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The Internationalization of African Firms: Opportunities, Challenges and

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DOI: 10.1002/tie.21977

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DOI: 10.1002/tie.21977

INTRODUCTION

The internationalization of African firms: Opportunities,

challenges, and risks
Nathaniel Boso1 | Ifedapo Adeleye2 | Kevin Ibeh3 | Amon Chizema4

1
KNUST School of Business, College of
Humanities and Social Sciences, Kwame There has been a marked increase in the internationalization activities of African firms over the
Nkrumah University of Science and last two decades or so, resulting in the emergence of regional challenger firms that are aggres-
Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
sively competing with foreign multinationals in terrains historically dominated by the latter.
2
Haslam College of Business, University of
However, our understanding of this phenomenon is limited, as empirical research examining
Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee
3
the nature of internationalization of African firms is scarce, and research directly investigating
School of Business, Economics and
Informatics, Birkbeck, University of London, drivers, outcomes, and boundary conditions of the internationalization of African firms is lack-
London, UK ing. The goal of this special issue, therefore, is to contribute to the scholarly understanding of
4
Birmingham Business School, University of the increasingly prevalent internationalization of African firms. This guest editorial provides a
Birmingham, Birmingham, UK summary of the six articles in this special issue, and highlights three broad thematic issues:
Correspondence internationalization opportunities for African firms (accelerated private-sector development and
Ifedapo Adeleye, Haslam College of Business,
University of Tennessee, 1000 Volunteer
regional integration, and ability to overcome institutional voids); internationalization challenges
Blvd, Knoxville, TN 37996. (global competitiveness challenges, limited management and cross-cultural capabilities, and
Email: iadeleye@utk.edu overcoming the liability of Africanness); and internationalization risks (losing focus on home
markets and over-internationalization).

KEYWORDS

Africa, Africa-to-Africa internationalization, emerging markets, exports, internationalization

strategy

1 | I N T RO D UC T I O N patterns include Togo-based Ecobank (40 countries); Nigeria's UBA

The internationalization activities of African firms have increased
remarkably in scale, scope, and sophistication over the past two
decades or so (Boso, Adeleye, & White, 2016; Ibeh, Wilson, & Chi-
zema, 2012). This rise in the number of nascent African multinationals
appears to have coincided with the “Africa Rising” era of the last
decade, when the region experienced phenomenal economic growth
(Ibeh, 2015). As a result of this growth, African firms are now emerg-
ing as serious challengers in their domestic and regional markets, on a
continent where formal economic activities have been historically
dominated by Western multinationals since the colonial era (Adeleye
et al., 2018). The sheer speed, scale, and scope of this international
expansion of African firms have been particularly interesting. For
example, within the last two decades, several South African compa-
nies have accelerated their international growth, with Telkom now
operating in 38, MTN in 24, Standard Bank in 20, and Shoprite in
17 countries. Other African players with broadly similar growth
(20) and Dangote (15); and Mali's Bank of Africa (18) (Boso et al.,
2016; Ibeh, 2015).
These internationalization activities cover virtually all key sectors
in the region, from financial services, energy and extractives to tech-
nology, aviation, communications, retail, pharmaceuticals, agriculture,
and manufacturing, with the firms leading this expansion operating in
virtually all the subregions of the continent. Although multinationals
from the two regional economic powerhouses—South Africa
(e.g., MTN, Shoprite, DSTV, Standard Bank, FNB, Aspen Pharmacare,
Bidvest, Sasol, Discovery, Anglo-American, Telkom, Dimensions Data,
Massmart, and Barloworld) and Nigeria (e.g., Dangote, UBA, GTBank,
FirstBank, Access Bank, Interswitch, Glo, and Oando)—lead the way,
players are also emerging from the rest of the continent. From Kenya,
the East African powerhouse, Equity Bank, KCB, and Kenolkobil are
rising; so are OCP, BMCE, and Attijariwafa Bank from Morocco, and
Groupe Sifca and Atlantic Group from Côte d'Ivoire. While many of
these firms have only internationalized within their subregion, several

