whythawk ratings: measuring effective development

1.
(Comments)

Speaking in terms of individual freedom and a globalized economy, migration for work is actually helpful, since it matches talent and needs. But brain drain is a major cause of lack of progress in dev

2.
(Comments)

...heir state \"champions\" 2) Oligarchic - where the bulk of the power and wealth is held by a small number of individuals and families; Russia 3) Big-firm - most of the economy exists in a few large ...

3.
(Comments)

...e name of profit (most recently at a brickworks in China) falls within countries that have little respect for individual rights, democracy or free-market economics. It isn\'t free-market capitalism...

4.
(Comments)

...at engagement in informal trading holds any prospect for future upliftment. While I don\\\'t expect desperate individuals to resort to anything else, surely the institutions that shape public policy h...

5.
(Comments)

...ined, rarefied noses of those with nice jobs\" doesn\'t help anyone. The informal economy is not driven by individuals eking out a living. There is no growth there. It is driven by wealthy individu...

6. The Remarkable Power of Remarkable People
(Analysis/Analysis)

...zens. Following Thrasybulus’ instructions, the minority leadership sought out and punished outstanding individuals from amongst the dark-skinned citizens. But this also meant that talented doct...

7. Everything gets tested but political ideas, they become policy
(Analysis/Analysis)

...us scrutiny of peer-review. Untested business ideas are subjected to the even more brutal peril of perpetual individual consumer choice. Untested political ideas ... become policy. The first time t...

8. Dealing with the consequences of Zimbabwe
(Analysis/Analysis)

...er. Now we have Zimbabwe. The result of direct political intervention to abolish property rights and remove individual freedom has its consequence. The Zimbabwe dollar is now worth around Z$70 mill...

9. The hazard of market dominance
(Analysis/Analysis)

...nd Eskom have through the "delivery" of their services. When businesses compete against each other individually it can be very hard for them to get a price that allows them any real profit....

10. When no-one is held accountable, everyone suffers
(Analysis/Analysis)

...erty. Collectivism is the source of the thinking behind forcing entire nations to be punished instead of the individuals responsible. It is what the ANC Youth League has in mind when they demand th...

11. Netscape, the Internet and Creative Destruction
(Analysis/Analysis)

Governments do not know anything about competition, innovation or the power of individual investment. The best they can offer is collective blame shedding and the waste of taxpayers' money on pop

12. Perlemoen and the Tragedy of the Commons
(Analysis/Analysis)

...d. The solution was as simple as it was devastating. The commons were enclosed and title was transferred to individuals. The waves of peasants who flocked to the cities in the 18th and 19th centurie...

13. This festive season: the accumulating effects of individual activity
(Analysis/Analysis)

There are plenty of good reasons to buy hand-made or bespoke goods. There is the support of individual craftsmanship, high-quality originality, and ensuring that life doesn't become a mass of hum

14. Trevor Manuel and the "Plunder of Skills"
(Analysis/Analysis)

...t Jo'burg refuse to take these migrants in and return them at once? And where does the free choice of the individual come in to this? Should we place the "needs" of a nation over our ow...

15. Killing the Golden Goose, a lesson in Economic Freedom
(Analysis/Analysis)

...c freedom but is politically autocratic. Democracies place the needs of the majority over the actions of the individual and this can create winners and losers. The majority could, for instance, vote...

16. The spectre of loyalty over ability
(Analysis/Analysis)

... own. Talent follows the opportunity to express itself. Where talent cannot be expressed then the most able individuals move to places where they feel that their abilities will be rewarded. Poor lea...

17. Ending poverty means abandoning charity and accepting reality
(Analysis/Analysis)

...perty rights A centralised state exists largely to protect contract and the enforcement of property rights. Individual rights and the welfare state are a relatively recent development. And you can&...

18. Scrogues Converse: Open-space, Identity and the Missing Web
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ld of the Internet, human nature is not so easily overcome. There's a positive side to this, however, individual communities can block out a unified identity, but it also frees you to create...

19. Zimbabwe: the Hollow State
(Analysis/Analysis)

...babwean informal economy precisely with this in mind. It is essential to know what is already happening - how individuals are solving their immediate needs - before negotiations over the future take p...

20. Everything is coming up Capitalism
(Analysis/Analysis)

..."champions" 2) Oligarchic - where the bulk of the power and wealth is held by a small number of individuals and families; Russia 3) Big-firm - most of the economy exists in a few larg...

21. People, Planet and Profits: the complexities of corporate governance
(Analysis/Analysis)

...e profits in proportion to shareholding each year) or capital gains from the appreciation of the value of the individual shares (only realised when the shares are sold). The original issues of corpor...

22. Start your business in Johannesburg but hire your advisor in Cape Town
(Analysis/Analysis)

...rategy to reduce unemployment and increase black economic empowerment. Whythawk has recently completed rating individual small business development consultants in the Western Cape and Gauteng as well ...

23. Do you hate the poor enough to be charitable?
(Analysis/Analysis)

...taxes, utilities, wastage, cleaning ... everything carefully done. These relationships can't change. If individual wages are put up by an act of parliament then the number of workers must go dow...

24. Freedom of speech is fine, just don't try to use it, says Patricia de Lille
(Analysis/Analysis)

...at will regulate MXIT and Internet blogging, where members of the public can with impunity slander and defame individuals and organisations they do not like." "Can" – note that w...

25. Leveraging your good name; the power of a positive credit rating
(Analysis/Analysis)

In the Internet age, when so much information can be gathered about an individual and their behaviour, talk of privacy has become pervasive. One of the central themes of the capitalist age for the la

26. Demonstration Enterprise Development Consultant B
(Ratings Demonstration/Demonstration)

... Outlook:  stable Previous rating: CCC Date assigned: 27 February 2007  Individual Scorecards  Managerial Scorecard: A Front Office Staff Scorecard...

