M. Tech. Business Administration / This study focuses on innovator biopharmaceutical companies (also known as biomedical companies) and aims to explore the reasons why such companies invest into South Africa. Biomedical FDI (foreign direct investment) is the type of FDI (foreign direct investment) that takes place in research, both basic and clinical research and development. It also aims to provide useful information and insights about biomedical investments into South Africa, as there is a dearth of publications in this area.

The South African automotive industry has experienced significant growth since its first inception in 1995. South Africa’s trade relations with other countries has facilitated the growth of this sector. Government introduced programmes that encouraged growth in the sector, namely the Motor Industry Development Programme (MIDP) and the Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP). South Africa as the catalyst for development in Africa needs to continuously strive to integrate with other developed countries to and promote Foreign Direct Investments into the continent. The development of the industry requires organic growth to ensure that it remains sustainable. The research problem addressed in this study is to establish the role government plays in ensuring a sustained growth of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the automotive sector. The establishment of this statement is imperative to the growth of automotive investments by multinationals in South Africa. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) are positioned in three of the country’s eleven provinces. The Eastern Cape region has been known to be the automotive-hub of South Africa with a GDP that is driven by the secondary automotive sector consisting of multinational OEM giants such as Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA), General Motors South Africa (GMSA), Ford Motor Company, FAW and Daimler. South African OEMs are required to lobby at the principal companies before a new model can be built in the country. Lobbying involves offering competitive logistics costs to build models in South Africa. Stakeholders led by government are required to actively participate in these negotiations to sustain the industry in the country. One of the ways this can be achieved is through formulation, integration and alignment of strategies between all stakeholders. Stakeholders involve private sector and public sector working together. South Africa has achieved an open-country perception to foreign investors through the APDP. The problem statement was accurately explained and expressed clearly and sub-problems were identified from areas in the main problem that required further analysis. Literature has revealed that South African ports are considered to be the most expensive in the world and that there is a lack of port and rail integrated infrastructure. Providing a complete supply chain for logistics will result in increased FDI for South Africa. The governmental entities’ support will allow the OEMs an opportunity to increase investment in South Africa thus creating employment and adding value to the GDP of South Africa. The South African component manufacturer’s sector has grown intensively creating sustainable jobs for South Africans. The industry is structured in such a way that there is a multiplier-effect reaction to macro-economic conditions. A comprehensive literature review was executed to understand the nature and extent of the global automotive industry, the South African automotive industry, the regions that host OEMs, the Motor Industry Development Programme and the Automotive Production and Development Programme. A primary research instrument was constructed, in the form of a questionnaire, to test themes which were highlighted in the literature review which can influence the sector’s competitive advantage. A questionnaire was distributed with the assistance of industry representatives in the Transport and Logistics sector. There was consensus on many issues regarding the current structure of the South African automotive industry. Specifically, the importance of rail, efficiencies, prices and value-added services needed in the industry to attract FDIs as well as the readiness of the Port of Port Elizabeth with regards to being positioned as an automotive-hub for Sub-Saharan Africa.

In March 2002, the Coega Development Cooperation (CDC) announced that the infrastructure design was complete, and the Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) was declared the first IDZ in South Africa. The Coega IDZ was established to improve the delivery of infrastructure in the Eastern Cape by addressing skill shortages, unemployment, constrained planning and project management capacity, under-expenditure, sub-standard infrastructure, and inefficiencies that characterise delivery of infrastructure by government in South Africa generally and the Eastern Cape Province in particular. In the process, socio-economic development and transformation in the Eastern Cape and South Africa as a whole will be advanced. The primary objective of the study was to investigate the extent to which the various determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) influence the investment promotion strategy (IPS) used by the CDC, and how these determinants can be used in the IPS to increase the number of signed investors at the CDC.

