As a business school, GIBS’ strategic themes are Humane Leadership, Digital Leadership and Climate Leadership, alongside the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, of which GIBS is a UN PRME (Principles for Responsible Management Education) signatory. While a lot of the school’s research embodies these strategies, its research covers a broad array of subjects that impact business leaders across the continent.
Diving deeper, Acumen takes a look at some of the GIBS research that has been published in 2025.
The impact of IT ambidexterity on organisational agility: The mediating role of organisational change capacity
Authors: Rawat Waseem & Justin Barnes
Pacific Asia Journal of the Association for Information Systems 17(2), 1-24
https://aisel.aisnet.org/pajais/vol17/iss2/1/
Organisational agility, which is the ability of a company to quickly adapt and respond to changing market conditions, is recognised as vital for competitiveness in dynamic business environments. Information technology (IT) capabilities are acknowledged as a potential source of organisational agility, and this research focused on the agility-enabling role of IT ambidexterity, which studies the effects of achieving excellence in both IT usage and finding new solutions to improve existing IT systems.
GIBS Professor Justin Barnes says, “The research was inspired by the challenges many firms appear to be experiencing in managing the digital disruption. We wanted to better understand this challenge, and to analyse how they respond to the pressures of improving their organisational agility through the use of advancing information technologies.”
Key findings:
- The research demonstrates that organisational change capacity (OCC) – the ability for a business to prepare for, respond to, and implement changes in its environment – is central to the successful use of IT.
- Firms need to ensure they have developed their OCC capacity before driving the adoption of new technologies to improve their business model.
- In order to benefit from the advances in IT, firms are required to manage complex organisational change processes to ensure they improve organisational agility and the associated firm-level competitiveness.
When it comes to the practical application of the research, Barnes says that the paper demonstrates what firms should be prioritising to secure competitive advantage through IT adoption. He says, “The paper provides robust evidence for the importance of OCC to firms and suggests a strategic framework for firms to consider in respect to their organisational change agenda.”
Management of global value chains and risk: An application to emerging markets
Authors: Seraphin Kalala, Robert Grosse & Albert Wöcke
Management International Review 64, 925-954
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-024-00555-3
Robert Grosse, Professor of Business Administration at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, says that the research was inspired by a desire to produce a high-quality research paper on mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country with vast mineral wealth but one that is also known for its instabilities.
This research focuses on the mining equipment business in the DRC, which is populated by multinational manufacturers that operate in three value chain structures. It explores the majority of original equipment manufacturers selling into the DRC’s mining industry. The study creates a detailed look at the operation of the global value chains used by these firms. The paper aims to further develop the understanding of the operation of global value chains, and to show how and why, despite similar circumstances, different multinational enterprises pursue different strategies in the same country and industry.
Grosse says, “This research is important because it offers academics a fine-grained detail of a global value chain extending to emerging markets, plus a conceptual (theoretical) approach of global-value-chain operation is presented. For business, the analysis of risk perception and handling in international business is offered.”
Key findings:
- The perception of risk is the main determinant of operating models for multinational enterprises (MNEs).
- Security and war-related risks are localised in the Eastern part of the DRC; large-scale mining operations for MNEs are in the DRC South/Katanga, which is stable and has medium to low risk.
- There were two categories of multinational original equipment manufacturers, each with its strategy for managing risks:
- Firms that used equity investment which have accepted the risks and manage them using their knowledge of the local context. They are well represented through joint ventures or wholly owned subsidiaries, which control operations through their own executives and countrymen with local knowledge.
- Non-equity entrants which have adopted an avoidance strategy; risks are shifted to local distributors or to the final mining clients. By servicing a growing market from abroad through exporting, they share revenues with independent distributors representing them in the DRC.
Grosse says the research has two practical applications that are valuable to leaders to consider. He says, “For risk management: explore the framework developed for application to other industries where the three structures of managing the global value chain are possible. For dealing with country risk: leverage the location advantage in DRC South, which is stable and distant from ongoing conflicts in the DRC East.”
Job crafting and entrepreneurial innovativeness: The moderated mediation roles of dynamic capabilities and self-initiated AI learning
Authors: Sewart Selase Hevi, Clemence Dupey Agbenorxevi, Innocent Senyo Kwasi Acquah, Ebenezer Malcalm & Francisca Abena Akomaso Nyamful
Journal of Family Business Management 15(2), 418-434
https://doi.org/10.1108/JFBM-08-2024-0169
This research, based on family craft businesses in Ghana, investigates career development and the relationship between self-initiated artificial intelligence (AI) learning and the ability of businesses and employees to integrate, build, and reconfigure their competencies to adapt to rapidly changing business environments.
Key findings:
- Task redesign – the process of reorganising and restructuring tasks and responsibilities within a job to improve effectiveness, efficiency, and employee satisfaction – is a requirement for commercialising craft works.
- Job crafting, which is the process where employees modify their work to better align with their strengths, passions, and values, has a positive effect on entrepreneurs’ ability to innovate.
- Job crafting is positively linked to self-initiated AI learning among craft entrepreneurs in Ghana.
- The study finds that craft entrepreneurs’ proactive task behaviours may be ignited through self-driven AI supported learning. AI provides virtual learning platforms for upgrading knowledge and skills in a person’s task performance.
- Craft entrepreneurs’ positive attitudes toward acquiring new competencies through AI help shape their skills sets resulting in greater innovativeness.
The paper is valuable for both academics and businesses within the SME space. For academics, the study offers further insights on the concept of self-initiated work adjustment learning (SIWAL). Despite being an original concept in organisational studies, SIWAL has not received much research attention in organisational and entrepreneurial literature. This study examines SIWAL from the perspective of AI for knowledge upgrade.
