BEE Partner, South Africa Economy Watch

South African local Chinese are in the “black people” which is designed to benefit previous apartheid disadvantaged groups. Are they are fully black now? Do they really benefit all the advantages of BEE Act? According to the report this morning, Chinese are not fully black.
Johannesburg - The National African Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Nafcoc) has slammed a high court ruling that defines Chinese South Africans as black and gives them the full benefits of affirmative action legislation, claiming the black economic empowerment (BEE) “cake” was too small to share. Read the rest of this entry »

It is common practice for your BBBEE rating to coincide with your financial year end. As your BBBEE rating is only valid for 1 year, this is the opportune time to seriously consider your BBBEE rating.As the leading empowerment consultancy in the industry we have the deepest experience in interpreting what qualifies, and what supporting evidence is needed, for your BBBEE scorecard. We have the knowledge to be able to provide you with the tools and information needed to build a comprehensive Pre-Audit pack for the rating process.

The Pre-Audit pack will help you to put together the qualifying data that will be needed for the auditing process. We will help you to understand what supporting evidence is needed for the rating agencies check list. By doing this you will understand what qualifies and what doesn’t qualify for rating. Read the rest of this entry »

The strength of a country and/or a business organisation, and therefore the strength of its strategy, is created by its human capital. At the heart of strategic thinking lies the purpose of preserving the environment: at the macro-level, preservation of the economy, whilst, at the micro-level, preservation of the industry participants. Few firms think about this. Individual agendas focus on maximising profits and, in neo-liberal market economics, maximising shareholder value at the expense of social values. Yet contributing towards industry and economic preservation benefits a nation in the long term and gives it economic strength, as well as the wherewithal for competing on the global stage. Read the rest of this entry »

11. Be prepared to adapt the supply chain

A company’s supply chain should reflect the strategic initiative it takes in its attempts to outmanoeuvre its opposition. Because the supply chain impacts heavily on costs, customer service, asset productivity and revenue, it must play a key role in company efforts at creating an ongoing, seamless transition of responsibilities. This means that customers should perceive a ‘business-as-usual’ focus. Essentially, the supply chain should be assisting the company in searching for competitive advantage, and sustaining it for as long as realistically possible. Read the rest of this entry »

The problem in most organisations seems to be that value innovation is kept at the corporate level and does not permeate the entire organisation. Employees need to see themselves as a critical resource in the job that they do, not just for the organisation, but also for themselves. Put simply, if an organisation creates an environment in which value innovation is encouraged and rewarded, the participating individual’s self-worth will improve, which in turn will have a positive spin-off on job satisfaction, job involvement, and, ultimately, customer satisfaction and loyalty. Read the rest of this entry »

5. Leverage diversity

One of the most powerful tools of innovative thinking in the South African workplace is that of diversity. In South Africa, with its apartheid past, the temptation is to focus on cultural diversity in order to try to forge a clearer understanding between the various cultures of South Africa. The Rainbow Nation is well represented in business organisations, thereby presenting our companies with a great opportunity for the generation of ideas. However, the prudent manager will appreciate that workplace diversity also covers age, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, physical abilities and qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational background, geographical location, income, marital status, military experience, religious beliefs, parental status and work experience, amongst others. Read the rest of this entry »

These are but two examples of a process that was repeated throughout the entire company with stunningly positive results. However, the key to success in an exercise of this nature lies in the extent to which management rethinks the view it has of its business, as well as the extent to which it is prepared to bring its people into the process. In the above examples, subsequent organisational climate surveys indicated a greater feeling of achievement and job-fulfilment in this organisation. Job satisfaction improved, as did customer loyalty. Ceteris paribus, a contribution was being made to the maximisation of shareholder value and a win—win relationship created between these two elements of modern-day capitalism. Read the rest of this entry »

Fortunately, management realised that if things continued in the _way they had for decades, the company would be vulnerable to attack by global predators. This was of particular concern, as foreign competitors were beginning to eye South Africa’s small but potentially good pickings. In addition to this, global customers such as Johnson & Johnson were beginning to demand justification for their local _subsidiary retaining its South African supplier, instead of plugging into the global supply network.

Essentially, it took threats from major customers to bring home to this company the gravity of the situation. Persuading management to think carefully on how they saw themselves, the company and its role in the marketplace, solved the problem. After careful thought, management reached the conclusion that its company was more than simply a manufacturer and distributor of packaging. Read the rest of this entry »

In addition to all of this, the development and application of strategic thinking is dependent not only on the manner in which the manager views his or her company, industry and competition, but also on how he or she actually views business per se, and the world in general. All organisations function within the greater universe. How a manager views our universe will have an impact on how a strategy is developed. For example, if business is seen purely as a means of making money, then one’s overall thinking will reflect that view. If, on the other hand, a broader context is applied, such as a business as a means of providing employment and/or making a contribution to the development of one’s community or country, then broader-based thinking will result. Read the rest of this entry »

A well-known marketing adage states that a bad product will not last very long in the marketplace. No amount of sales, advertising or promotional effort will do it any good if people simply do not want to buy it. As any first-year marketing student knows, and in the words of famed marketing guru Philip Kotler, the marketing concept states that ‘the key to achieving organisational goals consists in determining the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors’: In today’s bitterly contested global marketplace, countries have customers and competitors too. South Africa is no exception. Read the rest of this entry »

Scenario No. 5

At the end of 2004, Singapore announced that it would be increasing its technical assistance to Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam by approximately US$30 million. Viewed by its government as part of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration, an initiative launched in 2000, Singapore will be providing assistance of a technical nature, in which it has the expertise. Why should Singapore take su_ch step, and what are the implications for global competitiven_ess.

Firstly, Singapore has an interest in the stability and welfar_{e o}f its neighbours, since these poorer countries, along with Singapore help to comprise the region. Read the rest of this entry »

The idea behind the Phillips Curve is that higher inflation is associated with lower unemployment, and vice versa. Intuitively, this seems plausible enough. The stronger the economy, the more business is booming, the more jobs there will be. So we can expect the rate of unemployment to be lower. Indeed, it may fall to a point where shortages of various labor skills begin to emerge. In general, the more the economy is booming, the more likely there are to be shortages and inflationary pressures. By the same token, in a slump, excess labor and excess capacity will reduce inflationary pressures, and may even lead in some areas to price cutting. Read the rest of this entry »

This stagnation tendency, the growing savings gap, has often been viewedas a problem. But why should one look at it that way? Isn’t the gap really a big resource? Should it not be encouraged? For the bigger the gap, the greater the scope for deficit financing of public spending. Indeed, the graver the stagnationist tendencies of the private sector, the lower the taxes can go, and the greater the scope for public borrowing and a growing debt. Instead of encouraging private spending as a remedy for stagnation, should we not promote private saving to widen the savings gap? For by so doing, we could deficit finance all the more, and enjoy the supply-side benefits of reduced taxation. Read the rest of this entry »

Sasol petrochemical group sold 20 percent of its Sasol Mining share to Ixia Coal in a deal worth R1.9 billion. Sasol petrochemical group total market value worth R212 billion. The total transaction cost is R9.3 billion which only accounts for 4 percentage of total value. It means Sasol makes 16% discount of its share price. The question is does the sasol loose its money, or does the Ixia Coal make a profit? In other way, whose money has been sacrificed during the deal? By BEEPartner.com editor opinion, If sasol share price going to a downturn, their both loose.