Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters/MBA)

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Browsing Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters/MBA) by School "Wits School of Business"

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    Business planning and entrepreneurial education: key drivers for SME performance in South Africa’s Gauteng Province
    (2020) Marecha, Trustlord
    The answer to South Africa’s unemployment, poverty, and inequality lies in the success of Small and Medium Enterprises. It is thus of the utmost importance that inhibiters of SME growth are studied to be able to chart a high-growth trajectory. The objective of the study is to investigate the perceptions of Gauteng-based entrepreneurs on the contribution of business planning and entrepreneurial education to SME performance. The findings form a basis for necessary remedial actions. The study investigated business planning capabilities and entrepreneurial education as antecedents to exploitation of diverse utilitarian resources which create unique organisational competitive advantages. The study chose financial performance and employment growth as key indicators for firm performance. It used a quantitative method which adopted an exploratory approach. Primary data was collected from a final sample of 268 entrepreneurs through a selfadministered questionnaire. What emerged from the data was a significant but weak impact between business planning and firm success. The impact of entrepreneurial education on firm performance was not supported and insignificant. According to the study results, more practice in business planning will lead to increased firm performance, even in the absence of entrepreneurial education. The entrepreneurs paid more attention to financial performance than to growing employee numbers, attesting the SME survival orientation. The absence of entrepreneurial education and presence of weak business planning retard the much-needed economic growth. This study contextualises a framework of the interconnectedness of business planning, entrepreneurial education, and firm performance. The value that budding entrepreneurs can draw from this study is that strong business planning capabilities precede entrepreneurial performance. The government should entrench entrepreneurial culture through legislating entrepreneurial education at all levels of education, including SME support programmes.
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    The efficacy of executive coaching interventions for succession management at local company X in Botswana
    (2020) Sempe, Rosi
    Local Company X is a multinational mining company based in Botswana that often employs expatriate workforce in order to execute its organisational objectives where skills are deemed not available in country. Localisation policy of the Government of Botswana has since made the importation of skills through expatriation a less preferred option. Local Company X has put in place a succession management process to develop high potential employees to succeed into senior roles, often held by expatriates. Executive coaching is an intervention provided to the successors to aid their development and accelerate their readiness levels to ascend to these senior roles. The purpose of this study was to establish how executive coaching intervention aids succession management and the consequent evaluation of executive coaching effectiveness. The study explored if the current coaching approach at local company X is aligned to the purpose of succession management by establishing (1) the coaching approaches used (2) how effective they are perceived to be for succession management lastly (3) how the effectiveness is evaluated. The research used a qualitative methodology and data was collected through semi-structured interviews from 11 respondents. A thematic analysis of all responses revealed that coaching was perceived to be effective through its employed coaching approach which allowed for flexibility in order to address the unique needs of coachees, which often changed during coaching. It was established that an effective coaching approach allows for the coachee to set the agenda while the coach subjects the agenda to a process without unnecessary structure or techniques that are ill-fitting for the purpose of coaching. Lastly, the finding that the HR office has no clear process to evaluate coaching effectiveness means that an unequivocal demonstration of coaching effectiveness remains elusive, despite rich anecdotal evidence this research has unearthed. Coaching has its place in building human capital in Botswana and this study demonstrated how executive coaching is an effective intervention for preparing a successor for succession and this has practical implications.