IFR
40
institute for
FUTURES RESEARCH
1974 - 2014
www.ifr.sun.ac.za
IFR Annual Conference &
Futures Thinking Workshop
23 – 24 October 2014
Leriba Lodge, Centurion
This year the IFR will be hosting its annual conference and workshop on
Thursday, 23 and Friday, 24 October at the Leriba Lodge in Centurion. We take
great pleasure in inviting you, a valued Associate, to join us at these events.
As always, the main purpose of the conference on Friday, 24 October is to
present to you various topics that we believe are affecting the outcome of societal
issues – both at home and abroad. The speakers on each topic are renowned
experts in their respective fields.
The conference will be preceded on Thursday, 23 October by an interactive workshop titled, Flirting
with ambiguity, facilitated by Dr Steyn Heckroodt. The rationale for the workshop is that expansion
of any nature contains the elements of risk and return. However, as businesses we tend to shy away
from ambiguity in the market as this contains an embedded increase in the risk factor, pertaining
to our strategic choice of whether to expand or not. With the economic growth experienced on the
African continent, companies appear to be more tolerant of the risk contained in the ambiguous
nature of the African markets, which is different for her different countries.
Also, companies are eager to probe entry modes for internationalisation on the continent.
Given this increased interest to expand on the continent, elements of environmental scanning,
scenario planning and entry mode decisions have once again occupied agendas in many a boardroom. During the workshop, you will be exposed to the tools that will enable you to flirt, or even
dance, with ambiguity as you become acquainted with a toolkit that will enable strategic decisionmaking, risk mitigation and sustainable growth.
In addition to the insights and analyses offered, attendance of the workshop and conference will
also ensure valuable networking opportunities.
Venue: Leriba Lodge, Centurion (clickable link)
www.ifr.sun.ac.za
Thursday, 23 October 2014
Workshop
09:30
Coffee and registration
10:00
• The Power PESTLE framework for environmental scanning
• Basic scenario planning
• Strategy selection
• Entry mode decision-making (Hofstede indices)
12:00
Lunch
13:00
Practical application of the toolkit of decision-making in order to become acquainted with its
use and interpretation. The application will be based on a recent case-study pertaining to a
strategy of internationalisation, making use of Hofstede’s indices in dealing with political risk
and cultural distance between countries of expansion.
15:00
Closure
Friday, 24 October 2014
Conference
08:00
Coffee and registration
08:30
Welcome and introduction: Prof André Roux, Director, IFR
08:40
South Africa: Key factors that will determine whether we slide into the mud
or step onto the high road Prof Piet Naudé, Director, USB
09:15
Agriculture: Will it really be able to deliver three square meals a day to all?
Maj-Gen (ret) Chris van Zyl, Assistant General Manager: Policy Liaison, head office of TAU SA
10:05
A credit insurer’s view of the economy: Luke Doig, Senior Manager, Investments and
Economic Services CGIC
10:55
HIV/AIDS is not over: Prof Debra Meyer, Head of the Department of Biochemistry, UP
11:45
Refreshments
12:05
Separating myths from facts – Positively understanding the real dynamics and intricacies of
doing business in Africa: Isaac Nkama, Director: Facilitation Africa
Cybercrime: There is no escape: Prof Louis Fourie, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Knowledge
and Information Technology Services, CPUT
12:55
13:45
Closure
13:55
Lunch
institute for
FUTURES RESEARCH
Click here for online registration form
IFR
40
1974 - 2014
www.ifr.sun.ac.za
Introduction to speakers
Luke Doig
Luke Doig’s function of senior manager: Investments
and Economic Services at
Credit Guarantee Insurance
Corporation (CGIC) includes
administration and implementation of the company’s
investment strategy, overseeing country and industry appraisal, providing strategic planning input and
domestic economic analysis and commentary. He
is a regular contributor to the media on economic
matters and speaker at conferences. Doig currently
serves as a trustee on the firm’s pension fund. He
obtained his MComm (Econ) from the University of
Johannesburg in 1994 and a Senior Management
Diploma from USB-ED in 2007. He received the 2010
Thomson Reuters Economist of the Year Award for
most accurately predicting the Econometer indicators.
