Morocco’s Intangible Competitive Advantage in the U.S–Morocco–Africa Atlantic Corridor: Cultural Proximity, Transaction Costs, and Logistical Hard Power

L'Avantage Concurrentiel Immatériel Marocain dans le Corridor Atlantique USA–Maroc–Afrique: Proximité Culturelle, Coûts de Transaction et Hard Power Logistique

Mahmoud El Hassouni ()
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Mahmoud El Hassouni: MFMDI - Laboratoire MFMDI, SUP MTI Rabat

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Abstract: The emergence of the USA–Morocco–Africa Atlantic Corridor has generated extensive scholarship on its infrastructural and geopolitical dimensions, yet a decisive variable remains systematically unexplored: the economic value of cultural proximity as a supply chain competitiveness determinant in trans-African corridors. This analytical gap - the absence of quantitative studies on this variable in transatlantic logistics corridors - defines the scientific void this article seeks to fill. Adopting a conceptual approach grounded in published empirical findings, this article argues and substantiates that Moroccan national culture - empirically proximate to Sub-Saharan African cultures on Hofstede's key dimensions - generates a durable intangible competitive advantage in trans-African supply chains. Through three articulated mechanisms (transaction cost reduction, logistical facilitation, and USA–Africa cultural intermediation), this advantage converts from soft power to strategic economic hard power. The argument is anchored in published empirical results (El Hassouni & Machrafi, 2023; Balambo, 2013) - notably the demonstration that affective trust and cultural proximity determine the durability of supply chain cooperation in the Moroccan context. The article formulates three research propositions and opens an empirical program aimed at quantifying the economic value of cultural proximity in trans-African corridors.

Keywords: hard power; culture nationale coûts de transaction supply chain management Corridor Atlantique Géologistique hard power proximité culturelle Maroc Afrique subsaharienne Classification JEL : M16 F60 L91 Z13 national culture transaction costs supply chain management Atlantic Corridor Geologistics hard power cultural proximity Morocco Sub-Saharan Africa JEL Classification : M16 F60 L91 Z13; culture nationale; coûts de transaction; supply chain management; Corridor Atlantique; Géologistique; Geologistics; proximité culturelle; Maroc; Afrique subsaharienne Classification JEL : M16; national culture; transaction costs; Atlantic Corridor; Sub-Saharan Africa; Morocco; cultural proximity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-06-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ara
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Published in International Journal of Accounting, Finance, Auditing, Management and Economics, 2026, 7 (6), pp.833-844. ⟨10.5281/zenodo.20669566⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05656191

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20669566

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