The high failure rate among small businesses in South Africa has created an urgent need to identify strategies that will improve their levels of performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the entrepreneurial orientation of small businesses in the Eastern Cape and their level of business success. Entrepreneurial orientation was assessed in terms of the 5 dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation, namely Innovativeness, Proactiveness, Competitive aggressiveness, Risk-taking and Autonomy. Business success was assessed in terms of profitability and growth. A literature overview was firstly conducted. The nature and importance of small businesses were described, and the important contributions they make to economic growth, job creation and innovation, as well alleviating poverty and redistributing income were highlighted. The various challenges faced by small businesses were also discussed. Among these challenges, the lack of entrepreneurial orientation was specifically highlighted as a major barrier to small business success. The nature of entrepreneurial orientation and the five dimensions thereof were described. A theoretical framework was proposed illustrating the relationships between the 5 dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation and business success that were to be empirically tested. A positivistic research paradigm was followed and a quantitative approach was implemented. Convenience sampling was used and a total of 350 questionnaires were distributed to small businesses in the Eastern Cape; 317 usable questionnaires were yielded. A measuring instrument was developed based on reliable and valid items from existing studies. Statistical techniques including descriptive statistics, Pearson's product moment correlations, Structural Equation Modelling and an Analysis of Variance were performed on the gathered data. Demographic data relating to the gender, age and race of the respondents, as well as data relating to the number of employees, the tenure of the business, and nature of industry in which the small businesses operate, were collected. An exploratory factor analysis was undertaken, and Cronbach‟s alpha coefficients were calculated to assess the validity and reliability of the measuring instrument. The independent variables, Innovativeness and Proactiveness, could not be confirmed by the factor analysis and a new dimension emerged which was named Proactive innovativeness. As a result of the factor analysis the operational definitions were rephrased. The Cronbach‟s alpha coefficients reported were all greater than 0.7, deeming the scales measuring the various dimensions reliable. Descriptive statistics were calculated to summarise the sample data, and Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficients were established to investigate the associations between the variables. Significant positive correlations were reported between all of the variables. SEM was performed to determine the significance of the relationships hypothesised between the independent and dependent variables in this study. The results of this study showed that the independent variables Competitive aggressiveness, Proactive innovativeness and Autonomy have a significant positive influence on the dependent variable Business success, while Risk-taking was found to have a significant negative influence on Business success. Furthermore, the results showed that Proactive innovativeness was higher in larger-sized small businesses, Autonomy was reported to be higher in small businesses where the owner was in possession of a tertiary qualification, and Risk-taking was found to be higher in small businesses owned by people of colour than in businesses owned by White respondents. In a business environment where change is constant, small business owners need to be able to adapt their operations and strategies to these changes and the consumer demands these changes may bring. Small business owners need to be able to strategically reinvent their businesses if they are to survive over the long term. The level of entrepreneurial orientation has been identified as having a positive influence on business success. The more small businesses implement Proactive innovativeness, Competitive aggressiveness, calculated and cautions Risk-taking and Autonomy, the better the chances are that they will be successful

This study sought to examine whether the use of tax incentives to boost investment into the SME sector is an effective policy for economic development. More specifically, the study focused on the Section 12J tax incentive of the Income Tax Act of South Africa, which underpins the current venture capital companies' (VCC) regime for this country. This VCC regime is aimed at addressing the challenge of lack of access to finance by SMEs, and it does so by incentivising venture capital investors to provide equity capital to qualifying SMEs. These SMEs are, in turn, expected to grow and help reduce the economic challenges of poverty and unemployment in South Africa. A mixed methods research approach was adopted for this study. It was also inductive in nature, based on primary data collected from a survey of various stakeholders of the VCC regime using a convenience sampling method. The data variables of the study were based on factors relating to the impact that the VCC regime has had on SMEs in terms of financial performance and creation of decent employment. The study concludes that the VCC regime has had a positive impact on the South African SME sector in terms of financial performance and creation of decent employment. As a result, the VCC regime has shown to be an effective tool for addressing various economic challenges, such as: lack of access to finance faced by SMEs, high failure rate of SME businesses, and poverty alleviation through provision of decent employment by SMEs. Thus, the resultant recommendation submitted in the study is that the VCC regime should as such be extended beyond its current sunset date in order to ensure the South African economy continues to enjoy the benefits that the regime has to offer.

