African Journal of Business and Economic Research, Volume 4 Numbers 2&3,2009
About This Edition
ISSN : 1750-4562 (online), 1750-4554 (print)
To buy or subscribe, please email: sales@adonis-abbey.com
The articles in this issue address business practices in 47 sub-Saharan African countries, female immigrant entrepreneurship in South Africa Post 1994, entrepreneurial export orientation, strategy, and performance of SMEs in Nigeria, causality between current account and budget deficits in Kenya, adoption of information and communication technology in Nigeria, business profiles of female immigrant entrepreneurs in Nigeria, and barriers to SMEs development in the manufacturing sector Tanzania.
In the first article, Kabongo and Okpara examine the impact of legal origins on the regulations of start-up businesses in 47 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Following the classification of SSA nations in English and French legal origin countries, the authors examine the extent to which the historical origins of countries play a determinant role in the ease of starting a new business enterprise, in terms of the number of procedures with which an entrepreneur must comply in order to start a business and operate it legally.Data was collected from the World Bank Annual report on the ease of Doing Business and World Bank Development Indicators. Findings indicate that the historical origins of SSA countries do not play a determinant role in the number of procedures required to start a new business.
Halkias and Anast, in the second article offer practical insights on female immigrant entrepreneurship in South Africa Post 1994 South Africa. According to the authors, South Africa officially practiced white domination over blacks, a system which came to be known as Apartheid from 1948 until 1994. This system kept Whites and Blacks separately. Black South Africans were essentially stripped of their fundamental human rights. The elections of 1994 brought an end to the Apartheid era. The purpose of their review however, was to examine the factors that have hindered female immigrants from playing active and meaningful participation in the country's economy. The authors state that discrimination, socio-economic barriers, and gender inequity tend to hinder female immigrant from active participation in the country’s economy. They also indicate that female immigrants are members of the country's largest group of entrepreneurs and the financial contributions of these women to the South African economy should not be ignored. The authors call for more research on this issue.
In the third article,Okpara and Kabongo investigate the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, strategy, and performance of (SMEs) in Nigerian. Data The data for were collected from ninety two (92) business owners and managers using a questionnaire survey and in-depth interview methods. The survey questionnaire and the interview questions, included questions about various aspects owners/managers export orientation, strategy, and performance. The responses were statistically analyzed and yielded results that conformed to the theoretical hypotheses specified for the study.Results indicate that high entrepreneurial orientation firms were more engaged in the export market than low entrepreneurial orientation firms. Findings also suggest that firms that adopted proactive orientation achieved higher performance, profitability, and growth compared to those that adopted a conservative orientation. It was also found that proactive entrepreneurs allocated more financial resources for export activities than conservative entrepreneurs.The author’s findings provide some insights regarding managerial actions that would assist smallbusinesses in Nigeria to be successful in export markets.
Destaings Nyenyi Nyongesa and Silas Onyango, in the fourth article, investigate the linkage and causality between the current account deficit and budget deficit using Vector Autoregressive Model (VAR) with extension of Vector Error Correction Model and by adopting Johansen Maximum Likelihood Estimation Cointegration methodology. The results of their research indicate current account and budget deficits seems to be related. The authors suggested that managing current account deficit offers scope for improvement in the budget deficit.
In the fifth article, Uweigbe Uwalomwa and Olatunji Olubukunola Ranti examine explored both primary and secondary data in testing the views of 320 respondents selected SMEs in Nigeria towards the level of ICT adoption. The authors observed that among the four sectors examined, Hotel and Tourism sector of the economy has the highest level of ICT adoption in their operations. Their findings show that cost of developing and maintaining e-business, poor network infrastructural development, lack of skilled personnel among others are as some of the factors responsible for the low level of ICT adoption in the other sectors of the country’s economy. The authors conclude that concerted efforts on the part of the academia in developing an ICT oriented entrepreneurial education and a more pro-active step by government in providing organizational incentives and assistance will be beneficial towards the adoption of ICT among SMEs in Nigeria.
Nwajiuba, Halkias, Thurman, and Caracatsanis in the sixth article report the results of a study of business and social profiles of female immigrant entrepreneurs in Nigeria. The authors state that there has been an increasing attention in female immigrant entrepreneurship in Africa largely because of their role in entrepreneurial activity in the continent. They argued that the main hurdle for female immigrants is acquiring resources, particularly finance, for their new business venture. Results of data analysis from 40 female immigrant entrepreneurs in Nigeria show that female immigrants still lag behind their male counterparts in starting a business for the first time or a higher rate is seen in women in some low- to middle-income countries, such as Nigeria. Results also show that respondents indicated that their families encouraged and inspired them to engage in entrepreneurial activities. The authors recommend that longitudinal studies on this topic sector is needed to see how these firms investigated in this study transition over time and to validate and/or to refine this research. They also suggested that economic and social policy makers encouraging entrepreneurial activities within the female population – whether indigenous to Nigeria or from neighbouring regions. This will further strengthen the Nigerian economy and create the basis for continued growth and development. Female entrepreneurs can play a vital role in capital and job-opportunity creation, which will enhance the importance of their roles in business-building.
In the final article, Mutalemwaexamines the constraints faced by SMEs in Tanzania. They collected data from 61 SMEs in food and wood manufacturing sectors. The findings of their study indicate that SME development is constrained in terms of difficulty with finance, a weak and inadequate regulatory environment, as well as problems with interfim linkages and technology.The author recommends that that providing support to SME activities and dismantling barriers in the institutional and policy environments will allow SMEs to play a leading role in Tanzania’s pursuit for strong economic and industrial development.
We thank the authors and the reviewers for this issue. With your continued support via your quality research, comments, and suggestions, AJBER will continue to be the leading journal for African business and economic research.