Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T19:25:54.934Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Influence without Organizations: State-Business Relations and their Impact on Business Environments in Contemporary Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Scott D. Taylor
Scott D. Taylor*
Affiliation:
Georgetown University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Formal institutions such as business chambers have been assumed to be a key indicator of the health of state-business relations (SBR). Yet in Africa these organizations have seldom risen to the level of access and influence enjoyed by some of their counterparts elsewhere in the developing world. A number of recent studies of SBR in Africa continue to overstate the importance of business associations (BAs). Yet despite the widespread marginality of BAs in Africa, the receptiveness of African states to leading firms and business interests has increased markedly. While this poses certain risks of increased corruption, collusion and monopoly, the institutional and political environment for doing business has also improved, thereby fostering new opportunities for further business-related growth and business sector development among bona fide firms. Drawing on evidence from Zambia and elsewhere, this paper finds that the benefits provided to individual firms who enjoy state access can, paradoxically, contribute to an improved environment for other private sector actors whose interests are directly represented only in moribund formal associations. Even without strong BAs, when aided by the state, individual firms, and/or international actors, Africa's improved business environment has a salutary impact on growth.

Keywords

state-business relationsbusiness associationsAfricaDoing BusinessZambiaGhanaeconomic reformsgrowthprivate sector development
Type
Research Article
Information
Business and Politics , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , April 2012 , pp. 1 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © V.K. Aggarwal 2012 and published under exclusive license to Cambridge University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdel-Latif, Abla, and Schmitz, Hubert. 2010. “Growth Alliances: Insights from Egypt.” Business and Politics, 12 (4).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arthur, Peter. 2006. “The State, Private Sector Development, and Ghana's ‘Golden Age of Business.’” African Studies Review 49 (1): 31–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, David. 1990. “Business Associations in Latin America: The Venezuelan Case.” Comparative Political Studies, 23 (1) April: 114–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berman, Bruce, and Leys, Colin, eds. 1994. African Capitalists in African Development. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.Google Scholar
Bierwith, Chris. 1999. “The Lebanese Communities of Cote d'Ivoire.” African Affairs, 98 (390): 79–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
“Black Business Indaba Sends Busa's Team Packing.” Business Day (South Africa), 7 September 2011.Google Scholar
Bond, Patrick. 2000. Elite Transition. London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Bratton, Michael. 1987. “The Comrades and the Countryside: The Politics of Agricultural Policy in Zimbabwe.” World Politics 39, 2(January): 174–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brautigam, Deborah, Rakner, Lise, and Taylor, Scott. 2002. “Business Associations and Growth Coalitions in Africa.” Journal of Modern African Studies, 40 (4): 519–547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brautigam, Deborah. 1997. “Substituting for the State: Institutions and Industrial Development in Eastern Nigeria.” World Development 25, 7(July): 1063–1080.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brautigam, Deborah. 1999. “The Mauritius Miracle.” In State, Conflict and Democracy in Africa, edited by Joseph, Richard. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Foundation, Brenthurst. 2010. “Mobilising Zambia: A Strategy Report On Accelerating Economic Growth.” Discussion Paper 2010/ 02 (April).Google Scholar
125 Fick 2007; Taylor forthcoming.Google Scholar
126 Ramachandran et al. 2010.Google Scholar
Brew, James P. 2009. “Strengthening the Capacity of Zambia's Private Sector to Engage in Public Private Dialogue.” Draft consultancy report prepared for the IFC (July 2009).Google Scholar
Cali, Massimiliano, and Sen, Kunal. 2011. “Do Effective Business Relations Matter for Economic Growth? Evidence from Indian States.” World Development, 39 (9): 1542–1557. (An earlier version appeared as IPPG Discussion Paper #29, November 2009.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cali, Massimiliano, Mitra, Siddartha, and Purohit, Purnima. 2011. “Measuring State-Business Relations within Developing Countries: An Application to Indian States.” Journal of International Development, 23 (3): 394–419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Callaghy, Thomas. 1988. “The State and the Development of Capitalism in Africa: Theoretical, Historical, and Comparative Reflections.” In The Precarious Balance, edited by Rothschild, Donald. Boulder: Westview.Google Scholar
