AABD-sponsored book honors Prof. William K. Darley
- Post by: Gilbert
- June 8, 2021
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Business in Africa in the Era of Digital Technology
Essays in Honour of Professor William Darley
Editors: Abugre, James Baba, Osabutey, Ellis L. C., Sigué, Simon (Eds.)
This book covers various aspects of business such as Entrepreneurship, HR management, Supply chain management, Marketing, Finance, and Globalization within the Africa Context, especially as digital technology changes the African society. Private and NGOs are emerging with greater capabilities and affecting the development of Africa, and this volume explores the impact of such change. This edited volume honours the exemplary contribution of Professor William Darley to the creation and development of the Academy of African Business and Development (AABD). The book is intended for graduate students and researchers interested in business development and practices in Africa.
James Baba Abugre is an Associate Professor of Human Resource Management at the University of Ghana Business School and a Senior Consultant with the Corporate Support Group – Ghana. He is the Executive Secretary of the Academy of African Business and Development (AABD). He teaches and researches in human resource management and development, cross-cultural and comparative management, organizational and interpersonal communication.
Ellis L.C. Osabutey is a Reader in International Business & Strategy at Roehampton Business School, University of Roehampton. His research focuses on Foreign Direct Investment, Technology and Knowledge Transfer, SME Innovation Strategies, Mobile Technology and Financial Inclusion, etc. His empirical work generally covers developing countries and is focused on, but not limited to, Sub-Saharan Africa. Ellis is Associate Editor of the Journal of Africa Business and an Editorial Board Member for Technological Forecasting and Social Change.
Simon P. Sigué is a Full Professor of Marketing at Athabasca University, the President of the Academy of African Business and Development (AABD), and a former Editor of the Journal of African Business. His research covers such topics as entrepreneurial marketing, franchising, marketing channels, customer relationship management, game theory, and international marketing and is published in leading marketing, management science, and economics journals.
Tribute
This book, sponsored by the African Academy of Business and Development (AABD), is the first of its kind. It pays tribute to Professor William K. Darley’s many academic achievements and his extraordinary dedication and contributions to building Africa-related business research capacity and advancing business knowledge worldwide.
William K. Darley is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Toledo and taught at several others, namely the American University of Lebanon, the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, King Abdulaziz University, and Millersville University of Pennsylvania where he also served as the Dean of Research.
William K. Darley is one of the eight “founding fathers” of the AABD in 1999, including Joseph Aiyeku, Jerry Kolo, Franklyn Manu, Sonny Nwankwo, Alphonso Ogbuehi, O. Ben Oumlil, and Robert Rugimbana. Like the other founding fathers, his dream was to build an organization committed to advancing functional education, research-based knowledge, and finding solutions to business and economic development challenges with the goal of making Africa a better continent to live in and do business. From the first day of the creation of this organization until today that he has retired, he spared no effort for the triumph of this ideal.
William K. Darley has attended almost all AABD annual conferences since its inception. Better, he has been involved in all strategic initiatives and major projects of this organization and informally serves as an adviser to the successive executive committees. For instance, due to his honor and credibility, he has served as committee chair for all elections for the past decade and contributed to the last constitutional revision of 2019. With the latest reorganization of the governance of the Academy, he now chairs the Professional Development Committee that he inspired with the organization of pre-conference workshops for doctoral students and young researchers for several years. We owe him the establishment of the first mentoring program between the University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, and AABD, which offers an opportunity to established scholars over the world to connect with emerging scholars in this institution and support their professional development. He is working with AABD to duplicate this very successful first experience to reach other emerging scholars in other institutions and countries in Africa. As a result of his dedication and commitment, William K. Darley received two of this academy’s most prestigious awards; the ‘Outstanding Service Award’ in 2010 and the ‘Distinguished Service AABD Award’ in 2019.
William K. Darley is one of the best published marketing scholars who identifies with Africa and is proud to share his expertise with other Africans. His research has been published in the main and internationally recognized top journals in the field such as: Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and Marketing Science. As of November 22, 2020, his Google Scholar profile shows 3264 citations, with an h-index of 23. He served as an associate editor for Journal of Business Research and a guest editor for Psychology & Marketing. A complete list of his publications is included in this volume.
If with these personal academic achievements, William K. Darley is already an incontestable model for the AABD community, it must be said that what earns him our collective admiration is above all his proximity to young African business scholars and his unequaled dedication to supporting their development in Africa as in other parts of the world. He has mentored and guided many of us, not only in our research, but also in all other aspects of our academic careers such as navigating internal politics in our respective institutions, with a special touch of humility, respect, generosity, and friendship.
As a gifted son of Africa, William K. Darley has generously given back to the mother Continent, which is grateful to him through this book.
James B. Abugre
Ellis L.C. Osabutey
Simon P. Sigué