Africa

Finding a lack of writing on management education in Africa, Thomas, Lee, Thomas, and Wilson got down to the business of research. With 3,000 distinct ethnic groups speaking 2,000 languages, Africa encompasses 54 countries but has no collective identity; each country has its own political, economic, and socio-cultural structure. The authors eschew the usual focus on negativity—poverty, war, and disease—and posit that the role and challenge of educational development in Africa at every level can only be understood in terms of the varied history, contexts, cultures, and issues that exist in very different countries. The first two chapters of the book outline the historical backdrop of the evolution of Africa and provide an environmental analysis of the differences, features, and capital endowments of the countries forming the continent. This provides the underlying framework for mapping how management education has developed over the past two decades and in identifying the current challenges in the field. As a transition to the second volume (coming out next year) they continue to explore the importance of management education in Africa with the final chapter focusing on an examination of what an African style of management education might be and whether education is realistic or achievable.