Abstract
This article analyses policies and strategies adopted by Botswana,
Zambia and Zimbabwe in order to develop linkage industries from
the mineral sector. Whilst Southern Africa has a strongly integrated
regional value chain for equipment and services related to mining,
linkage development strategies in the three countries under
examination have been formulated within narrow domestic
frameworks. The evidence suggests that the success or failure of a
resource-based industrialisation approach is country and sector
specific, requiring the deployment of different and appropriately
tailored policy instruments. Our research uncovered important
cross-country variations in terms of opportunities created by
specific mineral commodities, ambition and scope of industrial and
linkage development strategies, and institutional capabilities to
ensure enforcement and coherence with other policies.