SARChI-ID Working Papers

From SARChI Industrial Development (SARChI-ID), University of Johannesburg (UJ)
Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Melanie Ridgard ().

Access Statistics for this working paper series.
Is something missing from the series or not right? See the RePEc data check for the archive and series.

202407: The use of advanced technologies in South African commercial agriculture has a long history. Digital technologies have been acknowledged as a potentially revolutionary way to boost the efficiency and sustainability of agricultural production systems. The South African agricultural sector is a significant contributor to the country’s export earnings, food security and employment. In the era of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) and other digital technologies, the South African agricultural sector could benefit from more intensive digitalisation, such as precision agriculture and climate smart agri-food systems that balance the shifts in demand preferences and sustainable supply. This study analyses the patterns, drivers, constraints and sustainability implications of advanced technology adoption in the South African agricultural sector. Using in-depth interview data, we generate evidence-based insights into the dynamics of advanced technology adoption and diffusion. We use the ‘technology-organisation-environment’ and the ‘technology acceptance model’ to analyse the implications of advanced technology adoption and diffusion for productivity, skills and labour needs in selected agricultural sub-sectors, with a specific emphasis on the citrus production sub-sector. We find that factors such as perceived usefulness, economies of scale, complementary technological infrastructure and access to finance play an important role in enabling precision agriculture technologies. For the citrus sector, additional factors – such as market requirements and harvest optimisation – appear to be key drivers of automation technology in the packhouses. The economies of scale and the adoption challenges faced by smallholder farmers underscore the importance of coordinated policy and the role of affordable complementary infrastructure in fostering inclusive technology diffusion. Policies aimed at stimulating the adoption and diffusion of precision agriculture technologies will need to factor all these findings into their deliberations, and align them with long-term development strategies

Alexis Habiyaremye, Phumzile Ncube, Kiru Sichoongwe and Anele Slater

202406: Chinese manufacturing import penetration and firm performance: Evidence from Belt and Road Initiative countries

Elvis Avenyo, Danilo Spinola and Fiona Tregenna

202405: An Empirical Study of the Relationship between Exchange Rate Misalignments, Economic Complexity and Export Diversification

Neil Foster-McGregor and Danilo Spinola

202404: Digital Innovation, Localisation and Productive Capabilities in the South African Pharmaceutical Industry

Lorenza Monaco and Alexis Habiyaremye

202403: Technological Capability and Industrialisation in Africa

Emmanuel Mensah and Gideon Ndubuisi

202402: Green Industrial Policy and Industrialisation in Africa

Arkebe Oqubay and Jonathan Goldman

202401: The Strategy and Governance of SOEs in Africa: Lessons Learnt and Policy Implications

Arkebe Oqubay

202310: Trade Liberalisation, Household Welfare and Earnings Inequality in South Africa

Lawrence Edwards and Refilwe Lepelle

202309: Upgrading Trajectories in South Africa: Exploring the Roles of Customer and Supplier Link Types in Manufacturers’ Economic, Social and Environmental Upgrading

Rachel Alexander and Aarti Krishnan

202308: Structural Change and Development Through Agricultural Exports: Performance and Policies

Christopher Cramer

202307: Introducing a South African Manufacturing Health Index (SA-MHI): Concept Paper

Justin Barnes

202306: Who are the Robots Coming For? The Evolving Task Content of Employment in South Africa

Haroon Bhorat, Robert Hill, Timothy Köhler, Jabulile Monnakgotla and François Steenkamp

202305: Inertia or Progress? Digital Technology Adoption Within a Group of South African Manufacturing SMEs

Justin Barnes and Warren Sachs

202304: 4IR Technology Adoption in the South African Airline Industry: Diffusion Patterns and Labour Market Effects

Alexis Habiyaremye and Lorenza Monaco

202303: Developing the South African Auto Industry: Lead Firm Sourcing Strategies and Local Productive Capabilities

Lorenza Monaco and Tobias Wuttke

202302: Digital Customs Transformation for Effective Trade Facilitation and Revenue Collection

