South Africa – a top developing and globally competitive nation Brand SA Special Research report

7/30/2019 South Africa a top developing and globally competitive nation Brand SA Special Research report

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List of FiguresFig. 1 South Aricas perormance in WEF Competitiveness Report

Fig. 2 SA WEF perormance vs. BRIC average

Fig. 3 Next11 and South Arica over-all rankings in WEF Competitiveness Report 2010-2012

Fig. 4 SA WEF perormance vs. Next 11 average

Fig. 5 - BRICS comparison World Bank Ease o Doing Business

Fig. 6 - South Arica perormance in UNDP Human Development Index

Fig. 7 - Nation Brand Hexagon

Fig. 8 South Arica over-all and pillar perormance in Nation Brand Index

Fig. 9 Economic sectors associated with South Arica

South AfricaA top developing and globally competitive nation

Brand South Africa Special Research ReportApril 2013


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Contents

Introduction

Foreword

Part 1 Competitiveness & Related Human Development Indicators

1. World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report

2.Institute or Management Development Global Competitiveness (IMD)

3.BRICS-SA Competitiveness Comparisons

3.1 BRICS versus South Arica Competitiveness Comparison

3.2 South Arica and the Next11 Competitiveness Comparison

4. The Ibrahim Index o Arican Governance

5. World Bank Ease o Doing Business

5.1. South Arica BRICS Doing Business Index Comparison

6. WEF World Travel & Tourism Index

6.1. Over-all Ranking

6.2. Positive Comments by WEF on SA Travel & Tourism Competitiveness

7.United Nations Development Programme Human Development Report

Part 2 Reputation Indicators & International Investor Perceptions o

South Arica1. Anholt GK-Roper Nation Brand Index

2.Investor perceptions Key ndings rom Brand SA Project Thrive International Investor Perception oSouth Arica Research

Conclusion


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List of Figures

Fig. 1 South Aricas perormance in WEF Competitiveness Report

Fig. 2 SA WEF perormance vs. BRICS average

Fig. 3 Next11 and South Arica over-all rankings in WEF Competitiveness Report 2010-2012


Fig. 5 - BRICS comparison World Bank Ease o Doing Business

Fig. 6 - South Arica perormance in UNDP Human Development Index



Fig. 9 Economic sectors associated with South Arica


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Foreword

Brand South Arica works to improve South Aricas global reputation, and to position the country as an investment destinationand trade partner. The purpose with this work is to contribute to South Arica reaching its dened strategic goals o internalhuman and economic development, while also contributing positively to the Arican and global environments.

In a year when South Arica hosted or the rst time on the Arican continent, the annual BRICS Summit, the theme o the thBRICS Summit reected changes taking place in the global political economy. The increasing signicance o developing nationsand emerging markets in the global economy creates opportunities or new relations. The 5th BRICS Summit theme, BRICSand AFRICA: Partnership for Development, Integration and Industrialisation, aimed to address questions regarding the benets SouthArica, and Arica can derive rom the BRICS.

This research report brings together several pieces o analysis o country perormance Brand South Arica develops to understandcountry competitiveness in a rapidly changing global environment. This report identies key strengths unique to the South Aricaneconomy. These indicators highlight that South Arica has unique competitive strengths in the context o the developing world.

The broader context o South Aricas inclusion into the BRICS ormation, as well as South Aricas competitiveness perormancecompared to other developing nations, thereore shape the approach taken to the research presented here.

Highlights include the World Economic Forums competitiveness report that ranks South Arica 15th globally or Quality o AirTransport Inrastructure, while the countrys nancial services sector, banks and stock exchange are top global perormers. Fur-thermore, South Arica, i compared to the BRIC, comes rst in ve o the ten criteria the World Bank uses to assess ease o doingbusiness, being: Starting a business; Dealing with construction permits; Getting credit; Protecting investors; and Paying taxes. Thismeans that South Arica oers protection to oreign direct investments, and is certainly a business riendly environment whereinnew trade, investment, and related economic interactions can be ostered. As South Arica heads or twenty years o democracyit is important to assess the road travelled thus ar, and to understand the position the country occupies globally, as a developingnation, in the early 21st century.

