CEO Briefing 2014 The Business Agenda for South Africa: Competing in a Digital World
CEO Briefing 2014 The Business Agenda for South Africa: Competing in a Digital World 3 Contents Introduction 02 South African business executives are cautiously optimistic about growth 03 South African businesses growth agenda 06 Enthusiasm Is High for Digital Technologies Among South African Companies 08 Conclusion 12
CEO Briefing 2014 The Business Agenda for South Africa: Competing in a Digital World 5 Introduction According to recent Accenture research, business executives around the world are brimming with confidence and that includes those in South Africa. In fact, a large majority of executives in charge of South African businesses are optimistic about their own industry and organisation, and a smaller majority also see their home market and the global economy in a positive light. Joost de Haas Head of Accenture Strategy, South Africa But are these executives overly optimistic? Perhaps so. The country faces many challenges that stand in stark contrast to the confidence South African executives exhibited in our research. According to numerous reports and publications, unemployment, widespread crime, a lagging education system, and restrictive regulations are among the pressing issues that make it difficult for companies to do business in the country and, in turn, threaten to impede companies efforts to achieve their growth goals (not to mention deter badly needed foreign direct investment) 1. Although the preceding challenges are neither easy to address nor something businesses themselves can solve, South African companies do have some powerful aides that can help them dramatically improve their performance. Those are digital technologies. Indeed, a large percentage of South African executives in our research said digital technologies are not only important to their business but also will likely significantly change even transform their industry. 2 In Accenture s experience, companies around the world are using digital technologies to help them both become more efficient and productive as well as increase their revenues by extending their reach into a broader customer base and creating new, disruptive business models. Of course, to benefit from such technologies, companies need embrace them and that s where South African businesses, in our research, lag companies in other countries. 3 If they want to achieve their growth goals, South African companies need to more aggressively adopt digital technologies and deploy them across their operations to create new products and services and open new sales channels to new and existing customers. Additionally, these digital technologies can be leveraged to improve the efficiency of operational processes. In the following report, we explore in more detail what South African executives in our research had to say about their prospects for growth, where they expect growth to come from, and how digital technologies could help them grow more strongly. We believe the insights we share in this report can be useful to other South African companies as they consider their options for competing in a digital world.
6 The Business Agenda for South Africa: Competing in a Digital World CEO Briefing 2014 South African business executives are cautiously optimistic about growth We examined the South African data from the new Accenture research study, CEO Briefing 2014 The Global Agenda: Competing in a Digital World, 4 and found a majority of South African executives are generally optimistic about the economic prospects for their home country, but even more optimistic about their industry and their own organisation Optimism 51% 33% 61% 60% 74% 77% 81% 72% Global Economy Local Economy Core Industry Own Business Brazil, Russia, India, China When compared with respondents in other emerging economies, executives in South Africa exhibited some similarities. With regards to the South African economy, their levels of optimism are generally on a par with executives in in Brazil and India, somewhat more optimistic than those in Russia and the Middle East, and less optimistic than those in Turkey and China. When asked how they view the prospects of their own organisations, South African executives levels of optimism are similar to those in other emerging markets, with the exception of China-based executives who are far more optimistic. South African executives are generally more optimistic than other emerging markets about their industry (except China), but were the least likely of respondents in all the emerging markets to be optimistic about the global economy. Consistent with their generally optimistic perspective, about three-quarters of South African executives also expect increases in profit and revenues in the next 12 months. From an emerging-market standpoint, these views are most similar to those in Brazil, India and Turkey. South African executives are more likely to expect profit and revenue increases than those in Russia, and less likely than those in China. Furthermore, just under seven in 10 South African executives Republic of South Africa believe major emerging markets will experience strong or stable growth versus a slowdown. In fact, respondents in South Africa were more likely to have this opinion than those in the US, EU and all other emerging markets 5. However, South African executives optimism seems to contrast with the prevailing business and economic indicators. For instance: The country s real GDP is expected to grow only 2.5 percent in 2014 and 2015 up from 1.9 percent in 2013, but behind other emerging markets as well as the US and EU 6. South African unemployment is forecast to decline only slightly in 2014 from 2013 to 25.3 percent the highest of any country in our study except Spain 7. Productivity of South African workers is expected to decline from 0.3 percent in 2013 to -0.9 percent in 2014 the only country in our survey to be forecast in negative territory 8. Indeed, challenges such as chronic unemployment, a high crime rate, a challenging education system, a shortfall in power capacity, and restrictive labour laws are conspiring to dampen growth and direct investment in the country resulting in its recent loss of status as the African continent s biggest economy to Nigeria, despite the recent rebasing of the GDP definition.
