Paper short abstract:

A focus on South African corporations' responsiveness to BRIC's economic interests in Africa will make a constibution to identify patterns of cooperation and competition amongst business actors on the continent.

Paper long abstract:

Although still in their early days, BRICS's energy ties with the African continent have significantly widened and deepened during the last few years. Hydrocarbons, mining and infrastructure projects for moving minerals resources drive new player's engagements. Hence, it is not surprising that also South African corporations and as well as coal, ore and uranium mines in the Southern Africa remain favorite acquisition targets for top companies from the BRIC. In the background, there is indication for a broader shift of South Africa's formerly inward-looking and protected economy which is becoming less South African. Some of the transformations can be made evident by indicators of changing private business practice, among others a more deliberate and aggressive searching for new partnership opportunities.

With the rise of BRICS, much has been written on trilateral cooperation in Africa. The complex overlap of South Africa's and the other club members' economic interests on the African continent is rather blurred. Still, perceptions, capabilities and responsiveness of South African corporates which offer a high degree of technical expertise remain to be explored through ethnographic interviews in companies and expert's consultations. Can the so called minerals-energy-complex become part of certain areas where cooperation and synergies have great potential on a corporate level? This paper presents a first foray into South African companies' searching for relative stability in increasingly competitive markets.