Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Technology: Fashion at the Durban University of Technology, 2013. / Due to the high levels of unemployment in Durban South Africa, the New Venture Creation (NVC) groups I coached/mentored were seeking to become self-employed, to find social and economic independence. I have observed that many of the people in my NVC groups seemed to lack, self-confidence and self-esteem in the start-up process of their business. These lacunae pose a problem, as they are all necessary if one wants to create a viable, sustainable and profitable business. The reason that I coach these emerging entrepreneurs is to assist in building their self-confidence and self-esteem so that they have the courage to “go for it”. The problem I have sought to address in this research is: How do I influence emerging entrepreneurs to become sufficiently self-confident to be able to design, establish and sustain their own employment and employment for others? I work on the assumption that most people have the capacity to be self-employed. I have used autoethnography with action research to describe the interventions that I initiated, report on their implementation, as well as the evolution of new perceptions and understandings that developed as a result. By using my own and the participants visual data with still images and video with visual narrative I demonstrate the evidence of my living theory and self-study to influence creative economic independence in others and reflect critically on what has been done and achieved, and critically assess the way forward. I verbally explained the ethical issue of obtaining consent to use names and photographs in my study to the participants. My explanation was followed by obtaining written consent from the five key participants and others in the pictorial data. / M

This study investigates the valuation of Internet-based businesses. In particular the influence of the implementation of an e-business strategy on the value of a business by focussing on its financial performance, will be determined. Although the valuation of businesses in general has been researched extensively, research on the valuation of Internet-based businesses produced contradictory findings. No consensus could be reached regarding the most appropriate valuation approach to be used. Some research findings indicated that the discounted cash flow approach was the most appropriate while others stipulated that a new valuation approach should be developed. Many authors state that the move to include an e-business strategy is natural, and that businesses cannot afford not to include some form of e-business strategy. Previous research has also shown that by including an e-business strategy, it is possible to improve efficiency of the business and ultimately increase profitability. However, there was no emphasis on how the e-business strategy will influence the business valuation. In order to establish whether an e-business strategy will create value for a business, an empirical investigation was undertaken.

The focus on entrepreneurs as drivers of the economies of nations has catapulted them into the forefront of the local and international marketplace. This has led to a demand for entrepreneurial education and training resulting in a plethora of different and often divergent views. One commonality that has emerged is that entrepreneurship can be taught; although it cannot be taught in conventional and traditional ways. It requires a move from traditional education and training to more enterprising participative and supportive forms of business development. It requires investments of time, resources and support. Incubators are facilities that are engaged with entrepreneurs and offer a variety of support including education and training. This study has assessed the effectiveness of training offered by the Seda Nelson Mandela Bay ICT incubator. There has been limited research undertaken on entrepreneurial education and training in an incubator setting. This study followed the qualitative paradigm. The sample comprised of 10 small businesses at the Seda Nelson Mandela Bay ICT incubator. Empirical data was obtained by interviewing the owners of the small businesses using an interview schedule. Issues such as the most effective training programme, content that it contained, methodology used and quality of the facilitator and applicability of the training programme were explored. The study found that the small businesses were opportunity driven rather than necessity driven and that the incubator served as a bridging facility in moving the businesses from the informal sector to the formal sector. The content of the training programmes was found to be effective when a mix of both theoretical and practical is offered especially with an emphasis on the underlying entrepreneurial themes of confidence, persistence and uncertainty and so on. It also found that training programmes should be linked to the life cycle of the business and address the specific needs of the small business owner. The start-up phase requires very specific training. Most of the facilitators were found to be experienced and empathetic. However, only a few were using a wider range of preferred learning styles favoured by entrepreneurs such as role playing, simulation, brainstorming and problem-solving techniques. The study also found that when generic training programmes are offered there was less recall on the part of the trainees. The management team of the incubator is an important determinant of the success of the incubatees and it is recommended that they need to be well versed in their sector and have good networking skills. There is a strong link between the theoretical and the practical content of training programmes especially where the emphasis is more on the practical content. It is recommended that facilitators pay attention to their relationship with trainees as it is a critical success factor in the training programme. Training programmes offered over a period of time add more value to the incubatee. This might be because of the mentoring and counselling that is available after each training module is completed. Finally, more research needs to be undertaken on the quality and effectiveness of training programmes offered by incubators to small businesses.

