Page 17 - CEN 13 Apr.indd
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Globalisation
With an ever shrinking planet, international
competitiveness is more vital to a company than any
time in history.
Over the past decade, Africa has been viewed increasingly
as a major minerals resource, with countries vying for
a presence on this often inhospitable continent. Both
eastern and western OEMs are jostling for a foothold
and more and more offices are being established on the
land mass, with equipment being sold into the mining
and construction sectors in ever increasing volumes. So
too, long haul fleets form the backbone of the continent’s
goods transport in areas where rail is not an option.
over the past decade. From
:
‘In 2003 a basic 512 Kbps ADSL service cost residential
customers R966.72 per month (R67.72 for analogue
line rental, R680 for ADSL access and R219 for a
3GB data bundle). Fast forward ten years, and South
Africans can get a 1Mbps ADSL service with a 5GB soft
cap for a total monthly cost of R367.37.’
Nevertheless, we lag behind much of the rest of the world
when it comes to internet speed and reliability and are at
the mercy of the Seacom cable that snakes its way down
the west of the continent.
Magazines have moved from a purely print publication
to include an online version, in keeping with the growing
trend towards digital. Throughout the business world,
employees have joined LinkedIn and FaceBook has
become more than just a social network, as companies
list free websites with the enterprise.
“The continued onset of the internet and social
media has provided us with the ideal opportunity
to provide existing and potential customers with
value added product information through short
video clippings (on their recently launched YouTube
channel) that are far more informative and useful
than traditional pamphlets, which contain
limited information.”
Brian Clark, Director – Diamond Products
Nowadays, satellites can track every movement of every
individual on the planet, as well as fleets of equipment,
where off-site monitoring ensures that machines are
doing what they are supposed to do. We can now take
a cyber walk down a suburb in Kazakhstan, if we are
so inclined, and everyone who wants to keep in touch
via email, sms or MMs has a Smartphone, where your
office (and social circle) is in your pocket.
SA’s skills dilemma
So, today it’s cheaper and
easier to communicate around
the globe, but if the skills aren’t
there, what good are kilometres
of fibre optic cable if there is no-
one competent on the other end
to implement ideas, instructions
or directions?
South Africa’s skills shortage did not
happen overnight, but has its roots
back in the 80s with the inequalities
of the past, when sanctions had
upper management fleeing to
the greener pastures of Europe,
Australia and the US, and heralded
the start of the dreaded ‘brain drain’ that all but crippled
our commercial sector. Middle management had to step
in and pick up where the executives left off, resulting in
a skills deficit that rippled downwards as under-skilled,
less experienced personnel filled the vacuum left by their
departing predecessors. To their credit, they learned fast
and upskilling was developed on the job, at the rock face,
so to speak, with the upside that South Africans are well-
known and respected for their multi-tasking abilities.
Increasingly, South African companies are being forced to
compete with emerging international markets, like China
– which has taken capitalism to new heights
–
that offer
cheap labour and production costs and undermine local
manufacturers. Included in the competition are countries
to the north, such as Nigeria, Angola, Ghana and Kenya,
that are slowly but consistently eroding South Africa’s past
status as the strongest economy on the continent. This has
not been helped by our self-inflicted isolation by branding
ourselves as ‘Proudly South African’ and excluding
ourselves from the African continent, which is seen as
‘darkest Africa’ and less sophisticated than ourselves.
Industrial comms
With globalisation and improved communication,
markets are amouse click away for the researcher, buyer
or seller. Internet has turned the planet on its head and
telecomms is one area where costs have decreased
