Aloysius Newenham-Kahindi

Dr. Aloysius Newenham-Kahindi is a Canada Research Chair in International Sustainable Development.

His research focuses on international business strategy of multinational firms (MNEs), with a particular interest in understanding how formal and informal institutions interact with and affect MNEs in developing countries. He seeks to improve understanding of why governance under informal institutions functions; and how MNEs can adjust to and honor these informal institutions; and how they fail when they do not honor and adjust to constraints imposed by local informal institutions. His field of research aims to add more nuance and predictive power to firms’ capability to navigate complex political risks (i.e., institutional voids, liability of foreignness, linguistic and ethnic diversities, and stakeholder relationships) which might hinder many firms from effectively investing in the much-needed social solutions of poverty, job creation and the environment in developing countries.

Dr. Newenham-Kahindi’s research is based on the East and Central African region. This region is one of the fastest growing part of sub-Saharan Africa, which attracts more FDI and MNEs in various sectors from developed and developing countries. Yet, the ways FDI and MNEs impact host governments and stakeholders in the region remain complex and unclear to many scholars and practitioners. Second, there are an increasing number of FDI and MNEs from developing countries, such as China, in the region, and in Africa in general. Developing country FDI and MNEs also seems undeterred from entering and operating in some fragile and politically unstable countries in the region which raises some questions about why they are entering these markets and how it impacts their governance strategy and performance, as well as local stakeholders’ perceptions.

More recently, he in interested in studying the emergence of micro social order and the distruption of existing social order in market (with Profs. Rekha Krishnan & Kozhikode, Simon Fraser University, BC. Canada). Specifically, he is interested in examining how informal entrepreneurs in fringe institutional underground markets (i.e., in refugee camps, street/hawkers vendors, slum dwellers) use ethnic solidarities, identities, rituals, collective consciousness and status to create, maintain, and disrupt social order in emerging economies.

Given his background from Tanzania, then Kenya, Ireland and Canada, his work is rooted in his avid desire to contribute to meaningful and innovative solutions to historically complex social and economic issues of sustainability and innovation in developing countries. He believes that the sub-Saharan African context creates a unique opportunity to test and develop new theoretical knowledge and generate timely new global management insights for academic researchers as well as practitioners. In particular, his field of research aims to add more nuance and predictive power to global business firms’ ability to navigate complex governance risks that might hinder their ability to effectively invest in much-needed social solutions to poverty, unemployment and environmental problems.

Journal Publication

Ault, J., Newenham-Kahindi, A. & Patnaik, S. (Forthcoming). Trevino and Doh’s Discourse-based view: Do we need a new theory of internationalization? Journal of International Business Studies.
 
Selmier, W. T. & Newenham-kahindi, A. (Accepted). Communities of place, mining multinationals and sustainable development in Africa. Special issue, The Role of Multinational Enterprises in Supporting the SDGs. Journal of Cleaner Production.

Stevens, C. & Newenham-Kahindi, A. (forthcoming). Avoid, acquiesce … or engage? New insights from sub-Saharan Africa on MNE strategies for managing corruption Strategic Management Journal. doi.org/10.1002/smj.3228

Newenham-Kahindi, A. & Stevens, C. (2018). An institutional logics approach to liability of foreignness: The case of mining MNEs in sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of International Business Studies, 49(7), 881-901. DOI 10.1057/s41267-017-0111-y

Selmier, W. T., & Newenham-Kahindi, A. (2017). Under African skies: Mining TNCs in Africa and the sustainable development goals. Transnational Corporations Journal, 24(3), 119–134.

Stevens, C., & Newenham-Kahindi, A. (2016). Legitimacy spillovers and political risk: The case of FDI in the East African Community. Global Strategy Journal, Special Issue – Strategic Management in Africa. DOI: 10.1002/gsj.1151

Selmier, W. T., Newenham-Kahindi, A., & Oh, H. C. (2015). Understanding the words of relationships: Language as an essential tool to manage CSR in communities of place. Journal of International Business Studies, 46(2), 153–179.

Newenham-Kahindi, A. (2015). Managing sustainable development through people: Implications for multinational enterprises in developing countries. Personnel Review, 44(3), 388–407.

Kamoche, K., Siebers, L., Mamman, A., & Newenham-Kahindi, A. (2015). The dynamics of managing people in the diverse cultural and institutional context of Africa. Personnel Review, 44(3), 330–345.

Li, J., Newenham-Kahindi, A., Shapiro, D. & Chen, V. (2013). The two-tier bargaining model revisited: Theory and evidence from China’s natural resource investments in Africa". Global Strategy Journal, Vol. 3 (4): 300-321.

Books 

Newenham-Kahindi, A.; Kamoche, K., Chizema, A., & Mellahi, K. (Eds.) (2013). Effective people management in Africa. (Palgrave Macmillan Publishers, UK).

Book Reviews 

Understanding New Scenarios and Challenges in Human Resource Practices and Developments in Developing Economies: Focus on Africa –by John E. Opute, 2019. Palgrave Macmillan Publishers, UK.

Human Resource Management in Brunei: A Comparative Analysis –by Abdul Fataah and Tamer Darwish. 2018. Routledge Books, London: UK.

Book Chapters 

Selmier, II, W. T. & Newenham-Kahindi, A. (forthcoming, 2021).  Using Grounded Theory in an African Business Context. Chapter 17,  In D.S.A. Guttormsen, J. Lauring and M.K. Chapman, editors. Field Guide to Intercultural Research.  Northhampton, MA: Edward Elgar Handbook.

Newenham-Kahindi, A. & Stevens, C. (2020). Wisdom of Ecological Sustainability from the Maasai and Hadza Peoples in East Africa. In A. Intezari, C Spiller, & S. Yang, Editors. Practical Wisdom for Leadership in a Poly-dimensional World: Asian, Indigenous and Middle-Eastern Perspectives. Routledge Publishing, UK.

Recognition & Awards

Grants

• Covid-19 Trainee Supplement, Insight Development Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, (September 2020 – March 2021) ($9,576).
• Social Sciences and Human Research Council of Canada, (June 2019 – June 2021) ($60,320).
• Edwards School of Business Research Fund (February 2018) ($10,000).
• Insight Development Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (June 2016 – June 2018). ($43,307).
• Hanlon Scholar Award, International Business: Edwards School of Business, Univrsity of Saskatchewan. (2009 - 2018). ($180,000). 

Courses Taught

• Stragetic Management (BCom)