Management Challenges in Different Types of African Firms

This research evaluates the factors that influence the implementation and consequences of business process re-engineering (BPR). The study is based on a case of a university in Ethiopia. Using various individual and organizational change management theories, our study’s findings can have implications for forming policy. The study used primary and secondary data sources, capturing both quantitative information and qualitative information. Our findings suggest that the management system at the university was non-participatory and inadequate attention was paid to employees’ concerns in implementing BPR. In addition, lack of transparency in forming BPR teams, a discriminatory organizational culture, poor management commitments, centralization of resources, massive expansion, and external pressures overshadowed BPR’s implementation. As a practical implication of our study, we suggest that top managers and BPR team members need to commence their BPR planning process by listening to the voices of the ‘customers’ (students, academics, and administrative staff), celebrating academic freedom and adopting mutual consent on change matters, and creating a conducive environment that nurtures trust, ignites initiation, and contributes to personal development.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Rwanda are struggling to be successful in the export market. Drawing on a qualitative study, this chapter focuses on internal and external factors that influence SMEs in the country. It shows that Rwandan exporting SMEs lack sufficient funds to invest in export activities which are major internal factors hindering exports. The study also identified other internal factors such as lack of knowledge about foreign markets and meeting the quality and quantities demanded by foreign markets as hindrances. External factors relate to internal ones where competition in the global market hinders SMEs’ exports. Networking and lack of foreign market representation also impede the success of exporting SMEs in Rwanda.

Readiness for change is defined as a cognitive precursor to resistance or as a support for a change effort. The main objective of this literature review is to explore readiness for change at the individual and organizational levels. It reviews publications to trace readiness for change. It provides a picture of the concept of readiness for change, explores and identifies the relationships between the readiness for change, individual change, and organizational change and the challenges of change. Dealing with the complex nature of change is the greatest challenge when following through and sustaining a change initiative. Leaning on institutional theory, it contextualizes the concept of readiness for change in Ethiopia.

While the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which guided the world’s development efforts in 2000–15, have come to an end, world leaders, experts, civil societies, and businesses have been working on developing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2015–30 that will replace the MDGs. Although the MDGs have many success stories, they have also had their limitations. This chapter illustrates that though the world leaders recognized its importance in the 2000 Millennium Development Declaration, governance was not included as one of the goals in the MDGs. However, governance’s role as an enabler and a key element of sustainable development has been recognized in the process of formulating SDGs. This chapter explains good governance, areas where it can be enhanced, SDGs’ pillars, options for treating governance in SDGs and the interface between SDGs, governance, and the private sector. It also presents different competing ideas about the role of governance and the private sector in SDGs. By indicating different viewpoints of SDGs, governance, and the role of the private sector, the chapter also creates an opportunity for academic and policy debate. The research is an exploratory desk study which focuses on relevant UN documents, articles, government reports, and online material.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are a major contributor to economic growth in the largest economy in the East African region, Kenya. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of supply chain management (SCM) practices on the operational performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Nairobi County, Kenya. Due to the role that SMEs play in economic development, an integrated supply chain management approach is required for attaining desired levels of operational performance based on cost, flexibility, and delivery speed. In addition, the study also identifies the best in class supply chain management practices that SMEs use as a benchmark against set standards. This study adopts a descriptive research design. The target population is SMEs in Nairobi County where a sample of 45 firms was drawn using stratified sampling. The enterprises are represented by the subsectors of trade and information technology. Data was collected using questionnaires administered by the researcher and analyzed using descriptive statistics of percentages and inferential statistics of a regression analysis. The research findings show that supply chain management practices positively impact the operational performance of SMEs across the sectors of trade and information technology. SMEs are of the opinion that supply chain practices of purchasing, logistics, and customer services are significant for business operations and hence an opportunity to outdo competition. The study concludes that SMEs should adopt SCM as part of their business strategies to enhance their operational performance. The study recommends that awareness about SCM should be raised for SMEs to align them with their business strategies.

Over the past few decades, East African countries have made tremendous economic, social, and political progress and are seeking to consolidate this growth with the formation of the East African Community (EAC). The Global Entrepreneurship Summit held in Kenya’s capital Nairobi in July 2015 highlighted the competitiveness of local firms in the region as having the potential to contribute to high value-added activities through innovation and entrepreneurship. Nonetheless, there are general concerns as to whether local firms can maintain their competitive advantages in the new environment of economic integration especially with the increasing entry of more resource-endowed players from abroad. This conceptual chapter explores the capacity of local firms to maintain their competitive edge in the current environment by either occupying low-cost positions or by becoming differentiators. Specifically, the chapter presents arguments in support of the differentiation strategies among fledgling manufacturing local firms. While recognizing the limitations of local firms along this path, the chapter identifies areas from previous research which address the question of upgrading firms from large emerging-market economies such as China, India, and Brazil to suggest possible lessons that can guide policy and research aimed at helping local firms to be successful differentiators.

