In 1960, the GDP per capita in South East Asian countries was nearly half of that of Africa. By 1986, the gap had closed and today the trend is reversed, with more than half of the world’s poorest now living in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Why has Asia developed while Africa lagged? The Asian Aspiration chronicles the untold stories of explosive growth and changing fortunes: the leaders, events and policy choices that lifted a billion people out of abject poverty within a single generation, the largest such shift in human history.

The relevance of Asia’s example comes as Africa is facing a population boom, which can either lead to crisis or prosperity; and as Asia is again transforming, this time out of low-cost manufacturing into high-tech, leaving a void that is Africa’s for the taking. But far from the determinism of ‘Africa Rising’, this book calls for unprecedented pragmatism in the pursuit of African success.

A secret torment for some, a proud responsibility for others, ‘black tax’ is a daily reality for thousands of black South Africans. In this thought-provoking and moving anthology, a provocative range of voices share their deeply personal stories.

With the majority of black South Africans still living in poverty today, many black middle-class households are connected to working-class or jobless homes. Some believe supporting family members is an undeniable part of African culture and question whether it should even be labelled as a kind of tax. Others point to the financial pressure it places on black students and professionals, who, as a consequence, struggle to build their own wealth. Many feel they are taking over what is essentially a government responsibility. The contributions also investigate the historical roots of black tax, the concept of the black family and the black middle class.

In giving voice to so many different perspectives, Black Tax hopes to start a dialogue on this widespread social phenomenon.

The Definitive Guide to Doing Business in Africa

For global and Africa-based companies looking to access new growth markets, Africa offers exciting opportunities to build large, profitable businesses. Its population is young, fast-growing, and increasingly urbanized--while rapid technology adoption makes the continent a fertile arena for innovation. But Africa's business environment remains poorly understood; it's known to many executives in the West only by its reputation for complexity, conflict, and corruption.

Africa's Business Revolution provides the inside story on business in Africa and its future growth prospects and helps executives understand and seize the opportunities for building profitable, sustainable enterprises. From senior leaders in McKinsey's African offices and a leading executive on the continent, this book draws on in-depth proprietary research by the McKinsey Global Institute as well as McKinsey's extensive experience advising corporate and government leaders across Africa. Brimming with company case studies and exclusive interviews with some of Africa's most prominent executives, this book comes to life with the vibrant stories of those who have navigated the many twists and turns on the road to building successful businesses on the continent.

Combining an unrivalled fact base with expert advice on shaping and executing an Africa growth strategy, this book is required reading for global business executives looking to expand their existing operations in Africa--and for those seeking a road map to access this vast, untapped market for the first time.

Closing the Gap is an accessible overview of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) and the impact it is set to have on various sectors in South Africa and Africa. It explores the previous industrial revolutions that have led up to this point and outlines South Africa’s position been through each one.

With a focus on artificial intelligence as a core concept in understanding the 4IR, this book uses familiar concepts to explain artificial intelligence, how it works and how it can be used in banking, mining, medicine and many other fields.

Written from an African perspective, Closing the Gap addresses the challenges and fears around the 4IR by pointing to the opportunities presented by new technologies and outlining some of the challenges and successes to date

Are you ready to rise to the challenge of increasing the metabolic rate and success of your business? The Other End Of The Telescope is a high speed gallop through the absurdities and challenges of getting things done in large companies, and the inherent contradictions in leadership and organisational behaviours that prevent businesses from realising their potential and achieving greater success.

In this collection of thought provoking essays, Ian Russell draws on more than 25 years’ experience of leading and working in large organisations around the world to distil the key themes and challenges confronting big business today. The book tackles key topics such as organisational cholesterol, the loneliness of leadership, human capital strategy failures, performance destroying ‘head offices’ and the ‘myths’ of talent scarcity and the socalled Fourth Industrial Revolution, among others. Each essay pairs a deep understanding of the real world and lessons learned the hard way, with powerful and pragmatic insights on how big business can change the way in which it does things.

Contributions from other notable thought leaders Valter Adão, Richard Mulholland, Happy Ntshingila and Rapelang Rabana add unique voices and insights to Ian’s vibrant and straightforward views. Together they are exactly what is needed to jolt businesses and their leaders into doing things more successfully and thoughtfully. The lightness of Ian’s style makes this a highly readable book, but it does not dilute the impact of his incisive observations and insights.

