Competition and cooperation: can South African business create synergies from BRIC+S in Africa?

Abstract

The relationship of cooperation and competition between South African private businesses and Asian companies has become more complex in the last 20 years. With South Africa joining what became BRICS in early 2011, it now represents the African continent with its growing market potential. However, South African medium and large size companies (SA MLCs) seem to perceive the positioning of BRIC businesses rather as a challenge than as a window of opportunity. This article identifies the need for a deeper understanding of the adaptive capacity and practices of South African private companies which play a significant role for job creation in South Africa. What we hereby present is in fact a first foray into companies’ pragmatic engagements for achieving relative stability in increasing competitive markets. This is consequent of empirical research in its initial stages. The theoretical framework applied picks up recent debates revolving around the ‘practice turn.’ First evidence from business corroborates an alternative field-specific approach referring to Fligstein’s relational sociology of markets and Thévenot’s concept of pragmatic regimes of justification.

Keywords:

• BRICS economic engagements
• competition
• minerals and energy industry
• practices
• Social Geography of Entrepreneurship

Notes

1. In this article discussion will be limited to South African links to India and China. Brazil is a significant investor in Angola while Russia invests little in Africa. Both are far more predominantly exporters of natural products than India or China.

2. This short form does not differentiate between the terms ‘firms,’ ‘businesses,’ ‘companies,’ and ‘corporations.’ In line with the concept of corporate entrepreneurship (CE) referring to organizations’ commitment to proactive competitive behavior, innovation and risk taking and their flexibility to respond to constant and fast change (see Dhliwayo, 2010) we can conceive of these organizations’ practices as entrepreneurial.