DBIA

Deconstructing DBIA: The reading lists

How we compile the assigned readings for each DBIA case

During the one to two years they dedicate to MBA studies, students read, and read, and then read some more. Cases, books, journal articles, and reports: students must master the art of efficiently digesting all of these to make sense of the core business concepts they are discussing in the classroom and with their peers. For our Doing Business in Africa case series, we didn’t want to replicate the student experience (for that, we send you to the GSB MBA). But we did want to equip our readers/listeners with a sample of the data that students typically draw on to better understand the case studies they analyse – data that lecturers and case writers compile from a wide range of think tanks, institutions, journalists, and researchers. Some light assigned reading, if you will. How do we decide what to include in each Reading List? Read on to find out.

In brief

In the age of listicles, news aggregator sites, and newsletters with a near-infinite number of links to the latest must-reads, we have committed to keeping it brief. The academics, students, and managers we interviewed while designing our DBIA cases were clear that their time is short, their attention spread thin. They need quality, relevant information in an easy-to-find place. Which is why our Reading Lists all have a maximum of six links to open-source articles or reports.

We wanted to challenge ourselves to pick only the best and most accessible pieces that would be worthy of our readers’ time. We think readers are more likely to engage with these important case topics if it feels like a manageable task, especially if they have four or five other outlets offering their own sets of recommended links every week. On occasion we find a seventh article that is just too good not to include as a “Bonus Reading”, but we push hard to be brutal and brief.

Rich sources

Each Reading List follows from the preceding podcast and infographic to fill in the blanks on the industry data and business/management topics that have emerged. For instance, if the Exhibit A infographic hints at the levels of digital adoption among Kenyans, as in the Qhala case, the Reading List contains a full report from a leading consulting group that digs into Kenya’s digital economy in detail. When the Founder-CEO of Regenize describes the challenges of leading a maturing startup on The Dilemma podcast, the Reading List gives readers a coaching playbook from one of South Africa’s most active entrepreneur support organisations.

We also want to give readers variety in terms of the type of publication and the sector, organisation, or authors that produce them. Every list contains a selection of news articles, long-form journalism, data-dense reports, academic articles and books, consultant analyses, policy briefs, toolkits and guidebooks, blogs, and popular business and management books. This includes publications authored by the experts featured in our Insights feature at the end of each case, who are often prolific writers or members of organisations that produce vital business insights and research.

Always open

To be sure, there are a great many paid or subscriber-only outlets that are worth your time and money. But since we first began imagining what a DBIA case could look like, our objective has been to create something that would be freely and easily available to African business schools and their stakeholders in the broader business community.

As a result, DBIA Reading Lists only include articles and reports that are freely available online. We never want paywalls to stand between readers and valuable insights about the case context and key business topics. Armed with a bit more information from this link roundup, readers are primed to get the most from the expert perspectives on the case issues, provided in the Insights feature at the conclusion of each case, and to form their own recommendations for how the DBIA companies should proceed.