Stephanie Decker (2023) Postcolonial Transition and Global Business History: British Multinational Companies in Ghana and Nigeria. Routledge
ISBN 9780367428105
198 Pages, 14 B/W Illustrations
£96 Hardback / £31.19 eBook
British multinationals faced unprecedented challenges to their organizational legitimacy in the middle of the twentieth century as the European colonial empires were dismantled and institutional transformations changed colonial relationships in Africa and other parts of the world. This book investigates the political networking and internal organizational changes in five British multinationals (United Africa Company, John Holt & Co., Ashanti Goldfields Corporation, Bank of West Africa and Barclays Bank DCO). These firms were forced to adapt their strategies and operations to changing institutional environments in two English-speaking West African countries, Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast) and Nigeria, from the late 1940s to the late 1970s. Decolonization meant that formerly imperial businesses needed to develop new political networks and change their internal organization and staffing to promote more Africans to managerial roles. This postcolonial transition culminated in indigenization programmes (and targeted nationalizations) which forced foreign companies to sell equity and assets to domestic investors in the 1970s. Postcolonial Transition and Global Business History is the first in-depth historical study on how British firms sought to adapt over several decades to rapid political and economic transformation in West Africa.
Exploring both postcolonial transitions and development discourse, this book addresses the topics with regard to business and economic history and will be of interest to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of organizational change, political economy, African studies and globalization.
Critical acclaim
Stewart Clegg, Distinguished Professor, University of Technology Sydney Business School:
“Decker is a rare scholar, combining the empirical fastidiousness of a business historian with the conceptual and theoretical skills of an organization theorist, producing a book that should contribute to a more global and historivcal appreciation of the role of multinationals.”
From Christina Lubinski’s book review in Business History:
“Postcolonial Transition and Global Business History addresses the question how managers develop political capabilities to navigate societal change. As a historian and organisation scholar, Stephanie Decker explores how actors in international business engage with the political ideals of development, economic nationalism, and postcolonialism and how they adjust (or not) their business practices. Her revised and updated dissertation (University of Liverpool) is an important contribution to African and business history as well as a meticulously researched study of organisational legitimacy. […]
A particular strength of the book is its comparative analysis of Africanization in both the private and public sector and among different companies. Decker shows how turnover rates, ceilings, and salaries were all factors that impacted how the process of localisation unfolded and what consequences this development had. Many of the empirical results echo modern-day discussions about workplace discrimination, ethnicity pay gaps, and affirmative action. Yet, the rich empirical material and historical distance allow Decker a more fine-grained interpretation of these observations, reframing important debates of our time.
Organisational legitimacy has evolved into a vibrant area of study in business history. it also matters to international business and strategy scholar, who continuously engage with the concept but cannot match the long-term perspective of this book. in previous articles, Decker has herself related some of the themes of her analysis to these adjacent communities. The book deepens this dialogue by offering a thoughtful and conceptually well-developed narrative of British business in postcolonial transitions. Stephanie Decker delivers rigorous historical research that frames and contextualises present-day problems and builds bridges to adjacent scholarly communities.”
Organizational History Network 