Challenges in the Era of Globalization - iaabd

Challenges in the Era of Globalization
Edited by Emmanuel Obuah
Data and indicators are disaggregated by gender wherever possible. The World Economic Forum"
Gender Gap report (Hausman, Tyson and Zahidi 2010) has linked gender ratings and indices to GDP and
World Competitiveness. Some African countries rank high on gender equality in world perspective, while
others are low. The indicators and indices on gender include literacy, births and fertility in the social
environment found in the health tables, while a separate table gives the gender gap index score and rank
(plus sub-indices for educational attainment, health survival, and political empowerment), labor force
participation, income earned, and percent of women in parliament.
"Doing Business" indicators, mostly drawn from World Bank data show both the country’s world rank
and the rank for the 46 Sub-Saharan African countries. Sub-index ranks are given for starting a business,
dealing with construction permits, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes,
enforcing contracts and closing a business. More specific indicators rank the time (number of days or
years) to: start a business, connect to electricity, enforce a contract, register property, and close a
business. Also considered are the costs and time to import and export commodities.
Time Frame and Report Usage
A draft version of the report will be distributed at IAABD, as well as to business leaders and scholars in
several African countries (e.g., Ghana, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania) and scholars and students at
the University of Florida and the University of South Carolina in May 2011. Comments will be
incorporated into the final report for 2011 to be released in print copy and electronically on October 15,
2011. The electronic copy will include the full report, but in addition, there will be support tables and
links to database and other research sites. An advisory group of African Scholars from business colleges
in Africa will comprise a Council of African Scholars to review the report. Four professors who teach in
business schools and colleges in SSA will provide detailed critiques. Each year, one of the scholars will
be in short-term residence at UF to provide guidance and give seminars and lectures. An added feature
will be the linkages to African universities and business schools, which will also form one of the client
groups for the report. Reports will subsequently be developed for 2012, 2013, and 2014 to be released in
final form each year.
Conclusion
The report aims to provide a concise analysis about African business conditions to assist several client
groups ranging from business people and business consultants, to policy and decision makers, to the
academic community of faculty and students who are located in the United States, Africa, and elsewhere.
It focuses on major economic, social and political events and indicators of the sub-continent considering
factors in the past year that have shaped the economic and political environment of the region and for
each country, the context and main drivers of the business environment.
Notes
1. The project is funded by the Department of Education Title VI through the Center for International Business
Education and Research (CIBER), Warrington College of Business and the Center for African Studies (CAS),
University of Florida. Other project funding is from the CIBER at the Moore School of Business, University of
South Carolina. Greg Parent, doctoral candidate in Geography prepared most of the tables, and Hannah Morris
(Assoc Director, External Relations and doctoral student, Higher Education Administration) and Dr.
Sarah Cervone (anthropologist) assisted. Dr. Rob Rolfe prepared much of the country reports and Emily Watkins
did background research on specific countries.
2. Sudan is listed under the East & Horn of Africa region, while Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea are listed under
the Central Africa region, based on their RTA/RTI memberships.
3. Footnotes for Table 3 Source: International Monetary Fund, World Economic Database,
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2010/01/weodata/index.aspx. 1 IMF 2010 data are estimates. 2 Source:
World Bank. World Databank: World Development Indicators & Global Development Finance,
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