Monitoring regional market-building in Africa: a critical perspective

Abstract

Purpose African regional integration and market-building processes have not lived up to their expectations in terms of the development of intra-regional international business and the contribution to reaching broader socioeconomic development goals. The purpose of this paper is to critically reflect on the indicator-based monitoring tools that have been designed and used to assess these processes. Design/methodology/approach The assessment is based on a comparative analysis of all relevant cases for which information is publicly available. Complementary expert opinion has also been taken into account. Findings This study finds that there is room for improvement of the existing monitoring systems, both with respect to their governance and technical aspects, so that they can have more impact on the respective integration processes and can better guide the business strategies. Originality/value This is the first systematic comparative assessment of indicator-based monitoring systems for African regional integration.