Abstract
Africa has 60% of the world’s arable land and is endowed with a cornucopia of minerals, yet shortfalls in agricultural production has left several countries needing to import food and vulnerable to food insecurity. African lags behind other regions on most of the metrics of development, wellbeing and self-sufficiency. There is shortage of consumer goods, pharmaceutical and healthcare products, financial services, utilities and infrastructure. Africa’s chronic battle with shortages in rooted in her history, politics and policies. Rapid population growth and urbanization has also had its part in fostering the dire circumstances on the continent.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Akyeampong, E. (2018). African socialism; or, the search for an indigenous model of economic development? Economic History of Developing Regions, 33(1), 69–87.
AfDB (2018) Africa’s infrastructure: great potential but little impact on inclusive growth. https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Publications/2018AEO/African_Economic_Outlook_2018_-_EN_Chapter3.pdf
Austin, G. (2010). African economic development and colonial legacies (Vol. 1, pp. 11–32). Geneva: Institut de Hautes Études Internationales et du Développement.
Austin, G., Frankema, E., & Jerven, M. (2016). Patterns of manufacturing growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: from colonization to the present. Working paper no. 71 CGEH Working Paper Series.
Balchin, N., Gelb, S., Kennan, J., Martin, H., te Velde, D. W., & Williams, C. (2016). Developing export-based manufacturing in Sub-Saharan Africa. London: Overseas Development Institute.
Bucheli, M., & Decker, S. (2012). Economic nationalism in Latin America and Africa in the twentieth century: a comparison. In Business History Conference, Philadelphia. Retrieved January 20, 2017, from http://www.worldbhc.org/files/fullpercent20program/A2_B2_DeckerBucheli2014EconomicnationalismLAandAfrica.pdf.
Calderon, C., Cantu, C., & Chuhan-Pole, P. (2018a). Infrastructure development in Sub-Saharan Africa: A scorecard. Washington, DC: The World Bank.
Calderon, C., Cantu, C., & Chuhan-Pole, P. (2018b). Infrastructure development in Sub-Saharan Africa: A scorecard (English). Policy Research working paper; no. WPS 8425. Washington, DC: World Bank Group.
Canning, D., Raja, S., & Yazbeck, A. S. (2015). Africa’s demographic transition: Dividend or disaster? In Africa development forum. Washington, DC: World Bank; and Agence Française de Développement. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/22036 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Dinh, H. T., Palmade, V., Chandra, V., & Cossar, F. (2012). Light manufacturing in Africa: Targeted policies to enhance private investment and create jobs. Washington, DC: The World Bank.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2015). Regional overview of food insecurity: African food security prospects brighter than ever. Accra: FAO.
German Historical Institute in London, Stig Forster, Wolfgang J. (1989). Bismarck, Europe, and Africa: The Berlin Africa Conference 1884-1885 and the Onset of Partition. Oxford University Press. GHI (2019) https://www.globalhungerindex.org/results.html.
Hilderink, H. B. M., Brons, J., Ordonez, J., Akinyoade, A., Leliveld, A. H. M., Lucas, P., & Kok, M. T. J. (2012). Food security in sub-Saharan Africa: An explorative study.
Jayne, T., & Ameyaw, S. (2016). Africa’s emerging agricultural transformation: Evidence, opportunities and challenges. In Africa Agriculture Status Report: Progress towards agriculture transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2–20.
Jones, G. (2006). Nationality and multinationals in historical perspective (pp. 06–052). Boston: Division of Research, Harvard Business School.
Kilby, P. (1975). Manufacturing in colonial Africa. In L. H. Gann & P. Duignan (Eds.), Colonialism in Africa, 1870–1960 (The economics of colonialism, 1870–1960) (Vol. 4, pp. 470–520). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Logistics Performance Index (2014). https://lpi.worldbank.org/international/global/2014
McGowan, P. J. (2003). African military coups d’état, 1956–2001: Frequency, trends and distribution. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 41(3), 339–370.
Mendes, A. P. F., Bertella, M. A., & Teixeira, R. F. (2014). Industrialization in sub-Saharan Africa and import substitution policy. Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, 34(1), 120–138.
Nellis, J. (2005). Privatization in Africa: What has happened? What is to be done?
Nsiah-Gyabaah, K. (2003) Urbanization, environmental degradation and food security in Africa. In: The Open Meeting of the Global Environmental Change Research Community.
Paulson, J. A., & Gavin, M. (1999). The changing role of the state in formerly-socialist economies of Africa. In African economies in transition (pp. 11–65). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Rakotoarisoa, M., Iafrate, M., & Paschali, M. (2011). Why has Africa become a net food importer? Rome: FAO.
Ramachandran, V., Gelb, A. H., & Shah, M. K. (2009). Africa’s private sector: What’s wrong with the business environment and what to do about it. London: CGD Books.
Richards, P., Reardon, T., Tschirley, D., Jayne, T., Oehmke, J., & Atwood, D. (2016). Cities and the future of agriculture and food security: A policy and programmatic roundtable. Food Security, 8(4), 871–877. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-016-0597-3.
Sy, A. N. R., & Gutman, J. (2015). Financing African infrastructure: Can the world deliver? Washington, DC: Brookings Institute.
Tschirley, D. L., Snyder, J., Dolislager, M., Reardon, T., Haggblade, S., Goeb, J., ... & Meyer, F. (2015). Africa’s unfolding diet transformation: implications for agrifood system employment. Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, 5(2), 102–136.
UNECA (1971). The multinational corporation in africa. http://repository.uneca.org/bitstream/handle/10855/8941/Bib-49429.pdf?sequence=1
UNIDO. (2013). World Manufacturing Production Statistics for Quarter IV.
United Nations. (2015). Financing Africa’s infrastructure development. Policy Brief 2015.
World Bank. (2011). Handbook on Infrastructure Statistics “World Bank Guarantee Program.” Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://web.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64143540&pagePK=64143532&piPK=64143559&theSitePK=3985219.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Amungo, E. (2020). Africa: A Continent of Shortages. In: The Rise of the African Multinational Enterprise (AMNE). Management for Professionals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33096-5_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33096-5_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-33095-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-33096-5
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)