Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (ETDs)

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Small and Medium Enterprises

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    Evaluating value created by the use of Competitive Intelligence among Small and Medium Enterprises in South Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Fadal, Muhammed Khalid; Mlotshwa, Semukele
    Competitive Intelligence (CI) is the ability to obtain, evaluate, and apply information about rivals, consumers, and other market elements to help a company gain a competitive edge. A direct relationship exists between organisations who conduct CI and the profitability of the business. Large firms in South Africa have proven that increasing their use of CI increases their competitive advantage. While research on the application of CI utilisation by large firms has been sufficiently documented, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa have not been subjected to the same level of study. This Business Venture Proposal aimed to determine the value created for firms that conduct CI in South Africa, with a focus on SMEs. The benchmark for value in this study is the increase in competitive advantage a firm may gain from using CI. Three independent variables, namely using formalised CI, sources of information, and building internal capacity, will be used to determine the change in value. This study will provide a proposed model for developing an independent CI service aimed at SMEs in South Africa. This will be done in the context of providing these firms with niche skills and services. Additionally, this will be provided in a convenient reporting application coupled to a remote consulting service. This study is quantitative and used surveys as an instrument to gather the required data. However, once the surveys were sent to the database through email and social media, the researcher had no control over who responded to the survey, and therefore probability sampling was used. Through statistical analysis, it was identified that firms that conducted formal CI could create additional value over firms that conducted the exercise informally or not at all. Firms showing a preference for secondary data sources, used an agile system, which combined both primary and secondary sources, with lesser important items using secondary data and more strategically important Key Intelligence Questions (KIQs) answered using primary data, returning the best reward. However, no support could be found for firms that invested in their own internal capacity to gather CI. While a positive linear relationship existed, it was statistically insignificant. Further research studies are required, aiming specifically at SMEs to better understand the CI application and appetite per sector. This would help identify the trends of each sector and provide a better overview of the adoption of CI in each sector. This would also help determine the value attributed by each sector to CI, as well as identify any underlying barriers that may be synonymous with a specific sector. It is also recommended that future studies measure the effect an intervention, including training of employees, has on the long-term value perception of CI. This can be further enhanced by measuring the competitiveness of the firm prior to the intervention and post the intervention after a specified period
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    Factors influencing women to adopt and sustain entrepreneurship in South Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Lesejane, Boitumelo; Mazombe, Nomusa
    This study aimed to understand the factors influencing women to adopt and sustain entrepreneurship in South Africa. The current gender salary disparity, high female unemployment rate, and improving yet high female entrepreneurial inactivity ratio and failure rate compared to male counterparts in South Africa are perplexing. Compared to men, women are more likely to experience extended periods of unemployment, reducing their odds of finding employment. In this regard, 80,6% of women experienced long- term unemployment in Q4:2022, compared to 76,1% of males (StatsSA, 2023). Women have generally had a higher long-term unemployment rate than the general population. Given women’s maternal instincts, one would assume that women's active involvement in entrepreneurial endeavours would circumvent the high unemployment rate. However, women's entrepreneurial activity ratio has been seen to be below that of men, despite the efforts by the government to bridge the gap between the two genders. Women face a double-edged sword: high unemployment and low entrepreneurial activity ratios. This study focused on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across various industries in South Africa. To validate the overarching objective of this study, “Factors which influence women to adopt and sustain entrepreneurship”, the study also looked at the factors influencing a small sample of men to adopt and sustain entrepreneurship in South Africa to understand if the factors are at all different. Both male and female business owner perceptions of factors influencing women to start and maintain businesses were also explored
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    Motivations and outcomes of social media utilisation by small and medium enterprises: a case study of the Gauteng gourmet food truck industry
    (2020) Mahlangu, Mthokozisi