Miller Matola

CEO Brand South Africa


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Introduction

Brand South Aricas research tracks a wide variety o competitiveness, reputation, and related global studies and indices. The

goal with this is to monitor and evaluate over-all country perormance in a highly competitive and uncertain global economy.These third party inormation sources are then supplemented by Brand South Arica commissioned research projects, andsubscriptions to domestic research vehicles. In order to urther deliver on research insights, Brand South Arica convenes Re-search Reerence Groups that reect on and provide Brand South Arica with expert input and advice on key issues o concernat the time.

This report presents key ndings rom research conducted by Brand South Arica in the past year. Signicant ndings includeanalysis o indicators showing that South Arica is a top perorming globally competitive developing nation. This is important inthe context o the country s membership o the BRICS grouping, as well as macro-economic changes taking place in the worldsystem. Hence the reports specic ocus on developing a comparative understanding o how South Arica perorms incompetitiveness in relation to ellow developing nations.

The competitive strengths, together with indicators on international investor perceptions o the country can together be takenas an inspiration to show the strengths in the national economy. These can on their part become building blocks o excellenceor the realisation o Vision 2030 in the National Development Plan while contributing positively to enhancing South Aricasreputation globally.

But, why is this important? This report presents highlights rom Brand South Aricas research regarding country perormance in abroad range o competitiveness, doing business, governance, and reputation indicators. In this regard analysis o country reputa-tion and competitiveness has to be seen in the context o larger patterns o change unolding in the global political economy.

The 2013 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Report, contains powerul insights regardingthe increasingly important role developing countries, such as South Arica, are playing in the 21st century. The UNDP indi-cates that the South (developing nations and emerging markets) currently produces hal the worlds economic output. In 1990these countries contributed only about a third o world economic output. To urther illustrate the signicant shit in the globaleconomic balance o power, the UNDP argues that the combined GDP o eight developing countries, these being - Argentina,Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Arica and Turkey equals the GDP o the United States. This implies or the UNDPthat countries such as Brazil, South Arica, India and China, have become major drivers o the global economy and thus orcesor change in the developing world. It is or this reason pertinent to locate and understand how South Arica is positionedwithin this rapidly changing global economic and by implication geopolitical environment.

Part 1 o the report brings together a range o competitiveness and human development indicators. These indicators are then,on their part, utilised in a comparative manner to ascertain South Aricas strengths in relation to ellow BRICS and other prom-ising developing nations broadly reerred to as the Next11. What emerges is a pattern o country perormance indicating thatSouth Arica matches and outperorms other peer developing countries in critical areas o national competency. These areimportant indicators to utilise in the process o positioning South Arica as a reliable trade partner, and attractive investmentdestination.

Part 2 o the report reects on ndings rom an annual international investor perception study commissioned by Brand SouthArica. In addition, this part o the report reects on ndings rom the annual Anholt GK-Roper Nation Brand Index (NBI). TheNBI studies the global reputation o a select group o 50 nations. South Aricas perormance in the NBI, together with ndingsrom the investor perception study, should provide high-level insights into the over-all perception o South Arica.

Dr. Petrus de Kock

Research Manager


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Part 1 Competitiveness & related HumanDevelopment indicators

In a rapidly changing global economic and geopolitical environment, competition or FDI, trade opportunities, and related busi-ness activity is increasing. The sections below presents some highlights and comparisons between South Arica, the BRICS nations,

and the Next11 group o developing nations.

As indicated in the sections below, South Arica perorms well in comparison to ellow developing nations, implying that SouthAricans can have condence in the capabilities, skill, and knowledge necessary to improve the country s over-all global competi-tiveness, create jobs, and realise human- and skills development goals in uture.

