Government Policy and Public Enterprise Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa : Case Studies of Tanzania and Zanzibar, 1964-1984

This study investigates the impact of state development policies of nationalization, Africanization and import substitution industrialization (ISI) on the activities and performance of selected industrial public enterprises (or parastatal organizations).

The findings of the study how clearly that public enterprise performance in Tanzania and Zambia, as elsewhere in developing countries, is a result of the quality of management rather than type of ownership.

It argues that any meaningful understanding of economic growth and performance must take into account the roles of both state and market as well as the particular historical and sociopolitical context within which they exist.

The text extends the application of the resource dependency models of organizations to organizational behaviour in sub-Saharan Africa by demonstrating that local enterprise managers in both Tanzania and Zambia, rather than intelligently scanning their environment, are often overwhelmed by it.