{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.016241299303944315, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0038669760247486465, 'mean_word_length': 5.374384236453202, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Strategies, practices and skills for competitiveness in the digital economy : a perspective on large companies in South Africa

Against a changing paradigm towards a progressively digitalised economy and an increasingly digitally infused society, South Africa is reported to lag behind in terms of its digital readiness. However, the business sector is a critical role player in unlocking the opportunities posed by the digital economy and has, according to the WEF report, taken the lead: 30th out of 148 countries. Despite such international studies that give South African businesses a reasonably fair rating in aspects such as setting trends and thinking about future practices, little more is available on how South African companies are responding to the opportunities and challenges posed by the digital economy. Against this background, the University of the Western Cape, the University of Stellenbosch Business School and iNeSI undertook a collaborative research project to: (i) Understand, discover and learn more about the progress the South African business sector has made as a potential trend-setter in the quest for digital readiness by the country. Eighty-two large companies, across the various sectors participated in the study and the results are discussed under six themes