Foreign Direct Investment in Mobile Technology: An Exploratory Study in Emerging African Market

• Activity Number: 130
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 3, 2009 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Business and Economic Statistics Section
• Author(s): Charles A. Malgwi and Olumayokun Soremekun*+ and Dominique Haughton
• Companies: Bentley University and Bentley University and Bentley University
• Keywords: wireless mobile technology ; foreign direct investment ; African economies

Abstract

The advent of wireless mobile technology is gaining prominence globally. This advancement is propelled not only as a social networking device, but as a business operating tool. We explore the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) in wireless mobile technology in all 54 African emerging markets over an eight year period from 2000 to 2007. We investigate the determinant of the environmental infrastructure, the dynamics of market growth, users, usability, functionality and affordability. We also consider the association between the penetration of wireless mobile technology and the level of FDI. The question arises of whether the penetration of wireless technology is an antecedent or a consequence of FDI. Therefore, we estimate a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG), building on work by Bessler where DAGs were used to study antecedents and consequences of poverty levels in a number of countries.