Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (ETDs)

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/37778

Browse

Filters

2022 - 20232

Settings

Subject: search.filters.subject.Inclusive growth

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Accelerating socio-economic justice through inclusive economic-and-employment growth
    (University of the Witswatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Isaacs, Nandipha; Pillay, Pundy
    This paper posits that the labour market, through paying jobs, is an important lever for moving people out of poverty to address the social and economic consequences of apartheid in South Africa. The paper explores different parameters related to employment growth, namely the relationship between economic growth and employment growth, which types of business (small versus large) contribute most to employment growth, which sectors contribute most to employment growth, the barriers to employment growth experienced by entrepreneurs, and interventions required to ensure employment growth is inclusive. This research applied the ARDL model to understand the relationship between employment growth and economic growth on an aggregate level, at a sector level and a business size level, using StatsSA and SARB data for the period 2009 - 2019. This was supplemented by interviews with entrepreneurs and subject matter advisors who provided additional insights into the dynamics of employment growth. The findings of the report highlight that there is a positive relationship between economic growth and employment growth in South Africa, confirming that economic growth has contributed positively to the labour market, despite high and rising unemployment. Key sectors also show a positive relationship with economic growth. The findings revealed as well that small business employment has a negative relationship with economic growth. This paper also highlights that indicators that are affected by apartheid are still used in recruitment and promotion decisions, pointing to the need for company practices and policies to be re-looked to ensure Black Africans are not locked out of the economy.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Innovation policy change and inclusive agricultural innovation in South Africa
    (2022) Ndzotoyi, Phatheka Tania
    Agricultural innovation by both commercial and smallholder farmers is useful to economic growth and sustainability. In South Africa and many other developing countries, smallholder farmers make up the majority of farmers. The smallholder farmers face different challenges such as water scarcity and climate change. For this reason, farmers engage in different forms of innovation activities at a small scale. This study applied a combination of inclusive growth and inclusive innovation concepts as a lens to explore innovation policy and ways to promote inclusive agricultural innovation in small scale agriculture. This study adopts a qualitative method to analyse data. The study used primary data and also policy documents analysis. Primary data was gathered through semistructured interviews which were conducted with smallholder farmers, who serve as the primary participants and key informants for the study. A randomised selection was done to recruit thirty study participants from Limpopo and Mpumalanga. Data analysis made use of a cross-case analysis from the two areas in order to understand the constraints of innovation in the small-scale agricultural sector. The key findings for the study reveal that small-scale innovators in the agricultural sector are hindered by lack of resources, funding, and access to innovative technologies. These challenges negatively affect up-scaling of innovations and participation in valuable markets. The implications of the findings suggest that smallholder farmers must be supported in order to successfully execute innovative activities. The support includes having strategies and programs to provide the required resources to improve innovative capabilities of farmers. Policymakers need to revise and redesign policies that enable smallholder farmers to operate. Stakeholders in the NSI should provide interventions that support the specific needs of smallholder farmers to be functional and profitable. The study aspires to contribute to understanding innovation among smallholder farmers in South Africa through investigating the manner in which changes to the innovation policy in South Africa could promote smallholder farmer agricultural innovations that contribute to food security, job creation, and the burden of diseases in the agriculture sector.