Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / Entrepreneurship has been regarded as a solution to various developmental challenges such as unemployment, inequality, and poverty, which are inherent among the marginalised populations. However, the high rate of failure of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) remain an impediment to the use of entrepreneurship as a means to ameliorate the challenges. This is especially the case among young entrepreneurs. In addition, given the imperativeness of financial literacy in the success of SMEs, this study determines the influences of financial literacy on entrepreneurial success within the marginalised communities. It also explores and identifies the reasons why failure rates are high among young entrepreneurs in the economically disadvantaged community of Khayelitsha, Cape Town. This study employs a concurrent mixed methods design, making use of both quantitative and qualitative data. A survey is conducted in Khayelitsha using the snowballing sampling technique due to difficulty in accessing young entrepreneurs. The quantitative data from the survey provides demographic and socioeconomic information on young entrepreneurs. The survey is also used to determine the level of financial literacy and business success of these entrepreneurs. The qualitative in-depth interviews, on the other hand, provide insights into the motivations of the entrepreneurs, their experiences and the causes of business failure.

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the perceptions on the role of locally owned small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in the economic development of Rustenburg, South Africa. The study was motivated by theoretical findings that SMMEs are the cornerstone of economic development; yet, the levels of unemployment and poverty were still escalating in Rustenburg. This prompted the researcher to investigate the perceptions on the role of locally owned small, medium and micro enterprises in the economic development of Rustenburg, South Africa, and the extent of their contribution. The study adopted a descriptive research design and a quantitative approach to determine the role of SMMEs and the extent of their contribution to the economic development of Rustenburg. The study focused on Rustenburg, which had 223 registered SMMEs at the time. The registered 213 SMMEs were identified as the target population of the study, and 10 registered SMMEs participated in the pilot study. A structured questionnaire was used as a data collection instrument. Two hundred and thirteen (213) copies of questionnaires were self-administered. One hundred and eighty-two (182) completed questionnaires were returned, which represented an 85% response rate. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data by utilising the Statistical Analysis Software (SAS). Statistical techniques used in this study comprised frequency analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson’s correlation test, and Tukey’s studentised range test. Empirical findings revealed that SMMEs play a significant role in contributing to the economic development, employment generation and poverty reduction of Rustenburg, with SMMEs in the mining sector making a greater and more significant contribution than other sectors. The study concluded that SMMEs perform a critical role in contributing to the economic development of Rustenburg, especially those in the mining sector. Recommendations were that government should consider increasing the development programmes for SMMEs that operate in Rustenburg, invest in SMMEs’ technology and provide practical SMMEs development training. In addition, government should provide sufficient funding for SMMEs and improve the regulatory framework that governs the SMME sector. This particular study focused on SMMEs operating in Rustenburg. Another study could be conducted on foreign-owned SMMEs. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

The aim of the study was to investigate the factors influencing marketing strategy formulation for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Polokwane. SMEs, worldwide, are regarded as the cornerstone for economic development. However, SMEs are faced with business marketing constraints that lead to their downfall. The study objectives were set and led to the formation of the hypotheses. The study adopted a quantitative approach and collected data from a sample of 412 SMEs from Polokwane using non-probability sampling methods, which are convenience and snowball sampling. A survey questionnaire sought responses from the respondents. The pilot test was done, and responses were used to eliminate unnecessary and confusing statements. The respondents were required to indicate their agreement or disagreement with questions on a five-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistical analysis, factor analysis, ANOVA and regression analysis were done to determine if the objectives of the study were achieved and to test hypotheses. SMEs were found to be using sales promotions, digital marketing, business branding, personal selling and email communication as part of marketing communication strategies. Product strategies used are product quality and packaging, branding and collaborative product development. The findings of the study depict that SMEs marketing communications and product strategies have a positive influence on their performance. The main challenges experienced by SMEs are lack of understanding for marketing research, lack of finance, lack of business planning, inexperienced employees and, the least experienced challenge, lack of customer demands. It was further found that demographic factors (business operation/ maturity, business training and annual turnover) have a significant influence on the marketing communication strategies adopted and the challenges facing SMEs. SMEs that have been in existence for over 10 years perceive marketing challenges differently from SMEs with less than 10 years of operation. It is necessary for the government to put in place progressive policies that can assist SMEs to improve their marketing strategy. It was recommended that SMEs attend training related to marketing to be equipped with marketing and business operations knowledge to minimise the experienced marketing challenges. Training will enable SMEs to do better in marketing communication or/and product strategies. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

The subject of this Master´s thesis is the formulation of a business plan with aim to estabilish a concrete microfirm. The theoretical part characterize small and medium enterprises, its importance for national economy, requirements and the procedure of processing the business plan for its foundation. In practical part are applied theoretical findings including important analysis and caluclations supporting defined goal – foundation of manufacturing microfirm

The subjekt of this Master´s thesisis the formulation of the business plan with aim to establish a concrete microfirm. The theoretical part characterize small and medium enterprises,. its impotence to national ekonomy, requirements and the procedure of processing the business plan for its foudation. In practical partare applied theoretical findings incuding important analysis and calculations supporting defined goal – foundation of manufacturing microfirm.

