PBA4802

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2022 PORTFOLIO EXAMINATION

POST-GRADUATE DIPLOMA in BUSINESS

ADMINISTRATION

PBA4802
GLOBAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

EXAMINATION PAPER OCT/NOV 2022 100 MARKS

INTERNAL EXAMINERS:
MS MORAFE TABANE
PROF MH MOLELE
EXTERNAL EXAMINER:
DR T ZHOWA

THIS IS A NON-VENUE BASED INDIVIDUAL PORTFOLIO EXAM

The paper consists of 9 pages

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2022 PORTFOLIO EXAMINATION

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATE
1. Please note that the SBL maintains a zero-tolerance stance on plagiarism.
Plagiarism carries a severe penalty and disciplinary action. Please refer to the
following policy:

https://www.unisa.ac.za/static/corporate_web/Content/Colleges/CGS/documents/co
pyrightinfringement_and_plagiarism_policy_16nov05.pdf

2. This is an individual exam and you may not compile or submit the portfolio as a
group.
3. The portfolio must have a Cover Page (provided). Please ensure that the module code,
your registered name and student number appears on the cover page.
4. The portfolio must have the signed Honesty Declaration Form (provided). Please ensure
that you read, understand and sign the form and include in the portfolio submission
document.
5. The portfolio must have a Table of Contents. Please ensure that you insert the correct
page numbers in the table of contents.
6. Please submit your portfolio before the submission deadline 24 OCTOBER 2020 at 10:00.
7. No late submissions will be accepted, and any late submissions will be awarded a zero
mark.
8. Candidates must ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS.
9. Please number your answers correctly.
10. Answer each section/question of the portfolio exam on a new page (indicating the
section/question and the module code on the page).
11. Submit your entire portfolio as a single document. Do not submit multiple
documents. Only the first document will be downloaded and assessed by the marker.
12. The portfolio exam document must be in PDF format only and the following naming
convention of the final edited file must be used when submitting the document on Moodle:
PBA4802 PORTFOLIO EXAM_2022_STUDENT SURNAME AND INITIALS_STUDENT
NUMBER
13. Please note that the onus rests on you to ensure that your portfolio posted onto Moodle is
the final and correct version. No amendments to submissions will be accepted after the
deadline.
14. It is your responsibility to ensure that the portfolio document is not password protect and
the file submitted is not corrupted. If the marker is unable to access or open the
submission document, you will be awarded a zero mark for the examination.
15. You are required to carefully examine the requirements of the questions and make sure
all elements in the questions are addressed. This does not call for a regurgitation of facts

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but a critical usage and application of those facts towards a logical conclusion. Your
answers to questions will be assessed in terms of the level of communication displayed,
the insights and inferences drawn, and your ability to show the implications of the factors
that you have assessed and discussed. An answer that merely gives a bullet list of points,
without showing insight into the reasons and results, will not earn good marks.
16. You score marks for the quality of your answers (logical, cohesive and referenced
arguments), not for filling the pages with words.
17. This portfolio exam assignment should be a maximum of 10 pages with 1.5 spacing of
11 Arial font size and must be properly referenced.
18. Use the Harvard Referencing style to document sources used in the portfolio.

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Graduate School of Business Leadership

PBA4802 Exam Honesty Declaration Form
▪ This declaration form must be read on the date the examination paper is received and personally completed in the
candidate’s own handwriting in black ink.
▪ The completed form must be submitted in PDF format as part of the portfolio submission and inserted after the cover page
and before the Table of Contents in the document.
▪ This form declares that the candidate commits to the University’s assessment policies and procedures applicable to this
examination.
▪ Any candidate who fails to submit the hand-signed form with the portfolio will be deemed to not agree with the University’s
assessment policies and as such will not be allowed to participate in the examination and will be awarded a zero mark.

CANDIDATE SURNAME

CANDIDATE FULL NAMES

STUDENT NUMBER

MODULE CODE

CONTACT DETAILS
DECLARATION

▪ I declare that all the details provided by me on this form are true and correct.
▪ I am aware that the examination submission deadline is 24 OCTOBER 2022 before 10:00, after which the Moodle
platform will not accept any late submissions.
▪ I will comply with all the rules, regulations and policies of the University pertaining to this assessment.
▪ I agree that it is my responsibility to ensure that I will have internet access to enable me to access Moodle and submit my
portfolio.
▪ I agree that it is my responsibility to personally download and/or print and/or access the question paper provided to me via
the Moodle platform and to upload my completed portfolio to the Moodle platform and that any late submission will not
be marked and graded at 0%.
▪ I am aware that my completed portfolio must only be submitted via the Moodle platform and not to be submitted via email
to the lecturer, programme administrator and programme manager.
▪ I am aware that the assessment will be conducted in medium of English only.
▪ By completing and submitting the PBA4802 portfolio exam, I declare that:
• I have read and understood the Unisa’s Students’ Disciplinary Code;
• I know what plagiarism is, that plagiarism is wrong and that disciplinary steps can be taken against me if I am found
guilty of plagiarism;
• The written portfolio submission as required for the PBA4802 Examination is my own work and I have neither
received nor aided any person whatsoever in completing this examination;
• I have independently and individually completed the examination without copying work from any other person/s;
• I have not allowed any other person/s to copy my work during the examination;
• I will report and provide details of any third party or person not associated with this examination, who approaches or
solicits me in any way whatsoever, regarding this examination, to the University;
• I know that if I am found to be in violation of this declaration, I will receive 0% for this examination and that Unisa
may investigate further and institute disciplinary action against me.

