ManaGlobal stands for “Globalised governance norms and local management and business practices in Africa and on the Arab peninsula” and is a research project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 823744.
ManaGlobal is an innovative and empirical research project that explores the different types of local management approaches in selected African and Arab countries and analyses the gap between globalized norms and standards of management and doing business with those practiced locally. The project investigates how local practices that are often depicted with “poor governance and bad management” can be transformed into economic opportunities by the development of hybrid and innovative management approaches through fieldwork research and staff exchanges, in addition to summer/winter schools, workshops and conferences that facilitate knowledge sharing between the partners. This is being realized by a collaborative consortium of 16 African, Arab and European partners, from 8 countries, involving researchers, business leaders, and institutional decision-makers.
The main aim of the ManaGlobal project is to study and understand the hybridization of business and management practices in African and Arab countries, and to develop a theoretical framework that may help future business leaders and managers to successfully act locally and think globally. This project is important because it will provide a clearer diagnosis and a better understanding of the practice of business and management in African and Arab countries that would contribute to the improvement of local economies, the development of better transnational investments between European, African and Arab companies, the creation of more employment opportunities, and the reduction of migration to the European continent.
The overall objectives of ManaGlobal project are: 1) To conduct collaborative empirical research involving experienced and early career researchers from all the partner institutions; 2) To exchange knowledge and skills on conducting cross-cultural research and build research capacity through research placements, workshops, seminars, conferences and fieldwork; 3) To produce case studies based on concrete management experiences in "real life" from ethnographic study and the profiling of education, training and business backgrounds of African/Arab successful company managers; 4) To develop a research-based theoretical framework for the understanding of business and management practices in African/Arab companies; and 5) To make recommendations to policy and decision-makers and to design training programmes on “business and management of organizations” in African and Arab countries to future local and international leaders and managers.
Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project (For the final period, include the conclusions of the action)
