Collaborative approach is key to Gauteng's growth

Market knowledge is
key to remaining
competitive in the
current environment
– and Gauteng will have to invest
heavily in understanding its
markets and its particular role and
contribution if it wants to remain
viable.
According to the 2013 Thrive
International Investor Perception
Study released in Johannesburg
earlier this year, in an increasingly
globalised world, with shrinking
borders driving the 24/7 culture, it
is crucial for a country or a region
to understand the way in which it
is perceived by both its traditional
markets and trading partners as
well as by the markets that are
bound to continue driving global
growth in coming decades.
While South Africa competes
equitably with other emerging
markets, in the study experts
maintain that more cooperation
and collaboration are needed from
all stakeholders to drive the country
forward.
It is with this in mind that
Brand South Africa established
a task team to ensure all
stakeholders work together
for South Africa’s continued
competitiveness, economic and
social growth as mandated by the
country’s National Development
Plan.
It is the same approach that is
seeing corridors such as the Walvis
Bay Corridor in Namibia and the
Maputo Corridor in Mozambique
grow trade.
“The collaborative approach –
where all stakeholders are involved
from both the public and the private
sector, working to meet a very
clearly defined goal – is proving to
be very successful in these regions,”
says Liz Whitehouse, director of
Whitehouse & Associates. “A similar
approach is needed for Gauteng –
not only to establish exactly how it
is perceived and where it is heading
in terms of South Africa, but also
the greater southern Africa region,
determining exactly who its market
is and where the opportunities are.
It is also important to see more
formal collaboration between
stakeholders because these goals
cannot be achieved by the public or
private sector working on its own.”
Experts across the board
maintain one of the greatest
constraints in the country is the
fragmented approach South
Africa and therefore its provinces
take. Explains Whitehouse: “At
a national level you have the dti
driving export growth, you have the
department of transport focusing
on roads and related infrastructure,
but ports and rail fall under public
enterprises. It becomes even more
complex when you get to the
provincial level and there is the
entire private sector that also has to
still be taken into account.”
According to Whitehouse,
these kinds of approaches often
result in provinces in South Africa
competing with each other rather
than establishing themselves
as hubs that together move the
country forward.