I spoke to Prof Waldo Krugell about the South African economy: the status quo and new realities.

Waldo is Professor of Economics at the North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences (SAJEMS) and the President of the Economic Society of South Africa (ESSA).

Useful Links: @WaldoKrugell , SAJEMS , ESSA ; Covid-19 Economic Ideas

Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Michael Kremer: The Nobel Prize (Economics 2019) winners mentioned in this episode: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2019/press-release/

I spoke with Jahni de Villiers (https://twitter.com/JahniDeVilliers) about work & the “new normal” under COVID-19.

Jahni is the Head of Labour and Development at Agri SA. Before joining Agri SA, she was a union organiser at Solidarity for 12 years and served as sector-head of the union’s branches at all the major commercial banks, Armscor, the Agricultural Research Council and universities.

She has an LLB degree from Nelson Mandela University and an LLM degree, specialising in labour law, form the University of South Africa (UNISA).

She represents organised business on the following structures:

• National Minimum Wage Commission.

Useful resource: Return2Work Initiative - https://www.return2work.co.za/

“The Return2Work Initiative is facilitating collaboration between government and business to provide tools and guidelines to enable sectors to expedite a safe, effective and structured return2work plan.”

A business model helps to describe how your business creates, delivers and captures value. Whether you are a start-up or an incumbent, your business model needs to be fluid – your strategy needs to consider how your business model might look over multiple time horizons and how it will need to adapt to external shocks.  In the context of COVID-19, it is crucial to assess the impact on your business model, both immediately and over the longer term.

I spoke with Prof Thomas Ritter and Prof Carsten Lund Pedersen (Copenhagen Business School) about their framework for assessing the Coronavirus’s impact on your Business Model.

Carsten Lund Pedersen is assistant professor at the Department of Marketing at the Copenhagen Business School. Being an expert in autonomy, business development and strategy, his research interests cover data-enabled business development, frontline employees’ behavior, and the role of projects in strategies. His work is widely published, including Harvard Business Review (hbr.org), MIT Sloan Management Review, Strategic Management Review, Industrial Marketing Management, amongst other outlets. He is a highly appreciated executive educator and involved in several applied research projects.

Thomas Ritter is professor of market strategy and business development at the Department of Strategy and Innovation at the Copenhagen Business School. He works with customer insight, value creation, market-driven strategies, data-enabled business models, and business development through strategic projects. Current research projects focus on product, service and data integration and business model analysis. His work is widely published, including Harvard Business Review (hbr.org), Journal of Product Innovation Management, Strategic Management Review, Industrial Marketing Management, amongst other outlets. He is a frequent speaker at industry events and highly appreciated executive educator.

Further resources:

Preparing Your Business for a Post-Pandemic World (HBR.org): https://hbr.org/2020/04/preparing-your-business-for-a-post-pandemic-world

Assessing Coronavirus’s Impact on Your Business Model (HBR.org): https://hbr.org/2020/04/assessing-coronaviruss-impact-on-your-business-model?ab=hero-subleft-2

Workbook: https://research.cbs.dk/en/publications/the-impact-of-the-corona-crisis-on-your-business-model-workbook

Video: https://cbs.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=5ac06562-7228-40d9-95eb-ab8e00b5960d

Alignment Squared book: https://research.cbs.dk/en/publications/alignment-alignment-squared-driving-competitiveness-and-growth-th

IMM first paper by Henry Chesbrough: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001985012030300X

IMM special issue call: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/industrial-marketing-management/calls-for-papers/managing-through-a-crisis-managerial-implications-for-b2b-fi

I spoke to Dr Tracy Davids about the impact of COVID-19 on South Africa’s food system. Tracy heads the commodity markets and foresight division at the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP).

Tracy is an established specialist in agricultural market analysis, her focus includes commodity market modelling, price formation and spatial price relationships, competitiveness and international trade. Tracy has an extensive record of international collaboration, contributing regularly to international market outlook publications and conferences. She has a consistent publication record in peer reviewed journals. She holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Pretoria.