For businesses, the study demonstrates how entrepreneurial ecosystem dynamics influence craft family businesses’ economic viability. The study explores digital offerings and individuals’ aptitude to use these offerings to reengineer skills and redesign tasks for greater productivity and to gain greater commercial appeal in what can be an uncertain market.
From rivals to allies: Building and benefiting from coopetition capability
Authors: Stella Zulu-Chisanga, Athanasia D Nalmpanti, Nathaniel Boso, Magnus Hultman & Constantinos N Leonidou
Industrial Marketing Management 126, 85-100
https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2025.02.002
Cooperating with competing firms, a phenomenon known as coopetition, is increasingly being seen as a viable strategy that enhances competitiveness and growth. Stella Zulu-Chisanga, a senior lecturer, researcher and consultant in Business Management and Strategy at the Copperbelt University in Zambia, says, “The study is inspired by theoretical challenges such as resource limitations, institutional weaknesses, and volatile business environments faced by SMEs in emerging economies, which affect their performance. It also examines the need for SMEs to develop the ability to proactively coordinate, learn from, and manage portfolios of competitive relationships (coopetition capability) if they are to improve performance.” This is particularly important to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing economies, given their resource limitations, the weaknesses in institutional structures, and the rapidly changing business and marketing environment.
Key findings:
- Coopetition capability can be a structural asset to pool resources, innovate and scale operations more effectively.
- Business leaders of African SMEs can overcome their challenges of limited access to finance, infrastructure, and institutional support by simultaneously cooperating with and competing against rival firms.
- The study also shows that corporate support, managerial ties, and learning processes trigger coopetition capability.
- While it encourages African enterprises to drive growth through innovative partnerships, the study reveals a context-specific lesson of institutional support being a hindrance to such partnerships, and calls for the re-evaluation of support mechanisms employed by state institutions.
On a practical level, Zulu-Chisanga says, “African SMEs are encouraged to invest in mechanisms that help them develop and benefit from the ability to simultaneously cooperate with and compete against rival firms.” She says SMEs should develop a portfolio of relationships that can be drawn on, and concludes by saying, “SMEs are encouraged to institutionalise coopetition routines by creating structured processes that will help coordinate learning, resource sharing, and management of agreements and conflicts.”
Individuals’ attitudes and their adoption intentions of central bank digital currency: Combining theories and analytics for deeper insights
Authors: Christian Nedu Osakwe, Oluwatobi A Ogunmokun, Islam Elgammal & Michael Adu Kwarteng
Technological Forecasting and Social Change 210(1), article 123857
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2024.123857
Given the global momentum behind the adoption of central bank digital currencies (CBDC), the research wanted to understand what helps and hinders their uptake, especially in early-adopter countries like Nigeria. This study investigates the factors influencing individuals’ attitudes and intentions towards adopting CBDC.
GIBS research associate Christian Osakwe says, “For African leaders, policymakers, and business thinkers, the findings are timely and practical. They shed light on what encourages early adoption – like the ease of fast, secure payments – and what holds it back, particularly concerns about cost. With this insight, decision-makers can shape smarter strategies that boost public confidence and streamline CBDC rollouts.
Key findings:
- People are more inclined to adopt CBDCs when they clearly see the benefits – such as time convenience, transaction speed, and support for financial inclusion.
- The benefits alone aren’t enough; trust in the central bank and how well the currency fits into daily life are also essential for driving adoption.
- Concerns around cost remain the biggest hurdle, often dampening enthusiasm.
- When convenience and other perceived advantages are strong, they often outweigh worries about cost or complexity.
- Ultimately, successful adoption hinges on multiple factors aligning, not just one.
Osakwe says that this research is very practical in nature and can help central banks design user-friendly, low-cost CBDC platforms and help with communication strategies that foster public engagement by highlighting both practical advantages, like ease of payments, and broader societal benefits, like greater financial inclusion. It also benefits academics and fintech innovators to develop models that reflect real-world complexities of the factors shaping early adoption of the digital finance tools like CBDCs.
The influence of institutional logics on vaccine development, production, and distribution in Africa
Authors: Richard Chawana, Anastacia Mamabolo & Evangelos Apostoleris
International Journal of Operations and Production Management 45(2), 355-386
https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-11-2023-0896
Africa has some of the highest rates of deaths from infections globally, yet the continent lacks the capacity to engage in vaccine development, production, and distribution; the cornerstone of efficiently managing and eliminating several infectious diseases. African vaccine manufacturing firms are yet to reach their full potential in vaccine development, production, and distribution, collectively referred to as end-to-end vaccine manufacturing.
Through five case studies across the five regions of Africa, the study explored how institutional logics – the systematic and structured approach that people and organisations use to evaluate decisions – influence firms’ ability to engage in the vaccine manufacturing value chain in Africa.
Some key insights:
- Across all regions of Africa, state, corporate and market logics guide executives’ decisions to engage in end-to-end vaccine manufacturing. However, they influence the vaccine manufacturing process differently.
- The influence of state logics on the strategies employed by the firms’ executives was evident across all firms. However, changing intellectual property laws, manufacturing standards, and technologies reduced their influence.
- Firms across regions read World Health Organisation recommendations differently, resulting in different strategies and growth trajectories of vaccine manufacturing.
- The study identified access to financial capital as one of the market logics facing the executives. While access to capital has a significant bearing on a firm’s ability to engage the value chain, it was not the primary motivation for the strategic decision taken by the firm.
At a practical level, the research suggests that decision-makers in both state entities and corporates should consider the combinations of logics that influence the vaccine value chain. In addition, there should be a mechanism enabling knowledge transfer and sharing good practices across the African continent, where policymakers leverage other regions’ intellectual capital when designing their local policies. Finally, the research suggests that firms and government organisations should work together to enhance the welfare logic to benefit society and its citizens.
