Analysis of corporate failures: a case study of two South African banks
- Authors: Mqomboti, Xitshembiso Pronacia
- Date: 2023-02
- Subjects: Business failures South Africa , Corporate governance South Africa , Risk management , Operational risk , Business ethics , Bank management South Africa , Banks and banking South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/419151 , vital:71620
- Description: This study analysed the factors that contributed to the failure of Venda Building Society Mutual Bank (VBS) and African Bank Limited and the impact it had on their key stakeholders. The specific objectives of this study were to evaluate African Bank and VBS bank's operational risk management processes and controls, the role of ethical failures at VBS bank and African Bank; and assess how the failures affected their stakeholders. The population sample of the study included African Bank and VBS. The study adopted a qualitative research method. Existing reports from both African Bank and VBS were used to collect data. The study adopted a thematic data analysis method, which includes data coding and the development of themes. The data analysis framework was derived from a defined set of research propositions and seven (7) themes were derived from this analysis method. The failure in operational controls of both banks and ineffective risk management structures including unethical conduct by the executive management and board of VBS bank, irregular financial transactions and weakened external auditing function resulted in an unaccountable executive relationship and reckless lending decision-making. This research study will expand on the existing body of knowledge on the failures and near-failures of banks in the South African banking sector. The South African banking industry and its regulatory bodies will be better equipped to strengthen their corporate governance in risk controls to mitigate future collapses and near collapses of banks. , Thesis (MBA) -- Faculty of Commerce, Rhodes Business School, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-02
The 2019 SASBO Bank Workers’ Strike in South Africa: unpacking labour responses to the Fourth Industrial Revolution
- Authors: Moyo, Wisdom Ntandoyenkosi
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Industry 4.0 , Fourth Industrial Revolution , Banks and banking South Africa , SASBO , Labor unions South Africa , Strikes and lockouts Bank employees South Africa , Working class South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/406774 , vital:70306
- Description: The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is a global phenomenon, affecting workers and trade unions worldwide with the increased automation, including digitisation, of work. Although the 4IR has often been presented as an impersonal technological force that society must just accept, it is in fact rooted in the evolution of capitalist society: it is the latest in a series of industrial revolutions and restructurings of the labour process. These are systemic occurrences, based in class struggles around the extension of management control of every part of work, and replacing workers with machinery; it must then be seen in the context of a history of Taylorism, Fordism and neo-Fordism, and their local expressions, such as racial Fordism in South Africa. The roll-out and the socio-economic effects of the 4IR are therefore shaped by inequality and power, and look to be dire for the working-class in a South Africa that already has record unemployment rates. In the local banking sector, the 4IR has been associated with a wave of retrenchments and branch closures. Faced with this situation, the South African Society of Bank Officials (SASBO), the biggest and oldest union in the finance sector, then with around 73 000 members, tried to hold a mass strike in late 2019. Blocked by the Labour Court, this would have been the union’s biggest strike in a century. It followed from a longer campaign by SASBO to halt job losses, ensure redeployment and reskilling for affected bank workers, and win an agreement for these aims with the banks. The union undertook research on the 4IR and sought to win support from banks, as well as government departments and other unions, for an alternative, worker-friendly roll-out of the 4IR. The decision to strike took place after extensive engagements with banks and stakeholders like government failed, the banks proceeding with retrenchments: the union faced an unprecedented challenge and was on the defensive. This dissertation maps SASBO’s campaign around the 4IR, using the Power Resources Approach (PRA), and assesses its approach. It also tries to show how an analysis of a moderate, older white-collar union like SASBO enriches South African labour studies. A qualitative methodology was used in this research to understand the issue at hand, using documents and semi-structured interviews with SASBO National Executive Committee members. The key findings are that the 4IR will not spare white-collar jobs and presents an unprecedented challenge to unions. There is an urgent need for union revitalisation, including new ways to organise effective responses to technological change. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2022
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- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
An investigation into stakeholder inclusivity and the board’s ability to create competitive advantage at South Africa’s “big five” retail banks
- Authors: Wolhuter, Darren Wilfred
- Date: 2022-04-06
- Subjects: Stakeholder management South Africa , Strategic planning South Africa , Banks and banking South Africa , Corporate governance South Africa , Competition , Resource-based theory
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/284548 , vital:56073
- Description: Stakeholder theory has long put forth the concept that managerial attention must be given to all stakeholders towards the realisation of value creation opportunities. Through the process of stakeholder engagement, and through the adoption of stakeholder inclusivity principles, an organisation can position itself to reap the benefits of understanding the legitimate needs and interests of all its stakeholders by seeking to satisfy all its stakeholders in turn. This study analysed the integrated reports of five retail banks, whose main base of operations were in South Africa, to assess the board’s ability to create value for its stakeholders through adopting a stakeholder inclusive approach to corporate governance as advocated for by the King Code on Corporate Governance in South Africa – King IV™. This assessment was done through an examination of a selection of outcomes relevant to the banking industry and related to each of the six capitals that form part of the value creation process as indicated for in the Integrated Reporting Framework (IIRC, 2013): 1) Financial Capital, 2) Manufactured Capital; 3) Intellectual Capital; 4) Human Capital; 5) Social and Relationship Capital, and; 6) Natural Capital. The results obtained, over a three-year period – 2018 to 2020, revealed that while the directors had a firm understanding of who their material stakeholders were, they struggled to create value that catered to all their stakeholders collectively. In addition, the directors were also unable to create sustainable value over the assessment period. As a result of this, most banks, with the exception of one, were unable to realise the value creation opportunities that could have led to a potential source of competitive advantage. The study concludes that while no observable sustainable competitive advantage was evident over the period of assessment, the concept of stakeholder inclusivity is an important corporate governance principle that drives value creation and, as such, warrants more attention from the director’s point of view. This research is intended to contribute to the growing knowledge on the importance of stakeholder inclusivity in corporate governance execution. , Thesis (MBA) -- Faculty of Commerce, Rhodes Business School, 2022
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- Date Issued: 2022-04-06