4. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - Faculties submissions

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    Transitioning to a Platform Business: A Resource-Based View Case Study of a South African Bank
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Ramrup, Kashil; Lee, Gregory
    Traditional incumbent banks have seen upstart digital-only banks and fintech, free of legacy systems, challenging their market share. In an effort to avoid disruption by fintechs, banks are embracing the platform strategy. Developing a platform makes it possible to interact with current communities and benefit from shared network effects that can hasten growth, save costs, and increase brand awareness. This research report investigates the impact on a large incumbent bank's resources transitioning to a platform business. A case study was completed on one of South Africa’s big five banks, focusing on the corporate and investment banking(CIB) division. The division is considered a thought leader around platforms within the bank and is actively engaged in shaping and driving its transitional journey. A qualitative study was conducted through semi-structured interviews with senior management and executive leadership. The study population comprised employees of the CIB division of Bank X, South Africa. The sample was selected based on seniority and exposure to the bank's platform business strategy formulation and implementation. The study found that, despite the bank intentions to pursue the platform strategy, there was an internal misalignment in precisely what it meant at the various levels within the organisation, compounded by the lack of platform and technical skills in multiple areas to support the transition. As CIB is a high-touch banking model, there was little understanding of how the physical network would be impacted or could be leveraged/integrated into the platform model. It also found that transitioning to a platform requires individuals with a platform thinking mindset, the ability to challenge the traditional linear pipeline business model, and an enabled and aligned culture with a new operating model that could blend the physical and digital worlds
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    Factors driving the adoption of platform-based solutions in rural/underserved markets
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022-03) Nhlapo, Palesa; Magida, Ayanda
    Rural to urban migration causes an increase in economic activities, however, this trend also leads to a strain on urban infrastructure such public and private services e.g. transport, energy and health care infrastructure. The migration trend was overlaid with the platform business model such as online platform services which attempt to assist in addressing the infrastructure issues caused by the urban migration. There are factors which intervene in the migrant’s decision to either move from the rural area to the urban areas which is typically their place of work. Where the rural area provided more benefits, which caused the potential migrant to remain in the area, the factors are described as pull factors. If the rural area provides less reasons for the migrant to remain in the rural area, these factors are seen as push factors – which drive the migrant to move the urban area. These movements are largely pushing migrants to urban areas which causes a strain on urban infrastructure. Globally, online platforms services (e-commerce, e-government,social media, fintechs) are gradually becoming a key part of communication, job productivity, and daily living activities for both employers and customers. Locally, factors which drive migration to urban areas were also being influenced by online platform services which are becoming more accessible in the daily facilitation of life by both the employers and employees. In the studies reviewed, there has not been much done to evaluate whether technologies such as online platform services could aid in addressing the urban migration issue. There are polarities in thought that observe that while urban migration causes an increase in rural economic activities, it also causes strain on urban infrastructure as the population increases beyond the capacity of the urban infrastructure. The study investigated whether factors such as family, employer, employee, and online platforms caused an effect in the reduction of urban migration. Employers were found to be typically located in urban areas. The hard lock-down enforced due to the covid-19 pandemic helped satisfy that employee, employers, family and online platform services can be used to maintain productivity remotely (away from urban areas). The study found that (1) the employee was likely to migrate to urban areas based on their level of education and their province of origin, (2) the employers used online platform services to enable 2 productivity and there was adoption and lastly (3) there was low family influence on the decision to migrate. A recommendation for future research would be to investigate the migration efficiencies created in the context of the employer or the rural/underserved economy by the adoption of the online platform services.