Search results for ""Author Simon Roberts""

Manufacturing in South Africa has undergone major restructuring following the dismantling of the systems of regulation, protection and industry support of the apartheid regime. The outcomes were not as expected, as capital-intensive heavy industries have continued to perform well while most manufacturing has struggled to come to terms with globalisation. As an industrialising country, South Africa is at a critical juncture, with worsening mass unemployment raising major questions over the sustainability of its development trajectory. This volume assesses the policies, outcomes and implications of the developments at the national level and through a key focus on the East Rand now covered by Ekurhuleni Metro. The title includes analyses by leading economic historians, geographers and sociologists, along with economists, to trace the impacts on this region and place it in the wider context of the challenges facing South Africa including HIV/AIDS and black economic empowerment.

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Photovoltaics is one of the most promising technologies for global energy production in the context of the energy crisis and climate change. Photovoltaic modules are now available in such a wide range of forms that nearly all of the usual fl at parts of buildings can be provided with photovoltaic capabilities. In addition to producing energy, these modules offer a number of synergistic effects, since increasingly they are integrated as glazing elements and can perform such other functions as weather protection, solar control, and providing privacy. Special modules such as solar roofing tiles and solar membranes are available for particular applications. This book explains the technology, presents the available products, and communicates clearly how they are used in buildings, with a particular focus on large-scale buildings. It provides architects with all of the necessary know-how to provide a new or existing building with a photovoltaic system, covering both planning and implementation. Last but not least, it is a valuable practical instrument to prepare for communicating with the relevant manufacturers and clients.

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Taking South Africa as an important case study of the challenges of structural transformation, Structural Transformation in South Africa offers a new micro-meso level framework and evidence linking country-specific and global dynamics of change, with a focus on the current challenges and opportunities faced by middle-income countries. Detailed analyses of industry groupings and interests in South Africa reveal the complex set of interlocking country-specific factors which have hampered structural transformation over several decades, but also the emerging productive areas and opportunities for structural change. The structural transformation trajectory of South Africa presents a unique country case, given its industrial structure, concentration and highly internationalized economy, as well as the objective of black economic empowerment. Structural Transformation in South Africa links these micro-meso dynamics to global forces driving economic, institutional and social change. This include digital industrialization, global value chain consolidation, financialization, environmental and other sustainability challenges, which are reshaping structural transformation dynamics across middle-income countries like South Africa. While these new drivers of change are disrupting existing industries and interests in some areas, in others they are reinforcing existing trends and configurations of power. The book analyses the ways in which both the domestic and global drivers of structural transformation shape-and, in some cases, are shaped by-a country's political settlement and its evolution. By focusing on the political economy of structural transformation, the book disentangles the specific dynamics underlying the South African experience of the middle-income country conundrum. In so doing, it brings to light the broader challenges faced by similar countries in achieving structural transformation via industrial policies.

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