1. World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2012/13

Top issues emerging rom the World Economic Forums Competitiveness Report indicate that South Arica compares quite wellwith ellow developing nations and emerging markets. South Aricas strengths in the 2012 report include globally leading peror-mance in:

Legal Rights Index (1st); Regulation o Securities Exchanges (1st); Efcacy o Corporate Boards (1st); Strength o Auditing and Reporting Standards (1st); Availability o Financial Services (2nd); Financing through local equity market (3rd).

In general it can be indicated that the country has made improvements in three o WEF competitiveness pillars during the pastthree years, being: Institutions, Financial Market Sophistication, and in Technological Readiness. Below are indicators o South A-ricas perormance in each o the twelve pillars according to which the World Economic Forum (WEF) measures competitiveness

South Aricas perormance 2010 - 2012

Fig. 1 South Aricas perormance in WEF Competitiveness Report 2010-2012

A critical area o competitiveness in the 21st century, technological readiness, sees dramatic improvement in the 2012 report.South Arica has also made improvements in institutions and goods & market efciency in the past three years.


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1.1 South Arica versus the BRIC nations: competitiveness comparison

South Aricas inclusion in the BRICS is signicant or many reasons. For example, the BRICS combine 43 per cent o the worldspopulation. Furthermore, the combined GDP o these countries is estimated at US$13.7 trillion (+/-20 25% o global GDP),and the BRICS combined oreign reserves is estimated to be US$4 trillion. These staggering numbers added to the BRICS canaccounted or 11% o global oreign direct investment (FDI) ows in 2012 (USD465 billion) and 17% o world trade. This impliesthat rom a global perspective South Arica is member o a group o nations that brings together 21st century economic giantswith signicant inuence both globally and within their respective regions. BRICS membership is thereore an important evolv-

ing dimension o South Aricas international reputation building and strategic economic positioning eorts.

Due to the wider global context, and in the year where South Arica hosted the 5th BRICS Summit, Brand South Arica ocusedon developing deeper insight into the country s perormance compared to ellow developing nations. When benchmarkingSouth Arica against other BRICS nations, there is positive news or the country. Its competitive strengths can be seen in nan-cial market development where it ranks 1st amongst the BRICS nations and 3rd overall in global terms; business sophisticationwhere it ranks 2nd amongst the BRICS nations and 38th overall; and goods and market efciency where it ranks 1st amongst theBRICS nations and 32nd in the world. It is worth noting that the high level o condence shown in South Aricas nancial marketdevelopment comes at a time when global market condence is slow to return. The country is undoubtedly benetting rom thesize o its economy and rom the quality and accountability o its private institutions where it achieves a 2nd place global rank-ing. The graph below illustrates how South Arica perorms in comparison to the average perormance o ellow BRICS nations

on the twelve WEF competitiveness pillars.

Fig. 2 SA WEF perormance vs. BRIC average

A close interrogation o the above indicators shows that South Arica outperorms its BRICS peer nations on several o the WEFCompetitiveness pillars: Inrastructure (equal to BRIC average); Institutions; Goods & Market Efciency;

Financial Market Development; Technological readiness; Business Sophistication; and Innovation.

This clearly establishes SA as a competitive developing nation among the BRICS. South Arica is thereore a natural choice orinclusion in the BRICS when it comes to competitiveness.


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1.2 South Arica - Next11 Comparison

In a similar comparison with Next11 nations, even more insights appear. A comparison between South Arica and the Next11saverage perormance per pillar indicates that South Arica has tremendous competitive advantages over the Next11 nations.

The Next11 group o nations include other developing nations, and emerging markets that have signicant roles to play in theirrespective regions, as well as in the emerging global economic reality. It is interesting to track over-all competitiveness scores orthis group o countries. As the indicators in the graph below shows, i South Arica was part o this group, it would have been a

top ve competitive nation.

