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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.Success in business--South Africa

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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    A proposed integrated model for innovative business leadership for the attainment of sustainable growth in small and medium manufacturing enterprises in KwaZulu-Natal
    (2020-04) Ngibe, Musawenkosi; Lekhanya, Lawrence Mpele
    Globally, small and medium manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) have been identified as a major source of employment and the foundation for successful entrepreneurship. They can also be a catalyst of economic transformation due to their significant contribution to any country’s gross domestic product (GDP). They have therefore been identified as key assets for any country with aspirations towards transformation, poverty reduction, employment redistribution, business innovation and strong economic growth. In countries such as Japan, the United States, China, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania, manufacturing growth attributable to SMEs has strengthened, indicating that any predicted global downturn in industrial production may be mitigated by their input. This indicates beyond reasonable doubt that the role of manufacturing SMEs is central to any country and, it can be argued, more especially to developing countries like South Africa. Thus, their diminishing contribution towards GDP in recent years has been a significant concern of the South African Government, and of investors and policy makers, and has led to additional support being provided for the emergence and sustainable growth of manufacturing SMEs in the country. Statistics reflect that in 2018 manufacturing industry contributed only13.53% to GDP compared with 15.2% in 2013, and around 20% a decade earlier. This declining contribution has been associated with critical negative factors that affect the innovative leadership skills required to implement business innovation, manage a turbulent business environment, and achieve sustainable growth in the sector. Many researchers have studied the factors that contribute to manufacturing SMEs being successfully established. These factors include management skills, leadership ability, access to finance, the availability of resources, the economic climate, and the availability of necessary infrastructure and raw materials. The role of government regulations and compliance requirements have also been highlighted as critical factors affecting the sustainability and growth of manufacturing SMEs in the country. However, despite extensive research being carried out in the field, there remains a serious gap in studies which provide an in-depth understanding of those innovative business leadership abilities and business characteristics that critically influence manufacturing SMEs. These abilities are known to instigate, develop and promote business innovation that will subsequently attain sustainable growth. Theoretical models of the factors affecting and influencing innovative business leadership in this field are also lacking. Therefore, it can be argued that this is a critical area of research which has the potential to improve the current position of manufacturing SMEs in South Africa. This study has specific reference to manufacturing SMEs within KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). Therefore, the study aimed to identify the critical factors affecting innovative business leadership within manufacturing SMEs in KZN and to propose a prototype model for improving such leadership. Justification for the study stems from the high failure rate currently experienced in the sector which is attributable to several significant challenges faced by manufacturing SMEs in South Africa. The study was conducted within the Province of KZN, employing a quantitative research method. The population of the study consisted of 384 manufacturing SME leaders, owners and managers. A non-probability, convenience, sampling technique was adopted, while a closed-ended questionnaire was used as the primary data collection tool. Inferential and descriptive statistical analysis of the data was undertaken using the SPSS (version 23.0) computer package. The research findings indicate that manufacturing SMEs are severely affected by a variety of challenges and that they face significant hurdles that negatively affect their performance. These impact on the business leaders’ ability to implement the innovations that could promote, support and sustain the growth of their firms. The results of the study identified education and training as major positive contributory factors affecting innovative business leadership. Furthermore, technical abilities, access to financial support, and ICT awareness were also identified as critical catalysts to business success. The study therefore seeks to provide key insights into both the theoretical and practical implications of innovative leadership for manufacturing SMEs. It further provides an extensive range of recommendations and proposes a theoretical framework for those factors that can be understood by business leaders, government officials and policy makers to effect remedies for the current challenges faced by the sector.
