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This paper aims to examine market-mediated transformative capacities of Black African Pentecostalism. It does this by exploring the interface between religion, culture and identity to generate a fresh interpretation of how marketing is ritualized among UK’s Black Africans on the platform of Pentecostalism.

Methodology is based on in-depth interviews with respondents drawn from the African Pentecostal movements in London, UK. This paper shows how adherents’ responsiveness to Pentecostal dogmas generated market advantages.

The paper reveals the interconnectedness of religion, faith and culture which, in turn, coalesced into a dense network that defines the reproduction, organization and approach to entrepreneurial marketing.

Pentecostal practices unveil the marketing notion of “Pentepreneurship”, which combines both spiritual and enterprise activities to formulate a fused space of engagement straddling the sacred and the secular. This fusion points to a unique platform of entrepreneurial marketing that bestrides ethno-cultural, religious and economic identities.

States that the importance of leadership in fostering a quality culture in organizations is widely acknowledged. However, research on leadership can be conducted at multiple levels of analysis. This has resulted in the complexity, diversity and ambiguity of information that typifies the leadership task. Identifies the visionary transformer leader as the requisite leadership type for achieving success through quality‐led strategic change. In the context of illustrations drawn from organizational experience of the past decade, and using Ansoff’s growth vector as an underpinner, discusses how visionary transformer leaders use quality management strategy to secure the future of their organizations.

This paper aims to explore how the complex interrelationship between historical factors and socio‐economic contexts contributed in shaping the contemporary representation of African entrepreneurship in Britain. Using this prism, it highlights some of the critical developmental challenges and future prospects.

In order to track the connection between historical/immigration experiences and conditions of entrepreneurial development among Africans in Britain, the paper follows in the tradition of socio‐historical method. It leans on syntheses drawn from a broader underpinning literature.

The way in which the historiography of African entrepreneurship is generally presented reveals hybrid and ambivalent positions; guiding as well as constraining the representation of entrepreneurial choices of contemporaneous British Africans. Historical antecedents have strong explanatory powers in the construction or reconstruction of entrepreneurial identities of British Africans.

Against the backcloth of the problems generally encountered in attempts to stimulate and support entrepreneurship in black and African communities in Britain, policy designers very often ignore the fact the solutions will have to be sought from within the paradigms that created the problems. The positioning of this paper is intended to begin to plug this gap.

The concept of discourse is critical to understanding entrepreneurial processes of British Africans and bears careful explanation to their entrepreneurial transitions. This angle of inquiry is novel, with possibilities for opening new sites of knowledge.

Purpose: This paper discusses some of the contending issues in the legal environment of business in Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) as they relate to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Given that ‘fear of national laws’ has been consistently cited as a major factor inhibiting foreign investments in the region, this paper argues that ‘arbitration/alternative dispute resolution’ (A/ADR) offers a strategically complementary adjudicative system to mitigate this adverse perception. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a synthesis of the literature, the paper, first, outlines the emerging A/ADR‐driven trends in global business. From this premise, it focuses the market transition challenges facing SSA and identifies the disparate regional legal systems, with their backgrounds and origins in common, civil and Islamic laws, as primary issues of concern. Findings: Apart from lacking uniformity in application, the legal strictures have made the resolution of legal and contractual obligations much more cumbersome and expensive, thereby discouraging significant FDI flow to SSA. Research limitations/implications: The need to secure the confidence of investors by reforming the law and the adjudication process appears compelling. However, the socio‐cultural considerations that should naturally embed effective arbitral protocols are not addressed in this paper. Originality/value: A/ADR mechanism is not presently a key feature in the legal environment of business in SSA. However, it is likely to prove a more functional adjudication process than the procedural formalities of litigation. By its characterization, this approach promotes the creative implementation of a “home‐grown” frame work for commercial dispute resolution, thus avoiding the drudgeries of litigation but at the same time providing the needed catalysts for enabling FDI.

The research objective was to assess the challenges of transition that firms face in adopting a market orientation in China, as the basis for providing a context‐specific explanation of market orientation.

A sample from the He Bei Light Industry Directory was selected by the systematic‐selection‐from‐lists procedure. The survey instrument was adapted from the widely used MARKOR scale.

Although some of the early results are consistent with those obtained in the West, an underlying lacuna needs to be addressed in order for a useful culture‐sensitive interpretation of market orientation to be offered vis‐à‐vis locale‐specific knowledge.

While there can be little doubt that market orientation delivers superior performance in developed western economies, implementations in many transition‐economy contexts reveal a range of paradoxes, which point to some gaps in both the theory and practice of marketing.

