Business, state and society in the Western Cape from 1960 to 1990
- Authors: Wood, Robert Jameson
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Industrial policy -- South Africa. , Apartheid -- South Africa -- 1960-1990 , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1960-1990 , South Africa -- Economic policy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: vital:9125 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1018502
- Description: This research examines the relationship between business, the state and society in South Africa -- particularly the Western Cape -- over the period from 1960 to 1990, viewed against the background of economic conditions in this region, South Africa and the world. Utilising a development history approach, it is based on an extensive study of primary and secondary documentation, supplemented by a panel of in-depth interviews and observation. This study finds that the relationship between business and apartheid incorporated both functional and dysfunctional elements, although over time the benefits diminished and the costs multiplied. The latter, Regulation Theory suggests, is true for any institutional order, but it could be argued that, under apartheid, the particularly fragile and contradictory nature of the institutional arrangement made inevitable crises more rapid and more pronounced. On the one hand, apartheid restricted the economic development of the country, as a result of a range of factors from skills shortages to the visible waste of resources on grand ideological projects and security; as suggested by Resource Curse Theory, minerals windfalls tend to encourage irresponsible behaviour by governments. On the other hand, certain businesses prospered, notably the Afrikaner business sector. All business benefited from the overall growth of the 1950s and 1960s, whilst niche players often did quite well even during the 1980s. Further, the South African businessmen, both English- and Afrikaans-speaking, were skilful in adapting to the difficult conditions brought about by apartheid, and in many cases they prospered. As highlighted by Business Systems Theory, embedded social ties and informal relations may help either support or compensate for formal regulatory pressures. Many of these general trends were particularly accentuated in the Western Cape. The fact that business protests against government policies were often more motivated by concerns as to future property rights and of social disorder, rather than human rights, does indeed raise serious moral issues. However, in helping encourage political reform, they may have made a positive contribution. This study is founded on three related strands of thinking within the political economy tradition, Resource Curse Theory, Regulation Theory and Business Systems Theory, with the emerging common ground between these three bodies of thought being highlighted. As suggested by Resource Curse Theory, non-mineral producing regions tend to be particularly adversely affected in mineral rich countries, and there is little doubt that the region bore all the costs of the collapse of the gold price in the 1980s, and lacked the deeper capital base of the now Gauteng region to cushion the shock. Whilst apartheid may, as we have seen, have served conservative sectors of agriculture and mining quite well for many years, it also involved large costs incurred through social engineering experiments and the increasing demands of the security establishment. Resource Curse Theory suggests that national economies become dangerously dependent on the vagaries of commodities markets, and that the process of institutional design and evolution is hampered by assumptions of easy money which may temporary resolve the negative consequences of any institutional shortcomings. The poor price of gold in much of the 1980s brought about a crisis in the system, and, there is little doubt that this contributed to the demise of the order. As suggested by Resource Curse Theory, the experience of the Western Cape, a region of the country poor in minerals, was often one of inefficient and wasteful state intervention, coupled with increasingly poor performance of non-mineral related industries. Indeed, the effects of the recession of the 1980s were most pronounced in non-mineral producing areas of the country, particularly in the Western Cape. Regulation Theory highlights that no set of institutions and practices is ever totally coherent and functional, but at specific times may work to promote both certain types of economic activity and overall growth. It is wrong to suggest that because an order only works for some players at specific times it is simply dysfunctional or does not work properly at all. However, over time, internal contradictions mount and the benefits diminish. A particular feature of the apartheid order was that some of its core benefits at its height were particularly concentrated on some players (segments of Afrikaner commerce and industry, mining and agriculture), whilst the costs were shared across a wider range of players, with a disproportionate burden being borne by the black majority. A further feature was that the costs were often indirect and spread over many years if the benefits were sometimes immediate: this would include the persistent dysfunctionality of much of the South African education system and the criminal ecosystem that was nurtured through sanctions busting. Internal contradictions and spreading dysfunctionality rarely leads to a conscious and coherent period of institutional redesign, but rather an incoherent, experimental and contested process, such as characterized late apartheid reforms, and, indeed, the post February-1990 negotiation process. Finally, again at a theoretical level, as Business Systems Theory highlights, it is important to take account of the formal and informal ties interlinking firms in different sectors in the region, and firms and government, and the extent to which regions within a particular country may follow very distinct developmental trajectories. The benefits and the costs of the system diffused unevenly in the region, giving many players both a stake in the existing order, and an interest in some or other type of reform.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Wood, Robert Jameson
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Industrial policy -- South Africa. , Apartheid -- South Africa -- 1960-1990 , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1960-1990 , South Africa -- Economic policy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: vital:9125 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1018502