Thunderbird Int. Bus. Rev. 2019;61:5–12. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/tie © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 5
6 BOSO ET AL.
have a truly pan-African footprint, and more than a few have ven-
tured outside the continent (Adeleye, White, Ibeh, & Kinoti, 2015;
Ibeh, 2013, 2015).
Our understanding of this phenomenon, especially its behavioral
and strategic management dynamics, however, remains limited, as
most of the extant studies have an economics orientation or narrow
exporting focus (Ibeh et al., 2012). On a positive note, a burgeoning
stream of relevant literature is now emerging (see, e.g., Adams,
Nyuur, Ellis, & Debrah, 2017; Boso, Oghazi, & Hultman, 2017;
Gonzalez-Perez, Vasquez-Melo, & Rios-Molina, 2015; Horwitz, 2017;
Ibeh, Awa, Makhmadshoev, & Madichie, in press; Luiz, Stringfellow, &
Jefthas, 2017; Misati, Walumbwa, Lahiri, & Kundu, 2017; Ngwu,
Adeleye, & Ogbechie, 2015; Ovadje, 2016; Rwehumbiza, 2017;
White & Van Dongen, 2017). These have helped to increase our
understanding of the internationalization behavior of African firms.
The rest of this article is organized into two main parts. First, we
identify three broad issues and developments that are important to
understanding the drivers, outcomes, and boundary conditions of the
internationalization of African firms. These are: internationalization
opportunities (accelerated private-sector development and regional
integration, and ability to overcome institutional voids); internationali-
zation challenges (global competitiveness challenges, limited manage-
ment and cross-cultural capabilities, and overcoming the liability of
Africanness); and internationalization risks (losing focus on home mar-
kets and over-internationalization). Next, we provide a summary of
key issues and insights from the six articles in this special issue.
2 | INTERNATIONALIZATION
O P P OR T U N I T I E S F O R A F R I C A N F I R M S
The increased level of internationalization of firms in Africa can be
largely attributed to progress in pivate-sector development and
regional integration, as well as the ability of pan-African firms to
overcome institutional voids in the challenging landscape that charac-
terizes several countries on the continent. With these positive factors
expected to remain unchanged in the near future, opportunities
abound for even more internationalization activities.
2.1 | Accelerated private-sector development and
regional integration
The last decade or so has seen a substantial growth in African econo-
mies. This peaked at around 11.8% in 2004, and hovered around 5%
for several years until the great plunge in commodity prices lowered
Africa's growth rate to below 3% in recent years, and down to 1.3%
in 2016 (World Bank, 2017a). Growth is projected to rise to 3.2% in
2018 and 3.5% in 2019 as commodity markets stabilize and the two
regional economic giants exit recession (World Bank, 2017b). Overall,
the African continent has experienced more than a decade of signifi-
cant economic expansion.
At the firm level, the private sector in Africa is growing rapidly,
albeit from a low base. A recent report by global consultancy firm
McKinsey finds that: “The continent has 400 companies with revenue
of more than $1 billion per year, and these companies are growing
faster, and are more profitable in general than their global peers”
(McKinsey, 2016, p. vii). This phenomenal growth over the last
decade has resulted in local firms becoming domestic champions and
then using the power and experience gained at home to expand
internationally. With South Africa and Nigeria projected to exit reces-
sion in 2018, and GDP growth expected to return to normal levels in
many countries, the prospects appear positive for firm internationali-
zation. In addition, a significant level of informal exporting takes place
with neighboring countries, indicating a potential for further growth
in the level of internationalization of firms within the region (Ibeh
et al., 2012).
Increased regional integration also presents an opportunity for
prospective and current continental players. After decades of talks
and negotiations on implementing regional trade agreements, it
appears that the African Union and governments across the region
are now taking this very seriously. The ongoing deliberations on the
Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA), which is expected to be signed
in 2018, will create the world's largest free-trade area, covering
54 member states, over 1 billion people, and a combined gross
domestic product (GDP) in excess of US $3.4 trillion (African Union,
2017). In addition to creating a single market for goods and services
across the region, the CFTA will guarantee free movement of people
and investments, and better harmonize the current overlapping trade
regimes across the many regional economic communities. This will
build on the modest progress recorded by regional economic commu-
nities such as the East African Community (EAC) and Economic Com-
munity of West African States (ECOWAS). Recent announcements by
individual countries such as Ghana, Rwanda, and Kenya to offer visa
on arrival to citizens of all African countries represent a step in the
right direction, as the restricted movement of people has been identi-
fied as an impediment to doing business regionally. It is important to
note that even in the absence of ambitious regional agreements,
many countries within the region have already opened up their mar-
kets, including sensitive and highly regulated sectors such as banking,