CEO Briefing 2014 The Business Agenda for South Africa: Competing in a Digital World 7 For instance, according to the United Nations, foreign direct investment (FDI) in South Africa fell to $4.6 billion in 2012 from $6 billion the previous year, 9 while other parts of Africa have experienced steady or increased FDI. The preceding challenges notwithstanding, companies based in South Africa are in an expansive mood. A large majority of South African companies expect to increase their total capital investment in the coming year, although increases are less likely to be seen in physical and intangible assets than in human capital assets. South Africa Challenges GDP Growth 2.5% Unemployment 25.3% Worker Productivity 0.9% While all emerging markets were similar in their percentage of executives planning either a moderate or significant increase in total capital expenditure, companies in South Africa, the Middle East and Turkey were more likely than those in Brazil, Russia and India and less likely than those in China to expect a significant increase. Furthermore, six in 10 South African executives are planning to increase their overall workforce similar to the percentage of those in Brazil, Russia and India, and less than that of executives in China.
CEO Briefing 2014 The Business Agenda for South Africa: Competing in a Digital World 9 South African businesses growth agenda Finding and capturing growth can be a major challenge in today s volatile economy. That s especially true given the uncertainty surrounding the performance of the world s major markets. The ability to place the right bets has a dominant effect on how well companies can turn their optimism into reality. Growth Agenda Prioritising investments outside of South Africa 67% Historical investments Current investment strategy Shift from BRIC to other emerging 51% New products/ existing clients in South Africa 36% New products/ new developed markets 47% New products/ emerging markets According to our survey, the majority of South African companies appear to be betting primarily on markets outside their home country (Figure 3). Six in 10 said they planned to prioritise investment outside of their home country similar to those in all other emerging markets except China, where executives were more likely to say they are prioritising investments in their home market. In addition, South African executives believe frontier emerging economies will be their primary drivers of growth in the coming years: Sixty-seven percent said they intend to shift their focus from the BRIC economies to other, more rapidly growing emerging markets. But just over half also intend to maintain their investment in the EU, under the assumption that the economies there will continue to improve. Just the opposite is the case, though, with the United States: Nearly two-thirds of South African executives expect to shift investments away from the US in the belief that the country s economy will worsen. Regardless of the countries in which South Africa is operating, however, the route to growth will generally involve selling new products or services to existing customers in South Africa and to new customers in developed markets outside South Africa, and in other emerging markets. This focus on new offerings is consistent with the fact that, as mentioned earlier, nearly eight in 10 South African executives said their company planned to increase its investment in R&D in the next 12 months. In fact, South Africa s government has recently set an R&D spending target of 1.5 percent of GDP by 2019, which is nearly double the current figure identified by the latest national R&D survey conducted by South Africa s Department of Science and Technology 10.
