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This paper aims to address the main arguments put forward in Grietjie Verhoef’s article and contribute to a wider debate among management scholars on the role of indigenous theories. It challenges the view of African management as illusory and points to the rising support for indigenous theories as indicative of the weakening of the unquestioned dominance of universal theories.

This paper takes a conceptual and critically reflective approach, underpinned by a 360-degree evaluation of pertinent literature and theoretical arguments.

This paper reveals an underlying symmetry and interconnectedness, anchored on a shared communal ethos, among Afrocentric management concepts, specifically Ubuntu, Ekpe and Igbo apprenticeship systems. This symmetry points to an underlying indigenous management theory that begs to be further conceptualised, evidenced and advanced.

This paper affirms Verhoef’s demand for Ubuntu, Ekpe, Igbo apprenticeship system to be more rigorously developed and theoretically coherent and urges scholars to intensify effort towards advancing the conceptual and empirical foundations of African management. Echoing Mahatma Gandhi’s timeless counsel, this paper calls on critics of African management to join the effort to bring about the change they wish to see in African management theorising.

This paper disavows the alleged effort to impose a single “African management” model or perpetuate the “colonial/indigenous” binary divide but equally cautions against an effort to veto scholarly striving for a common identity, to learn from history or not embrace collective amnesia. As examples from the USA and Europe show, diversity, even heterogeneity, needs not to preclude the forging of a commonly shared identity complemented with appropriate sub-identities.

This paper links the African management-centred themes addressed by Verhoef to the wider debate among management scholars about lessening the dominance of universal theories and allowing space for context-resonant indigenous theories. It calls on African management scholars to invest the premium and intensified effort towards building a more robust and coherent body of indigenous theory that will have the capacity and efficacy to inform, explain and advance organisational practice and outcomes across Africa.

Over a long period of time, the evolution and development of indigenous management theories and practices in Africa have been seriously distracted and hindered by European colonialism and Western education. The colonial administration introduced Western management theories and practices, considered as the drivers and the remedy for the continent’s socio-politico-economic development. Western scholarship and literature generally undervalued and condemned the management proficiency and practices of early African civilisations, as evidenced, for instance, in the building of the great Egyptian pyramids. Foreign management systems generally botched the development of indigenous African business practices as they failed to achieve the expected goals. We argue that the development of indigenous African management practices and philosophy ought to be rooted in the African culture, value system and beliefs to provide the practical way for the efficient and effective running of organisations in Africa. Nevertheless, there are still indigenous family business management practices that can be co-opted into today’s business practices. The Ubuntu management system and the ‘new management techniques’, which emphasise humanness, communalism and African patriotism, provide the veritable starting point for the development of indigenous African management philosophy. The chapter starts with a brief description of family business in Africa. Highlighting the relevant indigenous management practices, to mention, strategic process, governance, human resource and succession planning then follow in this order. The next section is on the origins of the indigenous management practices and then we conclude with a section on unique differences from Western models and provide advice to educators and practitioners. As an approach, the cases that have been used are for illustration purposes and do not claim to be representative of African indigenous business practices since Africa is too diverse.

The purpose of this chapter is to identify African financial management practices, highlight their origin and explain how they differ from their Western counterparts. The study identified indigenous African financial practices using literature review, archival sources and library research covering the five areas of Africa comprising Northern Africa, Eastern Africa, Central Africa Western Africa and Southern Africa. The study found out that pre-colonial indigenous African financial management features prevalent use of trade finance, trade credit management, investment management and accounting. While there is also evidence of modification of Western financial management practices to suit African contexts, it is on the whole scarce. This is suggestive of the fact that they were in existence in the first instance. The clear conclusion is that many indigenous African financial management practices pre-dated and foreshadowed their Western counterparts. Yet, it is confounding that this has been largely lost sight of, and both scholars and financial management practitioners depict the former as inferior. There is clearly a need to remedy this situation. Educators need to focus on incorporating ethno-finance concepts into the entire curricula chain from basic to higher education. The anchor point for such curricula is Ubuntu philosophy. Financial management practitioners, on their part, need to shed notions that the indigenous practices are inferior and seek to journalise their day-to-day work experiences to build a body of documented practice.

Western management philosophy and thought have been around for millennia; however, the supremacy of its concepts and writings has become a subject of criticisms in Africa. There is a huge gap in African management education which calls for redesigning of management curriculum to affirm African social orientation and self-determination that will enable new forms of learning and knowledge required to tackle complex global challenges. The objective of this chapter is to review Western management thought and practice vis-à-vis the existing management philosophy in Africa prior to her colonisation and advocate the need to redesign management curricula. To accomplish the aforementioned objective, this chapter took a historical, reflective and systematic approach of literature review to advance renewal of management curricula in Africa. The analysis began with a review of pre-colonial management philosophy and thought in Africa, followed by a discussion of how colonialism obstructed and promoted the universality of management. This was followed by a review of African traditional society and indigenous management philosophies. The chapter discussed topics that should feature in an African-oriented management curriculum and highlighted fundamental constructs that can be fused into management curriculum of business schools/teaching in Africa. The chapter also made a case for a flexible management curriculum structure that is broader than the conventional transmission-of-knowledge building which views students as passive learners’ by adopting suitable pedagogical tools that will be relevant for knowledge transmission and assessment and also enhance learning and management practices that is culturally fit and relevant to global practice.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the indigenous He‐Xie management theory (HXMT) through the lens of a holistic perspective from Chinese philosophical wisdom.

