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Air Afrique: the demise of a continental icon

2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 56; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00076791.2013.809523

1743-7938

Joseph Amankwah‐Amoah, Yaw A. Debrah,

Global and Cross-Cultural Management

AbstractAlthough the rationale for multi-flag airlines' formation is rooted in contemporary strategic thinking, our understanding of their emergence and subsequent mass disappearances in the twentieth century remains an elusive issue. This article seeks to fill this void by examining the emergence, ascendency and demise of Air Afrique, an airline once seen as a symbol of regional integration in Africa. This examination takes a historical perspective and covers the period from 1961 to 2002. On the basis of this historical analysis, five distinct stages have been identified reflecting the firm's glorious days, precipitous decline and subsequent collapse. These are: the golden age; Africanisation; escalating indecision, escalating commitment and dissolution phases. Each phase provides insights into the deterministic and voluntaristic perspectives of organisational failure. The implications of the findings of this research for theory and practice are discussed.Keywords:: organisational failure; firm ascendancyfirm demise; airlineAir Afrique; Africa AcknowledgementsWe are very grateful to the Editor, Professor J. Wilson, and the reviewers for their excellent comments and suggestions. The preliminary version of this article was the recipient of Emerald Best Full Paper Award at the British Academy of Management Conference.Notes 1.CitationBarrett, "Multi-Flag Airlines"; CitationThornton, "Governments and Airlines." 2. Ibid.; CitationCumming, "Aviation in Africa." 3. Barrett, "Multi-Flag Airlines," 7. 4. Thornton, "Governments and Airlines." 5. For examples see CitationArgenti, Corporate Collapse; CitationD'Aveni, "The Aftermath of Organizational Decline"; Hambrick and CitationD'Aveni, "Top Team Deterioration." 6. For examples see CitationFleming, McKinstry, and Wallace, "The Decline and Fall"; CitationMcGovern, "Why Do Successful Companies Fail?" CitationMcGovern, "The Decline of the British Tyre Industry"; CitationHiggins and Toms, "Public Subsidy and Private Divestment." 7.CitationFarah, "Air Afrique's Fall to Earth," E01. 8. Onishi, "Troubles Tarnish a Once-Shining African Airline," 39. 9. Ibid.; CitationFadugba, "United We Fall, Divided We Fall." 10. Ibid. 11. Barrett, "Multi-Flag Airlines," 10. 12. Onishi, "Troubles Tarnish a Once-Shining African Airline," 39. 13.CitationWhetten, "Organization Growth and Decline Processes." 14. Ibid.; CitationMoulton, Thomas, and Pruett, "Business Decline Pathways." 15.CitationAndrews, Boyne, and Enticott, "Performance Failure in the Public Sector"; CitationFortune and Mitchell, "Unpacking Firm Exit at the Firm and Industry Levels"; CitationNelson and Winter, An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change; CitationTirole, The Theory of Industrial Organization. 16.CitationAnderson and Tushman, "Organizational Environments and Industry Exit"; CitationSilverman, Nickerson, and Freeman, "Profitability, Transactional Alignment, and Organizational Mortality." 17.CitationMellahi and Wilkinson, "Organizational Failure"; CitationNutt, "Surprising but True." 18. For example see CitationWeitzel and Jonsson, "Decline in Organizations." 19. D'Aveni, "Top Managerial Prestige and Organizational Bankruptcy"; CitationHambrick and D'Aveni "Top Team Deterioration"; CitationThornhill and Amit, "Learning About Failure." 20. Mellahi and Wilkinson, "Organizational Failure." 21.CitationKnott and Posen, "Is Failure Good?"; Silverman, Nickerson, and Freeman, "Profitability, Transactional Alignment, and Organizational Mortality." 22.CitationCameron, Kim, and Whetten, "Organizational Effects of Decline and Turbulence"; CitationSutton, "The Process of Organizational Death"; CitationWalsh and Bartunek "Cheating the Fates"; Weitzel and Jonsson, "Decline in Organizations." 23. Higgins and Toms, "Public Subsidy and Private Divestment." 24.CitationClignet, "The Legacy of Assimilation"; CitationClignet and Foster, "French and British Colonial Education." 