“Corporate SA and Black Business Need to Get with the Programme,” Sunday Times (South Africa). 11 September 2011.Google Scholar
DfID [Department for International Development, United Kingdom]. 2010. “Measuring the Impact of Competition in Zambia.” Report of the DfID Zambia office (February).Google Scholar
Djankov, Simeon, McLeish, Caralee, and Maria Ramlho, Rita. 2006. “Regulation and Growth.” Economics Letters 92 (3) September 2006: 395–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobler, Gregor. 2007. “Poverty, Politics, Power and Privilege: Namibia's Black Economic Elite Formation.” In Transition In Namibia: Which Changes For Whom?, edited by Melber, Henning. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.Google Scholar
Doner, Richard F. and Schneider, Ben Ross. 2000. “Business Associations and Economic Development: Why Some Associations Contribute More than Others.” Business and Politics 2, 3: 261–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doner, Richard, and Wilson, Ernest J. III. “Business Interest Associations in Developing Countries,” with Doner, Richard, International Political Science Association, Washington, DC, September 1988.Google Scholar
Fick, David. 2007. Africa: A Continent of Economic Opportunity. Johannesburg: STE Publishers.Google Scholar
Good, Kenneth. 2008. Diamonds, Dispossession and Democracy in Botswana. Rochester, NY: James Currey.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Handley, Antoinette. 2008. Business and the State in Africa: Economic Policy-Making in the Neo-Liberal Era. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hatyoka, Brian. 2011. “Zambia: ZIBAC Continues to be Significant.” Times of Zambia. 6 April 2011.Google Scholar
Heilbrunn, John. 1997. “Commerce, Politics, and Business Associations in Benin and Togo.” Comparative Politics (July): 473–492.Google Scholar
Heilman, Bruce, and Lucas, John. 1997. “A Social Movement for African Capitalism? A Comparison of Business Associations in Two African Cities.” African Studies Review 40, 2(September): 141–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herbst, Jeffrey. 1990. State Politics in Zimbabwe. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaira, Thula. 2007. “Identifying and Overcoming Political Economy and Governance Constraints to the Effective Implementation of Competition and Regulatory Law – The Case of Zambia.” Paper presented at the CUTS symposium, New Delhi, 22-24 March, 2007.Google Scholar
Kraus, Jon. 2002. “Capital, Power, and Business Associations in the African Political Economy: a Tale of Two Countries, Ghana and Nigeria.” Journal of Modern African Studies 40, 3: 395–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leftwich, Adrian, and Sen, Kunal. 2011. “Don't Mourn, Organize: Institutions and Organizations in the Politics and Economics of Growth and Poverty-Reduction.” Journal of International Development, 23 (3): 319–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leftwich, Adrian, Sen, Kunal, and TeVelde, D.W. 2008. “Introduction” in Leftwich, Sen and TeVelde, , eds., “Economics and Politics of State-Business Relations in Africa: Preliminary Findings” A collection of working papers published by IPPG, University of Manchester (April, 2008).Google Scholar
Leys, Colin. 1994. “African Capitalists and Development: Theoretical Questions.” In African Capitalists in African Development, edited by Berman, Bruce and Leys, Colin. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Lofchie, Michael F. and Callaghy, Thomas. 1996. “Diversity in the Tanzanian Business Community: Its Implications for Economic Growth.” unpublished manuscript submitted to USAID Mission, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.Google Scholar
Lubeck, Paul, ed. 1987. The African Bourgeoisie. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lucas, John. 1993. “State and Society in Nigeria: A Study of Business Associations in Kano.” Ph.D. Diss, Indiana University.Google Scholar
Lucas, John. 1994. “The State, Civil Society and Regional Elites: A Study of Three Associations in Kano, Nigeria.” African Affairs 93, 370: 21–38 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lucas, John. 1997. “The Politics of Business Associations in the Developing World”, Journal of Developing Areas 32, 1: 71–96.Google Scholar
Maxfield, Sylvia, and Ross Schneider, Ben, eds. 1997. Business and the State in Developing Countries. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Mbeki, Moeletsi. 2009. Architects of Poverty: Why African Capitalism Needs Changing. South Africa: Pan MacMillan.Google Scholar
McKinsey Global Institute. 2010. “Lions on the Move: The Progress and Potential of African Economies” (June): http://www.mckinsey.com/Insights/MGI/Research/Productivity_Competitiveness_and_Growth/Lions_on_the_move.Google Scholar
Moore, Mick and Schmitz, Hubert. 2008. “Idealism, Realism and the Investment Climate in Developing Countries.” IDS Working Paper #307 (June): www.ids.ac.uk/files/wp307.pdf Google Scholar
