Africa in the Global Economy.- On Global Economic Growth and the Challenge Facing Africa.- Catching-Up, Falling-Behind and the Role of FDIs.- The Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Africa.- The Global Integration of Africa: The EU-SA Free Trade Agreement and German MNEs in South Africa.- Multinational Enterprises in Africa.- The Changing View of Multinational Enterprises and Africa.- German Multinationals in Africa.- Obstacles Facing German Enterprises in South Africa.- Competitive Intelligence in a Foreign Environment: German and Canadian Firms Compared.- Labour Market Adjustment, Foreign Direct Investment and Human Resource Development.- Employment Effects of Foreign Direct Investment: A Theoretical Analysis with Heterogeneous Labour.- Human Resource Development: A Sine Qua Non for Foreign Direct Investment in South Africa.- Conclusions.

How can Africa, the world’s most lagging region, benefit from globalisation and achieve sustained economic growth? Africa needs greater investment by Multinational Enterprises  (MNEs) to improve competitiveness and generate more growth through positive spill-over effects. Despite the fact that Africa’s returns on investment averaged 29%  since 1990, Africa has gained merely 1% of global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows. The challenge for African countries is how to be a more desirable destination for FDI. The study integrates three currents of economic research, namely from the literature on (endogenous) economic growth, convergence and regional integration, the explanations for Africa’s poor growth and the growing understanding of the role of MNEs in a global economy. The empirical side of the book is based on an econometric study of the determinants of FDI in Africa as well as a detailed firm-level survey conducted in 2000.