The purpose of this paper is to highlight a number of issues that impede sub-Saharan Africa's attempts to achieve a higher degree of industrialisation, with a focus on the role of institutional support systems in assisting firms. The paper contends that support systems and instruments can play a...

In 2009, an estimated 585 million people had no access to electricity services in sub-Saharan Africa. Unlike many other regions of the world, under current assumptions, that figure is expected to rise significantly to about 652 million by 2030-an unsustainable and unacceptable situation. Knowing...

One hundred years before the advent of modern power systems, William Blake in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell argued with the Devil asserting that "Energy is Eternal Delight". That delight however, remains beyond the reach of the two to three billion of people disadvantaged by a lack of modern...

This paper seeks to analyse the capacity of the newly independent but petroleum rich Timor-Leste to avoid experiencing the “Dutch Disease”. The historical and social circumstances of Timor-Leste has left the resource-rich country with serious challenges to break out from the resource curse...

In light of wide differences in economic outcomes in the world, this paper uses an evolutionary set of lenses to examine the clusters of Buenos Aires' automotive, Los Lagos' salmon, Penang's electronics and Qiaotou's buttons with an elucidating view towards evaluating the significance of...

This study traces the transformation of Qiaotou city from a button distribution centre to a composite and advanced button manufacturing cluster accounting for 65% of world button production in 2006. It argues that button sales originated in entrepreneurial initiative that expanded through...