Nathan-EME. 2010. Cattle Report, Consultant Report for the World Bank (Lusaka), Jobs, Prosperity and Competitiveness (JPC) initiative (June 2010).Google Scholar
NORAD [Norwegian Development], “Study on Private Sector Development in Zambia.” March 2002.Google Scholar
Opoku, Darko. 2010. “From Quasi-Revolutionaries to Capitalist Entrepreneurs: How the P/NDC Changed the Face of Ghanaian Entrepreneurship.” Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 48 (2) April: 227–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pope, Adam. 2009. “JPC Tourism Sector Study.” Report for the World Bank (November 2009).Google Scholar
Quereshi, Mahvash, and TeVelde, Dirk Wilhelm. 2007. “State-Business Relations, Investment Climate Reform and Firm Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Working Paper included in the compilation by Kunal Sen, Adrian Leftwich and Dirk Wilhelm TeVelde, eds. (2008) “The Economics and Politics of State-Business Relations in Africa: Preliminary Findings” published by IPPG, University of Manchester.Google Scholar
Radelet, Steven. 2010. Emerging Africa: How 17 Countries are Leading the Way. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.Google Scholar
Rakner, Lise. 2003. Political and Economic Liberalisation in Zambia, 1991-2001. Uppsala: Nordic Afrika Institut.Google Scholar
Rakner, Lise, van de Walle, Nicolas, and Mulaisho, Dominic. 2001. “Aid and Reform in Zambia.” In Devarajan, Shantayanan, Dollar, David R., and Holmgren, Torgny, eds., Aid and Reform in Africa: Lessons From Ten Case Studies. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Ramachandran, Vijaya, Gelb, S., and Shah, K. 2009. Africa's Private Sector. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.Google Scholar
Rojid, Sawkut, Boopen, Seetanah, and Shalani, Ramessur. 2010. “Are State Business Relations important to Economic Growth? Evidence from Mauritius.” IPPG Discussion Paper 36. http://www.ippg.org.uk/papers/dp36.pdf Google Scholar
Saul, John. 1999. “The Post-Apartheid Denouement.” Monthly Review. 52 (8): 1–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, Ben Ross. 2006. Business and the State in Latin America. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Seekings, Jeremy and Nattrass, Nicoli. 2011 “State-business relations and pro-poor growth in South Africa,” Journal of International Development, 23 (3) 338–357 (April).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, Kunal, and TeVelde, Dirk Willem. 2009. “State-Business Relations and Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Journal of Development Studies, 45 (8): 1267–1283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sinha, Aseema. 2005. “Understanding the Rise and Transformation of Business Collective Action in India.” Business and Politics, 7 (2).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skalnes, Tor. 1995. The Politics of Economic Reform in Zimbabwe: Continuity and Change in Development. London: St. Martins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Scott D. 1999. “Business and Politics in Zimbabwe's Commercial Farming Sector.” African Economic History, 27 (1999): 177–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Scott D. 2007. Business and the State in Southern Africa: The Politics of Economic Reform. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Scott D. 2010. “Political Economy Constraints on Competiveness: Institutional, Political and Social Factors.” Consultancy report prepared on behalf of the World Bank and the African Development Bank for the Jobs, Prosperity and Competitiveness (JPC) initiative (8 July).Google Scholar
Taylor, Scott D. Forthcoming. Globalization and the Cultures of Business in Sub-Saharan Africa: From Patrimonialism to Profit. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
TeVelde, Dirk Wilhelm 2006. “Measuring State-Business Relations in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Working Paper included in the compilation by Kunal Sen, Adrian Leftwich and Dirk Wilhelm TeVelde, eds. (2008) “The Economics and Politics of State-Business Relations in Africa: Preliminary Findings” published by IPPG, University of Manchester. [Also published as Te Velde, D.W. (2006) ‘Measuring State Business Relations in Sub-Saharan Africa.’ Discussion Paper 4. Manchester: IPPG.]Google Scholar
Thacker, Strom C. 2000. Big Business, The State, And Free Trade: Constructing Coalitions In Mexico. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TIZ [Transparency International Zambia]. 2010. Annual Report: April 2009-March 2010. Transparency International: Zambia (Lusaka).Google Scholar
Woo-Cumings, Meredith, ed. 1999. The Developmental State. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bank, World. 2008. Doing Business 2009. Washington, DC: The World Bank.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bank, World. 2009. Investment Climate Assessment, Zambia, vol 2 (December).Google Scholar
Bank, World. 2010. Doing Business 2011. Washington, DC: The World Bank Zambia Business Survey. 2010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zambia Coded Questionnaire (March 21, 2010). Lusaka, Zambia.Google Scholar