Faculty of Management Sciences
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Item A sustainable business strategy framework for small and medium enterprises(AOSIS, 2022-07) Bugwandin, Vinay; Bayat, Mohamed S.Orientation: Business sustainability in today’s world is primarily arduous owing to global economic and financial crises. In the first quarter of 2019, according to Statistics South Africa, the Gross Domestic Product deteriorated by 3.2%. Similarly, in KwaZulu-Natal, the state of sustainability of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) was on the decline and the majority (75%) of SMEs failed after operating for 3 years. Research purpose: To formulate a business strategy to assist SMEs achieve sustainability.Motivation for the study: Small and medium enterprises in KwaZulu-Natal do not sustain themselves for long-term periods, the underlying problem being poor strategy formulation and hence, the need for a strategy to achieve sustainability.Research design, approach and method: A mixed methodology approach was used in this empirical study. A target population of 488 000 SME’s were considered with a sample size of 384 expected respondents. A total of 200 responses ( 52% of the target sample size) were obtained from the questionnaire within a capped period of 30 days. The Social Package for Social Sciences software was used for the quantitative aspect. In particular cross tabulations, central tendencies, and group difference techniques were used to analyse the data. In addition, the grounded theory was employed on a target of 20 individuals who were interviewed to investigate opinions towards strategy development and sustainability in KZN and NVivo software was used for the qualitative aspect.Main findings: The core element of ‘Strategy’ and the sub-elements of ‘Change’, ‘Purpose’ and ‘Leadership’ were investigated. It was found that ‘Change’, ‘Purpose’ and ‘Leadership’ were the main contributors towards achieving sustainability. Furthermore, a systems thinking model was used successfully to indicate the interdependencies to purport the goal of achieving sustainability. Ultimately it was found that ‘Strategy’, ‘Change’, ‘Purpose’ and ‘Leadership’ were required to achieve a ‘sustainable business strategy’.Practical/managerial implications: Due cognisance should be taken by leaders, from the perspectives of ‘Change’, ‘Purpose’ and ‘Leadership’, to formulate a strategy that sustains the business.Contribution/value-add: A conceptual framework to achieve a sustainable business strategy was developed for small to medium enterprises.Item Organisational cybernetics : a systems thinking method used for small and medium enterprises(AOSIS, 2023-03) Bugwandin, Vinay; Bayat, Mohamed S.Orientation: Systems thinking stems from the Twenties and has constantly developed over the years in assisting sectors in operations, management and the environment in checking for interdependencies, interconnections and coherence in all aspects of the elements inputted. In particular, the viable systems model in organisational cybernetics of systems thinking can be considered as a tool used for validating elements and being goal-oriented in nature.Research purpose: The purpose of this research is to showcase the role and influence that the viable systems model in organisation cybernetics has in a study conducted on small and medium enterprises.Motivation for the study: In the business world, there is a profound need for organisations to ensure that process flows are maintained to achieve sustainability. The systems thinking approach ensures that process flows are maintained; however, they have proven to be robust in validating elements and achieving goals. In this regard, this study encourages organisations to embrace and utilise systems thinking approaches to improve productivity and, ultimately, sustainability.Research design, approach and method: In conjunction with the mixed methodology approach, namely the Statistical Package for Social Sciences for quantitative research and NVivo for qualitative research, the viable systems model in organisational cybernetics was used in this empirical study.Main findings: The core element of ‘strategy’ and the subelements of ‘change’, ‘purpose’ and ‘leadership’ were investigated. It was found that ‘change’, ‘purpose’ and ‘leadership’ were the main contributors towards achieving sustainability. Furthermore, a systems thinking model – the viable systems model – was used successfully to indicate the interdependencies to purport the goal of achieving sustainability. Ultimately, it was found that ‘strategy’, ‘change’, ‘purpose’ and ‘leadership’ were required to achieve a ‘sustainable business strategy’.Practical/managerial implications: Leaders should consider the use of systems thinking as a tool to ensure the output of a robust process flow, increased productivity and good governance in their organisations.Contribution/value-add: The viable systems model in organisational cybernetics proved to be successful in checking for interconnections, interdependencies and coherence of the elements used in the research study. Researchers in today’s era should consider the use of systems thinking in future research studies.Item Sustainable business strategy for small and medium enterprises in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa(2022-04) Bugwandin, Vinay; Bayat, Mohamed SaheedBusiness sustainability in today’s world is primarily arduous owing to global economic and financial crises. In the first quarter of 2019, according to Statistics South Africa the Gross Domestic Product deteriorated by 3.2%. Similarly in KwaZulu-Natal, the state of sustainability of Small and Medium Enterprises were on the decline and the majority (75%) of small and medium enterprises failed after operating for three years. The purpose of this research was to formulate a business strategy to achieve sustainability for small and medium enterprises. Small and medium enterprises in KwaZulu-Natal do not sustain themselves for long term periods due to the underlying problem being strategy formulation. Hence, the need for a strategy to achieve sustainability. The mixed methodology approach was used in this empirical study using the survey and interview methods. The target population of 488 000, a confidence level of 95%, margin of error of 5% and a 50% response rate was used which indicated a sample size of 384 respondents. Upon completion of the data collection, a total of 200 responses were obtained within a capped period of 30 days, which accounted for >52% of the target sample size. Furthermore, the grounded theory was employed on a target of 20 individuals, whereby the participants were interviewed to investigate opinions towards strategy development and sustainability in KwaZulu-Natal. The core element of ‘Strategy’ and the sub-elements of ‘Change’, ‘Purpose’ and ‘Leadership’ were investigated. It was found that ‘Change’, ‘Purpose’ and ‘Leadership’ were the main contributors towards achieving sustainability. Furthermore, a Systems Thinking Model was used successfully to indicate the interdependencies to purport the goal of achieving sustainability. Ultimately it was found that ‘Strategy’, ‘Change’, ‘Purpose’, and ‘Leadership’ were required to achieve a ‘Sustainable Business Strategy’. Due cognisance should be taken by leaders, from the perspectives of ‘Change’, ‘Purpose’ and ‘Leadership’, to formulate a strategy which sustains the business. A conceptual framework was developed for small and medium enterprises to achieve a sustainable business strategy.