telecommunications, extractives, and fintech.
Another interesting development—perhaps resulting from the
increasingly receptive policies of regional and national authorities
highlighted earlier—is the strong commitment of business elites and
prominent firms to the idea of building a pan-African business. A
recent study by Ibeh et al. (in press) identified this “mission-driven
motivation” in one of the internationalizing firms, where the vision of
the founders to build a pan-African organization was the driving force
for their intraregional expansion and location decisions. A notable
exemplar is Nigerian businessman Tony Elumelu, who has been
championing Africapitalism, and urging the African private sector and
other Africans to invest in as well as play a transformational role in
the region (Amaeshi & Idemudia, 2015). What makes this trend addi-
tionally remarkable is the apparent evolution of the pan-African
vision from a mainly political philosophy driven by national govern-
ments and regional agencies to a management orientation increas-
ingly embraced by private-sector players (Ibeh et al., in press). In sum,
the outlook for regional internationalization appears bright as political
and business elites in Africa are demonstrating commitment to
increasing intraregional trade and investment.
BOSO ET AL.
2.2 | Ability to overcome institutional voids
While Africa has made a lot of progress on the economic front in
recent years, many of her economies are still characterized by institu-
tional voids and market imperfections that create uncertainty and
increase the transaction costs of firms (Adeleye & Boso, 2016). It is
important to note, however, that these institutional voids—for exam-
ple, underdeveloped intermediary markets, limited access to capital
markets, poor infrastructure, and weak regulatory environment—can
be a double-edged sword. For firms that cannot handle the ambiguity
and uncertainties that characterize such markets, the market imper-
fections constitute a serious challenge or impediment to doing busi-
ness. On the other hand, for those firms that are able to navigate
underdeveloped institutions and deal with frequent environmental
shifts, such an ability can become a source of sustainable competitive
advantage (Gao, Zuzul, Jones, & Khanna, 2017).
There is empirical evidence in the African context that corrobo-
rates this argument. Luiz et al.’s (2017) recent study of one of Africa's
most successful multinational enterprises, South African breweries,
illustrates the importance of “institutional complementarity” in inter-
nationalizing emerging-market firms. From an institutional comple-
mentarity lens, they posit that firms can leverage their knowledge of
successfully doing business in weak institutional environments at
home, by exploiting this knowledge when they expand to countries
with similar institutional imperfections. Given the volatility and com-
plexity that exists in many African economies, the ability to effec-
tively manage institutional voids presents a powerful source of
competitive advantage for African firms as they challenge established
Western multinationals and, in recent times, emerging-market
multinationals.
Beyond capitalizing upon institutional complementarity, there is
also recent empirical evidence that emerging-market firms use repu-
tation as a lever for long-run survival (Gao et al., 2017). As Gao and
colleagues demonstrate, many emerging-market (including African)
firms have persisted over time (for several decades or even centuries)
in challenging and imperfect markets, due to their expert ability to
build and leverage their reputation. This reputation—which consists
of prominence, perceived quality, and resilience—is hard to imitate
(Gao et al., 2017). For internationalization of African firms, therefore,
leveraging a reputation-based source of competitive advantage can
be an effective way of mitigating and obviating institutional voids. In
other words, the persistence of underdeveloped institutions and mar-
ket imperfections may actually benefit internationalizing African firms
vis-à-vis their counterparts from more advanced Western counter-
parts, as long as they are able to capitalize upon institutional comple-
mentarity and develop meaningful reputational assets.
3 | INTERNATIONALIZATION CHALLENGES
FOR AFRICAN FIRMS
While there are opportunities and potential for increased internation-
alization of African firms, several challenges also exist. Later, we high-
light three challenges that actual and prospective international firms
need to address seriously: the global competitiveness challenge;
7
limited management and cross-cultural capabilities; and overcoming
the liability of Africanness.
3.1 | Global competitiveness challenge
The issue of global competitiveness remains a serious challenge to
African firms, at national, sectoral, and corporate levels (Adeleye &
Esposito, 2018). At the firm level, some of the fundamental obstacles
to competitiveness are infrastructure, skills, and regulations (Newman
et al., 2016). Beyond these systemic issues, limited economies of
scale and relatively poor quality of service also contribute to the lack
of competitiveness of African firms (Amankwah-Amoah, 2018). In the
case of internationalization of firms, many are faced with the liabili-
ties of smallness and newness, as they struggle to compete against
stronger and more established firms (Ngwu et al., 2015). For example,
the emerging pan-African banks, many of which were established