Theme of my thesis is to create a business plan for establishing a limited liability company, which will deal with buying and selling animal feed, including presentation and processing of important aspects affecting the business of the undertaking, further assessments of its feasibility and usefulness. The theoretical part describes the possibilities and forms of business and content of business plan. In the practical part are elaborated the various steps required to establish a new company and its business plan. For purpose of processing individual analysis was used information from Czech and European institutions, market analysis, communication with selected suppliers and potential customers.

This diploma thesis deals with the processing and utilization of the business plan. In addition to the teoretical knowledge of topic issue, here are the practical application of the specific example. It is the foundation of the modern restaurant in the heart of the city of Brno. The resulting business plan will be parsed and analyzed in all economic aspects, with emphasis on competition and the needs of potential customers.

This work is about developing and creation of a business plan that will serve not only as a thesis, but also as an effort to implement this plan into practice to open a real store in Breclav. This is the exclusive shop of handmade goods, focusing primarily on the patchwork technique. Another range of products will be a decorative but also practical, fulfill the principle of handmade goods.

This thesis deals with designing a business plan for the establishment of dance studio providing a diverse range of the many kinds of acrobatics lessons. The company is a rather minor character breakdown by size of enterprise. The work is divided into three parts. In the theoretical section - the theoretical basis for second part is explained and that is analysis of the current state and next is design part.

