Steven Fitzgerald looks relaxed as he arrives home from his fourth trip to South America this month. The chief executive officer of Andbeyond (originally Conservation Corporation Africa), a leader in luxury ecotourism, is taking his company to new climes. The company started in South Africa in 1990, spread its wings to other African countries and then ventured into India in 2004, where it has been successful – although with a few initial surprises.

Now Fitzgerald has set his sights on South America. “Once you have seen lions, tigers in India are very enticing, as are jaguars, sloths and macaws in South America,” he says. But, he asks himself, what have we learnt from opening in India that we can take with us to South America? And what should we be doing in setting up in South America that we didn’t do in India?

No.of pages: 5

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In September 2014, Calum McCracken, chief executive officer (CEO) of Next Generation Network Telecommunications (Pty) Ltd (NGN Telecoms), met with his partners to discuss the company’s Kenyan dilemma.

Doing business in Kenya had proved to be far more challenging than in any other country. Among other challenges, the company had to deal with fraud and negotiate from scratch with a new telecommunications operator, without success. This ended in a struggle to renew its Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) licence. No licence meant no trading and the company eventually had to withdraw from the country.

Years had passed since the company’s first entry into Kenya, but McCracken felt the time was right for another attempt. What should the partners consider to avoid the challenges of the past?

No of Pages: 18

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This case is about competing bids from AngloGold in South Africa and Newmont in America for the control of Normandy, Australia's largest gold producer. The choices facing AngloGold in its strategy to acquire Normandy and ward off the competing Newmont bid are presented. The vagaries of national perceptions and loyalties, exchange rates, media and investor relations and the key role of arbitrageurs and hedge funds are introduced.  A platform to analyse and compare strategies for bidding and target companies to respectively gain and resist control, is created..

No of Pages: 8

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A cathartic moment had been reached for the Africa operation of Barclays PLC when Barclays Africa CEO, Dominic Bruynseels presented two options to his team in January 2003. The bank’s performance on the continent had been declining since 1986. It could either sell off the Africa operation within the next 12 months, or, if his team could demonstrate an ability to manage risk on the continent and deliver returns for the group in the following year, it could make a major acquisition in Africa. From that point on the turnaround gained momentum, and in May 2005 Barclays bought a controlling share in Absa Bank South Africa, the country’s largest retail bank. Now, in June 2005, Bruynseels wondered how the bank would be able to sustain its recent good performance on the continent.

No. Pages: 18 

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Dimension Data, founded in 1983, was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1987. By 2000, the company had grown into a provider of global network integration services and global end-to-end i-Commerce to corporations, telecommunication service providers and new economy companies. It was represented on five continents, in over 30 countries and employed more than 10 000 staff. Market value increased from R30 million in 1987 to R53.2 billion by March 2000. The group was not only the largest IT company in South Africa, but one of the largest integration service businesses in the world. On 19 July 2000 Dimension Data listed on the London Stock Exchange. Jeremy Ord, CEO of Dimension Data, contemplated whether listing was the correct decision. His future challenge, to maintain Dimension Data’s position, in a fast changing market, and how Dimension Data could be continually re-invented globally on a continuous basis, concerned him.

No. Pages: 28 

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Rob Angel, CEO of Engen, was concerned about the future of his company. By early 1998, the fall-out of the Asian crisis had affected world markets, including the JSE. A low stock price and global industry conglomeration increased the possibility of a hostile take-over, and the end of much of what Angel had accomplished. In June 1998, Petronas formally offered to buy out all the shareholders of Engen Petroleum Ltd. Angel needed to have a clear recommendation ready for the Engen board meeting planned to discuss the Petronas offer. The Petronas offer reflected a good strategic fit, but the price was low, and there was some concern about the operational integration of the two companies. If he were to recommend rejection of the Petronas offer, what other options should he pursue?

No.of pages: 9

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In July 2009, businessman and entrepreneur, Martyn Mills of MCM Wines, reconsidered his marketing strategy. He had been exporting his own wine to China since 2003 and had recently signed an agreement with the prestigious South African wine estate, Groot Constantia, to export its wine to that country as well. However, conducting business in China was complex and expensive and, earlier that year, he had partnered with a new importer in China to help combat certain of the challenges. Mills wanted to support his new business partner as much as he could in promoting MCM wines; however, he had a limited budget. Given this fact, how could he grow his market in China, he wondered?

No. of pages: 22

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Rob Brozin, chairman of Nando’s International, based in South Africa, was reconsidering the company’s international expansion programme in general, and the decision to enter Singapore and Malaysia in particular. The aims of listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in April 1997 were to insulate their South African operations from the risks of international expansion, and to raise the necessary capital for expansion. The main uncertainty for Brozin was the extent to which Nando’s success in South Africa was transferable abroad.

No. Pages: 30 

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Old Mutual was established in 1845 in the Cape of Good Hope as a mutual society. By 1999, Old Mutual provided a broad range of financial services to its policy-holders and other clients: life insurance, asset management, banking, and general insurance, with total assets of 32 billion pounds (R311 billion). On 12 June 1999, Old Mutual listed on the London and Johannesburg Stock Exchanges. Although the global economic situation had recovered from the Asian crisis, Old Mutual’s management were perturbed. South African companies had recently emerged after decades of isolation, and were relatively unfamiliar with the complexities of international markets. Johannes van der Horst, Executive General Manager, responsible for demutualisation and listing, was concerned that the vagaries of the global markets could turn against them.

No. Pages: 18 

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It was June 2006 and Shaun Matisonn, CEO of PruHealth plc – a 50/50 joint venture formed in late 2004 between Discovery Holdings in South Africa and Prudential plc in the United Kingdom (UK) – was about to relocate his office from Johannesburg to London. As he contemplated his move, Matisonn wondered how he was going to make the joint venture work. While PruHealth was showing early signs of success, Matisonn knew that joint ventures were notoriously difficult to manage, especially across two different continents. He had the backing of two very substantial shareholders, but with that came the challenge of two sets of equally substantial expectations. Matisonn thought about what had to be done to ensure that the business remained on track.

No. Pages: 15

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Aiming to increase the globalisation efforts for South African Breweries (SAB), group chief executive of SAB, Graham Mackay, decided to shift SAB’s headquarters to London and listed on the London Stock Exchange in March 1999. While the global brewing industry remained highly fragmented in early 2000, the race for consolidation among the major players had begun in earnest. Despite SAB’s movement overseas, SAB was primarily an ‘emerging market’ brewer. SAB’s ratings on the international financial markets were inevitably affected, and raising capital was an expensive proposition. Aiming to keep the company in the top tier of international brewers, Mackay was considering several potential courses of strategic action.

No. Pages: 27 

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Against a background of intense merger and acquisition activity in the brewing industry, Chief Executive of South African Breweries (SAB) Graham Mackay, faced a difficult decision in early 2002. By this time talks about the possible acquisition of the USA’s second largest beer producer, Miller Brewing, by SAB, were well advanced. The proposed deal would reshape the top tier of the global brewing industry, catapulting the fourth and seventh largest brewers in the world to the number two position.

While Mackay was happy with SAB’s progress in emerging markets to date he wondered whether this was the right moment to move into the developed world. Moreover, he wondered whether the Miller business was the right way to go. Mackay and his management team had spent many hours analysing all aspects of the business and had isolated certain problem areas within it. While they believed that SAB had the resources and capabilities within the group to meet the operational challenges these problem areas presented, the question remained: was the Miller deal a risk worth taking?

No. Pages: 18 

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