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Theses and dissertations (Management Sciences)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://ir-dev.dut.ac.za/handle/10321/14

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Business logistics--South Africa

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    Investigation of factors influencing non-compliance with procurement practices : a case study of head office supply chain management directorate and hospitals within eThekwini District, KwaZulu-Natal
    (2023) Mkhize, Sithembile Gadiosa; Dorasamy, Nirmala
    Regardless of the reforms and the employment of Supply Chain Management (SCM) as a strategic tool, South Africa still faces immense challenges in its procurement practices. Non-compliance with public procurement guidelines cannot be ignored because it has a significant cost to the government and the public as taxpayers. This study investigated the factors influencing non-compliance with procurement practices within the Kwa-Zulu Natal Department of Health. The Auditor General’s reports for the financial year 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 confirmed that this Department had received qualified audit opinions for two consecutive years for incurring irregular expenditure on procurement and contract management following non-compliance with procurement guidelines. A mixed-method of data collection was employed on this study to gather information from the relevant decision makers including officials in finance and SCM components. The results of this study demonstrated that unavailability of SCM staffing norms, shortage of staff, lack of supervision, shortage of skills, unavailability of E-procurement system, and negligence are major determinants for non-compliance. These findings have relevance for the Kwa-Zulu Natal Department of Health and also for the South African Public Sector as it strives to achieve clean audits on procurement and contract management. Furthermore, this study acknowledges the policies and the guidelines on public procurement and contract management. However, it argues that policies and guidelines alone cannot prevent irregular expenditure. Public procurement and contract management policies and guidelines need to be complemented by human resources, appropriate skills, updated technologies, implementation of consequences management, and monitoring and evaluation. Furthermore, this study presented the researcher’s proposed model for addressing non-compliance with procurement and contract management policies, as shown in Figure 4.2. Moreover, this model could play a crucial role in reviving and supplementing the public procurement and contracting objectives thus enhancing compliance.
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    Planning for airports and logistics : case of Dube Tradeport
    (2020-10) Hansmann, Robynne Jean; Dorasamy, Nirmala; McCarthy, J.J.
    This study on planning for airports and logistics is concerned with how airports, as precincts containing specialised infrastructure and related uses, interact with the flow of goods distributed across multiple modes and transportation networks and land uses across local, regional, national and global scales. These flows indicate regional economic activity and have recursive relationships with transport infrastructure and industrial uses, including warehouses, logistics, business parks, and commercial uses. The research explores the role of airports to support the distribution of goods between global and regional economies and interrogates the integration of air cargo logistics in local production processes. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to explore the multi-scalar role of airports in the flow of goods in order to develop a normative framework for planning that integrates land use and transportation planning towards developmental outcomes. The international movements of goods originate and terminate in cities at either maritime port terminals or international airports, and these act as the nodes where international trade interfaces with regional and local trade flows. The complexity of these global and regional flows across multiple locations and modes of transportation impacts on cities, with challenges for better planning for the movement of goods around airports. Historically, the focus of international trade flows on urban development relates to ports. However, over the past two decades, air transportation has grown internationally and airports play a more critical role in the internationalisation and globalisation of trade, particularly related to the relative value of goods to volume of goods handled by air as opposed to maritime shipping. The integration of global flows with local city flows presents complexities for both the management of materials within the supply chain, as well as the dispersed distribution of goods between places of production and consumption and within multi-scalar production processes. Research on the movement of goods and freight distribution is recognised as a persistent gap within transportation geography; specifically the intersection between transportation planning and urban planning. The rationale for the study relates to the role of airports in the relationship between the flow of goods and urban development, drawing from the field of transport geography and developing new knowledge related to logistics in the planning. The impact of increased movements of people and goods by air is expressed in emerging airport related urban forms. Despite contested claims that airports are generators of regional economic growth, there a number of negative impacts resulting from the growth around airports. The literature points to sustainability concerns and externalities of airports, questioning the role of planning to act in the public interest The objectives of this study are firstly concerned with relationships between transportation infrastructure and urban development, specifically in the context where the state is pursuing an infrastructure led development path. Secondly, the relationships