Combating the effects of the global recession that hampered the economies of various nations has been endeavoured by many governments since 2008. The South African government’s stand to do this shows that it is possible to return the economy back to its glory days, however, the duration of this process of overturning the same is unknown. The government has raised policies and programs, one of which being the New Growth Path (NGP) to combat these effect. This programme, inter alia, calls for increased government expenditure to facilitate job creation through infrastructure development. It is trite economic principles that government expenditure has to be balanced with its revenue collection, otherwise it might lead to budget deficit. Prolonged budget deficit, naturally, is not ideal for a nation’s economy as the same increases government borrowing, results in higher taxes, and affects inflation. While government revenue is mostly financed through taxes, studies show that increasing taxes is also to the detriment for the economy. Therefore, there is a need for disenable policy stand to be taken in respect of the government’s programme, as well as the generation of revenue to support the same. In this regard, one of the ways being advanced by this research in respect of a better combating the recession is to utilise economic legislations enacted in the country. Amongst other economic legislations in South Africa this paper discusses Income Tax Act (SA ITA) (which regulate the persons to pay income taxes) and Competition Act (which regulate fair competition). The focus of this dissertation revolves around the impact competition law remedies have on the income taxation process. The aim of the research is to analyse the possible loopholes in the current legislation that might hamper a government revenue generation to support its new growth path. This was met through an extensive study of relevant literature in competition and income tax laws in South Africa and also comparative analysis with relevant laws of the United States of America (USA). The main conclusion drawn from this research is that there is an impact of the current competition law remedies on the income taxation process. This research promotes and argues for a change in approach, through government enactment of clear and certain laws both in the field of competition law and tax law. This change would assist government in raising revenue more effectively and achieve it economic growth path and, in turn, combat the global economic crisis that affected the economy. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Mercantile Law / unrestricted

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Community Work in the Department of Social Work, at the University of Zululand, 2005.

In many real-world settings, individuals face a dynamic decision problem: choices in the present have an impact on future outcomes. It it important for researchers to recognizing these dynamic forces so that we are able to fully understand the trade-offs an individual faces and to correctly estimate the parameters of interest. I study dynamic decision making in three diverse contexts: residential choice of families in New Zealand, search strategies of ridesharing drivers in Texas, and welfare participation of single mothers in Michigan. In each of these, I motivate the analysis using a theoretical model, and bring the model to the data to estimate parameters and evaluate testable implications. In the first chapter, I ask: how do schools affect where families choose to live and does their effect contribute to residential segregation? I study these questions using unique administrative microdata from Auckland, New Zealand, an ethnically diverse -- but segregated -- city. I develop and estimate a dynamic model of residential choice where forward-looking families choose neighborhoods based on their children's schools, local amenities, and moving costs. Previous studies typically estimate school quality valuations using a boundary discontinuity design. I leverage attendance zones in this setting to also generate reduced form estimates using this methodology. The structural model estimates show that the valuation of school quality varies by the child's school level and the family's ethnicity; the reduced form approach, however, cannot capture this heterogeneity. Moreover, I find that the reduced form estimates are aligned only with white families' valuations of quality. The model estimates also show that families experience a high disutility from moving houses if it results in their child changing school. In counterfactuals, I show that residential segregation increases as the link between housing and schools weakens. In the second chapter, co-authored with Vinayak Iyer, we ask: what drives the efficiency in ridesharing markets? In decentralized transportation markets, search and match frictions lead to inefficient outcomes. Ridesharing platforms, who act as intermediaries in traditional taxi markets, improve upon the status quo along two key dimensions: