The importance of State-owned entities (SOEs) in a developing State has been argued for centuries. SOEs are perceived as the tool that the State can successfully use to implement its developmental agenda. In the Republic of South Africa, SOEs have been used to ensure universal access to electricity, water and logistical infrastructure to support industrial development, as well as basic service delivery. These entities have been expected to fund these initiatives from their own funds, which alleviated the need for commercial SOEs (also known as State-owned companies) to be profitable without continuous financial injections from the RSA government. Generally, commercial SOEs have been performing poorly financially. This research study aims to determine whether political influence might affect the profitability of these commercial SOEs. The poor financial performance plaguing the commercial SOEs hinders their ability to effectively contribute as a collective to the developmental agenda of the State, as espoused in the current strategic plan of the RSA in the form of the National Development Plan (NDP). Due to the poor financial performance and subsequent diversion of financial resources from other national priorities for their bail-out, commercial SOEs have been considered a liability rather than an asset to the RSA. To satisfy the primary and associated research objectives, qualitative primary and secondary research data have been collected. The primary data have been collected by using the semi-structured interview from the CFOs of commercial SOEs from various government departments – given their proximity to the financial performance and the drivers of this performance in commercial SOEs. CFOs are also part of the commercial SOEs senior-executive management of these entities. The general opinion of the participants and the literature review of the research study is that, indeed, political influence has had an adverse effect on the profitability of commercial SOEs, among others, as a consequence of the positioning of SOEs within the governance system of the RSA, the impact of the recruitment process for senior executives and the implications of an unfunded mandate. It is clear that in the RSA, commercial SOEs, and SOEs in general, will continue to play a pivotal role in the implementation of the developmental agendas of the State, as expressed in the NDP. With the RSA government expecting commercial SOEs to fund these activities from their own funds, it is critical that the State should be an enabler rather than a hindrance for commercial SOEs‟ profitability.

Purpose – The primary aim of the study was to establish to what extent company vision impacted on productivity, profitability, morale and the quality of product at Borbet SA. Borbet SA is an aluminium wheel manufacturer situated in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The secondary aim of the study was to establish whether the vision would be reached by applying the company values in action at Borbet SA. Methodology – Seventy-seven respondents employed at Borbet SA completed a Likert Scale Questionnaire to measure their knowledge and application of the company vision and values. The research study made use of a combination of qualitative and quantitative research approaches. The research study was qualitative as the topic was subjective to perception of the participants. However, the data was to be analyzed quantitatively through statistical practices. Findings – Overall, the participants were 99 percent aware of the vision statement at Borbet SA. Therefore, Borbet SA had succeeded in making company vision a part of their business strategy. The successful implementation of a vision and values at Borbet SA have improved productivity, profitability, morale and quality of product at the company. The study’s main findings were that employees between the ages of 18 – 29 years were especially optimistic of the company vision and values. Employees working at Borbet SA for between 4 – 5 years and working at Borbet for between 0 – 3 years tended to be more unenthusiastic about company vision and values. Middle management, including supervisors and team leaders, were also pessimistic about certain aspects concerning the vision of the company. Research limitations – One of the limitations of the research were that only 77 of the workforce completed the voluntary questionnaire. The questionnaire was in English and this was not the first language of the majority of the employees at Borbet SA. This could have prevented them from completing the questionnaire because they might not have felt confident in responding in ii English. Educational levels could also have influenced the response to the questionnaire seeing that not all employees had the same educational levels and, thus, this could have been intimidating. Recommendations – The main recommendation was that a mentoring programme be implemented in which younger and older employees could motivate each other and build morale. The management of Borbet SA was recommended to have team building sessions with middle management, supervisors and team leaders to build morale and optimism in these groups. Employees working for 4 – 5 years needed to be evaluated and motivated as some of them could have felt stagnant in their job positions.

The industrial council agreement for Motor Transport Undertaking (Goods) in the Transvaal will be in force until 1990. Wages are negotiated annually, for implementation in January, but a compulsory arbitration provision comes into effect if there is a deadlock. This document is prepared to assist the Transport & General Workers Union in providing factual information to the arbitrator to back up the demand for a substantial wage increase. The union has rejected a final offer from the employers of an eight and a half percent increase in January 1988. Unfortunately, we have not received the wage demands of the union, so our report is not as focused as it should be.