Supply chain management is emerging as an important source of competitive advantage for agribusinesses globally and in South Africa. The objective of this study was to describe and analyse the emerging governance structures in agribusiness supply chains. Governance structures are the formal and informal institutions that prohibit, permit, or require certain actions and provide the incentives for exchange. Agribusiness managers can choose from a continuum of governance structures which include spot or cash markets, specifications contract, relation-based alliance, equity-based alliance and vertical integration. These structures are distinguished by the composition of market and managed control of the transaction processes. In this study the constructivist and positivist inquiry paradigms were adopted to address the complexity and interrelation of factors involved in the choice of governance structure. The study was conducted in two stages. The first stage entailed a survey of agribusiness managers to elicit their opinions and perceptions on the strategic direction, preferred present and future coordination mechanisms, strategic focus, the future shape of the agro-food industry and the major factors driving these trends in the South African agribusiness complex. These were compared with global trends. This section was conducted in the positivist paradigm to extend the validation and generalisation of the second stage which was conducted in the constructivist paradigm. The second stage entailed the analysis of three case studies to identify the drivers for supply chain formation and the expression of these drivers, strategic considerations and transaction characteristics in appropriate governance structures. The choice of governance structure is influenced by the drivers of change, product characteristics, processes of the supply chain, transaction characteristics and costs. The most significant drivers of change were company competency, consumer behaviour and technology. The perishable nature of most agricultural products, in particular, requires special control and traceability systems to ensure chain transparency in order to certify and assure consumer safety and product quality. These drivers, product characteristics and systems determine the characteristics of the required transaction to facilitate the creation of customer value. Key concepts that emerged in the description of transaction costs are bounded rationality, opportunism, asset specificity and information asymmetry. The optimal governance structure maximises desired transaction requirements while minimising the costs of exchange. The analysis of the case studies showed that these factors cannot be considered in isolation. In each of the cases a different factors was instrumental in the determination of the optimal governance structure. The study identifies a six step decision process for agribusiness managers and researchers to relate drivers of competitiveness to appropriate governance structures. The emergence of supply chains is driven by evolving consumer demands and societal values on the one hand and the need for agribusiness and inter-agribusiness competency to transform these needs and values into consumer value on the other hand. South African agribusiness are employing technology and closer vertical coordination to improve production processes, quality assurance, traceability and process transparency. In line with global trends South African agribusiness will have to establish ever more sophisticated systems to satisfy consumer needs and societal values as these evolve to include less tangible needs and values such as environmental and ethical concerns. / Thesis (PhD ( Agricultural Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted

A Research Report submitted in partial fulfilment of the Degree of Master of Commerce (Economics/Economic Science) in the School of Economic and Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, September 2018 / This study investigates the determinants of household savings in South Africa using panel data estimation techniques and National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) data for the period 2008-2015. Results show that household savings habits in South Africa are strongly driven by sociodemographic factors such as income, relative income, asset ownership and white population group representation. Whereas household size, home ownership, household expenditure and black population group representation remain plausible arguments for household dissaving in South Africa. To some extent, these findings imply that strategies to increase household savings in South Africa should improve the distribution of income and employment among the population. There is also a need for an in-depth analysis as to why and how the country’s black population can be encouraged to improve on household savings. / XL2019

Bibliography: pages 196-213. / This thesis treats the role of the jitney in urban transportation from an economic perspective. The method of enquiry begins with a theory review including a description of the jitney, the distinction between passenger and operator costs, economies of scale and scope, market structure, and an allocatively efficient pricing rule for the jitney industry. It is asserted that in an unregulated urban transportation market a socially efficient pricing structure arises, which reconciles both user and producer costs. A discussion of the rise and decline of the jitney industry in Cape Town from 1924 to 1931 and industry developments in the 1970's and 1980's places this exposition within an historic context. Policy implications of the aforegoing analysis are suggested with respect to the potential role to be played by the jitney in urban public transport. Based on this approach, an alternative consideration of the competition between the jitney and conventional transport methods is proposed.

