Research Publications (Management Sciences)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://ir-dev.dut.ac.za/handle/10321/217
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Item Public outlook on small and medium enterprises as a strategic tool for economic growth and job creation in South Africa(Virtus Interpress, 2015) Lekhanya, Lawrence MpeleIn spite of the key role played by the Small and Medium enterprises in economic development, there has been little effort to look at what needs to be done to improve survival and growth of SMEs. There is still a general lack of in-depth understanding from policy makers and other relevant stakeholders of how SMEs can be used as a strategic tool for economic growth and job creation in South Africa. These misperceptions and misunderstand leads to continuous failure to SMEs survival and growth. This study seeks to address this research gap. The study investigates the public views on what needs to be done to grow South African economy through the development of SMEs. Quantitative research approach was used to collect and analyse data for the study. Primary data was collected from four (4) provinces of South Africa. 230 people participated in the study. Questionnaires were emailed to each respondent and follow-ups were made via telephone. It was found that many SMEs fail within five years of their existence due to the various reasons. The most critical of these were related to lack of access to finance, lack of management experience as well as human capital. Study further revealed that most the SMEs owners/managers do not have business management related skills but rather they are just ordinary entrepreneurs.Item Dividing the spoils? Mining and tourism in South Africa(MCSER Publishing, 2014-01) Giampiccoli, Andrea; Mtapuri, OliverThis article looks at the mining and tourism sectors through the prisms of a society still attempting to redress the evils of the apartheid past. In so doing, it provides a typology of the dominant characteristics active in both sectors to upack the structural factors which oppress the precariats in these sectors. Precariats are the employees in a precarious situation in these sectors trying to eke out a living under extermely difficult working conditions. From the analysis, the common denominator in the two sectors is the low ‘slavery’ wages. The poor has not benefited materially from economic growth such that unemployment, poverty and inequality still remain as the country’s major challenges. The Black Economic Empowerment policy has been found wanting in empowering previously disadvantaged groups due partly to the co-option of black elites by white capital resulting in the maintenance of the pre-1994 concentration patterns. This article advocates a paradigm shift towards a system in which redistributive justice should be instituted, including a balanced distribution of power/control, resources, knowledge, capacities and benefits in these sectors for the benefit of all.Item Dividing the spoils? mining and tourism in South Africa(MCSER Publishing, 2014-01) Giampiccoli, Andrea; Mtapuri, OliverThis article looks at the mining and tourism sectors through the prisms of a society still attempting to redress the evils of the apartheid past. In so doing, it provides a typology of the dominant characteristics active in both sectors to upack the structural factors which oppress the precariats in these sectors. Precariats are the employees in a precarious situation in these sectors trying to eke out a living under extermely difficult working conditions. From the analysis, the common denominator in the two sectors is the low ‘slavery’ wages. The poor has not benefited materially from economic growth such that unemployment, poverty and inequality still remain as the country’s major challenges. The Black Economic Empowerment policy has been found wanting in empowering previously disadvantaged groups due partly to the co-option of black elites by white capital resulting in the maintenance of the pre-1994 concentration patterns. This article advocates a paradigm shift towards a system in which redistributive justice should be instituted, including a balanced distribution of power/control, resources, knowledge, capacities and benefits in these sectors for the benefit of all.