A Study On The Influences Of Stakeholders On Business Models Of Africa-Related Enterprises

In recent years, the trade between China and Africa has steadily and rapidly increased from2.643billion dollars1994to150billion dollars2011by the average annual growth rate of33%, higher than that of the same period last year. Nowadays, along with the booming China-Africa trade and the economic globalization, Chinese domestic enterprises focus more on African market, which consequently intensifies the competition. On the earth, the competition between enterprises is an elimination game of business models. The construction of an effective business model becomes crucial to enterprises who seek for forever success or competitive advantages. To some extend, business models determine the fortune of these enterprises. On the other hand, the complex and fickle African market environment-political, economic and cultural environment, the relations between the two countries, the enterprise organizations, suppliers, and distributors-has significant impacts on model choices and makes it more difficult for African-related enterprises to survive. Under this circumstance, the core object of obtaining interests of stakeholders and the enterprise itself does not make sense any more which means that enterprises should take the interest demands of stakeholders into account while seeking the maximization of their own profits. Due to the significance of business models and stakeholders’impacts, there is a great necessity for the research on business models of Africa-related Enterprises.Based on a lot of reading and analysis on stakeholder theory and business model, this article defines and classifies the related stakeholders, analyzes the concept of business model and its constituent parts of those enterprises investment operations in Africa, and seeks for the relations between stakeholders and business models, which finally lies the theory foundation of this research. After that, the author, with the guide of his tutor and through interviews and questionnaires toward enterprises, experts grading and other methods, studies three enterprise cases and summarizes their business models under grounded theory and stakeholders’effects-Collaborative-project model. Market-development model and Overseas-investment type. Furthermore, a network is structured which clearly shows the relations among different business models and stakeholders. In the end, AHP is used to determine the weights of stakeholders in choosing business models and conclusions are drawn as below:(1) different stakeholders affect the model choices of the enterprises investment operations in Africa differently, among which supportive stakeholders and hybrid stakeholders play key roles;(2) the weight of hybrid stakeholders closely relates to whether enterprises could set branches in host nations;(3) although supportive stakeholders and hybrid stakeholders play a big part in these three business models, they work differently and form different model shapes.