It is widely accepted by governments of many developing countries that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is crucial to the socio-economic development of their nations and have developed various policies in an effort to attract FDI, as a result. FDI is a crucial source of technology, capital and skills for developing countries for economic growth that may ultimately lead to poverty reduction, employment creation and modernisation. However, results from many studies have been inconclusive and have failed to find a direct link between the increase of FDI and the associated socio-economic development of recipient nations. South Africa is no exception to this debate as it seeks to turn its back on decades long apartheid, which has entrenched poverty in the majority of its population and exacerbated social tensions. The main socio-economic challenges that South Africa faces include high unemployment, skills shortages, poverty and high inequality, and the 2008/2009 global financial and economic crisis has exacerbated the crisis. Despite these challenges South Africa‘s macro-economic strategies have had a good reputation since 2000. The monetary policy has turned out to be more transparent and predictable, and a sound fiscal policy has sustained its framework. The study analyses the role that FDI plays in the socio-economic development of South Africa since 1995 by focusing on selected case studies: ABSA Bank, General Motors South Africa (GMSA) and the Mining Sector of South Africa. The research concludes that although ABSA Bank has implemented several corporate social responsibility (CSR), and various employee development programmes, there is hardly any evidence to suggest that Barclays Bank‘s takeover of ABSA Bank has positively impacted on these programmes. General Motors South Africa (GMSA), which came into South Africa many decades ago through a Greenfield Investment, has played a positive role in the economy of the Eastern Cape Province as well as that of South Africa, having created jobs directly and indirectly. The company has also designed and implemented various educational, housing as well as health and awareness programmes for its employees and for the communities. Mining companies that operate in South Africa formed partnerships in the communities in which they operate in an effort to improve the lives of people. While these various projects have been a source of employment, they have had a limited impact on the core causes of social problems surrounding the mines. Many of these root causes relate to core business practices of the mining companies, especially employee recruitment, wages and housing. These root causes where witnessed in the Lonmin tragedy and in other strikes that spread throughout the sector in 2012. The study concludes that although FDI does play a role in the socio-economic development of South Africa, especially Greenfield investment, the same argument could not be made on Mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Finally, the South African government needs to play a proactive role in ensuring that foreign companies that invest in the country need to be well aware of the socio-economic needs of South Africa, and be willing to play a positive role in that regard.

The recent surge in foreign capital inflows into developing countries has generated interest among researchers wanting to analyse the major determinants of Foreign Direct Investments in the motor industry (FDIsm). This dissertation investigates the determinants of FDI in the motor industry in South Africa. The underpinning theoretical literature in this study is the Micro-level theory of FDI and the Eclectic theory as well as empirical literature from several authors. The study used quarterly time series data, which covers the period 1994q1- 2008q4. FDIs are modeled as the function of economic growth, interest rates, exchange rate, education and the openness of the country. The variables in the model are tested for stationarity. Cointegration analysis was also used to test for long run relationships between the variables. The trace and the maximum eigenvalue tests suggest that there are at least two cointegration relationships, an error correction modelling technique is used to establish the determinants of foreign direct investment. The error correction model was estimated which provided both long run and short run parameter estimates. The results show that economic growth, education and the openness of the country are positively related to foreign direct investment in the motor industry. Interest rates and exchange rates negatively affect foreign direct investment in the motor industry in South Africa. The results of this study are also supported by the impulse response and variance decomposition tests. The policy recommendation that emanate from this study is that efforts should be made to boost the level of economic growth in order to enhance and attract more foreign investors. It is therefore important for the government to purse policies that will encourage economic growth.

This study analyses the economic impact between foreign debt and economic growth in South Africa. By fitting a production function model to annual data for the period 1980-2011, the study examines the dynamic effect of debt service, capital stock and labour force on the economic growth of the country. By following Cunningham (1993), it has identified the long-run and short-run causal relationships among the included variables. The results indicate that the debt servicing burden has a negative effect on the productivity of labour and capital, and thereby affect economic growth adversely. The results also illustrate that the debt service ratio tends to negatively affect GDP and the rate of economic growth in the long-run, which, in turn, reduces the ability of the country to service its debt. Similarly, the estimated error correction term shows the existence of a significant long-run causal relationship among the specified variables. Overall, the results suggest the existence of short-run and long-run causal relationships running from debt service to GDP.

