Family businesses constitute a large number of businesses worldwide contributing significantly to the global economy. Succession planning is a key issue influencing the sustainability of these family businesses. According to research, approximately 30% of businesses fail due to matters related to succession planning (Grote, 2003). Further research indicated that approximately 50% of family businesses do not have adequate succession plans in place. Hence, family businesses are exposed to significant risk in sustainability due to insufficient succession planning. An effective approach to succession planning in a family business increases the chance of success of a family business in both the short and long term. The purpose of this study was to develop a better understanding of approaches to succession planning in two family businesses in East London, South Africa. This purpose was to improve the commercial viability of family businesses and improve the body of knowledge from an academic perspective. To this end, a detailed literature study was conducted on family businesses and succession planning. A qualitative case study research paradigm was implemented to ascertain the nature of the approaches adopted by the two businesses. An interview process was conducted with the incumbent founders (fathers) and successors (sons) of the family business. This process suggested that each business requires a unique approach to succession plan which may include aspects of formal and informal processes. It is necessary to understand the nature of the family business, its interrelated relationships and context to adequately determine the success of a succession approach. It is for this reason that families aspiring long term sustainability should invest in effective succession planning approaches that integrate the nuances of the individual family business.

The study focused on identifying ways in which the delivery of the building infrastructure projects that are executed by SME contractors can be improved. TQM, which has been widely used in other sectors with great success, has been explored as the tool that can be used to improve the delivery of building projects. The literature review that was conducted focused on the entire spectrum of the project cycle. It first addressed the functioning of the public sector and the legislative mandate of the DPW. Then it addressed the construction industry and SME contractors that are working in the built environment. TQM together with its elements were explored in detail to determine its applicability in terms of the delivery of building projects. The empirical study was undertaken to test the outcomes of the literature review in the context of the built environment. A quantitative research method was adopted for the study which achieved a response rate of 44 percent. Descriptive statistics were computed during the analysis of the data with the mode being used as the main measuring tool. The findings revealed that there was an uneven distribution of human capital in the industry and the consulting firms were the biggest benefactors of this. The study also revealed a high turnover rate in the SME contractors while the public sector has the oldest employees. Architects and construction managers were found to be the least represented profession. There was also a high concentration of role players in the Amathole Region. The recommendations were four fold and the Department of Public Works (DPW) as client body had to take the centre stage in implementing such recommendations. The recommendations are meant to address: the development of technical people to enhance their capacity, the reduction of the high turnover rate of technical people, the uneven distribution of resources, and specifying of the roles and responsibilities of all the people that are involved in building infrastructure projects.

The significance of SMME development as a route to creating jobs and enhancing skills development has been and is still on top of South Africa‟s developmental agenda. The escalating unemployment rate and skills shortage to meet with demands of globalization compels the government to develop strategies to respond to the crisis. It is eighteen years since South Africa became a democratic country but the job creation and skills development sectors remain in a crisis. Stagnant economic growth is as a result of high unemployment which is a factor of skills shortage in the black South African labour force. The government creates an enabling environment by developing flexible regulations for equal participation of historically disadvantaged individuals to participate the in mainstream economic activities. Public investment through infrastructure development is one of the labour intensive programmes to promote SMME development, job creation and skills development. It is against this background that this research aims to explore the effect of SMME development in creating jobs and its ability to serve as centres of skills development. Also, it is against this background that this study aims to assess the extent of government support in creating an enabling environment for SMME development to achieve its ultimate goals.

The focus on entrepreneurs as drivers of the economies of nations has catapulted them into the forefront of the local and international marketplace. This has led to a demand for entrepreneurial education and training resulting in a plethora of different and often divergent views. One commonality that has emerged is that entrepreneurship can be taught; although it cannot be taught in conventional and traditional ways. It requires a move from traditional education and training to more enterprising participative and supportive forms of business development. It requires investments of time, resources and support. Incubators are facilities that are engaged with entrepreneurs and offer a variety of support including education and training. This study has assessed the effectiveness of training offered by the Seda Nelson Mandela Bay ICT incubator. There has been limited research undertaken on entrepreneurial education and training in an incubator setting. This study followed the qualitative paradigm. The sample comprised of 10 small businesses at the Seda Nelson Mandela Bay ICT incubator. Empirical data was obtained by interviewing the owners of the small businesses using an interview schedule. Issues such as the most effective training programme, content that it contained, methodology used and quality of the facilitator and applicability of the training programme were explored. The study found that the small businesses were opportunity driven rather than necessity driven and that the incubator served as a bridging facility in moving the businesses from the informal sector to the formal sector. The content of the training programmes was found to be effective when a mix of both theoretical and practical is offered especially with an emphasis on the underlying entrepreneurial themes of confidence, persistence and uncertainty and so on. It also found that training programmes should be linked to the life cycle of the business and address the specific needs of the small business owner. The start-up phase requires very specific training. Most of the facilitators were found to be experienced and empathetic. However, only a few were using a wider range of preferred learning styles favoured by entrepreneurs such as role playing, simulation, brainstorming and problem-solving techniques. The study also found that when generic training programmes are offered there was less recall on the part of the trainees. The management team of the incubator is an important determinant of the success of the incubatees and it is recommended that they need to be well versed in their sector and have good networking skills. There is a strong link between the theoretical and the practical content of training programmes especially where the emphasis is more on the practical content. It is recommended that facilitators pay attention to their relationship with trainees as it is a critical success factor in the training programme. Training programmes offered over a period of time add more value to the incubatee. This might be because of the mentoring and counselling that is available after each training module is completed. Finally, more research needs to be undertaken on the quality and effectiveness of training programmes offered by incubators to small businesses.