CANDIDATE
SIGNATURE
DATE

WITNESS

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2022 PORTFOLIO EXAMINATION

COVER PAGE

PBA4802

GLOBAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

PORTFOLIO EXAM OCT/NOV 2022

STUDENT NAME:

STUDENT NUMBER:

QUESTION MAX MARK MARK %

1 40

2 60

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2022 PORTFOLIO EXAMINATION

Read the following notes which are excerpted from a document prepared by the Minister
of finance Enoch Godongwana, for a debate in parliament on the country’s 2022 Fiscal
Framework and Revenue Proposals. Answer all questions.

“We highlighted, among others, reduced global economic growth projections owing, in
part to, elevated inflation, withdrawal of the US fiscal support package and the
consequences of volatility in China’s troubled real‐estate sector. On the domestic outlook,
we projected real economic growth of 4.8 per cent in 2021 and 2.1 per cent in 2022. We
said we expect real GDP growth to moderate at 1.7 per cent in 2024. On the revenue
side, we reflected on the better-than-expected revenue collection, mainly from elevated
commodity prices. We indicated that although the revenue gains are expected to dissipate
in the short term, some of the improved revenue collection is expected to continue over
the MTEF period.

Honourable Members, since then, there have been significant global developments that
will have an impact on our economy – notably the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
This conflict carries with it significant risks for a world economy that is yet to fully recover
from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic. 2 The longer the conflict lasts as well as the
imposition of further sanctions could lead to widespread global inflation and impede global
economic recovery. On the positive side, we expect that the rally in export commodity
prices, stemming from supply concerns brought about by the conflict, will provide added
support to the local mining sector and a possible windfall to revenue collections. However,
the rising oil price, the potential weakening of the rand against the US dollar, and supply
constraints around wheat pose upside risks to food and headline inflation. Yesterday,
StatsSA released GDP numbers for the fourth quarter of 2021 – our economy grew by
1.2 percent, after shrinking by 1.7 percent in the third quarter of 2021. This is 0.2 percent
lower than the Treasury estimations. Overall, South Africa’s economy grew by 4.9 percent
last year, compared to the Covid-19-driven contraction of 6.4 percent in 2020. This
represents a slightly better growth than estimated by National Treasury. There were
improvements in a number of sectors namely: agriculture, manufacturing, services and
transport. Of concern are declines in mining production, construction, electricity,

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government and financial services. Madam Speaker, we must act with speed to
accelerate the pace of inclusive economic growth and job creation. This must shape all
our macro and micro economic policies and interventions. It is only through sustained
economic growth that South Africa will be able to significantly reduce unemployment,
poverty and inequality. As outlined in the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan,
and emphasized in the State of the Nation Address as well as the Budget Speech, we
must act urgently to deepen social compacting and broaden consensus around what
needs to be done to pull our economy out of its poor state. In this regard, work has begun
to finalize a series of social compacts with various social partners. Efforts to grow our
economy will not only depend on macro-economic interventions. We must continue with
our reform agenda – in energy, telecommunications, rail, ports water and sanitation, as
well as in boosting tourism and attracting rare skills into our economy. We are encouraged
that the spectrum auction began yesterday, and will be complete by the end of this month.
This will support lowering the cost of data; improving broadband coverage including in
rural areas; increasing broadband speeds; and the rollout of 5G. Equally, we also need
to get the basics right. This entails reducing regulatory constraints, providing effective
services, as well as coordinating and sequencing economic interventions. Our cities and
provinces have an important role to play in creating an enabling environment for
investment. 3 In the City of Tshwane, for example, we are at risk of losing a potential
multi-billion-rand investment by Ford in an electric vehicle plant. Ford has already
invested R16 billion in the Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone where it is
producing its Ford Ranger model. This is the largest foreign direct investment project our
country has seen in recent times and has already created around 8,000 jobs. Ford
intended to invest further in bringing its electric vehicle production to South Africa. This,
however, has been put at risk because the City of Tshwane has been unable and perhaps
unwilling to secure the electricity the new plant needs. The Tshwane example reminds us
that a deficit of political will at the municipal level makes it massively harder than it should
be to create conditions for job-rich growth. Madam Speaker, as part of addressing the
public sector wage bill, a Public Sector Labour Summit is scheduled to take place at the
end of this month.  The Summit is an important opportunity for all stakeholders to engage
honestly and transparently and chart a path towards more sustainable public service and

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2022 PORTFOLIO EXAMINATION

remuneration guidelines. Much has been made of $750 million loan that we took from the
World Bank. Let me repeat what we said before. The World Bank loan has no
conditionalities attached. It does not in any way threaten the sovereignty of our country.
We considered all forms of concessional and non-concessional funding necessary to
address the shortfall between our revenue and our expenditure. We then chose an
affordable option available to us.”

Question 1

1. The minister of finance highlighted some risks to the country’s inflation, including
the possibility of a weakening Rand. In the long term, is a stronger or weaker rand
beneficial for South Africa?

When answering this question, please take into consideration both endogenous
and exogenous factors at play.

You must also motivate why either of the two is more beneficial. [40 Marks]

Question 2

2. There are some economies on the continent which have done better than others.
In Zambia, the Kwacha has been the world’s best-performing currency against the
dollar for much of the year and the country has been able to bring inflation under
control. On the other hand, whilst South Africa’s economy has seen some
positives, there are a number of challenges which have constrained growth. The
minister of Finance in the excerpt above outlined the need for reforms in different
sectors of the economy, including telecommunications and the energy sector.
Considering this, how will South Africa’s small, medium, and micro enterprises take
advantage of the Africa Continental Free trade Area Agreement given some of the
challenges mentioned by the minister, particularly around energy constraints? In

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answering this question, you must use global business concepts, in the context of
the cross-border trade. [60 Marks]
[Total 100 Marks]

©
UNISA 2022

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