Regional investments by emerging African multinational corporations

Barriers and opportunities for building productive capacity

Effective regional integration and competition requires that there be independent rivals competing across borders and within domestic markets through innovation and effort, investment, product quality, and prices. To understand the constraints to more dynamic rivalry between firms within the region, this research considers the obstacles to integration from the perspective of fostering the development of domestic firms with strong, regional capabilities. CCRED and UNU-WIDER are jointly holding a seminar to explore these issues based on insights from two studies conducted by CCRED under the Southern Africa – Towards Inclusive Economic Development (SA-TIED) work stream on Regional growth and development for Southern Africa’s prosperity.

The studies culminated in the publication of two SA-TIED working papers, Competition and inclusive regional economic growth in food production, and Barriers to entry and the role of African multinational corporations.

The working papers provide a new perspective on these issues by exploring detailed experiences of emerging African multinational corporations (AMNCs) that have managed to overcome barriers to new firm entry and expand into the Southern and East Africa region. This is a particular subset of firms that have in different ways overcome the challenges of investing in actual plants and trading outside of their home countries.

The studies focused on firms in food production and manufacture of intermediate industrial products, given the importance of these sectors for food security and infrastructure development on the continent.

 Panelists: Mr Teboho Bosiu and Ms Grace Nsomba (economists, CCRED)
Where: Online
When:
9 July 2021
Time:
10:00–10:45

To register for the event, click here.

Upon registration you will receive a Zoom link via email.