within the last 30 years, have to compete within the region against
French and British banks that have a significant global footprint and
have operated in the region for about a century (Adeleye et al.,
2018). Such competition against international giants in a globalized
economy poses considerable challenges to these African banks,
although many appear to be rising to the challenge. In other sectors
like extractive, technology, and manufacturing industries, this compe-
tition represents a much more serious threat to the growth and inter-
national expansion of African firms. These firms need to step up their
performance and grow rapidly to remain internationally competitive,
as firm size and ownership of capital resources are critical to interna-
tionalization in the African context (Ibeh et al., 2012).
3.2 | Limited management and cross-cultural
capabilities
Although rarely covered in the burgeoning literature on the interna-
tionalization of African firms, there have been several cases of failed
internationalization attempts. An important question that arises when
these failures occur is the extent to which these were caused by
external factors (such as volatile social, political, or economic environ-
ment of business) or internal factors (such as poor strategy execu-
tion). In an exploratory study of failed internationalization attempts
of three South African firms (Woolworths, Nando's, and Mocality),
Ajai (2015) argues that the primary contributors to these failures
were ineffective handling of strategy, management, and organiza-
tional issues, rather than external factors. This makes sense given that
in the markets where these firms failed, others survived and were
better able to manage the external constraints stemming from the
business environment. In the case of smaller, entrepreneurial firms, a
recent study shows that their performance in export markets is
dependent on “export resource transformation capability”—their abil-
ity to find new ways to configure their existing export-related assets
or resources (Boso, Annan, Adeleye, Iheanachor, & Narteh, 2018,
p. 214). Developing these rare strategic capabilities is, however, a
huge challenge.
The ability to execute effective human resource management
strategies is also important (Debrah, Oseghale, & Adams, 2018; Ibeh
et al., 2012). A recent study by Adams et al. (2017) finds that
8 BOSO ET AL.
South African multinationals were able to build competitive advan-
tage in Ghana by leveraging global HR best practices. However, many
prospective or newly internationalizing African firms do not appear to
have developed sophisticated management systems and practices like
the more mature South African firms. Furthermore, leadership and
management bandwidth tends to be overstretched as the internation-
alization journey tends to be driven by the CEO or a few executives,
who may have limited or no international business experience.
Building cross-cultural management capabilities is an important
but often neglected issue for African firms expanding within the
region. Many organizations do not handle the psychic distance para-
dox well, missing important cultural nuances through assumptions of
similarity between their home country and their seemingly culturally
proximate host countries (O'Grady & Lane, 1996). The importance of
paying attention to cross-cultural management issues in the African
context cannot be overemphasized, as this has significant implications
for HR decisions and subsidiary management (Ovadje, 2016). In par-
ticular, African organizations and managers must be sensitive to cul-
tural and linguistic differences/diversity, persisting stereotypes, as
well as differences in work ethic and acceptable work behavior within
the region (Nartey, 2015).
Given the political volatility and complexities that characterizes
many African states, the ability to effectively manage government
relations is important for internationalizing firms. Ajai's (2015) study
of failed internationalization attempts within the continent makes a
plausible argument that these failures can be partly attributed to the
inability of organizations to execute effective corporate political strat-
egies in a foreign market. This is especially important for firms from
the two economic powerhouses (Nigeria and South Africa), as they
have somewhat complex and fragile relationships with many of their
neighbors—arising from historical factors and the fear of economic
hegemony. Regarding South African firms, for example, their superior
resource and home market advantages and aggressive expansion
appear to attract special scrutiny in many countries, a situation not
helped by their historical baggage from the Apartheid era and the
resultant indifferent relations with the rest of the continent (Wood,
2015). Successful South African firms like SABMiller, Shoprite, and
Anglo-American have, therefore, had to craft nonmarket strategies as
well as leverage important political connections when expanding to
the rest of Africa (Wood, 2015). Failure in skillfully managing relations
with host African governments can be very costly, as MTN learned
via a whopping $1.7 billion fine resulting from its recent face-off with
Nigerian regulators (Reuters, 2016). Political and stakeholder engage-
ment will, thus, remain critically important to Africa's regional giants
as they become more prominent players and attract greater scrutiny
in many African markets.
3.3 | Overcoming the liability of Africanness
Even as the “Proudly Made in Africa” campaign becomes increasingly
popular across the continent, internationalizing African firms face
