Tag: BusinessStrategy

Predictions about the future of work have become commonplace. Every year brings forecasts about new technologies, changing job roles, and the skills employees will need to remain competitive. But as 2026 has unfolded, many of those predictions have moved beyond theory. They are shaping hiring decisions, influencing business strategy, and redefining what employers expect from their people.

Over 21 years of building a business have taught me many lessons about people, leadership, and sustainable growth. These lessons apply across industries and business environments. They also offer valuable guidance for South African business leaders navigating changing markets, evolving technologies, and complex workplaces.

When organisations conduct due diligence on a new customer, supplier or business partner, they often feel reassured once they verify the basics. The company registration checks out, the directors are identified, and the necessary documentation has been collected. The onboarding process then moves forward with confidence.

Traditional strategy rests on assumptions that often fail when organisations face uncertainty, complexity and rapid change. Professor Clayton Fraser Williams challenges these assumptions. He asks a deceptively simple question: What is strategy?

Building a business from an innovative concept into a resilient, market-leading enterprise is rarely a linear journey. Over the course of my career, from pioneering South Africa’s first online salary survey in 2000 to my subsequent corporate chapters through PwC and Old Mutual, I have learned that sustainable growth requires a fundamental shift in perspective.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has moved quickly from novelty to everyday business infrastructure. It now sits inside email platforms, document systems, customer service channels, finance tools and analytics environments, influencing how decisions are prepared and how work gets done.

Read our exclusive cover story titled Mission focus – does AI enable strategy or create distraction? by Steven Ambrose, CEO, Strategy Worx Consulting, plus a host of other topical management articles written by professionals, consultants and academics.

Imagine this: It’s 7:30 a.m. in Nairobi, and your phone buzzes with an alert from the treasury dashboard. Overnight, a sudden Foreign Exchange (FX) shock in East Africa has threatened to erode your continent-wide supply chain margins by 5 percent. Yet, your factory in Lagos has already executed an automated hedge that caps the risk at 1 percent.

There is a moment in most disputes when emotion overtakes economics. Pride digs in. Letters become sharper. Threats of court proceedings follow. Yet, by the time a matter reaches trial, the real question often lingers in the background: was the game worth the candle?

The Public Procurement Act 28 of 2024 is signed but not yet in force. However, the Constitutional Court is yet to rule on a challenge by the Western Cape Government, the City of Cape Town and amaBhungane. They argue that Parliament failed to facilitate reasonable public participation on material amendments, as required by section 59(1)(a) of the Constitution. That judgment is still pending.