whythawk ratings: measuring effective development

1. After Conceit: Recovering from the Credit Crunch
(Analysis/Analysis)

...sh to create new value. Without being able to borrow we are limited by what we already have. Debt creates real opportunities for equality. Without debt, the impoverished could not better themselves....

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

...he case of murderers, that may make you quite happy. But it if it results in services denied, jobs not created, opportunities foregone, or a future that never happens, then that sounds like a costly ...

3. How to cross a river...
(Analysis/Analysis)

...contain people who are self-reliant. All these people, with ambition and imagination, have left for better work opportunities in the big cities. The most desirable people in any economy are not just...

4. Xenophobia and the end of the African Renaissance
(Analysis/Analysis)

... whole economy, makes up a substantial 80% of our exports. International investor response will be of the "opportunities lost" variety, rather than of investment withdrawn. Yet our African...

5. Electricity Redux - Electricity Quotas Will Work About As Well As Race Quotas
(Analysis/Analysis)

... political connections, didn't get quotas, had to stop manufacturing and retrench employees. Quotas lead to opportunities for corruption as insiders trade contacts and cash for larger allocations...

6. Podcast: China's expansion in Africa offers risk and opportunities
(Podcasts/Emerging Market Risk)

...tructure in their drive to secure resources for their own industrial expansion.  This offers both risks and opportunities for Africa.  Once China becomes the most visible investor in Africa ...

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

...creative destruction" in 1942; the act which destroys the old way of doing things and unlocks fantastic new opportunities. Which leads us to perlemoen. The ocean is a very large common. Human...

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

...h comes running home and says, "I'm leaving Pofadder for Jo'burg. I can earn twice as much and the opportunities are more exciting." Is Jo'burg "stealing" skills from ...

9. 100 Days of Sodom
(Analysis/Analysis)

...have thousands more unfilled positions. And this is just in the public sector. Clearly there is no shortage of opportunities to work and, just as clearly, the massed unemployed must be unsuitable fo...

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

...the spectre that rewards loyalty over ability; craven sycophancy over talent and innovation. The result is lost opportunities and a diminished economy. The most important thing that every person has...

11. Investment cannot happen if the market isn't private
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ent cannot happen without private markets. The World Cup may get the foreign investors here but without obvious opportunities for that investment they'll simply have a nice time. And then go hom...

12. Black Economic Empowerment, like charity, is not investment
(Analysis/Analysis)

...bsp; Even car guards invest their time in watching parked cars rather than simply begging. There are significant opportunities in the informal sector.  Chinese traders have already seen this and,...

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

...g. Now, while Facebook may be the superior product when it comes to social networking that leads to business opportunities, LinkedIn is still the market leader when it comes to specific business...

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

...ributors. The likelihood is that, as the donations back home unwind, Zimbabwe will empty out as people seek work opportunities in South Africa and abroad. The long-term success of Zimbabwe depends no...

15. Zimbabwe: recovering the irrecoverable
(Analysis/Analysis)

...tive. The long-term result will be a Zimbabwean economy entirely wedded to South Africa. This poses tremendous opportunities for trade and economic growth between the two countries. It also runs the...

16. Getting Home in Zimbabwe: The impossibility of public transport
(Analysis/Analysis)

...peculation. Whythawk Ratings, which investigates regional development needs as well as emerging market business opportunities, has recently completed research into the informal sector in Harare and B...

17. "Be sure, we will be watching you," the other GB and the pursuit of social justice
(Analysis/Analysis)

...herished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be,...

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

...elf-employed one year after the intervention compared to 76% for the Western Cape. "This is despite greater opportunities in Gauteng," says Hermann Jeuschenak, Director of Ratings at Whythaw...

19. The efficiency of markets and how protectionism leaves the poor behind
(Analysis/Analysis)

...o. The petty and self-serving response is to demand that poor nations offer their workers the same benefits and opportunities that the rich themselves get. Combined with poor efficiency it would mak...

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

...e scale of informal settlements has grown exponentially. People have flocked to the cities looking for work and opportunities denied them in the country. Not that there are many opportunities in the...

21. Jobs are from Mars, Business is from Venus
(Analysis/Analysis)

...aven’t the faintest idea. Unfortunately it is talk like this that prevents business executives from seeing opportunities.  What they hear is “chaos, chaos, chaos, handouts, handouts, ...

22. Internet Bubble 2.0: the future of dotcom depends on the mobile phone
(Analysis/Analysis)

... fee, or even a flat monthly rate and then have broadband access to any music at all it would open up a world of opportunities.  New groups would simply upload their music into the database.&nbsp...

23. Unlearning helplessness: how donors reinforce poverty and dependency
(Analysis/Analysis)

... billion people don't think of themselves as poor. They are certainly not wealthy, but they're pursuing opportunities and growth at a rate almost unprecedented in human history. South Africa...