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South Arica vs Next Country Score Comparison

Fig. 3 Next11 and South Arica over-all rankings in WEF Competitiveness Report 2012/13

In terms o over-all ranking, South Arica is located in the top ve among the Next11 group o developing nations. This shows thatSouth Arica can condently say that it is a top ve globally competitive developing nation. Fig. 4 below illustrates South Aricas

competitive strengths per WEF competitiveness pillar compared to the average perormance o the Next11 nations.



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The above indicators indicate that South Arica outperorms the Next11 on the ollowing 7 pillars:

Institutions Inrastructure Goods and market efciency Financial market development Technological readiness Business readiness

Innovation

In addition, South Arica equals the Next11s average on the ollowing two pillars:

Higher education and training Market size

The above demonstrates South Aricas competitiveness in 9 o the 12 pillars in comparison to the Next11, which is indicative o atop ve developing nation.

1.3 Institute or Management Development (IMD) Global Competitiveness Report 2012/13

According to the IMD 2012, South Arica has improved its overall ranking and perormance rom number 52 in 2011, to 50 in2012. The IMD has been assessing competitiveness since 1989 and provides long term measured assessments o the perormanceo 59 countries according to 329 criteria.

In terms o South Aricas overall perormance in the 2012 IMD report, the country has improved its ranking in:

- Government efciency 29 (up rom 32 in 2011);- Business efciency 37 (up rom 40 in 2011);- Inrastructure 54 (up rom 56 in 2011)- Economic perormance 57 (down rom 54 in 2011).

From the WEF and IMD reports we learn that South Arica has been advancing slowly on the ront o institutions, and government

efciency.

The IMD identied economic perormance strengths o South Arica are:

- Cost-o-living index (Ranked 7)- Terms o trade index (Ranked 9)- Resilience o the economy to the economy (ranked 26)- Tourism receipts (25%)- Direct investment stock abroad (29%; ranked 29)

The weaknesses as identied by the IMD report are the unemployment rate, direct investment ows abroad, GDP per capita, andrelocation services, however, these are not seen as threats to the uture o the economy by the IMD, but relate more to cyclicalmarket trends and prevailing conditions in the global economy.

2. The Ibrahim Index o Arican Governance (IIAG)

Governance is a key issue that inorms much political, economic and socio-political debate and activity on the Arican continent.South Arica perorms well in the IIAG which takes as a point o departure the idea that all citizens o Arican states have a right toaccess social services. It thus measures the governance perormance o Arican states according to eighteen unique criteria. SouthArica comes 5th in its over-all perormance in the IIAG in 2012/13.South Arica ranks in the top ve, o the ollowing criteria, being:

1st Public Management 2nd Gender 3rd Rule o Law

3rd Participation & Human Rights 4th Welare 5th Education 5th Accountability 5th Participation


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3. World Bank Ease o Doing Business Index

South Aricas overall ranking in the 2013 Doing Business Index (DBI) slipped with three positions on the 35th position the countryoccupied in 2012 (35) to 39th in 2013. South Arica thus sees a slight decline in its perormance this year. This is a result not somuch o the country perorming worse, it is a result o other countries moving up the ranking ladder by improving doing businessconditions at a aster pace than South Arica.

This years report notes that among the 50 economies with the biggest improvements since 2005 (a third) are in Sub-SaharanArica. This is a signicant nding or the sub-region, indicating improving conditions or doing business in a period when negoti-ations regarding the establishment o the Trilateral Free-Trade Area encompassing the Southern Arican Development Community(SADC), Community o East and Central Arican States (COMESA), and the East Arican Community (EAC) are taking place. Thisree trade area will create an integrated market o more than 650 million people.

Other ndings on SA perormance in the DBI indicate that South Arica made starting a business easier by implementing its newcompany law, which eliminated the requirement to reserve a company name and simplied the incorporation documents. TheDBI urthermore indicates that South Arica made transerring property less costly and more efcient by reducing the transerduty and introducing electronic ling. South Arica also introduced a new reorganization process to acilitate the rehabilitation onancially distressed companies.

