Abstract
M.Com. (Economics and Business Science)
For years the South African economy emphasised the importance of the agricultural industry in the
country. Only relatively recently it seems to have begun to acknowledge the importance of the
industrial and manufacturing sectors. A part of the manufacturing sector is made up of the motor and
related industries.
It is the aim of this dissertation to investigate the importance of this sector by building a input-output
model for this and other related industries.
"The gap between elegant, but non-operational, theory and inadequately structured empirical research
has always been serious in economics. Leontief's conception of input-output analysis proposed to
eliminate this gap."
This dissertation is firstly explores input-output analysis and the theory behind it, as developed by the
Polish economist Wassily Leontief; then researches the current situation in the South African Motor
Industry using facts depicted in graphs and the elaboration of these graphs. Thirdly there is a short
overview of the importance of Phase VI of the local content programme, and the problems related
to this programme.
Finally the model itself will be built and then analysed. This dissertation does, however, only serve
as an indication and does not provide final answers.