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The anti-apartheid movement represented a cornerstone for socially responsible investors in the 1970s and 1980s driven by the willingness to promote lasting social change. What happened next in terms of socially responsible investing (SRI) in the free South Africa? This chapter explores the local development of SRI in South Africa post-apartheid.

An in-depth literature review combined with a content analysis 73 SRI funds’ investment mandates were undertaken to investigate the local development of SRI in South Africa over the period 1992–2012.

Mechanisms of local divergence and global convergence have both shaped the phenomenon of SRI in South Africa. SRI in South Africa represents a melting-pot of societal values anchored in a local developmental and transformative political vision, some local and global Islamic religious values, and worldwide SRI and CSR homogenisation trends.

This chapter is the first attempt to outline the mechanisms of local divergence and global convergence that have moulded SRI in a democratic South Africa.

This chapter provides a review of the literature relating to intellectual capital and firm performance in the context of corporate reputation. Section 2.2 outlines the definitions of intellectual capital and how they differ from the definitions offered for intangibles by accounting regulators. Section 2.3 reviews the categorisation of intellectual capital and looks at two major models of categorisation. Section 2.4 examines the definition of intellectual capital disclosure. Section 2.5 examines firm performance from the viewpoint of firm reputation for value-relevant disclosure. Section 2.6 discusses firm reputation in the context of intellectual capital disclosure. Section 2.7 provides a summary of the chapter.

This chapter examines firm strengths and weaknesses from the standpoint of intangible assets. These are compared within and across industry sectors in order to better understand who might be a potential collaborator (or competitor) in different contexts. Establishing the conceptual basis of a range of intangibles, including data, explicit knowledge, tacit knowledge, and intelligence, the chapter moves to metrics for assessing industry averages and individual firm capabilities. Finally, several sectors in healthcare are examined, specifically identifying what kinds of collaborators would best fit with a technology-driven start-up like Theranos.

At any time, there will be differing views on what needs to be done to be properly accountable, because accountees are likely to be in favour of more accountability, and accountors, of less (Perks, 1993). This leads to a tension between these two groups (Ijiri, 1983).