Air Afrique: The demise of a continental icon

Business History

Volumn 56, Issue 4, 2014, Pages 517-546

  Amankwah Amoah, Joseph ^a   Debrah, Yaw A ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL   (United Kingdom)

^b SWANSEA UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Air Afrique; Africa; firm demise; airline; organisational failure; firm ascendancy

Indexed keywords

AIRLINE INDUSTRY; HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE; TWENTIETH CENTURY;

AFRICA;

EID: 84899463365     PISSN: 00076791     EISSN: 17437938     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2013.809523     Document Type: Article

References (81)

1. Adeble, M. A. "Air Afrique States Case." Airline Business, September 1, 1996. http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/air-afrique-states-case-11354/.
2. Africa Research Bulletin (ARB), "Economic, Financial and Technical Series." Africa Research Bulletin44 (2008): 17171-206.
3. African Development Bank. Multinational Company Air-Afrique Reinforcement Project: Project Completion Report. Abidjan: African Development Bank, 1999.
4. Airline Business, "West African Optimist." Airline Business14 (1998): 38-39.
5. Amankwah-Amoah, Joseph, and YawA.Debrah. "The Evolution of Alliances in the Global Airline Industry: A Review of the Africa Experience." Thunderbird International Business Review53, no. 1 (2011): 37-50.
6. Anderson, Philip, and Michael L.Tushman. "Organizational Environments and Industry Exit: The Effects of Uncertainty, Munificence and Complexity." Industrial and Corporate Change10, no. 3 (2001): 675-711.
7. Andrews, Rhys, GeorgeBoyne, and GarethEnticott. "Performance Failure in the Public Sector." Public Management Review8 (2006): 273-296.
8. Argenti, John. Corporate Collapse: The Causes and Symptoms. Maidenhead, UK: McGraw-Hill, 1976.
9. Barrett, Donald M. "Multi-Flag Airlines: A New Breed in World Business." Columbia Journal of World Business4, no. 2 (1969): 7-14.
10. BBC. "Air Afrique's Mayday Call." June 6, 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1373904.stm.
11. Brockner, Joel. "The Escalation of Commitment to a Failing Course of Action: Toward Theoretical Progress." Academy of Management Review17, no. 1 (1992): 39-51.
12. Cameron, Kim S., Myung U.Kim, and David A.Whetten. "Organizational Effects of Decline and Turbulence." Administrative Science Quarterly32, no. 1 (1987): 222-240.
13. Clignet, Remi. "The Legacy of Assimilation in West African Educational Systems: Its Meaning and Ambiguities." Comparative Education Review12, no. 1 (1968): 57-67.
14. Clignet, Remi, and Philip J.Foster. "French and British Colonial Education in Africa." Comparative Education Review8, no. 2 (1964): 191-198.
15. Cohen, William B. "The Lure of Empire: Why Frenchmen Entered the Colonial Service." Journal of Contemporary History4, no. 1 (1969): 103-116.
16. Cumming, Duncan. "Aviation in Africa." African Affairs61, no. 242 (1962): 29-39.
17. D'Aveni, Richard A. "The Aftermath of Organizational Decline: A Longitudinal Study of the Strategic and Managerial Characteristics of Declining Firms." Academy of Management Journal32, no. 3 (1989): 577-605.
18. D'Aveni, Richard A. "Top Managerial Prestige and Organizational Bankruptcy." Organization Science1, no. 2 (1990): 121-142.
19. Decker, Stephanie. "Corporate Political Activity in Less Developed Countries: The Volta River Project in Ghana, 1958-66." Business History53, no. 7 (2011): 993-1017.
20. Denis, Jean-Louis, GenevièveDompierre, AnnLangley, and LindaRouleau. "Escalating Indecision: Between Reification and Strategic Ambiguity." Organization Science22, no. 1 (2011): 225-244.
21. Fadugba, Nick. "Air Afrique Struggles to Control Costs." Flight International3976 (1985): 7.
22. Fadugba, Nick. "United We Fall, Divided We Fall." Flight International3976 (1985): 38-40.
23. Farah, Douglas. "Air Afrique's Fall to Earth: Politics Has Bankrupted the Soaring Dream of 11 African Nations." Washington Post, July 31, 2001: E01.
24. Finkelstein, Sydney. "Why Smart Executives Fail: Four Case Histories of How People Learn The Wrong Lessons From History." Business History48, no. 2 (2006): 153-170.
