The perceived global manufacturing competitiveness of the South African autocatalytic converter industry
Date
2014-07-22
Authors
Keulder, Hendri
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Abstract
The South African autocatalytic converter has shown exponential growth during
the last decade under the Motor Industry Development Plan (MIDP). Due to
calls from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for free and fair trade it was
replaced with a different incentive programme called Automotive Production
Development Programme (APDP) at the end of 2012.
This research report aims to investigate the perceived competitiveness of the
organisations within the South African autocatalytic converter industry and their
readiness for the phasing out the MIDP programme after 2012.
Firstly the perceived competitiveness of the industry was established through a
comparative study of organisations within the industry and how they believe
they compare to both international recognised operational best practises and
their international competitors. The data for this study was gathered through
structured interviews where the respondents were asked to subjectively
compare themselves against their international competitors.
Secondly a fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) was developed to determine the
readiness of the industry for operating under the auspices of the APDP
programme. This FCM was enhanced through interviews with industry leaders
and finally used to simulate several plausible future scenarios to test the
readiness of the industry to operate sustainably under APDP.
This research report revealed that the industry considers itself to be either
slightly behind or on the same level as their international competitors with
regards to the various individual operational best practises considered in this
study. The biggest challenge faced by the local industry is the big location
disconnect of the industry to their primary markets in Western Europe and the
associated additional transport costs. The simulations from the enhanced FCM
revealed the sensitivity of the local autocatalytic converter industry to the global
economic environment, external stimulus or support and particularly the
economic health of the Western European countries.
Description
MBA Thesis
Keywords
Motor industry -- South Africa., Production management -- South Africa.