- Description: This research examines the relationship between business, the state and society in South Africa -- particularly the Western Cape -- over the period from 1960 to 1990, viewed against the background of economic conditions in this region, South Africa and the world. Utilising a development history approach, it is based on an extensive study of primary and secondary documentation, supplemented by a panel of in-depth interviews and observation. This study finds that the relationship between business and apartheid incorporated both functional and dysfunctional elements, although over time the benefits diminished and the costs multiplied. The latter, Regulation Theory suggests, is true for any institutional order, but it could be argued that, under apartheid, the particularly fragile and contradictory nature of the institutional arrangement made inevitable crises more rapid and more pronounced. On the one hand, apartheid restricted the economic development of the country, as a result of a range of factors from skills shortages to the visible waste of resources on grand ideological projects and security; as suggested by Resource Curse Theory, minerals windfalls tend to encourage irresponsible behaviour by governments. On the other hand, certain businesses prospered, notably the Afrikaner business sector. All business benefited from the overall growth of the 1950s and 1960s, whilst niche players often did quite well even during the 1980s. Further, the South African businessmen, both English- and Afrikaans-speaking, were skilful in adapting to the difficult conditions brought about by apartheid, and in many cases they prospered. As highlighted by Business Systems Theory, embedded social ties and informal relations may help either support or compensate for formal regulatory pressures. Many of these general trends were particularly accentuated in the Western Cape. The fact that business protests against government policies were often more motivated by concerns as to future property rights and of social disorder, rather than human rights, does indeed raise serious moral issues. However, in helping encourage political reform, they may have made a positive contribution. This study is founded on three related strands of thinking within the political economy tradition, Resource Curse Theory, Regulation Theory and Business Systems Theory, with the emerging common ground between these three bodies of thought being highlighted. As suggested by Resource Curse Theory, non-mineral producing regions tend to be particularly adversely affected in mineral rich countries, and there is little doubt that the region bore all the costs of the collapse of the gold price in the 1980s, and lacked the deeper capital base of the now Gauteng region to cushion the shock. Whilst apartheid may, as we have seen, have served conservative sectors of agriculture and mining quite well for many years, it also involved large costs incurred through social engineering experiments and the increasing demands of the security establishment. Resource Curse Theory suggests that national economies become dangerously dependent on the vagaries of commodities markets, and that the process of institutional design and evolution is hampered by assumptions of easy money which may temporary resolve the negative consequences of any institutional shortcomings. The poor price of gold in much of the 1980s brought about a crisis in the system, and, there is little doubt that this contributed to the demise of the order. As suggested by Resource Curse Theory, the experience of the Western Cape, a region of the country poor in minerals, was often one of inefficient and wasteful state intervention, coupled with increasingly poor performance of non-mineral related industries. Indeed, the effects of the recession of the 1980s were most pronounced in non-mineral producing areas of the country, particularly in the Western Cape. Regulation Theory highlights that no set of institutions and practices is ever totally coherent and functional, but at specific times may work to promote both certain types of economic activity and overall growth. It is wrong to suggest that because an order only works for some players at specific times it is simply dysfunctional or does not work properly at all. However, over time, internal contradictions mount and the benefits diminish. A particular feature of the apartheid order was that some of its core benefits at its height were particularly concentrated on some players (segments of Afrikaner commerce and industry, mining and agriculture), whilst the costs were shared across a wider range of players, with a disproportionate burden being borne by the black majority. A further feature was that the costs were often indirect and spread over many years if the benefits were sometimes immediate: this would include the persistent dysfunctionality of much of the South African education system and the criminal ecosystem that was nurtured through sanctions busting. Internal contradictions and spreading dysfunctionality rarely leads to a conscious and coherent period of institutional redesign, but rather an incoherent, experimental and contested process, such as characterized late apartheid reforms, and, indeed, the post February-1990 negotiation process. Finally, again at a theoretical level, as Business Systems Theory highlights, it is important to take account of the formal and informal ties interlinking firms in different sectors in the region, and firms and government, and the extent to which regions within a particular country may follow very distinct developmental trajectories. The benefits and the costs of the system diffused unevenly in the region, giving many players both a stake in the existing order, and an interest in some or other type of reform.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Network analysis of trophic linkages in two sub-tropical estuaries along the South-East coast of South Africa
- Authors: Vosloo, Mathys Christiaan
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Estuaries -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Estuarine ecology , Network analysis (Planning)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:10708 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1010966 , Estuaries -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Estuarine ecology , Network analysis (Planning)
- Description: Estuaries are some of the most productive yet threatened ecosystems in the world. Despite their importance they face significant threats through changes to river flow, eutrophication, rapid population growth long the caost and harvesting of natural resources. A number of international studies have been conducted investigating the structure and functioning of an array of ecosystems using ecological network analysis. Energy flow networks have been contsructed for coastal, lagoonal, intertidial and, most notably, permantently open estuaries. Despite the valualble insights contributed by these and other studies, a lack of information on the majority of estuarine ecosystems exists.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Vosloo, Mathys Christiaan
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Estuaries -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Estuarine ecology , Network analysis (Planning)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:10708 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1010966 , Estuaries -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Estuarine ecology , Network analysis (Planning)
- Description: Estuaries are some of the most productive yet threatened ecosystems in the world. Despite their importance they face significant threats through changes to river flow, eutrophication, rapid population growth long the caost and harvesting of natural resources. A number of international studies have been conducted investigating the structure and functioning of an array of ecosystems using ecological network analysis. Energy flow networks have been contsructed for coastal, lagoonal, intertidial and, most notably, permantently open estuaries. Despite the valualble insights contributed by these and other studies, a lack of information on the majority of estuarine ecosystems exists.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Using an intelligent self-service solution to support telecommunication service provisioning
- Authors: Barlow, Sherwin Riaan
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Telecommunication systems -- Management , Electronic commerce -- Computer programs , Web applications
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:10484 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1013417
- Description: The increasing competition between telecommunication service providers (TSPs) and the large amounts of human resource costs incurred to provision telecommunication services to small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs), highlight the need for effective self-service provisioning methods to reduce costs. Existing service provisioning methods do not effectively support SMMEs in the service provisioning process. The current methods used are manual and Web-based. The manual service provisioning method is labour and time-intensive. TSPs are being forced to cut human resource costs as the profit margins for provisioning services are narrow due to competition. The current web-based systems do not allow SMMEs to effectively purchase services as they provide long textual lists to consult and limited information about services. The objective of this research was to develop an intelligent web-based self-service system to support SMMEs in telecommunication service provisioning, using a Design Science Research methodology. A constraint-based, knowledge-based recommender system was selected as the most appropriate intelligent system to support telecommunication service provisioning. A prototype called SelPro was developed as a solution to address the shortcomings of the current ineffective service provisioning methods available for SMMEs. SelPro incorporates an interactive wizard-style user interface with dynamic recommendations to support novice users as well as an expert interface which provides less user support. An expert review and a user study were conducted to determine if SelPro was usable, useful and effective. SelPro was perceived as being usable for SMMEs wishing to purchase telecommunication services. Expert participants were satisfied with the usability of SelPro and perceived it as being useful, easy to use and easy to learn. SelPro was considered effective because of the high task success ratings provided by the participants using the two interfaces. The research determined that intelligent web-based self-service provisioning can be used to effectively support SMMEs in telecommunication service provisioning. General design recommendations for similar systems were proposed and future work will involve using intelligent systems to support large enterprises in telecommunication service provisioning.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Barlow, Sherwin Riaan
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Telecommunication systems -- Management , Electronic commerce -- Computer programs , Web applications
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:10484 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1013417
- Description: The increasing competition between telecommunication service providers (TSPs) and the large amounts of human resource costs incurred to provision telecommunication services to small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs), highlight the need for effective self-service provisioning methods to reduce costs. Existing service provisioning methods do not effectively support SMMEs in the service provisioning process. The current methods used are manual and Web-based. The manual service provisioning method is labour and time-intensive. TSPs are being forced to cut human resource costs as the profit margins for provisioning services are narrow due to competition. The current web-based systems do not allow SMMEs to effectively purchase services as they provide long textual lists to consult and limited information about services. The objective of this research was to develop an intelligent web-based self-service system to support SMMEs in telecommunication service provisioning, using a Design Science Research methodology. A constraint-based, knowledge-based recommender system was selected as the most appropriate intelligent system to support telecommunication service provisioning. A prototype called SelPro was developed as a solution to address the shortcomings of the current ineffective service provisioning methods available for SMMEs. SelPro incorporates an interactive wizard-style user interface with dynamic recommendations to support novice users as well as an expert interface which provides less user support. An expert review and a user study were conducted to determine if SelPro was usable, useful and effective. SelPro was perceived as being usable for SMMEs wishing to purchase telecommunication services. Expert participants were satisfied with the usability of SelPro and perceived it as being useful, easy to use and easy to learn. SelPro was considered effective because of the high task success ratings provided by the participants using the two interfaces. The research determined that intelligent web-based self-service provisioning can be used to effectively support SMMEs in telecommunication service provisioning. General design recommendations for similar systems were proposed and future work will involve using intelligent systems to support large enterprises in telecommunication service provisioning.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Size prediction for plus-size women's intimate apparel using a 3D body scanner
- Authors: Pandarum, Krishnavellie
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Lingerie , Lingerie -- Design , Overweight women
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:10450 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1153 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1012020 , Lingerie , Lingerie -- Design , Overweight women
- Description: Garment “fitting” from tailor-made to ready-to-wear clothing, has evolved over time. Ready to-wear and standardized sizes appeared in the middle 19th century. Today garment fitting is one of the most important criteria in the consumer buying decision making process. This is particularly so with “body hugging” garments, such as intimate apparel; or the bra that moulds the form of the wearer to produce “smooth” outer garment silhouettes. The South African bra retailer and manufacturers sizing charts are generally based upon body dimension data collected using traditional anthropometric methods. Professional measurers are not able to capture the hidden areas of the breast such as the inframmatory fold line, the volume, shape and contour of the breast using tape measures, calipers and other measuring devices. Traditional anthropometry also does not have the ability to systemically observe the bottom line of the breast base and extract accurate data on breast volume which are key factors in designing underwire bras and in the pattern making of the bra cup panels. Exploratory retail and consumer studies have indicated that consumers, notably plus size women, experience considerable problems and dissatisfaction with poorly fitting bras. There is therefore clearly a need in South Africa to conduct a 3D anthropometric study, focusing especially on the plus-sized women’s bra market segment, as there is very little or limited studies, to date, conduct for this market segment of the population. This pilot study collected 3D torso body measurement data from a convenient sample of 176 plus sized women, recruited from Playtex (Pty) Ltd. situated in Durban, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. The study evaluates the 3D breast volume measurement data extraction process, using an expert system developed by [TC]2 integrated into the propriety NX12-3D full body scanner software and that taken using the traditional dress-makers tape-measure. The objective is to establish the relationship between the 3D torso and breast volume data measurement output as extracted by the expert system when compared to the South African bra manufacturers sizing chart, for use in pattern making for bra cup panel designs and in the designing of underwire bras for large breasted or plus size women. The results contained in this dissertation cannot be extrapolated to the larger population of South Africa and is limited to the 176 plus size women selected by Body Mass Index; recruited from KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Pandarum, Krishnavellie
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Lingerie , Lingerie -- Design , Overweight women
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:10450 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1153 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1012020 , Lingerie , Lingerie -- Design , Overweight women
- Description: Garment “fitting” from tailor-made to ready-to-wear clothing, has evolved over time. Ready to-wear and standardized sizes appeared in the middle 19th century. Today garment fitting is one of the most important criteria in the consumer buying decision making process. This is particularly so with “body hugging” garments, such as intimate apparel; or the bra that moulds the form of the wearer to produce “smooth” outer garment silhouettes. The South African bra retailer and manufacturers sizing charts are generally based upon body dimension data collected using traditional anthropometric methods. Professional measurers are not able to capture the hidden areas of the breast such as the inframmatory fold line, the volume, shape and contour of the breast using tape measures, calipers and other measuring devices. Traditional anthropometry also does not have the ability to systemically observe the bottom line of the breast base and extract accurate data on breast volume which are key factors in designing underwire bras and in the pattern making of the bra cup panels. Exploratory retail and consumer studies have indicated that consumers, notably plus size women, experience considerable problems and dissatisfaction with poorly fitting bras. There is therefore clearly a need in South Africa to conduct a 3D anthropometric study, focusing especially on the plus-sized women’s bra market segment, as there is very little or limited studies, to date, conduct for this market segment of the population. This pilot study collected 3D torso body measurement data from a convenient sample of 176 plus sized women, recruited from Playtex (Pty) Ltd. situated in Durban, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. The study evaluates the 3D breast volume measurement data extraction process, using an expert system developed by [TC]2 integrated into the propriety NX12-3D full body scanner software and that taken using the traditional dress-makers tape-measure. The objective is to establish the relationship between the 3D torso and breast volume data measurement output as extracted by the expert system when compared to the South African bra manufacturers sizing chart, for use in pattern making for bra cup panel designs and in the designing of underwire bras for large breasted or plus size women. The results contained in this dissertation cannot be extrapolated to the larger population of South Africa and is limited to the 176 plus size women selected by Body Mass Index; recruited from KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
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