This paper is divided into two parts. The first part sets out a conceptual framework for diagnostic assessments of agricultural innovation capacity. It explains that contemporary patterns of agricultural development demand fresh thinking on how innovation can be promoted in ways that can deal...

Employing empirical data, this study examines the innovation response of private Nigerian brewing firms to a state-induced crisis. We found that size, ownership, manufacturing skills, and technical affiliation were decisive factors in the innovation success of firms that survived and prospered...

In this paper we employ firm-level data collected in three countries to analyze factors determining the adoption of internal e-business technologies in developing countries. The main objectives of the study are: identification of clusters based on technology adopted, classify firms in each...

Drawing insights from firm-level survey, this paper addresses three broad issues relating to the role of learning and knowledge in African industry. First, we examined modes of learning proxied by training in small and medium firms. We found that elementary learning mechanisms such as...

Translating R&D and inventive efforts into a market product is characterized by significant financial skills, and the ability to overcome technical and instititonal barriers. Research into and translation of new technologies such as biotechnology products to the market requires even greater...

Conventional wisdom suggests to the fact that poor countries are unlikely to be host to a “high-technology” sector and doing so within the organization of small and medium enterprises. This paper examines an unusual phenomenon of industrial organization in an African setting; the emergence...

Using empirical and new field data, this exploratory study investigates the pattern of adoption of constraints to the use of the Internet in Africa. Cross country exercise using regression shows that Internet use is constrained by structural as well as cost-related factors. Field data from...

This paper examines institutions and their role in supporting technical change as part of the development process, and asks how institutions shape the system of innovation (SI). The context of underdevelopment exhibits distinct system characteristics that differ markedly from those found under...

Drawing on firm level surveys, we examine industry-specific factors that have influenced the adoption of e-business technologies in Uganda, Nigeria, and India. A sectoral typology of e-business adoption based on three broad sets of observations emerged. First, the study suggests that...

Using field level data collected in Nigeria in 2003-2004, this paper examines the possibilities for learning through inter-organizational interactions in the country's biotechnological system of innovation, using public research institutes as an example. The paper considers inter-organizational...