WANTED: A FUND OF KNOWLEDGE
According to academics, research that will be of long-term, practical benefit requires more financial resources than are available now
SA business schools say they need more donor support if they are to match the ground-breaking research capacity of their overseas counterparts. While research from SA schools has often proved outstanding, the sector does not have access to the overall scale of funding available in Europe, North America and Asia.
There are pockets of generosity. Telkom is spending R32m over five years to fund a chair in digital business at Wits Business School (WBS). Brian Armstrong, the company’s former chief operating officer, who took up the chair this month, says not only will it contribute to developing digital skills across Africa, but it will also bring knowledge to a sector about which surprisingly little is known.
“Everyone talks about what’s happening in digital, but very little of what is said is based on rigorous academic research,” he says.
Some argue that digital technologies will create jobs, others that it will destroy them. “There are reams of information on management in general, but it needs a new body of work to bring new technologies into context,” says Armstrong.
It’s not a unique challenge. A recent UK study showed marketers there scored an average 57% on understanding their companies’ digital marketing capabilities.
Armstrong says the chair will “provide a platform for a new wave of digital research”, with the emphasis on Africa but also contributing to global knowledge.
Imraan Valodia, dean of Wits University’s faculty of commerce, law & management, which governs WBS, says: “All schools need to be doing things that are innovative and speak to the challenges in Africa and society.”