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What is the local context for business and for theadoption of or reluctance to global management norms? Detlef Sack (Universityof Bielefeld) worked during his secondment at the University of Ghana BusinessSchool (UGBS) in June 2019 on this issue. Regarding the comparative observationof the local context, he carried out a Qualitative Comparative Analysis. He identifiednotable differences of the narratives of ‘good‘ local business environmentwithin the transnational indicator industry. Indicators, scores, and rankingsbased on regional sources (e.g. African Development Bank, Afrobarometer) differnotably from the ‘global’ sources (e.g. World Bank, World Economic Forum). Ofcrucial matter in this regard are different ideas and assessments on welfare,safety, and free trade as conditions for local business. Prof. Sack presentedhis concept and his findings to 40 PhD Students of the UGBS. Issues of thetraining exercise and the discussion were the production of expertise andknowledge on the local business environment on the one hand and therestrictions of numbers against the backdrop of the importance of informalbusiness on the other hand. Informal business is by definition not beingregistered in statistical accounts. However, scores assess informality on thebase of surveys and expertise. Students have learned that there is no ‘one’local business environment but different stories about it. 