Adaptation, innovation, and industrialization: the impact of Chinese investments on skill development in the Zambian and Malawian cotton sectors

This paper examines Chinese firms’ operations in the Zambian and Malawian cotton sectors with emphasis on the manner and effects of knowledge transfer. As new players in the arena, Chinese investors have adopted business models and management styles that differ from those of previous foreign investors in the region. Their low-cost and low-risk approaches have helped them grow quickly in these two countries and seize considerable market share from the established Western investors. Through an in-depth case study and comparison with Western companies, the author reveals that the Chinese investors flexibly modify conventional knowledge transfer channels like labor training, demonstration, and forward and backward linkages to fit their business models and local socio-economic contexts. Simultaneously, they take advantage of China’s strength in manufacturing and experiment with synergistic development in the industrial sector to overcome growth constraints.