Creating value for whom? Digitization and governance practices of nontraditional export firms in Africa

The nontraditional export (NTE) sector promises to be the antidote to Africa's economic woes in the face of dwindling traditional exports. Adopting Porter's Value Chain Framework and a case study design, we explore how alcoholic beverage companies in the African NTE sector could create value in their upstream, midstream, and downstream value chain activities through effective governance and digitization. In exploring these intricacies of governance and digitization within African global value chains (GVCs), we draw on two major case studies, Diageo South Africa and Kasapreko Ghana Limited. Our study shows that the NTE sector can contribute to both economic and social upgrading activities, contribute to industrialization and create international competitiveness for African firms. Second, GVC governance and digitization, even though still at its infant stages in Africa, has the potential to propel economic value through the NTE sector.

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Atiase, V. Y., Agbanyo, S., Ameh, J. K., Sambian, R. M., & Ganza, P. (2022). Creating value for whom? Digitization and governance practices of nontraditional export firms in Africa. Strategic Change, 31(1), 31–44, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.2478