Joseph Amankwah-Amoah

The Protracted Collapse of Ghana Airways: Lessons in Organizational Failure

Although the importance of organizational failure has fostered a steady stream of research, a review of the literature suggests that the majority of studies have focused on firms in the private sector and in developed economies. Despite the increasing occurrence of state-owned firms failing in many developing countries, empirical research on this issue remains scant. Using an in-depth case study of Ghana Airways, this article examines the causes of failure of state-owned organizations in developing countries. This study revealed that, in addition to external factors such as liberalization, frequent changes of the top management team and the decision makers’ characteristics contributed significantly to the firm’s demise. The theoretical, managerial, and policy implications of these findings are discussed.

Explaining declining industries in developing countries: The case of textiles and apparel in Ghana

Although declining industries have garnered a plethora of scholarly attention, there is still a theoretical deficit in our understanding of factors that precipitate them in developing countries. This paper examines the causes of declining industries in developing countries. The paper develops an integrated framework to shed light on the subject. Using insights from the textile and apparel industries in Ghana, the study uncovered factors such as global competition, the growth of second-hand clothing and smuggling, and obsolete technologies used by firms have interacted to precipitate the incremental decline of the industries. The study outlines the important implications for theory and practice.

Governments, airlines and employees: An evolving relationship from 1940 to 2010

Although lateral hiring (LH) has increasingly come to characterize todays global labor market, past studies have largely overlooked how the practice unfolds as industry structure evolves. This article draws on the human capital theory to examine the evolution of LH and skills formations in the global airline industry from 1940 to 2010. This historical narrative identifies and distinguishes four distinct phases (i.e. golden, human-factor, embryonic and ‘war for talent’) that shed light on the changes in the industry facilitated by deregulation and liberalization. The phases also elucidate the processes and factors that precipitate the fundamental shift from government-funded to employer-funded and then to largely employee-funded training that has emerged to characterize the industry. The implications and contributions to management history are examined.

“Tales from the grave”: what can we learn from failed international companies?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how organisational closure can inform strategic foresight. Design/Methodology/Approach – We draw insights from illustrative cases, i.e. Swissair, Sabena and Cameroon Airlines to illustrate our theoretical analysis. Findings – The study shed light on the effects of internal and external factors in precipitating business closures. We established that top executives’ hubris, resistance to change and over-reliance on external consultants are some of precursors to organisational closure. Research Limitations/Implications – Our analysis provides a range of strategies that organisations can pursue to learn from other firms’ closure and improve their survivability and chances of future success. Originality/Value – In spite of a growing body of literature on strategic foresight and organisational closure, the literature has largely developed in isolation and as such our understanding of the relationship between strategic foresight and organisational closure as remained severely limited. The paper integrates these two streams of research to enrich our understanding of how firms can learn from others to improve their strategic foresight.

A unified framework of explanations for strategic persistence in the wake of others’ failures

Purpose – Although strategic persistence remains a key issue in change management and strategy literature, our understanding of strategic persistence in the face of other businesses’ failure remains limited. This article examines factors that determine strategic persistence in the face of other businesses’ failures. Design/methodology/approach – Through a review and synthesis of the multiple streams of research, we provide a number of explanations for strategic persistence. The study complements the analysis with illustrative cases of failed companies. These led to development of an integrated framework of explanations for strategic persistence in the wake of other businesses’ failures. Findings – The analysis led to identification of individual, firm-specific and environmental factors rooted in past events (i.e. past successes, prior commitment and decisions by the top-management team), present circumstances (i.e. nature of the failure) and future outlook (i.e. paradox of success, looming threats and opportunities), which foster strategic persistence. We uncovered that persistence may also stem from factors such as “paradox of success” and “too much invested to quit”. Research limitation/implications – We suggest that organisations can learn from others’ failures without compromising their values by drawing on the expertise released by failed firms. The study also identified various mechanisms through which organisations can learn from the failure of others and factors that constrain them from doing so. Originality/value – Our theorisation and conceptualisation of the literature accommodates the multiple and contrasting perspectives of the subject such as the environmental buffers and paradox of success.

Safety or no safety in numbers? Governments, big data and public policy formulation

Purpose – Although big data have emerged at the cornerstone of business and management research, past studies have failed to offer explanations and classifications of different levels of capacity and expertise possessed by different countries in utilising big data. The purpose of this paper is to examine the different capacities of governments in utilising big data. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a comprehensive synopsis of the literature on big data and the role of governments in utilising and harnessing big data. Findings – The study provides an array of explanations to account for why some countries are adept at using big data to solve social problems, while others often faltered. Research limitations/implications – The study offers a range of explanations and suggestions, which include skills upgrading, to help countries improve their capabilities in data collection and data analysis. Originality/value – In this paper, data collection-data analysis matrix was developed to characte...

Where will the axe fall? An integrative framework for understanding attributions after a business failure.

Purpose – This study aims to examine the types of attributions after a business failure. Although business failure has garnered a plethora of scholarly attention, there remains an ambiguity and a lack of clarity about the process and types of attribution after a business failure. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a synthesis of the multiple streams of research on the subject. This led to the development of an integrated framework of attributions after business failure. Findings – The paper integrates the business failure literature and attribution theory to develop a 2 × 2 conceptual framework which accounts for not only the effect on pace (time) but also locus of causality in the attribution process. Crossing the two main causes of business failure with two types of attribution produces the 2 × 2 matrix of types of attribution after a business failure which includes early internal attribution, late internal attribution, early external attribution and late external attribution. Research ...

The Effects of Business Failure Experience on Successive Entrepreneurial Engagements An Evolutionary Phase Model

This study draws insights from the literatures on entrepreneurial learning from failure and organizational imprinting to develop an evolutionary phase model to explain how prior business failure experience influences successive newly started businesses. Using multiple case studies of entrepreneurs located in an institutionally developing society in Sub-Sahara Africa, we uncover four distinctive phases of postentrepreneurial business failure: grief and despair, transition, formation, and legacy phases. We find that while the grieving and transition phases entailed processes of reflecting and learning lessons from the business failure experiences, the formation and legacy phases involve processes of imprinting entrepreneurs’ experiential knowledge on their successive new start-up firms. We conclude by outlining a number of fruitful avenues for future research.

A unified framework for incorporating decision making into explanations of business failure

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how decision-maker attributes unfold to precipitate organisational failure. The analysis brings to light how key attributes such as information-processing capabilities and human capital decay interact to bring about business decline and exit. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on an integrated review and conceptualisation of the literature. Findings – The study articulates how a set of attributes of decision makers, i.e. human capital obsolescence, powerlessness, meaninglessness and institutional linkages, contributes to organisational failure. Research limitations/implications – The paper concludes by setting out an array of strategies of learning from others’ failures. Originality/value – In spite of a growing body of research on organisational failure, scholars have placed overwhelming emphasis on ecological explanations and business failure prediction models. The study moves beyond the ecological explanations to offer a more fine-grained ...

The Emergence of Low-Cost Airlines in Africa: A Preliminary Analysis of Internal and External Drivers

Recent progress in economic growth and policy environment in Africa has led to improving perception of the region as one of the largest and most exciting groups of frontier markets (Chung, 2007). According to the IMF, private capital flow to Sub-Saharan Africa has tripled since 2003. In 2006, total gross private capital flows amounted to about US