Volume 3 Issue 2 | 2026 | View PDF
Paper Id: IJMSM-V3I2P137
doi: 10.71141/30485037/V3I2P137
Corporate Strategy and Organisational Resilience in Post-Conflict Economies: A Comparative Firm-Level Analysis of Africell and Orange Mobile Companies Limited in Sierra Leone
Steven Gbongbor Mansaray, Emmanuel Josiah, Alfred Mansaray, Mohamed Vandy, Emmanuel Kamara, David Kamara
Citation:
Steven Gbongbor Mansaray, Emmanuel Josiah, Alfred Mansaray, Mohamed Vandy, Emmanuel Kamara, David Kamara, "Corporate Strategy and Organisational Resilience in Post-Conflict Economies: A Comparative Firm-Level Analysis of Africell and Orange Mobile Companies Limited in Sierra Leone" International Journal of Multidisciplinary on Science and Management, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 302-323, 2026.
Abstract:
This study examines the strategic pathways through which mobile network operators achieve organisational resilience in post-conflict economies, using a comparative analysis of Africell and Orange Sierra Leone. Employing a mixed-methods design integrating quantitative operational data (2019–2025) and semi-structured expert interviews (N=24), we analyse how distinct corporate strategies influence resilience outcomes. Panel data regression (random-effects model) reveals that infrastructure investment diversification (β=0.42, p<0.01) and community-embedded strategic initiatives (β=0.38, p<0.05) are significant predictors of operational continuity during exogenous shocks, controlling for firm age and market share. Orange’s €23 million disaster-recovery data centre investment corresponds to 99.97% network availability (SD=0.08), while Africell’s solar energy transition (230kWp) and community foundation approach yield 99.92% availability (SD=0.11). The difference is statistically non-significant (t=1.24, p>0.05). Robustness checks using alternative crisis periodisation confirm the stability of these estimates. We extend the strategic fit perspective on organisational resilience (Zhou, Huang & Liu, 2025) by developing the Post-Conflict Adaptive Resilience (PCAR) framework, which integrates infrastructure redundancy, community legitimacy, and political astuteness as co-constitutive resilience capabilities. Our findings suggest that divergent strategic orientations, technocratic resilience (Orange) versus community-embedded resilience (Africell), can achieve equivalent functional outcomes through distinct configuration pathways, challenging one-size-fits-all prescriptions for post-conflict business strategy.
Keywords:
Organisational Resilience, Corporate Strategy, Post-Conflict Economies, Mobile Telecommunications, Sierra Leone, Strategic Fit, ADAPTIVE Capacity.
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