3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item The development of a framework to measure the efficacy and effectiveness of business incubators in South Africa(2024) Ojango, Stephen AnyeraBusiness incubators have been identified as a key development tool for the successful incubation of new and existing small businesses. Understanding their performance, efficacy and effectiveness in the development of small businesses and subsequent economic development is therefore of critical importance to practice and research on entrepreneurship within South Africa. Research on the efficacy and effectiveness of interactions within incubation is unclear, with no distinct measure or reference to the performance of incubator. An exploratory study was therefore undertaken to determine how the operational processes of business incubators could be improved, for the effective assessment of their contribution towards their objectives. The main objective of the research in response to the critical research question was to develop a way for Business Incubator’s measure their operational processes so that their contribution towards their objectives can be assessed. The overarching research design was qualitative in nature and followed the Soft Systems Methodology in support of the exploration of the research objective. Semi Structured and unstructured interviews were used as the primary instruments of data collection. Thematic and content analysis as well as systemigram and Causal loop diagramming were analysis and modelling tools used in the research. This approach provided insight and understanding of Business Incubators and the business incubation space in South Africa. A notable finding of the research was the identification of business incubation pipeline flow being a major challenge experienced within incubator operations, with pipeline being defined as the progression of beneficiaries from recruitment through to their exit. By focusing on critical areas within pipeline processes, expounding on the concept of Operations Management Systems and their relevance in Business Incubation and exploring the concept of 4IR with particular attention to its principles, a framework to measure the operations of incubators was developed as a key result for the research.Item An exploratory study on the performance of business incubators in South Africa(2014-07-11) Chirambo, Francine Mambwe ChamaThis study explores the worth of state sponsored Business Incubators to the South African economy in respect of job creation and enterprise development. Using The Innovation Hub Management Company (TIHMC)‟s Maxum Business Incubator as a case study, and employing mixed methods, this non experimental longitudinal research undertakes to interrogate the quality of service rendered by one of South Africa‟s premier enterprise development facilities and its contribution to employment generation since its formation in 2000. The study surveys Pre - Incubatees, Incubatees and Post - Incubatees and interviews key informants in the TIHMC management to unravel this relatively under-researched area. The results show that the TIHMC Maxum Business Incubator has nurtured up to 81 firms which in turn have provided a combined total of 821 jobs between 2000 and 2011 - constituting 0.10% of the 800,000 employment opportunities generated by the Gauteng Provincial Government within the same period. However, the results also indicate that a range of services, particularly business skills, planning, financial management and book-keeping training require vastly improved technical expertise to sustain the incubated firms‟ market potentials. Further, the TIHMC needs to develop accessible information management systems and evaluative tools to enable regular performance appraisals, beneficiary feed-back and tracking of success stories in order to improve its strategic visions. The study‟s ambitions were to inform the TIHMC management‟s future plans and to contribute more generally to informed national discourses, policy making and academic inquiry into the efficacy of the novel notion of Business Incubation and its value to developing world contexts.