Africa is a complex and interesting continent. More than one billion people live in the 54 countries on the continent. Some countries such as Botswana, Ghana, Mauritius, Rwanda, and South Africa have flourishing economies (Hoskisson, Wright, Filatotchev, & Peng, 2013; McKinsey, 2010). Several other African economies are also surging, and foreign direct investment flows into the continent have been increasing. As a result, Africa has been described in the business press with clichés such as “Africa rising” (Economist, 2011) and “a continent on the move” (McKinsey, 2010). Africa is also seen as the next growth market in the world because of its unmatched opportunities (Chironga, Leke, Lund, & van Wamelen, 2011). However, there are other countries in Africa that continue to experience chronic economic stagnation and immense challenges, such as the Ebola epidemic that ravaged Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, despite the fact that the average annual real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate for sub-Saharan Africa was approximately 5.2 % between 2012 and 2015 (IMF, 2014). This extreme disparity presents a significant challenge to Africa’s leaders, policymakers, and practitioners, among others. Family businesses, because of their prevalence on the continent, could play a significant role in continuing the growth of the economies of African countries.
Unfortunately, Africa’s flourishing economic outlook has not been matched by relevant research that recognizes her unique demands and challenges and her distinctive context in the area of family business studies. Family businesses have gained attention in the management literature in recent years because family-owned and family-controlled businesses are the predominant form of business organizations globally, and account for approximately 90 % of all incorporated businesses in the USA (La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, & Shleifer, 1999; Poza, 2007) and about 80 % of the world’s businesses (Poza, 2007). Family businesses are further seen as the primary engine of entrepreneurial activities, community and economic growth, and vitality in all economies around the world. Family businesses generate most of the world’s economic output, employment, and wealth. In many regions of the world, family-owned businesses dominate the economy, and in sub-Saharan Africa, anecdotal evidence suggest that more than 90 % of all non-state owned enterprises (non-SOEs) are family businesses (Acquaah, 2013). Therefore, family businesses are extremely important to the well-being of sub-Saharan African economies. While family-owned and family-controlled businesses, on average, have been found to outperform other types of businesses in advanced industrialized economies, no such comprehensive information exists about the performance of family businesses in sub-Saharan Africa to make such a conclusive statement.
More specifically, the definition and composition of the “family” in Western societies and cultures is markedly different and narrowly constructed compared to those of African societies. Africa’s collectivist societies define the family more extensively and it is likely to consist of cousins, aunts, and uncles who may trace their ancestry to a matriarch or a patriarch several generations before. Consequently, the standards, obligations, and expectations of the family in African societies and cultures are broadly defined and are extensive with significant implications for the structure, composition, and dynamics of family businesses. Shenkar (2004, p. 168) has argued the importance of validating theory in diverse geographical, national, and cultural contexts “because they provide for an environment that is markedly different from the one in which a given theory was developed” (p. 168), creating opportunities to develop feedbacks into theory development.
Moreover, my review of the literature on the knowledge base about family businesses in Africa indicated that there is no book focusing on the issues presented by the interaction of the founding entrepreneur or family patriarch/matriarch, the family, management, and ownership of the business in sub-Saharan Africa, and on how to manage the opportunities, challenges, and vulnerabilities created by such interaction.
It was against this background that I decided to address both behavioral and strategic issues that family businesses in sub-Saharan Africa face and their strategic activities in a book as far back as the spring of 2013. I, however, did not want the book to focus on just a few countries in Africa but to draw lessons on behavioral and strategic activities in family businesses from several countries. I felt that the appropriate manner for accomplishing this goal was to edit a book rather than author the book myself. I sent out a call for papers for the book to African scholars in Africa and the diaspora who are interested in family business research. The response was very poor, so I reached out to colleagues in African countries such as Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda who could write chapters for the book or collaborate with me in writing some of the chapters. I asked the scholars to write chapters for the book, focusing on a broad range of topics such as social exchange issues, socio-emotional wealth considerations, strategic issues, social capital and networking, marketing issues, operations management issues, human resource management issues, governance, the role of women, and succession issues in family businesses, from different countries. Several of the scholars agreed to contribute chapters for the book, so I was delighted that my goal of publishing a book that could be used as a reference material by those interested about family businesses not just in sub-Saharan Africa but in several African countries would now be realized. The original plan was to have 12 chapters in the book. In addition to the two background chapters, which I had to complete, there were ten chapters to be written by the scholars, sometimes in collaboration with me, from different countries. Little did I know how challenging it was going to be to get the scholars who agreed to participate in the book project to submit their initial outlines, let alone the full chapters. After repeated emails, two of them did not respond to my requests for the initial drafts of the chapters they had agreed to work on. Three of the authors also requested extension several times and finally did not complete their chapters. I was frustrated and disappointed, and wanted to cancel the contract with Palgrave Macmillan; however, I was encouraged by their team to complete the project with just the chapters I had. In the end, I had to author or co-author almost all the chapters in the book. Thus, four of the eight chapters in the book focus on family businesses in Ghana.
