Search results

The rapid expansive growth of the Somali business community in many parts of the world has ignited varied debates on its significance and consequences. The Kenyan Somali Community are inhabitants of the northeastern region of Eastern Africa, traversing five counties, bordering the Somali and Ethiopian Republics, and include Somali immigrants from the diaspora. Interestingly, they also inhabit most cities and urban places in all parts of the country, running diverse businesses. The Kenyan Somali business community in the suburb of Eastleigh, Nairobi City County, are well-established despite numerous challenges and the impression of clandestine economic activities. However, close scrutiny of the Somali community yields a slightly different explanation – it is anchored on clan, trust, hawala (Somali money transfer system), pooled resources and social capital, derived from social networks such as family and friends, with commercial dealings rooted in trust, and shared responsibilities. In addition, the ability to access pooled financial resources at a reasonable cost, the presence of a trusted, flexible and motivated labour force coupled with a network with insider information, form key aspects of their practice. This chapter attempts to unearth positive elements of the Kenyan Somali business enterprise orientation, which, if incorporated into African business practice, presents a unique proposition for the continent's progress and prosperity.

This work addresses what Michael E. Brown calls the immanence of sociality to individuality. It does so by focusing on the essentially social nature of human consciousness. I explore Durkheim’s analysis of human consciousness, beginning with totemism and concluding with his analysis of German consciousness at the time of World War I. I do so in order to provide some insight into the rise and nature of political movements, with a focus on extreme right wing political groups and leaders today as well as the spirit of the French Revolution in European and American history. With reference to Marx’s early writings on consciousness, spiritual nourishment, and the fettering of forces of production and his later writings on the critical significance of fetishism, and the role of “fictitious” capital, I conclude by claiming that bringing together the insights of Durkheim, Marx, and Spinoza can provide a way to analyze and address the interlocking social, political, economic, and cultural crises of today.

The rise of the sharing economy has brought with it a huge variety of new organizational forms and innovative business models. An integral part of these forms and models is the communities and members of sharing-economy organizations, since they significantly contribute to value creation for these organizations. Relying on community member contributions, though, is a challenge for these organizations because fluid community boundaries and voluntary membership makes it difficult to coordinate their activities. This chapter investigates the under-researched question of how sharing-economy organizations govern the actions of their community members. Following an abductive approach that included site visits, participant observations, and 67 interviews, we develop a framework that illustrates four different types of governance: pure market, pure clan, market-hierarchy hybrid, and clan-hierarchy hybrid. The framework explains differences among these types depending on the main activity (providing resources or producing jointly) and the primary aim of the community (business orientation or social orientation). This study thus contributes to research on both governance in general and to sharing-economy organizations in particular by capturing the variety and diversity of community forms, governance practices, and business-model configurations.

Nearly a century ago, Max Weber studied Chinese lineage system and argued that the power of the patriarchal sib impeded the emergence of industrial capitalism in China. Recently, Martin Whyte re-evaluated Weber's thesis on the basis of development studies and argued that, rather than an obstacle, Chinese family pattern and lineage ties may have facilitated the economic growth in China since the 1980s. This paper empirically tests the competing hypotheses by focusing on the relationship between lineage networks and the development of rural enterprises. Analyses of village-level data show that lineage networks, measured by proportion of most common surnames, have large positive effects on the count of entrepreneurs and total workforce size of private enterprises in rural China.

Interpersonal and informal ties and networks, known as wasta in the Arab Middle East region, remain a major force in Middle Eastern societies, determining most economic, social and political outcomes. Yet the literature on informal ties and networks is largely characterized by a lack of contributions from the Arab world, despite the adverse effect that lack of understanding of the wasta phenomenon is having on the effectiveness of expatriate managers and subsequently on business performance. This chapter therefore aims to shed light on the meaning, characteristics, structure, and role of wasta in establishing and maintaining successful business relationships. It ends with recommendations for foreign investors and international managers who wish to establish and maintain successful business relationships in the Middle East on how to capitalize on interpersonal networks within this process.

