UCT SMME expert appointed to top global board

Dr Mike Herrington, Director of the UCT Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB), has been appointed to the board of the most authoritative and comprehensive study on entrepreneurship in the world today, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). View Clipping

Invigorated managers a key 2010 priority

New research has revealed that nearly seven in ten HR professionals have identified a "huge need" to ensure managers have the skills to manage, inspire and lift organisations in 2010. View Clipping

Budget gives cause for optimism, says Kantor

The recent Budget Speech was, to fall back on a platitude, much anticipated - firstly, it was Pravin Gordhan's first as minister of finance; and secondly, it came in the wake of an economy-stifling global recession. View Clipping

Engaging with China must become an SA priority

South African companies are still not tapped into China, we are not early adopters and this is costing our companies in opportunity compared to other countries that are more proactive. This is according to Kobus van der Wath, Group Managing Director of strategy and investment advisory firm THE BEIJING AXIS and CEO of China-focused global procurement house Bateman Beijing Axis, who spoke at a GSB Distinguished Speakers Programme this month. View Clipping

Making wine makes a difference to local school

The UCT Graduate School of Business' 2009 full-time MBA class recently handed over R10 000 to the Masibambane Secondary School in Kraaifontein. The money was raised through an innovative wine making competition at the business school and will go towards a much needed bursary programme at Masibambane High. View Clipping

Time for Moral Courage

Some of the strongest words to be heard at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2010 in Davos, Switzerland this January came at the start of the major global event - French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a fundamental rethink of capitalism in the aftermath of the financial crisis. The GSB's Kurt April says it is time for leaders to show moral courage. View Clipping

GSB study investigates ROI from leadership development

Evidence emerging from a study being conducted with the UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB) suggests that there can indeed be a strong, measurable ROI for businesses investing in leadership development programmes. View Clipping

UCT GSB appoints new award-winning Research Director

The UCT Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB) has appointed award-winning Associate Professor Dr Ralph Hamann as its new Research Director. Hamann will add significantly to the GSB's endeavours to grow research in emergent markets and sustainable business. View Clipping

African studies show cellular interconnection cost closer to 25c

Evidence from a benchmarking study conducted last year for the Namibian regulator to determine their cellular interconnection rates, shows that the cost-based interconnect costs of efficient operators are probably lower than 25 cents, a far cry from the 89c peak rate operators have proposed this month to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). View Clipping

Safety first for Rand Refinery smelter head

As a young boy growing up in the coal mining town of eMalahleni, previously known as Witbank, Terence Nkosi never dreamed that he would one day play an important role at one of the largest single-site gold refining and smelting complexes in the world - Rand Refinery. View Clipping

What it will take for women to occupy more space at the top

Globally, while women make up half of the population, half of the workforce, half of all university students, while they spend more than 70% of total consumer dollars and, according to a recent study by the Boston Consulting Group, will create 70% of the global growth in income at the household level over the next five years, they still only occupy less than 3% of the CEO positions in Fortune 500 companies and earn less than men in similar positions across the board. View Clipping

Facebook fan pages make a marketing impact - new study

Research published this month says that Facebook fan pages are an effective marketing tool. Companies that use the fan page module to market themselves to customers can increase sales, word-of-mouth marketing and customer loyalty. View Clipping

UCT business school offers project managers skills for new economy

Project managers should not engage in wishful thinking about returning to the way things used to be - in the post-crash world, mega projects are likely to be few and far between. The "new normal" for projects is smaller, faster and focused on what is essential with a reduced level of investment. View Clipping

Working towards the ultimate goal

Unlike other young men his age, Frank Jacobs already knew at 18 that he wanted to work for government - the position: a director of finance. Although he has encountered some challenges along the way, today he is but a step away from realising his dream. View Clipping

Archbishop links spirituality, values and leadership to make a difference

The Most Reverend Dr Thabo Cecil Makgoba, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town is one spiritual leader who takes both the ‘spiritual’ and ‘leadership’ parts of what he does very seriously. View Clipping

Green, sustainable travel blazes a trail in Kenya

The market for environmentally conscious services and goods in the beautiful country of Kenya may still be minute in comparison to South Africa, but that has not deterred a highly ambitious young Kenyan entrepreneur from starting an eco-tourism business that marries luxury travel with an ecologically conscious attitude. View Clipping

