Masters in Public Administration - MPA / A problem of the South African economy is the pervasive unemployment in particular amongst the black population. Double-digit unemployment figures had become the norm within post - apartheid South Africa. The newly elected government in 1994 identified the informal sector as a strategic growth area. The SMME sector was seen as unexplored and a potential conduit and possible answer to create employment opportunities and address the unemployment crisis. The question that guided the research was What are the challenges faced by the SMME sector, in particular black SMMEs, in becoming a sustainable and financially viable business? The study was qualitative in nature and the case methodology was used for this research. The key findings were that, there is an over - reliance on the business owner that in many instances, has very little business experience. Furthermore ,that government support programmes are not well known amongst the SMMEs. The major recommendations are that Government must provide the support to the SMME sector to become sustainable and contribute to employment creation. Government must explore the possibility of financially supporting the SMMEs. Lastly, that Government must review the regulatory and policy framework to reduce and create an enabling environment for SMMEs to grow and become lucrative.

Magister Scientiae (Physiotherapy) - MSc(Physio) / Ischaemic heart disease and stroke were the leading causes of death and disability globally, accounting for a combined 15 million deaths. Disability following a stroke is complex and multidimensional. Disability and functioning post stroke can be conceptualized within the framework of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). The involvement of the individual in their rehabilitation and recovery is essential. Therefore, it is a necessity for individuals, particularly in a low resource setting to engage in selfmanagement activities. Bandura’s social cognitive theory based on self-efficacy, forms the basis of self-management programmes. Self-management relates to one’s ability to manage one’s consequences post stroke, and self-efficacy has been proven to be pivotal in the management and improvement of long-term conditions. The aim of the study was to explore the self-management strategies employed by stroke survivors in the Western Cape, South Africa through an exploratory, qualitative design. Prior to the commencement of the data collection phase, ethical clearance was sought from the University of the Western Cape Research Ethics Committee. Participants were recruited from an urban and rural area in the Western Cape. An interview guide was developed based on previous literature. Interview questions were related to 1) what self-management strategies were adopted to address activity limitations and participation restrictions and 2) strategies used to address environmental challenges.

The primary purpose of this study was to ascertain how senior government officials employed within the Department of Social Development in South Africa perceived the social development approach to social welfare. The study was confined to the national Department of Social Development and nine senior government officials were interviewed, all of them employed in different work streams but related to social development policy development. A semi-structured interview schedule comprising of open-ended questions was utilised to collect information. A deductive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The main findings that emerged from the study were that senior managers employed within the national Department of Social Development had a good understanding of the social development approach to social welfare. They were familiar with the key characteristics, goals, strategies and linkages between social and economic development. Senior government officials also noted progress with the implementation of the social development approach and identified that social policies were largely aligned to this approach. In terms of challenges, senior government officials identified a range of challenges impacting on the implementation of the social development approach and this ranged from the lack of a common understanding of social development within broader government, inappropriate social service workforce, poor coordination and integration, inadequate leadership and an inadequate monitoring and evaluation system to measure social development progress. Senior government officials identified a range of suggestions to improve on the implementation of the social development approach. One of the suggestions was the development of an overarching social development strategic framework to guide the social development approach and acknowledge it as government’s chosen approach to social welfare. Many suggestions related to enhancing the capabilities of social service professionals and this included the development of a social service policy framework, enhanced engagement between higher education institutions and the Department of Social Development to ensure relevant curriculum. The findings of the study recommends a series of interventions to be implemented by the national Department of Social Development such as the development of an overarching social development strategic framework as suggested by senior government officials, an audit of policies to assess alignment with the social development approach and a review of its’ consultation processes. The findings of the study identify a need to replicate this research at provincial level to ascertain how the social development approach is understood and implemented at the point of service delivery.

