This book places special focus on the importance of trust building, particularly in economies where formal legal arrangements are lacking. Taking the case of Africa, the author provides a framework of how indigenous institutions specify and define the rules, thereby allowing entrepreneurship to thrive. In particular, the book delves into the distinct evidence of institutional rivalry within Africa where competing institutions co-exist, leading to the emergence of dominant hybrid institutional forms. By placing enforcements at the heart of the issue, the author makes a convincing case for trust in a range of indigenous institutional arrangements. Based on an investigation of entrepreneurs operating across West Africa, the book explores how indigenous arrangements are sufficient in enforcing credible commitments to agreements. In the process, the author argues that trust is essential in stimulating entrepreneurial incentives in Africa. The book brings the real-world situation of local actors in live situations that almost every African entrepreneur can identify with. In a bold new step, the book attempts to show how African entrepreneurs have been able to respond to the specific socio-economic challenges of their environment and raises questions about the role of alternative indigenous institutions. For those interested in African studies, the book’s chapters and readings capture fresh insights and renewed enthusiasm for African entrepreneurship.

An analysis of recent data on the economic behavior of market institutions in sub-Saharan Africa, with implications for future research and current policy. In Market Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa, Marcel Fafchamps synthesizes the results of recent surveys of indigenous market institutions in twelve countries, including Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, and Zimbabwe, and presents findings about economics exchange in Africa that have implications both for future research and current policy. Employing empirical data as well as theoretical models that clarify the data, Fafchamps takes as his unifying principle the difficulties of contract enforcement. Arguing that in an unpredictable world contracts are not always likely to be respected, he shows that contract agreements in sub-Saharan Africa are affected by the absence of large hierarchies (both corporate and governmental) and as a result must depend to a greater degree than in more developed economies on social networks and personal trust. Fafchamps considers policy recommendations as they apply to countries in three different stages of development: countries with undeveloped market institutions, like Ghana; countries at an intermediate stage, like Kenya; and countries with developed market institutions, like Zimbabwe. Market Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa caps ten years of personal research by the author. Fafchamps, in collaboration with such institutions as the Africa Division of the World Bank and the International Food Policy Research Institute, participated in the surveys of manufacturing firms and agricultural traders that provide the empirical basis for the book. The result is a work that makes a significant contribution to research on the continuing economic stagnation of many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and is also largely accessible to researchers in other fields and policy professionals.

Gossip and reputation are core processes in societies and have substantial consequences for individuals, groups, communities, organizations, and markets.. Academic studies have found that gossip and reputation have the power to enforce social norms, facilitate cooperation, and act as a means of social control. The key mechanism for the creation, maintenance, and destruction of reputations in everyday life is gossip - evaluative talk about absent third parties. Reputation and gossip are inseparably intertwined, but up until now have been mostly studied in isolation. The Oxford Handbook of Gossip and Reputation fills this intellectual gap, providing an integrated understanding of the foundations of gossip and reputation, as well as outlining a potential framework for future research. Volume editors Francesca Giardini and Rafael Wittek bring together a diverse group of researchers to analyze gossip and reputation from different disciplines, social domains, and levels of analysis. Being the first integrated and comprehensive collection of studies on both phenomena, each of the 25 chapters explores the current research on the antecedents, processes, and outcomes of the gossip-reputation link in contexts as diverse as online markets, non-industrial societies, organizations, social networks, or schools. International in scope, the volume is organized into seven sections devoted to the exploration of a different facet of gossip and reputation. Contributions from eminent experts on gossip and reputation not only help us better understand the complex interplay between two delicate social mechanisms, but also sketch the contours of a long term research agenda by pointing to new problems and newly emerging cross-disciplinary solutions.

This book places special focus on the importance of trust building, particularly in economies where formal legal arrangements are lacking. Taking the case of Africa, the author provides a framework of how indigenous institutions specify and define the rules, thereby allowing entrepreneurship to thrive. In particular, the book delves into the distinct evidence of institutional rivalry within Africa where competing institutions co-exist, leading to the emergence of dominant hybrid institutional forms. By placing enforcements at the heart of the issue, the author makes a convincing case for trust in a range of indigenous institutional arrangements. Based on an investigation of entrepreneurs operating across West Africa, the book explores how indigenous arrangements are sufficient in enforcing credible commitments to agreements. In the process, the author argues that trust is essential in stimulating entrepreneurial incentives in Africa. The book brings the real-world situation of local actors in live situations that almost every African entrepreneur can identify with. In a bold new step, the book attempts to show how African entrepreneurs have been able to respond to the specific socio-economic challenges of their environment and raises questions about the role of alternative indigenous institutions. For those interested in African studies, the book's chapters and readings capture fresh insights and renewed enthusiasm for African entrepreneurship. Kingsley Omeihe is Head of Business Management at the University of Aberdeen. He is the President of the Academy for African Studies and Chair of African Studies at the British Academy of Management (BAM). He also serves as Chair of the Entrepreneurship in Minority Groups at the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) and Head of macroeconomics at the Marcel House. His research interest in economic sociology examines the role of networks and norms in the emergence of economic institutions. This includes examining the reflexive basis of reputation in multiplex networks, identifying the sources of trust in low-trust societies and their sources of cooperation.

