Strategic Synergies: The Untold Interactions Between Global Competitiveness and Logistics Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa

The study examines interactive effects among the 12 pillars of the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) and logistics performance in sub-Saharan Africa. It covers the periods 2007, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 with regard to consistent data availability for the selected variables and countries within the sub-Saharan region. The study employs innovative approaches, including the Tree-augmented Naïve Bayes Network (TAN-BN), Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), and Importance-Performance Map Analysis (IPMA), to ascertain causal effects, correlations, and the relative importance of the pillars of the GCI to logistics performance for policy decisions and actions within the region. We reveal a significant positive relationship between most of the pillars of the GCI. Also, technological readiness is found to be the only pillar of the GCI that has a significant direct positive relationship with logistics performance. Conversely, higher education and training have a significant indirect relationship with logistics performance. Findings from this study imply that concentration on what drives logistics performance alone may hinder policy decisions due to the existence of linkages among the pillars. It is recommended that governments in sub-Saharan Africa should invest extensively in technology and higher education and training to achieve improvement in logistics performance while observing other pillars of the GCI with caution. Theoretical, practical, and policy implications are provided. Unlike previous global analyses, this study is the first to focus exclusively on Sub-Saharan Africa and further uncovers the indirect pathways among GCI pillars using a combined TAN-BN and PLS-SEM framework to provide regionalised policy recommendations.