Critical Thought

Critical Thought

The sustainability of academic institutions in SA, including business schools, is under threat because too few young people consider an academic career.

Rhodes Business School recently hosted Redefine Properties executive chairman Marc Wainer, who hosts CNBC’s Mentorship Challenge.

Tom Peters’s work has been an inspiration since the 1980s when he co-authored In Search of Excellence with Robert Waterman.

The new year kicks off with a big bang from the Kenton on Sea and Bushman’s River communities. It must be one of the biggest amateur and almost unregulated fireworks displays in the world. I kid you not!

It must be difficult to plan a nativity scene within the fund managers’ offices this year? Where will they find three wise men? Although there are some who, with the benefit of hindsight, are now claiming the writing was on the wall and that the Steinhoff disaster was inevitable.

South Africa recently hosted a Jobs Summit that brought key stakeholders –government, business and labour – under one roof to find better ways of tackling the country’s stubbornly high unemployment rate.

Given the gloomy political and economic environment in South Africa a great deal was expected from Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba’s first budgetary statement.

From the time of the Industrial Revolution up to the middle of the 20th Century companies adopted a take, make and waste approach to the carrying-on of business. Waste was freely discharged into rivers and dumped into landfills.

Similarly, the base genetic code for many organic substances is highly similar. Literally, comparing apples to oranges (!), reveals that their DNA are remarkably similar (Scott A. Sandford of the NASA Ames Research Center), fueling speculation that it is theoretically feasible to transform an apple into an orange, by means of genetic engineering.

Similarly, the base genetic code for many organic substances is highly similar.

Thus, an excess demand for a particular good will, in a market with no barriers to entry, result in an increased price that will restore the balance between demand and supply by a combination of reduced demand and increased supply of that good.

However, the adjective “critical” has been in my professional lexicon for twenty-odd years, and my work has been profoundly influenced by the power ‘the critique’ brings to social understandings, so I could hardly sustain my initial hesitation.

This is the Rhodes Business School’s contribution to furthering dialogue, debate, understanding and knowledge around the business case for sustainability with the overriding goal to define the true purpose of business.

We recently became the second country next to the UK to develop our own set of responsible investing criteria for institutional investors.

In an Eastern Cape town, there is a private school, established in 1855. Under the new morning sky, pupils congregate around the flag for the raising ceremony.

Sharing their thoughts and ideas comes naturally to kids. They don’t have any hidden agendas other than showing off how special they are… and they are!

What is the real cost and impact of these strikes and what is the likely future scenario? An analysis of recent strike actions shows some similar trends

This ratio averages 33 percent

Therefore, it was not surprising that President Zuma highlighted the importance of the small business sector as part of this job creation drive.

Their mission is to provide the skills to create affordable (currently 2-3 times cheaper than solar Photovoltaic) energy to off-grid communities.

The concept of life cycles whether they be biological, social and corporate have been part of these sciences since the 1950s.

Each serving of Rice Crispies contains 630kJ of energy it proclaimed. That got me thinking. With 3.6MJ of energy in a kilowatt hour, that would mean I would need 5,7 bowls of cereal to power my two kW electric heater for half an hour (assuming a 100% conversion efficiency). That’s a lot of rice crispies or otherwise!

Subsequently, the King Reports on Corporate Governance, as well as the recently promulgated Companies Act, have assumed this role, compelling all businesses operating in the country to consider their broader responsibilities to society and the environment and to exercise stewardship on behalf of future generations.

The official unemployment rate in South Africa, as released in May 2012 by StatsSA is 25,2%. This represented a net loss of jobs over the last quarter.

The question is vital because South Africa’s labour market is a shambles. Using a broad definition of unemployment, the equivalent of about 8.5 million people – each one an individual with a desperate, heart-breaking story like Fingo Village resident, Gerald – are out of work or underemployed (see http://criticalthought.co.za/a-humble-request/)

Import-competing interests, especially manufacturing companies and associated trade unions, plus industrial policy advocates in government advocate pegging the currency at ‘competitive’ levels.

It looks like Africa will be the only continent in 2012 to grow faster than it did in 2011, it has less debt than other continents and its diaspora contribute more in foreign capital than the sum of the World’s aid.

By Business Forums

Twelve months feels like a very very long time in South Africa. Especially with the mining industry again challenged, Pres. Zuma being more vigorously attacked and the new Development Plan released.