BFAP, founded in 2004, is a non-profit organisation. BFAP exists with the distinct purpose to objectively inform and support decision-making by stakeholders in the agro-food, fibre and beverage sectors of Africa. It provides independent, rigorously tested, research-based market and policy analyses. BFAP consists of a network of 45 employees, including associates and researchers at universities spanning the African continent.

Resources - South Africa:

BFAP COVID-19 Information Page: https://covid19.ivis.africa/

Agri SA COVID-19 Information Page: https://www.agrisa.co.za/covid19

SA Department of Agriculture: https://www.daff.gov.za/daffweb3/Home/COVID-19-updates

Resources – International:

FAO: http://www.fao.org/2019-ncov/q-and-a/en/?fbclid=IwAR2IUaATf9w3EOn6sCkjhFpvzAmQXYFBlT1Se5Yhe_v57MXHGruYHMPkhB

UNSCN: https://www.unscn.org/en/news-events/recent-news?idnews=2040

CGIAR: https://www.cgiar.org/news-events/all-news/our-response-to-covid-19/

I spoke to Prof. Carel van Aardt, Research director at the Bureau of Market Research (BMR) at the University of South Africa (UNISA) (www.unisa.ac.za/bmr). Our discussion touched on various aspects and insights of big data, for example: consumer behaviour, happiness, financial inclusion and economic development.

Show notes:

Defining Big Data:

Gartner: “Big data is high-volume, high-velocity and/or high-variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing that enable enhanced insight, decision making, and process automation.”

Lexico (Oxford): “extremely large data sets that may be analysed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behaviour and interactions”

Cambridge dictionary: “very large sets of data that are produced by people using the internet, and that can only be stored, understood, and used with the help of special tools and method”

Resources on big data:

Google trends: https://trends.google.com/

Simply searching for big data will deliver numerous useful results – also search for big data courses, there are many free options available. Resource examples: 

Stanford University Presentation: Overview of Big Data Tools and Techniques, Discoveries and Pitfalls: https://web.stanford.edu/class/cs102/lecturenotes/Overview102.pdf   

Data Science Central: https://www.datasciencecentral.com/   

I spoke to Doris Viljoen: Senior Futurist at the Institute for Futures Research (IFR) and lecturer in Futures Studies (FS) at the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB).

Show notes and resources:

On defining the field:  Richard Slaughter: “the ultimate purpose of FS was to open out productive mind spaces, precursors of social innovations, from which more advanced stages of civilized life can emerge” - Slaughter, R.A. (2002). Futures studies as a civilizational catalyst. Futures, 34, 349-363.

On activities of a Professional Futurist: Andy Hines identifies three groups of activities:

1. Creating content: sharing information with people to gain insight

FS as a scientific field: FS is a science and an art. It is not about predication but rather about identifying possible/multiple futures and making this part of your strategy process.

Personal exercise: on a regular basis, start asking why and what if? Why are we doing this? (For example, ask why? X5) What are my underlying assumptions?

Futures studies in South Africa: https://www.usb.ac.za/academic-programmes/academic-programmes-future-studies/

Nedlac report - Futures of Work in South Africa:  https://nedlac.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Futures-of-Work-in-South-Africa-Final-Report-March-2019.pdf

Reading:

• UNDP (2018): Foresight Manual - Empowered Futures

For organisations:

• George Day and Paul Schoemaker: See Sooner, Act Faster

 Podcast website: https://waitspeak.podbean.com/p/contact-1578666710/

Welcome to the Wait & Speak Podcast, my name is Requier Wait.

I hold a PhD in Economics and I am currently enrolled for a Postgraduate programme in Futures Studies (strategic foresight). My experience covers academia, consulting and industry advocacy. Industry experience ranges from upstream oil and gas to renewable energy and agriculture. I am based in South Africa.

Join my learning journey and goal of being a multi-hyphenate in business. I will be interviewing experts on topics ranging from futures studies, strategy, economics and entrepreneurship. Please rate and review the podcast if you enjoy it.

The first episode will look at Futures studies, followed by interviews on behavioural economics, cultural intelligence, negotiation and the concept of brand/branding.

You can find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Podbean. You can find more information on the podcast website. I look forward to learning and growing with you.

Podcast website: https://waitspeak.podbean.com/p/contact-1578666710/