Page 9 - The Corporate Report Pack

Note from the Editor-in-Chief
ere is a mix of articles which will make a reader think about critical issues involving our planet and the progress of the technological world in which we now live
Rating agents provide objective economic and political risk assessments and South Africans are discovering that these are being applied to South Africa more and more in the context of our ever-changing political, nancial and business milieu Colen Garrow, our economist, has written a fascinating column in which he points out that companies need to prove their worth to society now and in the future by exploring and demonstrating their fundamental social utility
In the next article, the UK rail industry is discussed in the context that it faces change resistance, complacency and political activity How does a business leader face these issues? David Hannath addresses this in his article entitled ‘All change please!’
It is true that no man is an island but is the world a better place because we exist? Social utility has become a burning issue in recent years is issue is dealt with by Joss Tantrum in another interesting article He quotes George Bernard Shaw: ‘We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth’
We are in the fourth industrial revolution which, inter alia, embraces arti cial intelligence and robotics as Liesbeth Botha points out in her brilliant article, ‘Digital – what does it really mean for business?’ We realise that every business must have a digital strategy or rather, a business strategy, in a digital world It also touches on the topical subject of the Internet of ings
e Code for Responsible Investment was published in October 2011 and the question is how many of our nancial institutions are actually applying these principles of responsible investment Cecile Feront suggests that the current implementation of responsible investment in South Africa is unlikely to shi investment practices within the time frame required to establish a sustainable economy If that is so, the investment industry has an immediate obligation to
accelerate being responsible investors as set out in the Code for Responsible Investment in South Africa
e chief executive of Strate, Monica Singer, has written an interesting article ‘Where to next in South Africa’s nancial markets?’ shows how Strate, adopting a further pioneering project for the South African electronic post-trade and risk management landscape, deals with the initiatives in technical advancements that it has brought to the markets For example, have you heard of ‘blockchain’ technology, or better known as the technology underpinning the cryptocurrency called bitcoin? is is a must-read article
How many boards can one individual serve properly? is question involves an honest evaluation of a person’s capacity in regard to the number of boards that he or she can serve on But what about the problem that too many boards rely on the same group of people to ll the seats on that board? Parmi Natesan deals with both of these issues in her article ‘How many is too much?’
Robert Vivian of the University of the Witwatersrand has written an article which disturbs one in a democracy How can a democratic state introduce legislation providing for personal criminal vicarious liability? It means that an innocent person can be held liable for the criminal acts of another is is unimaginable in our common law system How will this be applied in the proposed twin peaks system of regulation?
Lois Guthrie has written a fascinating article about what needs to happen to improve the t between human institutions and natural systems She contends that natural systems and human societies are evolving so that there is some common ground between human and natural systems
From the diversity of the writing seen above e Corporate Report has again excelled itself in providing a set of articles which will intrigue and educate the reader
Mervyn E King SC Editor-in-Chief
The Corporate Report vii