Lucienne Abrahams, Mark Burke and Trudi Hartzenberg

202301: New technologies in robotics, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, the internet of things, smart sensors and 3D printing are seen as disruptive technologies that will change manufacturing. This paper argues that the sustainability shift in apparel and textile global supply chains has led to innovations that combine digitalisation and biotechnology in ways that will have bigger disruptive effects on the global apparel and textile industry. It examines the extent to which South African textile firms are adopting 4IR technologies as well as environmental sustainability technologies in their business strategies, drawing on original empirical materials from a survey of a sample of textile firms carried out in August 2022. South Africa’s textile and apparel industry stagnated even before trade liberalisation in the mid1990s and was not competitive at the time of opening to the global economy, because firms had not kept up with technological changes. Only when the South African retailers faced growing competition from international retail corporations in the late 2010s did the industry actors come together and commit to investments to make the local supply chain more competitive. The survey findings show a quite limited adoption of 4IR technologies among textile firms. Firms that produced relatively higher value products had adopted some aspects of 4IR and newer machines. In contrast, firms producing low-value products for retailers focussed on the low-value segment did not as their product type made such technologies unnecessary, and their profit margins were not capable of affording them in the short term. The findings also point to structural constraints within the South African textile and apparel industry and the general domestic economy that limit the adoption of 4IR and sustainability technologies. In concluding, we argue that the South African textile and apparel industry is relatively well placed to capitalise on the window of opportunity to adopt the latest fibre and textile technologies and to engage in research and development in these areas, and that doing so will increase the competitiveness of the industry and position it better to export

Lindsay Whitfield and Vuyiswa Mkhabela

202214: The Mediating Role of IT Ambidexterity in the Relationship between Artificial Intelligence Capability and Organisational Agility

Waseem Rawat and Justin Barnes

202213: Determinants of the Adoption of Digital Technologies in South African Manufacturing: Evidence from a Firm-level Survey

Elvis K. Avenyo, Jason F. Bell and Julius Nyamwena

202212: Manufacturing Technology Intensity, Employment, Wages and Capital Formation in Africa

Richard E. Itaman and Oluwafemi E. Awopegba

202211: The COVID-19 Crisis and Its Implications for Economic Policy

Arkebe Oqubay

202210: African Industrial Hubs and Industrialisation: Diversity, Unevenness, and Strategic Approach

Arkebe Oqubay

202209: Digitalisation, Innovation and Productivity in South African Micro- and Small Enterprises

Cyrielle Gaglio, Erika Kraemer-Mbula and Edward Lorenz

202208: Industrial policy for prematurely deindustrialized economies after the Covid-19 pandemic crisis: Integrating economic, social and environmental goals with policy proposals for Brazil

André Nassif and Paulo César Morceiro

202207: Innovation complementarities in small and micro-enterprises in Johannesburg, South Africa

Godfrey Kamutando and Fiona Tregenna

202206: Is Manufacturing in Africa Constrained by Finance? An Empirical Analysis of the Finance Manufacturing Nexus

Richard Itaman

202205: Positioning the South African Economy for New Industries: Policy Lessons from East Asia

Rendani Mamphiswana

202204: How do cognitive proximity and knowledge networks affect firms’ innovation? Evidence from micro and small firms in Johannesburg, South Africa

Jefferson Galetti and Fiona Tregenna

202203: Innovation and socio-economic development challenges in South Africa: An overview of indicators and trends

Alexis Habiyaremye, Nicola King and Fiona Tregenna

202202: Firm Innovation in Africa and Latin America: Heterogeneity and Country Context

Eva Paus, Michael Robinson and Fiona Tregenna

202201: Industrial Policy for a Just Transition to a Green Economy – The Importance of Regional Food Value Chains in Southern Africa

Lauralyn Kaziboni and Simon Roberts

202112: Demand-led Industrialisation Policy in a Dual-sector Small Balance of Payments Constrained Economy

Önder Nomaler, Danilo Spinola and Bart Verspagen

202111: Key Opportunities and Challenges for 4IR in South Africa

Rachel Alexander

202110: The Fourth Industrial Revolution in South African Manufacturing and Connectivity: Case Studies of Automotive and Mining Equipment Manufacturing, along with Transportation and ICT Infrastructure and Services

Rachel Alexander

202109: Assessing the Ability of the National Innovation System of South Africa to Facilitate the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Rachel Alexander

202108: The Fourth Industrial Revolution and National Innovation Systems: Key Concepts and Snapshot of South Africa

Rachel Alexander

202107: Late Industrialisation under Platform Capitalism

Wim Naudé

202106: Creating employment and reducing emissions: Options for South Africa

Harald Winkler and Anthony Black

202105: Growth Regimes and Uneven Development in Open Economies: Demand and Distribution Regimes in the context of Global Value Chains

Arpan Ganguly

202104: Input-output linkages and interdependence between countries in the southern African development community (SADC)

Phumzile Ncube and Fiona Tregenna

202103: Firm Innovation and Employment in South Africa: Examining the Role of Export Participation and Innovation Novelty

Karmen Naidoo, Marta Bengoa, Erika Kraemer-Mbula and Fiona Tregenna

202102: Challenges and Complexities of the South African Economy

Fiona Tregenna, Arabo Ewinyu, Arkebe Oqubay and Imraan Valodia

202101: Can Apparel Export Industries Catalyse Industrialisation? Combining GVC Participation and Localisation

Lindsay Whitfield, Kristoffer Marslev and Cornelia Staritz