'No organisation develops in isolation: it shapes its environment and is itself shaped in turn ... we remain in touch with our own past, intimately involved in the South Africa of the present and conscious of our responsibilities to its future." These words were written by the inimitable HP de Villiers, one of the former CEOs of Standard Bank. They emphasise how any business, as an organ of society, is compelled to be responsive to its operating context, by its obligations as a corporate citizen and by its own commercial interests.The impact of recent xenophobic attacks goes much further than the shops looted and lives taken, tragic and unforgivable though this is. It also creates negative sentiment towards South Africa.Our constitution enjoins us to build "a united and democratic South Africa able to take its rightful place as a sovereign state in the family of nations". We should also be taking our rightful place in the global economy as a competitive emerging market.Objectively, we have made good progress on this front: our financial services sector is ranked in the global top 10 on several measures, including soundness of banks, and we were among the first countries to implement Basel III.Our top universities are internationally recognised, we are at the cutting edge of global scientific discovery, our automotive industry provides components and assembly for several multinationals, and we are a member of Brics.Part of our success stems from the fact that we have derived direct economic benefits from the rapid growth of our African neighbours.Last year, for example, South Africa exported R300-billion worth of goods to the rest of Africa, considerably higher than the value of our exports to Europe. By 2012, South African companies held collective foreign direct investment stock in the rest of Africa of R281-billion, a more than tenfold increase from the R24-billion in 2000.Our neighbours also account for the largest percentage of our manufactured exports, and we increasingly depend on our relations with them to attract foreign currency inflows.Global investors are increasingly attracted to those South African companies with a clear strategy for how to expand on the rest of the continent. Right now, almost 100 large South African corporations have substantial operations on the rest of continent. In many cases, these contribute 10% or more of revenue.But the image of South Africa as a society intolerant of foreigners undermines this potential.To do business, we rely on consumer confidence, a stable currency and access to affordable capital. These in turn depend on investor sentiment about South Africa.This sentiment has already been dampened by the country's poor economic performance, the instability of its power supply, and the prospect of above-inflation wage settlements. A rise in social instability risks driving it down further.The perception of South Africa as a gateway to Africa is now being eroded, while investment inflows (both foreign direct investment and portfolio investments) are also being negatively impacted.Our sovereign rating is under scrutiny, and is already precariously balanced on the tipping point between investment and non-investment grade.Our ability to finance the current account deficit is a major consideration for the ratings agencies.We depend on foreign portfolio and foreign direct investment inflows to local businesses to finance this deficit - inflows that are currently at considerable risk.There are other knock-on effects. For example, if investors are prompted to demand a greater premium for their investments, our currency will weaken and interest rates will rise. The impact of this will be felt by consumers who will not be able to afford a home loan, state utilities that will not be able to afford to upgrade infrastructure, and millions of people who will be unable to find work.There is a painful irony here: it is precisely our competitive engagement in the global economy and the free movement of goods and people that have enabled us to achieve such enormous progress in the past 20 years. It is precisely these gains that give us the best chance of addressing the economic exclusion, unemployment and inequality that so clearly underpins the current hostility to outsiders.If the nation can be won over to openness, all South Africans will benefit. But to achieve that, we need to ensure public safety and the protection of property.This means better policing, but it also means effective implementation and enforcement of laws. Our immigration legislation is a good example of robust and comprehensive regulation that, if effectively enforced, would certainly provide adequate protection against illegal immigration in the long run.We need to convince South Africans that healthy competition supports greater business efficiency, and delivers benefits to consumers. And we need to convince South Africans that legal immigrants support healthy competition and create jobs for South Africans.Of course, we also need to close the income gap. French academic Thomas Piketty recently recommended imposing a higher tax on the highest earners. That is certainly one option - but redistribution has to be accompanied by the effective delivery of public goods, including better education and basic service infrastructure to support human dignity.Thinking specifically of where I work, we need to work even harder on the democratisation of finance, making it a vehicle of inclusion, to better serve South Africans desperately trying to build a better future, as well as immigrant entrepreneurs.Finally, we need ongoing public dialogue that encourages people to respect our constitution and to reject all forms of violence, racism and xenophobia.The momentum has been created - thousands of people have taken part in public demonstrations of unity and mutual respect in recent weeks.So let's channel this into a longer-term cultural shift. Let's bring to life the spirit of the National Development Plan, which says: "We say to one another: I cannot be without you, without you this South African community is an incomplete community, without one single person, without one single group, without the region or the continent, we are not the best that we can be."Tshabalala is CEO of Standard Bank..