several challenges in winning the hearts and minds of African con-
sumers. With increasing globalization and the emergence of a middle
class in Africa, there is a sharpened appetite for global brands and
foreign goods (Ojaide, 2018). Cultural critics like Ojaide, indeed,
contend that the current unprecedented consumerism and loyalty to
foreign goods is reminiscent of the colonial era, when Western-made
goods were always considered superior. In a region where subsidi-
aries of Western multinationals still dominate economic activities and
command consumer loyalty, the liability of Africanness (Ngwu et al.,
2015) for internationalizing firms is real, as these firms struggle to
compete.
The liability of Africanness often arises from earlier-discussed
historical baggage and complicated relationships between countries,
persisting stereotypes, and deficits in social capital and trust levels
(Ngwu et al., 2015). The level of interpersonal trust in many African
countries is low, according to the results of a recent survey by Ortiz-
Ospina and Roser (2017): the percentage of people agreeing with the
statement “most people can be trusted” was found to be 24% in
South Africa, 23% in Ethiopia, 15% in Nigeria, 8% in Tanzania, and
7% in Zimbabwe. The corresponding figures for Scandinavian coun-
tries are 74% in Norway, 64% in Sweden, and 58% in Finland. A
study by Algan and Cahuc (2007) suggests that if the trust levels in
Africa were the same as Sweden, the region's GDP per capita would
vary by over 120% (compared to Latin America's 40%). This statistic
would improve further if more African countries follow the rare
examples of Botswana, Rwanda, South Africa, Senegal, Namibia, and
Ghana in exiting the bottom half of corruption perception surveys
(Transparency International, 2017). African consumers' preference for
and sentiments toward foreign products and global brands continue
to be fueled by these high trust deficit and perceived corruption
levels, and they represent significant challenges to newly internatio-
nalizing African firms.
4 | I N T E R N A T I O N A L I Z A T I O N R I S KS F O R
AFRICAN FIRMS
There are two important interrelated risks that internationalizing Afri-
can firms need to manage effectively: the risk of losing focus on
home markets and the risk of over-internationalization. This is a clas-
sic dilemma that organizations in an increasingly competitive and
dynamic business landscape face—whether to focus on exploiting
existing core markets or to explore new opportunities. O'Reilly and
Tushman (2004) propose developing an ambidextrous capability that
allows firms to be successful at both exploitation and exploration.
This concept is relevant to internationalizing African firms or those
contemplating whether or not to expand internationally. They need
to strike the right balance between remaining focused and competi-
tive in their home markets and proactively searching for and explor-
ing new opportunities in international markets.
4.1 | Losing focus on home markets
Building a strong competitive advantage in many African markets
requires considerable investment of organizational resources. For
many of the newly internationalizing African firms, necessary firm-
specific advantages were not developed ahead of the internationali-
zation journey, and the internationalization process puts further strain
on managerial, financial, and organizational resources. This is
BOSO ET AL.
particularly the case for smaller and mid-tier players from the larger
economies expanding intraregionally into much smaller markets, as
they seem to face a high-risk/low-return scenario. Some firms appear
to appreciate the seriousness of this risk and are making a strategic
U-turn in their internationalization journey. For example, Diamond
Bank recently announced its pull out from Benin, Togo, Côte d'Ivoire,
and Senegal: “After 18 years of building the Diamond Bank franchise
in other markets in West Africa, the time has come to fully apply our
resources to Nigeria” (Reuters, 2017). There have been other cases of
de-internationalization, often also attributed to the need to focus on
the domestic markets. Such rethink is often triggered by competitive
challenges in home markets or failure to gain tangible returns from
foreign investments, which highlight the risk firms face when making
strategic commitments to internationalization.
4.2 | Over-internationalization
Related to the risk of losing focus on home markets is that of over-
internationalization. This relates to ill-judged pace and scope of inter-
nationalization, as well as insufficient attention firms give to under-
standing and managing internationalization risks. In the case of the
latter, which Forsgren and Hagström (2007, p. 291) aptly labeled
“ignorant and impatient internationalization,” firms jettison the risk-
minimizing incremental internationalization process (as theorized by
the Uppsala model), in their quest to urgently gain first-mover advan-
tages in relatively risky or unpredictable markets. Such a high-risk
internationalization approach has been known to yield great results,
but may sometimes produce weak outcomes. In the African context,
Shoprite's aggressive expansion to 17 countries over the last decade
or so seems to have paid off, as it is now the continent's largest
retailer; it did so in spite of market imperfections, institutional voids,
and weak supply chains, seeking to gain the first-mover advantage
(Wood, 2015). Africa's largest bank, Standard Bank, on the other
