Indigenous Management Practices in Africa: Volume 20

This chapter examines the trends and issues in the purchase behaviour of African buyers as a contribution to the literature on consumer behaviour and management from an African perspective. The objectives of the chapter include investigating the nature of African buyers’ purchase patterns; examining the cultural influences on African buyers’ purchase behaviour; documenting African buyers’ path to purchase; and comparing African and non-African buyers’ purchase behaviours. The data used in the chapter were gathered from Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa through surveys, a focus group discussion and a key informant interview in order to generate findings that represent various regions of Africa. Findings reveal that African buyers purchase mostly consumables for household consumption. Price bargaining is also a common feature among African buyers. Findings further indicate that nature of households, local culture and the use of technology are some of the factors that influence African buyers’ purchase behaviour. The data also showed that information gathering and involvement of others are essential in the purchase path of African buyers. The chapter created a model to depict these various issues and made recommendations for managers, educators and policymakers in Africa on the subject matter.

Although African markets have incorporated various selling practices originating from the West, there are still some selling practices that are indigenous to the African people and are widely practised by sellers across the continent. This chapter is an attempt at documenting those indigenous practices with the aim of providing managers, educators and policymakers of the continent with a reference document on what these indigenous selling practices are, how sellers invoke them in the course of transactions and the cultural values that guide these practices. Primary data were gathered from three countries representing western, eastern and southern Africa through observations, field surveys and in-depth and key informant interviews while literature was sourced for secondary data. The chapter identified street selling, haggling and credit-based selling as the major indigenous selling practices found among sellers in Africa. The cultural values that guide selling in the continent include respect, trustworthiness and kindness. The chapter displayed a framework to explain the subject matter and made some practical suggestions that are relevant for managers, educators and policymakers.

With the world gradually evolving into a global economy, Africa is playing an increasing role both as a major supplier of commodities and a huge consumer market for products from other parts of the world. Hence, it has become necessary for organisations to understand logistics and supply chain management (SCM) practices in Africa. For organisations that operate in Africa or have business dealings in Africa, it has become a strategic competitive priority to understand the current state of logistics in Africa and identify the challenges and opportunities inherent in the system. Finally, it is essential to learn how to overcome the challenges and maximise the opportunities. This chapter provides a historical and contextual basis for some of the logistics and SCM practices in sub-Saharan Africa. It reviews the current state of logistics management in Africa and identifies the challenges and opportunities that confront anyone interested in doing business in Africa. We reviewed the indigenous management practices that pervade the logistics discipline and highlighted cultural, unique and anecdotal evidence of practices and characteristics peculiar to the African countries. In addition, a comparative analysis of the logistic performance of countries in the region was provided to help readers situate the discussion. We concluded the discussion with some practical suggestions on how to get the best out of the African logistics system.

The purpose of this chapter is to identify African financial management practices, highlight their origin and explain how they differ from their Western counterparts. The study identified indigenous African financial practices using literature review, archival sources and library research covering the five areas of Africa comprising Northern Africa, Eastern Africa, Central Africa Western Africa and Southern Africa. The study found out that pre-colonial indigenous African financial management features prevalent use of trade finance, trade credit management, investment management and accounting. While there is also evidence of modification of Western financial management practices to suit African contexts, it is on the whole scarce. This is suggestive of the fact that they were in existence in the first instance. The clear conclusion is that many indigenous African financial management practices pre-dated and foreshadowed their Western counterparts. Yet, it is confounding that this has been largely lost sight of, and both scholars and financial management practitioners depict the former as inferior. There is clearly a need to remedy this situation. Educators need to focus on incorporating ethno-finance concepts into the entire curricula chain from basic to higher education. The anchor point for such curricula is Ubuntu philosophy. Financial management practitioners, on their part, need to shed notions that the indigenous practices are inferior and seek to journalise their day-to-day work experiences to build a body of documented practice.

