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SME's - Africa versus the Far East
| Guest post by: Dr. Rob Smorfitt |
Article Overview: Do the Far Eastern countries have an advantage over African countries?
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Free Download - SMEs – SMEs struggling in South Africa. Why? By Dr. Rob Smorfitt |
SME's - Africa versus the Far East
I was lecturing global business to post graduate students from South Africa and other African countries this week. Also had two Chinese students. The question was raised as to why the Asian countries have done so well. Why does Africa continue to go backward, or mark time at best?
Education was thrown on the table as the key issue causing Africa's problems. However I challenged that thought and asked the Chinese students if their country shared a similar literacy and skills shortage to Africa. They said most definitely. It seems like all the Asian countries share the education/skills problems endemic to developing countries.
I just compared on the CIA factbook (for what it is worth?) and found that Vietnam and Botswana both share a literacy rate just above 80%. So why does Vietanm do so much better than Botswana?
I believe we need to look deeper into this issue in a bid to get answers sooner rather than later, and in the process get Africa to make a similar leap forward to that achieved by the Asian Tigers.
Rob Smorfitt
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Article Tags: Africa, China, education, literacy levels, SME, Smorfitt
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About the Author: Dr. Rob Smorfitt RSS for Dr. Rob's articles - Visit Dr. Rob's website Have an MBA and a PhD in entrepreneurship. Three key areas of ongoing research are entrepreneurship and innovation in large business strategy, the impact of legislation on SME development and SME finance. Run my own SME blog at http://sme-smb-smme.blogspot.com as well as an entrepreneurship and innovation for large businesses blog at http://innoveur.blogspot.com I have been self-employed since 1982. I have started or purchased in excess of 50 businesses since then. Most were sold again and a few were shut down because of a lack of profitability. Many were run by staff or family while I worked full time in my bigger businesses. Author of 6 books. Written articles for various magazines, newspapers and websites. Experienced in research within developing countries.
Click here to visit Dr. Rob's website  
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- Unfortunately, in the South African context, very few SMEs see outsourcing as an option. They believe it is too expensive, and they are paranoid that someone will "steal their ideas".
I believe that the three main functions that cannot be outsourced are marketing, sales and strategy. These must be done in house I believe. If you do not have the marketing skills then get them. Hire a consultant or attend a course, but get the skills. Even if you use a consultant, you need to understand what marketing is about, as no one knows your market like you do. Marketing is made to seem difficult and complex, but everyone who really understands their markets, can easily learn to do their own marketing.
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