25. Fleming, A. I. M., S.McKinstry, and K.Wallace. "The Decline and Fall of the North British Locomotive Company, 1940-62: Technological and Financial Mismanagement or Institutional Failure?" Business History42, no. 4 (2000): 67-90.
26. Flight International. "Air Afrique Takes Privatised Route to Clear Debts." October 21, 1998. http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/air-afrique-takes-privatised-route-to-clear-debts-44046/.
27. Fortune, Annetta, and WillMitchell. "Unpacking Firm Exit at the Firm and Industry Levels: The Adaptation and Selection of Firm Capabilities." Strategic Management Journal33, no. 7 (2012): 794-819.
28. French, Howard W. "Revenue and Hope Ebb at West Africa's Airline." March 21, 1996. http://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/21/business/international-business-revenue-and-hope-ebb-at-west-africa-s-airline.html?scp = 3&sq = air%20afrique&st = cse.
29. Gladdish, Ken. "Evolving Systems of Government in Africa." Journal of Contemporary History4, no. 1 (1969): 153-165.
30. Goldstein, Andrea. "Infrastructure Development and Regulatory Reform in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Air Transport." The World Economy24, no. 2 (2001): 221-248.
31. Gurtner, François J. "The CFA Franc Zones and the Theory of Optimum Currency Area." Africa Spectrum34, no. 1 (1999): 33-57.
32. Hambrick, Donald C., and Richard A.D'Aveni. "Top Team Deterioration as Part of the Downward Spiral of Large Corporate Bankruptcies." Management Science38, no. 10 (1992): 1445-1467.
33. Heymann, Hans. "Air Transport and Economic Development: Some Comments on Foreign Aid Programs." American Economic Review52, no. 2 (1962): 386-395.
34. Higgins, David, and StevenToms. "Public Subsidy and Private Divestment: The Lancashire Cotton Textile Industry, 1950-1965." Business History42, no. 1 (2000): 59-84.
35. Knott, Anne Marie, and Hart EPosen. "Is Failure Good?" Strategic Management Journal26, no. 7 (2005): 617-641.
36. Kofele-Kale, Ndiva. "The Policy of Non-Alignment in an Age of Alignment Politics: Africa 20 Years after Bandung." Civilisations28 (1978): 251-267.
37. Kofele-Kale, Ndiva. "Cameroon and Its Foreign Relations." African Affairs80, no. 319 (1981): 197-217.
38. Kromah, Alhaji. "Aviation and Regional Cooperation in Africa." July 26, 2008. http://www.alhajikromahpage.org/alhajiairafrique.htm.
39. Mackenzie, Christina. "Air Afrique Reaches End of the Line." Flight International36 (2002): 19-25.
40. Martin, Guy. "The Franc Zone, Underdevelopment and Dependency in Francophone Africa." Third World Quarterly8, no. 1 (1986): 205-235.
41. McCormack, Robert. "Airlines and Empires: Great Britain and the 'Scramble For Africa, 1919-1939." Canadian Journal of African Studies10 (1976): 87-105.
42. McCormack, Robert. "Missed Opportunities: Winston Churchill, the Air Ministry, and Africa, 1919-1921." International History Review11, no. 2 (1989): 205-228.
43. McGovern, Tom. "Why Do Successful Companies Fail? A Case Study of the Decline of Dunlop." Business History49, no. 6 (2007): 886-907.
44. McGovern, Tom. "The Decline of the British Tyre Industry: An Evaluation of the Policies of the Tyre Industry Sector Working Party." Business History53, no. 4 (2011): 600-616.
45. Mellahi, Kamel, and AdrianWilkinson. "Organizational Failure: A Critique of Recent Research and a Proposed Integrative Framework." International Journal of Management Reviews5, no. 1 (2004): 21-41.
46. Michaud, Paul. "Four Air Afrique Planes Seized." African Business272 (2002): 36.
47. Minder, Raphael. "Air Afrique to Close Down After Failed Talks." Financial Times, January 17, 2002: 9.
48. Moulton, Wilbur N., HowardThomas, and MarkPruett. "Business Decline Pathways: Environmental Stress and Organizational Response." Journal of Management22, no. 4 (1996): 571-595.
49. Nelson, Richard, and Sidney G.Winter. An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1982.
50. Nutt, Paul C. "Surprising but True: Half the Decisions in Organizations Fail." Academy of Management Executive3, no. 4 (1999): 75-90.
51. Onishi, Norimitsu. "Troubles Tarnish a Once-Shining African Airline." New York Times, June 20, 2001: 39.
