
26 May Competitive Market Intelligence
South Africa is a land of opportunity! It has endless potential for those with entrepreneurial insight and the ability to seize the moment. Like all countries, there are however some downsides of which you should be aware.
It is a sad fact that ‘white collar crime’ runs at over R40 billion per year; that South Africa features in the internationally renowned “Transparency International’s Corruption Index”; that the South African ID document one of the easiest in the world to forge; and that economic crime is officially recognised as one of the more serious issues facing the law enforcement agencies.
It is thus vital – for your own protection – that you obtain the correct information about a company that you may be entering into a relationship with; or the market sector that you are penetrating – BEFORE you commit any funds or resources to that venture.
For only once you know the full story, will you be in a position to take an informed decision. Until now, all due diligence exercises have concentrated solely on the financial details of companies. However, as the above statistics show, the single greatest threat to your business venture comes from criminal activities or tendencies which will NOT be detected by a pure financial scan.
SSC delivers detailed information on issues as varied as demographics; numbers and locations of specific industries or businesses; client bases; profitability; market share; risk profiles; safety and health exposures; environmental exposures; legal information; liability as it relates to activities, suppliers routes services products customers and end users; ownership, location, subsidiaries, previous convictions; principal officers; client and project information; and much, much more – all information vital to you making the correct business decision.
Disclaimer: The following is not legal advice, it is our opinion, formed over many years in the electronic surveillance business and having consulted various legal professionals for advice along the way.