10 The Business Agenda for South Africa: Competing in a Digital World CEO Briefing 2014 Enthusiasm Is High for Digital Technologies Among South African Companies As they pursue growth, South African companies are increasingly looking to digital technologies for help. Yet executives are split in their opinion of them. In general, about half believe all six technologies we covered in the survey cloud computing, ecommerce, social media, mobility, analytics, and machine-to-machine communications are moderately to significantly important. Digital 82% 71% 90% 70% Mobile 53% Cloud Computing E-Commerce Data Analytics Despite enthusiasm only 26% 71% Machine-to-Machine 67% Social Media said their processes leverage these technologies. The other half think they are somewhat to not at all important. These perspectives are generally consistent with most other emerging markets (except China, which places much higher importance on all of the technologies), and tend to fall between the US and EU 11. Executives perspectives reflect the uneven penetration of digital across the South African economy in general. For instance, the 131 mobile subscriptions per 100 people in South Africa projected for 2014, falls roughly in the middle of 20 countries studied by the EIU with India s at the low end (80) and Saudi Arabia s at the high end (186). 12 Furthermore, the EIU projects South Africa s market demand for telecoms and IT equipment to be 2.5 percent in 2014, which is higher than most developed and some emerging markets, but still trailing that of leaders China (7.0 percent) and India (7.6 percent) 13. And according to EIU estimates, South Africa fares worse than most countries in Internet use, with 25.3 Internet users per 100 people which is among the lowest penetration of the 20 countries studied (ahead of only India with 18.6 and far behind leader Switzerland, with 88.3) 14. However, on the positive side, South Africa s mobile data traffic is projected to grow eightfold between 2013 and 2018 15 and 60 percent of African continent s total internet traffic is driven by South Africa 16. As the use of digital technologies in the country grows, these tools are expected to have a significant impact on South African businesses. According to our survey, 63 percent of South African executives think digital will drive either significant change or a complete transformation of their industry more than those in the US and EU, as well as most other emerging markets. Executives in South Africa trailed only China in the percentage of executives who expect digital to render significant industry change 17. Such a growth-oriented use of digital can provide vital support
CEO Briefing 2014 The Business Agenda for South Africa: Competing in a Digital World 11 As far as the use of digital is concerned, South African executives were more likely than those in the EU, US and most other emerging markets (except Turkey and the Middle East) to say the primary focus of their investment in digital to date has been mostly on growth opportunities and new ways of reaching customers. Additionally, a majority of South African companies believe digital technology is important to helping them create new products and services and improving the customer experience. Percentage of executives saying digital technologies are extremely important to: 70% 63% 64% 37% 40% 49% 55% Improving operational efficiency Improving the customer experience Attracting and retaining the best talent Improving management control oversight and governance Opening new sales channels Growing sales Creating new products and services to South African companies as they seek to shift their attention to capturing a share of fast-growing emerging markets, via new products and services, as stated earlier. Conversely, South African executives were less likely to say their company s deployment of digital has involved primarily driving process efficiencies and cost reduction, although seven in 10 did acknowledge digital technologies are important to helping improve operational efficiency. Despite their enthusiasm for digital, however, South African companies still have much work to do to deploy digital technologies across their operations: Only 26 percent of South African executives said at least half of their major business processes are supported by digital technologies. This figure trails not only the EU and US, but also nearly all other emerging markets. Furthermore, approximately four in 10 South African executives said that when implementing digital technologies, their companies struggle with poor cross-functional collaboration and insufficient funding 18. Perhaps one of the reasons for these struggles is lack of seniorexecutive involvement in setting the company s digital agenda. South African executives were less likely than their counterparts in the US and EU to say their CEO is responsible for digital innovation 19.
