Brand South Africa, today joined Reputation House and the Wits Business School in announcing the results of the 2016 Global Country RepTrak® Study.  South Africa stands at 49 of 70 countries assessed in the study scoring highly on the beauty of the country and the warmth and friendliness of the citizens of the country.
 
The Global Country RepTrak® Study is conducted annually by Reputation House representing the Reputation Institute in South Africa and measures country reputations among the general population of the G8 countries (UK, Italy, France, Canada, US, Japan, Germany and Russia).
 
Speaking about South Africa’s performance in the 2016 Global Country RepTrak® Study, Brand South Africa’s CEO Mr Kingsley Makhubela said, “These results follow soon after the Institute of Management Development found South Africa’s competitiveness to have improved in its most recent assessment.  South Africa now stands at 52 of 60 countries assessed and improved in a range of areas including, energy infrastructure, future energy supply, stock market capitalisation, ICT service exports, maintenance and development, public finances, labour relations, ease of doing business, export concentration by partner, exchange rate stability, health infrastructure, funding for technological development, bureaucracy, workforce productivity and apprenticeships.”
 
“While the National Development Plan and nine-point plan for economic development are creating positive results for the country’s reputation and competitiveness, it is clear that work still needs to be done,” said Mr Makhubela.
 
Expanding on the results of the 2016 Global Country RepTrak® Study, Dr Dominik Heil, chairman of Reputation House said, “Perceptions about safety, transparency and corruption in South Africa impact negatively on the country’s reputation.”
 
The research report detailing the results of the 2016 South Africa Country RepTrak® Study, which is funded and project managed by a team of Wits  alumni at Reputation House, will be made available to Brand South Africa and the Wits University community to enable the general public access to key insights relating to how South Africa is perceived externally and assessed internally. The Reputation House project management team highlighted that “The research finding that South Africans are understood to be warm, friendly and welcoming people should encourage South Africans to live up to this perception and realise that promoting these qualities within the country not only contributes to social cohesion it also bolsters the country’s reputation.”