ARTICLES ON Complexity
How Toyota’s approach to making cars can aid vaccine production in Africa
As African countries seek to ramp up production of COVID-19 vaccines, they are running into several obstacles including supply chain and quality control issues. Could Lean Thinking, a manufacturing ethos developed in car factories, help local vaccine manufacturers up their game at this critical time?
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The promises and perils of Africa's digital revolution
Exponential digital advancement across Africa, spurred on by the COVID-19 crisis, is indeed a game changer. But its impact – the good and the bad – requires a more nuanced and intelligent analysis if we really are to build back better.
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SA is running out of time to fix its society and economy
Freedom Day celebrations ring hollow when the vast majority of black people in this country remain economically and socially marginalised. To unlock our future, we must invest in our people — and fast — to build a new culture of innovation, proactiveness, and risk-taking.
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Is support for democracy in SA waning?
On 27 April each year South Africans celebrate Freedom Day in commemoration of the first democratic elections in 1994. We asked UCT GSB Professor Thomas Koelble to give us his thoughts on whether support for democracy in the country is waning, and how this system is being affected by globalisation.
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Becoming a businessperson is not a straightforward journey for all
Building business skills to improve livelihoods is increasingly being recognised as a mechanism to lift communities out of extreme poverty. But in many survivalist communities, the principles of business can clash with the existing values of the community.
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Social justice in South Africa is as much business’ crisis as it is government’s
Busisiwe Mavuso (CEO at Business Leadership SA) was the speaker at the quarterly Allan Gray Speaker Series event, hosted virtually by the UCT GSB in March. We asked Professor Kurt April, who led the discussion, to share some of the key takeouts.
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Is design thinking an endangered species in the future of work?
With the loss of shared spaces due to the pandemic and a shift toward remote working, the practice of design thinking will need to adapt so that we can continue to harness its power to co-create and solve problems.
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Power and privilege in the social justice sector
Social justice organisations play a vital role in addressing the many challenges South African citizens face. But what happens when the focus on external inequalities and injustices in society causes the same problems within these organisations to be overlooked? MBA alumni Ella Scheepers and Shamillah Wilson spoke to Kieno Kammies about their work in this sector.
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How will the lack of face-to-face interaction affect career progression?
Will the lack of face-to-face interaction negatively impact people’s careers? We asked Dr Christina Swart-Opperman, senior lecturer at the UCT GSB's AGVBL, and PhD Candidate Ella Scheepers, to share their insights.
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Our world needs empathetic intervention - not heroes
As the world battles big systemic challenges, it’s clear that no single person has the answer. Instead, companies, organisations and individuals need to look at processes informed by many different perspectives to point the way forward.
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International recognition for Bertha Centre (UCT GSB) researchers
The Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship is developing a new teaching case method - incorporating multiple perspectives for the complex issues of our time - which they have been invited to present at the North American Case Research Association (NACRA) 2020 Conference.
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UCT GSB's new programme prepares students to lead internationally
Dr Beverly Shrand, spoke with Cape Talk about the UCT GSB's new programme, the CEMS Master of Management specialising in International Management (MIM).
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UCT GSB teaching case study on SA film industry wins top international award
Researchers from the UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB) have taken top honours in a prestigious international case writing competition, for their teaching case on the challenges of financing digital entertainment.
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New coal and nuclear power proposals undermine prospects of a post-Covid-19 economic recovery
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s attachment to ‘clean coal’ and new nuclear as immediate options for a post-Covid-19 economic recovery would be comical if they were not financially ruinous. Their fixation on these non-competitive, non-commercial technologies is now wasting scarce public resources.
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Let’s tap into the defiant optimism of our young people this Youth Day
As protests around structural inequality and racism rage across the world, we need to re-ignite efforts to give young people a voice at all levels of society, but especially as leaders.
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The future of work: implications for management education
Does management education need to change to equip graduates for the future of work?
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What’s Brewing During Lockdown?
The South African craft beer market could be very different post lockdown.
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Webinar: The broader economic implications of COVID-19
Former UCT GSB economist, Barry Standish, hosted a free webinar in April for UCT GSB alumni on the broader financial and economic implications of COVID-19.
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This Freedom Day let’s commit to the change that enhances the freedom for all
On Freedom Day this year, the national lockdown and response to the COVID-19 pandemic, are holding up a mirror to society and forcing us to confront our faults and weaknesses.
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We are not at war with COVID-19
The rhetoric of war, and the unfortunate term ‘lockdown’ are even more misplaced in this crisis because it takes people to change a society, not simply putting stringent rules or regulations in place and enforcing them through the barrel of a gun.
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Video interview - How are companies adapting their businesses to cope with COVID-19?
Dr Tim London spoke with Mignon Reyneke, an associate professor of Digital Marketing at the UCT GSB, about some of the companies that are trying to deal with the fallout of COVID-19 by doing things differently.
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How investors can support small businesses through the COVID-19 lockdown
The Bertha Centre’s Natasha Dinham spoke with Kieno Kammies at Cape Talk, about how investors can help small businesses through these challenging times.
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The globalisation of an epidemic and the epidemic of globalisation
COVID-19 respects no borders and has laid bare some of the vulnerabilities of globalisation. Going forward, we need to look more deeply at how to build a world that protects global supply chains more effectively — and the all people that depend upon them.
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Could the Covid-19 crisis offer us a window of opportunity to build social cohesion?
A national disaster declared on top of a technical recession and a standoff between the ANC and its alliance partners means that we can expect the SA economy will remain in a downward cycle for the foreseeable future — our only hope lies in building social cohesion in the face of crisis.
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COVID-19 has made remote working the new normal - why this might be good for productivity
SA lags behind the working-from-home curve, but the combination of coronavirus and loadshedding may be changing that. Fortunately, studies show it can improve productivity and protect the bottom line.
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NGOs today: competing for resources, power and agency
NGOs play a critical role in advancing social change and transformation, but their current funding model needs to be addressed for them make a sustainable impact in South Africa.
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Q&A with Tim London on the impact of COVID-19 on education
As the coronavirus continues to play a prominent role in our lives, we are forced to do things differently. With schools closing this week, this is making online learning very much a reality for the immediate future. But is South Africa ready for this?
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More broken promises and unmet plans will not deliver the country we need
Ramaphosa has little room to manoeuvre, it’s true. But without bold leadership at this juncture, SA is on the road to nowhere.
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