South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences - Volume 2, Issue 3, September 1999

W.D. Reekie, South African Competition Law and the 'Diamond Cartel, vol. 2 no. 2, page 303

After the first democratic election in South Africa in April 1994, South Africa's financial markets became more exposed and vulnerable to international developments, vide the financial crisis of 1998. This vulnerability raises some important questions. Has its greater degree of openness led to a structural change in the South African economy? Are long-term interest rates now primarily determined by international sentiment regardless of domestic economic and political conditions, during periods of international financial market volatility? And, in the event, what is the consequent effect on monetary policy in South Africa? The aim of this paper is to investigate these questions by using a cointegration approach to estimate a long-run interest or bond rate function for South Africa.

This article reports on the identification of how various risk relievers, available to consumers and mail-order catalogue organisations, influence general risk perception. Consumers who have purchased low-involvement products on a number of occasions by mail-order constitute the sample. The findings are that two of the major risk relievers significantly reduce, whilst another one increases, the general risk perceptions of mail-order customers when buying low-involvement goods. These findings are important to mail-order catalogue managers because they confirm that a variety of risk relievers need to be offered to ensure that perceived risks are properly addressed.

The study analyses the contribution of government expenditure to the economic growth process in Nigeria over the period 1960-1992. The results indicate that public expenditures on transport, communication and agriculture crowd-in private investment, while public spending on manufacturing and construction crowd-out private investment. Also, expenditures on education and health have a positive influence on private sector investment. Government must continue to perceive the creation of an enabling environment, at the least, as its own contribution to the economic growth process.

The impact of organisational downsizing on employees who remain has been the subject of intense research, particularly in the USA. The issue of so-called survivor syndrome is critically important in relation to productivity growth and the success of restructuring. However, current conceptualisation has been based largely on American research. There has been little data on downsizing in the South African context. The purpose of this article is to discuss the extent of survivor syndrome in organisations that have restructured and downsized in South Africa. We ask the questions: does downsizing inevitably result in high levels of survivor syndrome; which factors intensify and modify survivor syndrome; and is there a restructuring cycle? The database constitutes 421 South African organisations.

The main objective of this study is to compare attitudes toward money amongst English, Afrikaans and Xhosa-speaking consumers in the Eastern Cape. Based on literature in the field, hypotheses were generated for four dimensions of a money attitude scale (MAS) developed by Yamauchi and Templer. The scale was modified and applied to a convenience sample (N=326) of respondents in the Port Elizabeth/Uitenhage area. Results showed significant differences between the various groups for three of the four dimensions of the scale. Results further suggest that the money attitude scale is a reliable instrument for measuring consumer attitudes toward money in South Africa. Implications are that more attention should be paid to educating consumers in the Eastern Cape on personal money management.

After an introduction, the authors derive some common industrial make-buy situations. Six prominent economic theories of the firm are then outlined, before setting criteria to select the most appropriate economic theory for deciding when to make and when to buy. An augmented transactions cost theory may we1l be the most secure basis for a manager, in an industrial setting, to decide what to make within, and what to buy outside, the firm.

This paper highlights the inherent adversarialism of traditional collective bargaining, and the various attempts that have been made by academics and practitioners to find ways to minimize the adversarial nature of the process. The paper then examines a number of cases where Interest Based Bargaining was used to create a positive, co-operative collective bargaining climate, and derives a number of guiding principles. Finally, the paper shows that building and maintaining a relationship of trust is a prerequisite for constructive collective bargaining.

Worldwide, the ISO 9000 quality assurance standards have received considerable support from firms seeking to improve their competitiveness. A postal survey was conducted amongst 92 South African agribusiness firms to determine the extent of the adoption of ISO 9000, reasons for certification and to identify the costs and benefits of adopting these standards. About 36 percent of the respondent firms were certified. The desire to improve customer service, a basis for quality improvement and the need to improve operational efficiency were the most important factors influencing certification. Respondents reported financial, managerial and production benefits following certification. Broadly speaking, certified firms operate as private or public companies, have parent company affiliations, are involved in manufacturing, and are established firms with large annual turnovers.

South African society is characterised by rapid change as a result of various forces. This results in feelings of frustration, helplessness and uncertainty in employees, which affects their work performance. Helplessness, frustration and uncertainty are directly related to an external locus of control, whereas an internal locus of control is related to autonomy, a sense of responsibility and job performance. A two-group design was used to determine the impact of a training programme aimed at the stimulation of an internal locus of control on employees within manufacturing industry. The training programme contributed to increasing the internal locus of control and psychological optimality of participants, whereas their need for external support decreased and they started to act more autonomously.

A survey of current literature and corporate identity manuals may create the impression that corporate identity consists solely of visual identity cues. In this paper the view is explored that corporate identity consists of both visual and behavioural cues. Most corporations strive towards a positive corporate image. This can be attained only by taking into account also such aspects as customer service and employee behaviour, and not just creating attractive buildings, uniforms, logos and slogans. An analysis of selected literature and the results of four independent studies are reported to support the proposal of a Corporate Image Model that needs further research and refinement.

The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) is an attempt by the South African government to redress the imbalances of apartheid. It has many facets. One of these involves the provision and distribution of infrastructure to citizens who hitherto have been neglected. This calls for significant construction effort particularly for housing, water, roads and other social construction. This will require efficient production, and allocation of resources to ensure that there is adequate supply of materials to meet the likely increase in demand. This paper examines the expected demand for construction materials, assesses the supply capacity of South African suppliers of construction materials, and develops an econometric model which can be used to evaluate the impact that growth of the internal construction activity will have on construction industry suppliers.

From previous studies it seems that Financial Management may be regarded an important managerial skill. This study investigates the importance of different topics in Finance. The ranking of these topics according to their importance, as perceived by academics versus practitioners, is compared here. It was found that some topics are indeed regarded as more important than others. There were significant differences in the rankings of topics by the two groups of respondents. Areas which practitioners believe need more research to enhance the value of Finance for South African managers are indicated. Finally, conclusions are drawn about the implications of this study for the volatile management environment in South Africa, and possible areas for further research are indicated.