Archary, Byren, M.2011-03-172011-03-172011-03-17http://hdl.handle.net/10539/9164MBA - WBSThe previous Minister of Finance, Mr Trevor Manuel, once stated that small business represents an important vehicle to address the challenges of job creation, economic growth and equity; given the appropriate enabling environment, it can make an indelible mark on the South African economy. This report set out to determine the role of government support programmes in developing the SMME sector in South Africa. To address this problem, the research was segmented into the following critical questions: · What is the prevailing opinion on the impact of government support programmes thus far in promoting small business development? · In the face of the prevailing enabling landscape, which factors continue to influence the development of small businesses in South Africa? This exploratory research used a qualitative approach to collect data. The sample consisted of an official from a government department, four representatives of small business support agencies and 31 small business owners. In total the sample consisted of 36 participants. Although a qualitative approach has been criticised for being anecdotal and lacking both the means to reproduce and generalise the outcomes, multiple data streams were used to ensure the integrity and reliability of the results. Two interview schedules were developed and used during the semi-structured interviews to collect the primary data. The first schedule was developed specifically to solicit responses from government and small business support agencies. The second schedule was used when interviewing small business owners. iii To counter the threat of an illogical and poorly constructed interview schedule, this research ran a pilot study as part of its verification exercise. The interview schedule was sent to five policy beneficiaries (i.e. small business owners) for comments and suggestions on improving it. These five small business owners did not form part of the final sample. Based on the balance of evidence, the market regarded the impact of the government support programmes as ineffective and having done little to develop and grow the sector. The prevailing opinion was that policy and strategy seemed effective only in theory. Furthermore, support agencies were regarded as ineffective and seen to be operating in isolation of each other and government. Officials from these agencies were not adequately trained to assist small business owners with queries and advice. Equally discouraging, the research uncovered that historical factors limiting the growth potential of small businesses persisted. This means, that although government has promulgated several pieces of legislature such as the Small Business Development Act and the Integrated Strategy on the Promotion of Entrepreneurship and Small Enterprise to improve the small business landscape, it has failed to address the basic problems of finance, training and development needs, shortage of scare skills and improving business skills sets. The role of government support programmes is therefore proving to be ineffective because of several reasons: · Poorly trained officials that offer ineffective advice and information to small business owners; · A lack of dynamic and sustainable marketing campaigns that draw public attention towards the support programmes available; · A lack of a central repository of information related to the small business sector; · Tedious and bureaucratic processes that offer neither acknowledgment of receipt of applications nor notification of awards; iv · Small business support agencies working in isolation of government programmes and at times offering contradicting information with regard to the tender application processes; Addressing these pitfalls and ensuring proper implementation and synergy strategies will ameliorate the impact of government support programmes in developing the small business sector in South Africa. This report concludes by making some recommendations on how these pitfalls may be overcome.enGovernment supportSMME developmentThesis