The manner in which clothing is designed, produced and used is responsible for major negative impacts on the environment as well as major ethical and social issues on a global scale. The increased concern for sustainability issues in the industry is similarly argued to have led to transformations of the business context of apparel companies, that have been shown to increasingly incorporate sustainability in their corporate strategies. This thesis focuses on sustainability strategies of Swedish clothing brands operating in the global apparel and fashion industry, with the aim to explore the topic of sustainability in relation to the Swedish apparel industry. Through qualitative interviews with sustainability managers and consultants working within the industry, it explores the drivers for working with sustainability as well as main challenges for achieving sustainability within the apparel industry. The results show that the concept of sustainability is indeed highly complex and broad in regard to the design, production and use of clothes. Companies are influenced by many factors that drive change towards sustainability. The future of the apparel sector is believed to be increasingly affected by new ideas to produce and indeed also consume clothes that challenge the dominating linear system. In conclusion, the industry faces many challenges concerning sustainability, but the proactive approaches by apparel companies seem to create new opportunities for change. Also, the anticipated further increase in interest for sustainability in society and subsequently among consumers and other actors may stimulate further advancements of the strategic responses among apparel companies.

Background: The servitization process of capital goods manufacturing is a contemporary issue and indicates that organizations are transforming from offering only products and goods to providing combinations of augmented services with their products. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the body of knowledge on servitization and the challenges that manufacturers face in the transformation process towards servitization in a B2B context. Method: Through conducting a single- case study on a capital goods manufacturing organization in Sweden and interviewing six directors within the organization we have developed and intensified the current literature covering the challenges that encounter the organizations within this process. Findings/conclusions: Challenge facing a servitized manufacturer business is how to handle service offering customization to suit the final customers ' distinctive requirements. To guarantee adequate delivery, it is essential to have standardized control processes to guarantee consistency and quality of service offerings.

By adopting the United Nations Agenda 2030 and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, a common path towards a sustainable world is accepted. The Agenda 2030 framework strives towards global sustainability by including all sustainability dimensions. Agenda 2030 reaches worldwide and to all authority levels. To reach the goals, implementation on the local level is central, but the process, which is called localization, is however not always simple. Since the global prerequisites and contexts vary, the implementation process will face different obstacles and challenges, yet the different nations will also see different opportunities. This study aims to examine municipality officials' views on the local implementation of the climate and environmental related goals of Agenda 2030 in order to create a deeper understanding of what makes challenges and opportunities in the process. The analysis is based on focus group interviews in three Swedish municipalities within the same county. Patterns in similar challenges and opportunities for Agenda 2030 localization are identified between the municipalities studied. A general challenge is seen in the complexity of the goals in their unity, by contrast an opportunity is seen within the own interpretation of the Agenda 2030 targets. Adopting the agenda to already existing policies are considered hard as well as the organization structure of municipalities. Yet, opportunities are seen within the local contributions to goal achievement and the use of workforce reserved for the implementation process. No general template for Agenda 2030 implementation can be identified - the process needs to be locally interpreted and adapted.

A new type of worker, the gig worker, is acknowledge and problematized as to what challenges mediators can face with managing them as previous research points out their differences from other workers. The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze challenges that a mediator can face when managing gig workers and also elevate the knowledge regarding gig workers on how to work with them. A semi-structured interview was conducted with four participants, three mediators of established gig firms in Sweden and one management consultant and expert in the field of gig economy. The finding indicated that there exist two challenges that mediators can face when managing gig workers: 1) The expectations of the matchmaking 2) Allowing gig workers to be independent

