Corporate SA has been lauded the world over for its ability to achieve impressive growth in a country that has been low on the list of attractive investment destinations for close to a decade. Its growth levels have been hard to match in developed markets such as Europe and Japan, which face ageing populations. The platitudes, I'd argue, were largely about its ability to focus on cutting costs, rather than finding new avenues for growth. There were some exceptions. Somewhere down the line, I'm pretty sure one of the world's leading business schools will initiate a study on how corporates in a "highly" unionised market can achieve such efficiencies - which mainly means job losses - in a country such as ours. It's quite an achievement when you consider the heydays of Cosatu strength before the rust set in at the once towering federation. SA corporates reacted in pretty much the same manner as their US and European counterparts to the 2008 global recession: they cut jobs and reduced in...

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