52. Pirie, Gordon H. "Aviation, Apartheid and Sanctions: Air Transport to and from South Africa, 1945-1989." GeoJournal22, no. 3 (1990): 231-240.
53. Pirie, Gordon H. "Southern African Air Transport after Apartheid." Journal of Modern African Studies30, no. 2 (1992): 341-348.
54. Planespotters. "Air Afrique Fleet Details and History." Berlin: Planespotters. September 1, 2010. http://www.planespotters.net/Airline/Air-Afrique#AirlineFleetList.
55. Robinson, Olive. "Employment Policy and Deregulation in European Air Transport." Service Industries Journal14, no. 1 (1994): 1-20.
56. Rodney, William. "The Entente States of West Africa." International Journal21 (1965): 78-92.
57. Rousseau, Denise M. "Psychological and Implied Contracts in Organizations." Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal2, no. 1 (1989): 121-39.
58. Schmidt, Elizabeth. "Anticolonial Nationalism in French West Africa: What Made Guinea Unique?" African Studies Review52, no. 2 (2009): 1-34.
59. Sedbon, Gilbert. "AirAfrique Gets New Head." Flight International3970 (1985): 7.
60. Sedbon, Gilbert. "Air Afrique Salvage Plan Welcomed." Flight International4152 (1989): 12.
61. Silverman, Brian S., Jack A.Nickerson, and JohnFreeman. "Profitability, Transactional Alignment, and Organizational Mortality in the US Trucking Industry." Strategic Management Journal18, no. 1 (1997): 31-52.
62. Sparaco, Pierre. "Air Afrique Shows How Multi-Partner Carrier Can Work." Aviation Week and Space Technology147 (1997): 83.
63. Sparaco, Pierre. "Air France Proposes Rescuing Air Afrique." Aviation Week and Space Technology155 (2001): 46-47.
64. Staw, Barry M. "The Escalation of Commitment to a Course of Action." Academy of Management Review6, no. 4 (1981): 569-577.
65. Sutton, Robert I. "The Process of Organizational Death: Disbanding and Reconnecting." Administrative Science Quarterly32, no. 4 (1987): 542-569.
66. The Economist, "A New Air Afrique?" The Economist360 (2001): 49.
67. Thornhill, Stewart, and RaphaelAmit. "Learning About Failure: Bankruptcy, Firm Age, and the Resource-Based View." Organization Science14, no. 5 (2003): 497-509.
68. Thornton, Robert L. "Governments and Airlines." International Organization25 (1971): 541-553.
69. Tirole, Jean. The Theory of Industrial Organization. Boston, MA: MIT Press, 1988.
70. Tumba, Simon. "Eleven Oust Afrique Boss." Airline Business. June 1, 1996. http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/eleven-oust-afrique-boss-15772/.
71. UNECA (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa). Assessing Regional Integration in Africa: Towards Monetary And Financial Integration. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: UNECA, 2008.
72. Vandyk, Anthony. "Bucking the Trends." Air Transport World30 (1993): 40-43.
73. Walsh, Ian J., and Jean M.Bartunek. "Cheating the Fates: Organizational Foundings in the Wake of Demise." Academy of Management Journal54, no. 5 (2011): 1017-1044.
74. Weitzel, William, and EllenJonsson. "Decline in Organizations: A Literature Integration and Extension." Administrative Science Quarterly34, no. 1 (1989): 91-109.
75. Whetten, David A. "Organization Growth and Decline Processes." Annual Review of Sociology13 (1987): 335-358.
76. Wild, Andrew M. "Learning the Wrong Lessons from History: Underestimating Strategic Change in Business Turnarounds." Business History52, no. 4 (2010): 617-650.
77. Wooten, Stephen. The French in West Africa: Early Contact to Independence. 1992. Working paper, University of Pennsylvania - African Studies Center.
78. World Bank. A Memorandum of the President of the International Development Association to the Executive Directors on a Regional Integration Assistance Strategy for West Africa. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2001.
79. World Bank. Air Transport in Western and Central Africa: Facts and Issues. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2003.
80. Yacouba, N'Diaye. My Era Africa. August 15, 2010. http://www.airafrique.eu/mon-ere-afrique-2/.
81. Yansane, Aguibou. "The State of Economic Integration in North West Africa South of the Sahara: The Emergence of the ECOWAS." African Studies Review20, no. 2 (1977): 63-87.