    The unemployment rate in South Africa is reported to be at twenty-seven percent (27%) and has been rising steadily in recent years. Entrepreneurship is said to be the solution to this high unemployment rate. However, despite the pressure to grow entrepreneurship in the country there are still challenges that inhibit entrepreneurs from achieving success and growth in their businesses. Among these challenges is market access, which is often inhibited by the inability of the entrepreneur to promote his/her business. These inabilities are often the result of limited financial resources. These challenges pose a critical problem for South African Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Approximately fifty percent (50%) of all new SMEs fail within the first three years and eighty to ninety percent (80 to 90%) fail within five (5) years. It is therefore in the interest of the local economy as well as that of existing and budding entrepreneurs to find a solution to the challenge of market access and limited resources that is faced by entrepreneurs. Social media marketing is a relatively new phenomenon that is said to be a solution for SMEs to promote their businesses at a low cost and in a way this allows them direct access to their market via a two-way engagement platform. This study explores the relationship between social media and entrepreneurship in South Africa and seeks to understand what the key motivations for adopting social media are and what outcomes have been achieved using social media. In order to explore the relationship between entrepreneurship and social media, this study has selected the gourmet food truck movement as a case study. The gourmet food truck movement is said to have started in the United States of America in 2008. The motivation behind its inception is said to have been the recession of 2008, which saw talented chefs losing their jobs and starting their own businesses by introducing their gourmet style cooking to mobile food vending and using social media as a promotional tool to broadcast their location to their followers. This trend has become a worldwide phenomenon and South Africa itself has experienced growth in the number of gourmet food trucks in recent years. This study explores the use of social media as an instrument of marketing communications in the context of the phenomenon of gourmet food trucks in South Africa. The study is based on the gourmet food truck movement in the Gauteng province and it seeks to determine the reasons why the gourmet food truck owners use social media and also seek to discern the outcomes that they experience. The aim is to determine the effectiveness of social media to help these businesses constraint as the food truck owners are also the food truck managers and are often too busy to conduct a lengthy interview for academic research purposes. Recommendations for future studies are discussed in this study and they include; spousal partnerships in the food truck business which was a key finding in this research as both spouses had often ventured into the gourmet food truck business together. However, there is not much research as to the motivations behind this decision as well as the implications of the partnership on their personal relationship; as well as the benefits and the pitfalls that it has for the business itself. Another recommendation for future research is the metrics for measuring social media. Due to the qualitative nature of this research the findings are based on the experiences of the participants which, as such cannot be quantified scientifically. Therefore, the recommendation of this study is for future research to employ quantitative methods to explore the metrics with which to measure the impact of social media on business performance, particularly in the South African context. accomplish their operational goals of growing sales revenue, managing costs and increasing profits. The study employed a qualitative research methodology and used the interpretivism approach as a research paradigm, as well as the case study methodology of design. Interpretivism was used as an appropriate research paradigm for this research, as it enabled the drawing of information from participants as a function of their day to day experiences. The case study approach was utilised, and it was based on the gourmet food truck movement which stands as a proxy for the SMEs in South Africa. This was decided upon, based on gourmet food trucks having the characteristics that describe an SME in the South African context, as well as being prominent users of social media. As discussed in this study, gourmet food trucks are classified in the Trade and Accommodation segment of the South African SME sector which is the largest segment. As such, it serves as a representation of the SME industry in South Africa. Gauteng province has the largest concentration of food trucks in South Africa. The study used the semi structured interview as a method of data collection. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. Responses were coded and a causal map was used to determine the relationships between the codes and certain outcomes. Findings affirmed that the assertions made in the literature that the gourmet food truck movement emanated from the recession of 2008 were indeed applicable. This scenario manifested itself in one of the eight (8) cases in our study whereby a chef was demoted from his sous-chef position, due to the recession. However, most of the subjects indicated that their motivations were driven by a desire for independence as well as a zeal and passion for food and business. The reason for using social media was not only the low cost of social media; although this was a great and welcome advantage. The other motivation was found to be the broad reach of social media. The popularity of the social media platform enabled the respondents to reach a broad market, to gain market access. The findings also indicated that social media not only provided access to a broad market but also created an environment which enabled growth in sales and profits. The challenges of using social media were deemed to be negligible in comparison with the benefits of using social media. As such most respondents recommended the use of social media as a marketing tool. Key limitations of this study pertain to a small sample frame resultant from the relatively smaller size of the gourmet food truck industry in South Africa. Time also presented a