Africa becomes the classroom

The UCT Graduate School of Business has launched a landmark MBA elective, called Doing Business in Africa, to give students an in-depth understanding of doing business on the African continent through both coursework and an internship. View Clipping

The outlook for SA wine sector

The South African wine industry entered 2010 in a buoyant mood, thanks in part to the news that sales of South African wines overtook French for the first time in the UK wine market in terms of volume in the year to January 23, 2010. The prospect of the FIFA World Cup in June was also lifting the profile of South Africa in the global marketplace. View Clipping

Bringing mobile banking to the people

Yolande van Wyk, newly appointed CEO for First National Bank’s Smart Services, is a techno-savvy hard worker proving she has what it takes to excel as a leader in the Mobile Payment and Mobile Banking space. View Clipping

Emergent market business schools take centre stage

The UCT GSB's development strategy has seen it shift into high gear to differentiate itself with strong and distinctive capabilities in emergent markets. View Clipping

GSB the perfect fit for new associate professor

Richard Chivaka, newly appointed as an Associate Professor at the UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB), says the business school is the perfect place for him to explore his passion for research and teaching on emergent markets. View Clipping

UCT business school empowers South Africans with financial skills

To boost financial prudence amongst South African managers and help businesses as they emerge from the recession, the UCT Graduate School of Business is offering a course this May which aims to give non-financial personnel the financial literacy to make better business decisions. View Clipping

Study reveals what attracts Generation Y go-getters

New research from the UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB) has shown that the entrance of Generation Y into the marketplace is shifting traditional employer-employee power relations - with some interesting implications for HR practitioners. View Clipping

Develop an effective climate change strategy with the UCT GSB

With many of South Africa’s major companies starting to recognise the risks and opportunities of climate change, the UCT Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB) has teamed up with leading sustainability advisor Jonathon Hanks to help organisations develop an effective climate change strategy. View Clipping

Good negotiation skills lead to good profits

According to Professor Barney Jordaan, Programme Director of the Negotiating Skills course running at the UCT Graduate School of Business from 11 - 13 August, careful planning, preparation and research - and having a formalised negotiation approach - is paramount to achieving negotiation success. View Clipping

UCT course links neuroscience to sales performance

The UCT Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB) is launching a new course in 2010 to revolutionise the way sales managers think about selling – the course offers new insights drawing on neuroscience and psychology on how to achieve exceptional sales performance. View Clipping

SA investors lag in environmental responsibility practices

South African asset management companies have not fully integrated environmental considerations in their investment decision making. View Clipping

UCT study shows recession has hit SA entrepreneurship hard

The global economic crisis has dealt a major blow to entrepreneurship in South Africa. There was a 40% fall in the number of start-ups in 2009 compared to 2008 and existing entrepreneurs are struggling to survive. View Clipping

Resourcefulness not just resources needed for SA to grow

"South Africans need to become more creative with the resources we have. Our country has seen amazing growth in the past thanks to gold and diamonds, but today growth is no longer about what you find in the ground, it is what you find in your head". This is according to Anthony Farr, CEO of the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation, who spoke recently at the Distinguished Speakers Programme at the GSB. View Clipping

GSB makes talks available for digital download

Keeping up with the latest digital trends is important for any academic institution and the UCT Graduate School of Business is proud to be affiliated with an exciting new service that will make it possible for users to download informative audio information straight to their web player, iPod, mobile phone or MP3 player. View Clipping

Janine Everson joins small group of global coaching leaders

Janine Everson, Academic Director of the Centre for Coaching at the UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB), has reached a rare career milestone by becoming one of only four fully certified Professional Coaching Course (PCC) Leaders in the world. View Clipping

MBA research in top international publication

A UCT Graduate School of Business case study has been published in a leading strategy textbook that is prescribed in more than 200 business schools in 20 countries. View Clipping

Burgess re-elected to Europe’s top academic marketing body

Professor Steve Burgess of the UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB) has been re-elected to another three-year term on the Executive Committee of Europe's top academic marketing body, the European Marketing Academy (EMAC). View Clipping

SA investors lag in environmental responsibility practices

South African asset management companies have not fully integrated environmental considerations in their investment decision making. View Clipping

Business savvy creatives can help SA boom

South African artists and creative professionals might feel side-lined when it comes to the world of business, but according to Elaine Rumboll, Director of Executive Education at the UCT Graduate School of Business, they have a central role to play in the economic development of the country. View Clipping