CEO Briefing 2014 The Business Agenda for South Africa: Competing in a Digital World 13 Conclusion As South Africa continues to grapple with several challenges that could dampen the country s growth, the country s business executives remain optimistic about their company s economic prospects. That is likely because for most South African executives participating in our survey, the focus of their investment and attention will be on markets outside of their home country including the EU and fast-growing emerging markets, where South African companies likely will concentrate on selling new offerings to new customers. However, in light of their chosen approach to growth, South African companies could support their growth agenda by substantially increasing their attention to and use of digital technologies. With most South African companies focusing on new products and services, they could benefit from a more ambitious approach to using digital to enhance their ability to create new offers that will appeal to whole new pools of prospective customers as well as open new sales channels to help them reach those promising new customers, wherever in the world they may be. Contacts Visit our site to learn more: www.accenture.com/ceobriefing or join the conversation via: @AccentureStrat www.facebook.com/accenturestrategy www.linkedin.com/company/accenture-strategy For more information about Accenture Strategy visit: www.accenture.com/strategy References 1 CEO Briefing 2014 The Global Agenda: Competing in a Digital World http://www.accenture.com/ceobriefing. This research was conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by Accenture. It included 1,041 C-suite executives around the world representing companies from 20 countries. 2 CEO Briefing 2014 The Global Agenda: Competing in a Digital World http://www.accenture.com/ceobriefing. 3 CEO Briefing 2014 The Global Agenda: Competing in a Digital World http://www.accenture.com/ceobriefing. 4 CEO Briefing 2014 The Global Agenda: Competing in a Digital World http://www.accenture.com/ceobriefing. This research was conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by Accenture. It included 1,041 C-suite executives around the world representing companies from 20 countries. 5 CEO Briefing 2014 The Global Agenda: Competing in a Digital World http://www.accenture.com/ceobriefing. 6 According to data from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), and South Africa needs neighbors growth rates Martin Hutchinson, Reuters, May 2, 2014, http://blogs.reuters.com/breakingviews/2014/05/02/south-africaneeds- neighbors-growth-rates/ 7 According to data from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) 8 According to data from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) 9 Falling from continental perch is a wake-up call for South Africa, Stella Mapenzauswa, Reuters, May 9, 2014, http://news.yahoo.com/fallingcontinental-perch-wake-call-south-africa-152723652.html;_ylt=a0levzdqh nftflaaeepxnyoa;_ylu=x3odmtbsa3zzmnbvbhnlywnzywrjb2xva2jm MQR2dGlkAw-- 10 South Africa Turning the Corner on R&D Spending, April 10, 2014, http://www.southafrica.info/about/science/research-110414.htm 11 CEO Briefing 2014 The Global Agenda: Competing in a Digital World http://www.accenture.com/ceobriefing. 12 According to data from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) 13 According to data from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) 14 According to data from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) 15 http://www.itwebafrica.com/mobile/320-south-africa/232453-sa-mobiledata-traffic-to-grow-by-eight-fold 16 http://www.mediaclubsouthafrica.com/economy/3516-got-to-get-connected 17 CEO Briefing 2014 The Global Agenda: Competing in a Digital World http://www.accenture.com/ceobriefing. 18 CEO Briefing 2014 The Global Agenda: Competing in a Digital World http://www.accenture.com/ceobriefing. 19 CEO Briefing 2014 The Global Agenda: Competing in a Digital World http://www.accenture.com/ceobriefing.
CEO Briefing 2014 The Business Agenda for South Africa: Competing in a Digital World 15 Authors Joost de Haas Joost de Haas Head of Accenture Strategy, South Africa Joost is a managing director, and lead for Accenture Management Consulting in South Africa. During his time at Accenture, he has worked on projects in the chemicals, energy, utilities and communications industries. He specialises in strategic visioning and positioning, enterprise transformation, mergers and acquisitions, post-merger integration, strategic delivery programme management, organisation design and change management. De Haas has been with Accenture since 1994 and holds a master s degree in industrial organisation and management from the Delft University of Technology, Industrial Engineering and Management in the Netherlands. Jonathan McCabe Jonathan joined Accenture s Johannesburg office in 2010 from the United States and is a Senior Manager in Accenture Strategy specialising in the Consumer Goods and Retail industries. Jonathan earned a Bachelor s degree in Finance from Tulane University in New Orleans (2000) and an MBA with a concentration in Supply Chain Management from Texas Christian University (2005). Jonathan McCabe Senior Manager Consumer Goods & Retail Industries in Accenture Strategy, South Africa
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