M.Sc. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / The relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and competitiveness in South Africa and Nigeria was investigated. Existing data available in literature was used to analyse trends with regards to FDI and competitiveness in South Africa and Nigeria over the last 10 years. According to the UNCTAD report (2002) in 1997, FDI in Africa was concentrated on five countries namely, Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa. Nigeria in the last ten years has consistently outperformed South Africa with regards to the amount of FDI received; yet South Africa outperforms Nigeria on all the competitiveness indices. This has been primarily due to the fact that Nigeria's main source of FDI is the petroleum sector. In Africa 75% of FDI goes into countries endowed with petroleum and mineral resources with very few of these strangling to meet the above list of WAIPA reasons favourable for FDI. The ultimate goal of a nations competitiveness is to increase efficiencies under free and fair market conditions through foreign trade, production and investment. Main results of this study have been the following; • Oil is a major FDI attractor of FDI in Africa, and explains why Nigeria receives more FDI than South Africa. • Although Nigeria does not have a good competitive record relative to South Africa it does however offer competitive fiscal terms to IOC's to explore and exploit the countries abundant petroleum resources. • Oil wealth struggles to filter down to the people of the country, as Nigeria's per capita income remains about fifteen times lower than South Africa's, with its more efficient economy. • This study confirms the fact that many MNC's especially in Africa tend to be driven by resource-seeking opportunities and rather than efficiency seeking opportunities. Unfortunately many of the petroleum exporting countries are unable to use the wealth generated by the petroleum industry to enhance their global competitiveness. The problem is that many countries are not diversified enough and rely extensively on commodities to generate much needed revenue.

M.Phil. / This research aims to establish and evaluate the main factors that influence the fuel industry in South Africa. The South African fuel industry, is influenced by different business, economical and logistical factors, which all contribute to a changing fuel environment as well as a changing fuel prices that vary on a monthly basis, as calculated by the Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs(DMEA). These factors including crude oil procurement, petroleum industry, synthetic fuel industry and geographical locations, are fundamentally important, and explained in more detail in the chapters to follow. Oil as main supply source to the fuel industry, plays a vital role to South Africa as industrial developing country. The crude oil imported from the eastern countries is refined into petroleum and alternative fuels, necessary to the economy. The oil price thus influences the petroleum price, which in turn influences the cost of food and accessories. This research will for this reason also focus on aspects such as the actual importation of crude oil, petroleum price structure, price zones, synfuels and alternative fuels, and the affect these aspects have on the fuel industry.