Trade and Industry

Trade and Industry (59)

Industrial policy forms the core of TIPS’s work. In this context, TIPS supports the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), the Departmenet of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME), the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and several other departments and stakeholders with targeted studies to support policy development for industrial and trade policy as well as manufacturing growth.

TIPS undertakes research, among others, into national and regional sectors, value chains and clusters; the impact of state and private institutions on manufacturing  growth and diversification; the barriers to entry to small and medium enterprise in manufacturing; the extent and nature of innovation; and the impact of manufacturing on broader economic growth and development, income distribution and job creation.

Trade research has also been an important research area of TIPS since its establishment.  TIPS has looked at many different aspects of international trade, including country studies, trade policy, export development and the relationship between trade and industrial policy. 

See past projects

  • Year 2023
  • Organisation TIPS
  • Author(s) Neva Makgetla (TIPS)
A critical mechanism behind the unusually deep inequality in South Africa is the very small number, by international standards, of small businesses in the country. On the one hand, far fewer people earn livelihoods from their own businesses than in other upper middle-income countries. That fact largely explains South Africa’s…
The Black Industrialists Policy aims to increase the participation of black South Africans in operational management, rather than just financial ownership, of enterprises in key sectors and value chains. The programme was launched in 2015 by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, supported by the Industrial Development Corporation and…

  • Year 2022
  • Organisation TIPS
  • Author(s) Neva Makgetla with Nokwanda Maseko and Itumeleng Mokoena (TIPS)
Industrialisation cannot take off without adequate services such as logistics, engineering, finance and security, as well as human and social capital development. Moreover, the service sector generates around two thirds of the GDP and employment, and six out of seven jobs for women. An effective industrial policy, then, should incorporate…

  • Year 2022
  • Organisation TIPS
  • Author(s) Faizel Ismail (Professor and Director of the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town and a TIPS Research Fellow)
  • Countries and Regions South Africa
This paper argues that South Africa needs to mainstream climate change into its National Development Plan (and Sustainable Development Goals), by advancing i) climate resilient development  through several pathways, including; ii) South Africa’s Nationally Determined Contribution commitment to a low-carbon economy; iii) renewable energy and transition to a low-carbon economy;…

  • Year 2022
  • Organisation TIPS and GIZ
  • Author(s) TIPS
  • Countries and Regions South Africa
Support to Industrial Parks and Special Economic Zones for COVID pandemic prevention and response: Enhancing industrial resilience in South Africa. The research for this project comprised three outputs: Work Output 1: Responses of Industrial Parks to COVID-19 and future pandemicsWork Output 2: Technical support to Industrial Parks on COVID-19 economic…

  • Year 2022
  • Organisation TIPS and GIZ
  • Author(s) TIPS
Support to Industrial Parks and Special Economic Zones for COVID pandemic prevention and response: Enhancing industrial resilience in South Africa. The research for this project comprised three outputs: Work Output 1: Responses of Industrial Parks to COVID-19 and future pandemicsWork Output 2: Technical support to Industrial Parks on COVID-19 economic…

  • Year 2022
  • Organisation TIPS and GIZ
  • Author(s) TIPS
  • Countries and Regions South Africa
Support to Industrial Parks and Special Economic Zones for COVID pandemic prevention and response: Enhancing industrial resilience in South Africa. The research for this project comprised three outputs: Work Output 1: Responses of Industrial Parks to COVID-19 and future pandemicsWork Output 2: Technical support to Industrial Parks on COVID-19 economic…

  • Year 2022
  • Organisation TIPS
  • Author(s) Gaylor Montmasson-Clair, Gillian Chigumira, Daryl McLean, Sandra Makumbirofa
  • Countries and Regions South Africa
This Research Report, along with the Policy Report, provides the ‘first draft’ of a proposed Water and Sanitation Industry Master Plan. It puts forward a vision and associated interventions, forming the foundation of a Water and Sanitation Industry Master Plan for South Africa. The reports complement the 2018 Department of…

  • Year 2022
  • Organisation TIPS
  • Countries and Regions South Africa
Theft of scrap metal, especially copper cable, imposes costs far beyond the actual value of the material taken. These costs, mostly in the form of disruptions to rail transport and electricity, effectively cut production and foreign sales worth tens of billions of rand a year Scrap metal is also a…

  • Year 2022
  • Organisation TIPS
  • Author(s) Sandra Makumbirofa
  • Countries and Regions Southern African Development Community (SADC)
Regional value chains have gained increasing popularity in promoting sustained market opportunities, job creation, and sustainable development among countries. With the enactment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, access to larger economic markets will mean larger economies of scale, development of specialised capabilities, increase in productivity, as…
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