ABSTRACT
Africa has moved from the periphery of interest to global business to the center as Euro-American concerns re-evaluate its potential and emerging market actors in China and India continue to expand their presence. This chapter proposes an approach to African market development premised on the view that globalization–that which affords enhanced free mobility of resources around the world–portends an increasing role for Africa and its markets in the future world economy. However, the realities that African market actors and institutions face are similar to those faced by their Western counterparts, including supply, demand, and the allocation of resources to address market needs, even if the mechanisms employed in the African context are less formal. Although the lack of infrastructure, low levels of education, high levels of corruption, and other negative factors are indeed present in the African context, poor market development by firms appears to be grounded more in neo-colonial misconceptions than the realities of business operations in Africa.
