African Producers in the New Trend of Globalization: An Interim Report
Interim Report
Edited by FUKUNISHI Takahiro
Published in March 2010
Chapter 1
This paper examines the situation and characteristics of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the construction industry of Burkina Faso. The study is based on the available literature and the findings of a detailed firm-level questionnaire survey, and it aims to identify those crucial factors, both external and internal, that impede the growth of SMEs throughout the construction industry of Sub-Saharan Africa in general and Burkina Faso in particular. The results indicate that many of the constraints found in other African countries are also found in Burkina Faso: 1) lack of qualified engineers and construction-related equipments; 2) high factor costs affecting the business operation; 3) difficulties of starting up a business; 4) highly bureaucratic tender process; 5) delay of payment; 6) requirement of unofficial payment; 7) competition with foreign-owned construction companies; 8) very weak voluntary professional and business associations; 9) lack of available business services provided by either government or non-governmental agencies; and 10) inadequate accessibility to financial services. However, while the adoption of such flexible labor practices as labor-only sub-contracting is considered a constraint owing to poor work habits and low productivity in general, flexible labor practice is nevertheless the only way for smaller construction enterprises who have to deal with such unpredictable and fluctuating construction demands to survive in the industry; this is particularly true of unregistered construction enterprises in Burkina Faso. Furthermore, the legal and regulatory framework is insufficiently supportive of the business environment while administrative barriers to private investment still need to be removed, as is the case in other countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Chapter 2
In recent years, domestic demand, via supermarkets, has begun to exert a considerable influence on agricultural production and food supply in eastern Africa. Thus, demand-driven approach is useful for providing an introduction to the growth of agriculture and the food industry. Analyzing the mechanism of the food chain from agriculture to food processing to food retailing within eastern Africa, this study aims to analyze the business relationships and coordination and competition among South African capital, Kenyan capital and local capital in the food industry and supermarkets in eastern Africa. In this paper, some examples of food manufacturers and supermarkets have been introduced with reference to Tanzania and Ethiopia as an interim report.
Chapter 3
Linkages between Foreign and Local Firms in the Malagasy Garment Industry: Overview of the industry and analytical framework (238KB) / Takahiro Fukunishi, Herinjatovo Aimé Ramiarison
Foreign direct investment (FDI) played a critical role in the process of industrialization in developing countries. While it assisted technology transfer to local firms in countries with poor production knowledge in many countries, FDI in manufacturing sector is scarce in sub-Saharan Africa. One exceptional case is garment industry which accepted FDI since the 1990s in Madagascar, and since 2000 in some other continental African countries. Garment FDI has about 20 years of history in Madagascar, its impact on local economies is not very significant, and rather, detail has not been investigated yet. The study has been in process to explore linkages between foreign and local garment firms, and to demonstrate factors of the limited linkages, which is expected to provide insights for stagnated industrialization in sub-Saharan Africa.
Chapter 4
Location Choice and the Performance of Furniture Workshops in Arusha, Tanzania / Megumi Muto
Chapter 5
Preliminary Investigation on Institutions behind the Chinese Small business Influx in Africa (275KB) / Eiichi Yoshida
Chinese economic presence in Africa has drawn significant public attention through wide media coverage. Despite its extreme dynamism, current report on the issue tend primarily to focus on Chinese official development assistance in large construction project in each African capital city in which Chinese government try symbolise their economic cooperation in each partner African states and also tend to focus on resource concession access. In reality, investment by Chinese small business particularly in wholesale and retail sector comprises significant volume in total figure and also has influenced purchasing behaviour of low income population in local sphere. This chapter sees influx of Chinese small business and small scale investment as a result of institutional backlog in their hosting country in Africa, virtually non-existent import controlling policy and malfunctioning immigration controlling system.