BEE Partner, South Africa Economy Watch

It is important for a government to fully understand the competitive dynamics of the global environment if it is to successfully take the country and its people forward. A political leader who is able to think and act locally, but is unable to do so on a global basis, is a liability to the development of the country. Advancing a country’s interests is all about economic and social development. A government that cannot create the right kind of climate for coordinated development is failing in its duty — not only to its electorate, but also to every single stakeholder. More and more national stakeholders throughout the world’s nations are beginning to demand this from their political leaders. Scotland is a good example. It has a mature, service-dominated economy with a proud tradition in all aspects of human endeavour far beyond its size or population. Yet the Scottish business sector recently challenged the nation’s political leaders, who themselves often call for domestic firms to become more globally competitive, to raise their own standards and play a greater role in assisting the country to advance its global competitiveness.” Read the rest of this entry »

The domestic investor is yet another class of customer. In June 2004, Allister Sparks, veteran journalist and political commentator, asked the following question: ‘Why do our business leaders seemso reluctant to invest in the new South Africa?’ In marketing terms, his question was really, ‘Why don’t our domestic investors want to buy South Africa, the product?’ Sparks quoted a figure of R392 billion — nearly a third of South Africa’s GDP — which is sitting in the balance sheets of South African corporations and that could be invested in the country. The truth of the matter is, as a custome_rof the country, a domestic investor is going to weigh up the kind of returns to be received and the risk to be faced before this ‘product‘ is consumed. Read the rest of this entry »