The essence of formulating an effective strategy should be dependent on a company’s understanding of its operating environment. The implementation of a unique and effective strategy in an indigenous and competitive business environment will result in a competitive advantage. Drawing on the models that reduce uncertainty in business organisations, this chapter examines the dynamics of indigenous strategic management practices in Africa using Dangote Cement in Nigeria and Equity Bank in Kenya as case studies. The conceptual framework of this chapter presents the synthesis of strategic management practices in Africa; a global perspective and emphasis on Africa and as a result of which emerging organisations adopt these management practices and findings from both organisations. We discuss the tenacity of Dangote Cement entrepreneurial understanding of the Nigerian political, social and economic environment and its effective government relationship. This chapter examines the challenges and trends of strategic management practices in Africa and the key success factors in doing business in Africa, despite the depth of challenges in a business environment that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. We discuss Equity Bank’s stakeholder management practices, strategic leadership and its inclusive business model, developed to enhance financial inclusion and access to available and attractive financial services for those at the bottom of the pyramid. Significantly, we argue that to succeed in Africa, businesses must understand the dynamics of strategic leadership, the cultural context of the operating environment, stakeholder management and include the social dimension of business in their business strategy.

Introduction

In today’s globally competitive environment, any business, large or small, that is not thinking and acting strategically is extremely vulnerable. Strategic management is the full set of commitments, decisions and actions a firm requires to carry out its strategy to gain a sustainable competitive advantage (Wheelen & Hunger, 2002). These practices refer to those professional procedures, methods or techniques that have consistently achieved results more than others. In a simple way, strategic management is the way a company is managed and run by its leadership team. Strategic management practices include strategic planning; strategy implementation and strategy evaluation and control, which are seen to influence the competitive positioning of the firm in the industry, thus determining the performance (Johnson, 2009). In recent times, scholars, educators and practitioners have shown much interest in the sustainability of organisations and their relationship with their operating environment. The essence of formulating a strategy is to relate the organisation to its environment (Porter, 1980) and in this case, the African environment. The effects of political, economic, social and technological changes in the business environment are significant to a strategic manager (Kim & Mauborgne, 2002). The implementation of various strategic management models in a competitive business environment is needed for capacity development and to maintain a comparative advantage (Huynh, Gong, & Tran, 2013). This chapter discusses the effectiveness of strategic management practices in Africa and adopts two African Multinational Firms, Dangote Cement in Nigeria and Equity Bank in Kenya, as case studies to buttress the concepts. The chapter is divided into seven sections. The first section which is the introduction sets the framework for the chapter. The second section discusses strategic management and organisation performance by reviewing existing literature. The third section focuses on the challenges that could hinder strategic management practices in Africa. The fourth section examines the trend of African strategic management practices in the literature
two trends were highlighted-state-business collaboration and dynamic entrepreneurship. The information on the two companies used as case was sourced from publicly available sources. The fifth section discusses key success factors in doing business in Africa. This is followed by recommendations for business educators and business managers on strategic approaches to doing business in Africa, and the chapter ends with a conclusion.