Abstract
A South African manufacturing company opened its head office in Africa about four decades ago. Over the years, the company has been doing business with the rest of Africa through exporting and had reached a point where it needed to consider other ways of expanding its business across the continent. The purpose of the study was to investigate the international business growth challenges the firm faces. The study employed a qualitative methodology where eight managers were purposively selected from 22 managers engaged in international assignments. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data gathered from the interview narratives. The study findings revealed that the company conducted its business by way of exporting its products into Africa and created resources for the countries it had business with while benefiting from technology and innovation transfer in the long-run. However, the firm suffered political interference, language barriers, and corruption, as some of the serious hindrances of doing business across the continent. In addition, the study concluded that international business success depended on politics and the economy, calling for organisations engaged in international assignments to cautiously expand their business beyond borders. The study recommended that a similar study is conducted in other organisations that do business with the rest of Africa in order to obtain a balanced view of the growth challenges.
MICHAEL NKOSINATHI SHANDU, SHASHONA SINGH. (2019) An Investigation into the International Business Growth Challenges faced by a South African Manufacturing Company, International Review of Management and Business Research, Volume 8, Issue 1.
-
Views
537 -
Downloads
41
Article Details
Volume
Issue
Type
Language
