Factors affecting the manufacturing sector in South Africa

Abstract: The manufacturing industry of South Africa is under-performing for a prolonged period of time. The decreasing attribute of the industry can be attributed on a number of factors. The research discusses the literature which highlights the past researches and what they have discussed regarding the same. The gap of the literature was presented with respect to the considered articles and a variety of pictorials and graphs were used by quantifying the information available. The research method is designed to engage the manufacturing sector with an intention of identifying factors contributing to the decline of the manufacturing sector in South Africa and thereby, identify strategies which can be used to improve the manufacturing sector. The research methodology discussed the way the data was collected and interpreted. This helped in formulating and structuring the research in a systematic manner. The data analysis was done on the basis of questionnaires which were framed and distributed among the various companies. On the basis of the problems identified; the section also provided an insight as to how to improve the current scenario and propel it towards a growing curve. The research concluded by discussing the results that were obtained for the study and some insights were also provided as further research can be done on the understanding of the current study. It was found that the sectors’ key challenges are inadequate skill, organisational culture, and uncertainity in government policies. But to overcome the identified challenges there should be a complete symbiotic relationship between the government of the nation, the manufacturing industry and the common masses in general.M.Phil. (Engineering Management