World Cup Helped South Africa Score Points Abroad

World Cup helps SA score points abroad, reputation study shows

REPUTATION
Published 13 Oct 2010

Article by: Loni Prinsloo0 Comments



The latest study by the Reputation Institute in South Africa has shown that as far as reputations of countries go, South Africa had moved into a better neighbourhood following the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Speaking at the release of the study on Wednesday, the institute's MD Dominik Heil said that post the hosting of the World Cup, South Africa moved from a grouping of countries with some serious reputational issues, such as Iran and the Ukraine, to an area where South Africa was statistically significant to countries such as the US and India.

The Reputation Institute South Africa's study formed part of a global study conducted, where consumers in each of the Group of Eight (G8) countries, rated 39 country brands to provide a snap shot of the reputation of emerging markets with G8 consumers. The study is usually conducted on a yearly basis, but a second study was conducted to calculate the effect that the World Cup had on South Africa's reputation.

Heil showed that foreign perceptions of South Africa climbed from 44,6 points in January to 49,11 points after the sporting event. "The World Cup resulted in foreign countries having a much more holistic view of the country, whereas in the past, they mainly only had access to the ‘bad' news in the country."

The survey also showed that South Africa was viewed more favourably by European countries that were geographically closer to it, such as Germany and Italy, compared with non-European countries, such as the US and Canada.

Heil said that if the country was able to sustain these perceptions, it could lead to increased investment into South Africa. He noted that internationally, South Africa was not really recognised as a significant investment or business country, scoring quite low at 40,51 out of a 100 points for its business environment and 41,63 points for its products and services.

"Even though the country has some very big businesses, such as South African Breweries and Sasol, the products are not always linked with the country itself and consumers are unaware of the company's or the product's origin when using it. I believe that currently South Africa is underrated when it comes to business and investment."

Heil noted that the perception of a country's government could often play a significant role when it comes to investment. The effectiveness of South Africa's government was rated very low by the international community in January 2010 at 36,51 points, but increased somewhat after the World Cup to 39,72 points.

While South Africa scored some points in the international community, perceptions by South Africans dropped quite significantly after the World Cup period.

Ratings dropped from 67,78 points in January 2010, to 56 points in August this year. Heil said that the lower self-rating scores could have been driven by the public sector strike.


Perceptions of the effectiveness of the country's government dropped from 60,91 points in January, to a 34,33 points in August this year. "I would not expect the government in any other country to survive with that kind of a drop."

Similarly, confidence in social welfare dropped from 61,73 points to 36,50 points.

Heil said that South Africa's deteriorating self-perception since January 2010, had actually brought it closer to its global score and closed the perception gap that existed earlier in the year.

Interestingly, for both consumers in the G8 countries and South Africans, the most important driver of the country's reputation was its contribution to the global community.

Heil said that South Africa's second election to the United Nations Security Council was a golden opportunity to show the world and the country's citizens that it could positively contribute to the global community.

South Africa surprised many, and outraged some, during its first term on the council, when it joined Russia and China in voting against a Security Council resolution on human rights issues in Myanmar, while also finding itself on the wrong side of Zimbabwean politics.

Heil said that siding with the "wrong sides" could damage South Africa's reputation. "Locking the Dalai Lama out of the country will definitely not help the country's reputation. The world and South Africans are expecting the government to make principled decisions, that would assist the country to become politically more significant and credible, which would also help attract investment, visitors and human capital," he concluded.

Edited by: Mariaan Webb