Passionate, irreverent and challenging, The Other End Of The Telescope will make you think deeply about your business and your career – and your role in both.

Why do the Japanese play rugby? How did Einstein help create Eskom? Who is the richest man in history?

Johan Fourie explores these questions and many more in this revised and expanded second edition of his bestseller ​Our Long Walk to Economic Freedom – an entertaining, accessible economic history spanning everything from the human migration out of Africa 100 000 years ago to the present. This enriching journey through an African-centred history reveals the roots and reasons for prosperity.

Why does one group flourish, but another continues to struggle? Do we have better lives than our ancestors? Fourie shows in his unique and engaging style why the builders of societies – rather than the burglars – ultimately win.

Introduction to Business Management is a market-leading textbook which is used widely at both universities and universities of technology.

It is an introductory level text which provides a contextual framework of the business environment and topical themes before delving into the management functions in more detail. It also offers a broad overview of the main principles of the business functions, namely operations management, human resource management, marketing management, financial management and purchasing and supply chain management.

The new edition takes into account the changed business environment, including the advances in technology, the impact of Covid, the changing nature of work, the emphasis on sustainable development, and updated legislation. In particular, the chapters on entrepreneurship, the business environment, planning, leading, human resource management, and purchasing and supply management have been updated to reflect the current business world.

Futureproof your business, career and family with these invaluable insights. This is an essential compendium of trends for anyone who is anxious or excited about thriving in the uncertain decade ahead. Along with accompanying actionable insights to pre-empt and solve the challenges and problems they represent to the serious South African with business, career and family interests to look after, it's a must-have.

Macroeconomics is concerned with the economy as a whole. In macroeconomics, we develop an overall view of the economic system and we study total (or aggregate) economic behaviour. The emphasis is on topics such as total production, income and expenditure, economic growth, aggregate unemployment, the general price level, inflation and the balance of payments. Macroeconomics is therefore the world of totals.

This second edition of Understanding macroeconomics is a comprehensive revision and restructuring of the first edition, but still against a contemporary South African background. The major changes include the following: the chapter on money has been expanded and moved forward, and the material on the Keynesian model has been consolidated in two separate chapters, instead of being spread over different chapters . There is also a greater emphasis on the role of monetary and fiscal policy. New topics include the role of the ratings agencies and the notion of "radical economic transformation".

As in the first edition, the easy style and practical examples make the content extremely accessible. A wealth of relevant information about the South African economy is also provided. A companion to this book, Understanding microeconomics, is also available.

Saam met die sterwe van die ou Suid-Afrika het ook “Afrikaner Volkskapitalisme” gesneuwel, wat veral gekenmerk is deur die einde van die eens magtige Sanlam en sy eweknie in die Noorde, Volkskas, wat eers deel van Rembrandt en toe later deel van Barclays van Brittanje geword het. Hierdie twee organisasies het vir dekades die dinamo van Afrikaner-sake aan die gang gehou.

Terwyl Afrikaner-kapitalisme oor die laaste dekade of wat byna krampagtig gesoek het na nuwe suurstof om te kan oorleef, is daar stil-stil ’n nuwe grondslag gelê vir ’n nuwe geslag Afrikaner-kapitaliste. Nuwe mijardêrs is orals geskep deur aandele-pryse wat ten hemele gejaag is en in die proses het dit in die jongste tyd begin lyk of van hierdie bate-spirale op baie dun ys gebou is en dalk ook groot sarsies bedrog.

Hierdie boek bespreek die huidige ekonomiese klimaat op ‘n interessante en toeganklike manier.

The Covid-19 pandemic has had an immeasurable effect on the world and redefined for us what is truly important. We’re witnessing a reversion to the basics of Maslow’s hierarchy as we find ourselves seeking to safeguard our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing. Why? Because we no longer have the luxury of certainty.

For generations, we’ve grown up believing that studying for a defined career and securing a job would guarantee our future. This 'essential' and predictable sequence marked us as productive members of society. But is our society even a healthy one? Are we heading in the right direction or have we been blinded by collective greed and delusion? How can we justify such inequality and environmental degradation in the world? These were questions being asked even before Covid struck – and now the pandemic has accelerated a desire for change. For all the stress and disruption Covid has caused, we now have a gilt-edged opportunity to change things for the better. Now is the time for each of us to cultivate new skills, qualities and characteristics to bring about the collective future we want.