South Aricas improved its perormance on the Trading Across Borders rank. In the DBI 2012 South Arica ranked 144th, andimproved with 29 positions to 115th in the DBI 2013. This is a signicant improvement due to the act that South Arica has de-creased the time, cost, and red tape companies have to deal with to get products to port and shipped to international markets.

3.1 South Arica BRICS DBI Comparison

The World Bank assesses ease o doing business according to ten criteria. The country perorms particularly well when comparedto BRICS partners. South Arica comes rst in the criteria indicated in brackets in the table below.

Fig. 5 - BRICS comparisons 2013- World Bank Ease o Doing Business

According to the indicators above, South Arica comes rst among the BRICS in six o the DBI criteria. This implies that South Ari-ca can make a strong business case to attract trade partners, investment, and clients rom ellow BRICS members. As a nation thatoers several competitive advantages, an open business environment is an important eature to utilise as selling point or SouthArica as a business destination.

BRICS Comparison World Bank Ease of Doing Business 2013

Brazil Russia India China South Africa

Over-all 130 112 132 91 39 (1)Starting a business 121 101 173 151 53 V

Dealing with construction permits 131 178 182 181 39 (1)

Getting electricity 60 184 105 114 150 (4)

Registering property 109 46 94 44 79 (3)

Getting credit 104 104 23 70 1 (1)

Protecting investors 82 117 49 100 10 (1)

Paying taxes 156 64 152 122 32 (1)

Trading across borders 123 162 127 68 115 (2)

Enforcing contracts 116 11 184 19 82 (3)

Resolving insolvency 143 53 116 82 84 (3)


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4. World Economic Forum World Travel & Tourism Index

South Arica improves its position in the WEF Travel & Tourism Index this year. This year s index covers 140 states. South Aricaimproves its position on the WTTC in 2013 to 64 rom 66 in 2011. South Arica ranks third in the Sub-Saharan Arica region aterSeychelles (1st), and Mauritius (2nd).

4.1 Comments by WEF on SA travel & tourismImportant ndings rom WEF indicates South Arica comes in high at 17th place or its natural resources, and 58th or culturalresources. This is according to WEF due to many World Heritage sites, rich auna, creative industries, and the many internationalairs and exhibitions hosted in the country. The latter can be interpreted as a strong selling point or the country, with commu-nications implications. A urther positive nding WEF indicates is that SAs inrastructure is well developed or the region, with airtransport inrastructure ranked 43rd, and a particularly good assessment o railroad quality (46th) and road quality (42nd).

South Arica is also praised or its travel & tourism related policies, rules and regulations in that these are conducive to the sector sdevelopment (ranked 29th). WEF indicates that SA has been making steady improvements in this area over the past ew assess-ments.

5. UNDP Human Development Report

There is a lot o good news in the report or South Arica in that the country improves its HDR ranking with two positions rom123 in 2011, to 121 in the 2012/13 report.

This years report argues that there has been a transormation in the world economic system in recent years. This is partly due tothe global economic situation, and the meteoric rise o developing nations and their signicance to the uture o the world econ-omy as a whole. The growing economic inuence o developing nations also translates itsel into political inuence. The latter ishaving a signicant impact on progress with human development, according to the UNDP.

Fig. 6 - South Aricas perormance in UNDP Human Development Index

The UNDPs emphasis in this year s report alls on the impact o the global economic situation on human development indica-tors. South Arica is singled out together with other major developing nations as an example o the global shit o economic andpolitical power to the east and south.

South Africa HDR indicators

Year BankHDRvalue

LifeExpectancy

Mean yrs ofschooling

Expected yrsof schooling

Gross nationalincome

2013/13 121 0.629 53.4 8.5 13.1 $ 9594(PPP)

2011 123 0.619 52.8 8.5 13.1 $ 9469(PPP)


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Part 2 Reputation Indicators & InternationalInvestor Perceptions

The sections to ollow will reect on two issues, being South Aricas global reputation as measured annually by the AnholtGk-Roper Nation Brand Index, and investor perceptions o South Arica based on key ndings rom Brand South Aricas annualProject Thrive, International Investor Perception Research.

