This article introduces the special issue that seeks to spur the debate on the challenges of managing people in organizations in Africa. The debate on HRM in Africa has proceeded with tentative steps and now clearly needs to be located firmly within the international management context. It is not the purpose of this special issue to discover or develop an over-arching model of HRM. That has been attempted elsewhere. Our purpose is to bring together the various threads that characterize the on-going debate and hopefully move towards a more specific research agenda which captures the complexity of managing on the African continent. Some of these threads include the formulation of new perspectives on HR research, finding common ground with diverse disciplines and tackling enduring problems like ethnicity and discrimination.

11. Assuming a company wishes to distribute money to its shareholders, is it better to

distribute dividends or to repurchase shares?

12. Is the price of futures the best estimate of the /$ exchange rate?

13. How could we obtain an indisputable discount rate? How should we calculate the beta

and the risk premium?

14. My company paid an extremely high price for the acquisition of another company; the

price was recommended by the valuation of an investment bank. We now have

financial problems. Is there any way to make that bank legally responsible for this

situation?

15. Which currency has to be used in an international acquisition in order to calculate the

flows?

16. Calculated betas provide different information if they are obtained by using daily,

weekly or monthly data. Which data is the most appropriate?

17. Does is make any sense to calculate betas against local indexes when a company has a

great part of its operations outside this local market? I have two examples: BBVA and

Santander.

18. Is it possible to make money in the stock market when the quotations are going

down? What is credit sale?

19. Which capital structure should we consider when calculating the WACC for a subsidiary

valuation: the one that is reasonable according to the risk of the subsidiary's business,

the average of the company or the one the subsidiary "tolerates/permits"?

20. Are there any ways to analyze and value seasonal businesses?