New venture evolution of migrants under institutional voids: Lessons from Shonga Farms in Nigeria

Abstract

This article inductively builds theory on how transaction costs may be alleviated and institutional voids bridged in developing economies, based on the case study of successful migrant entrepreneurial involvement in Nigerian agriculture: Shonga Farms. We argue that the iterative process of building conditions of trust through long-term commitment, involvement of regional government, appropriate modes of financial contracts and the gradual transitioning of controlling interests to private actors are factors of success. We draw additional lessons by contrasting our case study with other similar migrant schemes that have failed.

Keywords

agriculture institutional voids migrant entrepreneurship Nigeria public–private partnership transaction costs

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adegbite

(2015) Good corporate governance in Nigeria: Antecedents, propositions and peculiarities. International Business Review 24: 319–330.

Aljazeera (2015) Zimbabwe’s white farmers start anew in Mozambique. Available at: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/10/zimbabwe-white-farmers-start-anew-mozambique-151027095006428.html

Armanios

Eesley

, et al. (2017) How entrepreneurs leverage institutional intermediaries in emerging economies to acquire public resources. Strategic Management Journal 38(7): 1373–1390.

Baker

Nelson

(2005) Creating something from nothing: Resource construction through entrepreneurial bricolage. Administrative Science Quarterly 50(3): 329–366.

Chen

(2007) Does the colour of the cat matter? The red hat strategy in China’s private enterprises. Management and Organization Review 3(1): 55–80.

Collier

(2016) The institutional and psychological foundations of natural resource policies. The Journal of Development Studies 53: 217–228.

Crush

Chikanda

Skinner

(2015) Migrant entrepreneurship and informality in South African cities. In: Crush

Skinner

Chikanda

(eds) Mean Streets: Migration, Xenophobia and Informality in South Africa. Cape Town: SAMP, ACC and IDRC, pp.1–24.

Driffield

Mickiewicz

Temouri

(2016) Ownership control of foreign affiliates: A property rights theory perspective. Journal of World Business 51(6): 965–976.

Dufays

Huybrechts

(2016) Where do hybrids come from? Entrepreneurial team heterogeneity as an avenue for the emergence of hybrid organizations. International Small Business Journal 34(6): 777–796.

10.

Eisenhardt

Graebner

(2007) Theory building from cases: Opportunities and challenges. The Academy of Management Journal 50(1): 25–32.

11.

Eisenstadt

(1968) Social institutions. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences 14(1968): 409–421.

12.

Fiedler

Fath

Whittaker

(2017) Overcoming the liability of outsidership in institutional voids: Trust, emerging goals, and learning about opportunities. International Small Business Journal 35(3): 262–284.

13.

Fletcher

Zhao

Plakoyiannaki

, et al. (2018) Three pathways to case selection in international business: A twenty-year review, analysis and synthesis. International Business Review 27(4): 755–766.

14.

Fraser

Bhaumik

Wright

(2015) What do we know about entrepreneurial finance and its relationship with growth? International Small Business Journal 33(1): 70–88.

15.

Fuentelsaz

Maicas

Montero

(2018) Entrepreneurs and innovation: The contingent role of institutional factors. International Small Business Journal 36(6): 686–711.

16.

Fukuyama

(2014) Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy. New York: Macmillan.

17.

Garud

Karnøe

(2003) Bricolage versus breakthrough: Distributed and embedded agency in technology entrepreneurship. Research Policy 32(2): 277–300.

18.

Gilmartin

(2012) Millionaire migrants: Trans-Pacific life lines. By David Ley. Economic Geography 88(2): 223–224.

19.

Gorringe

(1987) The economic institutions of capitalism: Firms, markets and relational contracting by Oliver E. Williamson. Australian Journal of Management 12(1): 125–143.

20.

Hardy

Maguire

(2017) Institutional entrepreneurship and change in fields. In: Greenwood

Oliver

Lawrence

, et al. (eds) The Sage Handbook of Organizational Institutionalism. Los Angeles, CA: Sage, pp.261–280.

21.

Khanna

Palepu

(2010) Winning in Emerging Markets: A Road Map for Strategy and Execution. Brighton, MA: Harvard Business Press.

22.

Khanna

Palepu

Sinha

(2005) Strategies that fit emerging markets. Harvard Business Review 83(6): 4–19.

23.

Khoury

Prasad

(2016) Entrepreneurship amid concurrent institutional constraints in less developed countries. Business & Society 55(7): 934–969.

24.

Lawrence

Hardy

Phillips

(2002) Institutional effects of interorganizational collaboration: The emergence of proto-institutions. Academy of Management Journal 45(1): 281–290.

25.

Liou

R-S

Chao

MC-H

Yang

(2016) Emerging economies and institutional quality: Assessing the differential effects of institutional distances on ownership strategy. Journal of World Business 51(4): 600–611.

26.

Liu

Feng

(2019) Migrant entrepreneurship in China: Entrepreneurial transition and firm performance. Small Business Economics 52: 681–696.

27.

Lubeck

Watts

Lipschutz

(2007) Convergent Interests: U.S. Energy Security and the ‘Securing’ of Nigerian Democracy. Washington, DC: Center for International Policy.

28.

