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Report byProfessor Aminu MammanWinter Schoolat the University of Manchester9thto 13th December 2019 OverviewManaGlobal's mainaim is to study and understand the hybridization of business and managementpractices in African and Arab countries, and to develop a theoretical frameworkthat may help future business leaders and managers to think globally and actlocally. To achieve this aim, various activities have been outlined in linewith RISE project and protocol. Amongst the activities is the design anddelivery of Winter and Summer Schools that brings members of the Projecttogether to exchange knowledge amongst academics and practitioners from theglobal North and the global South. It is in line with this objective that thefirst ManaGlobal Winter School was designed and delivered at the University ofManchester from 9th to 13th December 2019. The workshopwas jointly organized by the University of Manchester and the University ofAbertay Dundee. Invited speakers and participants came from Ghana, Cameroun,Senegal, Morocco, France, Germany, and the UK. A total of twenty-one (21)project members and four (4) PhD students participated in the Winter School. &#160;This document reports the design, delivery,and outcomes of the Winter School at the University of Manchester.Winter School aim and objectivesThe Winter Schoolis part of the Work Package 1 as one of the Managlobal Project deliverables.The Work Package 1 is concerned with the Review of literature and research capacity building. Therefore, the theme of the Winter School is“The state of theart of glocal management and governance in Africa and theArab world and business research methods”. &#160;Inline with the theme, the Winter School at Manchester focused on exchanging knowledgeand building intellectual capacity on the current economic development, policyenvironment and socio-cultural literature as the background to understandingthe contexts of business and management practice in the African and Arabcountries. Related to this broad aim is the understanding of the challenges indoing social science research on the African continent. The Design of the Winter SchoolIn order to achieve the objectives ofthe Winter School, the programme was designed in two components. The firstcomponent was a workshop – which focused entirely on how to do research inAfrica and the challenges researchers may face when undertaking the research.The topics under this component were as follows: Challenges of doing researchin Africa and Arab countries; Experiencesof doing research in Africa and Arab countries; Methods and the Toolsavailable for doing research in Africa and Arab Countries; Experiences ofapplying research methods in Africa and Arab countries; Lessons learnt andplans for future research in Africa and Arab countries. &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Thesecond component of the Winter School focused on the literature on the contextof management and business practice in Africa. This component of the Winter Schoolwas delivered as a conference/seminar where speakers presented papers on thesocio-economic, cultural and policy environment of business and managementpractice in Africa. Both components were presented in English and French. Thethemes of the second component were as follows: The socio-economic, legal andpolitical contexts of doing business and managing organizations in Africa andArab Countries; Theories ofbusiness and management and their applications in different socio-culturalcontexts. Papers presented in the secondcomponent included the following: TheSociological and Anthropological Study of Globalization and Localization; Analysedes modèles de gestion des entreprises multinationales au Sénégal. Cas del’Agence pour la Sécurité de la Navigation Aérienne en Afrique et à Madagascar(ASECNA) à Dakar; State-business relations for entrepreneurship take off inAfrica: Insights through institutional lens; Private Equity Investments inAfrica; Gouvernance des entreprises au Sénégal; Is Management a Universal Phenomenon? Theories of convergence anddivergence revisited; Gouvernance des entreprises au Cameroun; Ubuntuas an alternative economic Philosophy for Africa’s Economy and business practice?;Development and organizational change; Management in South Africa, Ghana andSenegal; Gouvernance des entreprises au Maroc. There was a thirdelement of the Winter School. This involved a presentation by the ManaGlobal administrativeproject manager via Skype. This presentation focused on how the Project ismanaged and the challenges.&#160; Another element of theWinter School was a meeting by the work package leaders to discuss issues relatedto communication, secondments, hosting secondees, inadequate funding ofsecondees by the Project and how to address the challenges. A frank discussionalso took place regarding the funding of the winter school and the lessons tobe learnt to make sure future workshops and schools do not surfer the samefate.The Delivery of the Winter SchoolThe Winter School was overall asuccessful event. Sizeable number invited to attend did make it to theoccasion. After long deliberations and considerations about budget constraints,the venue for the workshop was settled on the campus of University ofManchester. Rooms were booked in advance. Even when demand for extra rooms cameat short notice, the administrative staff was able to find extra rooms for theadditional parallel sessions. Hotels were booked not far away from the venue ofthe workshop. Coffee and sandwiches were provided during the break and lunchhours.A total of five (5) workshop activitieswere conducted in two (2) days from Monday to Tuesday. Despite the languagechallenges, the activities were delivered successfully. To address the languagechallenges, bilingual chairs or moderators were assigned to every plenary and parallelsession. Their tasks were to summarize the discussion and to translatequestions and answers from each group into English or French. There were three (3) themes in theconference/seminar component of the Winter School. These were delivered onWednesday and Thursday. The themes were: (1) Thesocio-economic, legal and political contexts of doing business and managingorganizations in Africa and Arab Countries; (2) Theories of businessand management and their applications in different socio-cultural contexts, (3) Studies of development, economicgrowth and organizational change with a focus on Africa and Arab countries.The themes were presented as a plenaryand parallel sessions. Similar to the workshop, there were bilingual speakersto summarize and to translate questions and answers into French and English. &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Overall,participants were well engaged in the discussions and were eager and able toexchange knowledge of the subject matter under discussion.The final day (Friday) was dedicated tomeeting by the work package leaders. They took time to take stock of theprogress made and discuss the challenges in going forward. Again, the meetingwas a complete success. The meeting concluded by outlining and delegating thedeliverables by each work package leader and the timeline for delivery.The outcomes of the Winter SchoolThere were many positive outcomes fromthe Winter School. The first is the delivery of what the Project partnerscommitted to delivering as stated in the proposal submitted to the EuropeanUnion. This is important to demonstrate partners’ commitment to the Project.The second outcome is the intellectualgains accrued from the workshop and conference where participants were able toacquire knowledge, skills, tools, and insights on how to conduct research inAfrica and how to address the challenges that they might encounter.The third outcome is the networkdeveloped amongst participants who are part of the Project and those who arenot part of the Project. This establishment of contacts and network isbeneficial for future academic pursuits such as publications and exchange ofideas which can lead to future initiatives.The fourth benefit is the capacitybuilt from the knowledge and skills acquired which will undoubtedly enablebetter research, teaching and consulting in Africa. The fifth outcome is the decision takento publish a special issue of a journal using some of the papers presented atthe Winter School. Journal of African Management and Employee Relations are twopotential journals outlets for the papers presented at the conference componentof the Winter School. The potential benefits of publication cannot be quantifiedbecause academics from the Global South, especially from Africa, find it hardto publish their work in well-established journals in the Managementdiscipline.Finally, the Winter School has providedinspiration especially for up – and – coming academics to be keener inpublishing their work in the Global North. For academics in the Global North,they have also realized the benefits of the richness of African environment asa means of generating research ideas.