British industrial investment in sub-Saharan Africa: corporate responses to economic crisis in the 1980s
Abstract
This paper reviews the main findings of empirical research on British transnational corporations with industrial operations in the fifteen countries of English speaking Africa. The research reveals that not only is the level of equity involvements of British industrial TNCs in these countries of very minor importance in global terms but that, as a consequence of the deep and protracted economic crisis of the 1980s in Africa, nearly one third of these TNCs have withdrawn from the continent since 1979. The possible consequences of this process of corporate disengagement are explored, especially in the light of the now universal policy objective of African governments to attract foreign capital and, in particular, transnational corporations.