25. Clignet and Foster, "French and British Colonial Education," 191. 26. Ibid.; CitationWooten, The French in West Africa. 27. Ibid. 28. Ibid. 29.CitationCohen, "The Lure of Empire." 30. Clignet and Foster, "French and British Colonial Education," 191; Wooten, The French in West Africa. 31. Ibid. 32. Clignet and Foster, "French and British Colonial Education in Africa." 33. Wooten, The French in West Africa. 34.CitationHeymann, "Air Transport and Economic Development"; CitationPirie, "Aviation, Apartheid and Sanctions"; CitationPirie, "Southern African Air Transport after Apartheid." 35.CitationMcCormack, "Airlines and Empires"; For further details see CitationDecker, "Corporate Political Activity." 36. See CitationMcCormack, "Missed Opportunities," for discussion of the British government's attempts to develop air services in British West Africa. 37. Heymann, "Air Transport and Economic Development," 387. 38. Cumming, "Aviation in Africa." 39. Barrett, "Multi-Flag Airlines," 12. 40. For a detailed discussion see CitationAmankwah-Amoah and Debrah, "The Evolution of Alliances"; World Bank Air Transport Trends and Economics in Western and Central Africa. 41. Cumming, "Aviation in Africa." 42. Barrett, "Multi-Flag Airlines," 12; CitationFadugba, "Air Afrique Struggles to Control Costs." 43. Cumming, "Aviation in Africa." 44. Thornton, "Governments and Airlines," 546. 45. Barrett, "Multi-Flag Airlines," 12. 46. Thornton, "Governments and Airlines," 546; Cumming, "Aviation in Africa." 47. Cumming, "Aviation in Africa." 48. See also CitationYansane, "The State of Economic Integration." 49. Ibid. 50.CitationVandyk, "Bucking the Trends." 51. Amankwah-Amoah and Debrah, "The Evolution of Alliances." 52.CitationSparaco, "Air Afrique Shows How." 53. Farah, "Air Afrique's fall to Earth"; Thornton, "Governments and Airlines." 54.CitationRodney, "The Entente States of West Africa" 55.CitationBBC, "Air Afrique's Mayday Call." 56. Vandyk, "Bucking the Trends" 57.CitationAfrican Development Bank, Multinational Company Air-Afrique Reinforcement Project, 1. 58. Fadugba, "Air Afrique Struggles to Control Costs," 7. 59. Black Enterprise, "Air Afrique's Advertising" 9. 60. See CitationGladdish, "Evolving Systems of Government in Africa"; Yansane, "The State of Economic Integration," for detailed discussion on the decolonising process in French Equatorial Africa and French West Africa. Immediately after independence, the Ghana-Guinea Union was formed in 1958 which was accompanied by the Ghana–Guinea–Mali Union (The Charter of the United States of Africa) in 1961. 61.CitationSchmidt, "Anticolonial Nationalism in French West Africa." 62.CitationKofele-Kale, "Cameroon and its Foreign Relations." 63. Yansane, "The State of Economic Integration"; Rodney, "The Entente States of West Africa." 64. Ibid. 65. Gurtner, "The CFA Franc Zones"; CitationMartin, "The Franc Zone." 66. Rodney, "The Entente States of West Africa." 67. Yansane, "The State of Economic Integration." 68. Martin, "The Franc Zone." 69. Rodney, "The Entente States of West Africa." 70. Ibid.; Martin, "The Franc Zone." 71. Ibid. 72. Rodney, "The Entente States of West Africa." 73. Ibid., 86. 74.CitationYacouba, "My Era Africa." 75. Barrett, "Multi-Flag Airlines." 76. Details of other aircraft used by the airline can be found in Appendix 1. 77. Yacouba, "My Era Africa." 78.CitationKromah, "Aviation and Regional Cooperation in Africa"; also See Pirie, "Aviation, Apartheid and Sanctions," for detailed discussion on the expansion of other African airlines including South African Airways. 79.CitationOnishi, "Troubles Tarnish a Once-Shining African Airline." 80. Ibid.; CitationWorld Bank, Air Transport in Western and Central Africa. 81. Kofele-Kale, "Cameroon and its Foreign Relations," 207; CitationKofele-Kale, "The Policy of Non-Alignment in An Age of Alignment Politics." 82. Ibid. 83. Ibid., 201. 84. Kromah, "Aviation and Regional Cooperation in Africa." 85. Farah, "Air Afrique's Fall to Earth." 86. Ibid.; Onishi, "Troubles Tarnish a Once-Shining African Airline." 87. Fadugba, "Air Afrique Struggles to Control Costs." 88. Barrett, "Multi-Flag Airlines." 89. Hambrick and D'Aveni, "Top Team Deterioration." 90. Onishi, "Troubles Tarnish a Once-Shining African Airline." 