3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item From dynamism to dormancy: The jewellery industry in Johannesburg: 1925-2003(2008-05-20T07:45:23Z) Da Silva, Maria do Rosário Pinto PereiraThis study investigates the jewellery industry in South Africa from about the 1920s when the industry operated as a cluster in Johannesburg, to the more contemporary period of 2003. The industrial cluster approach to industrialisation forms the theoretical background for discussing the evolution of the jewellery cluster in this period. Various factors or “turning points” influenced the course of the cluster’s development and ultimately culminated in the demise of the jewellery cluster in Johannesburg. The study pays specific attention to the role of government in first resisting and then promoting the growth of jewellery manufacturing in South Africa. In recent years the jewellery industry has been the focus of both government and private sector initiatives to enhance its competitiveness globally. The result of these initiatives is discussed in the context of the internal and external constraints that affected the industry in the past and continue to play a role in the present.Item The impact technological and organisational dimensions on operational performance of manufacturing companies(2006-03-02) Jumelet, Peter HermanDespite the adoption of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies (AMT) by manufacturing firms, the literature reports disappointing performance of manufacturing, attributed to an imbalance between the dimensions of technology (i.e. AMT) and organisation. The central research problem of this study was: To analyse the effect of development along organisational and technological dimensions on operational performance of manufacturing firms in South Africa. The investigation into the central research problem was guided by a primary research question: Does a balanced development of organisational and technological dimensions result in optimum levels of operational performance of manufacturing? Structural Equation Modelling was employed to assess the central research problem and the primary research question by evaluating the relationship between three latent variables: Technology, Organisation and Operational Performance. Data was collected by means of a self-administered online web questionnaire. A total of 104 responses were received from a target sample of 604 Managing Directors of manufacturing firms. The sample was not representative of the population of manufacturing firms in South Africa. It was shown that the correlation between Technology and Organisation was fairly strongly positive. The direct impact of Technology on Operational Performance was unexpectedly non-significant, whereas Organisation’s direct impact on Operational Performance was strongly positive. These results did not support the primary research question. In fact, organisational dimensions were more important than technological dimensions in obtaining optimum levels of operational performance of manufacturing. The implication was that firms should strongly emphasise the development of its organisation as part of a technology strategy.