surge pricing and centralized matching. We study how and why these two features make the market more efficient; and explore how alternate pricing and matching rules can improve outcomes further. To this end, we develop a structural model of the ridesharing market with four components: (1) dynamically optimizing drivers who make entry, exit and search decisions; (2) stochastic demand; (3) surge pricing rule and (4) a matching technology. Relative to our benchmark model, surge pricing generates large gains for all agents; primarily during late nights. This is driven by the role surge plays in inducing drivers to enter the market. In contrast, centralized matching reduces match frictions and increases surplus for consumers, drivers, and the ridesharing platform, irrespective of the time of the day. We then show that a simple, more flexible pricing rule can generate even larger welfare gains for all agents. Our results highlight how and why centralized matching and surge pricing are able to make the market more efficient. We conclude by drawing policy implications for improving the competitiveness between taxis and ridesharing platforms. In the third chapter, co-authored with Lucas Husted, we ask: does removing families from welfare programs result in increased employment? Using detailed administrative data from Michigan, we study a policy reform in the state's TANF program that swiftly and unexpectedly removed over 10,000 families from welfare while quasi-randomly assigning time limits to over 30,000 remaining participants. We motivate our analysis using a dynamic model of welfare benefits usage. Consistent with economic theory, removing families from welfare increases formal labor force participation by roughly 4 percentage points (20\% over control group mean), with increases in annualized earnings of roughly \$500. However, despite this, the majority of families remain formally unemployed after welfare removal, and using quantile regressions we show that even the highest percentile wage gains fail to offset the loss in welfare benefits. The policy even affects families who are far from exhausting their time-limited benefits. Under a dynamic model, families have an incentive to bank benefits for future use -- an effect we observe in the data. Overall, our findings provide evidence that, contrary to their stated goals, welfare reform measures that either kick families off welfare or make welfare harder to access could possibly deepen poverty.

Submitted in fulfillment of the degree by dissertation MASTERS DEGREE: ARTS AND CULTURE MANAGEMENT In the Department of Humanities FACULTY OF THE ARTS AND CULTURE MANAGEMENT UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND AUGUST 2014 / This dissertation aims to examine how pottery factories in the North West province were conceived and how relevant their functions are, within the confines of craft product development training initiatives, as potential contributors to social empowerment, job creation and economic sustainability today. The dissertation will trace and analyse the impact of specific training initiatives undertaken to empower potters from one of these factories. The focus will be on the methods used to transfer product design and craft manufacturing skills (craftsmanship) as well as evaluating the challenges and success of these methods in promoting self-reliance and sustaining livelihood economically. The impact of these methods will be assessed by the beneficiaries’ ability to integrate concepts, ideas and action as well as their understanding of the markets and ability to follow through orders. The research draws inspiration from the South African National Development Plan: Vision 2030 (NDP, 2011: 10). The plan envisages that by 2030; “the economy should be close to full employment; equip people with the skills they need; ensure that ownership of production is less concentrated and more diverse (where black people and women own a significant share of productive assets); and be able to grow rapidly, providing the resources to pay for investment in human and physical capital”. One of the key sectors anticipated to contribute in achieving the vision of the NDP is the craft sector as suggested by the Department of Trade and Industries (DTI’s) Customised Sector Programme (DTI, 2005). This vision is possible in the craft community if community development efforts are not rushed towards achieving immediate results, but rather focus on the long term of investing in and empowering people with the relevant skills. Writing about applying design to alleviate poverty, Thomas (2006) suggests that sustainable results can only be achieved in the long term because short term initiatives are dependent on single individuals from ‘outside’ organisations for designs and markets. And therefore this research focuses on pottery factories established in the year 2010 by Mintek’s Small Scale Mining Beneficiation Programme, particularly the Timbita Ceramic Incubator. According to the Minister of Arts and Culture the honourable Mr Paul