M.B.A. / Franchising systems in South Africa have experienced high and sustained growth over the last decade. The South African government has recognised and supports business format franchising as a low risk way of creating jobs, transferring skills and creating wealth. At the forefront of this growth, is the fast food franchising industry, which is made up of a mix of global brands and a significant few, highly successful, locally founded, franchised operations based on Portuguese or American cultures. The fast food industry in South Africa also consists of a number of successful "non franchised" Indian fast food operations, founded by South Africans of Indian descent. None of these entrepreneurs have taken the next logical step and developed their businesses into national franchises. This study sought to uncover the factors inhibiting the franchising of Indian fast food stores in South Africa and to determine whether there was a market for Indian fast foods amongst a sample of consumers. The findings were that the independent entrepreneurs lacked the skills and knowledge to enter franchising as the franchisor. In addition, there was a general mistrust of the franchising system and doubts as to whether there was sufficient broad appeal of Indian fast foods. The results of the consumer survey however suggested that Indian fast foods were popular across a cross section of the population. Consequently, the report recommended that existing Indian fast food entrepreneurs develop strategies to exploit the market opportunities presented and suggested that it is the entrepreneur who franchises first, that will gain first more advantage through pre-empting real estate and shaping customer preferences and tastes.

Magister Legum - LLM / This study explored whether there is an inherent inequitable nature of the liberalization process with respect to the World Trade Organization Agreements, namely TRIMs (Trade-related Investment Measures), TRIPS (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) and the Agreement on Agriculture. / South Africa

Magister Legum - LLM / The purpose of this paper was to examine the impact that the proliferation of regional trade agreements have had on the Multilateral Trading System and whether by allowing regional trade agreements under the World Trade Organization rules, the members of the World Trade Organization have not unwittingly weakened the multilateral trading system. It also examined the effect the proliferation of regional trade agreements have had on the special and deferential treatment for developing countries within the system. / South Africa

Magister Legum - LLM / The main objective of this paper was to explore and evaluate the viability of incorporating the promotion, enforcement and protection of human rights within the WTO agenda, mandate and framework. It further aimed to investigate the viability of accelerating multilateral cooperation amongst international major role players, thus assessing and evaluating the kind of cooperation necessary for the adequate protection and enforcement of human rights by the WTO and major role players involved. / South Africa

Magister Legum - LLM / The main aim of the research was to determine the viability of retaliation as a trade remedy under the Dispute Settlement Understanding. It was to establish whether retaliation as a remedy is beneficial to the entire WTO membership and system. The specific objectives were: to examine the feasibility of damages as an alternative remedy to retaliation; to determine whether there is a need to revise the Dispute Settlement Understanding, for it to adopt a more development friendly approach to dispute resolution; to make recommendations regarding the improvement of the Dispute Settlement Understanding. / South Africa

Doctor Legum - LLD / The need to harmonise laws in Africa has grown in importance in view of the envisaged African common market. Economic integration cannot flourish without an effective regional legal framework. There is fragmentation in trade mark protection in Africa as evidenced by the existing two sub-regional organisations namely, the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) and the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI). The absence of a single regional legal framework has resulted in African countries not having a coherent strategy for advancing their common interests in regional and multilateral negotiations. African countries have acceded to agreements which do not reflect their interests such as Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS). African countries have also been signing Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) which contain higher intellectual property protection standards than the minimum standards prescribed by TRIPS. The purpose of this study is to formulate a proposal for the integration of trade mark laws in Africa, with a view to strengthening the regional legal framework. A consolidated regional position, based on an integrated legal framework, will strengthen Africa’s participation in negotiations. This will in turn ensure greater regard for, and better protection of, Africa’s interests and concerns. Trade mark laws are important as they can hinder or promote trade. Harmonised trade mark laws will create legal and commercial certainty as well as predictability, which is crucial for the promotion of trade and foreign direct investment. The central argument advanced is that the areas of convergence in the laws under study and in the way the laws are interpreted can form the basis for the harmonisation of Africa’s trade mark laws.