Diploma thesis deals with financing projects from EU funds and includes instructions on how to obtain subsidies from EU funds. Introductory part is devoted to theoretical information concerning European Union funds. In the main part of analyzing the situation HATRACO Company Ltd. and described the procedure for obtaining funds from the EU structural funds. The final section is devoted to evaluate the use of structural funds for the development of the company.

As the use of the internet increases, so does the use of social media channels. These channels have become a part of everyday life and are changing the way of communication and information exchange. Today, more and more business-to-business (B2B) companies are adopting social media marketing (SMM) to communicate with their customers. Although small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have also started adopting SMM to increase their brand awareness, the existing literature is very limited on this subject. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to identify and describe challenges SMEs face adopting social media marketing in order to increase their brand awareness. In order to achieve the purpose of this thesis a qualitative research method was selected and four semi-structured interviews with marketing directors and coordinators at three SMEs were conducted. The result of this thesis shows that SMEs face some common challenges like financial and human resources, lack of time and expertise in SMM, customer satisfaction, channel selection, global crisis and bad reviews. Further, this thesis found that SMEs also face some individual challenges like cultural issues, measuring brand awareness, language, influential content, communication issues, promotion costs and outsourcing.

Thesis (M. A. Commerce (Human Resource Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between Human Resource Management (HRM) practices and organisational commitment of employees in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Capricorn District in Limpopo Province. A quantitative research design was used in which self-administered questionnaires were utilised to collect data from a convenience sample of 149 participants. The sample size constituted of 149 employees from 18 SMEs. The data was collected using three structured questionnaires (Demographic section), Human Resource Management Practices Questionnaire and Organisational Commitment Questionnaire, with closed questions. Descriptive and inferential statistics, including correlation and regression analyses, were used to conduct analysis. The findings indicated that there is a positive relationship between HRM practices and Organisational Commitment. The results revealed that employees were not satisfied with the HRM practices in the workplace and had low organisational commitment. It was recommended that SMEs managers implement proper HRM practices for their employees to be committed to the organisation. The study recommends further research on other HRM practices that may have influence on employees’ organisational commitment.

Introduktion: Små till medelstora företag (SME) innefattar 99.9% av alla aktiva verksamheter i Sverige. SME:s är företag som har begränsade ekonomiska resurser. Begränsade resurser kan leda till att verksamheter producerar produkter till lager i rädslan om att gå miste om leveranser, vilket skapar ett uppbundet kapital i färdigvarulagret. Syftet med studien är att undersöka om make to order (MTO) kan användas av SME:s för att reducera kapitalbindning i färdigvarulagret och undersöka vilka utmaningar det finns med att implementera MTO.  FF1: Hur kan MTO användas som ett verktyg för att reducera kapitalbindningen hos SME:s? FF2: Vilka utmaningar finns det med att implementera MTO för SME:s?  Metod: En fallstudie har genomförts hos ett producerande mikroföretag. Data har samlats in genom observationer, intervjuer och dokument. För grund till den teoretiska referensramen har en litteraturstudie genomförts. Litteraturstudien samlade in data genom vetenskapliga artiklar och böcker som har använts för att analyser den insamlade empirin från fallstudien.   Resultat: Studiens resultat har kommit fram till att MTO kan användas som ett verktyg hos SME:s som har en hög kapitalbindning och inte kan utesluta ett färdigvarulager. För att reducera kapitalbindningen kan därmed en hybrid mellan MTO och MTS (make to stock) användas. Studien har ytterligare kommit fram till att det finns tre huvud utmaningar med att implementera MTO. De tre utmaningarna är ställtider, oförutsägbara händelser och förändringar.

Social media (SM) is an innovative strategy used to develop new forms of communication channels and platforms. This has led to a positive transformation in the marketing strategy for both small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises. There has been a lot of research conducted on the utilization of SM by Business-to-Consumer (B2C) marketing. However, the use of SM in Business-to-Business (B2B) marketing has not been explored as much in comparison to B2C marketing. The aim of this study is to understand the role of SM channels in B2B service-based SMEs, while also analyzing the challenges and opportunities incorporated by the integration of the SM platforms and the impact it has on B2B relationships. Our research builds on the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) related “Activities-Resources-Actors (ARA) Model” and the interconnection between the three layers to understand and analyze the utilization of SM.  This study takes a qualitative case study approach to answer the research question formulated in this study by conducting semi-structured interviews. The interviewees included five respondents: two from the focal company and three from their existing business networks. From the findings, three themes were formulated to understand and analyze the data collected: Adoption decision of SM channels in the case SME and the network firm, Collaboration process with the business customers, and Content co-creation. Based on the findings we conclude that SM is an emerging tool for SMEs to incorporate it in their marketing strategy. It can help the firm to improve the bonds between the actors within the organization as well as with their customers and networks. However, the successful utilization of SM in SMEs depends on the commitment of SMEs to incorporate SM tools effectively in their operations. This can be achieved by the “Hybrid approach” by integrating SM communication with the conventional modes of communication for B2B marketing.