The Last Emerging Market

Nathaniel H. Bowditch

Bowditch refuses to see African nations as basketcases on a continent of despair; instead, he examines Ghana as a country of potential opportunity in an economically emerging continent. He explores a new generation of issues around the connection between cultural values and behavior to provide international investors, Ghanaians, and others with a better understanding of the Ghanaian-and African-business environment.Drawing upon some seven years of living and working in Ghana, Bowditch provides several different contemporary vantage points on sub-Saharan Africa's first independent nation. First examining the core cultural values of the Ghanaian people, he then looks at Ghanaian business practices. The result is an indepth look at how Ghanaians approach life, business, religion, and family, how that directly impacts the way they manage their institutions, and how that differs from prevailing international business behavior. Bowditch then probes these cultural differences and the frequently overlooked racial preconceptions that impede relations and collaboration between Ghanaians, other Africans, and Westerners. Through his unusually intimate exploration of Ghanaian life, values, business thinking, and management culture, Bowditch brings the reader full circle, answering the question: can Africa become an economic lion?

Looks at Ghana as a would-be African economic lion and shows how tradition, culture, and lifestyle impact development.

IntroductionThe GhanaiansHere Today Ghana TomorrowWhen the Spirits MoveFamily AffairsMoney is BloodFrom Uncertainty to ClevernessGhanaians in BusinessFishing for Clues to a Management CultureTraders Turned Hoteliers and ExportersReturnees Turned Industrialists and Business Service ExecutivesObronis Turned African FunctionariesGhanaians in Business Going Global: What is Your Mission?Economic Management Clues for a New MillenniumClue File #1: The White Man Did ItClue File #2: The Ghanaian PersonaClue File #3: The Way I See ItFrom Asian Tigers to African LionsGlossaryBibliography