The multinationalisation of South African telecommunications firms into Africa

John M. Luiz and Henry Stephan

Telecommunications Policy, 2012, vol. 36, issue 8, 621-635

Abstract: The study investigates the main factors considered by telecommunications firms when making a decision to undertake Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This encompasses the reasons for investing, the methods of entry into the identified market and the factors influencing their decision. The methodology employs a survey questionnaire which was sent to telecommunication firms representing 80% of the revenue generated by this sector in SSA. The research reveals that market size, regulatory environment and government policy are the three most important factors influencing the decision to undertake FDI. Furthermore, the main reasons for deciding to enter SSA are for market and profit growth due to saturation in their existing markets, as well as for diversification of risk. They demonstrate the key competencies that South Africa Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) have in navigating the complexities of doing business in institutional voids. The liability of being from the relatively small emerging market of South Africa and operating in a country of institutional uncertainty has allowed South African companies to internationalise into markets that other MNEs will not venture into and thus turn a liability into an advantage.

Keywords: Telecommunications FDI; Theory of FDI and the MNE; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596112000705
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:telpol:v:36:y:2012:i:8:p:621-635

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30471/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... /30471/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2012.04.010

Access Statistics for this article

Telecommunications Policy is currently edited by Erik Bohlin

More articles in Telecommunications Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().