Talent in the field of attraction of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is scarce in South Africa, especially in the Eastern Cape, due to the history of exclusion of South Africa from world economic participation, prior to 1994. In order for the ELIDZ to achieve its mandate of FDI attraction, job creation and economic growth, talent management has to be a key aspect in the boardroom discussions and strategic planning sessions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effective use of talent management by the East London IDZ to leverage the competitive edge of the ELIDZ in the business of attracting Foreign Direct Investment into South Africa, and also of competing against the world’s Economic Processing Zones (EPZ’s) and Free Trade Zones (FTZ’s). According to Holbeche (2009:166), talent consists of those individuals who can make a difference to organisational performance, either through their immediate contribution, or, in the longer term, by demonstrating the highest level of potential. For the purpose of this study, talent management is defined as the systematic attraction, identification, development, engagement / retention and deployment of those individuals with high potential who are of particular value to an organisation. The literature reviewed pointed out very clearly that organisations that have properly developed, implemented and managed talent management strategies enjoy high levels of motivation, innovation and creativity, lesser levels of staff turn-over, high employee performance, superior productivity and mostly a competitive advantage in their league. The East London IDZ study response enjoyed a rate of 40 out of 54 employees who received questionnaires and returned them by the due date. The responses represented a total of 74.1 percent, and this level of response is attributed to the fact that by the end of May 2011, the ELIDZ had just undergone an Organisational Re-structuring. The current status quo of the ELIDZ, based on the views as reflected in this study ,is very compromising for an organisation that aims to compete in the global space for the attraction and retention of foreign direct investment (FDI’s), and the global competitiveness based on the talent available. The overall picture depicted by the empirical results suggests that there are critical gaps for which the ELIDZ Executive Management and Board need to craft solutions, if competitiveness is going to be taken seriously in the near and long-term future.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:8795 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Swana, Leonard Sandile |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MBA |
| Format | pdf, xi, 130 leaves |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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