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

...quo; It is possible, though.  Companies are reinventing themselves and their products to take advantage of opportunities presented by the poor.  Prahalad gives the example of Gujarat Cooper...

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

... distort and pervert this transition to fit in with preconceived notions of race and identity deliberately ruins opportunities and excludes those who would help. There is no nobility in poverty.&nbsp...

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

...e groups, child welfare, tourism societies, NGOs, charities … anyone or anything that acts to create work opportunities and promote different aspects of the whole of society. No one group can ...

27. What happens when they hate you? The impact of charity.
(Analysis/Analysis)

...and seeks long-term solutions over short-term populist grandstanding, whose only thought is to create choice and opportunities for the beneficiaries of their interventions, is the jewel of the world....

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

...f the Second World War.  Far from accelerating their process of development, communism destroyed wealth and opportunities for everyone and drained away their best and brightest. Now we have glob...

29. "On your left is an Orc fighting a Troll" - travels in hyper-reality offer lessons for the poor
(Analysis/Analysis)

...rapid that those left off it are getting further and further behind.  Yet, far from leaving them with fewer opportunities, it leaves them with more and more. Consider:  If the most exciting...

30. The 'War Against Corruption' starts with ending the 'Culture of Entitlement'
(Analysis/Analysis)

...amount of trust they place in officials.  The vast bulk of people are fair-minded but a few seek to exploit opportunities to enrich themselves.  The more that corruption is overlooked, the m...

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

...le are told - in so many words - that the government cannot and will not provide jobs.  That it will create opportunities to gain skills but that the onus is on individuals to become employable a...

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

... than trying to preserve existing jobs, governments need to support dislocated workers and provide them with new opportunities. Improving education and labour market flexibility is a key part of the l...

33. The quiet nobility of the men by the side of the road
(Analysis/Analysis)

...or occupied rather than to help. Across Africa men and women leave their families and homes and travel, seeking opportunities.  Some head north to Europe, some south to South Africa and – ...

34. School vouchers offer the poorest an opportunity to learn at better schools
(Analysis/Analysis)

... poor divide and creates a form of educational aristocracy where the children of the rich have greater access to opportunities. Fee-paying parents flee poorer schools which become ever poorer and les...

35. A sense of scale
(Analysis/Analysis)

...nnot solve the problem, then it is just as clear that Government needs to work with the private sector to create opportunities. Clearly, though - with unemployment figures remaining static over the pa...

36. Interpreting the Emerging Market Risk Curve
(Static Content)

...st 20%: there is high degree of social mobility as the poor improve their lives through vast amounts of new work opportunities; Wealthiest 20%: there is a small, but growing, middle-class as wealt...

37. Research Reports, eBooks and Ideas
(Static Content)

...he poverty of ideas. Poor Africans live in poor countries where their politicians betray them and steal all the opportunities and money. Kenya, which produces no mosquito nets, has a 200% excise dut...

38. Unlock the Value in Emerging Markets
(Static Content)

...nd results compare your investment returns relative to industry norms for specific sectors and regions Find new opportunities for investment improve your knowledge of the informal sector, community...

39. Get Rated
(Static Content)

...urate and reliable performance information available to potential investors and partners Attract investors and opportunities give business partners and investors standardised information on which ...

40. Why Use Whythawk
(Static Content)

...rket actors necessary for the success of any new investment. Corporate social investments should also be seen as opportunities to gain experience in emerging markets and learn about new products and s...

41. Interpreting the Emerging Market Risk Curve
(Static Content)

...st 20%: there is high degree of social mobility as the poor improve their lives through vast amounts of new work opportunities; Wealthiest 20%: there is a small, but growing, middle-class as wealt...

42. Research Reports, eBooks and Ideas
(Static Content)

...he poverty of ideas. Poor Africans live in poor countries where their politicians betray them and steal all the opportunities and money. Kenya, which produces no mosquito nets, has a 200% excise dut...

43. Unlock the Value in Emerging Markets
(Static Content)

...nd results compare your investment returns relative to industry norms for specific sectors and regions Find new opportunities for investment improve your knowledge of the informal sector, community...

44. Get Rated
(Static Content)

...urate and reliable performance information available to potential investors and partners Attract investors and opportunities give business partners and investors standardised information on which ...

45. Why Use Whythawk
(Static Content)

...rket actors necessary for the success of any new investment. Corporate social investments should also be seen as opportunities to gain experience in emerging markets and learn about new products and s...

46. Whythawk Podcast Downloads
(Category List)

Emerging markets are an exciting and volatile place in which to do business. There are opportunities, but there are also risks. Whythawk presents here a series of informal seminars and discussions on