Rethinking South-South Investment Theory: The Internationalisation of Nigerian Banks into Sub-Saharan Africa

This dissertation critically examines and extends South-South investment theory through the lens of Nigerian banking sector internationalisation into Sub-Saharan Africa, using the expansion of Zenith Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, United Bank for Africa, and Access Bank as primary empirical cases. Existing internationalisation theory, including the Uppsala model and the OLI paradigm, was developed from the experience of firms from advanced economies and has been demonstrated to inadequately explain the distinctive motivations, entry strategies, and competitive advantages deployed by multinationals originating in developing countries. The study employs a longitudinal comparative case study methodology, drawing on archival data covering the period 1998 to 2024, 55 elite interviews with banking executives, regulators, and host country banking supervisors, and financial performance data from annual reports across nine African countries of operation. Cross-case analysis and process tracing are applied as analytical strategies. The dissertation critiques the liability of foreignness concept as applied to South-South investors, arguing that shared post-colonial institutional experiences and cultural capital create a distinctive liability reduction mechanism not captured in conventional theory. An original framework, the Emerging Market Banking Internationalisation Model, is proposed, incorporating home country institutional push factors, psychic distance recalibration for South-South contexts, and risk tolerance shaped by prior domestic market turbulence exposure. The dissertation makes three original theoretical contributions and generates nine testable propositions for future empirical validation. Implications for host country banking regulation and regional financial integration policy are also developed. Keywords: South-South investment, banking internationalisation, Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa, IB theory