91.CitationSedbon, "Air Afrique Salvage Plan Welcomed." 92.CitationAdeble, "Air Afrique States Case." 93. Vandyk, "Bucking the Trends." 94. Ibid. 95.CitationTumba, "Eleven Oust Afrique Boss." 96. Fadugba, "Air Afrique Struggles to Control Costs." 97. Details of the report outlined by the African Development Bank, Multinational Company Air-Afrique Reinforcement Project. 98.CitationSedbon, "AirAfrique Gets New Head" 99. Ibid.100. For further details of the Yamoussoukro Declaration See World Bank A Memorandum of the President of the International Development Association.101. Sedbon, "AirAfrique Gets New Head."102. The exchange rate was around 3.5–4 CFA to US$1 before the 1994 devaluation.103. Kromah, "Aviation and Regional Cooperation in Africa."104.CitationRobinson, "Employment Policy and Deregulation."105. Ibid.106.CitationDenis et al., "Escalating Indecision."107.CitationFlight International, "Air Afrique Takes Privatised Route"; CitationFrench, "Revenue and Hope Ebb."108. World Bank, Air Transport in Western and Central Africa, 79.109. Ibid., 78–79.110.CitationGoldstein, "Infrastructure Development and Regulatory Reform."111. Fadugba, "Air Afrique Struggles to Control Costs."112.CitationAirline Business, "West African Optimist."113. Ibid.114. Vandyk, "Bucking the Trends."115.CitationRousseau, "Psychological and Implied Contracts," 121–123.116. Ibid.117. French, "Revenue and Hope Ebb at West Africa's Airline."118. Ibid.; Tumba, "Eleven Oust Afrique Boss."119. Ibid.120. Ibid.121. Ibid.122. Kofele-Kale, "Cameroon and its Foreign Relations," 201.123. Tumba, "Eleven Oust Afrique Boss."124. French, "Revenue and Hope Ebb."125.CitationStaw, "The Escalation of Commitment."126. Airline Business, "West African Optimist."127. Ibid.128. Tumba, "Eleven Oust Afrique Boss."129.CitationMackenzie, "Air Afrique Reaches End of the Line."130.CitationBrockner, "The Escalation of Commitment"; Staw, "The Escalation of Commitment."131. Sparaco, "Air Afrique Shows How."132.CitationGurtner, "The CFA Franc Zones."133.CitationUNECA, Assessing Regional Integration in Africa.134. Ibid.135. Gurtner, "The CFA Franc Zones."136. Sparaco, "Air Afrique Shows How"; Farah, "Air Afrique's Fall To Earth."137. Ibid.138. BBC, "Air Afrique's Mayday Call."139.CitationWorld Bank, "A Memorandum of the President"; Yacouba "My Era Africa."140. Ibid. Document delineates the precarious position of the airline at the time.141. Ibid.142.CitationThe Economist, "A New Air Afrique?" 49.143. Ibid.144.CitationSparaco, "Air France Proposes Rescuing Air Afrique," 46–47.145.CitationMichaud, "Four Air Afrique Planes Seized."146. Ibid.147. Ibid.; The Economist, "A New Air Afrique?."148. Farah, "Air Afrique's Fall To Earth."149. Onishi, "Troubles Tarnish a Once-Shining African Airline," 39.150. BBC, "Air Afrique's Mayday Call."151. French, "Revenue and Hope Ebb."152. Denis et al., "Escalating Indecision."153. Brockner, "The Escalation of Commitment"; Staw, "The Escalation of Commitment."154. Whetten, "Organization Growth and Decline Processes."155.CitationFinkelstein, "Why Smart Executives Fail"; CitationWild, "Learning the Wrong Lessons from History."156. Thornton, "Governments and Airlines," 546.Additional informationNotes on contributorsJoseph Amankwah-AmoahJoseph Amankwah-Amoah is an Assistant Professor (Lecturer) of Management at Bristol University. He holds a Ph.D from the University of Wales Swansea (2010). His research interests include organizational failure, global business strategy, lateral hiring and the airline and solar PV industries. He has published articles in journals such as International Journal of HRM, Business History, Group & Organization Management, Thunderbird International Business Review and Journal of General Management.Yaw A. DebrahYaw A. Debrah, PhD, is professor of Human Resource and International Management at Swansea University. He has held academic positions at Cardiff University, Brunel University, and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He also worked in Africa, Canada, and the United States. He has published numerous articles on human resource management (HRM) in Asia and HRM and international business/management in Africa. He is on the editorial boards of several journals.