I shared it with a few of my Postgraduate Diploma in Enterprise Management (PDEM) students but initially they didn’t seem that interested. Essentially it comes down to the question, would you rather have: one million rand in one go, or one million one-rand coins?

Exploring the reasons for this failure, other research suggests that change management programmes tend to focus on the technical, procedural and operational aspects of change, with the impact on employees often being underestimated and unmanaged.

Gill Marcus Presentation

I think it is safe to say that there is general consensus that Friedman’s conception of the ultimate function of business is deeply flawed.

In Roald Dahl’s children’s classic, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, the protagonist – Mr. Willy Wonka, an eccentric confectionery entrepreneur dismisses an entire workforce and closes his factory as a result of disloyal employees.

In order to do this you need a “Merchant Code” from your bank.

About 11 minutes before the due time, we get the call that we have all been waiting for – our colleague says the magic words – “the eagle has landed!”

I was selected as one of the 100 Brightest Young Minds in South Africa, attending the week long summit in Johannesburg.

There is something about laughter that causes us to be less defensive about hearing a subjective assessment of ourselves.

It is the 10th year of the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative (GRLI), an example of a democratic peer-partner based entrepreneurial community of businesses and business schools.

But once in a while you find one that is worth reading.

This seems to suggest that improved health outcomes are less to do with funding and policies and more to do with the inefficient and ineffective use of available resources and an inadequate focus on staffing issues and job descriptions by the South African health system.

As the economy and consumer behaviour are continuously shifting, new trends emerge which provide an opportunity for your business to grow. We look at five popular business trends you can integrate into your commercial plan this year.

A recent article published by McKinsey&Company, Why it’s still a world of ‘grow or go’ , really got me thinking.

It is the only country which simultaneously has the highest and lowest ratings in certain areas.

We took off in fine weather from Monrovia, but as we approached Freetown the weather took a significant turn for the worse and the aircraft was being buffeted all over the place. At this point, some of the passengers started praying.

Add this to the Bloomberg survey that ranks SA third in the world in the 2015 Misery index, in Bloomberg’s words, “one of the five most painful economies in which to live and work in the world”.

The factory has two brick-making plants.

I felt deeply encouraged when I heard these words by Michael Green, the CEO of the international Social Progress Imperative, which offers a new tool for measuring a society’s wellbeing, progress and success in the 21st century, called the Social Progress Index.

He rents out 125cc motorbikes to delivery businesses, such as pizza and sandwich outlets, in Tembisa.

They serve to constantly remind me that thinking, not just any thinking, but a conscious effort to think with an open mind, can produce purposeful and progressive solutions. They need to be applied and pursued with professionalism, application and perseverance.

He asked whether he could meet me, as he had recently co-founded a nonprofit organisation, the Student Business Council (SBC) and is its CEO.

I had not heard about Migoya but the young Argentinian spoke with such passion about him and Globant that I did some research.

Many of the invertebrate and plant fossils found there are world firsts. They date back to Gondwana, when Grahamstown was situated in the Antarctic Circle.

These include basic needs such as education, employment, improved livelihoods, clean water, sanitation, food security, healthcare, personal freedom, and personal safety.

I recall guiltily bunking class for the first time to go to Berlin where my fiancée, now my wife, was visiting relatives.

This is the third year of their highly innovative approach to creating a culture of entrepreneurship among high school learners from schools in the townships and underserviced areas.

Each team had to research why their energy sector was the best option for SA, taking into consideration the cost.

It highlighted that we need to think about how to plan for the dramatic change in the global energy sector that is coming – and coming faster than most think.

The Jimmy family recently announced they intend to bring a class action suit against Ford.

SA is not even out of the starting blocks of what could be achieved in the country. If the conditions for entrepreneurship were improved just 10%, another $176bn could be added to the economy — almost half of its current worth.

Spar Group and the Dutch government are building three fresh-produce points in rural areas

The National Arts Festival has come and gone.

An article that appeared on the business section of Sunday Times on the 29th October 2017 reported that McKinsey was awaiting a court ruling on the legality of their contract with Eskom.

The Eastern Cape is one of the poorest provinces in South Africa. Only a seagull can put a deposit on a BMW and with the declining fish populations even that is becoming a struggle.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela

This is a parting offering after 20 years in corporate employment. I’ve taken down my tent and moved downstream.

Many years ago I headed off on my last fishing trip before returning to Johannesburg to face the depression that is January