Business

South Africa's reputation improving

22 September 2011

South Africa's reputation among people of the G8 countries has shown a steady improvement since 2009, the Reputation Institute said on Wednesday, with recent gains in beating crime boding well for further improvement still.

The global reputation consulting firm said South Africa's reputation had shown a steady year-on-year improvement since 2009, from a score of 44.27 in January 2009, to 44.60 in January 2010, and 46.70 in January 2011 (on a score scale of 0-100).

South Africa's reputation score spiked at 49.11 in August 2010, after the Fifa World Cup held at venues around the country.

The G8 comprises the world's eight most industrialised nations: Canada, Germany, Japan, Italy, France, Russia, the UK and the US.

The institute said the top driver of South Africa's reputation among people of the G8 countries in 2011 was whether people were welcoming and friendly. The perception of whether the country was a safe place was the second most important of the 16 drivers measured in 2011.

South Africa achieved a "weak" score of 57.84 in the top driver, and its score as a safe place was considered poor at 37.32.

Perceptions of the government's effectiveness achieved a "weak" 41.6.

The country scored the highest for physical beauty (72.19) and enjoyment (71.21), but these were only the fifth and seventh most important drivers of South Africa's reputation.

"This indicates that we can improve our reputation by working hard on safety and effective government," the institute's managing director in South Africa, Dominik Heil, said.

"Recent gains that have been announced in safety and security are therefore really important and bode well for us in building a stronger reputation."

Out of the 50 countries measured in 2011, South Africa continued to be associated with mid-scale reputation countries such as Puerto Rico, South Korea, Mexico, Turkey and Egypt, and this year was ranked 33rd overall in the world. Several new countries were included in the 2011 survey, including Egypt and Nigeria.

The survey ranked Egypt at 37th position. Nigeria was 47th, ahead only of Pakistan, Iran and Iraq.

Canada was the best-regarded country in the world in 2011, while Sweden, Australia, Switzerland and New Zealand were in the next four.

Norway, Denmark, Finland, Austria and Netherlands made up the rest of the top 10 countries in the world.

Sapa



	'No economy can grow by excluding any part of its people, and an economy that is not growing cannot integrate all of its citizens in a meaningful way' – from South Africa's black economic empowerment strategy document (Photo: Hannelie Coetzee, MediaClubSouthAfrica.com)