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Case Study Botswana: a Diamond in the Rough

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Botswana: A Diamond in the Rough

The Harvard Business School case study “Botswana: a diamond in the rough” deals with various reasons how Botswana became within 40 years the most successful economy in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The case study leads through Botswana’s history before the colonization by the British Empire until today, stating several factors which made Botswana more successful compared to it’s neighbour countries in Sub-Sahara Africa.
Within only 30 years a very rapid economical growth could be observed and in 2000 Botswana’s GDP growing rate reached a similar value as China.
The political situation is stable since Botswana’s independence in 1966 and their corruption is, especially compared to other African countries, very …show more content…

As Botswana’s inhabitants were less oppressed by their colonial rulers, they were able to develop their democratically society more or less in freedom.
In accordance with the case study Botswana’s biggest success factor was the discovery of gold and diamond mines in 1968. More mines were found in the following years and Botswana became number one diamond exporter worldwide. A very important but also controversial decision by Botswana’s government was the foundation of a Joint Venture with the South African multinational company DeBeers. As a contrast, other African countries with valuable resources decided to nationalize mines and oil fields and raised taxes unproportional. Due to Botswana’s decision to cooperate with DeBeers, they became the world’s most successful international cartel.
In my opinion the discovery of the diamond mines in Botswana had a huge contribution to the country’s success today, but looking at other African countries which are rich in resources one will recognize that countries as Angola or Sierra Leone cannot document the similar successes as Botswana can do.
Coming to the question if Botswana’s success is replicable on other African countries we have to remind, that only a few African countries are as rich in valuable resources as Botswana. But as I mentioned before, even countries that are provided with similar resources, weren’t able to channel the high revenues into physical, social and human capital

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