Louis Fourie
Louis Fourie is deputy vicechancellor: Knowledge and
Information Technology
Services at Cape Peninsula
University of Technology
(CPUT). Over many years he
has been involved in various research projects and
consultations in the IS field.
One of his focus areas has been cybercrime, cybersecurity and cyber-law. In 2004 Prof Fourie received the
USB Sanlam award for research and in 2009 he was
nominated as CSSA Western Cape ICT person of the
year based on his contribution to the field of ICT.
Dr Steyn
Heckroodt
Dr Heckroodt is an international expert on systems
thinking and business strategy. As co-founder and executive director of Lateral
Dimensions, the strategy
consulting concern, he empowers businesses by enhancing their sustainable competitiveness. He is a
faculty member at USB Executive Development and
has also acted as facilitator for the Business School
of The Netherlands, the Da Vinci Institute and Stellenbosch University’s Institute for Futures Research.
He recognises that the core problem within organisations is “the very thinking by which decisions
are made”. Dr Heckroodt, an international speaker,
leaves audiences and businesses thinking differently
and hence empowers them to make powerful and insightful strategic decisions.
Prof Debra Meyer
Prof Meyer is the head of the
Department of Biochemistry at the University of Pretoria (UP). She holds a PhD
in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of California, Davis, USA.
Prof Meyer is the recipient of numerous research
awards including the NRF/NSTF TW Kambule awards
institute for
FUTURES RESEARCH
in 2004 and 2010 and the prestigious Young Scientist
Award from the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World in 2005. Her research has contributed over 35
publications in international journals. She is on the editorial boards of two international journals and serves
on the board of directors and as a trustee of a number of organisations, some of which are multinational.
Prof Meyer is now the anchor of her own science show
on KykNet called Debra ‘Deel’.
Prof Piet Naudé
USB’s new director, Prof Piet
Naudé, started at USB in September. He is a well-known
academic, public speaker and
column writer. Before taking
up this position at USB, Prof
Naudé was deputy vice-chancellor responsible for teaching and learning at the Nelson
Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth. He
has more than twenty years’ management experience
at a university. Prof Naudé received all his qualifications, including a doctorate in theology and a master’s
degree in philosophy, cum laude at Stellenbosch University.
Isaac Nkama
Isaac Nkama’s interest in and
exposure to cross cultural affairs started with his schooling at the International School
of Bonn, West Germany, followed by the International
Schools of Lusaka, Zambia
and Lesotho. He is a chartered marketer and holds an
MBA and MSc in Leadership (Corporate Governance).
Working with major corporations, he specialises in Africa expansion business strategy. He spent eight years
as director of Business Development: Africa for one of
the world’s two largest aircraft manufacturers, and has
held other senior positions. He is on the SA Institute of
International Affairs Board and a former member of the
Presidential Black Business Working Group. Widely travelled, he understands Africa’s cultural, commercial and
political environments practically. He has built a strong
network of high-level business and political contacts
on the continent, and has been an observer to several
elections.
Chris van Zyl
Chris van Zyl joined the SA
Army in 1966 and after a
year’s junior leader training
at The Army Gymnasium he
studied at Stellenbosch University’s of Faculty of Military Science at the Military
Academy at Saldanha where
he graduated in 1969. As an
officer in the South African Artillery (Field Branch), Major general (retired) van Zyl gradually found himself
appointed in general service positions, including that
of the aide de camp to the state president. After the
post-1999 restructuring, his final appointment before
retirement was general officer Commanding Regional
Joint Task Force West based at Silver Mine, Cape Town.
Van Zyl was appointed as the safety and security manager at TAU SA in 2003 and currently serves as assistant
general manager: Policy Liaison at the head office of
TAU SA in Silverton.
Click here for online registration form
IFR
40
1974 - 2014