The effect of business development services and human capital on the performance of SMMEs in Gauteng
Date
2019
Authors
Shezi, Veronica
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Abstract
Business development services (BDS) represent a broad variety of non-financial services offered to small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) to improve their performance. BDS are part of enterprise development which seeks to give support to SMMEs. They can be offered by government or private institutions. Human capital plays a role in addressing the lack of education and skills that the SMMEs are faced with. The study is motivated by the high failure and challenges facing SMMEs in South Africa. These challenges range from lack of education, lack of skills, lack of access to markets, lack of support.
The purpose of this research is to determine the empirical effect of business development services (BDS) and human capital (HC) on the performance of SMMEs in Gauteng Province in South Africa.
The research design was a quantitative research method and used a survey in the form of an online questionnaire, using a software called Qualtrics to collect the data and used SPSS for data analysis.
The main findings in the study revealed that there was no statistically significant relationship between BDS and performance of SMMEs. Human capital was so insignificant for this study due to the sig value greater than 0,05. This regression analysis could not be performed.
The implications of the study could help small business owners/managers to know what the challenges facing the sector are and what help is available in mitigating the challenges.
The study contributes to the literature of BDS, HC and SMME performance. The entrepreneurs can learn from the study. Government, policy makers and BDS providers can find lessons on how to support SMMEs better to ensure competitiveness
Description
A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation, 2019.
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Citation
Shezi, Veronica, (2019) The effect of business development services and human capital on the performance of SMMEs in Gauteng, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, https://hdl.handle.net/10539/28665