GIBS Review 

We trust that you will find the latest issue of GIBS Review an informative and enjoyable read. As always we welcome your feedback on any of the content or the format of the GIBS Review and encourage you to e-mail us with any comments or suggestions you may have at gibsreview@gibs.co.za. Kind regards, Professor Nick Binedell Director: Gordon Institute of Business Science Sasol Chair of Strategic Management

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AFRICA – REAL WINNER IN WORLD CUP?

The debate over whether the benefits of hosting the World Cup outweigh the R4bn costs still rages, writes WMG Media. The truth, however, is not likely to be clear for years and much depends on whether Africa can exploit the overwhelmingly positive media exposure it has received.

President Jacob Zuma, in a FIFA interview on SouthAfrica.info, indentifies as major benefits: its effect on internal nation building; its positive effect on the image of Africa in the world; the infrastructural legacy to bid for other major events, including the Olympics; and the discipline it imposed on the government to deliver within tight timelines.

Veteran political commentator Patrick Lawrence, writing on Politicsweb, gives a generally upbeat assessment that echoes Zuma’s views. He does warn, though, that ‘in a heterogeneous society like SA, feelings of commonality are often transient and fragile’. He quotes French sociologist Jean Jaureis: ‘The greatness of today is built on the efforts of past centuries. A nation is not contained in a day nor in an epoch, but in the succession of all days, all periods, all her twilights and all her dawns.’

And a Reuters report argues that an Olympic bid might not depend so much on overcoming international opinion, but rather on ‘convincing people at home recovering from a post-Cup hangover to spend lavishly again … when the country is battling massive unemployment and poverty’.
SouthAfrica.info: World Cup has inspired Africans: Zuma
Politicsweb: The World Cup: A cost benefit analysis
Reuters: S.Africa might parlay World Cup party to Olympic bid

Meanwhile, examining the effects of the World Cup on the continent, The Independent notes that ‘Africa has seen many false dawns’, so predictions of an imminent economic revolution on China’s scale should be treated with caution. But despite poor governance and hostility to foreign economic influence, because of East Asia’s new scramble for Africa, the ‘economic balance of power in the world may yet tip Africa’s way’.

In similar vein also in The Independent, Paul Vallely, co-author of the 2005 report for the Commission for Africa, writes that while there is some truth in the stereotype of the "Hopeless Continent", this is only part of ‘the story that we in the West resist, the story of an Africa whose moment may be about to come’. He poses the question of where the future lies: ‘Here in the old world of Europe, with its currency crises, national deficits, denuded natural resources, high expectations and ageing populations? Or in Africa with its vast mineral and oil reserves, under-exploited agricultural expanses, huge potential to tap the sun, wind and water for renewable energies and biofuels – and a burgeoning population of young people eager to work for low wages and consume?’
The Independent: They think Africa’s dark age is all over … but is it?
The Independent: Africa rising: A big day for football. A giant leap for a continent

CONFIDENCE OF THE WEST TAKES A HAMMERING

It is Western nations that have most suffered from the financial meltdown, writes WMG Media. Some believe that there has been a fundamental shift of economic power eastwards, with the United States and Britain, especially, having to adjust to a diminished role in the world. Both countries are also experiencing a crisis of confidence.

There was a moment a few years ago when Britain seemed to have turned the tide of history, reports the Financial Times. This middle-ranking power had reclaimed the self-confidence that it had lost with the fall of its empire. But the dream of ‘endless prosperity’ has been shattered and despite the swinging spending cuts and tax increases, ‘few have yet grasped how painful it will be – what it will mean for Britain’s view of itself and the world’s view of Britain.’
Financial Times: Britain pays the price of penury

Peter Beinart, author of the new book The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris, writes in TIME that the US is being forced to realise that it has neither the money nor the power that it thought it had. ‘In the 1990s America's brand of deregulated democracy seemed the only true path to prosperity … Now it is much less clear that history is marching our way. The financial crisis has undermined the prestige of America's economic model at the very moment that China's authoritarian capitalism is rising,’ Beinart writes.
TIME: How the financial crisis has undermined US power

THE WORLD BLOWS SA’S MADE-IN-CHINA TRUMPET

For a moment it looked as if the noise-maker that the world loves to hate, the vuvuzela, might be banned from the World Cup, writes WMG Media. Fortunately for SA soccer fans, FIFA stood firm and since then the plastic trumpet appears to have wormed its way into the heart of sports fans, not to forget the classical musicians of the Berlin Konzerthaus. So be warned world, the vuvuzela is coming soon to an event near you!

TIME reports that the vuvuzela has now cracked the big time: nearly every movie on YouTube can be, um, enhanced! It explains, ‘press on the tiny soccer ball located on the bottom right corner of any YouTube video and you'll be greeted with the sound of the vuvuzelas, and possibly prompted to bang your head against the surface of your desk. What is it about these annoying little horns that has us so amused?’

And to disprove the libel that the vuvuzela is monotone, classical musicians from the famous Berlin Konzerthaus use it to perform Brahms and Ravel, reports Opera Chic.

