This is according to the Global Manufacturing Futures Survey by the Manufacturing Round Table at UCT's Graduate School of Business. The study, conducted every two years, shows that the benefits of plant closures or relocations, ranked first in 1992 as a management priority, is now ranked 34th. By 1995 more emphasis was placed on rebuilding than downsizing, although the need to cut costs remains a concern. The opening of South Africa to global competition is the single greatest concern facing the companies surveyed. Price competition is the area of greatest vulnerability, but quality, flexibility and time-based competition are also mentioned.
Respondents consider the environment in which they operate to be unsupportive.
The report also analyses the best versus the rest to see what it is that top performing companies do differently. It's just that they extract more value from what they do and place a lot of emphasis on implementation of strategic plans. They concentrate on a few things at a time and do these well. Instead of trying to solve all strategic and technical problems in one go, successful companies concentrate on resolving one issue at a time. SA Breweries is an example of a truly world competitive company.