Thesis (MBA) -- Stellenbosch University, 2006. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Mobile business, through the use of enabling technologies such as cellular phones, 3G data cards, and wireless technology. is set to provide businesses in South Africa not only with ways of improving their efficiency, but ultimately offer them ways of utilising the fast growing technologies in such a way that it enables them to outmanoeuvre their opposition. With such fast and continuous change comes a possible drawback, being the inability to implement specific technology before it is again outdated by newer, better, cheaper, and more expectant alternatives. South Africa is generally not seen as being at the forefront of the development of mobile and wireless technologies, and as such is not regarded as one of the early adopters such as the typical Asian, USA, and European markets are. This research study sets out to answer the question to what extent larger South African organisations are aware, ready, and willing to embrace and implement the various elements of mobile business into their business models and strategies. In doing so the reporl details the wide variety of enabling technologies available in South Africa. It further goes on to evaluate the South African mobile market and provide a crosssectional view of the current state of mobility in the country. A review is also provided on the most typical types of mobile applications and ways in which mobility is incorporated in the business value chain. The empirical research utilised a self-administered online questionnaire, which was sent to a random selection of companies from those listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE). In total 313 companies were selected and contacted through e-mail solicitation. Endeavours were made to identify the most suitable contact person responsible for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in each firm and, although this was not achieved in all cases, it was possible in by far the majority of the cases. Although the response rate was lower than hoped for, the analysis of the results provided a list of implications for managers that no company who wishes to maximise the potential benefits from the incorporation of mobile technologies, should ignore. Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za iv The research shows that cellular phones and laptops remain the most widely deployed existing technologies. These technologies can be regarded as the essential mobile technologies today. The adoption of 3G technology is further spreading fast and is set to overtake current leader GPRS. On the other side of the scale Bluetooth technology is appearing to become outdated as wireless LAN and Wi-Fi are starting to overtake it as the network standard of choice. Corporate SMS, push e-mail, mobile synchronisation, and VolP are the clear application leaders and are most widely implemented as companies attempt to achieve competitive advantages through their use. An element of possible concem is the fact that senior management enjoys access to the majority of mobile enabling technologies with the distribution significantly distorted in terms of its use by saleslfield staff. It was further evident that operations, as a primary business function in the value chain, enjoy the highest integration of mobile technologies. Opportunity exists to improve efficiency in logistics. Important emerging technologies that were identified are VoIP, converging communication, mobile VPN access, 3G(HSDPA}, Wi-Fi, remote security and monitoring, Instant Messaging, and communication enabled applications. Technology leaders should investigate these technologies set to play major roles in the industry in future. In the technologically advanced world today, and more specifically in South Africa, organisations can ill afford not to embrace the mobile phenomenon. Withhout searching for innovative ways of incorporating mobile technology across all business functions, companies could find themselves losing ground. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Mobiele besigheid, deur die gebruik van mobiele tegnologiee soos sellulere telefone, 3G data kaarte, en koordlose tegnologie, bied aan Suid-Afrikaanse firmas die vermoe om hul effektiwiteit te verbeter en verskaf ook maniere om die snel-groeiende tegnologiee op so 'n manier te benut om 'n mededingende voordeel oor hulle opposisie te verkry. Ongelukkig veroorsaak die snelle groei van die industrie sekere komplikasies. Die vemaamste hiervan is dikwels die onverrnoe om spesifieke tegnologiee te implementeer voordat dit verouderd raak as gevolg van nuwe, beter, en goedkoper tegnologiese alternatiewe in die wereldmark. Verder word Suid-Afrika oor die algemeen nie gesien as een van die leiers op die gebied van mabiele en koordlose tegnologie ontwikkeling nie en word as sodanig nie geklassifiseer as 'n vroee aannemer van tegnologie soos tipiese markte in Asia, Amerika, en Europa nie. Hierdie navorsingstuk ondersoek die vraag tot watter mate groter Suid-Afrikaanse maatskappye bewus, gereed, en bereid is om die verskeie elemente van mabie Ie besigheid aan te neem en in hul besigheidsmodelle en strategiee te implementeer. Die skryfstuk rapporteer sodoende ook detail aangaande die wye spektrum van mobiele tegnologiee wat in Suid Afrika beskikbaar is. Hierna word die huidige Suid-Afrikaanse mobiele mark ontleed en word 'n oorsig verskaf van die mees tipiese mabie!e toepassings en maniere waardeur mobiliteit in die besigheids waardeketting ge'inkorporeer word. Die empiriese navorsing het gebruik gemaak van 'n self geadministreerde aanlyn vraelys wat gestuur is aan 'n groep arbitrer geselekteerde maatskappye wat op die Johannesburgse Sekuriteite Beurs (JSB) genoteer is. Daar is in totaal 313 maatskappye deur middel van e-pos versoeke gekontak. Stappe is gevolg om die mees geskikte persona te identifiseer wat verantwoordelik is vir die lnformasie en Kommunikasie Tegnologie van elke maatskappy. Alhoewel dit nie prakties vennag is nie, is die persone in verreweg die meeste van die gevalle direk gekontak. Ten spyte van die responskoers wat laer was as wat verwag is, bied die analise van die resultate 'n Iys van implikasies wat geen maatskappy, wat poog om die potensiiile voordele as gevolg van die benutting van mobiele besigheid te maksimeer, behoort te ignoreer nie. Die navorsing toon dat sellulere telefone en skootrekenaars die bestaande te9nologie8 is wat steeds die wydste gebruik word, en 'n mens kan hulle daarom beskou as die essensiele mobiele tegnologiee van die dag. Verder word getoon dat die aanneming van 3G tegnologie besig is om vinnig uit te brei en sodoende GPRS begin verbysteek. Aan die ander kant van die skaal blyk dit dat Bluetooth tegnologie besig om uit te sak teenoor koordlose LAN en Wi-Fi, wat meer en meer as die netwerk standaard van voorkeur gesien word. Korporatiewe kort boodskappe, bediener gedrewe e-pos, mobiele sinkronisasie, en Intemet!elefonie (VoIP) is die duidelike toepassing voorlopers en geniet die wydste vlakke van implementering. 'n Element wat moontlik kommerwekkend is, is die feit dat topbestuur toegang tot die meeste mobiele tegnologie geniet met 'n skewe verdeling in terme van die gebruik daarvan deur veld en verkoopspersoneel. Dit is verder duidelik dat die operasionele afdelin9. as een van die primere besigheidsaktiwiteite, die hoogste integrasie van mobiele tegnologie geniet. Daar bestaan egter geleenthede om effektiwiteit in ander afdelings, soos byvoorbeeld logistiek, te verbeter. Belangrike ontluikende tegnologiee wat ge"identifiseer is, is Intemet!elefonie (VoIP), konvergerende kommunikasie, mobiele virtuele private netwerk (VPN) toegang, 3G(HSDPA), Wi-Fi, afstand sekuriteit en monitering, kits boodskappe, en toepassings programmatuur met kommunikasie vermoens. Tegnologie leiers behoort hierdie te9nol09ie8 te ondersoek aangesien dit gerat is am 'n daadwerklik invloed op die industrie uit te oefen. In die hedendaagse tegnologies ontwikkelde wereld, en ook spesifiek in Suid Afrika, word dit al hoe duideliker dat organisasies dit nie meer kan bekostig om die mobiele verskynsel te ignoreer nie. Maatskappye mag weliswaar vind dat hul groei belemmer word sander die gedurige soeke na innoverende maniere om mabiele te9nol09ie in aile fasette van die organisasie te inkorporeer.