This new symbol of SA is made in China and CNN reports that although one small family-owned factory that churns out 20,000 vuvuzelas a day makes only a few cents on each one, they are delighted because orders are beginning to come in from all around the world and the vuvuzela is likely to feature large at the Asia Games later this year.
TIME: YouTube adds a vuvuzela button
CNN: Vuvuzela: South African symbol made in China
Opera Chic Video: Konzerthaus Berlin gives Brahms and Ravel a go on the vuvuzela

DON’T GET SICK FROM VIRAL MEDIA

Coca-Cola ran a low-cost World Cup Twitter campaign and got 86m impressions in the first 24 hours. Nike also tried to score a viral coup with a YouTube spot that had 3.8m views in the first 24 hours but since then has backfired horribly and has been dubbed ‘the curse of the Nike ad’. The two vastly different experiences indicate the power for good or ill of the new viral media which in an instant spreads success or failure worldwide, writes WMG Media.

Coca-Cola is only the second corporate to sponsor a paid ‘trending topic’, using Twitter’s ‘promoted tweets’ to tap into online discussion about the World Cup, reports the Financial Times. It was a ‘phenomenal success’ according to Coca-Cola and gave them an engagement rate of 6%, compared with the approximately 0.02% of people who click on a regular online advertisement.

The Guardian reports that when it first hit the tube-waves, Nike's Write the Future three-minute spot drew an unprecedented 7.8m views. Aimed at arch-rival Adidas, an official World Cup sponsor, it was hailed as a ‘masterpiece’ and it seemed Nike had perfected the art of ambush marketing.

Then it all went wrong. Every soccer super star featured in the spot has been ‘shamefully ejected’ from the tournament, causing the Internet to buzz with items about the ‘Nike curse’. The Guardian notes that this ‘is likely to go down as the most shocking reversal of advertising fortunes since Pepsi set Michael Jackson’s hair on fire.’
Financial Times: Coke sees ‘phenomenal’ result from Twitter ads
The Guardian: The curse of the Nike ad

DEVELOPING LEADERS IN DEVELOPING MARKETS

Companies in emerging markets have to deal with a lot of unpredictability, reports MIT Sloan Management Review. They also have to deal with a shortage of executives with the leadership skills necessary to succeed.

A study by MIT’s China Europe International Business School’s Leadership Behavioural Laboratory, in collaboration with the Centre for Creative Leadership, reveals several keys to leadership development in developing markets:

• Set an example – ‘In a market where companies are struggling to assert themselves amid rapidly changing conditions … managers must have stable leadership to look to for guidance and inspiration.’
• Never stop teaching – Open-ended learning is crucial.
• Allow junior managers to fail – ‘Prospective leaders need to learn how to work through conflicts with superiors, subordinates, peers, clients, the government and people from different cultures.’
• Make sure they learn from failures and successes
• Transform crisis into opportunity – ‘Involve junior managers in dealing with difficult situations.’

MIT Sloan Management Review: Emerging need

ENCOURAGING THE CHINESE DRAGON TO FEAST

For years the crucial task of China’s leadership was to get poor workers in the interior to move into the coastal economy to churn out the world’s household goods, writes WMG Media. Now the challenge is to get them to buy these very same goods. It’s the change from super-manufacturer to super-consumer.

China’s moves to make its currency more flexible, as well as the apparent tolerance of recent strikes that led to significant wage increases, signal that its leaders are moving away from a ‘lopsided economic model that relies too heavily on foreign consumption,’ reports The New York Times. China has  little choice. ‘For one thing, the pool of cheap labour is drying up [and] raising wages is only one of several actions the government must take if it wants to stimulate household consumption.’
The New York Times: China’s export economy begins turning inward

With the US sinking in debt and ‘Europe too decrepit and conservative to take up the slack’, the world’s biggest corporations are targeting China, reports The Guardian. ‘In recent years, the planet's largest corporations became dependent on the Wangs catching up with the Joneses … so global manufacturers, retailers and restaurant chains were desperate to stimulate the Chinese appetite. Shanghai was their beachhead.’
The Guardian: China: The next superconsumer?

In similar vein, an article in Foreign Affairs observes that China's approach to economic development ‘has turned the country into a lopsided giant, an export juggernaut with one huge financial arm’. Ken Miller, merchant banker and US State Department adviser, writes that stemming from this, China’s foreign policy has become focused on how to use this clout effectively, since Beijing now has influence in every aspect of the global economy.
Foreign Affairs: Coping with China’s financial power

HYPING YOURSELF OUT OF A JOB

Embellishment is part of human nature and almost everyone is guilty of it at one time or another, according to an article on Knowledge@Wharton. Left unchecked, seemingly innocuous exaggerations can snowball with ‘serious, potentially career-ending consequences’.

In recessionary times the temptation to exaggerate qualifications or achievements is especially great, according to Wharton experts. But in today's work environment, where no one gets a job interview without being Googled first and ‘where small talk at a staff meeting is just a Twitter away from reaching a global audience, it's easier than ever to get caught’. And even if it is a commonplace deception, ‘once the bond of trust is lost, it's terribly hard to recover’.
Knowledge@Wharton: When do exaggerations and misstatements cross the line?

IN DEPTH ...

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In a weak economy, most organisations need to get more done with fewer resources. This makes it critical to extract the most value out of their existing teams. But, if you think leaders can’t expect more from their already stretched employees, think again. Read more …