The South African Business Research Evaluation (SABRE), now in its 11th edition, paints a picture of optimism about the country's business environment.
The research, conducted by Ipsos-Markinor and released every two years, finds that 62% of respondents - top, senior, middle managers, professionals and entrepreneurs - believe their company is better off today than a year ago, and 72% say they will be even better off in a year's time.
Many believe these positive findings will motivate businesses to flex their muscles, develop competitiveness and innovation regardless of what some observers see as ‘socio-political uncertainties' threatening Africa's biggest economy.
“We have been involved in this project since 1986. This is an all-encompassing report that provides key insights into what is going on in the SA business market. We hope that people will use it wisely,” Enver Groenewald, Avusa Media GM for advertising revenue and strategic communications, said.
SA's troubled neighbour, Zimbabwe, has always been seen by potential Western investors as an obstacle to the SADC's socio-economic advancement.
And due to Zimbabwe's historical similarities with SA and the complexities in both countries in restoring social justice, human dignity and past economic imbalances, there are fears that SA will ‘sooner or later' become another Zimbabwe.
Some say this will be the final nail in the coffin that will push many SA business people and high-skilled professionals - mostly whites - to ‘flee' their homeland, as is the case in Zimbabwe.
But the report ignores this ‘ill-conceived' mentality, with 72% of respondents emphatically rejecting the notion that SA is going the Zimbabwe way, and another 72% not considering emigration at all.
Furthermore, unconfirmed reports suggest that some SA investors have settled well in the rest of Africa and are reportedly reaping the fruits of their ‘risky' investments amid the political instability and fiscal and economic chaos.
However, the BDFM-Avusa Media survey finds that many SA businesses are still cautious about spreading their wings into the African continent despite its ‘healthy' returns.
The report also says that businesses duly appreciate prudent fiscal and monetary policies introduced by the government, while two-thirds of the respondents say they have confidence in the current minister of finance and Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus.
Lastly, the report finds that newspapers far outshine electronic media as the primary, most useful and most trusted source of business or financial information.
“SABRE is a focused study with a large and reliable sample that comprehensively probes the habits and preferences of a group of individuals that form the backbone of the SA economy,” Avusa Media market research manager Lynette Benjamin said.
The research was sponsored by Sunday Times, The Times, Business Day, Financial Mail and Summit TV.
“I encourage you all to use this data and plan around it,” Benjamin said.