Over decades, indigenous management practices and their values in Africa have changed from time to time. However, it continued to remain relevant in most business organisations in developing countries. Today in Africa and across the globe, there is a paradigm shift and stiff competition in human resource management practices as a basic element for effective and efficient business organisations’ performance. Effective human resource management practices and performance of organisations rely on the integration of indigenous management practices and sound strategies aligned to cultural values and cores business objectives. The study covers four regions of Africa as a continent. Empirical teachings of the study form a basis for active reforms and innovations, so as to revamp the use of indigenous knowledge, which was deliberately destroyed by colonial masters. Over the years, human resource management practice has evolved in favour of Western strategies and ideologies. Advocates for curriculum reforms in all African countries so as to incorporate indigenous knowledge content, since it is believed to be the future of Africa. An appropriate employees management practice in Africa is a necessary move in today’s business community as it enhances service delivery and performance. The application of indigenous management practices is believed to play a vital role and invokes effective decision-making practices in the business organisation. Therefore, the chapter traces the origin of indigenous wisdom and its fundamental structure in management practices. This chapter attempts to throw light on indigenous management practices and their values in business organisations in Africa.

Leadership is basically about influence and ability to cultivate followership. This chapter examined the nature of indigenous socio-political leadership in Africa using Zimbabwe, Sudan and Nigeria as caselets and compared this with the post-colonial or modern-day leadership realities. A survey was conducted among senior executives at Lagos Business School, Nigeria, with a sample size of 200 persons, to find out their perception of the African indigenous leadership system. An overwhelming 90% believe that culture plays a big role in shaping African leadership style. However, two-thirds of the respondents agreed that Africa lacks proper institutional structures to support good leadership, thus encouraging corruption (97% of the respondents) and non-accountability among the leaders. Also, only 5% thought cultural orientation was the reason why the African followers do not hold their leaders accountable. In other words, it is not in the African culture not to hold leaders accountable for their actions. So, what went wrong? We attempted a deeper look at the effect of colonial rule and the attendant militarisation of the African continent. Our conclusion is that the colonisation of the continent by Europe brought significant distortion to the traditional African indigenous leadership institutions and the psyche of the African leader and the followers alike. Post-colonial Africa has witnessed 133 recorded coups d’etat between 1952 and 2016. This chapter is recommended to all those who seek a deeper understanding of the nature of the African indigenous leadership practices and the factors that have shaped these over the years.

The efficacy of conventional financing strategies such as angel investment and venture capital financing developed in the context of Western economies but applied to Africa remains a subject of interest. This chapter, therefore, examined financing strategies that are indigenously peculiar to Africa and opportunities therein that could lead to entrepreneurial growth. Consequently, based on a number of criteria such as population and gross domestic product, five countries were selected from the five distinct African geographical regions while six different homogenous ethnic groups were selected from the five countries based on numbers (strength) and spread. A study of the financing strategies of these ethnic groups revealed germane customary funding practices based on culture and communal norms. Thus, as a result of the findings, a model was developed to explain the path to rapid entrepreneurship growth. It is emphasised that there are indigenous modes of financing strategies which the world could learn and adopt from Africa, particularly in instances where conventional theories or modes are not quite effective. Africa needs to achieve industrialisation and grow at a very rapid pace, and this could be achieved through indigenous financing strategies for its many unemployed youths. Advice for managers, educators and government officials are discussed.

The essence of formulating an effective strategy should be dependent on a company’s understanding of its operating environment. The implementation of a unique and effective strategy in an indigenous and competitive business environment will result in a competitive advantage. Drawing on the models that reduce uncertainty in business organisations, this chapter examines the dynamics of indigenous strategic management practices in Africa using Dangote Cement in Nigeria and Equity Bank in Kenya as case studies. The conceptual framework of this chapter presents the synthesis of strategic management practices in Africa; a global perspective and emphasis on Africa and as a result of which emerging organisations adopt these management practices and findings from both organisations. We discuss the tenacity of Dangote Cement entrepreneurial understanding of the Nigerian political, social and economic environment and its effective government relationship. This chapter examines the challenges and trends of strategic management practices in Africa and the key success factors in doing business in Africa, despite the depth of challenges in a business environment that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. We discuss Equity Bank’s stakeholder management practices, strategic leadership and its inclusive business model, developed to enhance financial inclusion and access to available and attractive financial services for those at the bottom of the pyramid. Significantly, we argue that to succeed in Africa, businesses must understand the dynamics of strategic leadership, the cultural context of the operating environment, stakeholder management and include the social dimension of business in their business strategy.

