African-owned firms building capabilities in global value chains

AFRICAP examines industrialization in African countries in the context of increasingly globalized production networks coordinated through transnational inter-firm linkages. African-owned firms often struggle to enter new export sectors in manufacturing and agro-processing, to remain competitive within them, and to capture greater value. AFRICAP focuses on firm-level capability building and combines this firm level analysis with an understanding of global value chains and national institutional factors. The project analyzes various channels that facilitate learning among firms: industrial policies, foreign direct investment spillovers, and firm-specific networks and experience.

Funded by the Danish Social Sciences Research Council, under the project title: Getting of the tecnology trap: foreign direct investment and learning among African-owned firms.