A DISSERTATION Submitted in full fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce (Marketing) at the UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND 2016 / The financial services sector in South Africa is known for its innovative capability worldwide. Although ‘concentrated’ with few major players, the banking sector remains competitive as each bank continues to broaden its products and services to attract new customers and satisfy its existing client base. Therefore, it is of interest for banks to examine how to motivate consumers to take part in co-creation activities and develop favourable attitudes toward participating in those activities, and ultimately influence adoption intentions. Although significant research has been conducted on consumer motivation, attitudes, perceived characteristics of innovation and innovation adoption, respectively, little is known about the relationships between these constructs in the South African digital banking sector. Thus, the study aims to fill a gap by determining how intrinsic factors influence consumer attitudes toward participating in co-creation activities. Additionally, the study presents the impact of these attitudes on the perceptions consumers have toward innovation and then on adoption intentions. For the purposes of this study, intrinsic motives represent the predictor variable, while adoption intention is the outcome variable. There are four mediators, namely: attitude toward the act, perceived relative advantage, perceived complexity and perceived compatibility. This study undertakes a quantitative research approach in which 339 surveys were distributed online and in person. The findings support all seven hypotheses. Thus, indicating that intrinsic motives have a positive influence on a consumer’s attitudes toward participating in co-creation activities. Additionally, favourable attitudes toward the act have a positive relationship with perceived relative advantage and perceived complexity and a negative relationship with perceived complexity. Lastly, the results indicate that relationships exist between perceived relative advantage, perceived complexity and perceived compatibility, respectively and adoption intention. The contributions of this paper are as follows: this study adds to contextual knowledge of consumer motivation on adoption intention. Additionally, the study contributes to current knowledge by using relevant literature and empirical evidence regarding co-creation, motivation, attitudes and innovation in the South African banking industry. Lastly, the study provides guidance to managers on how to better manage their co-creation activities and investments, particularly in the financial services industry, and how to effectively engage and collaborate with their consumers and turn these co-innovation interactions into tangible profits for the firm. / MT2017

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce in Information Systems, School of Economic and Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2018 / The purpose of this study was to identify and test the factors that affect mobile Point of Sale (mPOS) adoption in Johannesburg, South Africa. The adoption of mPOS technology by merchants has not been as widespread compared to developed countries, which begs the question as to what is hindering the adoption in this context. By using a positivist approach, the study tested adoption factors using the Technology-OrganisationalEnvironment (TOE) framework. The framework looked at seven adoption factors that could potentially influence merchant level adoption of mPOS in Johannesburg, South Africa by Small Medium Enterprises. This relational study used researcher administered face-to-face questionnaires to collect data from one hundred SMEs based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Results of this study were used to answer the question as to what the adoption factors are and the extent to which these factors have affected mPOS adoption in Johannesburg, South Africa. The results of the study showed that, mPOS technology has not been widely adopted by SMEs in Johannesburg. The study also revealed that of the seven adoption factors that were anticipated to affect mPOS adoption, perceived value proposition and size of the firm had a significant impact on mPOS adoption. Furthermore, the study also uncovered significant associations between perceived value proposition, perceived competition, industry regulation and perceived security / MT 2019

Dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master Of Technology: Marketing, Durban University Of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2016. / The classical view that an industry is a customer-satisfying process and not a goods-producing process is vital for all businesses to understand. Today the mobile industry have produced a smartphone which represents a dramatic departure from traditional computing platforms as they no longer represent a static notion of context, where changes are absent, small or predictable. Therefore, today’s industries need to begin the production process with customer’s needs and not with patents, raw materials, products or selling skills. With this view rather, an organisation can only create the environment and the circumstances in which the consumer could have an experience. Furthermore, an organisation cannot grant an experience to the consumer in isolation. In seeking to expand an understating of the above classical view, this study inquired into customer experience derived from owing and using the most decorated product of the era, that is, the smartphone. The essence of this