Positioning strategies and congruence in the positioning of high‐end indigenous and foreign retailers in sub‐Saharan Africa: An illustration from Ghana

This article examines the employment of positioning strategies through the lens of international retailing for assessing congruence in the positioning of both indigenous and foreign retailers in Ghana. Six retailers—three indigenous and three foreign—are examined in a triangulated method, each through an in‐depth case study. The results show that the dominant positioning strategies consistently pursued by both indigenous and foreign retailers in Ghana are “service,” “reliability,” and “attractiveness.” Although indigenous retailers (relative to their foreign counterparts) employ more strategies, the majority of foreign retailers exhibit close‐to‐ideal congruence among managers' intentions, actual practice, and customers' perceptions. The findings show that foreign and indigenous retailers pursue varying positioning strategies in the marketplace, further complementing the utility of Western‐developed typologies of positioning strategies in a sub‐Saharan African marketplace. Moreover, the results reveal how indigenous retailers have embraced branding, further attesting to the changing and competitive nature of the Ghanaian marketplace.     

Cross‐border expansion and competitive interactions of indigenous mobile network operators in sub‐Saharan Africa

Emerging‐market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) have become major players in the global economy, with an increasing share of global foreign direct investment (FDI). Indigenous mobile network operators (MNOs) in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) are not left out in this pursuit, as they seek growth and competitiveness beyond their domestic markets. We investigate the FDI location choices and competitive interactions of the five indigenous SSA MNOs that had internationalized as of 2014 and find that, contrary to the literature, these EMNEs, operating in a key and rapidly developing industry, did not tend to commence their cross‐border expansion in geographically close markets. In addition, the MNOs are more likely to invest in countries with stronger control over corruption and do not appear to engage in heavy head‐to‐head competition with their rivals. These findings contribute to the internationalization literature in the context of the investment and competitive behaviors of the currently underexplored indigenous SSA multinationals.     

Aid,growth and institutions in Sub‐Saharan Africa: New insights using a multiple growth regime approach

Numerous sub‐Saharan African countries depend heavily on foreign aid. This paper explores the impact of foreign aid on economic growth in the continent using a finite mixture model. Contrary to previous studies, we hypothesise that the effect of aid on growth differs across groups of countries with similar but unobserved characteristics. The paper incorporates the potential presence of hidden heterogeneity and tries to explain group membership of countries by using various metrics of institutional variables. Focusing on a sample of 25 countries, we find that the impact of foreign aid on growth differs across three different groups of countries. Moreover, we find that aid works best in countries with effective government, good regulatory quality and low corruption. The results are robust to a battery of robustness checks. The paper underlines the importance of incorporating the heterogeneity in growth process in studies on aid effectiveness and provides evidence that sub‐Saharan African countries should undertake deep governance reforms to benefit from foreign aid.     

The Interplay between National Cultural Dimensions and Components of a Performance Management System: A Qualitative Study from Pakistan

This paper examines the interplay between national cultural dimensions and the design, enactment, and experience of a Western model of a performance management system (PMS) in a non‐Western setting. Data from four organizations in Pakistan indicate that domestic organizations are designing their PMSs in accordance with Western practices. Additionally, it reveals that during enactment and experience, the cultural values of low assertiveness, high in‐group collectivism, and high power distance interact, although to varying degrees, with continuous feedback, appraisal meetings, final ratings, outcomes, and objective setting. Thus, while convergence in design reflects the far‐reaching influence of globalization, divergence is attributable to cultural values which act as a deep‐rooted force during enactment.     

Environmental Multi‐dimensionality and Staff Localization in Multinational Enterprises: The Case of Korean Firms

The person–environment fit theory posits that the term “environment” can be defined at different levels. This study delineates two environmental dimensions (strategic and organizational) and empirically examines the potential moderating effects of two strategic factors (intra‐ and inter‐regional diversification) on the relationship between two organizational factors (subsidiary ownership and host‐country experience) and MNE subsidiary staffing composition. The results indicate that strategic and organizational dimensions have impacts on subsidiary staffing composition. This study also finds that the interaction effects between strategic and organizational factors are significant only when there is congruence between demands from different environmental dimensions.