18 hospitals in SA to get GSB's Lean treatment

The Lean Institute Africa at the UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB) headed by Professor Norman Faull has been awarded a tender by the National Department of Health to do 18 Lean best practice workshops in priority health districts across the country. View Clipping

Top ten GSB students join golden list

For eight Graduate School of Business MBA and two EMBA students June 04 was a particularly special day. Not only was it their graduation day, but each of them was also awarded an Old Mutual Gold Medal which recognised them as the top academic achievers in their class. View Clipping

GSB's April helps judge prestigious Oxford Leadership Prize

Professor Kurt April of the UCT Graduate School of Business was recently invited to be one of the judges for this year's Oxford Leadership Prize. The prestigious award is run by the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford and Green Templeton College. View Clipping

Women begin to power the global economy

The UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB) is hosting its annual Women in Business conference this August and it comes on the back of new global research that shows women are now the biggest emergent market globally, and another study which shows women are flooding into universities and graduate schools in BRIC countries. View Clipping

UCT to shake up leadership and boost innovation

Change the way you think, change the world. This is the underlying philosophy of the new Full Colour Thinking positioning of the UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB) and the platform for a new short-course launching in September which is designed to shake up leadership in SA, create inspiring leaders and boost innovation. View Clipping

A bit of right brain can lead to the right choices

The narrow filters through which people view the world can lead to some dire consequences, decisions based on numbers and reports alone can leave executives far too near-sighted. Looking at the recent recession, it is perhaps a consequence of short-sighted number crunching. The enduring and great leaders find that a bit of right brain can go a long way in making the right choices. View Clipping

Successful coaching course to run in Europe for the first time

One of South Africa's top coaching courses, which teaches Integral coaching as developed over a 25-year period by James Flaherty in the US, will run for the first time in Europe this December, addressing a rising demand on the continent for this style of coaching. View Clipping

A reawakening of consciousness

As this generation emerging to carry the torch of more conscious, more values-based management practice is beginning to find its feet, business schools then have a key role to play in nurturing and providing the support needed for them to truly become transformative leaders. We stand at a unique point in human history with exciting possibilities for individuals and organisations View Clipping

NeuroLeadership and the coupling of mind and business

Understanding how the human brain works can help create better workplaces and can help leaders get the best out of their employees. This is according to the emerging field of NeuroLeadership, which was the topic of a GSB Lunchtime Chat last week. Sponsored by Deloitte and Webber Wentzel, the topic for the GSB Lunchtime Chat was "NeuroLeadership; New insights from neuroscience help leaders to lead with more impact". View Clipping

HR managers need to learn the business of adding value

Whatever the motivations, though, it is clear that the world of human resource management is changing along with the business world around it. HR managers need to shift their thinking and the companies that hire them need to recognise the value-adding potential they posses. When these two perspectives are aligned, the result will surely be fitter, more competitive organisations with happier, more committed employees. View Clipping

Students and business to partner up for big impact

MBA students at the GSB have spearheaded the launch of a chapter of international society Net Impact in Cape Town. The first such chapter in the southern African region, it could see new and stronger bridges built between business and business schools in South Africa. View Clipping

Emergent markets getting it right when it comes to innovation

Two major global leadership studies in the past three months have revealed that successfully navigating an increasingly complex world will require creativity and innovation; and that emergent economies are leading the way in this regard. Decision makers and those designing strategies for this context need to be able to devise strategies that are more creative and flexible, more adaptable and responsive than in the past. The days of rigid and single-minded strategic planning are over. View Clipping

UCT launches course to prime strategically-minded HR managers

HR managers need to up their strategic thinking and aspire towards a seat at the boardroom table to shed HR’s image as a simple administrative function, says Erna Oldenboom, convener of a new short course called 'HR as a Strategic Business Partner' launching at the UCT Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB) this September. View Clipping

Picking up the pieces

Since picking up the pieces after the bread price-fixing and collusion scandals, Tiger Brands has been on the difficult road to rebuilding its reputation, said CEO Peter Matlare at the GSB Distinguished Speakers Programme (DSP) last week. At the DSP, sponsored by Deloitte and Webber Wentzel, Matlares presentation ‘Rebuilding our Reputation: The Road to Success is Always Under Construction' revealed not only the difficulties the organisation has faced over the last few years, but the changing nature of business practice in the country. View Clipping

