African Industrial Hubs and Industrialisation: Diversity, Unevenness, and Strategic Approach

Arkebe Oqubay ()
Additional contact information
Arkebe Oqubay: SOAS University of London and at the University of Johannesburg

No 2022-10, SARChI-ID Working Papers from SARChI Industrial Development (SARChI-ID), University of Johannesburg (UJ)

Abstract: Economic agglomeration and industrial clusters have always been part of industrialisation and economic development. Since the 1960s, industrial hubs have proliferated in Asia, driven by policies to foster economic catch-up and structural transformation. Industrial hubs are relatively new to Africa, but continue to attract attention from policymakers and researchers. However, empirical studies on African industrial hubs have been inadequate and, to date, have had only a limited influence on policymaking. Contrary to the accepted wisdom, underperforming African industrial hubs offer an opportunity for policy learning from successes and failures. This paper aims to fill the existing knowledge gap from a policymaking perspective, and has three objectives. First, to demonstrate the diversity, the uneven and mixed outcomes, and the evolving nature of African industrial hubs. Second, to provide insights and policymaking lessons through a comparative analysis of four diverse cases, namely Mauritius, the China–Africa economic and trade cooperation zones, Morocco’s Tanger Med Complex, and Ethiopia’s recent experiment with industrial hubs. Third, it shows that synergising industrialisation requires a strategic approach, integrating the state’s productive role and executive excellence with the broader industrial policy framework.

Keywords: Industrial hubs; industrial policy; economic transformation; industrialisation; industrial ecosystem; export-processing zones; special economic zones; industrial parks; the state; private sector. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F68 O14 O25 O29 O38 O55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 56 pages
Date: 2022-06, Revised 2022-06
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.uj.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/sa ... ubay-june-2022-1.pdf First version, 2022 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:adz:wpaper:202210

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in SARChI-ID Working Papers from SARChI Industrial Development (SARChI-ID), University of Johannesburg (UJ) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Melanie Ridgard ().