Mashatile, the cultural and creative industries have the potential to be an important driver of economic growth and job creation (Business report, 5 April 2011, 17). Perceiving the creative sector beyond aesthetic and human development dimensions, and more as a sector with the potential to contribute to economic growth and job creation stimulated the assumption of more responsibility for stakeholders and government to invest in both financial and skills development. It is important then, to analyse whether the training methods implemented are efficient and effective in empowering these communities and whether or not they yield sustainable results. It is, therefore, anticipated that this study will contribute toward, at least within the South African context, the limited literature in craft development as an economic industry from the context of crafts product development and craftsmanship skills transfer. Applied research looking at practical cases will be combined with various literature engagements, and supported by semi-structured in-depth interviews used as tools to obtain information for this research.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study project aims to investigate economic progress in South Africa through exploring the economic history in both the pre-1994 and post-1994 period. Special emphasis is placed on the areas of poverty alleviation, employment creation as well as the economic success that the country wishes to achieve. South Africa, as a developing nation, faced many key challenges after 1994 and together with these internal problems, the global operating environment was rapidly changing and this needed to be factored in. After ten years of democracy, it is important to examine what progress has been made and determine if South Africa is indeed on the path to prosperity. In establishing this, the author starts by defining the key issues that deserve consideration within the topic and sets a standard framework around which the topic will be studied. South Africa is not the first country in the world to experience related challenges and it is useful to examine some selected economies in the world, to extract key learning points as well as offer a means of benchmarking how South Africa compares. It is essential that the context and nature of the problems that exist currently be understood through an investigation of the past. The solutions that ultimately are applied to eradicate these problems must successfully address the inherited legacy or the solutions will be short term and inadequate. Much has happened after 1994 and this is examined both from a macroeconomic as well as the socioeconomic perspective. In determining whether South Africa remains on the correct trajectory, the key learning points are integrated with the progress made to date. The identified shortcomings are then presented as recommendations. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die studie mik om ekonomiese vordering in Suid-Afrika deur die bestudering van ekonomiese geskiedenis in beide die voor-en na-1994 tydperk te ondersoek. Spesiale klem is geplaas in areas van verligting van armoede, werkskepping sowel as ekonomiese sukses wat die land na streef. Suid-Afrika, as 'n ontwikkelende land, staar baie sleutel uitdagings na 1994 in die gesig en tesame met die interne probleme, het die globale funksionele omgewing vinnig verander en moes dit in ag geneem word . Na tien jaar van demokrasie, is dit belangrik om ondersoek in te stel na watter vordering gemaak was en vas te stel of Suid-Afrika inderdaad op pad is na positiewe groei. Deur dit vas te stel, het die skrywer begin om sleutel fokuspunte, binne die onderwerp wat verdien om in ag geneem te word, te definieer, en plaas 'n standaard raamwerk rondom die betrokke onderwerp wat bestudeer moet word. Suid-Afrika is nie die eerste land in die wereld om soortgelyke uitdagings te ondervind nie, en dit is prakties om sommige geselekteerde ekonomieë in die wereld te bestudeer, ten einde belangrike punte en mikpunte oor hoe Suid-Afrika vergelyk uit te beeld. Dit is noodsaaklik dat die konteks en natuur van die probleme huidiglik, verstaan word, deur die verlede te ondersoek. Die oplossings wat toegepas word moet suksesvol die nagelate erfenis addresseer, of die oplossings kortermyn en onvoldoende sal wees. Baie het gebeur na 1994 en dit is beide van 'n makro-ekonomiese sowel as die sosio-ekonomiese perspektief ondersoek. Om vas te stel of Suid-Afrika op die regte koers is, word die sleutel punte geintegreer met die vordering tot op datum. Die geidentifiseerde tekortkomminge word voorgelê as aanbevelings.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis, presented in six thematic chapters, investigates an approach for promoting the growth of small businesses in South Africa. Chapter 1 motivates the thesis by discussing the contested role of small businesses in reducing unemployment and fostering social equity. Chapter 2 reviews the small business development policy in South Africa and explicates the socioeconomic conditions underpinning the policy. