Word: africanization
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Moral disapproval is rarely an effective force in international business. Opponents of South Africa's white supremacy policies are discovering the validity of this old truism. Three years ago, when Jamaica launched a boycott of South African goods which was eventually joined by 17 other African, Asian and West Indian countries, South Africa's exporters were badly worried. A year later, after South Africa left the Commonwealth in high dudgeon, foreign investors began to pull capital out of the country at such a rate that foreign reserves sank to an anemic $15 million, and the government was forced...
Meantime, the trade boycott has turned out to be remarkably ineffective. Since it began, South African exports have risen considerably (see chart). Of the nations that have proclaimed boycotts, at least four are still doing some business with South Africa; Ghana, one of the leaders of the boycott, has broken down and bought South African mining machinery. Between the continued high level of exports and increased foreign investment, South Africa's foreign exchange reserves have now climbed back up to a healthy $200 million. Oddly enough, much of South Africa's renewed economic health rests on the fact...
Living evidence of the ease with which South African business has shrugged off the boycott is Tobacco Magnate Anthony Edward Rupert, 46. To stockholders in South Africa's Rembrandt Tobacco Corp., Rupert last week reported record profits of $4,500,000 for the business year ended last June. Abroad, Rupert's empire is flourishing on an even grander scale. Rembrandt included, his growing chain of tobacco companies, which now stretches from Ireland to Malaya, last year turned a pre-tax profit of $23.8 million on $560 million in sales. Though his business is barely 20 years old, Anthony...
...research that turned the tide. Puttering in his factory laboratory, Rupert devised what he claims was the world's first king-size filter-tip cigarette. The new cigarette boosted Rembrandt sales so much that in 1953 Rupert bought out Rothman's South African operation. The following year he bought control of the British parent company...
...Light-skinned African." Rupert believes in the twelve-hour workday, has been known to hole up in a London hotel suite for six solid days, running one business conference after another without ever going outdoors. Suave and friendly in social situations, he is blunt about business. Once during a slump in cigarette sales in South Africa, Rupert called in his salesmen and told them that if the slump continued, he would fire them before he fired production workers. Sales picked up almost immediately...