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The South African government actively intervenes in the labor market in the pursuit of redress of social injustice. These interventions are complicated by economics and have a direct effect on intentions to turnover. In addition, South Africa has a dual labor market, with a high unemployment rate among lesser skilled workers, and a skills shortage at the top of the labor market.

There are four clear eras in the labor market of post-Apartheid South Africa. The first era was after democratic elections in 1994, when the government focused on nation-building with the introduction of indigenization programs. The second era was characterized by economic prosperity and an intensification of indigenization programs. The third era was characterized by rampant state corruption and increased regulatory uncertainty. During this period, the economy stagnated and unemployment increased. Firms restructured and lower-level workers were retrenched and higher-level skilled workers left the country. In 2018, a new president undertook to grow the South African economy and attract foreign direct investment. Despite these efforts, there was a spike in South Africans emigrating, increasing the turnover of highly skilled South Africans of all races.

Economics and politics create both push and pull factors and many unintended consequences, and the dual labor market reacts differently to labor markets than in developed economies. The lower-skilled employees lose their jobs as the economy contracts, while highly skilled jobs remain difficult to fill. However, skilled professionals nonetheless feel increasingly uncertain about their future employability.

The development of banking in Africa followed the demand of exchange networks from traditional indigenous economies to colonial exchange with the European world. The establishment of European banking institutions reflected the needs of the capitalist economy introduced by colonialism. The banking management of late nineteenth century and early twentieth century European banks adhered to the interests of shareholders. This chapter shows the emergence of well-managed banks in Africa, but after decolonization the political economy of African independence resulted in state capturing of financial institutions in most African countries. The South African banking system developed in close adherence to the British model. State-owned post-independence banks in Africa failed to deliver the development envisaged. The chapter shows the adverse impact of global economic developments on Africa, resulting in high debt levels. Structural adjustment of African economies and new market-oriented policies allowed the development of locally owned private banking institutions. The high-cost structure of the formal banking system from the dominant South African banks incentivised the mobile money innovation, an arena where African entrepreneurs lead global markets. Financial inclusion remains low in Africa.

Compares the personal ethical ideologies of idealism and relativism of American marketers with their South African counterparts. The perceptions of ethical problems, ethical intentions, and coporate ethical values of the parties are also contrasted. The findings indicate that South Africans were more idealistic and less relativistic than their American counterparts. The hypotheses that there will be no differences between South African and American marketers in terms of their ethical perceptions and intentions were not supported. The results generally indicate that South African marketers are more likely to perceive ethical problems than American marketers. However, the survey results revealed that South African marketers tend to be less ethical in their intentions to resolve an ethical problem than their American counterparts. Corporate citizens of South African firms were found to have slightly higher corporate ethical values than their American counterparts, as hypothesized.

South African business organisations operate in an environment that is changing rapidly. One of the key drivers of this change is advances in information technology (IT). Accountants are educated at various tertiary institutions to prepare them to be competent as information and knowledge workers in the South African business environment. This article aims to determine the nature and demands of the South African business and the IT environment in which accountants must function. This analysis identifies the context within which IT skills are applied by accountants by investigating the South African business and IT environment to determine how educational institutions could ensure that the students they deliver possess the critical IT skills they need to be competent in the South African business environment.

Compares South Africa's dualistic economy of two economic subsystems — one is an industrialised system, the other a subsistence one. Discusses the four main population groups in the heterogeneous systems, Bantu, Whites, Coloureds and Asians, using tables to show these fully. Looks further at media and its growing availability to both White and African markets — this includes TV and radio as well as newspaper and magazines. Chronicles that, because the average African income per capita is low, owing to most Africans living in rural areas and non‐participation in a formal monetary economy, and because the average wage is also low, this does not preclude them in global terms from spending. Submits that even though Africans have low average income per capita their propensity to consume (willingness to buy) is high. Investigates African buyer behaviour and the influence the White man brought to bear following contact between the two races. Views the marketing mix and illustrates with the use of tables, different products and user profiles. Looks at promotion and its utmost importance to stimulate Africans to purchase products. Specifies the importance of distribution and price to Africans. Acknowledges that aggressive marketing to the African segment of South Africa may achieve large volume sales lowering costs — even prices may be brought within scope of households at last.

This paper aims to show that a generic bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) segmentation strategy does not represent a multi-country BoP consumer profile. A series of multinational entry failures has clearly shown that a one-size-fits-all strategy is inappropriate for emerging markets, especially in Africa.

The study analysed literature defining and profiling BoP consumers at both a global and local level using South Africa as a case study. Being Africa’s largest economy, South Africa was an ideal subject. The findings were then independently triangulated with seven experts for validation.

The results show that the South African BoP has eight characteristics that align with definitions in global BoP consumer literature. An additional five characteristics were identified that were not general BoP characteristics, and that applied specifically to South Africa.