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 are empirical analyses using data from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys of 2003 and 2007, and the World Bank Financial Crisis Survey of 2010 to determine key impediments to the growth of small businesses and characteristics of firms creating and retaining most jobs in South Africa. Chapter 3 uses two methods to investigate the key impediments. The first method is based on a count of obstacles that entrepreneurs rate as seriously affecting enterprise operations. The second estimates the effects of the obstacles on growth through sequential multivariate regressions and identifies binding constraints for different categories of firms. It emerges that medium-sized firms are mildly affected by most obstacles but micro and small firms are significantly affected by crime, electricity and transportation problems. The chapter provides important insight on the sequencing of interventions to address the impediments to growth. Chapter 4 studies the finance constraint. It evaluates the importance of the constraint firstly by assessing whether firms rating finance as a serious problem underperform firms rating the problem as less important. Thereafter, the chapter studies the experiences of firms when seeking external finance and identifies four levels of the finance constraint. Using an ordered logit model and a binary logit model, the chapter explores the profile of financially constrained firms. Results show that firms owned by ethnic groups disadvantaged in the apartheid era are more likely to be credit-constrained. The results also suggest that the likelihood of being credit-constrained decreases with higher levels of formal education. The results inform policy on the types of firms that financial interventions must target. Chapter 5 builds on a growing body of evidence which shows that a small proportion of firms in an economy account for over 50 percent of net new jobs. The evidence from the literature suggests that such high-growth enterprises have distinct characteristics that could make it possible for interventions to nurture or for other firms to emulate. The chapter employs two methods to investigate the characteristics of high-growth firms. The first is logit regression, which the investigation uses to determine characteristics of firms that create more jobs than the average firm. The characteristics are also interacted to identify interaction terms most associated with growth. The second method is quantile regression, which makes it possible to assess the importance of each characteristic for firms in different levels of growth rates. The results show that the typical high-growth firm is more likely to be black-owned. The results of the chapter however highlight the need for further research into characteristics that may perhaps explain high-growth firms more robustly than variables in the survey instrument. The research ends with a summary, a discussion of areas of further research, and policy recommendations in Chapter 6.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / The efforts of government in creating jobs and eradicating poverty in developing countries have received major attention among policy makers and operators of microfinance in the last one decade. One of such efforts is the establishment of a microfinance program known as South Africa Microfinance Apex fund (samaf) by South African government. Samaf was established in 2006 with the aims and objective to provide micro loan and credit to poor people living in peri-uban and rural areas of South Africa. This was brought about as a result of a gap created by major financial institutions that are neither available nor operating in such rural and remote areas. This research attempts to explore the effectiveness of samaf on job creation and poverty reduction as mandated by its aims and objective. The study was a case study, and data analysis mainly used descriptive statistics and inferential statistics to analyze the quantitative data that was collected in the research field. Findings from the study reveal that samaf was effective in terms of number of jobs creation. Also, it was found that there was an improvement in the life styles of beneficiaries than before they took samaf loan. However, samaf itself do have its shortcoming in term of quick delivery of funds to the MFIs. The study further discovered that, majority of samaf MFIs are not willing to expand their operations into informal settlement areas because of two reasons. First, majority of people living in such areas are considered vulnerable because due to the possibility non repayment of loans as they live in abject poverty. Secondly, majority do not have a fixed or permanent address which makes it difficult for MFIs to trace them. Based on the observation above, samaf will need a guiding and better strategy in terms of its delivery as there is none currently. This is necessary if it plans to achieve its aims and objectives and delivers on its mandate.

