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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Foreign Technical Assistance and Development in Ethiopia: A Case Study of the Glass and Bottle Plant |
Author: | Wubneh, Mulatu |
Year: | 1991 |
Periodical: | Northeast African Studies |
Volume: | 13 |
Issue: | 2-3 |
Pages: | 19-36 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Ethiopia |
Subjects: | technical cooperation Development and Technology international relations |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/43660088 |
Abstract: | This paper examines the role of foreign technical assistance in Ethiopia, especially the role of consultants and multinational corporations, by focusing on the case of the Glass and Bottle Company. It centres upon the question of how a project so intensively studied could fail. In the mid-1960s, the government of Ethiopia was actively seeking foreign technical assistance and equity partnership to develop a glass and bottle factory. The project was studied by five prominent international consultants and managed by two multinational corporations. It was partially financed by a loan from USAID. After several years of delay, cost overrun and accusations of unfair business practice and mismanagement, the Glass and Bottle Company opened in 1973. However, it was forced to close after six months of operation because of lack of demand for its products, scarcity of suitable raw materials, and problems of technical and managerial know-how. The paper demonstrates the extent to which the lack of knowledge on the part of the experts, corruption and inefficiency on the part of the nationals, and greed, on the part of the multinationals, contributed to the failure. App., notes, ref. |