Since the late 1970s, China has gradually transformed from a planned system towards a market economy and its private sector has played increasingly important roles in the national development. During the process, Chinese private manufacturing firms made remarkable contribution to advancing reform, driving growth, enhancing export and improving employment. After the early 2000s, China joined in the World Trade Organisation and aimed to further progress its development through globalisation. The deep integration with the global economy has greatly facilitated China’s global competitiveness in manufacturing industries, but it has also brought the country with a series of development challenges. Nowadays, many Chinese private manufacturing firms are encountering various problems and stuck in development predicament. This dissertation tries to explore the question: What are the current development challenges for Chinese private manufacturing firms in globalisation? The research question is relevant to a wide range of theoretical and empirical research in development studies, including firm competition in global value chains, industrial districts in the global economy, large business in global competition and global battles within China. Building on critical reviews on related literature, the dissertation tries to enrich the existing knowledge by investigating the latest development of China’s manufacturing industries, analysing the challenges and responses of Chinese leading private firms of both large and small sizes individually, and discussing how the interaction of foreign and indigenous firms in both domestic and international markets shapes the global competitiveness of Chinese private firms. The dissertation mainly conducts qualitative inquiry and case studies to analyse the research question. Wenzhou is an outstanding pioneer in China to develop private economy and lead economic reform. The dissertation therefore makes in-depth investigation on Wenzhou’s leading firms in the footwear and the electrical equipment industries, to reflect China’s development in globalisation. Based on Wenzhou’s experience, the dissertation summarises the competition situation of Chinese private manufacturing firms in globalisation, concludes their current development challenges and puts forward policy implications for China’s economic reform and industrial upgrade.

The purpose of this study is to determine the challenges O-level students face and other factors that contribute to poor reading-comprehension and it further seeks to establish the strategies that teachers employ in teaching reading-comprehension to O-level students. This study applied the qualitative case study methodology at a rural secondary school in Zimbabwe with twenty-nine participants purposively sampled. The students were first given two texts to read; one narrative and the other expository to provide information about the strategies they use to comprehend texts using a thinkaloud protocol to determine the challenges they face before, during and after reading narrative or expository texts. Further, the researcher conducted observation as a nonparticipant observer, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions (FGD) and documentary evidence from class and exams' records about students' work. The results of the study reveal that O-level students face challenges in readingcomprehension as they are unable to approach written texts actively to interact meaningfully with texts and are incapable of setting specific goals for reading hence face challenges with word meanings, resulting in them unable to make connections with new vocabulary. When reading-comprehension gets difficult, students are only able to monitor their reading-comprehension using the clarifying strategy, which is only one of the monitoring strategies used to repair reading-comprehension failure. The main conclusion about students is that they lack vocabulary synonym-language to handle reading-comprehension tasks; they have not been availed reading materials to expand their vocabulary through extensive reading. Findings indicate that teachers are contradictory in their use of strategies that help students activate their prior knowledge and they use less effective methods such as lecturing and testing. They do not make use of the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approaches to process-teach reading-comprehension. Therefore, the researcher recommends a reflection upon current reading-comprehension teaching methods so as to improve instruction and that the government should buy textbooks and library books for students and reduce class sizes. Teachers also should conduct a formative assessment to improve teaching and draw up detailed schemes and organise school training days and also acquire old magazines and newspapers to provide students' extra reading material and give timely feedback to inform and monitor student progress in reading-comprehension.

The high levels of crimes in society have led people to seek assistance outside public law enforcement agencies such as police and the army, to private law enforcement agencies such as the private security industry. Security guards are involved in providing protection to people, properties and their valuables and in South Africa, they intervene in high crime and violence situations, resulting in their working environment being dangerous and unpredictable. The study aimed to understand some of the factors contributing to the work-related challenges encountered by contract security guard officers. The study utilised a qualitative research design in exploring the narrations of 14 contract security guards, identified and selected using a non-probability purposive sampling procedures. For triangulation purposes, two key informants namely: senior supervisor and a site manager were interviewed. Semi-structured interview schedules were conducted, where in-depth one-on-one interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed into verbatim and subsequently analysed using thematic content analysis. The results revealed that economic factors such as poverty and unemployment contribute to one becoming a security guard officer. Furthermore, factors such as low wages, long working hours, lack of respect, safety, lack of water and sanitation facilities were identified as challenges encountered by security guard officer in the industry. The results also showed that the identified challenges impact on the work discipline and work motivation of security guards, their family responsibilities and to their occupational wellbeing. Recommendations emanating from the study included the involvement of occupational social workers in the private security industry, for the developing of interventional programmes in enhancing the effective use of coping strategies by security guards, and the collaboration between security companies and security guards within the contractual service negotiations process with clients.