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The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolution of political and economic institutions, their persistence and interdependence and their effects on economic progress in Mozambique.

Using a unique data set, which has developed detailed long-run indices of institutional change in Mozambique from 1900 onwards, the research utilizes time-series econometrics to estimate cointegration relations and Vector Autoregressive and Vector Error Correction models, and also Granger causality, correlation and residual analysis when interpreting the estimation results.

It shows support for path dependence in political and economic institutions as well as the critical juncture theory and modernization hypothesis, and for webs of association between these institutions and economic development. It provides evidence of an equilibrium-dependent process, where history does matter (as do early conditions), and whose impact may differ depending on the nature of institutional arrangements. Various institutions created during colonial times have a bearing on the present state of institutions in Mozambique, as reflected in important continuities regarding the forms of political economy, among others.

The work contributes to existing research not only through the employment of a new set of institutional measures, which allows for a particularly long time-series investigation in a developing country setting, but also through its contribution to studies on modernization and critical junctures but in a longitudinal manner which allows for the exploration of complex dynamics embedded within a country’s particular political economy. The implications are far-reaching and carry importance beyond the academy given the pressure on policymakers to get things right because of the persistence of institutions and their consequences and the associated path dependency.

The purpose of this study is to explore how African fintech firms adapt their marketing strategies for successful market expansion into new African countries.

This exploratory study is qualitative in nature and utilizes semi-structured interviews at 14 African fintech firms.

The study reveals that, during intra-Africa expansion, firms adapt their marketing strategies by working with local people, prioritizing customer education, creating personal relationships with customers, adapting their communication strategies and pricing strategies and using social media. The strategies that have been most effective involve including the community in the marketing process, prioritizing relationships, segmenting customers geographically, educating customers about products, using local distribution partners and having a flexible approach to strategy adaptation.

It has been argued that technological innovation in Africa in areas such as financial services is a critical driver of its future development, because of the opportunity it presents to promote financial inclusion. Through an increase in venture capital investment on the continent, technological innovations in financial services have grown exponentially, and this study contributes to the understanding of the marketing strategies employed to gain market traction.

This study proposes that African fintech firms adopt a bottom-up, value proposition-driven marketing strategy to successfully navigate the environment. The proposed framework provides a lens through which to understand the components of successful strategy adaptation in Africa, against the backdrop of the unique market challenges inherent in this emerging market continent.

This paper aims to analyse how processes of institutional change in environments of institutional 'voids' affect smallholder farmer market access in Zambia and Malawi, and explores the role of different dis/enabling institutional agents and logics. The authors examine this in the context of two divergent routes of institutional change – one externally imposed and the second driven from within the ecosystem itself. The authors consider how these different institutional processes impact upon smallholder farmers and how they are able to adapt to these changes.

A qualitative research approach is used which lends itself to an analysis of multiple institutional logics that is based upon the multiple positions of market actors. It uses a comparative case study design methodology focused on two broad cases of smallholder farmers in Zambia and Malawi.

The research demonstrates the tension that multiple institutional logics can create especially amongst those most vulnerable particularly where these are not embedded in local realities and mindful of social settings.

It contributes to the understanding of poverty alleviation in rural developing regions, on overcoming institutional voids, market inclusivity and the role of social entrepreneurs and intermediaries, and builds on the perspective of markets as social spaces for economic exchange.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the interaction between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and public governance institutions in regions of limited statehood by focusing on three areas of inquiry: first, the impact of MNEs in these environments; second, the mechanisms and levels through which MNEs engage with external governance processes; and finally, the strategic motivation for the mode and level of engagement.

The authors follow an applied qualitative research approach, drawing on the principles of case study design, through interviews with executives that were involved in setting up four MNEs in Afghanistan.

The results reveal a relationship between the depth of country embeddedness and the level of engagement of MNEs with public institutions and this is related to issues around risk mitigation and time horizons. Deeper embeddedness in the local markets brings greater exposure to risk leading to more and wider engagement in governance processes and cross-sector partnerships in order to influence these concerns.

The research contributes to institutional theory and demonstrates the interplay between organizations and the institutional surroundings. MNEs in Afghanistan are deeply affected by institutional weakness which contribute toward greater uncertainty and impact their behavior, but MNEs also have a direct bearing on institutions.

In fragile and conflict-affected states, MNEs can contribute toward peace and institution building and reinforce cycles of positive development, or they can further pathological behavior and contribute to conflict.

MNEs are increasingly going to be expected to step into the gaps associated with institutional voids and this will require a different approach to doing business and their choice of approach will have a direct bearing on social outcomes in host countries.

The authors reveal two models of MNE engagement in these areas of limited statehood, namely an embedded vs autonomous model and examine their implications.

This paper aims to examine how distance manifests in terms of air passenger transport links between countries and focuses on the 48 countries of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It asks to what extent do existing flight connections reflect economic relations between countries, and if so, do they represent past, current or future relations? It asks whether the impact of distance is similar for all countries and at different stages of development.

Passenger flight connection data were extracted to generate map images and flight frequencies to observe interrelationships between different locations and to observe emerging patterns. The paper uses ESRI’s ArcGIS software to visualise all these data into maps.