FutureNEXT plots a new way forward by combining the accessible thinking of future strategist John Sanei with the deeply thought economic and philosophical principles of Dr Iraj Abedian. The result is a book about the things we need to rethink so that we may step confidently into the future. About the new roles and responsibilities we will each have as consumers, employees, employers, entrepreneurs and executives. And ultimately about reimagining a more harmonious, systemically fair and sustainable, yet prosperous world.

Township Economy provides a unique insight into township informal business and entrepreneurship. It is set in the post-apartheid period, in the third decade of Africa’s democracy and draws on evidence collected from 2010-2018 in 10 township sites, nine in South Africa and one in Namibia. The book focuses on micro-enterprises, the business strategies of township entrepreneurs and the impact of autonomous informal economic activities on urban life.

The book is unique in approach and content. It looks at spatial influences at various gradients, from the city-wide level, to objects, to invisible infrastructure. The analysis examines the influence of power as a tool to dominate and control and thus constraint inclusive opportunities.

This captivating book will be of interest academic researchers, university students and specialists in business studies, urbanism, politics and socio-economic development.

How does the South African economy work? Why do macroeconomic variables change? So what if they do? What happens next? How do economic processes and policy institutions really work? Which data must I use? What can policy do? And then the big questions: How can we reduce unemployment and maintain low inflation? What then about poverty, inequality, inclusive growth and development in South Africa?

The answers are found in How to think and reason in Macroeconomics – A South African text, a popular university textbook with very positive feedback from students, lecturers and practitioners. This fifth edition is completely up-to-date and comprehensive. It combines well-informed intuitive understanding with solid economic theory plus a concrete understanding of South African economic issues, processes, institutions and data. In this way it prepares you to analyse macroeconomic events and policies in a globalised and development context – and understand different perspectives in policy and political-economic debates.

Key features:

• Accessible analysis, theory and diagrams, combining intuitive understanding and sophisticated analysis.
• A choice of learning routes with different levels of difficulty and mathematics.
• Real-world economic reasoning skills, not dry theory.
• Online animations that provide unique insights into macroeconomic fluctuations and shocks.
• Explicit continuous focus on South Africa as an open economy in an African and global context shaped by China, Trump’s trade wars and Brexit.
• Theoretical and policy analysis of unemployment, inflation, low growth and inclusive growth, as well as the National Development Plan.
• Analytical case studies of the global financial crisis, quantitative easing, the Euro crisis and the Eskom crisis.
• First-hand, freshly updated insights into how South African policy institutions, processes and instruments work.
• Clear guides to access relevant South African data sources, with useful data tips.
• Thorough integration of the structural social and economic realities (notably inequality and poverty) of South Africa as a middle-income country.
• Incorporation of broader considerations such as human development, inclusive growth and sustainable development.

Economic theories can be expressed in words, numbers, graphs and symbols. The existing traditional economics textbooks cover all four methods, but the general focus is often more on writing about the theory and methods, with few practical examples. With an increasing number of universities having introduced mathematical economics at undergraduate level, Basic mathematics for economics students aims to fill this gap in the field. Basic mathematics for economics students begins with a comprehensive chapter on basic mathematical concepts and methods (suitable for self-study, revision or tutorial purposes) to ensure that students have the necessary foundation. The book is written in an accessible style and is extremely practical. Numerous mathematical economics examples and exercises are provided as well as fully worked solutions using numbers, graphs and symbols. Basic mathematics for economics students is aimed at all economics students. It focuses on quantitative aspects and especially complements the three highly popular theoretical economics textbooks, Understanding microeconomics, Understanding macroeconomics and Economics for South African students, all written by Philip Mohr and published by Van Schaik Publishers.

Like its predecessors, the sixth edition of Economics for South African students is a comprehensive introduction to economics in general, set against a contemporary South African background. The easy style and many practical examples make this publication extremely accessible.

The book covers all the material usually prescribed for introductory courses, and it lays a solid foundation for intermediate and advanced studies in economics. The sixth edition is a unique textbook. A number of experts have contributed short pieces under the collective title In the real world. We trust that these examples and case studies will be put to good use by lecturers (eg in discussion classes) while also providing students with more practical material to enhance their coursework.

Some of the topics covered by the In the real world pieces include:

• #Fees must fall ... to zero?Does free higher education exist?
• Land reform
• Nationalisation of the SARB
• What should the SARB target?
• Are tax incentives a good idea?