Thesis (M. A. (International Politics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / The relations between France and South Africa dates to +-330 years ago but the year that France renounced its diplomatic collaboration with South Africa was in 1981. Then in 1994 following the new democratic dispensation in South Africa, France started normalising its diplomatic relations with the new government. By the end of 1994 South Africa had France as its 14th biggest trading partner with a total trade of R3712 millions. Moving from that, the central question grappled within this research is that is the relations between France and South Africa a win-win or win-lose one? This research argues that is it a win-lose as France is the one that continues to benefit more compared to South Africa on various partnership which will be discussed further in the research. With regards to the theoretical framework, Afrocentricity was deemed suited as it gives Africans the platform to view issues through African experiences and perspective. The latter should also be understood within the context that a lot of literature on the topic at hand has been written using Eurocentric perceptive thus this research utilised Afrocentricity. Methodologically, this research will be solely relaying on secondary materials such as journal articles, newspapers as well as policy briefs and reports.

Risks faced by South African offshore investors is a study that seeks to identify and rank in order of importance the risks that are faced by South African offshore investors. As a global player, South African investment institutions exchange trades with institutions in other countries. These trades are, however, not risk free. Trading in foreign markets can lead to institutions collapsing if their investment plans are not well formulated. There are many factors to consider when planning an offshore investment. For example, what products to invest in, which countries to invest in, why invest in such countries or institutions, how long is the investment going to be, and what are the expected returns, taking into account all the risks involved. All these questions and many others should be answered before investing offshore. South African investment brokers registered with the Financial Services Board and licensed to trade offshore were selected as the target population to respond to a questionnaire designed for this study. A web-based questionnaire using LimeSurvey was used to collate data from the respondents. The SPSS statistical methodology was used for the analysis from where recommendations and conclusions were drawn. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

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.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is seen as a way to provide the needed capital inflow to stimulate growth in a domestic economy. FDI can also result in increased employment levels, managerial skills and increase in technology. In efforts to attract FDI, host countries have undertaken various policy incentives to attract foreign investors. This study analyses the trends and determinants of inward FDI to South Africa for the period 1975-2005. The study starts by reviewing FDI literature on its determinants and provides the macroeconomic background and FDI related policies undertaken in South Africa. The trend and sectoral analysis provides the actual nature of FDI flows to South Africa. An empirical model linking theoretical and empirical determinants of FDI is estimated using the Johansen cointegration and VECM framework. The study also augments the cointegration framework with impulse response and variance decomposition analyses to complement the long and short run determinants of FDI. Dummy variables are used in each of the estimated FDI models to take into account the possibility of structural breaks. Results show that relative to the size of the economy and to other developing countries, South Africa still receives low levels of inward FDI. Only are few years are exceptional i.e. 1997, 2001 and 2005. From the sectoral distribution, the financial sector is now the major recipient of FDI followed by the mining and manufacturing sectors. The emergence of the financial sector could suggest that FDI motives could have shifted from the natural resource seeking and market seeking to efficiency seeking FDI. The United Kingdom emerges as the major source of FDI to South Africa followed by United States of America and Germany. Empirical analysis indicated that openness, exchange rate and financial development are important long run determinants of FDI. Increased openness and financial development attract FDI while an increase (depreciation) in the exchange rate deters FDI to South Africa. Market size emerges as a short run determinant of FDI although it is declining in importance. Most of the impulse response analysis confirmed the VECM findings. Variance decomposition analysis showed that FDI itself, imports and exchange rate explain a significant amount of the forecast error variance. The influence of market size variable is small and declining over time.