A dissertation of limited scope submitted to the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the course-work degree of Masters of Recreation and Tourism in the Centre for Recreation and Tourism at The University of Zululand, 2003. / This study is conducted with a view that the provision of tourism and recreation attractions contributes greatly to the social, physical and economic development in the Stanger-Mthunzini Districts. The study is also carried out with a view that tourism has a great potential of boosting the economy of the study area and the entire country of South Africa. The study has therefore operated with the following objectives in mind: • To determine the adequacy of tourist attractions and service facilities in the study area. • To investigate the extent to which members of the local community are aware of the existence of the tourist attractions. • To find out the nature of tourist participation patterns within the study area. • To establish the extent to which members of the local community benefit from the availability of tourist attractions. • To examine if there is any co-operation between the managers of attractions, developers and the members of the local community. • To establish the level of involvement of the local community in tourism related decision-making Pursuant to the listed objectives, this study identified related hypotheses towards finding answers to the research question. The method of collecting, analysing and interpreting data involved computer manipulation of data utilising the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings of this study reveal that most of the stated objectives were met. The study revealed that most members of the local community do not associate the development initiatives with their immediate needs. They see the presence of the existing attractions as not benefiting them in any significant manner. It was also established that the members of the local community do not use local attractions extensively, due to the lack of exposure to them and the fact that most of the people in the study are not highly educated. Respondents revealed that most of them are employed to do manual work in the sugar-cane plantations. The conditions under which they work, leave them with neither adequate financial resources nor time to participate in recreation activities. In terms of behaviour and attitudes, the study indicated that the members of the local community have negative feelings towards the provision of tourist recreation. The reasons usually given were that they were not invited to participate in decision-making. Other respondents claimed that they were driven away from the land they originally occupied and owned, for purposes of constructing some of the tourist attractions. Some recommendations have been made to improve the way in which the members of the local community perceive the attractions in their locality. These include doing public awareness of these attractions, involving the members of the local community in decision-making, providing them with employment. The government should play a role in developing and empowering the youth and women by equipping them with skills required in the tourism industry.

A thesis submitted in fulfillment for the requirements of the degree of Doctor of phisophy in the Faculty of Arts, in the Department of IsiZulu naMagugu at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2005. / This study will be focusing on visual and performance artists. It is the plight of artists that they work hard in their artistic disciplines, but do not benefit to the equivalence of their efforts. There are many reasons for this. Crafters are dependent on a sound tourists industry. The study will be looking at some of the reasons and concems then try to provide what could be some answers and solutions. Art is generally thought of as the development of performance skills and or craft manufacturing within a small minority of youth or community performers, usually selected on the basis of talent and motivation. The research leading to this study has been to a large extent, motivated by the need for a more comprehensive and holistic concept This will lend itselfto a fuller exploitation and will have potential for assisting larger numbers of artists to achieve a wide range of educational outcomes in art administration, instrument manufacturing, actual artistic performance and craft production. A large number of arts practitioners internationally feel that understanding a country occurs through its arts and culture. The arts of any country is actually the mirror of the country. This study will look at the arts of South Africa and the impact it has on the proudly SouthAfricans and the tourism industry at large.This study will have two primary purposes: a. to make justification for artists (visual and performance) and, b: to suggest ways in which artists can more prominently and profitably feature in the tourism industry and their sustainability as artists and proud members of South African communities. It is important to note that South African artists exist in highly diverse communities which are influenced by many factors such as: • heritage • cultural fabric • ethnic identity • experiences • different beliefs and convictions

This research report is submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in partial fulfilment of the degree of Masters of Arts in Social and Psychological Research, 2017 / South Africa has undergone a number of social and geographical changes since the end of apartheid. This has drastically changed urban spaces, where we have seen the proliferation of Gated Communities (GCs). These spaces have come to signify how inequality has evolved from being an issue exclusively bound to race to one that now occurs within races and between classes. Therefore, in order to better understand inequality the current study considered the individuals who occupy spaces of privilege, but are not necessarily part of those spaces – such as security guards. It attempts to provide descriptions of inequality, moving away from a traditional macroeconomic understanding. This is done through a thematic analysis of interviews conducted with security guards from GCs. The analysis outlines the descriptions given by the security guards on their experience of working at GCs. Four superordinate themes were derived: Professionalism; Education and Knowledge; Commodification of Life; and Violence. From these themes it is clear that we cannot only interpret inequality from an income perspective as there are a number of psychosocial factors that are integrated into the construct of inequality. / XL2018

Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Commerce Law, and Management, School of Governance, University of Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Management in Public Policy (MMPP), Johannesburg, South Africa 2019 / The notion of policy networks is an integral instrument of policy-making in democratic states. Significant policy challenges are deemed often too complex to be dealt with only through traditional hierarchal government structures. The notion of policy networks is used to analyse and evaluate policy processes and their outcomes. The knowledge gap that the study is dealing with is on the role and effects the interplay of power, cooperation and conflict has in the policy networks and the policy-making process. The aim of this study was to explore the interplay between power, conflict and cooperation in the free higher education policy network in South Africa. A dialectical approach to analysis of policy networks was applied to inform the conceptual frame used in the study. The methodology followed the interpretivist-constructivist paradigm, which then informed the use of qualitative methods in the study. A snowballing sampling approach was employed to identify the study participants. The study analysed the results by using a thematic analysis approach. Findings in the study confirmed that free higher education policy-making was happening through a complex policy network. This free higher education network was characterised by a dominance of power, along with high levels of conflict and cooperation among actors who tended to share the same interests. The presence of power, conflict and cooperation had an influence on the network’s structure, interactions, context and the policy outcome. The influence of power, conflict and cooperation demonstrated that there is an iterative and dialectical relationship between network structure, interactions, context and policy outcome. / XL2019

Thesis (M.Com. (Development Theory and Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2017 / The South African higher education student protests which began in October 2015 have culminated in the student body voicing increased demands for the implementation of free fee higher education. Key policy stakeholders and commentators have been critical of this demand stating that such a policy would be regressive and ‘destructive’ due to the fact that the rich dominate the student cohort, the net result of which would be the poor funding the higher education of the rich. There is a continued emphasis on the private benefits that higher education provides graduates, therbey necessitating tuition fees. This paper has shown that these arguments, dating back to the 1970s, have weak theoretical foundations. The view that the rich dominate the student cohort is questioned with the finding that only 18% of the households containing students are classified as rich. As the rich provide 97% of personal income tax revenue and 76% of value added tax revenue it would be difficult for the poor to fund the rich. The states ‘chronic underfunding’ of the higher education system comes amid ‘budgetary pressures’ highlighting the continued adherence of the state to fiscal austerity measures. These austerity measures have increasingly shifted the financial burden of higher education onto students. A financial burden that 80% of households are deemed to require financial assistance to meet. In reducing state funding to the higher education system, in real terms, the private benefits of higher education are used to lure students into paying ever increasing tuition fees, even taking on debt in order to do so. / GR2018

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Architecture in the field of Sustainable and Energy Efficient Cities Johannesburg May 2018 / Based on the Sol Plaatje Municipality case study, this study focuses on how an innovative municipal business and funding approach could serve as a tool for transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy (solar) for the benefit of both indigent households and the municipality. Primary data from the municipality and indigent households in Galeshewe settlement indicates that in its current form, the 50kWh free basic electricity that indigent households receive monthly from the municipality is insufficient for their basic energy needs, while purchasing additional electricity is becoming increasingly unaffordable. This results in suppressed demand for the households and ongoing risk to the municipality due to escalating costs. In mitigation of the two fundamental challenges, findings from primary and secondary data have guided the study to the Renewable Energy for Low Income Earners (RELIE) model. The Equitable Share Grant and Integrated National Electrification Programme Grant (as currently allocated to municipalities by National Treasury and the Department of Energy for free basic electricity and electricity infrastructure provision for low income households) are highlighted as the initial funding channels under the proposed model based on a backcasting approach. Municipal energy plans and policies as well as integrated human settlements’ spatial plans also emerge as critical tools for transitioning to inclusionary RE. Other funding sources in the RELIE model include existing government funds such as the Green Fund and the Central Energy Fund from the Department of Environmental Affairs, as well as supplementary funds from relevant agencies such as climate funding entities and philanthropic socially responsive investments. The model also envisages end-user contribution through affordable payments for service. In conclusion, the study recommends that the RELIE model findings could be adapted for other municipalities in South Africa faced with the escalating indigent household energy crisis. / MT 2018

The objective of this study was to investigate and compare the brokered transport costs of road and rail transport for the independent timber growers of NCT Forestry Co-operative Limited in Kwa-Zulu-Natal. Reliability, flexibility, visibility, rates and total transport time were evaluated for each mode of transport. The impact of the carbon emissions was also considered and the option of performance based standard vehicles investigated. During the period 2000 to 2003, rail was the dominant mode of transport. However from 2004 onwards, due to the diminishing service levels and the high tariff structures of rail transport, road became the preferred mode of transport. The results of the survey conducted for the purposes of this study showed that although road transport outperformed rail transport, rail transport scored significantly higher than road transport as a cost-effective mode of transportation. Rail transport was shown to be a far less carbon intensive mode of transport than road transport, while there were substantial cost savings and benefits from performance based standard vehicles. / Transport Economics, Logistics and Tourism / M. Com. (Logistics)