Social Capability Deficits and Productivity Behaviour of African Entrepreneurs: Evidence from Lesotho Garment Producers

Despite attempts to induce regional competitiveness in industrial manufactures, poor productivity performances continue to plague the ability of African entrepreneurs to compete successfully in international markets. While many plausible explanations can be put forward to explain this failing, we argue in this paper that an analysis of the social and institutional context within which these entrepreneurs are embedded can provide us with useful insights into why they have continued to lag behind in efficiency performance. Adopting the framework proposed by Moses Abramovitz, the paper uses the case of Lesotho garment sub-sector to show how an environment characterised by significant social capability deficits inhibits the ability of resident producers to behave in efficient manner.