Postcolonial Sub-Saharan 1 State and Contemporary General Business Environment. Selected Issues

Abstract

Purpose: The paper presents the results of a qualitative analysis of selected aspects of general business environment. The author strives to answer the following question formulated in the context of postcolonial deliberations: has the general business environment been affected by European colonialism?

Methodology: Semantic and semiotic analysis of primary sources (statistical data and research findings formulated by international organisations, such as the World Bank, OECD, UNIDO) and secondary sources (scientific and research studies of Polish and foreign authors based on primary sources); literature review.

Findings: In the postcolonial perspective, qualitative analysis shows neither a positive nor a negative impact of colonialism on the contemporary general business environment. If certain signs of its deterioration are observed, they are mostly due to the erosion of state capacity, whose origins can be traced back to the Berlin Conference.

Originality: Papers on Postcolonial Management and Critical Management Studies (CMS) bridge the gap in literature pertaining to management issues, especially in Poland. Due to their interdisciplinary nature, Postcolonial Management and CMS cover a broad range of research areas (i.e. theory of state and nation, sociology, economic history). They pertain to both economics an management, and are therefore difficult to classify.