Multinational Enterprises in Africa: Corporate governance, social responsibility and risk management
Abstract
This dossier steams from a panel presented at the Fifth European Conference on African Studies in 2013 in Lisbon. We wanted to think about the consequences of the involvement of the multinationals in Africa. Indeed, foreign direct investment has increased in Africa and will constitute the first source of financial flow for the next year (OCDE, 2014) while the world trend has known a continuous decrease. Indeed, Africa is appealing for multinationals. It knows two-digits growth rates, has an economic potential to exploit (OCDE, 2011) and constitutes an emerging market for the multinationals, with the expansion of a middle class that has an increasing purchasing power (Tallio, 2013). On the other hand, the continent is still facing severe social problems, such as high rates of poverty and social inequality, and environmental carelessness. Multinationals act then in a complex environment. Governments, African citizens and the international public opinion are well aware of these contradictions and put pressure on the multinationals to measure and redress these imbalances (Forstater, Zadeck, Guang, Kelly, Hong & George, 2010) as they are seen as the cause of it or at least as having enough power to act efficiently on them.References
Forstater, M., Zadek, S., Guang, Y. Y., Kelly, G., Hong, X. C., & George, M. (2010). Corporate responsibility in African development: Insights from an emerging dialogue. Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative, Working Paper 60. Cambridge: John F. Kennedy School of Government.
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OCDE. (2011). Perspectives économiques en Afrique. L’Afrique et ses partenaires émergents. Paris: OCDE. doi : 10.1787/aeo-2011-fr (accessed November 14, 2014).
OCDE. (2013). Perspectives économiques en Afrique. Transformation structurelle et ressources naturelles en Afrique. Paris: OCDE.
OCDE. (2014). Perspectives économiques en Afrique. Les chaînes de valeur mondiales et l’industrialisation en Afrique. Paris: OCDE. doi: 0.1787/aeo-2014-fr (accessed November 14, 2014).
Tallio, V. (2013). Corporate social responsibility in Africa: New trends for development? A new field for African studies? In Ramos, M. J., & Engel, U. (Eds.), African dynamics in a multipolar world. Leiden: Brill.
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I also declare that this article is original, that it has not been published in any other way, and that I exclusively assign the publication rights to the journal Cadernos de Estudos Africanos. Reproduction of the article, in whole or in part, in other publications or on other media is subject to the prior authorization of the publisher Centro de Estudos Internacionais do Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa.