CSR in South Africa mining sector

There are distinct ways in which mining companies in South Africa operate today that are different from the operations three decades ago. Companies have grown in proportion, and the extension of the businesses is directly proportional to the mining activities hence the ultimate prize of degradation and related challenges has to be faced. There is increasing need to understand the relationship between corporate social responsibility and company returns. Both the opponents and proponents of CSR argue their case through convincing arguments presented here concerning the subject as brought out in this discussion. The immediate stakeholders of any company are the consumers, and they form a critical component of the company’s operations. A study of the evolution of CSR Mining in South Africa strategies is critical; as brought out in the discussion of CSR strategies employed three decades ago with what is done today

Media piracy in emerging economies

Media Piracy in Emerging Economies is the first independent, large-scale study of music, film and software piracy in the developing world, with a focus on Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa, Mexico and Bolivia. Based on three years of work by some thirty-five researchers, the study tells two overarching stories: one tracing the explosive growth of piracy as digital technologies became cheap and ubiquitous around the world, and another following the growth of industry lobbies that have reshaped laws and law enforcement around copyright protection. The report argues that enforcement efforts have largely failed, and that the problem of piracy is better addressed as a failure of affordable access to media in legal markets.

O consumidor brasileiro de marcas de luxo : uma descrição e segmentação psicográfica por valores

O campo desta dissertação é o Marketing aplicado às marcas de luxo, descrevendo e segmentando os consumidores das marcas de luxo de vestuário e acessórios em seus traços psicográficos. A psicografia é utilizada para entender os mercados e avaliar em profundidade os segmentos (Blackwell, Miniard, Engel, 2005), indo além das usuais variáveis demográficas. A psicografia utiliza características subjetivas dos consumidores, tais como estilo de vida, personalidade, atitude, atividades, interesses, valores (Tomanari, 2003). Aqui se utilizou, como traços psicográficos, os valores do consumidor. Valores são propriedades humanas que dificilmente mudam, sendo influenciadores do comportamento. Ademais, são em algum grau compartilhados pelos indivíduos que pertencem a uma mesma cultura e variam de acordo com as especificidades culturais (Hemzo, Silva, 2009). Dessa forma, os traços psicográficos baseados em valores são menos universais e mais necessários estudá-los dentro de uma cultura em particular (a brasileira, nessa dissertação). No Brasil, o consumo das marcas de luxo, a partir da década de 2000, teve diversas causas. As condições econômicas e a inserção no mercado global facilitaram a compra de produtos importados. Todavia, o fenômeno do luxo difere nos seus mercados tradicionais (França e Itália). Isso leva a considerar que, nos mercados emergentes, o luxo passa por outras definições e simbologias, por vezes divergentes daquelas dos países de origem das marcas. Logo, uma segmentação baseada nos traços psicográficos dos consumidores pode auxiliar a gestão dessas marcas no Brasil, o que essa dissertação aborda.

The BRICS: some historical experiences, growth challenges and opportunities

The acronym BRICS was a fad among the media and global investors. Now, the acronym sounds passé. However, the group of countries remains important, from both political and economic reasons. They have a large aggregate size, 28% of the global GDP and 42% of the world’s population, high growth potential due to the current significant misallocation of resources and relatively low stock of human capital, structural transformation is in progress and one of them, China, is taking steps to become a global power and a challenger to the US dominance. This paper provides a brief overview of the five economies, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. We focus on some aspects of their history, the Chinese initiatives in international finance and geopolitical strategic moves, their growth experience and structural transformation over the last 35 years, trade and investment integration into the global economy and among themselves, the growth challenges faced by their economies and the potential gains to the Brazilian economy from a stronger integration with the other BRICS. In association with its efforts to be a global power, China aims to become a major player in global finance and to achieve the status of global currency for the renminbi, which would be the first currency of an emerging economy to attain such position. Despite the similarities, the BRICS encompass very diverse economies. In the recent decades, China and India showed stellar growth rates. On the other hand, Brazil, Russia and South Africa have expanded just in line with global output growth with the Russian economy exhibiting high volatility. China is by far the largest economy, and South Africa the smallest, the only BRICS economy with a GDP lower than US$ 1 trillion. Russia abandoned communism almost 25 years ago, but reversed many of the privatizations of 90’s. China is still ruled by communism, but has a vibrant private sector and recently has officially declared market forces to play a dominant role in its economy. Brazil, Russia and South Africa are global natural resources powerhouses and commodity exporters while China and India are large commodity importers. Brazil is relatively closed to international trade of goods and services, in marked contrast to the other four economies. Brazil, India and South Africa are dependent on external capital flows whereas China and Russia are capital exporters. India and South Africa have younger populations and a large portion living below the poverty line. Despite its extraordinary growth experience that lifted many millions from poverty, China still has 28% of its population classified as poor. Russia and China have much older populations and one of their challenges is to deal with the effects of a declining labor force in the near future. India, China and South Africa face a long way to urbanization, while Brazil and Russia are already urbanized countries. China is an industrial economy but its primary sector still absorbs a large pool of workers. India is not, but the primary sector employs also a large share of the labor force. China’s aggregate demand structure is biased towards investment that has been driving its expansion. Brazil and South Africa have an aggregate demand structure similar to the developed economies, with private consumption accounting for approximately 70%. The same similarity applies to the supply side, as in both economies the share of services nears 70%. The development problem is a productivity problem, so microeconomic reforms are badly needed to foster long-term growth of the BRICS economies since they have lost steam due a variety of factors, but fundamentally due to slower total factor productivity growth. China and India are implementing ambitious reform programs, while Brazil is dealing with macroeconomic disequilibria. Russia and South Africa remain mute about structural reforms. There are some potential benefits to Brazil to be extracted from a greater economic integration with the BRICS, particularly in natural resources intensive industries and services. Necessary conditions to the materialization of those gains are the removal of the several sources of resource misallocation and strong investment in human capital.

5th BRICS Trade and Economic Research Network (TERN) meeting: the impact of mega agreements on BRICS

The BRICS TERN – BRICS Trade and Economics Research Network is a group of independent research institutes established four years ago by five think tanks from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The main objective of the network is to study different aspects of trade and economic relations amongst these five countries. The purpose of the V BRICS TERN Meeting was to analyze and debate the effects of the negotiations of the Mega Agreements, mainly those initiated by the US and the EU, already in negotiation, to each of the BRICS Trade Policies. Both Mega Agreements were examined – the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The studies included the main impacts on trade flows and on the international trade rules system, respecting the perspective of each of the countries concerned. This workshop was an initiative of the Center for Global Trade and Investments (CGTI), a think-tank on International Trade held by FGV Sao Paulo School of Economics. Its main objective is the research on trade regulation, preferential trade agreements, trade and currency, trade and global value chains, through legal analysis and economic modelling. One of its main researches, now, is on the potential economic and legal impacts of the Mega Agreements on Brazil and WTO rules. This meeting was organized in March14, 2014, in Rio de Janeiro, in a perfect timing for introducing such issues in the international agenda, in advance of the 6th BRICS Summit scheduled to be held in Brazil in July 2014.