hand, appears to have over-internationalized, with an aggressive
global strategy that saw it expand to Eastern Europe, Middle East,
and Latin America, only to drastically scale back its emerging-market
operations in 2011 following the 2007–2009 global financial crisis
(Adeleye et al., 2018). The rapidly expanding Nigerian financial ser-
vices firms also seemed to have fallen short of expected outcomes as
they targeted relatively small markets, apparently driven by institu-
tional pressures (Ngwu et al., 2015). The critical lesson here is African
firms must take the risk of over-internationalization seriously by
adopting a disciplined approach to international expansion, learning
when best to accelerate or decelerate their activities and what consti-
tutes an optimum degree of internationalization in their particular
context. As Buigues, Lacoste, and Lavigne (2015) caution, there is
usually an initial positive relationship between corporate performance
and internationalization, which then becomes negative as internation-
alization advances, eventually forcing firms to reduce their interna-
tional footprint.
Understanding this pattern and adopting a disciplined approach
to internationalization is particularly called for in an environment
where internationalization appears to have become a fad. Late inter-
nationalizers, especially, must resist the temptation to overcompen-
sate in their bid to catch up with their rivals, as they might eventually
9
need to roll back their operations, or even face bankruptcies and
business failures.
5 | OVERVI EW OF THE S PECIAL ISS U E
This special issue on the internationalization of African firms contains
five empirical research articles, a book review, and this introductory
paper. The articles cover several topics and themes bordering on and
pertinent to the internationalization of African firms—strategic leader-
ship; the internationalization process; small and medium enterprises
and international entrepreneurship, institutions, and governance;
location decisions and location strategies; motivation for internation-
alization; international competitive strategy; and export performance.
All the four subregions of Africa are covered, with analyses including
firms from Algeria, Mali, Nigeria, Togo, South Africa, Sudan, and Zim-
babwe. The sectoral coverage is broad, including banking, insurance,
information and communication technology (ICT), telecoms, retail,
brewing, and manufacturing. There is also a diversity of research
methods, with papers using qualitative case study, quantitative, and
mixed methods. We summarize the articles in the following text.
In the first article—“What Role Does CEO Vision Play in the Inter-
nationalization Process of Firms? Evidence from the Banking Sector in
Africa”— Gentile-Lüdecke, Halaszovich, and Lundan investigate the
role of strategic leadership in the internationalization process, an
often-overlooked issue. Analyzing the internationalization pattern of
four banks from four different countries over three decades, they find
the vision of the CEO is critical in influencing the international invest-
ment decision, largely explaining the speed and scale of internationali-
zation in the study firms. Their finding is important, as it brings the
role of managerial decision making to the fore. In a region where
regional trade and integration are historically low and regional expan-
sion of firms is only beginning to take off, this has practical implica-
tions. Policymakers at regional and national levels need to target
CEOs and sell the pan-African vision to them, as they are critical to
achieving the continent's ambitious economic integration goals.
The next article—“Cross-Border Expansion and Competitive Inter-
actions of Indigenous Mobile Network Operators in Sub-Saharan
Africa”—by Dike and Rose, examines the foreign direct investment
location decisions and competitive interactions of five indigenous tel-
ecom operators from four countries (Zimbabwe, Nigeria, South Africa,
and Sudan). They find these firms' internationalization patterns did
not fit with the established “psychic distance”/Uppsala model, which
suggests that firms expand to geographically proximate countries first.
The studied firms tend to invest in countries with lower levels of
corruption, which is not surprising given that telecom is a heavily reg-
ulated industry and requires significant up-front capital expenditure.
In the third article—“Internal and External Determinants of Export
Performance: Insights from Algeria”— Haddoud, Nowinski, Jones, and
Newbery investigate the key drivers of export performance among
Algerian small and medium enterprises, using a resource-based view
and the network perspective. Their study finds, contrary to extant lit-
erature on developed countries, that technological resources are not
significant contributors to export performance, and that local rela-
tionships are critical determinants of firms' export performance. Thus,
10
their findings underscore the importance of cultural and contextual
factors in driving export market success.
White, Kitimbo, and Rees, in the fourth article—“Institutions and
the Location Strategies of South African firms in Africa”— investigate
the impact of governance infrastructure on location decisions of
internationalizing firms. Interestingly, they find the quality of formal
institutions did not appear to have a direct impact on the location
decisions of SABMiller, MTN, and Massmart, three of the most inter-
nationalized companies in Africa. As discussed in the previous sec-