study aimed at investigating customer experience by studying smartphone usage from the students’ perspective. It studied the gap between students’ expectation and the subsequent experiences in order to determine satisfaction levels. Furthermore, cognitive dissonance was investigated to determine if there were any remorse feelings towards the smartphone. A descriptive study was employed with a quantitative inquiry and the survey used the convenience sampling method. A questionnaire was administered to students within the Durban University of Technology (DUT) fraternity. The Statistical Package for Social Science Software (SPSS) version 21 was used to analyse and to interpret the data. The key findings of the study indicate that South African university students (DUT) have positive experiences with the smartphones. Albeit, the findings indicate positive experiences, minimal presence of cognitive dissonance is also depicted. The presence of dissonance highlights that an idea cannot have a single measure which is universally meaningful. Therefore, the study expose that every product will always be exposed to suggestions of change, no matter how it can be deemed smart. / M

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Strategic Marketing 2016 / The African hair-care business has become a multibillion-dollar industry, stretching from India to china attracting global retailers such as Unilever and L’Oréal. The African hair-care market will continue to grow, especially in the informal sector where it is said to employ about 1.5 people per business on permanent basis. In order for small businesses’ performance to improve in emerging markets, especially in the informal sector, improving their marketing skills is quite essential. Mobile marketing is cost effective and can be utilised to benefit both marketing practitioners and consumers. This is imperative in the informal hair-care industry, where businesses generally lack financial resources and therefore do not have a budget to spend on marketing and advertising. The mobile phone therefore becomes an important marketing channel to reach customers and increase profitability in informal hair-care businesses, yet there has not been much academic research conducted on this and little is known about the factors that might influence mobile marketing acceptance. The purpose of this study is therefore to bridge the gap by investigating perceived mobile interactivity influence on usability and mobile marketing acceptance in the informal hair-care industry in South Africa. A quantitative study was conducted using a sample of 312 informal hair-care business operators in the Johannesburg area. Given the nature of the informal sector, a nonprobability sampling method, known as convenience sampling, was used for data collection. For analysing and interpreting data, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach was utilised. The study findings indicate that perceived interactivity dimensions (control, responsiveness and nonverbal information) have a positive effect on mobile phone usability and lead to mobile marketing acceptance. However, the findings showed a negative relation between perceived personalisation and mobile phone usability. This study aims to contribute to mobile marketing literature, be of benefit to Small, Medium and Micro-sized Enterprises (SMMEs) policy makers and add value to the field of marketing. Key words: perceived control, perceived responsiveness, nonverbal information, perceived personalisation, mobile phone usability, mobile marketing acceptance / GR2018

Mobile commerce, due to its inherent characteristics of mobility and reachability in enhancing personalized services provides an excellent means for life insurers to exploit such avenue in their service offerings. The objective of this study was to determine whether mobile commerce can be used to improve the services of life insurance post-sale activities. This objective was achieved with the relevant literature and empirical study. To accomplish the objective of this treatise, a triangulated research approach was selected and a multiple-case study consisting of four cases was conducted. The four cases selected comprised of leading insurers with large market share in the life insurance market in South-Africa. The primary data were collected through questionnaire and face-to-face interviews with selected respondents. The main finding shows that the respondents had a positive view about mobile commerce and its application in their companies. This was demonstrated by 80 percent of respondents who agreed that mobile commerce was more of an opportunity rather than a challenge or even a threat for the life insurance market. The results also indicate that customer relationship management, mobile messaging services and field service automation functions were used by all the insurers; although minor discrepancies were observed due to the efficiency of each firms IT infrastructure. The Internet was found to assist in the collection of more precise data, to increase service performing abilities. Some of the major obstacles that were found to hinder the deployment of mobile commerce in the industry were security concerns, low and infrequent internet usage and performance by supporting industries. Cumbersome and inefficient legacy systems were declared as the greatest technological weakness particularly by respondents from case 1 and 2. Conversely, hardware and network infrastructure, lack of software packages, lack of technical expertise and the fear of disintermediation was rated low in hindering the deployment of mobile commerce. However, according to the findings the key benefits derived from engaging in increased mobile commerce activities include enhancing customer contact and service, more transparency and speed of claims management, increasing client retention and policy extension rates hence increasing overall company profit.