The escalation of natural disasters in the last two decades or so and their devastating effects on developing countries in general and Africa in particular, has been frequently mentioned in the topical literature. Devastating impacts in African and other developing countries have often been attributed to the failure of formal (state and market) institutions for risk management, frequent in these countries. While the predominance of informal response mechanisms has been acknowledged in these countries, they are presumed to disintegrate in the face of covariate shocks. This article argues that an overly ambitious emphasis on states and markets and a negligence of the role of informal, socially embedded institutions in the effective management of natural disasters is grossly responsible for the negative effects of natural disasters and their perverse implications on Africa's development. A multi-sector framework that can be used for modelling natural disaster management in Africa which has the potential of reducing the negative consequences of disasters is suggested. This is based on the premise that natural shocks must be perceived as social phenomena that are best managed with the participation of those involved. Empirical evidence is included, and the implications of a multi-stakeholder approach to managing disasters to enhance development in Africa are discussed.

Orientation: Research on the existence of the relationship between the GTPs and TM has been necessitated by the significant organisational resources invested in the administration of GTPs. Withal, the valueof GTPs to an organisation’s TM initiatives needs to be ascertained because both variables are applied to ensurethat future staffing requirements are met.Research purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between the graduate trainee program (GTP) and talent management (TM) in corporate organisations in Eswatini.Motivation for the study: Corporates need toexplore administering GTPs as structured processes such as workplace training and development programs so that they significantly contribute to TM.Research approach/design and method: A quantitative explanatory design was applied to carry out the study.The population was five corporate organisations in Eswatini that administer GTPs. The respondents weregraduate trainees (GTs),who met all the requirements prescribed by the inclusion criteria.Main findings: While the results indicated a null hypothesis in the relationship between GTPs and TM a strong correlation was found. The conclusion drawn is that the strong correlation (r = 0.511), between GTPs and TM, is attributed to the lack of integration and the parallel and independent administration of GTPs to TM, which invalidated a link between the two variables.Practical/managerial implications: The value to be derived by corporates administering GTPs may be elusive if the relationship between GTPs and TM remains unexplored.Contribution/value-add: Corporate organisationswill administer GTPs as effective management tools applied to ensure TM.

Background: Technology and innovation have become a worldwide feature of business. Virtually, no organisation can survive without technology and innovation. When it comes to developing technology and innovation strategies, managers are often left alone to decide which technology and innovation types to pursue.Aim: This article investigates the various key challenges faced by metropolitan cities or municipalities in managing competitive advantage through technology and innovation in Kaohsiung Government City, Taiwan.Setting: The study focused on key challenges faced by metropolitan cities or municipalities in managing competitive advantage through technology and innovation at Kaohsiung City Government in Taiwan.Methods: The methodology used in this study is mainly the secondary data analysis. A complete and thoroughly secondary data analysis process has been utilised as a research design and approach to complete this research work. This study collected secondary data through comprehensive analysis about various aspects such as document analysis or desktop study, technical reports, scholarly journals, government documents, research institutions.Results: The result shows that there are various key challenges including research and development and innovation, information security or contingency planning, rapidly advancing technologies, ageing technology and under-investment and the change in residents’ expectations.Conclusion: This article has identified various challenges affecting businesses or organisations, particularly City Governments in competitive advantage through managing technology and innovation. This include inter alias: manpower training and recruiting, organisational transformation, rapidly advancing technologies, ageing technology and underinvestment, the change in residents’ expectations.

For many years, continuous downgrade of the current deficit in South Africa has been a concern for a country that has an open economy and seeks for global positioning. Many authors have researched on this particular topic with an emphasis on common variables that lead to the same results. The current article seeks to highlight a predominant role played by information and communication technology in boosting the current account balance and thus enhance the economic growth in South Africa. Using a digital economic framework, this study considers time series from 2007 to 2016 (the latest full data available at the moment of research), as recent decades have been dominated by digital transformation to approach data analysis. Research findings indicated that 52.93% of GDP is explained by the dependent variables, namely foreign direct investment, ICT trade balance, computer and communications trade balance and the current account balance. This suggests that technological upgrading through digital innovation system, as well as adoption and information infrastructure, is statistically significant in affecting the current account balance and growth performance in South Africa. Data interpretation revealed that deficit on the ICT trade balance generates sustainability of the current account deficit due to a higher rate of imports compared to exports in the field of ICT in South Africa. Since ICT contributes 3.0% to the total of GDP and is a multidisciplinary field that touches all the other sectors, the South African government should restructure exiting trade policies and regulations to promote development of smart technologies. Additionally, the implementation of the sophisticated enterprise resource planning system at the level of businesses and the government should optimise productivity and profitability which are building blocks of the economic growth. However, other factors, such as policy strategies, political and currency stability are not to be neglected when moving towards long-term survival and economic growth in South Africa.

Renewable energy (RE) has been a "hot topic" subsequently the increased awareness and understanding of the severe and serious effects of climate change. Like many developing countries across the globe and Africa in particular, Namibia is prone to such climate changes and, thus, should be more familiarized with the impacts of fossil fuel generation on the environment. Successful significant financial and technological investments in RE in Namibia needs a comprehensive understanding of the correlation among diverse categories of investors and their enthusiasm to finance RE. Contrariwise, using the Sustainable Development Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all, as a measure for a wide-ranging and sustainable growth we recognize the interaction values that comes with RE. We studied the asset portfolios of diverse RE technologies supported or subsidized by various financial actors in Namibia. We also related the performance of public and private types of investments and then discrete further with various financial actors (e.g. public banks, private banks, international climate finance) and the categories of RE technologies that are financed in (e.g. different types of energy production from wind, biomass or solar radiation). We then use these preliminary results to draw conclusion and suggestions on how investment impact the directionality of novelty, and the impacts on RE policy in Namibia. This study establishes that notwithstanding the apparent regulatory and economic challenges, Namibia can incorporate and use a blend of (restructured) energy price security structures, cross subsidizations and environmental taxes in-order to encourage initiatives intended at supplementary the country's progress of RE sources and hence ultimately support the UN Sustainable Energy for All Initiative.