1. Anholt Gk-Roper Nation Brand Index

Brand South Arica subscribes to the annual Nation Brand Index reputation study conducted by the Anholt-GK Roper NationBrand Index (NBI). The NBI is an important measure o country reputation in terms o the six criteria outlined in the hexagonbelow. Perceptions o Investment & Immigration; Exports; People; Cultural & heritage; Governance; and Tourism orm the mainpillars according to which over-all reputation is assessed.


In 2012 South Arica was ranked 36th out o the 50 nations or the second year in a row. This comes in a year where two-thirds othe nations have experienced overall reputation score declines. South Aricas overall reputation has remained stable, which is nosmall eat.South Aricas Culture remains its strongest asset (28th). South Arica has seen score erosion on its top dimension, though severalnations have seen declines in this area. With a strong People prole (31st globally), South Aricans are admired across most panelcountries especially when it comes to wanting someone rom South Arica as a close riend (ranked 28th). South Arica contin-ues to rank 34th globally on Tourism, with much stronger perceptions as being naturally beautiul (15th) than on having historicbuildings (41st). On Culture, the country ranks highly on sporting excellence (16th), but is somewhat less known or its culture both contemporary (34th) and historic (33rd).

When it comes to rankings South Arica records some gains in 2012. South Arica surpasses ellow BRICS, India and Russia, onGovernance and moves ahead o Russia , South Korea and China on People. Yet, it has lost some ground on Culture.

Investment &

Immigration

ExportsTourism

Governance

Culture &

Heritage

People

Commercial and cultural

Products and sporting prowess

Level of satisfaction

with countrys products

and services

Investment Potential and

attractiveness to outsiders

Potential

attractiveness and

economical

contribution

Competency fair

governance, human

rights, international

contribution

2012 (n= 534)


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The table below shows South Aricas perormance per pillar between 2010 and 2012.


2. Investor perceptions Key ndings rom Brand SA Project Thrive, International Investor Perception oSouth Arica Research

Brand South Arica conducts an annual International Investor Perception study. This years results show a steady improvement ointernational investor perceptions o the country as a business destination. The study urthermore shows that South Aricas econ-omy is positively seen as an environment ull o opportunities. Below are some key ndings rom the report:

South Aricas key perormance indicators remains stable in this year s ndings, despite the global economic conditions andlabour issues/events experienced in the country during 2012;

It is also important to note that a high percentage o non-investors are currently unavailable or investment. This is a result oglobal economic uncertainty;

There has been a slight increase in the number o investors currently investing in South Arica, while other countries suchas India and Brazil have seen a slight decline in the number o investors;

Mining and quarrying remain as sectors strongly associated with South Arica. However, there has been a signicant in-crease in associations with other sectors in the SA economy, in particular: Retail trade, construction; Financial/insurance/real estate business; Electricity and gas water supply; Post & telecommunications. Thus, SA is not only about mining butother sectors as well. This indicates that international investors are increasingly seeing South Arica as a business destination;

44% o the sample were aware o the positioning statement Inspiring New Ways. This is good news seeing that it waslaunched only two months beore eldwork or Thrive V commenced;

Investors are most likely to have heard rom an online source (60% internet, 24% blogs). These sources tend to be moreneutral;

Word o mouth is also an important source o inormation or investors (41%); Television was the most negative source o inormation (25% o reports negative); Thrive data modelling indicates that South Arica can attract more FDI i the country oers more suitably qualied labour to

investors.