This chapter investigates the level to which International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have been adopted in Rwanda, the challenges faced in their adoption, and the effect of the adoption on capital market development in the country. Primary data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire issued to two respondents from the surveyed companies using a stratified sample of 63 companies. In total, 126 responses were received. The data were analyzed with the help of SPSS. Pearson’s correlation coefficient helped measure the level of IFRS adoption and challanges faced in adopting IFRS for the Rwandan Stock Exchange (RSE). A regression analysis was used to measure the strength of the relationship between IFRS adoption and the level of capital market development. The findings show that there is a positive and significant relationship between IFRS adoption and capital market development in Rwanda. This implies that as companies implement IFRS in their financial reporting, there is the likelihood of capital market development. Challenges such as a lack of professional qualified accountants and IFRS adoption guides are the main hindrances for IFRS adoption in Rwanda.

This chapter has two objectives: first, to investigate the basic strategies for innovation in Rwandan SMEs, and second, to create awareness about the necessity of strategic innovations in the daily management of SMEs in the country. The chapter starts by defining the concept of strategic innovation and discusses some tactics used by SMEs for the successful implementation of strategic innovations, that is, how they cultivate a style of organizational behavior that is comfortable with new ideas, changes, risks, and even failures. A purposeful technique is used to select a sample of 40 people in seven manufacturing SMEs for interviews to see how strategic innovations were implemented through transmission of SMEs’ vision and strategic targets to employees, tolerance of risks, mistakes and failures, degree of decision making by operational staff members, and attention to the future through transparency and truth. This chapter also gives a set of practical implications and suggestions on how to increase the culture of innovation.

A firm’s performance is a result of many factors including its ability to innovate and use ICT. Investments in ICT and innovation are also seen as a driver of productivity and competitiveness, enhancing the continuity of a business. This chapter assesses these two sources of performance and examines possible synergies between different types of innovations through ICT and their effect on the performance of small, medium and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs). The data used is the General Census of Companies in Cameroon conducted with 93,969 companies by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). The chapter uses a multiple regression model to assess the direct effects of innovative activities and the use of ICT tools in business practices, as well as the combined effect of different types of ICT innovations on SMMEs’ performance. The statistical analysis shows that the integration of innovations and ICT is very low in Cameroonian SMMEs but that this increases systematically with company size. The econometric analysis shows that ICT helps increase SMMEs’ performance by supporting innovations. Thus, innovations accompanied by a firm’s further use of ICT have a significant influence on its performance. However, specific investments in innovations and the use of existing ICT resources lead to differentiated performance in terms of strong effective market changes, creating new markets and improving goods and services.

This study addresses an important aspect of building small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (SME) performance capacity through human resource development. It specifically studies the experiences of manufacturing SMEs in Rwanda to demonstrate the performance implications of using workshops and job-rotation in small entrepreneurial firms. Given its unique commitment in the region for building necessary support for developing enterprises, Rwanda was a particularly interesting context to study this aspect. Our study included 101 firms drawn from Gasabo, a district in capital Kigali. With the help of a regression analysis, we found support for a positive direct link between job-rotation and SME performance. We, however, did not find a similar result regarding workshops and SME performance. In order to examine the effects of job-rotation and workshops in more depth, we tested for the combined effect of these two practices. Our findings demonstrate the value of workshops when combined with job-rotation among SMEs in our study setting. With these findings, our study demonstrates how local firms and advocates of workshops can effectively use this method to enhance SME performance.

This study investigates the export performance of SMEs in the Rwandan mining sector. Specifically, it ascertains if Rwandan mining SMEs set annual export targets; investigates the strategies that they follow to achieve these targets; assesses the extent to which set export targets have been achieved; finds out the barriers that affect SMEs’ operations with regard to mineral exports; and examines how SME owners in the mining sector mitigate these barriers. It measures export barriers such as those related to problems of internal resources, procedural and distribution complications, foreign market factors, external-foreign barriers, knowledge and experience, and difficulties in legal, political, and managerial issues.  A 5-point Likert scale was used to measure respondents’ perceptions about the export barriers faced by SMEs in the mining sector. All eight registered SMEs were included in the study. The three major minerals exported are coltan, cassetterite, and wolfram. The study found that while the government sets an export target for the mining sector, 75% of the SMEs do not set export targets, and for those who do there are ups and downs in achieving them. This chapter also discusses export barriers and appropriate managerial implications.

This chapter examines the relationship between employee motivation and work productivity in the Nyagatare district in Rwanda. The study was guided by the objectives of identifying performance behavior in terms of punctuality, absenteeism, work morale, ability at work and a sense of responsibility among Nyagatare district staff members. This involved finding out the methods used for employee motivation and then analyzing the relationship between the level of employee motivation and productivity. The research design involved the use of quantitative and qualitative approaches to collect and analyze data. The findings demonstrate the existence of a significant and positive relationship between the level of employee motivation and productivity. The results also show that the higher the employee motivation, the more they are likely to be productive. The study also contributes to an understanding that the more the employees are materially and immaterially rewarded at work, the more they are likely to be productive and consequently achieve their performance targets (as they are happy to identify with the district administration; this also reduces absenteeism at work).