South African Case Studies.
Abstract
This chapter presents four recent foreign firm entries into South Africa. Section 1 covers two automobile component companies: NGK Ceramics (catalytic converters), which entered as a greenfield and Behr (radiators and airconditioners) which entered via an acquisition. Both entries were in response to significant changes in the sector's policy environment, but NGK focuses on exports while Behr supplies the domestic market. The next case is concerned with the unusual occurrence of technology-seeking investment in an emerging market context. It involves the acquisition of a South African industrial equipment firm - Ziton - by a US corporation (EST) because of the former's superior fire detection technology. The final case is the entry of the Dutch bank, ABN Amro, to South Africa in response to financial sector liberalisation after 1994. Three different entry modes were used for the bank's three divisions - greenfield for banking, partial acquisition for securities trading and full acquisition for vehicle leasing. This case also illustrates the implications for emerging markets of major corporate strategic shifts by global giants.
Citation
In: Investment Strategies in Emerging Markets by K. E. Meyer and S. Estrin, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, pp. 215-248
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