Public Procurement in the Context of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) in South Africa—Lessons Learned for Sustainable Public Procurement

Abstract

Public procurement is a key instrument in the post-apartheid South African government's broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE), a legislative and policy framework aimed at reversing the country's legacy of injustice and inequality through pursuing a range of socio-economic objectives that favour the majority black population. This paper employs a theoretical and derived logic model to analyse the design and implementation of BBBEE by means of literature and document review as well as key stakeholder interviews. It seeks to answer two key research questions: (1) has BBBEE achieved its intended outcomes? and (2) what lessons can be drawn from the South African experience for sustainable public procurement? The study finds a significant knowledge gap that precludes definitive conclusions on the impact of BBBEE, largely due to the limited rigorous evidence, particularly evaluations, on whether BBBEE is achieving the desired outcomes. Instead, the paper's key contribution is the development of a derived logic model that clearly outlines how BBBEE is intended to work and is used to provide insight into how BBBEE has performed against aspects of its intended outcomes. The paper finds that the intervention's effectiveness has largely been undermined by various challenges and demonstrates that it remains unclear whether BBBEE's observed achievements have translated into targeted impact of meaningful participation of all black people in the economy. Considering the scale of BBBEE and its implementation for over 16 years, the paper concludes that the limited evidence on how it is performing against its key objectives is both a design and implementation shortcoming.

Sustainability in Industry 4.0 Business Practice: Insights From a Multinational Technology Company

“…This is also mentioned as a critical aspect for I4.0 in the findings, where the employment based on racial affiliation is seen as a critical aspect to foster I4.0. The data support the view of Shai et al (2019) regarding the way that BBBEE has been implemented for many years, but that the consequences of BBBEE have not yet been researched rigorously with regard to its evidence, key objectives and design and implementation of shortcomings and contributions. It is highlighted that BBBEE and I4.0 are very complex global and local processes that need further rigorous research with regard to its benefits and contributions, as well as the challenges and how to address it.…”

“…• Promote access to finance for black economic empowerment. Shai et al (2019) state that since the inception of BBBEE there has been major deliberate shifts in the evolution of BBBEE and its associated instruments to improve its implementation in South Africa. The key major shifts focused on aligning policy, legislation, and regulations to the broader definition of empowerment, moving away from the limited focus on ownership.…”

Estimating the True Size of Public Procurement to Assess Sustainability Impact

“…Both types of purchases involve significant social and environmental sustainability impacts. For instance, social impacts of direct purchases might include racial and gender equality through quota purchases from minority or women-owned businesses [25,27,30,44]. Similarly, environmental impacts might involve reductions in carbon emissions or water consumption.…”

Municipal Green Purchasing in Mexico: Policy Adoption and Implementation Success

“…Most of the extant research on GPP has been conducted in developed countries such as Sweden, United Kingdom, Spain, The Netherlands, USA, Australia, Norway, Denmark, Germany, and Canada [15]. In terms of developing countries, apart from Latin America, there are studies in Africa [34], Ghana [35], India [36], Pakistan [37], South Africa [38], and Thailand [39]; however, most of them have been performed in China [40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] and Nigeria [48][49][50].…”