between airports and logistics are explored in order to understand how airports interact with the multi-scalar movement of specific goods; thirdly, the interaction between airports with ports, roads and rail infrastructures; and fourthly how airports relate to spaces of production and distribution within the context of the case study in order to propose a normative framework for the planning of airports and logistics. The case study of Dube TradePort development, incorporating the King Shaka International Airport, is approached from within a constructivist paradigm, while acknowledging the subjective nature of truth, and the concomitant fact that the role of multiple perspectives and sources of information are necessary to such a study. The qualitative case study is both the object of inquiry, bounded to the Dube TradePort site, as well as the study design, used to explore how the movement of goods through a purpose-built cargo terminal integrates with land use. Integration between modes of transport improve the overall cost and efficiency of moving goods and improved integration between transportation and land use planning, which has implications for overall efficiency of the urban economy. The study contributes to the body of knowledge emerging from a developmental context on how planning for airport and logistics provides a critical reflection on the practice of airports and logistics for the field of urban planning. It is recommended that a regional spatial development framework process is initiated within a normative framework of spatial transformation. The study points towards substantive issues for inclusion in plan-making processes related to how positionality in airfreight flows is important to understand the multimodal and multi-scalar connectivity between air transport, with road, rail and sea-based modalities and secondly to understand how planning for airports can be integrated with planning for productive land uses within the city structure. The implication being that the plan-making process requires a layered approach that considers horizontal integration in local economies and multiscalar approach to integrating with global economies in terms of investment flows and material flows.
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    Management of movable assets and the application of supply chain management policies in the Department of Human Settlements, KwaZulu-Natal provincial government
    (2021) Kunene, Jabulile Rachel; Govender, Saths
    The study was aimed at evaluating the compliance on the Management of Movable Assets and Application of Supply Chain Policies in the Depatment of Human Settlements, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government. Since managing of movable assets is a challenge in most governemnt as well as private sectors, this kind of research has never been conducted in the Department of Human Settlements, in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal. It was obvious that movable asset management is definitely a subject that needs attention. A critical review of related literature, as well as varying methods of data collection were undertaken and relevant theories were explored. Theories covered in this research are the Transaction Cost Economics Theory, Agency Theory as well as the Resource-Based View Theory. These theories, combined, help justify the thesis of this research.This contextual study broadens the possiblities of application in Supply Chain Management, especially in the movable assests section. The main finding of the study strengthened the dispute that non-compliance in safeguarding movable assets by end users is the most critical part in the management of the departmental movable assets. The department still has to improve control measures in safeguarding movable assets, compliance with movable assets management principles, guidelines and working conditions.
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    The influence of transformation on financial performance of operational level of retail businesses : a case study
    (2016) Simamane, Xolani Protus; Zondo, Robert Dumisani
    The retail industry is arguably one the most prosperous sectors in the global economy. Retail’s importance lies in the fact that it serves as an intermediary between producers and consumers. Given its significance in the everyday lives of people in communities and its role in national economies, the industry operates under extensive competition driven by growth in Information Technology which has dramatically changed the consumption patterns and buying behavior of consumers today. The changes are greatly influenced by different economic factors that impose change in the industry and impact on the bottom line of businesses. Thus, retailers are constantly realigning their businesses in ways that ensure that old customers are kept and new ones are sourced. It is from the foregoing that this study sets out to investigate the influence of transformation on the financial performance of the operational level of retail businesses: A case study. Using a quantitative research method, the study focused on 101 middle level branch managers of The South African Post Office obtained through the simple random technique. The questionnaires were administered to the branch managers and the data obtained was analysed using SPSS software. Findings from the study revealed that the overall business transformation has a positive impact on the financial performance of businesses. The results further revealed that continuous communication with regards to transformation inspires confidence among employees, thereby leading to productivity and the achievement of organisational goals and objectives. Findings also suggest that productive employees contribute positively to the financial performance of the business. The study recommends that retail businesses should consider overall business transformation in terms of structural design change, Information Technology, products and services and employee motivation to keep business relevant in the ever-changing global economy.