Continental shift: operations and supply chain management research from an African perspective

Purpose – Africa is attracting growing research interest in operations and supply chain management (OSCM). However, the implications of Africa’s contexts are understudied and need to be explored to refine and elaborate existing OSCM theories and concepts or develop new ones. This paper addresses these limitations while introducing IJOPM’s Africa Initiative (AfIn), which seeks to provide a platform and support for Africa-based researchers and the broader OSCM community to advance OSCM research on and from Africa.

Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual paper draws on multiple streams of literature to disentangle and better understand African contexts and discuss how the continent’s idiosyncrasies can enrich OSCM research. It then details the AfIn, including its motivation and objectives, the review process, and support mechanisms for researchers.

Findings – The paper sheds light on seven contextual factors that may influence OSCM research in Africa: (i) informal economy and organizations; (ii) socio-cultural diversity and complexity; (iii) traditional and survival-oriented cultures; (iv) weak formal institutions with strong informal institutions; (v) population growth potential; (vi) abundant resources with low outcomes; and (vii) high environmental constraints. Additionally, the paper provides insights into how these contextual factors underpin five OSCM themes through which future research can advance and shape OSCM theory and practice. These themes include: (i) serving consumer markets; (ii) managing resources; (iii) managing factor market rivalry; (iv) managing environmental hostility; and (v) managing institutions.

Originality/value – The paper provides a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of Africa’s contextual idiosyncrasies and their implications for OSCM theory and practice. In doing so, it reveals intriguing, yet underexplored, OSCM phenomena about the continent while laying out actionable pathways through which research using African data can make novel theoretical contributions.