Over a long period of time, the evolution and development of indigenous management theories and practices in Africa have been seriously distracted and hindered by European colonialism and Western education. The colonial administration introduced Western management theories and practices, considered as the drivers and the remedy for the continent’s socio-politico-economic development. Western scholarship and literature generally undervalued and condemned the management proficiency and practices of early African civilisations, as evidenced, for instance, in the building of the great Egyptian pyramids. Foreign management systems generally botched the development of indigenous African business practices as they failed to achieve the expected goals. We argue that the development of indigenous African management practices and philosophy ought to be rooted in the African culture, value system and beliefs to provide the practical way for the efficient and effective running of organisations in Africa. Nevertheless, there are still indigenous family business management practices that can be co-opted into today’s business practices. The Ubuntu management system and the ‘new management techniques’, which emphasise humanness, communalism and African patriotism, provide the veritable starting point for the development of indigenous African management philosophy. The chapter starts with a brief description of family business in Africa. Highlighting the relevant indigenous management practices, to mention, strategic process, governance, human resource and succession planning then follow in this order. The next section is on the origins of the indigenous management practices and then we conclude with a section on unique differences from Western models and provide advice to educators and practitioners. As an approach, the cases that have been used are for illustration purposes and do not claim to be representative of African indigenous business practices since Africa is too diverse.

The demand for sustainability in business and sound management training is becoming more resonant in a steadily evolving Africa. With a vast expansion of Africa’s socio-economic base, and viable possibilities for technological, social and economic development, the balancing influence of management ethics cannot be overstated. The historical lessons from the Western business world in corporate scandals and financial misdemeanour clearly reveal to the emergent economies and businesses of developing Africa the weighty costs of unethical business practice. People require that business firms conduct their business responsibly. Developing ethical business practices, therefore, becomes crucial. With Africa’s cultural diversity of peoples, places and values, business practices are strongly influenced by indigenous values and trends. It is important to understand and situate indigenous ethical principles and practices in Africa within the framework of business. This chapter, therefore, aims at critically discussing what ethics in management means for a developing Africa. We will also discuss the ethical principles, to be seen as a metaphysical unity of values, of ideals, and especially, of character and community. The chapter will then highlight select cases reflecting ethical practices of management in African business, making sure to emphasise the necessity of business ethics to corporate sustainability.

This chapter presents an understanding of the nature, peculiarities and factors that influence decision-making by executives and managers across the various sub-regions of Africa. Focusing on factors such as culture, faith, ethics, information paucity and institutions, the chapter examines the prevailing nature of decision-making in West Africa, East Africa, Northern Africa and Southern Africa. Interestingly, decision-making in these regions is characterised by unique features and peculiarities. The Ubuntu African philosophy was used to illustrate the traditional African lifestyle and decision-making practice. Drawing from both traditional and contemporary decision-making approaches, it identifies similarities as well as differences in the approach employed by decision-makers across the various sub-regions of Africa. To clearly articulate the similarities and differences, interviews and surveys were used to gather data from managers operating in these regions. Factor analysis enabled the description of underlying factors that drive decision-making within each region. The chapter further illustrates a framework for decision-making practice in Africa, which shows the dynamics and important features of decision-making among executives in Africa. The author describes decision- making as an essential competence for managers and posits that being cognisant of the factors that influence decision-making significantly improves organisational performance. In conclusion, it recommends suitable strategies that enhance the quality of decision-making for both managers and educators.

Western management philosophy and thought have been around for millennia; however, the supremacy of its concepts and writings has become a subject of criticisms in Africa. There is a huge gap in African management education which calls for redesigning of management curriculum to affirm African social orientation and self-determination that will enable new forms of learning and knowledge required to tackle complex global challenges. The objective of this chapter is to review Western management thought and practice vis-à-vis the existing management philosophy in Africa prior to her colonisation and advocate the need to redesign management curricula. To accomplish the aforementioned objective, this chapter took a historical, reflective and systematic approach of literature review to advance renewal of management curricula in Africa. The analysis began with a review of pre-colonial management philosophy and thought in Africa, followed by a discussion of how colonialism obstructed and promoted the universality of management. This was followed by a review of African traditional society and indigenous management philosophies. The chapter discussed topics that should feature in an African-oriented management curriculum and highlighted fundamental constructs that can be fused into management curriculum of business schools/teaching in Africa. The chapter also made a case for a flexible management curriculum structure that is broader than the conventional transmission-of-knowledge building which views students as passive learners’ by adopting suitable pedagogical tools that will be relevant for knowledge transmission and assessment and also enhance learning and management practices that is culturally fit and relevant to global practice.