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Technology: Information Technology, Durban University of Technology, 2013. / In this study, an investigation was conducted to determine an appropriate lightweight framework that could adequately support Very Small Enterprises (VSEs) in documenting their daily business transactions. The VSEs play a significant role in the socioeconomic development of nations by providing employment opportunities. They contribute to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provide a platform for entrepreneurial skills advancement. However, VSEs have very little access to innovative Information and Communication Technology (ICT) that could help to address the unique challenges that prohibit their growth and sustainability. In many instances, the documentation of VSEs business transactions is still lacking. This deficiency promotes insufficient, unreliable and untraceable business transaction records which ultimately affect the smooth growth and sustainability of VSEs. Mobile technology provides the VSEs with a unique opportunity because of its support for mobility and low costs of system procurement. Moreover, mobile technology can enable easy connection, access and retrieval of VSE services even in the resource constrained environments anytime and anywhere. However, the inherent limitations of mobile devices such as device size, storage size, computing power and battery lifespan have forced many of the existing ICT business applications to continually rely on desktop computers. The desktop computer applications are huge, complex and not compatible with the current mobile devices. The Design Science Research (DSR) method was used to understand how VSEs conduct their daily business transactions, discover essential factors that influence the business processes of VSEs and derive a lightweight framework for mobile documentation of VSE business transactions. The lightweight framework was prototyped as ICT artefact and evaluated to determine the adoption of mobile applications by VSEs for documentation of daily business transactions. The evaluation results revealed the developed lightweight framework to be effective for mobile documentation of VSEs business transactions.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management specialising in Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation / Resistance to technological innovation by its end users is a crucial indicator which highlights information which could be utilised for a successful implementation of an innovation. The adoption of a technological innovation puts in jeopardy the internal environment, culture, identity and traditional practices of an industry. End-users have been known to be receptive to innovations as long as they do not change industry practices and help improve industry performance. This research seeks to address how an industry in the second economy characterised by high poverty, less education and minimum skills adopts and diffuse technological innovations. A survey was conducted and responses from 182 taxi owners was analysed. The research has identified that education, technology experience, relative advantage and trialability influence the probability of adoption. The results indicated that due to the nature of a social system there are different results about innovation attributes and different adopter categories can be identified in different social systems. Education and knowledge need to be addressed in order to formalise and modernise the taxi industry not just taxi owners but for taxi drivers and other members of the social system. The results have indicated that most taxi owners have positive attitudes about the electronic fare collection system. This research can contribute to the actual adoption and diffusion of the electronic payment system in the south African taxi industry. The electronic fare collection system needs to be sold for its commercial benefit to the taxi industry instead of being presented as a regulatory case for change. / MT2017

A Research Report submitted in fulfilment with the partial requirements for the Master of Management in the field of Strategic Marketing, in the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. 2016 / Over the past few years, mobile marketing has generated an increasing interest among academics and practitioners. While numerous studies have provided important insights into mobile marketing, our understanding of this topic of growing interest and importance remains deficient. Therefore, the objective of this literature is to provide a comprehensive framework intended to guide research efforts focusing on mobile marketing via SMS/MMS as well as to aid practitioners in their quest to achieve mobile marketing success. The literature is built around brand equity and awareness and whether this form of direct marketing enhances the brand. It begins with a brief background to the research situation. Mobile marketing is also defined and the researcher also looks at mobile marketing in South Africa. The researcher also outlines mobile marketing from marketing communications mix perspective and provides a comprehensive overview of the benefit of mobile marketing. The literature concludes with a detailed description of, what’s in it for companies, along with speed and simplicity of this form of direct marketing. / GR2018