There’s a lot of waiting around involved in business travel – put all that time to good use and catch up on some reading, for business or for pleasure. Here’s our selection of 10 of the best books for the South African business traveller…
TIP: The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a unique 13-digit number assigned to each book title published. Nowadays it’s also referred to as the EAN. When visiting a bookshop, give the ISBN/EAN number to the bookseller to help them easily find the title you’re looking for, or use it to search for e-reader downloads on Amazon and other internet book retailers.
THE UNOFFICIAL BUSINESS TRAVELLER’S POCKET GUIDE: 165 TIPS EVEN THE BEST BUSINESS TRAVELLER MAY NOT KNOW
Author: Christopher J. McGinnis
Publisher: MacGraw-Hill Companies
ISBN-13 (EAN): 978-0070453807
Travel a lot, do you? If you despise being shunted to the back of the queue or are tired of having to bum lifts from colleagues because your company won’t spring for the rental car, this book will change your travelling life! Offering the inside scoop on how to score an upgrade on your flight, how to secure the best rental car deal, how to dine alone without looking like a tosser, and more!
CULTURE SMART SOUTH AFRICA: A QUICK GUIDE TO CUSTOMS AND ETIQUETTE
Publisher: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company
Authors: David Holt-Biddle and Marian Meaney
ISBN-13 (EAN): 978-1558689596
Understanding, appreciating, and showing respect to other people’s cultures is essential for doing business in modern South Africa. Culture Smart South Africa will let you in on what’s appropriate, with whom and when, offering perspectives on daily living, South Africa’s history taboos, and social and business etiquette – all of which helps you and your clients and colleagues to relate more easily to each other, giving you the edge over your not-so-culturally-savvy competitors.
HOW TO DO BUSINESS IN AFRICA
Publisher: Penguin Books South Africa
Author: Ntebo Rajuili
ISBN-13 (EAN): 9780143026631
Establishing an office or starting a business in a neighbouring African country? This guide to doing business in sub-Saharan Africa will give you the information and skills you need to succeed. Tables, illustrations, fact boxes, and real-life case studies shed light on the sub-Saharan African market and the challenges you may face. With advice, tips and guidance on how to understand African business culture, establish and build ensuring business relationships, and run remote teams in Africa.
KISS, BOW OR SHAKE HANDS – THE BESTSELLING GUIDE TO DOING BUSINESS IN MORE THAN 60 COUNTRIES
Publisher: Adams Media Corporation
Authors: Terry Morrison and Wayne A. Conway
ISBN-13 (EAN): 9781593373689
Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands is considered the most authoritative text of its kind amongst corporate executives, military officials, and business school professors alike. This bestselling titles has been fully revised to reflect the profound global transformation which has occurred since it was first published – it now includes chapters on doing business in rising economies like South Africa and Vietnam, as well as tips and alerts on international security.
DOING BUSINESS IN CHINA – THE SYSTEMS AND THE STRATEGIES
Publisher: The Beijing Axis
Editor: Kobus van der Wath
ISBN-13 (EAN): 9780620334556
China is now a major player in global business, but the country is also increasingly important to Africa – as a competitive force and as an attractive market. It’s imperative for African businesses to engage with China – but how to go about it? The editor, a South African businessman living in Beijing, argues that South African business executives need to understand the characteristics of the Chinese business landscape, including the country’s history, culture, political economy, ongoing socioeconomic transformation, as well as developing political and economic relationship between Africa and China. The book provides advice on how to initiate business with China, gain entry to the Chinese market, and craft business strategies there, as well as lessons learned from the experiences of South African organisations already operating in China.
AN INCONVENIENT YOUTH – JULIUS MALEMA AND THE ‘NEW’ ANC
Publisher: Pan Macmillan South Africa
Author: Fiona Forde
ISBN-13 (EAN): 9781770101975
Love him or loathe him, there’s no doubt that everyone with business interests in South Africa should know more about Julius Malema, one of the most controversial politicians of our time. Argues the author, Julius Malema is a new kind of cadre in South African political life and a radical product of 100 years of struggle politics. Forde’s book walks you through his life, from a poverty-stricken childhood in Limpopo to joining the ANC in the early 1990s, and his rapid rise through the ranks to become ANC Youth League President in 2008. Examining the sources of his wealth and his popularity, Forde point to how he’s become a gross inconvenience – to the ANC and South Africa’s democracy.
WHO RULES SOUTH AFRICA?
Publisher: Biteback
Authors: Martin Plaut and Paul Holden
ISBN-13 (EAN): 9781849544085
It’s the question on everyone’s lips, and the answer is vitally important for those with business interests in the country. To the wider world, say the authors, South Africa is a poorly understood country. Opinions are split – some see South Africa as a Rainbow Nation, where the country’s woes ended with Apartheid; others as ‘another Zimbabwe’. Neither viewpoint is accurate; argue Plaut (BBC World Service News Africa Correspondent) and Holden (author of The Arms Deal in Your Pocket). Their book examines the real centres of power in post-Apartheid South Africa.
THE CASUAL VACANCY
Publisher: Little Brown Book Group
Author: J.K. Rowling
ISBN-13 (EAN): 9781408704202
Described as blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising, this is the hotly anticipated first adult novel by Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling. When Barry Fairbrother unexpectedly dies, the seemingly idyllic town of Pagford is left in shock. But all is not as it seems in the quaint little village – behind the cobbled streets and ancient abbey is a town at war. The rich struggle with the poor, teenagers struggle with their parents, wives struggle with their husbands…then, there’s the battle being waged for the empty seat left by Fairbrother on the parish council. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?
SPUD – EXIT, PURSUED BY A BEAR
Publisher: Penguin Books South Africa
Author: John van der Ruit
ISBN-13 (EAN): 9780143530244
In this, the hilarious and last book in the Spud series, it’s South Africa’s favourite schoolboy Spud Milton’s last year at school. Spud’s Matric year brings many challenges – pressure in the classroom and on the cricket field, fighting for his own room, directing a house play, and assisting with Vern Blackadder’s dramatic return from the dead with nothing but a drip cord and pair of oven gloves. Then, that most feared and dreaded challenge of all – finding a date for the Matric dance! Will he or won’t he…? And what about that bear!
EVITA’S BOSSIE SIKELELA
Publisher: Random House Struik
Author: Evita Bezuidenhout (Pieter Dirk-Uys)
ISBN-13 (EAN): 9781415201565
This is the follow-up to Evita’s hit culinary book, Kossie Sikelela. Relax and unwind as Evita takes you on a gastronomic journey from the Cape to Limpopo. Evita reinvents old South African favourites and prepares deliciously easy veldkos for the dinner table – who would have thought of sweet and sour warthog, pot-roasted quail or chicken, dandelion and waterblommetjie salad? A mouth-watering read, just in time for summer…