Philosophers and political theorists have long warned of the “perils of dogmatism” for public discourse and identified intellectual humility as a necessary corrective. Sufficient intellectual humility encompasses at least four elements: openness to error, recognition of bias, recognition of intellectual parity in interlocutors, and avoidance of recourse to authority. Religions seem to present obstacles on all four fronts, particularly when actors embody more conservative renderings of a given religion’s repertoire. As such, a case involving different groups of religious exclusivists engaging one another on topics that directly interact their deepest faith commitments and political visions presents a useful test case for our theories of intellectual humility. This chapter considers conservative protestants engaging in public discourse with Muslims about whether or not Muslim and Christian understandings of “loving God” and “loving neighbor” have sufficient overlap to support political cooperation. The results of the dialogue effort were a mixture of controversy and cooperation. For evangelicals, the engagement produced sharp conflict and yet helped to shift the community’s plausibility structures, opening further the possibility of fruitful public discourse and strategic action in cooperation with Muslims. The analysis suggests a conceptualization of practical intellectual humility that emphasizes recognition of the other.

Purpose – This chapter analyzes landowner business development and economic sustainability in the context of large-scale mining in Papua New Guinea with a focus on the Lihir gold mine. It pays particular attention to the social implications of success or failure of business development in mining contexts.Methodology/approach – This chapter is based upon ethnographic research and social impact monitoring studies conducted by the authors in Lihir between 1994 and 2012, as consultants and employees of the Lihir mining operation and as independent researchers. This chapter is also based upon broader research and consulting work undertaken by the authors at other mining locations throughout Papua New Guinea. The research is intended to explore the social changes generated by large-scale mining and related forms of business development, and the factors and strategies which constrain or enable landowners to get what they want from capitalism.Findings – Business development in resource extraction enclaves is structurally different from other nonresource development contexts and produces a more dependent and client-based approach to capitalism. In Lihir, research and ethnographic observations indicate that landowner business development is highly territorialized, which is captured by the landowner catch cry “My land, my work.” Ultimately, mining has provided significant economic opportunities for the local community, but these economic changes, especially through the distribution of mine-derived benefits and opportunities for business development, have involved processes that have divided people and entrenched inequalities.Practical implications – In Papua New Guinea, the close relationship between property ownership, landed interests, and capitalist engagement creates steep challenges for sustainable business development in resource enclaves. This research provides a strong foundation for exploring alternative strategies for economic development.Originality/value – Provides detailed insights into the social, economic, and political factors which influence sustainable business development in Papua New Guinean mining enclaves.

The seminal literature on state formation proposes a model of “co-opt and expand” to explain the rise of centralized nation-states in modern and early modern Europe. Building on this literature’s distinction between direct and indirect rule, other analysts have expanded the scope of this model to explain patterns of state building in the non-Western world, particularly in the construction of centralized authority in postcolonial and postimperial contexts. According to this literature, the failure of central rulers to co-opt local elites has frequently produced weak states lacking capacities of rule in their peripheries. Using archival materials to examine the Albanian state’s relatively successful penetration of the country’s highland communities during its early decades of national independence, this article suggests that state building can proceed along an alternative path called “co-opt and bind,” in which state builders “bind” peasant communal institutions to the institutional idea of the nation-state to legitimize and implement state building goals. The article identifies three mechanisms used by early Albanian state builders to generate legitimacy and institute political order in its remote communities, including disarmament, the institution of new forms of economic dependency, and the invocation of peasant cultural codes of honor.

This chapter describes public space exploration services’ business goals, purpose, and strategy. It reinforces space exploration organizations’ fundamental bureaucratic administrative culture (Tier 1). The authors describe the influence that political appointees as leaders may play in shaping public sector cultures. Next, the public service culture (Tier 2) is deconstructed, and each of the five layers is described in detail. Additionally, the authors explain why focusing on the beliefs layer is the dominant layer and the essential starting point for analysis in space exploration cultures. Next, the chapter outlines the landscape of external influencing cultures (Tier 3) in the space exploration landscape. Finally, the potential value and challenges of developing internal KLC cultures are explored.