The findings add to the growing evidence that BoP markets are complex and heterogeneous, and they make a case to consider each BoP market individually. As there is yet to be a model to define BoP market differences systematically, this study provides a foundation for new developments in BoP segmentation in Africa and in other emerging markets.

While there is evidence that BoP markets are complex and heterogeneous, there is yet to be a model to begin the process of defining these differences systematically to improve strategic direction for multinational companies and regional decision makers. This study, therefore, provides a foundation for new developments in this field of segmentation in Africa and in other emerging markets globally.

This study aims to investigate the impact of the macroeconomic environment on South African industrial sector returns.

Using standardized coefficients derived from time-series factor models, the authors quantify the impact of macroeconomic influences on industrial sector returns. The authors analyze the structure of the resultant residual correlation matrices to establish the level of factor omission and apply a factor analytic augmentation to arrive at a specification that is free of omitted common factors.

The authors find that global influences are the most important drivers of returns and that industrial sectors are highly integrated with the global economy. The authors show that specifications that comprise only macroeconomic factors and proxies for omitted factors in the form of residual market factors are likely to be underspecified. This study demonstrates that a factor analytic augmentation is an effective approach to ensuring an adequately specified model.

The findings have a number of implications that are of interest to investors, econometricians and researchers. While the study focusses on a single market, the South African stock market, as represented by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), it is a highly developed and globally integrated market. In terms of market capitalization, it exceeds the Madrid Stock Exchange, the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the BM&F Bovespa. Yet, a limited number of studies investigate the macroeconomic drivers of the South African stock market.

Investors should be aware that while the South African domestic environment, especially political risk, has an impact on returns, global influences are the greatest determinants of returns. No industrial sectors are insulated from global influences and this limits the potential for diversification. This study suggests an alternative set of macroeconomic factors that may be used in further analysis and asset pricing studies. From an econometric perspective, this study demonstrates the usefulness of a factor analytic augmentation as a solution to factor omission in models that use macroeconomic factors to proxy for systematic influences that describe asset prices.

The contribution lies in providing insight into a large and well-developed yet understudied financial market, the South African stock market. This study considers a much broader set of macroeconomic factors than prior studies. A methodological contribution is made by estimating and interpreting standardized coefficients to discriminate between the impact of domestically and internationally driven factors. This study shows that should coefficients not be standardized, inferences relating to the relative importance of factors will differ. Finally, the authors unify an approach of using pre-specified factors with a factor analytic approach to address factor omission and to ensure a valid and readily interpretable specification.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a background into the challenges and developments faced by marketers in South Africa as well as those wanting to enter the South African market.

The paper presents the viewpoints of the authors based on their knowledge of happenings within the marketing field in South Africa.

Marketers in South Africa face both challenges and developments from the macro and market environment. These challenges and developments include the diverse nature of the South African consumer, competition, infrastructure issues, government legislation and bureaucracy.

South African marketers need to adapt their marketing strategies to accommodate the developments in the market. Furthermore, marketing strategies need to be adapted to meet the new challenges in South Africa markets in terms of the diversity of consumers in order to be successful.

The originality and value of this paper lies in the fact that it highlights the challenges and developments that marketers in South Africa face. In many cases, marketers are marketing their products and services as they did two decades ago, without realising the need to change their marketing strategy in order to target consumers as highlighted in this paper.

The vast global unit trust/mutual fund industry was worth more than $16 trillion by the end of June 2005. Over time, investors’ interests seem to have shifted from individual shares to share funds. The unit trust industry in South Africa is no exception. Over the 40‐year period from its inception in 1965 to 2005, the industry has grown from only one fund to 567 different funds, worth more than R345 billion. This study highlights some of the most important changes that have occurred in the South African unit trust industry over the last 40 years. These shifts are compared to changes that the USA mutual fund industry has experienced in the 60 years of its existence. An attempt is then made to answer the question whether South African investors are better off with these changes or not.

Despite today’s globalised business world, there is a dearth of knowledge on the influence of consumer ethnocentrism on the purchasing behaviour of consumers in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumer ethnocentrism, its antecedents and consequences in a developing country (South Africa) and makes recommendations to firms wishing to do business in South Africa.

The study was conducted among a national sample of South African respondents using a structured questionnaire. The study is unique in that two samples were used, a sample of white and a sample of black respondents. By using two ethnically diverse samples, it was possible to investigate whether there are similarities and/or differences in terms of consumer ethnocentrism, its antecedents and consequences among two major ethnic groups in South Africa.

The findings suggest that the antecedents of cultural openness, patriotism, individualism and a history of oppression influence consumer ethnocentrism among both black and white South Africans. It was further established that the antecedent nationalism exerts an influence on consumer ethnocentrism among white South African consumers, but not among black South African consumers.

The results of the study are of value for South African firms as well as those further afield, when developing marketing strategies for the diverse consumer market in South Africa.

This study adds to the existing body of knowledge on consumer ethnocentrism in an emerging market, and more specifically, among different ethnic groups in the same country.