The telecommunications landscape in South Africa is changing. The monopolistic nature of the sector, previously dominated by Telkom has come to an end. Telecommunications companies, in particular SMMEs face the opportunity as well as challenges to find new ways of doing business successfully in this changing landscape. The research problem states a business model for SMMEs in the telecommunications sector. The author’s research is aimed to assist SMMEs in this sector to reposition them and be successful. The literature review focused on the local telecommunications market in South Africa, a comparisons between telecommunications markets in relation to other countries with similarities in their telecoms sectors as well as the opportunities and challenges SMMEs face in the market space. Regulation and new technologies pose opportunities but also potential dangers for business owners to conduct business. Traditionally, a typical resell model would be fully dependant on the way the monopolist determined the shape and structures of small companies, but the research indicated innovation and creativity will be the drivers to be successful today. The research design was done by using a survey questionnaire to telecoms end users. The literature review and a survey aimed at the consumer market were done and the findings highlights focus areas where SMMEs need to direct their energy and resources in to establish the business model. With reference to both the literature review and the empirical findings, the business model can be formulated and supported by a strong entrepreneurial person or group of people. In addition, the recommended business-level strategy is an integrated and coordinated set of commitments and actions the SMMEs will use to gain a competitive advantage by exploiting core competencies in specific telecoms markets.

Given the rapid inflow of African immigrant entrepreneurs into South Africa, as well as the lack of understanding and research attention given to African immigrant entrepreneurial orientation, the failure rate of their businesses in South Africa is very high. The purpose of this study is to contribute to more effective and robust African immigrant entrepreneurship in South Africa by investigating the impact of African immigrant entrepreneurial orientation on business performance. With this purpose in mind, the primary objective of this study is to establish the level of entrepreneurial orientation of African immigrant-owned small businesses in the Eastern Cape Province, and to determine the influence of this orientation on business performance. This study sets out to pull together previous findings and theories on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, and business performance, to find support for the theories on the determinants of entrepreneurial orientation in the literature, and to combine these findings into a simple model. An overview of small businesses was first conducted, in which the nature of small businesses and African immigrant-owned small businesses was taken into consideration, as well as the role small businesses play within the economy and the different challenges small businesses face. The dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation were discussed. These included Innovativeness, Pro-activeness, Risk-taking, Competitive aggressiveness, and Autonomy. Business performance was discussed and was measured in terms of financial and non-financial measures. The resource based view was also discussed and human, social, and financial capitals were taken into consideration. A proposed theoretical framework was established to show the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and business performance of African immigrant-owned small businesses and this was later tested by developing a hypothesis. A structured questionnaire was developed and data was collected through these self-administered questionnaires. They were made available to the respondents by a means of the snowball technique and data was collected from 218 respondents. Each construct was defined and operationalised. This was done by using themes from previous studies, as well as self developed themes. Cronbach‟s alpha coefficients were used to confirm reliability and validity of the measuring instruments. Completed questionnaires were subject to different statistical tests. A descriptive analysis was carried out, as well as an exploratory factor analysis, multiple regression and an analysis of variance. The findings of this study showed that Innovativeness has a negative relationship to Business performance whilst Competitive aggressiveness, Proactiveness, Risk-taking, and Autonomy have a significant positive relationship to Business performance. Furthermore, the findings established that Financial capital has a significant relationship to Competitive aggressiveness, Innovativeness, and Proactiveness, whilst there is no relationship to Risk-taking and Autonomy. In addition, it was established that there is a significant relationship between Human capital and Competitive aggressiveness, Proactiveness, and Autonomy, whilst there is no relationship to Innovativeness and Risk-taking. Moreover, the study also showed that a relationship exists between some selected demographic variables of the African immigrant-owned small business and entrepreneurial orientation, as measured by Innovativeness (H1a), Pro-activeness (H1b), Risk-taking (H1c), Competitive aggressiveness (H1d) and Autonomy (H1e). An exception was the demographic variable, the Level of education, which was not found to be as stipulated in the hypothesis. In the context of this study, it was found that 62% of change in African immigrant-owned small business performance is affected by entrepreneurial orientation while other factors accounted for the remaining 38%. Management should revisit its entrepreneurial orientation capabilities and determine whether these are delivering values. This will require a review of policies and procedures in addition to benchmarking these activities to identify whether the business is committing an unwarranted and misplaced amount of resources to a given entrepreneurial orientation activity. Blind pursuit of the uniform implementation of an entrepreneurial dimension is not an effective way for African immigrant-owned small businesses to create an advantage.

