Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (ETDs)

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Implementation of digital transformation in a public entity
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Mokhabela, Kolwani Star; Magida, Ayanda
    Public entities strive to have digital transformation in their organisations; they strategise and organise themselves; however, they face challenges with implementation. This study aims to investigate the progress that one South African public entity (PE) has made towards digital transformation, the processes followed in implementing, unpack the challenges and recommend strategies that any public entity can use for better future implementations. A qualitative methodology was followed using semi-structured interviews conducted on a sample of fifteen participants within the public entity who are role players or have participated in digital transformation processes from executives, management and project team members. A thematic analysis of the data was made. Conclusions and recommendations were made around the capabilities and challenges of the public entity, integration of processes, performance measurement, IT skills and overall motivation for employee engagement and adoption of digital transformation and how all these phenomena have a close interaction with each other to achieve a better chance of success on future DT implementations
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    An evaluation of black crop farmers facing economic difficulties in the Mpumalanga province
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Makukule, Matrix Kulani; Larbi, Lee
    Black crop farmers continue to play a key role in South Africa’s agriculture. However, they have been faced with a lot of challenges. The objective of this study was to investigate the obstacles that stood in their way, the types of crops that they raised, and the potential solutions to their predicament. The study used qualitative research methodologies and was based on a sample of farmers from the province of Mpumalanga. These farmers were interviewed, and the responses were analysed in terms of their quality. Because they did not have appropriate access to lands, agricultural financing, and technical help, the findings imply that black crop farmers were impoverished. Land reform, equal access to agricultural finance, and technical assistance were some of the recommendations made
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    Linking banking sector competition and access to finance: the case of select Sub-Saharan African countries
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Molaba, Kamogkelo; Gwatidzo, Tendai
    Using multi-year firm-level data of 27 Sub-Saharan countries from the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES), this study investigates the link between banking sector competition and firms’ access to finance. The paper employs a probit model to measure the link between banking sector competition and access to finance by observing the impact of the four measures of competition namely: CR3, the Panzar and Rosse H-statistic, the Lerner index and the Boone indicator on credit constraints and financing obstacles whilst controlling for certain firm-level and country-level factors. The results are dominantly in line with the market power hypothesis which posits that banking sector competition improves access to finance. Additionally, the link between competition and access to finance depends on other firm-level variables such as top manager experience and industry as well as country-level variables such as institutional quality, credit information and strength of legal rights. The results of this paper are overall consistent with evidence provided by other studies that support the market power hypothesis which suggests that competitive conduct in the banking sector improves access to finance. The policy implications drawn from this study are that policymakers in the SSA region need to implement policies that strengthen competition in the banking sector without hindering efforts to strengthen banks. Policymakers need to also regulate the financing of business by banks to ensure that funds are directed at growing sectors and businesses that will in turn influence the growth of the economy
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    The influence of a complementary system of industry 4.0 capabilities on the performance of South African financial services firms
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Ramadeen, Jeeth; Ramsaroop, Neetu
    In this study, the relationships between Industry 4.0 (I4.0) complementary capability and performance outcomes were examined by utilising the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm. To achieve this, a conceptual framework was developed and tested, with a focus on eight specific I4.0 capabilities: Digitalisation, Integration, Decentralisation, Virtualisation, Real-time capability, Modularity, Service Orientation, and Human Resources. A relational cross- sectional survey examined how I4.0 complementary capability affects firm performance outcomes. The study employed a positivist perspective and utilised deductive reasoning to measure these effects. Data was gathered via structured questionnaire from 73 business and IT decision-makers within South Africa. The study employed correlation and multiple regression techniques to analyse the statistical relationship between I4.0 complementary capability and performance outcomes. The study's results indicate that adopting I4.0 complementary capability has a positive effect on firm performance. This suggests that businesses that implement I4.0 complementary capability are more likely to experience improved performance outcomes. The study found that digitalisation is a consistent and significant contributor to firm performance and that when combined with virtualisation, it has a positive and significant effect. However, there was no statistically significant relationship between I4.0 complementary capability and Innovation Capability. Nevertheless, digitalisation alone showed a strong positive and statistically significant relationship with innovation capability. Lastly, the study found no statistical significance in the relationship between I4.0 complementary capability and Value Outcomes. Digitalisation, on the other hand, was found to be a consistent and significant contributor to value outcomes, and when combined with virtualisation, it also had a positive and significant effect. The research study provides a unique contribution by utilizing the resource-based view of the firm to establish a connection between I4.0 complementary capabilities and performance outcomes within Financial Services. The study's results offer valuable insights for researchers and organisations seeking to understand which I4.0 capabilities are most significant and how they can enhance a firm ability to achieve performance outcomes. The financial services industry is showing a strong interest in understanding the potential benefits of I4.0. This research provides insight into the relationship between an I4.0 complementary capability and firm performance outcomes, which can help practitioners prioritize their efforts to develop such a capability and determine the most important underlying I4.0 capabilities. By identifying the most critical I4.0 capabilities and their impact on firm performance, practitioners can focus their resources on implementing effective interventions that can improve their overall performance outcomes.
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    Idiosyncratic risk in the South African stock market
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-08) Scrooby, Caleb; Page, Daniel
    Traditional finance theory posits that risk and return are linearly related. Higher returns are to be expected with greater risks. Modern portfolio theory champions for diversification of portfolios, which reduces risks unique to a firm to zero. This unique risk is known as idiosyncratic risk. Studies have come along and challenged the conventional wisdom in finance. Several studies have found that idiosyncratic risk is compensated for in many markets, partly due to poor diversification opportunities and partly because market risk alone is not sufficient to explain returns. This study tests if lagged idiosyncratic risk is associated with stock returns in the South African stock market for the period between 2001 and 2022. The study examines if investors are compensated, through higher returns, for holding firm-specific risk, in a market where full diversification may not be possible. This study also adds to the ongoing discussion on the degree and importance of price anomalies in an emerging stock market as well as the impact of idiosyncratic risk in determining predicted stock returns. This study utilizes a portfolio strategy that buys stocks with high idiosyncratic volatility and shorts stocks with low idiosyncratic volatility. The rationale for this is that if investors are compensated for assuming higher unsystematic risk, the alpha of this long-short portfolio should be positive and significant. This study instead found the opposite, which is that the alpha’s of these portfolios were negative and statistically significant. This suggests that investors who hold stocks with lower idiosyncratic volatility are compensated more than investors who hold stocks with higher idiosyncratic volatility. The robustness checks confirm this finding, as it was noted that portfolios continue to have statistically significant alphas following months of low volatility, with the long-short IVOL portfolios outperforming all other portfolios. The alphas remain negative and significant even when controlling for size and value in two-way sorts. Idiosyncratic volatility is therefore negatively related to stock returns, a puzzling result