South Africa has dropped one position to 37 out of 50 countries in the Simon Anholt 2014 Nation Brand Index, just released. However, the over-all reputation score received improves with 0.43 points on 2013 results.
The Nation Brand Index measures the reputations of 50 countries with a randomised sample of 20,445 respondents. Respondents are asked to rank a country's image, power and appeal of a nation across various dimensions.
The NBI consists of six dimensions: exports, governance, culture, people, tourism and immigration/investment. Of these dimensions, exports, governance, immigration/investment are considered a country's hard performance measures, whereas culture, people and tourism are considered a country's soft powers.
How South Africa fared in the 2014 rankings
• South Africa is leading Egypt by only a slim margin
• South Africa falls behind Chile and Peru on the overall NBI rankings in 2014. Peru makes a 0.84 score increase on 2013 taking it to 36th overall rank
• As in the past, South Africa's global reputation continues to be driven by its Culture, sitting in the top-30
• The NBI report indicates that South Africa's performance in the remaining five indices are a model of consistency, ranking between 36th (exports) and 39th (governance)
• South Africa's gains on its weakest area, its Governance, help the nation push ahead of Russia
• While it may not be major declines, it is necessary to note that while South Africa experienced some increase in score for most indices, its Index gains are all less than average. As a result, South Africa has fallen in the ranks on Tourism, People, and Culture
• A similar trend is seen on South Africa's signature traits. The nation is seen as naturally beautiful, environmentally conscious and strong athletically, as well as having somewhat of a strong heritage, friendly people who are also strong employees, and contributing to technology and offering a strong education. But the country is not strengthening many of these assets as quickly as other nations, therefore there are some rank losses on these attributes
• Looking across the panel countries, Germany, India, Italy, and the UK are the most favourable toward South Africa, ranking it in the top-30 on the overall NBI• South African citizens themselves are generally favourable to their home country, ranking it number one on natural beauty, cultural heritage, and having welcoming people. As is the case in most nations, South Africans are self-critical of their country's Governance.
Brand South Africa to address competitiveness at seminar
Brand South Africa tracks a wide variety of indices, reputation indicator studies and commissioned research to monitor the nation brand's competitiveness and reputation standings. The Nation Brand Index (NBI) is an important instrument through which Brand South Africa can track perceptions of South Africa, on the six pillars of the Nation Brand Hexagon.
Coming two weeks ahead of the second annual South African Competitiveness Forum, hosted by Brand South Africa, this index adds to a range of others which measures South Africa's reputation and competitiveness. Registration is open and seats are limited for this thought leadership platform to which a range of stakeholders will contribute to the discussion on South Africa's global competitiveness and what needs to be done to strengthen it.
Register at www.eventsregistration.co.za/sacf2014 for the conference on 4-5 November 2014 at EY (Ernest and Young) in Sandton.