Authenticity the key to a living brand

If the world did not know about Tony Hayward twelve months ago, everyone knows now for sure. Announcing his resignation on July 27 as CEO of BP, the much criticised Hayward said, "Sometimes you step off the pavement and you get hit by a bus", and stood resolute by his decisions to manage the massive US oil spill. "Would I change fundamentally what BP did and the role I played? No," Hayward said. View Clipping

SMS meets SMME with new mobile technology

Bringing together mobile phone penetration, mobile phone capabilities and local entrepreneurs in an emergent market seems a logical step, and in South Africa the testing of new software has begun. International software maker SAP, through its research collaboration with the Meraka Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, has partnered with Vodacom Business and its parent company, Vodafone, to develop a cellphone-based application for service-oriented very small enterprises. View Clipping

The new generation of project manager

In the face of a changing business environment, project managers need to become more proactive, making the best use of resources. Not just financially, but aiming to draw the optimum out of people be they leaders or team members, comments Dennis Comninos, Programme Director of Strategic Project Management at the UCT GSB. View Clipping

GSB team scoops a win and third place overall

Eighteen teams of up to six members took part in the Sanlam Investment Management (SIM) SA Challenge, a team-based challenge run over three days and designed to improve executive performance. The GSB team did well to secure third place overall. View Clipping

UCT business school launches Masters in Development Finance

The University of Cape Towns Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB), in partnership with the Africagrowth Institute, is launching a Masters in Development Finance, a unique programme that aims to alleviate a major skills gap in expertise on the continent. View Clipping

Choosing the right path at the leadership crossroad

Graduate of the Leading Executive Programme (LEP) at the University of Cape Towns Graduate School of Business, Judy Fredericks says the LEP prepared her for the challenges facing leaders in today's increasingly complex and chaotic business environment. View Clipping

The art world is changing, and it’s wonderful – Paul Du Toit

Renowned artist Paul Du Toit think it is better for an artist to study business rather than an arts degree, saying that the Business Acumen for Artists short course at the UCT GSB gave him an understanding of the channels through which to create exposure for himself and his art. View Clipping

Students celebrate season of giving

As part of the Schools intention to give back more to society, students from the Associate in Management (AIM) programme at the GSB treated children at the Siyaphambili Orphanage to an early festive season. View Clipping

UCT business school voted Best in Africa by global peers

The UCT Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB) was rated the Best Business School in Africa at the Eduniversal 3rd Global Convention of the Best Business Schools, held recently in Prague, Czech Republic. View Clipping

Governance, a business license – Maria Ramos

Governance and good management are absolutely fundamental for doing business successfully today, but good governance too often is more about paperwork than practice. This is according to Maria Ramos, group Chief Executive of ABSA and guest speaker at the GSBs Distinguished Speakers Programme, sponsored by Deloitte and Webber Wentzel held recently. View Clipping

Motivated for change

In the township of Kwa-Langa on Friday 12 November, it was not business as usual. The afternoons affairs had been placed aside for a few hours so that people, wanting to start their own businesses, and those already owning businesses, could participate in a talk which focused on motivation for potential entrepreneurs; a conference aimed at changing lives. View Clipping

Innovation, communication and tangible impact

At a recent Distinguished Speakers Programme held at the GSB, Qualcomm's Dan Novak described the mobile technology environment, the role Qualcomm plays within that environment and the tremendous impact mobile innovation is making on emergent markets. View Clipping

Cape Town must Think Big – Guy Lundy

Cape Town has the potential to become Africa’s global city – but only if its citizens band together and ‘think big’ about the future. So says Guy Lundy, CEO of Accelerate Cape Town. View Clipping

From rebellious teen to prosperous leader

Local entrepreneur and businessman Paul Adams never believed that he would one day be part of the executive team of a reputable recruitment consulting firm. But being able to study through the UCT Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB), and fulfil a life-long dream of acquiring a management qualification, was unexpected, but an experience which he says was one of the most valuable of his life. View Clipping

Lessons from Germany: On the value of innovation and public debate

Germany has impressed with policies and strategies that have improved employment levels over the last few years and, compared to other developed countries, a relatively gentle ride during the recession and a promising recovery, with a second quarter growth rate of over two per cent. Despite the obvious differences between Germany and South Africa, there are some salutary lessons for us in their experience. View Clipping

School rewards research output

The first ever of the Graduate School of Business Publication Awards presentation ceremony was held recently, kicking off an important part of the school’s research strategy: improving the quality, quantity and visibility of the GSB’s research outputs. View Clipping