Environments Archives - Page 4 of 5

Nigeria’s economic growth to overtake South Africa next year

Phila Mzamo on July 25 2017 in News

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted that the Nigerian economy will expand by 1.9% in 2018, higher than the 1.2% it estimated for the South African economy, though.

In addition, the multilateral institution projected that Nigeria would exit the biting economic recession this year with a slim economic growth of 0.8%, just as it predicted that South Africa, would also record 1% growth in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) this year. The fund made the predictions in its World Economic Outlook (WEO) for July 2017, titled: ‘A Firming Recovery,’ that was obtained on its website.

WEO’s breakdown
The South economy entered recession for the first time in eight years in 2017, this according to data from Statistics South Africa presented in June. Similarly, the Nigerian economy sank into its worst economic recession in 29 years last year and has seen government pursuing expansionary fiscal policies […]

Estie2017-07-27T14:26:36+02:00July 27th, 2017|Environments, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

China’s burgeoning ‘sharing economy’ has eyes on Africa

Opinion 23 July 2017, (Melanie Peters)

Photo taken on May 29, 2017 shows a person using phone software locating the shared car in Handan district, north China’s Hebei Province.

The sharing economy, which originated in 1970s in the U.S., is growing rapidly in China and has brought great changes to people’s life providing more economic, verified and convenient services.

CHINA’S sharing bubble is expanding. A quick scan of a QR code with a smartphone rents you just about anything, from bicycles and cars, to offices and homes.

Consumers worldwide show a robust appetite for the so-called sharing economy, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers pinned the platform’s worth at $335 billion in the next decade as travellers opt to rent a spare room on Airbnb or use Uber or Didi Chuxing in China.

The term “sharing economy” was coined in Silicon Valley, where computer coders shared programmes for free. Investopedia […]

Estie2017-07-27T14:17:48+02:00July 27th, 2017|Entrepreneurship, Environments, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

Despite long periods of positive economic growth, unemployment remains one of the key challenges faced by South Africa.

25/07/2017
Zimkhitha Mvandaba Blogs Editor, HuffPost South Africa

South Africa’s unemployment remains a major concern and our economy has taken more than just a few knocks this year. South Africa was downgraded to sub-investment grade, or junk status, following the shock executive reshuffle by President Jacob Zuma. This move invariably led to less money for critical services such as housing, education and sanitation.

Despite long periods of positive economic growth, unemployment remains one of the key challenges faced by South Africa. StatsSA will be publishing the second quarter rate in the Quarterly Labour Force Survey on Tuesday, and data on producer inflation. It will be interesting to see how we fair as a country and to ascertain what can be done to ensure that our unemployment reading does not nosedive into further decline. Here are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Technical recession
SA officially entered a technical recession after our gross domestic […]

Estie2017-07-27T14:13:42+02:00July 27th, 2017|Environments, Finance, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

4 graphs that show why it’s so tough to be an entrepreneur in South Africa

24 July 2017

The OECD’s Economic Survey of South Africa 2017 suggests that the country needs wide-ranging structural reforms to pull itself out of recession.
The survey suggests a range of policy reforms, which includes encouraging South Africa to open key sectors – including telecommunications, energy, transport and services – to more competition. It also says that moving forward with the planned introduction of a national minimum wage will reduce in-work poverty and inequality.

One of the biggest focuses of the survey is around entrepreneurship, where growing small businesses is seen as a crucial element to boosting economic recovery and job creation, in a market wrought with high levels of unemployment and rising costs.

According to the OECD, the South African government has taken steps to ease requirements for starting a business, but red tape remains a burden, while the quality of the education system and lack of work experience contribute to gaps in […]

Estie2017-07-27T14:01:19+02:00July 27th, 2017|Environments, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

South Africa in a recession

Govt ‘confident’ that it can address recession – Cabinet

Jun 22 2017 14:18 Liesl Peyper

Cape Town – Government is confident in its “systematic interventions” to address economic challenges and improve the performance of state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

In a statement released on Thursday, a day after the customary fortnightly meeting of Cabinet ministers, government said it reflected on the issues raised by three ratings agencies – Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch – about the slow pace of growth-enhancing reforms, the performance of SOEs and political risks.

