Country Analysis Report - South Africa - In-depth PESTLE Insights

Introduction

The country analysis report on South Africa provides a wide array of analytical inputs to analyze the country’s performance, and the objective is to help the reader to make business decisions and prepare for the future. The report on South Africa analyzes the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental (PESTLE) structure of South Africa. The report provides a holistic view of South Africa from historical, current and future perspective. Insightful analysis on critical current and future issues is presented through detailed SCPT (strengths, challenges, prospects and threats /risks) analysis for each of the PESTLE segments. In addition, the PESTLE segments are supplemented with relevant quantitative data to support trend analysis. The PESTLE country analysis report series provides an in-depth analysis of 50 major countries.

Features and Benefits

• Understanding gained from the country analysis report on South Africa can be used to plan business investments or market entry apart from a holistic view of the country.
• Political section on South Africa provides inputs about the political system, key figures in the country, and governance indicators.
• Economic section on South Africa outlines the economic story of the country to provide a balanced assessment on core macro-economic issues.
• Social section on South Africa enables understanding of customer demographics through the income distribution, rural-urban segmentation and centres of affluence, healthcare and educational scenario in the country.
• Technological section on South Africa provides strategic inputs on information communications and technology, technological laws and policies, technological gaps, patents data and relevant laws.
• Legal section on South Africa provides information about the legal structure, corporate laws, business set-up procedures and the tax regime.
• Environmental section provides information on environmental policies in South Africa and the performance in terms of important environmental indicators.

Highlights

PESTLE analysis of South Africa identifies issues that affect the country’s performance through the prism of current strengths (strengths), current challenges (weaknesses), future prospects (opportunities) and future risks (threats).

The political landscape discusses the evolution of the political scenario in South Africa in different periods. The economic, social, foreign and defence policies are considered in the political landscape section. It also discusses the performance of the country as per World Bank Governance Indicators.

The economic landscape describes the evolution of the economy of South Africa in different periods. It also examines the country’s performance in terms of GDP growth, composition by sector (agriculture, industry and services), fiscal situation, international investment position, monetary situation, credit disbursement, banking sector and employment. The economic landscape also explains the financial system in the country, especially with regard to financial authorities/regulators.

The social landscape covers the demographics, education and healthcare scenario in South Africa. The social welfare policies of the government along with the country’s performance in terms of healthcare, income distribution and education are also provided.

The technological landscape discusses the structure and policies in terms of Intellectual property, research & development, technology agreements/pacts; and policies related to the promotion of technology in South Africa.

The legal landscape examines the structure of the judicial system, legislation affecting businesses, tax regulations, labor laws, trade regulations and corporate governance in South Africa.

The environmental landscape in South Africa discusses the environmental regulations and policies of the country. The performance of the country in terms of in terms of environmental indicators and impact of environmental policies is also examined.

'Over the period 2004–08, real GDP grew at an annual average rate of 4.7%. This growth was broad-based, with the share of overall national income earned by the black population rising by more than 50% in 2005 from about 40% in 1996. South Africa’s economy grew by 5.2% and 5.6% in 2006 and 2007, respectively, representing stable economic growth for the fourth consecutive year. The growth rate came down to 3.7% in 2008. With much weaker external demand and lower prices for the country’s commodity exports, the South African economy contracted by 1.8% in 2009. However, a growth rate of 2.9% was recorded in 2010 and the economy is expected to expand further, reaching a growth rate of 4.4% by 2014.'

Your key questions answered

• What is the outlook in terms of political stability, policies towards businesses, external front and popularity of government in South Africa?
• What is the economic performance of South Africa in terms of GDP growth, fiscal situation, international investment position, monetary situation, credit disbursement, and employment among other economic indicators?
• What is the performance of South Africa in terms of healthcare, income distribution and education?
• What is the performance of South Africa in technology intensive sectors like telecommunications and information technology, patents and R&D expenditure trends?
• What is the legal structure in South Africa and are the laws conducive for investment?
• What is the performance of South Africa in terms of environmental indicators and impact of environmental policies?

Contents

Overview
Catalyst
Summary
Key Facts and Geographic Location
Key facts
Geographical location
PESTLE Analysis
Summary
Political analysis
Economic analysis
Social analysis
Technology analysis
Legal analysis
Environmental analysis
Political Landscape
Summary
Evolution
Structure and policies
Performance
Outlook
Economic Landscape
Summary
Evolution
Structure and policies
Performance
Outlook
Social Landscape
Summary
Evolution
Structure and policies
Performance
Outlook
Technology Landscape
Summary
Evolution
Structure and policies
Performance
Outlook
Legal Landscape
Summary
Evolution
Structure and policies
Performance
Outlook
Environmental Landscape
Summary
Evolution
Structure and policies
Performance
Outlook
Appendix
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Disclaimer

TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Map of South Africa
Figure 2: South Africa – key political events
Figure 3: South Africa – key political figures
Figure 4: South Africa's National Assembly composition, 2009
Figure 5: South Africa’s historical GDP growth, 1991–2010
Figure 6: GDP and GDP growth rate in South Africa, 2004–14f
Figure 7: GDP composition by sector, 2010
Figure 8: Agriculture output of South Africa, 2005–10
Figure 9: Industrial output of South Africa, 2005–10
Figure 10: Service output of South Africa, 2005–10
Figure 11: External trade of South Africa, 2006–10
Figure 12: Balance of South Africa’s trade, 2004–10
Figure 13: Consumer price index (CPI) and CPI-based inflation in South Africa, 2004–14f
Figure 14: Unemployment and unemployment rate in South Africa, 2004–14f
Figure 15: South Africa – composition by religion
Figure 16: Expenditure on healthcare in South Africa, 2002–13f
Figure 17: Public expenditure on education in South Africa, 2002–13f
Figure 18: Growth rate of mobile and fixed line telephones in South Africa, 2002–13f
Figure 19: Carbon dioxide emissions in South Africa, 2004–11f

TABLES

Table 1: South Africa – key fundamentals
Table 2: South Africa – key facts
Table 3: Analysis of South Africa’s political landscape
Table 4: Analysis of the South African economy
Table 5: Analysis of the South African social system
Table 6: Analysis of South Africa's technology landscape
Table 7: Analysis of South Africa's legal landscape
Table 8: Analysis of South Africa's environmental landscape
Table 9: Mid-year population by age (million), 2010
Table 10: Patents received by the USPTO, 2002–10
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