International business and political risk in West Africa
Description
This project, based on confidential corporate archives, explores the response of foreign companies to political decolonization and the threat of expropriation in Ghana and Nigeria. Foreign companies in Ghana and Nigeria, especially those from Britain, had a long-standing imperial presence in West Africa, and found decolonization a challenge to their established business practices. Through analyzing their political strategies and internal staffing decisions in the 1950s and 1960s, a picture of successful adaptation to a changing institutional environment emerges.A particular focus is the public relations policy of companies, which works extensively with themes that emerged in contemporary development economics. This is especially relevant for the 1970s, when international business was threatened globally by expropriation legislation in many less developed economies. The decrees in West Africa were distinct in this respect as they sought to transfer partial ownership to African stakeholders rather than nationalize foreign firms. This type of legislation was more common than has been realized, and this research seeks to reinterpret some of the assumption made about attempts by host countries to control foreign investment.