tion, African firms' institutional complementarity and ability to
effectively deal with institutional voids across the region gives them
the confidence to enter into markets that other multinational enter-
prises might find to be too risky to do business in.
In the fifth article—“The Internationalization of Nigerian Firms:
Motivations and Location Patterns”— Omokaro-Romanus, Anchor,
and Konara investigate the key drivers of the internationalization
strategy of four newly internationalizing Nigerian firms. Like other
emerging-market multinationals, firm-specific advantages acquired in
the domestic market is important. While they find that multiple
home-country and host-market factors influenced location decisions,
a commitment to a pan-African investment strategy appeared to be
pivotal. Their study found partial support for the Uppsala model and
the OLI eclectic model, although there were some contradictions to
these theoretical perspectives. The last article in this special issue, by
Acheampong, is a review of a new book on the regional expansion of
African firms: Africa-to-Africa Internationalization: Key Issues and Out-
comes, edited by Adeleye and Boso (2016).
6 | C O N C L US I O N A N D DI RE C TI O N S F O R
FUTURE RESEARCH
We believe the articles in this special issue make significant contribu-
tions to the burgeoning literature on international business in Africa.
However, given the fast-paced, dynamic environment in which inter-
nationalizing African firms now operate, there remains an ever pre-
sent need for further robust empirical studies into these emerging
phenomena. This is particularly important since the present special
issue has, understandably, not exhausted all the research questions
identified in our initial call for papers. Researchers, policymakers, and
practitioners with scholarly interests in Africa's unfolding internation-
alization story are, therefore, urged to maintain their keen focus on
the important task of investigating and illuminating the outstanding
research questions, including:
1. Do African firms exhibit unique internationalization behaviors
that can help extend extant international business theory?
2. What are the motivations for, and outcomes of, Africa-to-Africa
internationalization strategy?
3. Do African multinationals exhibit similar internationalization pat-
tern as their comparably aged emerging-market or developed-
economy counterparts?
4. Do African foreign direct investors emphasize different factors
than non-African investors in deciding if and how to invest in
Africa?
BOSO ET AL.
5. Do African multicontinental and global players emphasize differ-
ent factors when investing in African versus non-African
countries?
6. What are ownership advantages in the context of intra-African
foreign direct investment (FDI)? How can internationalizing Afri-
can firms help broaden the concept of ownership advantages?
7. How do the springboard and linkage-leverage-learning perspec-
tives apply to internationalizing African firms?
8. To what extent do colonial heritage influence location decisions
of internationalizing African firms? Do regional economic blocs
(e.g., Economic Community of West African States) and trade
agreements play a role in the international location decisions of
internationalizing African firms?
9. What kinds of resources and capabilities do African firms need
to internationalize rapidly? Do African firms possess resources
and capabilities that give them a competitive advantage over
firms from outside the continent? And using such resources and
capabilities, which sectors or industries do they need to interna-
tionalize rapidly?
10. To what extent can managerial network ties help or hinder the
internationalization of African firms?
11. Do rapidly internationalizing African firms perform better than
their counterparts that follow a more gradual process of
internationalization?
12. How do institutional conditions in African markets help African
firms penetrate and grow in foreign markets with similar
conditions?
13. How do industry-, country-, subregional-, regional-, or firm-
specific factors affect the international performance of interna-
tional African firms?
14. What role does stakeholder engagement play in the internation-
alization of African firms?
15. Can international companies operating in African markets
enhance their performance by being good corporate citizens?
Does commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and
sustainability initiatives translate into positive financial results in
Africa? What factors moderate the impact of CSR and sustain-
ability strategies on the performance of internationalizing Afri-
can firms?
16. What corporate governance challenges are African firms, as
they grow and expand in other markets, likely to face?
While the list is not exhaustive, it is our conviction that scholarly
works on these research questions would help advance an under-
standing of the behavioral and strategic management dynamics of
internationalization of African firms. Employing diverse methodologi-
cal approaches and drawing on theoretical lenses that are appropriate
to the context of such African studies could provide insights for pol-
icymakers and practitioners.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The special issue guest editors would like to thank Professor Mary
Teagarden, editor-in-chief of Thunderbird International Business
Review, for her constant guidance from the proposal stage through
BOSO ET AL.
the production process, and for her commitment to advancing inter-
