BRICS challenges and opportunities: management’s perceptions in South Africa’s mining sector

Using managerial tools such as the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis as well as the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Ecological and Legal (PESTEL) framework, the paper presents an outlook of what transpires about the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS)’s partnership and looks into its prospects through the lenses of management’s expertise. It is an attempt to make sense of the BRICS challenges and opportunities in order to eradicate poverty and other socio-economic ills. Among other things, the positive aspects of the BRICS include but are not limited to being an alternative to the World Bank and the IMF as far as capital-intensive projects financing is concerned. The negative aspect hitting the BRICS are no other than trade (tariff) war against the US, the Russia-China attempt to proximity with EU as well as inherent socio-economic problems within each of the member countries. Using mixed methods and a predominantly qualitative design, the study presents ways to avoid threat and embrace developmental opportunities in South Africa. Last but not least, senior management and directors’ perceptions were taken into account in rethinking the current BRICS role in multilateralism. Through data-turned information from the South African mining sector, the study found possible ways to improve BRICS multilateral relations through synergy and continuous engagements.