South Africa NBI performance 2012 2011 2010

Overall ranking 36 36 37

Ranking by pillar

Exports 37 37 38

Governance 41 41 40

Culture 28 25 27

People 31 34 31

Tourism 34 34 35

Immigration & Investment 38 39 43


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Fig. 9 Economic sectors associated with the SA economy

The Thrive study also interrogates respondents awareness o SA policies and initiatives. This can be divided into two broadcategories. The rst speaks to government policy initiatives such as the New Growth Path (56% positive awareness); Tax incentivesin manuacturing (49% positive awareness); BEE (37% positive awareness); trade policies (55% positive awareness); labour policies(48% positive awareness )investor protection policies (45% positive awareness). The second category speaks to SA-led initiativessuch as the Square Kilometre Array bid (33% positive awareness). The latter can have a tremendously positive impact as proopoints regarding South Aricas technological readiness and sophistication within the developing world context .

Non-investors associate South Arica with a growing market with economic potential. This is an important nding, however,perceptual associations with South Arica as a country with a high crime rate persists. This issue has an adverse eect on countryreputation, and requires attention. The conclusion to be drawn rom this is that more work remains to be done to increase posi-tive awareness o key investor and economic policies that can attract FDI and trade.

Mining and quarrying

Hospitality, hotels, restaurants and

Agriculture, hunting, forestry and

Wholesale and retail trade

Manufacture

Financial, insurance, real estate and

Transport, storage and communication

Electricity, gas and water supply

Post and telecommunications

Community, social and personal

Other

Dont know

Construction

53

63

49

59

37

37

36

23

29

29

29

24

18

24

18

22

18

11

15

12

10

13

8

4

1

1


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Conclusion

South Aricas perormance in a range o competitiveness and human development indicators suggest that the country has

tremendous strengths that can be leveraged positively to position the country as a business partner, and investment destination.As indicated above, it is necessary to understand how South Arican ranks, and is positioned among ellow developing nations.While the competitiveness indicators utilised above point to high-level indicators o national competency, more research shouldbe conducted on a sector-specic basis to interrogate issues particular to specic areas o economic activity. Nevertheless, na-tional strengths in the nancial sector, goods and market efciency, and indicators that show South Arica outperorming Next11nations on a technological readiness, innovation, and institutions clearly establish the country as a leader among developingnations. These strengths can be used as an inspiration to engage robustly with areas o competitiveness where the country sperormance is weaker.

In terms o over-all competitiveness perormance South Arica ranks third among the BRICS nations, and in the top ve o theNext11. The conclusion to be drawn rom this is that as a developing nation, South Arica compares not only well with ellowdeveloping nations but that as a developing nation the country shares many o the unique social, educational, and human de-velopment challenges that are characteristic o developing societies and nations. In order to strengthen and advance the nationbrand, critical areas o skills development, education, and services require attention.

In terms o reputation, the report reected on ndings rom an annual International Investor Perception study commissionedby Brand South Arica. From project Thrive results, it is clear that positive associations prevail in terms o investment incentivesor international investors, and that the country is increasingly seen as a business destination by international investors. This isparticularly evident due to increased associations with South Aricas retail, construction, and nancial services sectors.South Arica, it can be concluded, is a globally competitive developing nation. Areas o national competency can be taken as aninspiration to develop and enhance country perormance, economic social development in uture.

Reerences

United Nations Development Programme. 2013. Human Development Report 2013: The rise o the South human progress ina diverse world. New York.

Brand South Aricas Research Reports communicate ndings rom Brand South Arica research. The Research Reports are intended to elicit comments, contributeto debate, and inorm stakeholders about trends and issues that impact on South Aricas reputation and overall competitiveness.

Views expressed in Research Notes are those o the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those o Brand South Arica, or the Government o the Republico South Arica. Every precaution is taken to ensure the accuracy o inormation. However, Brand South Arica shall not be liable to any person or inaccurateinormation or opinions contained herein.

Research Report compiled by Dr. Petrus de Kock, Brand South Arica, Research Manager

[email protected]


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South Africa – a top developing and globally competitive nation Brand SA Special Research report

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