Despite the growing population and significant natural resources of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), economies in that region currently represent only 2% of global GDP. Finished goods are imported to Africa from the US, Europe, China and Japan, while commodities remain the primary export. Addressing this balance must be the primary focus of initiatives to foster economic growth and development across the region in the coming years. However, there is currently a lack of intellectual discourse that incorporates diverse firm-level and institutional-level theories, as well as the stakeholder perspective, to explain the transformation of Sub-Saharan Africa into a production economy. This two-volume edited work brings together scholars of business in Africa and economic transformation to discuss topics including the knowledge economy, inter-regional relations, supply chains, the informal economy, the service sector and more, creating a broad and probing analysis of Africa’s potential for transformation and strategies to achieve it.

This first volume explores a multidisciplinary perspective on the transformation of SSA’s economies to production and export orientation, which entail: facilitating SSA’s economic transformation through regional relations; the role of SSA’s informal sector on regional relations and economic transformation; and the recommendations for economic transforming in SSA. It will be of interest to scholars of business in Africa, international business, developing economies, business strategy and innovation.