The paper revisited the challenges faced by orthodox management theories, proposing management scholars should borrow Eastern philosophical intelligence for problem solving when considering the tradition of Chinese culture on human orientation and its intelligence on tolerating and coping with ambiguity, uncertainty, and complexity. By tracing back the core concept of harmony in Confucianism, the paper identified the mechanisms for achieving harmony by differentiating further the general understanding of harmony and its original meaning in Chinese characters. The theoretical framework of HXMT was introduced then by integrating both evolutionism and constructivism perspectives.

The theoretical explaining power of HXMT is rooted in the time‐honored philosophies of Asia. HXMT got its gene from traditional thinking by applying dialectic and holistic perspectives. Within complex and unpredictable contexts, the existence of He‐Xie theme can replace the searching and planning to strategy. Guided by He‐Xie theme, the He principle and the Xie principle, as well as the coupling between them, compose the fundamental mechanisms for effective management and better performance in organizations.

The paper opens an avenue for indigenous HXMT. As a methodology for guiding management research and practice in coping with complexity and uncertainty, HXMT is expected to attract more attention from scholars to contribute to knowledge creation in Chinese management studies.

The purpose of this study was to develop a measurement instrument for organizational learning capability (OLC) in a Chinese management context. Previous research has indicated a need for measurement instruments with proven ecological validity in China, because the learning capability of organizations is influenced by the organization’s external environment.

The authors followed a consequent inductive procedure from item sampling through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and nomological validation. The initial part sampled relevant descriptors from a diverse sample of 159 employees from heterogeneous backgrounds in China. After sorting by an expert panel, EFA of data from a sample of 161 executive students yielded a three-dimensional construct comprising knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing and knowledge utilization. These three constructs were again tested in CFA using a sample of 357 employees from five companies.

The findings across the three samples resulted in a three-dimensional measurement scale that is called as the organizational learning capability questionnaire (OLCQ). The OLCQ displayed high internal consistency, reliability and nomological validity.

This focus of this study has only been to establish a measurement instrument that allows indigenous research on organizational learning in China. The approach was statistically driven grounded approach, not a theoretical assumption of learning mechanisms special to the Chinese culture. Further research is needed to estimate how this approach yields results that are different from other cultures or the extent to which our findings can be explained by features of the Chinese culture or business environment.

This study offers a practical measurement instrument to assess practical and scientific problems of organizational learning in China.

The work here emphasizes the necessity of a knowledge sharing community for organizational learning to appear. It addresses a call for more indigenous Chinese management research.

The authors provide a measurement instrument for OLC with proven ecological validity and with promising consequences for research and practice in China. The instrument is empirically grounded in the practices and behaviors of Chinese managers, avoiding biases that stem from previously identified shortcomings in cross-cultural management research. To the knowledge, it is the first of its kind and a contribution to a call for indigenous management theories with contextual validity.

The demand for sustainability in business and sound management training is becoming more resonant in a steadily evolving Africa. With a vast expansion of Africa’s socio-economic base, and viable possibilities for technological, social and economic development, the balancing influence of management ethics cannot be overstated. The historical lessons from the Western business world in corporate scandals and financial misdemeanour clearly reveal to the emergent economies and businesses of developing Africa the weighty costs of unethical business practice. People require that business firms conduct their business responsibly. Developing ethical business practices, therefore, becomes crucial. With Africa’s cultural diversity of peoples, places and values, business practices are strongly influenced by indigenous values and trends. It is important to understand and situate indigenous ethical principles and practices in Africa within the framework of business. This chapter, therefore, aims at critically discussing what ethics in management means for a developing Africa. We will also discuss the ethical principles, to be seen as a metaphysical unity of values, of ideals, and especially, of character and community. The chapter will then highlight select cases reflecting ethical practices of management in African business, making sure to emphasise the necessity of business ethics to corporate sustainability.

Chama microfinance models continue to be a safety net for many rural women in Kenya; however, their financial literacy remains largely unexplored. This study sought to explore the financial literacy of women entrepreneurs who are also members of Chama groups in rural Western Kenya, examine the specific indigenous practices and values that educators could draw upon to support and enhance the teaching of financial literacy to women, and also highlight the potential outcome of integrating indigenous knowledge and pedagogies to financial literacy. The study adopted critical participatory action research and African womanism methodology to centre learning on the experiences of rural Chama women. Based on in-depth interviews of six women in Western Kenya, the study found that the women's financial literacy can be explained and demonstrated through their relationships, connections and identity. On specific indigenous practices and methods the study found community engagement, centred learning and discovery learning, as relevant ways of engaging with the women. Integrating values, practices, and methods to inquire about the financial literacy from the Chama women's perspective cultivated an environment that encouraged mutual respect, sharing, participation and learning. Within the context of the findings, the study suggests that it is best to understand the women's financial literacy from their perspective. This study also contributes to knowledge on critical participatory action research and financial literacy from an Africana womanist perspective.

This article aims to report the second part of the interview with Dr Bor-Shiuan Cheng on his insights into Chinese indigenous management research, including challenges and future directions.

This paper is based on a recent interview with Dr Bor-Shiuan Cheng.

The biggest challenge for current Chinese management research is the administrative system and restrictive publication policy. Under the current system, it is best for researchers to consider a dual approach to research. That is, research must be relevant to local issues and significant to the international community.

The system that might sabotage academic system needs to be changed. And future leadership studies should be focused on developing mindful and moral leaders.

The interview provides an insightful view on the current challenges of Chinese management research and valuable advice from Dr Cheng, who also showed the future direction of leadership studies.