national business research on Africa. Thanks also to Suzy Howell,
managing editor, for her professional support and assistance through-
out the editorial process. We sincerely thank all the anonymous
reviewers for giving their time, and providing constructive feedback
that helped to improve the quality of the submitted manuscripts. This
special issue would not have been possible without the scholars who
responded to our call for papers. We were pleasantly surprised at the
interest in this special issue and the dozens of submissions, many of
which we regrettably had to drop. For the authors of the articles in
this special issue, we thank you for your contribution and patience
through the several rounds of reviews and the production process.
We are grateful for the opportunity to serve as guest editors for this
special issue, and hope readers enjoy the articles as much as we did
editing them.
ORCID
Ifedapo Adeleye https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2370-4911
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AUTHORS' BIOGRAPHIES
Nathaniel Boso is professor of marketing and corporate strat-
egy and dean of KNUST School of Business School, Ghana. He
was an associate professor in marketing at Leeds University Busi-
ness School, United Kingdom, and a visiting scholar at the Univer-
sity of Sydney Business School, Australia, and Strathmore
Business School, Kenya. His research focuses on the interface
between international entrepreneurship, innovation, and market-
ing management. His research has won multiple awards and has
been published in leading scholarly journals such as the Journal of
Business Venturing, Journal of Product Innovation Management,
Journal of Business Ethics, and Journal of International Marketing.
He sits on the editorial review board of International Marketing
Review as an associate editor, and has edited several journal spe-
cial issues and books on international business in Africa, including
Africa-to-Africa Internationalization (2016, Palgrave). He received
his PhD from Loughborough University in 2011 and is a profes-
sional chartered marketer at the Chartered Institute of Marketing,
United Kingdom.
sustainability. He is currently engaged in research and case devel-
opment projects investigating the internationalization of African
firms and the challenges of doing business in Africa. He is the
founding editor of the Palgrave Macmillan Business in Africa
Series, and has coedited three volumes including Africa’s Competi-
tiveness in the Global Economy (2018) and Africa-to-Africa Interna-
tionalization (2016). Dr. Adeleye received his PhD in management
from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom.
Kevin Ibeh is a professor of marketing and international busi-
ness and Pro Vice Master (International) and deputy dean at Birk-
beck, University of London, United Kingdom. He has published
and consulted extensively on firm internationalization, interna-
tional entrepreneurship, and international business, and is consid-
ered a leading authority on newly emerging African
multinationals. His recent work, mainly on firm internationaliza-
tion and international entrepreneurship, has appeared in highly
rated outlets such as the British Journal of Management, the Jour-
nal of World Business, Management International Review, Industrial
Marketing Management, the European Journal of Marketing, the
Journal of Business Ethics, Small Business Economics, and Interna-
tional Small Business Journal. A highly regarded scholar, Professor
Ibeh has had recent consulting roles with the World Bank Group
and the OECD. He had edited several books, including Growth
Frontiers in International Business (Palgrave, 2017), The Changing
Dynamics of International Business in Africa (Palgrave, 2015), and
The Routledge Companion to African Business (Routledge, 2015).
Amon Chizema is a professor of strategy and corporate gover-
nance at Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham,
United Kingdom. Previously he held a professorship at Loughbor-
ough University, where he was also head of the International
Business, Strategy and Innovation Group. Amon’s research
explores corporate governance issues, including executive com-
pensation, adoption, and diffusion of governance practices across
countries and dynamics of the board of directors. His research
has been published in leading journals such as the Strategic Man-
agement Journal, the Journal of Management Studies, The Leader-
ship Quarterly, the Journal of World Business, and Corporate
Governance: An International Review. he serves on the editorial
boards of the Journal of Management Studies and Corporate Gover-
nance: An International Review. He is also an associate editor of
the Africa Journal of Management and coeditor of Effective People
Management in Africa (Palgrave, 2013).

Ifedapo Adeleye is a lecturer in management and global busi-

ness at Haslam College of Business, University of Tennessee,
United States. Prior to joining Haslam in 2016, he was on the fac-
ulty at Lagos Business School, Nigeria, for nearly a decade. He is How to cite this article: Boso N, Adeleye I, Ibeh K,

a passionate management educator and a global business enthu- Chizema A. The internationalization of African firms: Opportu-
siast. His research revolves around three broad areas: interna- nities, challenges, and risks. Thunderbird Int. Bus. Rev. 2019;61:

tional strategy and organization, strategic HRM, and corporate 5–12. https://doi.org/10.1002/tie.21977

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