The Cabinet statement was released two hours before President Jacob Zuma is expected to answer questions in the National Assembly about government’s plan of action to address the recession and record high unemployment figures.

“Cabinet reiterates that the foundation for a higher growth path and socio-economic development has already been laid,” the statement read. “It focuses on improving investor and consumer confidence by fast-tracking the implementation of the […]

Estie2017-06-24T13:17:57+02:00June 24th, 2017|Environments, Finance, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

10 Principles of Strategic Leadership

Published: May 18, 2016 / Autumn 2016 / Issue 84

How to develop and retain leaders who can guide your organization through times of fundamental change. See also “Find Your Strategic Leaders.”

by Jessica Leitch, David Lancefield, and Mark Dawson

Illustration by Lars Leetaru

A version of this article appeared in the Autumn 2016 issue of strategy+business.

Most companies have leaders with the strong operational skills needed to maintain the status quo. But they face a critical deficit: They lack people in positions of power with the know-how, experience, and confidence required to tackle what management scientists call “wicked problems.” Such problems can’t be solved by a single command, they have causes that seem incomprehensible and solutions that seem uncertain, and they often require companies to transform the way they do business. Every enterprise faces these kinds of challenges today.

A 2015 PwC study of 6,000 senior executives, conducted using a […]

Estie2017-06-23T15:44:22+02:00June 23rd, 2017|Environments, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

Risk

Downloaded from https://za.pinterest.com/pin/6051780725021397/ on June 2017

Estie2017-06-23T15:39:08+02:00June 23rd, 2017|Environments, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

Inflation

Downloaded from https://ib2-business-p7.wikispaces.com/1.5+External+Environment on 18 June 2017

Estie2017-06-23T15:37:59+02:00June 23rd, 2017|Environments, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

Business confidence improves despite junk status and reshuffle

Thanks to Carolyn Clelland from Grace College in Hilton for sharing this article

The April 2017 South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci)has released its latest Business Confidence Index (BCI), indicating that business confidence in the country is still positive – despite a turbulent month of reshuffles and downgrades.

In its report published on 4 May, Sacci noted that while some of it sub-indices instantly reacted to events at the end of March into April pertaining to political developments, 9 of the 13 sub-indices making up the BCI were still affected by the business climate prior to the president Jacob Zuma’s cabinet reshuffle and the subsequent credit downgrades.

As a result, positive developments in the economy still informed the business climate in April 2017 and were vibrant enough to carry the positive business climate forward into May 2017.

The bulk of positive monthly contributions in April mainly came from much higher
merchandise import volumes, followed […]

Estie2017-05-30T19:36:00+02:00May 30th, 2017|Environments, Recources|

16 of the worst things about doing business in South Africa

Thanks to Carolyn Clelland from Grace College in Hilton for sharing this article

A recent report published by the World Economic Forum sheds light on some of the barriers companies face in conducting business in Africa.

To capture the concerns of business leaders, every year the WEF conducts the executive opinion survey, asking business leaders around the world to rate the factors they consider most problematic for doing business in their country.

In 2016, access to financing was again considered the most problematic factor for doing business in Africa, followed by corruption.

These two factors have topped the list every year since 2012. However, tax rates emerged as the third-ranked concern, a significantly higher priority in 2016 than it had been in the past four years.

Rising in the list of concerns for African executives, albeit not yet ranking as particularly severe, are foreign currency regulations and difficulties in innovating, the WEF said.

“The […]

Estie2017-05-30T19:34:38+02:00May 30th, 2017|Entrepreneurship, Environments, Recources|