The growth process of informal enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa: A case study of a metalworking cluster in Nairobi

Small Business Economics

Volumn 36, Issue 3, 2011, Pages 323-335

  Sonobe, Tetsushi ^a   Akoten, John E ^b   Otsuka, Keijiro ^a  

^a NATIONAL GRADUATE INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES   (Japan)

^b Institute of Policy Analysis and Research   (Kenya)

Author keywords

Africa; Human capital; Industrial development; Informal sector; Kenya

Indexed keywords

EID: 79951716168     PISSN: 0921898X     EISSN: 15730913     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s11187-009-9222-6     Document Type: Article

References (27)

1. Akoten, J. E., & Otsuka, K. (2007). From tailors to mini-manufacturers: The role of traders in the transformation of garment enterprises in Nairobi. Journal of African Economies, 16(4), 564-595.
2. Altenburg, T., & Meyer-Stamer, J. (1999). How to promote clusters: Policy experience from Latin America. World Development, 27(9), 1693-1713.
3. Arellano, M., & Bond, S. (1991). Some tests of specification for panel data: Monte Carlo evidence and an application to employment equations. Review of Economic Studies, 58(2), 277-297.
4. Bigsten, A., & Gebreeyesus, M. (2007). The small, the young, and the productive: Determinants of manufacturing firm growth in Ethiopia. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 55(4), 813-840.
5. Bigsten, A., & Söderbom, M. (2006). What have we learned from a decade of manufacturing enterprise surveys in Africa? World Bank Research Observer, 21(2), 241-265.
6. Caselli, F., Esquivel, G., & Lefort, F. (1996). Reopening the convergence debate: A new look at cross-country growth empirics. Journal of Economic Growth, 1(3), 363-390.
7. Collier, P., & Gunning, J. W. (1999). Explaining African economic performance. Journal of Economic Literature, 37(1), 64-111.
8. Davidson, R., & MacKinnon, J. G. (1993). Estimation and inference in econometrics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
9. Fafchamps, M. (2004). Market institutions in sub-Saharan Africa: Theory and evidence. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
10. Fafchamps, M., & Söderbom, M. (2006). Wages and labor management in African manufacturing. Journal of Human Resources, 41(2), 346-379.
11. Goedhuys, M., & Sleuwaegen, L. (2000). Entrepreneurship and growth of entrepreneurial firms in Côte d'Ivoire. Journal of Development Studies, 36(3), 122-145.
12. Humphrey, J. (2003). Opportunities for SMEs in developing countries to upgrade in a global economy. SEED working paper no. 43, International Labor Organization.
13. Humphrey, J., & Schmitz, H. (2001). Governance in global value chains. IDS Bulletin 32. 3, Institute of Development Studies.
14. King, K. (1996). Jua Kali Kenya: Change & Development in an Informal Economy-1970/95. London: James Currey; Nairobi: East African Education Publisher; and Athens: Ohio University Press.
15. Kinyanjui, N. (2007). The Kamukunji metalwork cluster in Kenya. In D. Z. Zeng (Ed.), Knowledge, technology, and cluster-based growth in Africa. Washington, DC: The World Bank, WBI Development Studies.
16. Mbaku, J. M. (1996). Bureaucratic corruption in Africa: The futility of cleanups. Cato Journal, 16(1), 99-118.
17. McPherson, M. (1996). Growth of micro and small enterprises in southern Africa. Journal of Development Economics, 48(2), 253-277.
18. McPherson, M. A., & Liedholm, C. (1996). Determinants of small and micro enterprise registration: Results from surveys in Niger and Swaziland. World Development, 24(3), 481-487.
19. Mengistae, T. (2006). Competition and entrepreneurs' human capital in small business longetivity and growth. Journal of Development Studies, 42(5), 812-836.
20. Ramachandran, V., & Shah, M. K. (1999). Minority entrepreneurs and firm performance in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Development Studies, 36(2), 71-87.
21. Rocha, H. O. (2004). Entrepreneurship and development: the role of clusters. Small Business Economics, 23(5), 363-400.
22. Sleuwaegen, L., & Goedhuys, M. (2002). Growth of firms in developing countries: Evidence from Côte d'Ivoire. Journal of Development Economics, 68(1), 117-135.
23. Sonobe, T., Akoten, J. E., & Otsuka, K. (2009a). An exploration into the successful development of the leather-shoe industry in Ethiopia. Review of Development Economics, forthcoming.
24. Sonobe, T., Akoten J. E., & Otsuka, K. (2009b). The growth process of informal enterprises in a metalworking cluster in Nairobi. FASID discussion paper.
25. Sonobe, T., Hu, D., & Otsuka, K. (2004). From inferior to superior products: An inquiry into the Wenzhou model of industrial development in China. Journal of Comparative Economics, 32(3), 542-563.
26. Sonobe, T., & Otsuka, K. (2006). Cluster-based industrial development: An East Asian model. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
27. Tybout, J. R. (2000). Manufacturing firms in developing countries: how well do they do, and why? Journal of Economic Literature, 38(1), 11-44.