Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (ETDs)
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Item Financial inclusion in South Africa: An analysis of the financial sector regulatory framework and proposals for reform(2018-09) Duma, Amanda; Kawadza, HerbertAbstract Not Available.Item Customer retention strategies for the prepaid mobile telecommunications sector in South Africa(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2010) Flynn, Teresa; Peters, MarkThis study will propose ways in which companies can focus retention strategies in the local prepaid mobile telecommunications sector. Currently there is little academic literature on this topic, even though in-house marketing research has been done by the operators. The purpose of this research is to investigate the customer retention strategies in the prepaid mobile telecommunications sector in South Africa. This will be done by triangulation of what consumers believe is important in their retention, what the organisations deem as paramount, and what retention experts state are the motivators of retention. Data was collected using both a survey questionnaire for consumers, and through face to face interviews with marketing management at mobile telecommunications operators, as well as independent expert consultants on the topic of customer retention. The findings from this study were that the consumers want to keep the same cell phone number as it is part of their identity. The customer looks at the total offering when considering pricing, and not just certain costs, and prefers a prepaid model as spending is controlled in this manner. Both consumers and management agree that rewards and loyalty programs are seen as a value add, especially where they offer instant gratification. A reliable product is necessary for a consumer to stay with the company, as is accessibility to support and other products. Management realises that the total customer experience across all touch points is a retention enabler, with one really bad experience being enough cause for a customer to churn. The consumer survey indicated that customer service is a driver that all market players need to improve on. An organisation's brand allows a consumer to identify with the firm, and is more a pull factor than a push factor, unless it is perceived as dishonest or unethical. The only time a consumer's demographics came into play regarding customer behaviour was age making a difference was when using a cell phone to access the internet -older age brackets use it sparingly if at all. Although other value added services such as SMS and MMS are used across the board. Companies model consumer behaviour, and base it on data from previous churners to identify possible churners. Of these, only profitable churners are then recognised for retention campaigns. Retention campaigns are measured for success. The prepaid market makes up 80% of the mobile telecommunications market in South Africa, and the revenue they contribute is approximately 35% of the total. Therefore this customer base should not be neglected or ignored. Due to the demographics of emerging markets, prepaid offerings are the way of the future. The research paper finishes with several recommendations on how to enrich customer retention strategies for the prepaid mobile communication market.Item External Factors Influencing the Sustainability of Social Entrepreneurial Ventures in South Africa(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2020) Govender, Ramona; Murimbika, McEdwardSocial entrepreneurship is increasingly seen as a solution in addressing some of the social ills in the world. However, in order for the social enterprises to be more effective there is a need for them to be sustainable, particularly in terms of financial sustainability. Social enterprises that are financially sustainable are usually better able to create social value. The study sought to investigate the contributing factors towards social enterprise (SE) venture sustainability in South Africa using Cape Town as a case study. In doing so, quantitative research was conducted, with data being collected from the sampled social enterprises using an online survey. In this research it was found that, while government assistance was important, it was not significant in determining a social enterprise’s performance. The research also found that high social innovation improves a social enterprise’s access to philanthropic venture capital. In this regard, high social innovation was also seen to have a positive effect on social enterprise performance. The research thus concludes that social innovation is an important contributor to the sustainability of a social enterprise. The study offers updated information and adds to the theory on social enterprises in South Africa which is useful to prospective social entrepreneurs seeking to structure such organizations. In addition to this, the new knowledge and new insights will help government and civil society policy makers to formulate policies that can encourage social entrepreneurship in the country, especially with regards to funding. The study also offers useful insights on social innovation and emphasises its importance within the social enterprise context.Item The impact of digital ecosystems on customer loyalty in South African life insurance companies: A customer’s perspective(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Muthama, Georginah M.; Nyamajiwa, Michael T.The concept of life insurance has been in existence for thousands of years, with a business model that has remained relatively the same. Persistency or customer retention in South African life insurance companies is an ongoing concern. Advancement in technology has provided new opportunities to life insurance companies, such as online sales, improvement in service offering, and the increase in brand awareness. The literature indicates that digital ecosystems offer a new value proposition for life insurance companies to create loyal customers. This study was motivated by the high number of policy cancellations, unmet premiums and lapsed policies experienced across the insurance industry in South Africa. The study proposed that customer loyalty can be increased with the implementation of digital ecosystems, specifically in terms of the value propositions related to ease of doing business, loyalty programs and digital platforms. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the value proposition provided by digital ecosystems can create loyal customers. A quantitative research approach was used in this study. Data was collected using surveys whereby the respondents gave their responses on a structured-self-completion questionnaire that were distributed via email and WhatsApp. A random sample of n=57 was achieved. The Cronbach’s Alpha test showed there was good internal consistency reliability for the independent variables, but the dependent variable has poor internal consistency. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted and the factor loadings higher than 0.40 indicate that the constructs were valid. Multiple regression was applied to test the four research hypotheses. The results indicate that there is a statistically significant relationship between digital ecosystems and customer loyalty. Regarding individual value proposition items of digital ecosystems, ease of doing business does not have a significant relationship with customer loyalty, nor does digital platforms. Loyalty iv programs has a significant relationship with customer loyalty. The final conclusion of this research is thus that digital ecosystems do provide a value proposition which can increase customer loyalty. When a digital ecosystem consists of different value propositions, in this case, ease of doing business, loyalty programs and digital platforms, loyal customers can be created.Item Proposing the establishment of a tourist-generated-video library for destination marketing by tourism organisations(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Lehutjo, TshepoTourist-generated media content is a phenomenon that has become increasingly popular in recent years on social media platforms; to a point where many travel bloggers have even taken it on as a full-time occupation to meet the growing customer/tourist demand for it. On the other hand, tourism organisations and the industry at large have not been at the ready to take advantage of these technological developments. The prevailing explanation for this contrast is that tourism organisations do not have the know-how nor the time to invest in these technologies as they are typically staffed by small, specialised teams. As a result, entrepreneurs may investigate this identified gap to assist tourism organisations in meeting customer demands for: authentic tourist-generated videos while these customers are in the discovery and decision- making process of before their travel journey. Data was gathered remotely through publicly available platforms on the Internet, using a close-ended questionnaire to capture responses. The responses were then processed to generate descriptive statistics to elaborate on the following: the proportion of South African tourism organisations currently using the Facebook platform was determined to gauge the size of the market. Further, the extent of video use and other factors on the platform was determined, within the attraction and engagement constructs of the Digital Marketing Framework. This was done to understand how and when tourist-generated videos are used, if at all, and what other methods tourism organisations apply to attract or engage customers. Based off the findings, which show that South African tourism organisations have a low social media engagement rate with tourists and make very little use of video (which is proven to be more engaging and better for sales conversion) as a form of media content – be it tourist generated or not. This research thus proposes the use of a tourist-generated-video library that tourism organisations will pay to access so that they may use such videos to market destinations on their social media profiles and websites.Item The influence of Entrepreneurial Capital on the performance of subcontracting SMMEs in Gauteng, South Africa(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2019-03) Rampa, Mmatsatsi; Galawe, JabulileThis study explores the prospect of entrepreneurial capital in stimulating SMME performance. It seeks to investigate the use of non-financial capital (entrepreneurial capital) in SMMEs registered under the CIDB, in the general building sector, and its influence on SMME performance. It unpacks the two dimensions of entrepreneurial capital which are entrepreneurial commitment and entrepreneurial competence. This study is a quantitative research, based on a positivism research paradigm. The survey structured research instrument was collected using Qualtrics. The primary data, with a sample size of 377, was distributed using emails and was consolidated via Qualtrics. The data analysis and interpretation was based on descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, exploratory analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. The study was initially designed to analyse the two dimensions (entrepreneurial competence and commitment) collectively with their antecedents (opportunity, relationship, conceptual, organising and strategic competencies); and (normative, continuous and affective commitment) respectively. The survey findings could not converge into a clear multi-dimensional factor structure for each construct. Hence the analysis could only be undertaken at the dimensions level without breaking them down any further into their sub-sets. Entrepreneurial competence was the only one of the two that emerged as the statistically significant predictor of SMME performance. However, both dimensions had a positive influence with business performance, though entrepreneurial commitments’ influence was weak and not statistically significant. SMME owners/managers should continuously advance and assess their specific entrepreneurial competence in order to positively influence their business performance. Policy makers, training and support programmes should align content to specific entrepreneurial competence.Item Impact of financial intermediaries on economic growth(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Ayodele, Ademola EmmanualThis study investigates the impact of financial intermediaries on economic growth in Nigeria between 1986 and 2017. The study uses Gross Domestic Product as the dependent variable and also used Money Supply (MS), Credit to Private Sector, Lending Rate (LR) and Total Credit (TC) as independent variables coupled with the use of Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model as method of analysis. The result revealed that only money supply is statistically significant with economic growth in both the short run and long run. However, Credit to Private Sector, Lending Rate and Total Credit assert a negative effect on economic growth while money supply has positive effect on economic growth. Also, the granger causality test shows a unidirectional causality from GDP to both CPS and TC also from MS to GDP. Meanwhile, the direction of causality is inconclusive between LR and GDP. Hence, through the preponderance of empirical proofs from various places around the world and the findings of this study, it can be inferred that financial intermediaries have a significant impact on economic growth. The study therefore, recommends that the financial intermediaries should properly monitor credit provide to sectors in the economy in other to ensure that these sectors profitably use such credit to boost the economy.Item Integrated electronic human resource management systems for front- line employees and mine safety performance(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Nyelisani Clement , MufamadiThe South African mining industry heavily relies on manual labour, resulting insignificant risks to lives and production. Competency gaps, human behaviour, andviolations are major contributors to frequent accidents. Despite the implementation ofhuman resource management (HRM) systems, safety and productivity challengespersist, with base metals productivity declining annually by 0.3% from 2013 to 2017.Investing in competencies can enhance overall firm performance, as individualimprovements lead to better team and organizational performance.This study examined the impact of integrated electronic HRM (e-HRM) systems onsafety performance in mining. It explored the relationship between e-HRM practices,employee roles, and mine safety. The research utilized SPSS and PLS-SEM tools tovalidate and analyze data, testing eight hypotheses within a theoretical framework thatincluded performance management, HRM systems, and technological development.The findings showed that ability, opportunity, and motivation significantly and positivelyinfluence e-HRM practices, which in turn enhance employee roles, mine safetyperformance, and sustainable e-HRM systems.Sustainable e-HRM systems were identified as mediators that enhance e-HRMpractices and mine safety performance. However, the study could not substantiate theeffects of employee level, firm age, and industry experience on safety performance.Limitations included the cross-sectional study design and the omission of factors likeleadership and organizational culture. Despite these limitations, the study concludedthat sustainable e-HRM systems improve business success by integratingsustainability plans, ethical data management, and effective technology use, fosteringemployee autonomy and safety.The study suggests further longitudinal and qualitative research to evaluate the long-term sustainability of e-HRM improvements and their impact on safety performance.Comparative studies could also explore different system types and cultural variations,while investigating e-HRM's role in crisis management to reveal strategies fororganizational resilienceItem Bicultural Life Experiences and Career Orientation of South African Indian Women Engineers(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Pillay, Vanishree Nundagopaul; Ndaba, ZaneleThe purpose of this research is to explore the bicultural life experiences of South African Indian women engineers and from this, understand how identity experiences in their bicultural context inform their decision to remain in the profession. A review of the relevant literature offered biculturalism within the discourse of Identity Theory, and social cognition stemming from Social Cognitive Career Theory, as the main concepts to guide the trajectory of this