McMullen

(2011) Delineating the domain of development entrepreneurship: A market-based approach to facilitating inclusive economic growth. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice 35(1): 185–215.

29.

Mair

Marti

(2009) Entrepreneurship in and around institutional voids: A case study from Bangladesh. Journal of Business Venturing 24(5): 419–435.

30.

Manev

Manolova

Harkins

, et al. (2015) Are pure or hybrid strategies right for new ventures in transition economies? International Small Business Journal 33(8): 951–973.

31.

Marquis

Raynard

(2015) Institutional strategies in emerging markets. The Academy of Management Annals 9(1): 291–335.

32.

May

(2010) Government support for Indigenous cultural and natural resource management in Australia: The role of the Working on Country program. Australian Journal of Social Issues 45(3): 395.

33.

Meyer

Estrin

Bhaumik

, et al. (2009) Institutions, resources, and entry strategies in emerging economies. Strategic Management Journal 30(1): 61–80.

34.

Montinola

Qian

Weingast

(1995) Federalism, Chinese style: The political basis for economic success in China. World Politics 48(1): 50–81.

35.

Moseley

(2013) The new scramble for Africa by Pdraig Carmody Malden, Mass.: Polity Press, 2011. Economic Geography 89(3): 313–314.

36.

Mustapha

(2011) Zimbabwean farmers in Nigeria: Exceptional farmers or spectacular support? African Affairs 110(441): 535–561.

37.

Nnabuko

Uche

(2015) Land grab and the viability of foreign investments in sub-Saharan Africa: The Nigerian experience. In: Vubo

(ed.) Environment, Agriculture and Cross-Border Migrations. Dakar, Senegal: Council for the Development of Social Science and Research in Africa, pp.87–104.

38.

Okonjo-Iweala

Osafo-Kwaako

(2007) Nigeria’s economic reforms: Progress and challenges (Brookings Global Economy and Development Working Paper). Available at: https://www.brookings.edu/research/nigerias-economic-reforms-progress-and-challenges/

39.

Osei-Kyei

Chan

APC

(2015) Review of studies on the critical success factors for Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects from 1990 to 2013. International Journal of Project Management 33(6): 1335–1346.

40.

Parker

(2018) The Economics of Entrepreneurship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

41.

Porter

Watts

(2017) Righting the resource curse: Institutional politics and state capabilities in Edo State, Nigeria. The Journal of Development Studies 53(2): 249–263.

42.

Poulis

Plakoyiannaki

(2013) The role of context in case study selection: An international business perspective. International Business Review 22(1): 304–314.

43.

Qureshi

Kistruck

Bhatt

(2016) The enabling and constraining effects of social ties in the process of institutional entrepreneurship. Organization Studies 37(3): 425–447.

44.

Ragin

(2014) The Comparative Method: Moving beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.

45.

Ram

Jones

Villares-Varela

(2017) Migrant entrepreneurship: Reflections on research and practice. International Small Business Journal 35(1): 3–18.

46.

Rao

(1998) Caveat emptor: The construction of nonprofit consumer watchdog organizations. American Journal of Sociology 103(4): 912–961.

47.

Rath

Schutjens

(2015) Migrant entrepreneurship: Alternative paradigms of economic integration. In: Triandafyllidou

(ed.) Routledge Handbook of Immigration and Refugee Studies. Abingdon: Routledge, pp.120–127.

48.

Riddle

Hrivnak

Nielsen

(2010) Transnational diaspora entrepreneurship in emerging markets: Bridging institutional divides. Journal of International Management 16(4): 398–411.

49.

Riordan

Williamson

(1985) Asset specificity and economic organization. International Journal of Industrial Organization 3(4): 365–378.

50.

Rutherford

(2004) ‘Settlers’ and Zimbabwe: Politics, memory, and the anthropology of commercial farms during a time of crisis. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power 11(4): 543–562.

51.

Shaw

de Bruin

(2013) Reconsidering capitalism: The promise of social innovation and social entrepreneurship? International Small Business Journal 31(7): 737–746.

52.

Soludo

(2006) Beyond banking sector consolidation in Nigeria. In: Proceedings of the global banking conference on Nigerian banking reforms, London, 29 March.

53.

Soludo

(2007) Nigerian economy: Can we achieve the vision 20: 2020? Available at: http://www.cbn.gov.ng/out/Speeches/2007/Govadd10-1-07.pdf.

54.

Tangri

(1999) The Politics of Patronage in Africa: Parastatals, Privatization, and Private Enterprise. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.

55.

Turok

Bailey

Clark

, et al. (2017) Global reversal, regional revival? Regional Studies 51: 1–8.

56.

Van de Ven

Garud

(1993) Innovation and industry development: The case of cochlear implants. Research on Technological Innovation, Management and Policy 5: 1–46.

57.

Watts

(2005) Righteous oil? Human rights, the oil complex, and corporate social responsibility. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 30: 373–407.

58.

Welch

Piekkari

Plakoyiannaki

, et al. (2011) Theorising from case studies: Towards a pluralist future for international business research. Journal of International Business Studies 42(5): 740–762.

59.

Williamson

(1985) The Economic Institutions of Capitalism. New York: Free Press.

60.

Williamson

(1989) Transaction cost economics. Handbook of Industrial Organization 1: 135–182.