Public Economics is a southern African textbook on the subject, written by respected South African experts. The new edition deals with current issues such as social security and health care, and demonstrates how public economic theory is relevant to the real-world context.

Public Economics equips senior undergraduate and postgraduate students with basic analytic skills and demonstrates how these apply to practical issues.

Economic indicators covers all the recent revisions of the GDP, the CPI, the PPI, the various labour market surveys, the balance of payments and other economic indicators. All the data that are used to illustrate and explain the various indicators have been updated and, as always, a wealth of data on the South African economy is provided.

Apple isn’t just a brand; it’s the world’s most valuable company and creator of the 21st century’s defining product. The iPhone has revolutionized the way we live, work and connect. But Apple is now a victim of its own success, caught in the middle of a new Cold War between two superpowers.

On the brink of bankruptcy in 1996, Apple shifted its operations offshore. By 2003 it was lured to China by the promise of affordable, ubiquitous labour. As the iPod and iPhone transformed Apple’s fortunes, their sophisticated production played a seminal role in financing, training, supervising, and supplying Chinese manufacturers – skills Beijing is now weaponizing against the West.

Investigative journalist Patrick McGee draws on 200 interviews with former Apple executives and engineers to reveal how Cupertino’s choice to anchor its supply chain in China has increasingly made it vulnerable to the regime’s whims. Both an insider’s historical account and a cautionary tale, Apple in China is the first history of Apple to go beyond the biographies of its top executives and set the iPhone’s global domination within an increasingly fraught geopolitical context.

This exercise book is comprised of questions covering topics in Differential and Integral Calculus, Matrix Algebra and Linear Programming. The aim of the work is to develop student competency in using mathematical techniques as a “toolbox” for the solution of problems relevant to Economics, Business and Finance.

The book provides an introductory revision chapter of basic mathematical principles followed by chapters of multiple-choice questions each covering a particular section of the work.

In addition to multiple-choice questions, there are extension tutorials requiring written responses and sample tests covering each section of the work. Answers are provided to each question at the back of the book together with a formula sheet for easy reference.

South Africa stands at the edge of a precipice. Almost thirty years after its first democratic election, poor policy and rampant corruption have left the country standing on the brink of becoming a failed state. In this thought-provoking book, Bronwyn Williams interviews a diverse group of public intellectuals, business leaders, and political mavericks to discuss tangible ways South Africa can rescue itself from itself. Through a series of illuminating conversations, a group of independent thinkers explore the root causes of South Africa’s problems and offer insightful – and radical – ways of how to solve them.

From addressing land reform and economic development to rooting out corruption and overhauling political institutions, the conversations in this book come together as a roadmap towards a better South Africa that leaves no one behind. While the challenges facing the young democracy are immense, these experts provide hope and inspiration towards productive actions we can take together to build a brighter future.

For anyone interested in understanding the complex issues facing South Africa today and how they can be addressed, Rescuing Our Republic is essential reading. It is a powerful reminder that the fate of a nation is not predetermined; that individuals, citizens and corporations still have powerful agency and that when that agency is directed towards the right ideas and actions, South Africa can still realise its full potential.

LIST OF INTERVIEWEES:

• Why nations succeed with Dr Adrian Saville
• Measuring what matters with Malcolm Ray
• The promise of Africa beyond borders with Dr Débísí Àràbà
• An antidote to the tragedy of the commons with Wandile Sihlobo
• Property is a big deal with Lars Doucet
• Democratisation of ownership with Charles Savage
• The economic importance of optimism with Bruce Whitfield
• Good neighbours with Giulietta Talevi
• The perpetual struggle for democracy with Justice Malala
• A new vision for South Africa with Songezo Zibi
• Beyond the Constitution with TK Pooe

Does a consumer who bought a shirt made in another nation bear any moral responsibility when the women who sewed that shirt die in a factory fire or in the collapse of the building? Many have asserted, without explanation, that because markets cause harms to distant others, consumers bear moral responsibility for those harms. But traditional moral analysis of individual decisions is unable to sustain this argument. Distant Harms, Distant Markets presents a careful analysis of moral complicity in markets, employing resources from sociology, Christian history, feminism, legal theory, and Catholic moral theology today. Because of its individualistic methods, mainstream economics as a discipline is not equipped to understand the causality entailed in the long chains of social relationships that make up the market. Critical realist sociology, however, has addressed the character and functioning of social structures, an analysis that can helpfully be applied to the market. The True Wealth of Nations research project of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies brought together an international group of sociologists, economists, moral theologians, and others to describe these causal relationships and articulate how Catholic social thought can use these insights to more fully address issues of economic ethics in the twenty-first century. The result was this interdisciplinary volume of essays, which explores the causal and moral responsibilities that consumers bear for the harms that markets cause to distant others.

