Shingie Chisoro Dube and Reena das Nair
This article draws insights from the study of Fruit and Veg City Ltd (FVC), as a successful entrant into the formal grocery retail market, and further considers the growth of independent retailers.
Drawing insights on the Future Life and Pioneer Food Group
Lauralyn Kaziboni
In April 2015, Pioneer Food Group (Pioneer), the leading breakfast cereal producer in South Africa, with popular brands such as ProNutro, Weet-Bix and Bokomo Limited announced that it was planning to enter into a joint venture (JV) with Future Life Health Products (Future Life), a scientifically formulated nutrient-dense functional food products company.
Shipping cartel fines in South Africa
Anthea Paelo
In August this year, two shipping companies were fined by the Competition Commission of South Africa for restrictive horizontal practices including; fixing a purchase or selling price of a product or service, dividing markets and collusive tendering in the transport of vehicles, equipment and/or machinery by sea on the route between Japan and South Africa.
Uber: a game-changer in passenger transport in South Africa?
Shingie Chisoro Dube
The entry of the app-based Uber service into South Africa’s local passenger transport industry in 2013 raises important competition and regulatory issues. Uber is a taxi smart phone application that uses the customer’s smartphone to detect their specific location using the global positioning system (GPS), and instantly connects the customer to the nearest available driver. Uber taxis work in exactly the same manner as traditional metered taxis in that they both take the customer to their intended destination for a metered fee. However, Uber is a technology-driven service that uses a convenient electronic taxi-hailing system to find, book and pay for taxi services. This presents an innovative new technology platform in the local taxi industry.
Reflection on the Coca-Cola bottling merger
Tatenda Zengeni
The merger between Coca-Cola Sabco’s African bottling operations and SABMiller was recently approved by the COMESA Competition Commission, while it is still under review in some other countries such as South Africa. SABMiller is Coca-Cola’s biggest bottler in Africa with operations in 15 African countries.
Zambia CCPC issues new merger guidelines
Mohlahlego Cornelia Matumba
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) of Zambia released its guidelines for merger regulation in August 2015. This is important for providing clarity on the process for merger regulation in Zambia and provide the commission and stakeholders with a structured and transparent framework for these assessments.
Multi-firm cartels: Collusive tendering in furniture removal markets in SA
Mohlahlego Cornelia Matumba
Firms engaging in a cartel are attempting to increase their joint profits through an agreement to suppress competition among themselves. The harmful effects of cartels are related to the number of firms involved, the size of the affected market, and the durability of the cartel.1 Cartelist often agree on the strategy for pricing, supply to the market or market allocation and they face the critical challenge of coordinating the behaviour of all cartel participants around the agreed strategy. This includes monitoring the behaviour of cartel participants to identify and prevent defections from these collusive strategies and preventing entry or expansion by non-cartel firms.
New energy in the region’s fuel market: Puma Energy - Brent Oil merger
Maria Nkhonjera
The recent merger in South Africa between Puma Energy and Brent Oil, recently approved by the competition authorities, may change the competitive landscape in regional and South African markets for fuel retail, leveraging Puma’s long-established presence throughout the rest of the region. This article considers the implications of the merger.
Quarterly competition case update: Mergers, acquisitions and competition cases - November 2015
The black industrialists programme in context: the real barriers to entry
Anthea Paelo
South Africa has one of the highest levels of income inequality in the world with a Gini coefficient that has remained around 0.65 over the past decade.1 In addition, South Africa’s unemployment rate, using the narrow definition, at 26.4% is very high.2 Much of this has been attributed to the legacy of apartheid during which the majority of South Africans were economically marginalised with few economic opportunities.