A Harvard Business School professor and international entrepreneur explains the crucial ingredient for success in the developing world. Entrepreneurial ventures often fail in the developing world because of the lack of something taken for granted in the developed world: trust. Over centuries the developed world has built up customs and institutions like enforceable contracts, an impartial legal system, credible regulatory bodies, even unofficial but respected sources of information like Yelp or Consumer Reports that have created a high level of what scholar and entrepreneur Tarun Khanna calls “ambient trust.” If a product is FDA-approved we feel confident it’s safe. If someone makes an untrue claim or breaks an agreement we can sue. Police don’t demand bribes to do their jobs. Certainly there are exceptions, but when brought to light they provoke a scandal, not a shrug. This is not the case in the developing world. But rather than become casualties of mistrust, Khanna shows that smart entrepreneurs adopt the mindset that, like it or not, it’s up to them to weave their own independent web of trust—with their employees, partners, clients, and customers—and with society as a whole. This can requires innovative approaches in places where the level of societal mistrust is so high that, as in one example Khanna provides, an official certification of quality simply arouses suspicion—and lowers sales! Using vivid examples from Brazil, China, India, Mexico and elsewhere, Khanna shows how entrepreneurs can build on existing customs and practices instead of trying to push against them. He highlights the role new technologies can play (but cautions that these are not panaceas), and explains how entrepreneurs can find dependable partners in national and local governments to create impact at scale

Presenting a topical analysis of the challenges and achievements of enterprise, Enterprise and Economic Development in Africa examines contributions to economic development on the continent, as well as exploring implications for policy dimensions.

The bestselling author of The End of History explains the social principles of economic life and tells readers what they need to know to win the coming struggle for global economic dominance.

This edited volume discusses the role of innovation and regional integration in economic development in Africa. Over the past five decades, post-colonial African countries have struggled to break loose from the trap of poverty and underdevelopment through the adoption of various development strategies at regional, national, and continental levels. However, the results of both national and regional efforts at advancing development on the continent have been mixed. Although the importance of agglomeration and fusion of institutions have long been recognized as possible path to achieving economic development in Africa, the approach to regionalism has been unduly focused on market integration, while neglecting other dimensions such as social policy, mobility of labor, educational policy, biotechnology, regional legislation, manufacturing, innovation, and science and technology. This volume investigates the link between innovation, regional integration, and development in Africa, arguing that the immediate and long term development of Africa lies not just in the structural transformation of its economies but in the advancement of scientific and innovation capacities. The book is divided into four parts. Part I addresses the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of innovation and regional integration in Africa. Part II presents case studies which examine how regional economic institutions are fostering innovation in Africa. Part III of the book deals with sectoral issues on innovation and integrated development in Africa. Part IV sets the future research on innovation, regional integration, and development in Africa. Combining theoretical analysis and a comparative, interdisciplinary approach, this volume is appropriate for researchers and students interested in economic development, political economy, African studies, international relations, agricultural science, and geography, as well as policymakers in regional economic communities and the African Union.

This book highlights the importance of understanding how trust and indigenous African cultural institutions enhance the development of entrepreneurial networks and relationships in Africa. Drawing on institutional theories, the author re-examines the way that entrepreneurial behaviour can be shaped, with a focus on trust, networks and the development of relationships. Analysing a combination of existing literature and empirical data from 50 internationally trading SMEs in Africa, this book reflects the growing interests of entrepreneurs, investors and corporate executives to develop trust and relationships with customers in order to invest and grow. By addressing the need for a greater understanding of how social and cultural institutions in Africa affect the continent’s economy, this book not only offers theoretical frameworks, but also future implications for practice and policy, and will provide essential reading for those studying emerging markets and globalisation, African business, and entrepreneurship more generally.

This book highlights the importance of understanding how trust and indigenous African cultural institutions enhance the development of entrepreneurial networks and relationships in Africa. Drawing on institutional theories, the author re-examines the way that entrepreneurial behaviour can be shaped, with a focus on trust, networks and the development of relationships. Analysing a combination of existing literature and empirical data from 50 internationally trading SMEs in Africa, this book reflects the growing interests of entrepreneurs, investors and corporate executives to develop trust and relationships with customers in order to invest and grow. By addressing the need for a greater understanding of how social and cultural institutions in Africa affect the continent’s economy, this book not only offers theoretical frameworks, but also future implications for practice and policy, and will provide essential reading for those studying emerging markets and globalisation, African business, and entrepreneurship more generally.