SSA is poorly connected both intra- and inter-continentally. Cultural and historical ties dominate and elements of historical determinism appear within flight connections in SSA reflecting the biases associated with colonialism. Larger economies in SSA are less dependent on these past ties, and their flight connections reveal a greater level of diversity and interests. SSA has generally been slow to develop flight routings to the new emerging markets.

Its contribution lies not only in examining these flight patterns for an under-researched region but also in aiding future work on SSA and its integration into the global economy and international business networks. It argues that whilst distance matters, how it matters varies.

The purpose of this study is to develop insight into the socio‐economic determinants of African sports performance. Previous studies have argued that a country's success in sports is directly related to the economic resources that are available for those sports. However, factors that are used to determine the levels of success for developed countries are not necessarily the same, or bear the same weight, as for developing countries.

The premise of this study is to identify specific factors that increase success in sports in developing countries by means of several econometric specifications using cross sectional data for African countries.

This study finds evidence that suggests that Africa's performance in sports is dependent on a range of socio‐economic factors, which in some respects confirms worldwide studies. Money does indeed matter: GDP was the overwhelmingly consistent dependent variable in all four models tested. Interestingly, important shades of distinction between the various dependent variables are found.

There is a lack of research in the field of sports and organizational economics especially in emerging countries. Previous studies have treated countries as a homogeneous grouping and allowed the broad aggregates to reveal the determinants. This study focuses on a sub‐group of countries that are relatively poor, have had a complex past with colonial masters, and that generally have weak administrative structures.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

African fintech companies looking to expand across the continent must consider the high levels of heterogeneity that exist within individual markets. In order to overcome considerable challenges and secure market share, it is critical to have a flexible approach to marketing and adjust strategies as necessary to reach targeted consumer groups.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

This work aims to measure the performance of an electric motors supply chain (SC) by using the Triple E performance measurement model to assess three performance dimensions simultaneously: efficiency, efficacy and environmental impact.

This research presents a real case of a Brazilian company as an example for applying the Triple E performance measurement model and the discrete-event simulation to assess the performance of an SC.

Performance measurements for the three dimensions were the following: (1) for efficiency, a high inventory cost in the SC, driven by the distribution center (DC) (49.7% total cost); an order cycle time operating with an average of 21.7 days and a logistic channel transport capacity of 88%; (2) for efficacy, a service level of 98% for all channels; (3) for environmental impact, the SC emits a total of 395,733 kg of CO₂ annually, with the DC and the regional distribution center (RDC2) being the largest emitters.

This work allowed to measure the performance of an SC interface (manufacturing process, a DC and three regional distribution centers). It was possible to measure the inventory holding cost and out-of-stock inventory costs, order cycle time, SC service level, transport capacity utilization and CO₂ emissions in the transportation process of each SC stage and the whole SC. This study can be used as a decision support guide for academics and practitioners to measure and improve the SC performance.

Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on work and employment in contemporary organizations. Covers the human resource management implications of organizational responses to globalization. Examines the theoretical, methodological, empirical and comparative issues pertaining to competitiveness and the management of human resources, the impact of organisational strategies and international production on the workplace, the organization of labour markets, human resource development, cultural change in organisations, trade union responses, and trans‐national corporations. Cites many case studies showing how globalization has brought a lot of opportunities together with much change both to the employee and the employer. Considers the threats to existing cultures, structures and systems.

The paper aims to present a literary itinerary inspired in Julio Dinis’ novel An English Family (Uma Família Inglesa) through a comparative analysis of the places identified in the novel and the touristic attraction proposed by Visit Porto website. This novel is representative of the cultural identity and society of Porto city in the 19th century. Developing an itinerary based on this novel can facilitate the reading and understanding of the historical and cultural development of Porto.

This case study is based on the reading of the Julio Dinis’ novel An English Family (Uma Família Inglesa), whose storyline takes place in Porto city, Portugal in the 19th century. It used QGIS v. 3.12 software, a geographical information system to identify the places, to produce the maps and to create the itinerary.

The comparison between the places identified in the novel and the tourist attraction in Visit Porto website revealed that only 6 points in the novel are referenced on Visit Porto website. These points correspond to the ones in the historical city centre of Porto. However, the creation of an itinerary that brings together all the points mentioned by Julio Dinis in his novel, will allow the development of a new touristic itinerary, alternative to existing itineraries in the city and that can be seen as a distinguish offer that allows a different view of the urban space of Porto.

There are some limitations to this study that can be highlighted. First, it was difficult to find the correct location of some points identified in the novel, due to difficulty of finding historical maps with quality of the data. At the same time, as tourist information is dispersed by several sources, and most of those data is not georeferenced, it was time consuming the integration of all the information in the same geodatabase. The choice of the shortest path can also be considered as a limitation, rather than the route followed by the author in the novel, but geographic information systems operates on spatial and temporal scale, which can present a limitation in tourism analysis. In the case of this project, we have chosen the shortest path, assuming that tourist would prefer that.

This research allowed to address two areas of knowledge that are emerging in the study of urban centres as tourist areas: the use of GIS and literary tourism. Despite the fact that there are already articles on this subject, the originality focuses on the approach made around one of the greatest writers of Portugal in the 19th century, allowing to present a tourist itinerary about one of his literary works, and the comparison made between the places identified in the novel and the tourist points identified on the Visit Porto website.