Strategic
Management in Africa, a research workshop to be held in Toledo, Spain
on 24th September 2014
(http://madrid.strategicmanagement.net/extensions/toledo.php).
Description of Workshop
Our
extension workshop intends to serve a growing interest in studying
strategic management in Africa. Since the continent as a business
research setting is unique in multiple aspects, exploring strategic
management questions there promises new insights and stands to reduce
theoretical blind spots. The Economist for example recently remarked on
the unusually high prevalence of portfolio entrepreneurship in Africa, a
phenomenon not readily explained by existing theory. Social, cultural,
institutional, and other factors may offer important boundary conditions
for theories of strategic management and are waiting to be explored.
The
trend towards broadening research contexts and phenomena has already
found some expression in recent special issues as well as announcements
of special conferences in emerging markets, and Africa in particular.
Our extension supports this trend and aims to forge stronger links
between scholars doing work on Africa, promote cross-fertilization of
ideas, and thus collectively strengthen this nascent area of research.
We
will bus participants from Madrid to Toledo in the morning and back in
the evening. The former Spanish capital Toledo is a World Heritage site,
approximately 70km south of Madrid and the main SMS conference. Toledo
was at the forefront of the historic struggle between North African
Moors and European Christians, and has since been known as the "City of
the Three Cultures" and "City of Tolerance", with Christians, Jews and
Muslims co-habiting peacefully. With its ecumenical tradition spanning
multiple continents, Toledo makes a perfect base for our extension on
Africa. There will be some time after the workshop for a tour of the
city.
The agenda of the day is highly interactive and includes
keynotes by Will Mitchell and Gerry George, a panel about the challenges
to strategy research in Africa, a round-table discussion about
initiatives to strengthen this research endeavor, and a contribution
from an African strategy executive. We hope to engage with participants
that have a background or interest in empirical research in Africa.
Registration: A registration fee of US$ 105 per participant will be charged to cover expenses.
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