A useful explanation of market orientation in transition economies should necessarily embed an approach that accommodates the institutional peculiarities of the environment under study, focusing the temporal, spatial and wider socio‐cultural and historical characteristics of marketing itself.

One of the overarching goals of many African countries since the past two decades has been the rapid move towards integration with the global economy. This is evident through far‐reaching macroeconomic and political reforms now taking place in these countries. However, despite the aggressive lurch towards market‐driven transformations, results on the ground have been less than satisfactory – arising largely from a myriad of implementation failures. It appears that while much emphasis is put on the potency of a free market‐driven transition, there is little understanding of how particular institutional arrangements shape and determine the success (or failure) of market/economic reforms. This paper adopts an institutional approach to analyse the transition challenges facing Africa. It concludes that countries in Africa are facing tumultuous problems in achieving sustainable growth, largely because the market‐driven transition programmes are rooted in economic orthodoxy that is anti‐institutional and, therefore, ill‐equipped to deliver desired results. Paradoxically, this appears to be the case with the UN Millennium Development Goals. Improved results in achieving the goals and, indeed, the broader market reform efforts are possible if planners and policy makers are able to root their planning processes within the contextually embedded institutional environment.

This paper aims to explore how African‐Caribbean Pentecostals use the platform of their faith to reconstruct their entrepreneurial values and identities, improve entrepreneurial learning and exploit the cultural resources of faith‐based networks to promote and sustain their entrepreneurialism.

Methodological appropriateness rather than orthodoxy guided the design of this study. Rooted in the context of discovery rather than verification, focus groups were assembled and used for data collection. Ideas generated by the groups were further explored in narrative face‐to‐face interviews.

Findings indicate clear connections between motivation for entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial learning and religious orientation among African‐Caribbean entrepreneurs. Religious orientation was evident as a context moderator within which relations of trust and ethnico‐religious compatibility generate social capital which, in turn, helps members to cope with the challenges of entrepreneurship.

This paper offers refreshing insights into the transcendental logic of black entrepreneurship, illuminating the interconnections between religion and enterprise. Such insights afford tremendous opportunities to construct new sites of meaning or frame new explanations of entrepreneurship among the population group – using religion as an important environmental munificence.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how narrative discourses frames entrepreneurial knowledge – in the form of understandings and meanings – focusing the role of business support in stimulating black entrepreneurship. It reveals the assumptions and values associated with business support from the point of view of the providers – who themselves are categorized as “black”.

A collaborative narrative approach is adopted to locate knowledge of business support within the “life‐world” of black business support providers. The research was conducted at two levels: focus group and narrative interviews.

The paper highlights the ways in which dominant discourses guide as well as constrain the representation of black businesses. Low take‐up of business support is contested. Public‐funded business support programmes are perceived as unwholesome, unwieldy and inherently inadequate in meeting the strategic development needs of black businesses.

Focusing on actual engagement rather than content aspects of the business support policy framework reveals a need for more dialogic research to explore more deeply whether, and to what extent, alternative and new perspectives on supporting black businesses are needed.

The novelty of this paper lies in attempting to unravel the complex processes of business support provision in the context of black entrepreneurship by decoding the narrative discourses used by support providers who are themselves categorized as “black”. Such intrinsic examination of views and beliefs is relatively unique and provides an interesting platform for further research.

The past decade witnessed a remarkable growth in the number of small businesses in the UK seeking to implement formal quality assurance systems, principally the ISO 9000/BS5750. Based on two case studies, this paper examines the motivation for, processes and outcomes of quality assurance implementation using ISO 9000 framework in small business organisations in the UK. It notes that although quality management has gained momentum in this sector, the lack of strategic thinking and skills needed to embed a total quality orientation has often meant that the espoused benefits of implementing quality assurance schemes are not realised.

The introduction of Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) represents a unique opportunity to promote the “skills revolution” initiative of the CBI (in partnership with the Government) and the broader service framework for small business organizations. Describes some preliminary research which seeks to provide an indication of the cumulative effect of national and local TEC marketing initiatives on small business firms in the Sheffield area. Takes an early look at the issue around the question of TECs′ success. Findings indicate that, although general awareness about TECs is low among small business organizations, those who have used a TEC service have experienced satisfactory and quality service encounters. However, TEC marketing campaigns have been less than totally effective, to date, and more attention needs to be paid to the issues of target market‐related needs, attitudes, and promotional strategies.