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    The relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, competitive advantage and business performance among small businesses in Durban
    (2017) Mtshali, Sbongiseni Sanele; Chinyamurindi, Willie Tafadzwa
    Small businesses form the backbone of any nation’s economy, especially where unemployment is extremely high. South Africa is one of the many countries that struggle with low economic growth resulting in low employment. This study investigates the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, business performance and competitive advantage. South Africa’s small business sector is under pressure as evidence exists that the failure rate is well above 70 percent, and to an extent, up to 90 percent depending on various conditions. This study was conducted in Durban, South Africa. The study sought to answer the two questions namely: a) Is there a significant relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and business performance? and b) Is there a mediating role of competitive advantage in the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and business performance? These questions were targeted to small business owners or managers in Durban, South Africa. Therefore, 177 participants responded, and both questions were tested and yielded positive results. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire consisting of 24 items. Indeed, the finding was that there is a positive and significant relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and business performance, and that competitive advantage does mediate the relationship between business performance and entrepreneurial orientation. Finally, many studies examined in this study support the findings of this research pointing out that a strong positive relationship exists between business performance and entrepreneurial orientation. Similarly, there seems to be an agreement that there is some relationship between competitive advantage, entrepreneurial orientation and business performance. However, the literature reviewed did not clarify if competitive advantage does actually mediate the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and business performance whilst this study found that mediation does exist between the entrepreneurial orientation and business performance link. Hence, small businesses need to learn more about this relationship so to take advantage of possible synergies that may arise from it. Further, both the government of South Africa and the private sector should keep supporting small businesses by making use of research studies like this one and many more which are based on theory and practice.
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    An investigation into organisational leadership for the development of community arts centres
    (2017) Zulu, Lungani Innocent; Chetty, Gopalkrishna
    Modern human resource management practices have the potential to ensure successful businesses and organisations. This is more so where the most significant resource in the organisation are people. This study seeks to examine the leadership and managerial style that ideally could be useful in promoting and developing sustainable businesses with the focus of the study being in community arts centres. This study may be able to contribute to identifying and/or developing future entrepreneurs who may have an interest in opening their own community arts centres and businesses. The results of successful art centres may result in a proliferation of such centres and ultimately offering alternative careers and the opportunities for growth and development for the young South African. This may result in the creation and development of a more robust creative art and drama industry. While it is acknowledged that various other resources are critical for a business to develop including finance, the focus on the management of people forms the basis of this research. The Department of Arts and Culture has identified cultural industries as one of the drivers of economic growth and job creation. Early indications are that the cultural industries are already making a significant contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product. The Department of Trade and Industry estimates that the craft sector alone contributes about R2-billion (about 200 million Euros) or 0.14% to South Africa’s GDP annually (Department of Arts and Culture 2013). Community art centres could be the seeds for the growth of the cultural industry. The study included 101 participants, made up of eight (8) centre managers, 69 administrative staff members and 24 centre users. The key findings in this study covered the identification of the leadership, managerial qualities and attributes needed by owners and employees to successfully run/manage a business such as community art centre; to determine whether there is leadership development taking place as a strategic intent so that the next level of managers can head up these centres as well as encouraging some staff to pursue the entrepreneurial route and finally examining human resource principle, processes and practices that are useful when leading and managing a successful community arts centres.
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    An investigation into the criteria for project success within Transnet
    (2006) Pillay, Renee
    Project Management is the wave of the future. This discipline and its evolution continues to be one of the principal means by which operational and strategic changes are managed in the enterprise. The importance of Project Management for organisational success will expand, rather than wane, in years to come. Projects, particularly large scale complex ones with multiple stakeholders, are failing at alarming rates despite a wide spectrum of efforts to solve the problem. The lack of meaningful results and outcomes is due, in part, to the fact that organizations tend to operate on a set of unproven assumptions concerning project objectives, business requirements, user expectations, motivations, agendas, schedules, costs and time frames. The management dilemma is that Transnet has committed R 65 billion to projects in the hope of developing its core businesses to that of world-class standards as a logistics service provider in South Africa. Transnet’s capital project division, Protekon, is responsible for managing the projects committed to this R 65bn capital expenditure. Transnet’s perception of Protekon’s failure to successfully deliver projects could result in appointments of external consultancies such as Hatch McDougal and Guba (HMG – an engineering consultant firm). Whereas, previously, Protekon was the monopoly service provider of engineering and project management skills within Transnet, Transnet’s sub-divisions appear to be utilizing outside consultancies more frequently. The reason for procuring engineering and consultancy services external to Transnet, among others, is the perception that Protekon is performing poorly in delivering successful projects. The outsourcing of work, fuelled by the negative perception of Protekon’s performance, directly impacts on the profitability of Protekon in the short to medium term. The objective of this dissertation was firstly to investigate the effect of Protekon’s involvement in Transnet’s project success; and secondly, to recommend strategies to improve the rate of project success, that could be applied within Transnet and Protekon.