Despite these challenges and frustrations, I am glad that I continued with the project because I believe that this book will be an invaluable resource to researchers, practitioners, and students interested in family business issues in Africa. As a founding executive member of the Africa Academy of Management (AFAM), whose aim is to “(1) foster the general advancement of knowledge and scholarship in the theory and practice of management among African scholars and/or academics interested in management and organization issues in Africa. Africa is defined broadly to include all of Africa and individuals of African descent in the Diaspora (i.e., The Caribbean, South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, Middle East, and North America); and (2) perform and support educational activities that contribute to intellectual and operational leadership in the field of management within the African context” (AFAM, 2015), this endeavor will help in the advancement of knowledge in, and about, family businesses in Africa.
The chapters in the book cover several of the topics I had asked the scholars to focus on. The first section of the book discusses the background to family business research in Africa. In Chap. 2, I review six of the widely used theories in the family business literature and discuss their applicability to the institutional and socio-cultural environment in sub-Saharan Africa in which sub-Saharan African family businesses operate. In Chap. 3, Joseph Eshun Jr. and I review and assess the literature on family businesses in Africa, with special emphasis on what has been studied and what the studies tell us about the state of family business research. The second section of the book discusses behavioral and strategic issues. Two chapters focus on behavioral issues. One of them focuses on the application of social exchange theory in family business research in sub-Saharan Africa. Kwasi Amoako-Gyampah, Eddy Tukamushaba, and I examine how the relationship between organizational justice and employee job effectiveness in family businesses in Uganda is mediated by organizational support. In the other, Dianne Welsh discusses women-owned family businesses in Africa. The rest of the chapters in the second section, in which I was a co-author, discuss strategic issues in family business. Kwasi Amoako-Gyampah, Jayanth Jayaram, and I examine how human resources management and market orientation strategies differ in their impact on competitive strategy and firm performance between family-owned and non–family-owned businesses in Ghana. I also examine how influence of external social capital on the growth of productivity in family businesses in Ghana is moderated by market competition. In another chapter, Ahmed Agyapong and I examine the direct and indirect effects of innovative capability on the performance of micro and small family businesses in Ghana. Finally, Kwasi Amoako-Gyampah and I investigate the impact of manufacturing strategy on competitive strategy and performance between family and non-family businesses.
This book’s focus of attention and interest in family businesses in Africa is timely because of the lack of such a reference in Africa. I hope understanding the role and contributions of family businesses in Africa to the economic resurgence of the continent will be informative and insightful for researchers, especially doctoral students in Africa and around the world who are interested in family businesses and entrepreneurial activities in Africa. Moreover, it is my expectation that this book will begin the conversation about the unique socio-cultural environment in Africa and the role of family businesses in such an environment, and encourage research on family businesses on the continent. I also expect this book to be a useful reference for policymakers and practitioners on strategic and behavioral issues affecting family businesses in Africa.
Finally, I express my gratitude and thanks to all the authors who made this project successful. I thank them for their willingness to work with me on this project despite several disappointing messages that I received at the beginning, and their continued support for three years to see the project through. I also thank my colleagues who assisted in reviewing the chapters for me.
References
Acquaah, M. (2013). Management control systems, business strategy and performance: A comparative analysis of family and non-family businesses in a transition economy in sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 4, 131–146.CrossRef
Africa Academy of Management (AFAM). (2015). AFAM Bylaws. Retrieved December 9, 2015, from http://www.africa-aom.org/stdContent.asp?vchPageName=Governance#ByLaws
Chironga, M., Leke, A., Lund, S., & van Wamelen, A. (2011). Cracking the next growth market: Africa. Harvard Business Review, May: 117–122.
Economist. (2011). The hopeful continent: Africa rising. Retrieved December 11, 2015, from http://www.economist.com/node/21541015
Hoskisson, R. E., Wright, M., Filatotchev, I., & Peng, M. W. (2013). Emerging multinationals from mid-range economies: The influence of institutions and factor markets. Journal of Management Studies, 50, 1295–1321.
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La Porta, R., Lopez-de-Silanes, F., & Shleifer, A. (1999). Corporate ownership around the world. Journal of Finance, 54, 471–517.CrossRef
McKinsey (2010, June). McKinsey on Africa: A continent on the move. New york, NY: McKinsey & Company.
Poza, E. J. (2007). Family business (2nd ed.). Mason, OH: Thomson South-Western.
Shenkar, O. (2004). One more time: International business in a global economy. Journal of International Business Studies, 35(2), 161–171.CrossRef
