Impact of Local Knowledge on the International Competitiveness of MNCs

Over the economics literature, African multinationals were often poorly studied; the BGC report in 2010 starts to fulfill the existing gap. African firms within the financial sector utilize market imperfections and local knowledge to develop a sustainable competitive advantage against rivalry. This book contributes to update and to enrich the international business literature landscape, with the objective to extend some economic theories on describing African Multinationals. The analysis examines two different units: South Africa's Standard Bank and Togo's Ecobank; based on systematic review. The findings demonstrate that in a difficult and chaotic environment, deregulated and instable; domestic firms in Africa are developing their own structure by linking their ancestral knowledge, their colonial heritage and culture to adapt and to develop attractive strategies, mostly customers’ oriented based to challenge competitors. Whilst internalizing, they use firstly their region of integration as a test and to lower risks. Then, by developing different canals of venture to reach the international scene.