investigation. The study is exploratory in nature with a qualitative design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 South African Indian women engineers from the public and private domains. Non-probability sampling strategy was adopted and effected through a snowballing technique to purposively secure candidates fitting the eligibility criteria. A narrative analysis of the transcripts was executed in a two-step process. First, by means of a three-part approach consisting of personal, social and temporal dimensions; life stories were unearthed from the interview transcripts in a deductive manner and formulated into a narrative. Secondly, narratives were inductively analysed using thematic analysis. Findings indicated that support from family, coupled with the transformed application of an Indian androcentric cultural value system within the home, positively influenced participants’ socialisation process. This triggered optimistic social cognition that informed high levels of self-efficacy and progressive decision-making. The limited organisational support reported by participants pointed to ubiquitous gender challenges: these negatively impacted professional opportunities and growth. Also clearly evident were perceptions and bias about women in the profession, strongly premised on gender identity, as opposed to racial identity. Motivation to remain an engineer was predicated on: (a) passion for the discipline; (b) career growth and opportunities; and (c) financial independence/empowerment. The findings, and their implications, offer higher education institutions and engineering bodies a point of departure that can inform strategies to motivate female engineers to remain in the profession. The study contributes to the evolving body of knowledge on biculturalism through the bicultural life stories presented by a sample of ethnic minority women who are absent from the literature pertaining to biculturalism. The research offers an assimilated version of Lent and Hackett’s Social Cognitive Career model, represented in a Bicultural Social Career Trajectory, as an understanding of the interplay between identity tags, context, cognitive processing and action behaviour. The sample’s location and nationality impose certain limitations on this study. Participants were South African- born Indian women engineers from three of the country’s nine provinces. Hence, the findings cannot be generalised to South African Indian women engineers from the remaining six provinces, nor to foreign nationals of Indian descent. These limitations offer an opportunity for future research on ethnic minority women of Indian descent, regardless of nationality. This would entail an extended geographical reach to include countries that have a population of Indian womenengineers. Such a study could potentially unearth interesting nuances regarding the bicultural life experiences and career orientation of Indian women engineers on a global scale.Item Stock Price Prediction in Sub-Saharan Africa(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2020) Murekachiro, Dennis; Mokoaleli, ThabangInvestors, researchers and practitioners are continuously exploring various ways to understanding stock market price movements and the development of techniques that can assist them in accurately predicting the stock markets and improve on in- vestment decision making and policy making. This study sought out to develop a prediction model for stock markets, determine which factors move stock prices and investigate the inefficiency of 11 selected stock markets. In order to predict the stock markets, this study made use of deep learning prediction models (LSTM, RNN, GRU, BLSTM, BRNN, BGRU) and statistical GAM in ten sub-Saharan African coun- tries (Botswana, Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe) and the S&P500 (USA). Stock markets are predictable with inef- ficiencies found for the African stock markets as evidenced through calendar anoma-lies and high prediction accuracies whilst the lower prediction results for the S&P500 indicate market efficiency. The prediction model greatly improved prediction accuracy. However, there is no remarkable difference between unidirectional and bidirectional prediction models accuracy results for the eleven countries concerned. GAM statistical approach outperformed compared to all deep neural networks architectures in this study. The varying results for each country point to the uniqueness of each market confirming the varying market ecologies. In addition, this study also investigated the effect of macroeconomic variables (inflation, money supply, interest rates, exchange rates) on stock prices. Time series analyses were implemented through Johansen cointegration and Granger causality tests for short and long run relationships between macroeconomic variables and each stock market. Overall, empirical results for the African stock markets reveal a negative association between closing price and exchange rates, a positive relationship between money supply and closing stock prices for all countries. Mixed results for the other variables for each country attest to the fact that stock markets are unique and are influenced differently by these macroeconomic variables. Notably, African stock markets relate differently to macroeconomic variables as compared to developed stock markets. Stock market predictions were run on a python 3.5 environment using deep learning libraries Theano, Tensorflow, and Keras and Scikit learn and the time series analysis was analyzed using stata13 and R 3.6 software