationship with frontier market governments is built by pursuing common goals, holding each other accountable. Jeff Immelt of General Electric discovered that this collaborative approach addressed many of the drawbacks […]
The politics of governments in Africa is a landscape undergoing significant changes. Its actors are changing, of course, but so are its direction and dominant vision. This landscape is traversed by a path of good governance, commitment, and competence, which is expanding. As I have mentioned before, expectations play a significant role in the quality […]
African governments have the same need as others to respond to short-term political deadlines. What distinguishes governments in frontier markets is that they place much more value on long-term commitment from companies. A non-African example can help better understand this point. One of my friends worked in the early 1990s at one of the world’s […]
“I’ve seen it so often,” says Neville Isdell of Coca-Cola: a company identifies an opportunity in Africa, sends all its expatriates, recreating what they have at home, and manages everything from its European headquarters. It’s expensive, because of salaries, travel, etc. But most of all, it’s expensive because it doesn’t work.” Neville knows what works. […]
No one succeeds in Africa by following a straight line. The field of frustrations is extensive, and I have hardly ever known anyone who succeeded in Africa without encountering endless obstacles. Mostly, these are the daily obstacles of life in a system that only halfway works. I spoke with a young Nigerian who was back […]
In the 1990s, Chrysler forged the concept of the “extended enterprise”: a company in which different management poles are interdependent, but with multiple and distinct structures. The interaction between an electricity supplier and a manufacturer would be a typical example of this kind of enterprise, at least in the United States or Europe. In Africa, […]