Thesis (MPA.) --University of Limpopo, 2016. / Refer to document

Thesis (MBA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2020 / Statistics from European region and sub-Saharan African countries, including South Africa, indicate that the construction industry is distinctly dominated by males and that women representation is very low. Literature indicates that gender-based discrimination, harsh work environment, insufficient knowledge about the construction industry and the shortage of women who are successful in construction are some of the barriers that discourage women from entering the industry. Therefore, this study focussed on the examination of the factors that contribute to the sustainability, or lack there-of women who are already in the construction industry. This study sought to find out how the women entrepreneurs who are in the industry of construction sustain themselves regardless of the many challenges they face. The study applied qualitative design and used of an interview guide as a tool for collecting data in semi-structured interviews with women entrepreneurs in the Capricorn district of Limpopo Province. Data was analysed using the thematic content analysis method. The discovery was that women entrepreneurs tend to give away tenders to male counterparts in order for them to do the actual work. The giving away of contracts in turn builds the experience of their male counterparts and their businesses which contributes to the women not being able to have confidence and be sustainable in the construction industry. Women entrepreneurs who managed to sustain themselves in the industry for longer periods attribute their sustainability on hiring the right people with the right skills and qualifications. These women entrepreneurs recommend that support programmes should be made available and accessible to women in the industry as well as those who are entering so that they do not fall into the trap of giving away or surrendering contracts. This study recommends that new women entrants into the industry should be mentored by women entrepreneurs who are actually doing the job to ensure their sustainability in the industry. It also recommends that the existing structures be more visible and to strengthen their support of these women.

Thesis(M. Com.(Business Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are an important vehicle in income redistribution, poverty alleviation, employment creation and contribute to the gross domestic product of South Africa. However, SMEs in South Africa suffer from weak performance and thus a high failure rate. The main objective of this study was to investigate the impact of learning and marketing orientation on the performance of SMEs. A quantitative approach was used, while a self-administered questionnaire was also employed during the data collection process. A four section questionnaire covering demographic information, learning orientation variables, marketing orientation variables and performance variables was prepared and distributed randomly to a selected sample of 390 SME owners in Msukaligwa Local Municipality in Mpumalanga Province. A total of 181 questionnaires were returned. Descriptive statistics was undertaken to evaluate the respondents’ characteristics against the three research variables (learning orientation, marketing orientation and performance). The software used to analyse information gathered and to ensure accuracy and reliability of the study results was Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0. Correlation and regression analyses were performed to determine the relationship between learning orientation and performance, and the relationship between marketing orientation and performance. The Cronbach’s alpha was used as a measure of reliability. The results of the study revealed that both learning and marketing orientation positively impact on the performance of SMEs. Recommendations to improve the marketing and learning orientation of SMEs are suggested.

The main aim of the study was to analyze the socio-economic variables effecting agritourism business using data from two rural communities of the Limpopo province, Nwa’metwa and Lenyenye. The results showed that there are significant socio-economic differences among agritourism and non-agritourism farmers. The socio-economic variables used are literacy, gender, age, land size and family size. Two multinomial models were used to model agritourism behavior. The two models, namely fully and partially registered agritourism farmers were estimated. Non-registered agritourism farmers were used as the reference group. These models denoted the relative probability of both fully and partially registered agritourism farmers to the probability of the non-registered agritourism farmers. The logarithm results implied that older farmers were less likely to prefer to operate business as a fully or partially registered agritourism farmer compared to the non-registered agritourism group. Farmers’ decisions in business operation were informed by their level of education, experience as well as social networks. / Agriculture, Animal Health & Human Ecology / M. Sc. (Agriculture)