Rural areas, globally, are characterized as poor regions, with two-thirds of the world’s poor people residing in rural areas. In South Africa, 70 percent of the poor population or 3.6 million households, live in rural areas. In the last three State of the Nation Addresses (SONA) in South Africa by President Zuma since 2011, rural development has been placed high on government’s developmental agenda. The formulation of a comprehensive rural development policy, with coordinated implementation by all spheres of government is however still lacking. This research project was undertaken to explore solutions for the revival and development of rural areas in South Africa. The northern Free State region was selected as the geographical focus area and “testing ground” for the research. Rural South Africa has been deteriorating over the last few decades mainly due to globalization and urbanization. Two specific tools to achieve accelerated rural development were identified and analysed namely, local economic development (LED) and spatial planning. The research has shown that rural development is a complicated and difficult process. It is not only about agriculture and economic development, but also about other aspects such as spatial planning, social development, the environment, politics and public management aspects. For the purpose of the research, the theoretical statement was stated as “the chronic state of underdevelopment, poverty and unemployment, especially in rural South Africa, with a specific focus on the northern Free State, can be turned around by means of the implementation of revitalization strategies, which include innovative policies and programmes of LED and spatial planning”. Rural development requires strong committed local leaders and “champions”, skills, patience and funding. The research methodology included a comprehensive theoretical analysis of the concepts relating to rural development, as well as global and local case studies. Local rural development policies were also analysed as currently being implemented by government. Primary research included a community socio-economic survey in the study area to determine levels of rural poverty, unemployment, services delivered by local government and skills. In this survey of poor rural areas and the socio-economic analysis of the northern Free State, it was found that: • close to 50% of all households were living in poverty, • 50.7% of all households lack employment, • 40% of households have an income of less than R 1 500 per month, • The average annual household income in the area relates to just less than R20 000, • The ratio between formal and informal jobs is 1: 0.25, which indicates a low level of informal job opportunities, • Most job opportunities are found in agriculture, manufacturing, community services and households. • The tourism sector only provides in 3.1% of the regional GDP. Local business chambers were also visited in order to determine their perceptions of rural development and local government as well as the level of partnerships with the various local authorities in the area. It was found that partnership formation and cooperation between local business chambers and local authorities in the region were limited, although business chambers are willing to cooperate and assist. Rural development needs a coordinated effort and partnerships between government, business and communities. The focus of the research was on the finding of possible solutions for rural development. Solutions such as a rapid rural assessment (RRA) and a strategy for the study area, which has been provided to the specific local government for implementation, have been formulated. Globally and locally no universally accepted definition of rural concepts such as rural development and rural regions exist. Definitions and classifications of rural areas were formulated for South African conditions. A major component of the research is the proposed rural development model known as the “Feza iSimangaliso” model. Pillars for rural development and best practice aspects for rural development were also formulated. Some of the main findings of the research regarding general rural development aspects are listed below: • Rural regions are slowly but surely becoming in “fashion” as popular regions again due to a number of reasons such as quality environments, the need for a sense of community and belonging and food security. • Well formulated strategic rural development strategies, which are implementable in a coordinated way, can make a positive impact. Rural areas could be seen as a viable alternative, but requires strong governance, especially at the local sphere. • The integration of spatial planning and LED could lead to accelerate rural development, especially when national policy exists and are implemented in a coordinated manner. • The creation of jobs will lead to improved quality of life. Labour intensive sectors of the economy such as tourism, agriculture including agro-processing, manufacturing and retail should be the focus of an economic strategy. • Rural development is dependent on hard and soft infrastructure provision and strong local government. • Rural development must be people centred, with the utilization of local indigenous knowledge. • Rural towns are critical for rural regional development and creation of rural-urban linkages. • The “pull factors” to rural areas include quality of life and environment, sense of belonging, unique culture and history, and a positive economic environment. Future research projects could include more detailed research on the study area and provision of assistance to the relevant local municipalities. A possible rural development matrix will be developed for the evaluation of the level of development and gaps in the development of a rural region. In conclusion, successful rural development planning must be based on strategic planning principles for implementation in order to prevent ad hoc implementation of isolated projects with limited impacts. / PhD (Public Management and Governance), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013