Profitability: The Soft Underbelly of South African Regulation/SSA Analysis

Abstract

For regulation/SSA analysis to avoid the pitfall of functionalist methodology, argument must proceed from empirical evidence. An investigation of trends in profitability is particularly important. This paper subjects recent applications of regulation/SSA concepts in South Africa to empirical scrutiny. On the grounds that manufacturing net profit rates and shares fell steadily over the apartheid period (understood as 1955-74), it is concluded that there is little evidence to suggest the existence of a regulation/SSA in South Africa during that time.