27. Demonstration Enterprise Development Consultant A
(Ratings Demonstration/Demonstration)

... Outlook:  caution Previous rating: not rated Date assigned: 10 December 2006  Individual Scorecards  Managerial Scorecard: A Front Office Staff Scoreca...

28. Demonstration Health HIV / AIDS Orphanage B
(Ratings Demonstration/Demonstration)

... Outlook: negative Previous rating: BB Date assigned: 23 November 2006  Individual Scorecards  Infrastructure - Managerial, Recording and Fund-raising C...

29. Demonstration Health HIV / AIDS Orphanage A
(Ratings Demonstration/Demonstration)

...ating: AA Outlook: stable Previous rating: not rated Date assigned: 25 January 2007  Individual Scorecards  Infrastructure - Managerial, Recording and Fund-raising ...

30. The US$ 5 trillion market at the bottom of the pyramid
(Analysis/Analysis)

...rketing Federation (GCMMF), now the biggest milk producer in the world. GCMMF buys their milk directly from individual village subsistence farmers – more than 2.5 million of them across India....

31. Cricket, corruption and the match-fixing that leads to murder
(Analysis/Analysis)

...n privately-owned teams.  And, unlike cycling or golf, players don’t gain tremendously by creating individual successes for themselves.  Cricket is still, in style if not reality, an a...

32. Racial arguments muddy human rights and the ending of poverty
(Analysis/Analysis)

...on to create any jobs.  It is impossible for any government to determine what products will sell or what individuals may want.  That is the job of free choice and free will.  Individual...

33. Aggregation and collaboration: a guide to making money and doing good in poor nations
(Analysis/Analysis)

...roviding electricity to the poorest.  He developed an electronic box, with a digital keypad, that allows individuals to buy their electricity in advance and then punch in a unique code to unlock ...

34. The Last King, the Centralised State, and Democracy
(Analysis/Analysis)

... regular elections and a centralised state.  What it is about is the redistribution of power towards the individual.  No matter how kind and compassionate a leader is, no matter how tolerant...

35. Rating to create a market; questions and answers
(Analysis/Analysis)

...se off, since they have to now have the added expense of carting the stuff to the dump.  If well-meaning individuals can be so short-sighted that they don’t realise that their “gifts&...

36. General Scorecard Overview and Summary
(FAQs/Rating FAQs)

Individual Rating Scorecards  Summary Rating: Outlook:  Individual Scorecard Summary  Management & Infrastructure: Finance & Sustainability: Operational Effectivene

37. The Cold War, Global Warming and the War on Ideas
(Analysis/Analysis)

....  Almost until the end it was not clear which ideology would prevail:  the US with their belief in individual expression and the power of the dynamic tension of freedom of expression and ec...

38. A story of an African Orphan
(Analysis/Analysis)

...nerable and orphaned children. In this set-up it is usually common for the organisation to raise funds from individual donor agencies, rather than government-linked programmes. This is mainly becaus...

39. "Heads or Tails" ... resolution to a difficult choice
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ine, ten, do it again! In a world of equality and non-discrimination, we cannot afford to support one needy individual above or before another. Nor can we, in this same world, financially afford to ...

40. Western Cape economic development support agencies lack the capacity to halve unemployment
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ng their clients with business plans likely to secure finance," says Jeuschenak.  "Only 15% of individuals who apply for business finance actually receive any.  Banks are also extr...

41. Coffee, the miracle of poverty, and other wonders
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ouse similar to the New York Stock Exchange.  All the coffee sellers get together.  Their coffee is individually cupped and tasted by purchasers who are then able to decide for themselves th...

42. South Africa and China, or why democracy isn't connected to economic growth
(Analysis/Analysis)

...not and will not provide jobs.  That it will create opportunities to gain skills but that the onus is on individuals to become employable and then to accept terms acceptable to employers.  C...

43. Enterprise Development and Employment: Experiences in South Africa and South Eastern Europe
(Analysis/Analysis)

...oser to 40%. It appears that the formal economy is not growing fast enough to absorb the masses of unemployed individuals. The most recent program put in place by the South African government, spearh...

44. The Martians Really Care: four points to govern development
(Analysis/Ideas and Challenges)

...mmediate beneficiaries trade on that disparity – it is essential to ensure that everyone knows what the individual received and what they are expected to do with that benefit.  Someone has ...

45. How do we prepare nonprofit organisations for the long term?
(Analysis/Analysis)

The core principle of social benefit investment is the empowerment of individuals to the point where the intervention by benefactors is no longer required. That is to say, social benefit investment sh

46. So how exactly do you invest in the Fortune At The Bottom Of The Pyramid?
(Analysis/Analysis)

... was that they lived on less than $ 2 a day, were uneducated and needed lots of donations from businesses and individuals in rich countries just to keep them alive.  It took an astonishing leap s...

47. The Tyranny of Red Lights
(Analysis/Analysis)

...negative, “Because I said so!” With so much negativity it is no wonder that so many opt out. If individuals have no ability to actively engage, then they don't bother.  When lan...

48. The other losing battle: Africa's war on talent
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ople, let them work.”  The simple answer is that any business requires a core of talented, skilled individuals who will set up and run the show.  The balance of employees are less skil...

49. Is the ownership of property at odds with the needs of the poor?
(Analysis/Analysis)

... property that will assist me to earn a living.  If I live in a society that doesn’t allow for the individual ownership of property, then I may never make that investment in the first place...

50. Zackie Achmat, campaigner for HIV antiretrovirals, charged with genocide
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ssionals the world over are convinced that antiretrovirals can significantly prolong the life of HIV positive individuals.  Most people can live a long and normal life on the drugs. A finding in...