Our modern-day word for sympathy is derived from the classical Greek word for fellow-feeling. Both in the vernacular as well as in the various specialist literatures within philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, economics, and history, "sympathy" and "empathy" are routinely conflated. In practice, they are also used to refer to a large variety of complex, all-too-familiar social phenomena: for example, simultaneous yawning or the giggles. Moreover, sympathy is invoked to address problems associated with social dislocation and political conflict. It is, then, turned into a vehicle toward generating harmony among otherwise isolated individuals and a way for them to fit into a larger whole, be it society and the universe. This volume offers a historical overview of some of the most significant attempts to come to grips with sympathy in Western thought from Plato to experimental economics. The contributors are leading scholars in philosophy, classics, history, economics, comparative literature, and political science. Sympathy is originally developed in Stoic thought. It was also taken up by Plotinus and Galen. There are original contributed chapters on each of these historical moments. Use for the concept was re-discovered in the Renaissance. And the volume has original chapters not just on medical and philosophical Renaissance interest in sympathy, but also on the role of antipathy in Shakespeare and the significance of sympathy in music theory. Inspired by the influence of Spinoza, sympathy plays a central role in the great moral psychologies of, say, Anne Conway, Leibniz, Hume, Adam Smith, and Sophie De Grouchy during the eighteenth century. The volume should offers an introduction to key background concept that is often overlooked in many of the most important philosophies of the early modern period. About a century ago the idea of Einfuhlung (or empathy) was developed in theoretical philosophy, then applied in practical philosophy and the newly emerging scientific disciplines of psychology. Moreover, recent economists have rediscovered sympathy in part experimentally and, in part by careful re-reading of the classics of the field.

The game of tennis raises many questions that are of interest to a statistician. Is it true that beginning to serve in a set gives an advantage? Are new balls an advantage? Is the seventh game in a set particularly important? Are top players more stable than other players? Do real champions win the big points? These and many other questions are formulated as "hypotheses" and tested statistically. Analyzing Wimbledon also discusses how the outcome of a match can be predicted (even while the match is in progress), which points are important and which are not, how to choose an optimal service strategy, and whether "winning mood" actually exists in tennis. Aimed at readers with some knowledge of mathematics and statistics, the book uses tennis (Wimbledon in particular) as a vehicle to illustrate the power and beauty of statistical reasoning.

The Association for Social Advancement (ASA) of Bangladesh recently topped Forbes magazine's first-ever list of the world's best microfinance banks. This is an extraordinary achievement for an organization that started life as a revolutionary movement aiming to bring a peasant-led government to the newly created and desperately poor South Asian nation of Bangladesh. This book tells the story of how ASA's determined but practical-minded founder and leader, Shafiqual Haque Choudhury, steered his organization through the maze of competing ideas about how best to develop poor countries. The book sets Choudhury's accomplishments in the context of Bangladesh's chaotic but inspiring postcolonial history and is rich in its understanding and descriptions of how ordinary village and slum dwellers deal with the complicated web of politics, international donations, and development expertise. The author's long and intimate knowledge of ASA and of Bangladeshi microfinance makes this one of the best case studies of a development organization available to the general public.

Neoliberal economic theories are powerful because their domestic translators make them go local, hybridizing global scripts with local ideas. This does not mean that all local translations shape policy, however. External constraints and translators' access to cohesive policy institutions filter what kind of neoliberal hybrids become policy reality. By comparing the moderate neoliberalism that prevails in Spain with the more radical one that shapes policy thinking in Romania, Ruling Ideas explains why neoliberal hybrids take the forms that they do and how they survive crises. Cornel Ban contributes to the literature by showing that these different varieties of neoliberalism depend on what competing ideas are available locally, on the networks of actors who serve as the local advocates of neoliberalism, and on their vulnerability to external coercion. Ruling Ideas covers an extended historical period, starting with the Franco period in Spain and the Ceausescu period in Romania, discusses the economic integration of these countries into the EU, and continues through Europe's Great Recession and the European debt crisis. The broad historical coverage enables a careful analysis of how neoliberalism rules in times of stability and crisis and under different political systems.