Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (ETDs)

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    The use of digital marketing for sales growth in women-owned small, medium and micro-enterprises in South Africa
    (2022-03) Mthethwa, Pumza
    Women are an important part of the entrepreneurial economy. In the 4th industrial revolution, incorporating the latest available tools was an important part of growth and business sustainability. The purpose of this study is to understand the digital marketing usage by women-owned SMMEs in South Africa. The research method utilised was interviews using a convenience sample from 15 participants. The participants were drawn from women-owned businesses and comprised of business owners and employees responsible for marketing within the organisation. The findings show that women-owned SMMEs are aware of and do use some of the available digital platforms. However, their knowledge of how to fully leverage these platforms and take advantage of them is limited. The study highlighted that there are challenges faced by the WO businesses in leveraging digital marketing in their businesses this can be attributed to a deeply entrenched inequality in society or from the fact that women entrepreneurs start off from a worse of position versus men. Interestingly the digital world reflects what happens in the real world. Recommendations include an establishment of a woman representation body that will represent women-owned SMMEs in the public and private sectors, training that will provide easy to implement measures and quantifiable outcomes for SMMEs to use in their strategies or in cases of outsourcing digital marketing implementation to a third party
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    The relationship between digital transformation strategy and the performance of SMMEs in South Africa
    (2022) Rasenyalo, Dieketseng
    Small business growth is in the best interest of every nation as they are meant to contribute to employment creation, poverty alleviation, in turn one of the drivers of economic growth, therefore a study on SMMEs digital transformation is vital, especially in the 4th industrial revolution era. This study is set out to review the factors that affect digital transformation strategies of SMMEs, as well as the opportunities that are at SMMEs disposal to achieve digital transformation. This research is underpinned by Rogers’s theory (2016), which posits that digital transformation is not about updating technology but about the progression of strategic rationale to operate a business. This objective was achieved through qualitative data analysis, by interviewing and analysing data from selected SMMEs within the Gauteng province of South Africa. This study found that the factors that affect a digital transformation in SMMEs include; internet connectivity, technology applications, electricity and outdated skills of some officials. This study also found that opportunities available for SMMEs to deploy digital transformation are inherent in data usage, competition within the SMMEs cycle, business value, innovation and creativity as well as integrating customers into the business. Therefore, this study adds to the literature by proving that in order for SMMEs in South Africa to improve on performance, they need to enhance their business strategy by incorporating a digital transformation strategy. It is recommended that the government should step up in providing some of those factors identified by SMMEs, also that SMMEs should apply performance metrics, incentivize employees, collaborate with clients, and prioritise customers over profits to ensure effective performance and growth, especially in this digital era.
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    Attitudes to integrated reporting in small-to medium-sized companies
    (2018) Du Bourg, Caroline
    The purpose of this research is to explore the attitudes of small- to medium-sized entities (SMEs) towards integrated reporting. This report analyses the motivations to produce an integrated report, the reasons for not preparing one, the isomorphic processes present in the field, and the logics of resistance evident. The thesis employs an interpretive methodology. Interviews were held with a sample of professionals involved with corporate reporting for SMEs’ to establish their attitudes towards preparing integrated reports. These attitudes were then analysed to identify the key themes. The research finds that the respondents perceive the primary benefits of preparing an integrated report to be improved relationships with stakeholders and an enhanced strategy and business model. Cost, lack of resources and no buy-in to the concept are the reasons that were identified for not SMEs to not adopt integrated reporting. The benefits are currently overshadowed by the perceived challenges which results in limited isomorphic pressures present in the field to engender the change. SMEs preparing integrated reports understand them to be best-practice. In contrast, those that do not prepare integrated reports disagree with this claim, as they are unaware of the topic or do not believe it to be applicable in the smaller environment. These attitudes have resulted in logics of resistance. The resistance has taken the form of either not preparing reports or not adhering to the essence of the concept. However, there is also evidence that some SMEs have complied with the requirements of integrated reporting. The research further revealed that the interaction between the isomorphic processes and logics of resistance determines the extent to which an SME prepares an integrated report. The results of this thesis indicate that the isomorphic pressures within the field need to grow to stimulate further preparation of reports. To achieve this, there needs to be widespread instruction on the topic, as well as an adaptation of the framework to be more relevant for smaller entities. This research shows how a social context impacts isomorphic processes and how the relatively new concept of integrated reporting is applied in an SME environment. The interpretive-style financial reporting research that has been employed addresses a void in the existing literature.