Magister Legum - LLM

Please read the abstract in the section, 00front, of this document / Dissertation (MSc Agric (Agricultural Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / MSc Agric / unrestricted

Greater access to international markets is universally accepted as the solution for many of Africa’s problems. Such increased access would theoretically allow African countries the opportunity to develop strong economies. Sustainable growth through trade would then replace the current common dependence on aid and enable African citizens to enjoy a fuller share of the myriad benefits of globalisation. The gradual global reduction in historic methods to protect markets aspects, such as tariffs, is bringing technical requirements to the fore. These requirements often become Technical Barriers to Trade (TBTs) between Africa and its trading partners. Simultaneously, there are continuous global demands for greater access to African markets. Such demands occur even as ever more stringent technical requirements for granting reciprocal access in developed markets are set. Such technical access requirements are insidiously becoming an increasingly important part of the African trading landscape. African governments increasingly need therefore to ensure that domestic industry and agriculture have appropriate and affordable access to appropriate technical support infrastructure. The current African approaches to such generally unexpected technical challenges from elsewhere, are mostly reactive donor–driven projects managed as crises. In order to address such issues proactively, a vital first step is the formulation of a mutually supportive set of national, or preferably regional, polices and associated strategies to synergistically address African issues of trade, industrialisation, agriculture and the environment. The prevalent silo approach that exists both within and among African countries in these increasingly interlinking areas unfortunately simply exacerbates an already desperate situation. The predominant focus of NEPAD presently revolves around demonstrating appropriate governance. Rather than continuing to be victims of globalisation, African states working cooperatively through NEPAD have an opportunity to redress their past difficulties. In the area of African Standards, Quality assurance, Accreditation and Metrology (SQAM) capacitation, NEPAD has an important leadership role to play. It could provide a foundation through which solutions in SQAM be cooperatively sought and addressed. Aspects relating to proving compliance to the aforementioned agricultural, industrial and environmental policies need immediate attention. An African, public administration led approach to building SQAM technical capacity would then be possible. Complying with the various and technically challenging regulatory requirements of foreign markets cannot continue be the sole thrust of Africa’s trade facilitation efforts. Implementing foreign technical solutions that make sense in a limited and different context will not deliver large scale benefits for Africa. NEPAD fostered partnerships based on mutually beneficial and optimal solutions are preferable. Such a proposed role for NEPAD includes the creation of sound theoretical public administration underpinning and successful operational facilitation for African public administrators working in concert on mutually beneficial technical SQAM support strategies. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / School of Public Management and Administration (SPMA) / Unrestricted

Over recent years, international trade flows of automotive products have experienced rising trends. Thus, the need to gain a better understanding of trade theories that could explain such trade flows. Until recently, the theoretical and empirical distinction of intra-industry trade (IIT) into patterns of horizontally differentiated (by variety) intra-industry trade (HIIT) and vertically differentiated (by quality) intra-industry trade (VIIT) has become crucial because each IIT pattern may potentially be influenced in different manners by country and industry factors (Greenaway, Hine&Milner, 1995). The objective of this thesis is twofold. Firstly, to measure the empirical significance of IIT in the automobile industry between South Africa and its bilateral trading partners and to decompose total IIT (TIIT) into VIIT and HIIT patterns. Secondly, to develop empirical models to investigate potential country- and industry-specific determinants of IIT patterns in the South African automobile industry. The empirical strategy adopted in this thesis is a gravity model spanning the period 2000 to 2007. The automobile industry is a principal industrial sector in the South African economy contributing notably to trade, investment, employment and national output. The structure and conduct of the industry is aligned with several elements of IIT theories and thus represents an important and fascinating case of IIT patterns to investigate. Therefore, the findings of this thesis will be valuable to trade policy analysts and manufacturers in the local and global automotive industries. According to the objectives, the significance of IIT is estimated using the trade overlap index and the empirical separation of total intra-industry trade (TIIT) into VIIT and HIIT is conducted using the threshold method. The empirical results reveal the presence of significant levels of IIT in automotive trade flows between South Africa and its bilateral trading partners. In accordance with theoretical expectations, the empirical investigation signifies the existence of high shares of VIIT dominating TIIT in the South African automobile industry. Moreover, the empirical analysis postulates that, within VIIT, the domestic automobile industry potentially produces and exports high quality automotive products proposing that such VIIT can be partly explained by fragmentation and international production processes. Next, gravity models are estimated to investigate the determinants of IIT patterns in the automobile industry. The econometric results of the gravity models of VIIT, HIIT and TIIT are statistically and economically significant in the context of the fixed effects method of estimation and in accordance with new trade theories. The empirical results reveal that relative difference in economic size, trade openness, foreign direct investment (FDI) and tariffs stimulates VIIT, whilst distance, economies of scale and automotive assistance negatively affect it. Conversely, relative difference in economic size, FDI and automotive assistance negatively affects HIIT, whereas trade openness and depreciation of the exchange rate positively influences it. Thus, the findings of the thesis assert that IIT patterns of VIIT and HIIT in the automobile industry are influenced differently by country and industry determinants, revealing that the theoretical and empirical distinction of TIIT is important. The thesis proposes advancing trade liberalisation and deregulation of the South African automobile industry that could attract greater efficiency-seeking FDI complementary to trade and as a consequence enhance IIT levels. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Economics / unrestricted