Dynamics of Marketing in African Nations

Book excerpt: Consider Africa—not with pre-established mindsets, unexamined assumptions, and bland generalizations—but for what Africa actually is: a setting in which marketers can gather new ideas and test old ones and perhaps emerge with a more varied, certain sense of what the marketing enterprise itself, is all about. Nwankwo, Aiyeku, and their contributing authors, all specialists with a remarkably wide range of experience and viewpoints, uncover the unexpected factors that they are certain will determine the success of selling just about any product or service to established or developing African nations. Original, eclectic, and agenda-setting, their book provides a startling insight into the dynamics of marketing in this fascinating region of the world as it continues to initiate the new macroeconomic and political reforms that are transforming the African continent into an important player on the international business scene. Nwankwo and Aiyeku see their book as a welcome attempt to identify and explore the institutional processes in which not only the study but also the practice of marketing is embedded. They work with three main themes: the processual issues, including theory development and the reconceptualization of conventional paradigms; the nature of the interrelationships that shape the dynamics of marketing overall; and the context-specific dimensions of marketing generally, its marketing operations. As the volume editors state: By and large, African nations present new contexts and new strategic challenges. As they become focused, certain general approaches as to how various characteristics influence marketing behaviors have to be established. This book, through addressing these contextual issues, provides a better focus for creating a relevant set of marketing activities in African situations.