Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for Degree of Master of Management Sciences: Business Administration, Durban University of Technology, 2017. / The execution of maintenance and repairs are the core business deliverables of the Power Plant Maintenance (PPM) department at Eskom Distribution South Africa (SA). However, external service providers are employed to similarly execute these deliverables. Given this background, this study aimed to determine the influence of outsourcing core deliverables on the performance of the PPM department at Eskom SA. This quantitative study sought to determine the prevalence of any statistically significant differences in the degree of respondents’ responses regarding outsourcing the core business deliverables of their respective PPM departments in terms of profile factors such as gender, marital status, age, education qualification, designation and length of service. The study was carried out in eight out of nine PPM departments. A total of 135 responses were attained from a possible 152 participants, providing a response rate of 89 percent. The study was successful in the achievement of all the objectives. The results of the chi-square and regression tests revealed the presence of significant factors contributing to the outsourcing of core business deliverables, accomplishing the first objective. The results of the chi-square and correlation tests revealed that outsourcing did effect business performance, though this was not generally an enhancing effect, accomplishing the second objective. Results of the chi-square tests also highlighted significant effects on the motivation of internal employees when the repairs and maintenance of the power plant equipment are outsourced, accomplishing the third objective. The results of the correlation and chi-square also highlighted the effect of managing the core business deliverables on the business performance, the motivation of internal employees, as well as the alleviation of significant risks resulting from outsourcing core deliverables. The coefficient of determination (R-squared) revealed only 33 percent of the variations in the dependent variable that were explained by the independent variables. Finally, there was an indication of statistically acceptable reliability for the variables of the study. / M

M.Ing.

M.Ing. (Engineering Management) / South African power demand has been increasing over the past years due to increase in energy consumption from industrial, commercial and residential sectors. In order to meet the growing power demand Eskom Holdings Limited SOC (Eskom) has implemented a number of initiatives such as the energy efficiency programme, power generating capacity increase and refurbishment of the operational coal fired power stations. Energy efficiency initiatives have been designed to encourage residential, commercial and industrial customers to use energy efficient technologies which consume less energy compare to conventional technologies. Power generating capacity increase programme includes construction of new base and peaking generating power plants (such as Medupi, Kusile and Ingula) and return to service of the old generating plants (such as Camden, Komati and Grootvlei). The refurbishment programme or coal refurbishment involves upgrading of operational coal fired power stations with the objective of extending their life expectancy, improve performance and to ensure compliance to latest safety standards...

Thesis (MTech (Quality))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009. / There is a South African Government initiative to use State-owned Enterprises (SOE's) to roll out a programme for the development and stimulation of local small businesses in South Africa. The state has requested SOE's to set targets on a voluntary basis to increase trade with small businesses, with the purpose of developing small enterprises to eventually enhance skills transfer, training and employment. However, when large customers such as Eskom Nuclear Generation require ISO certification as a prerequisite for a supplier to provide goods and/or services to them, most small businesses are unable to comply. The requirement of IS09000 compliance inhibits the ability of most small businesses to compete with their larger counterparts. Small businesses constitute as much as 90% of most world economies. They have many advantages to offer customers, such as a high level of flexibility, innovation and responsiveness to customer needs. These attributes can introduce healthy competition to the supply chain. Small businesses, by their very nature experience more risks, such as a higher vulnerability to volatile market forces and skills loss. In addition, they are generally less specialised.

Thesis (MTech (Quality)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009 / There is a South African Government initiative to use State-owned Enterprises (SOE’s) to roll out a programme for the development and stimulation of local small businesses in South Africa. The state has requested SOE’s to set targets on a voluntary basis to increase trade with small businesses, with the purpose of developing small enterprises to eventually enhance skills transfer, training and employment. However, when large customers such as Eskom Nuclear Generation require ISO certification as a prerequisite for a supplier to provide goods and/or services to them, most small businesses are unable to comply. The requirement of ISO9000 compliance inhibits the ability of most small businesses to compete with their larger counterparts. Small businesses constitute as much as 90% of most world economies. They have many advantages to offer customers, such as a high level of flexibility, innovation and responsiveness to customer needs. These attributes can introduce healthy competition to the supply chain. Small businesses, by their very nature experience more risks, such as a higher vulnerability to volatile market forces and skills loss. In addition, they are generally less specialised. They are under continuous competitive pressure, and are generally not able to provide assurance of a sustainable product over a longer period. Although there is an imperative to develop and use small suppliers, they introduce higher risk to the supply chain. The primary research objective of this dissertation is to develop a robust model to identify risks inherent to small businesses, and to propose measures to mitigate such risks. A classification of problems with small suppliers that have occurred at Koeberg Nuclear Power Station over a period of 3 years (from June 2005 to May 2008), will form the basis of the research methodology. The anticipated findings of the research include the following. _ Several common critical issues of failure will be identified in the internal processes of small suppliers, with variations between types of suppliers, which will indicate which elements within the context of ISO9000 can be applied to address shortcoming in the suppliers’ processes. _ A matrix will be compiled from this by which the customer can identify the type of supplier, the types of risks inherent to that supplier, and which elements of ISO9000 the customer should insist upon to be adopted into an elementary quality management system of that small supplier. This should be executed as part of a larger supplier development programme.