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Beyond the China factor: challenges to backward linkages in the Mozambican construction sector

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2018

Ulrikke Wethal
Ulrikke Wethal*
Affiliation:
PO 1116 Blindern, 0317 Oslo, Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo, Norway
*
Email: u.b.wethal@sum.uio.no
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Abstract

China has become a significant contributor to closing Africa's infrastructural gap, but Chinese companies are repeatedly criticised for not involving local businesses in their operations, and for isolating themselves from the socio-economic environment. Can this be attributed to ‘typical Chinese business practice’? This article employs linkage theory to examine the weak domestic backward linkages in Chinese-led construction projects in Mozambique. The analysis shows that while Chinese companies do not involve Mozambican businesses in their activities to any extent, this cannot be attributed solely to any ‘Chinese business model’. It is a consequence of weak local industrial capabilities, fragile social infrastructure and a liberal policy environment not conducive to the creation of domestic backward linkages in Chinese-led construction projects.

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Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , June 2018 , pp. 325 - 351
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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Footnotes

I am grateful to my research assistant Sérgio António Cossa for crucial help with the data collection in Maputo. I would also like to thank Hege Merete Knutsen, Emma Mawdsley, Dan Banik, Arve Hansen and the anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on earlier drafts.

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