BEE Partner, South Africa Economy Watch

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 »

If the South African government wants to see the country become successful in the global environment, it needs the backing not only of the citizens of the country, but also of all the other key stakeholders. These include investors, business people, the trade union movement, as well as all financial and socio-economic institutions. Strategic thinking, whether at national or corporate level, depends on the ability of a government or management team to create and then harness a willingness amongst people to participate in outmanoeuvring the efforts of other countries and/or companies. 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 »

3. Support meritocracy

Local companies coming from a previously isolated and uncompetitive economy that now find themselves competing with the world’s best need to develop a culture of recruiting and retaining the best brains available. They also have to consistently reinvest in their human capital. Global players such as Unilever, Shell, Toyota, SABMiller and the Fortune 500-listed organisations, which are pretty well entrenched in the global arena, have a larger pool of talent available to them because of the size of their operations and global reach. For home-grown South African organisations, the competition for human capital intensifies, as the brightest stars either emigrate or join the global players, who can give them access to their new employer’s global network. Read the rest of this entry »

Much strategic thinking in this country is also one-dimensional in nature. Many managers often go ahead and develop what they term a ‘strategy‘ from one perspective only — usually their own, and in terms of what they would like to achieve. The result is often a set of glorified objectives, or a vision established in emotive terms with scant regard for the opposition. Managers may take into accou_ntcertain aspects of the business environment, but few know how togather and utilise the information required to move their organisatio_ninto a position of superiority. The result is strategic myopia. Read the rest of this entry »

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FUTURE

A number of salient issues and suggestions have emerged, which could form the basis of debate on the future of our country’s prosperity in the global arena:

Suggestion 1

Make The Art of War compulsory reading for all South African political and business leaders. It should also be part of the curricula in our business schools and universities, to help teach students to think strategically and competitively. Read the rest of this entry »