L’évolution des stratégies de croissance des jeunes entreprises<p><p>La recherche sur la croissance des jeunes entreprises s’est fortement développée au cours des trente dernières années. La situation est particulièrement marquée en Europe où le nombre de jeunes entreprises en forte croissance est réduit alors qu’il est admis que ce type d’entreprises contribue à la création d’un nombre important d’emplois. La communauté scientifique reconnaît que la recherche actuellement disponible manque d’intégration, d’ancrage théorique et d’approches longitudinales. De ce fait, elle n’est pas en mesure d’expliquer comment et pourquoi les jeunes entreprises adoptent différentes stratégies de croissance et suivent des trajectoires hétérogènes. L’objectif de cette thèse est de produire un cadre analytique, aussi intégré et dynamique que possible, permettant de mieux comprendre le pourquoi et le comment de la croissance des jeunes entreprises. Pour faire face à ce défi, elle s’inscrit dans la foulée des travaux séminaux de Gartner et Marchesnay respectivement sur le cadre d’analyse de la création d’entreprise et le système de gestion des petites et moyennes entreprises. Elle adopte le paradigme épistémologique du réalisme critique et recourt essentiellement à la méthode des cas. L’approche générale se veut donc longitudinale, qualitative et exploratoire.<p><p>La recherche est développée en trois temps qui correspondent à autant de chapitres présentés sous forme d’articles scientifiques. Le chapitre 1 remonte aux sources de sept grandes approches de recherche qui ont été adoptées pour expliquer la croissance des jeunes entreprises. Il montre que, prise isolément, aucune d’entre elles ne peut expliquer la croissance mais il souligne également à quel point elles se répondent et se complètent. Le chapitre 2 propose une modélisation systémique qui capitalise sur l’approche configurationnelle telle que développée par Miller et Mintzberg et celle par les processus telle que développée par Van de Ven. Ces deux approches permettent en effet d’intégrer de nombreux acquis des recherches existantes. La modélisation développée suggère que les jeunes entreprises adoptent des configurations associées à différentes stratégies qui mettent en cohérence les éléments caractéristiques de la démarche entrepreneuriale (c’est-à-dire l’entrepreneur, les activités, les ressources, la structure organisationnelle et l’environnement) alors que ceux-ci évoluent sous l’influence de multiples processus. Le chapitre 3, rédigé en anglais, s’intéresse plus particulièrement au cas des jeunes entreprises de services informatiques. Il approfondit la modélisation proposée au chapitre 2 dans un contexte où les entreprises sont, entre autres, confrontées au choix de se développer en tant que sociétés de services et/ou ont l’opportunité de se redéployer vers le développement de logiciels. Sur le plan méthodologique, l’approche choisie consiste à développer une typologie de configurations stratégiques déduite des littératures académique et pratique puis à comparer les idéaux-types qui la compose aux configurations réellement adoptées par des entreprises.<p>La modélisation et la typologie sont testées et conceptuellement confirmées par plusieurs études de cas d’entreprises belges. L’ensemble confirme bien que le développement des jeunes entreprises passe bien par l’adoption de configurations successives, associables à différentes stratégies de croissance, sans que celles-ci et leurs séquences soient prédéterminées du fait de l’influence concomitante de plusieurs processus.<p><p>Bien qu’essentiellement conceptuelle, la thèse confirme le bien-fondé de l’adoption conjointe des approches par les configurations et par les processus pour la compréhension du phénomène complexe qu’est la croissance. Elle ouvre également une porte à de futurs travaux de validation quantitative. Au niveau de la pratique, elle permet d’envisager le développement d’outils d’aide à la décision pour les entrepreneurs afin de les sensibiliser aux conditions et implications de différentes stratégies de croissance.<p><p><p>The evolution of the growth strategies of young firms <p><p>Research on the growth of young firms has developed significantly over the last thirty years. The situation is particularly noteworthy in Europe, where there is only a limited number of young firms experiencing strong growth, even though it is widely recognised that this type of firm contributes to the creation of a substantial amount of jobs. The scientific community recognises that the currently available research is lacking in terms of integration, theoretical anchoring and longitudinal approaches. Consequently, it is not able to explain how and why young firms adopt different growth strategies and follow heterogeneous trajectories. The aim of this thesis is to create an analytical framework, which is as integrated and dynamic as possible, so as to make it possible to understand the why and the wherefore behind the growth of young firms. In order to respond to this challenge, the thesis follows in the footsteps of the seminal works of Gartner and Marchesnay respectively, on the conceptual framework for describing new venture creation and the management system of small and medium enterprises. It adopts the epistemological paradigm of ‘critical realism’ and makes use, essentially, of the case study method. The general approach is therefore intended to be longitudinal, qualitative and exploratory. <p><p>The research is developed in three stages, which correspond to the same number of chapters set out in the form of scientific papers. Chapter 1 goes back to the sources of the seven major research approaches that have been adopted in order to explain the growth of young firms. It demonstrates that, when considered in isolation, none of them can fully explain the growth of young firms, but it also highlights the extent to which they respond to, and complete, one another. Chapter 2 proposes a systemic model that capitalises on the configurational approach as developed by Miller and Mintzberg, as well as the process approach as developed by Van de Ven. Indeed, these two approaches make it possible to integrate a large number of elements that have already been established through existing research. The model suggests that young firms adopt configurations associated with different strategies that tie the key elements of the entrepreneurial phenomenon (namely the entrepreneur, the activities, the resources, the organisational structure and the environment), while these elements change under the influence of numerous processes. The third chapter, which has been written in English, places particular focus on young IT services firms. It takes a more in-depth look at the model proposed in chapter 2 in a context in which firms are, amongst other things, faced with the choice of developing as service firms and/or have the opportunity to turn their efforts and attention towards software development. From a methodological point of view, the chosen approach consists in the development of a typology of strategic configurations deduced from academic and practical literature and then to compare the ideal types with the configurations that have been actually adopted by the firms. <p>The model and typology are tested and conceptually confirmed by several case studies of Belgian companies. The overall findings serve to confirm the fact that the development of young firms is achieved through the adoption of successive configurations that are associated with different growth strategies, without these and their sequences being predetermined because of the influence of multiple simultaneous processes. <p><p>Although it is essentially conceptual in nature, the thesis confirms the relevance of the joint adoption of the configurational- and process-approaches in order to understand the complexity of the growth phenomenon. It also opens up the door to quantitative validation research work. In terms of its practical application, the thesis enables us to start the development of a toolbox that may help entrepreneurs in the decision-making process so as to raise their awareness regarding the conditions and implications of different growth strategies. <p> / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The thesis documents findings of a study conducted to develop a project based financial management system (PBFMS) whose role was viewed as a contributor to the successful delivery of projects leading to improved financial performance of small and medium construction enterprise (SMCEs). In particular, the PBFMS was viewed as a facilitator {function) for the efficient and effective conduction of the strategic management, project planning and control processes. Thus an adequate PBFMS was seen as one which, facilitates the efficient and effective delivery of projects with a view to provide enhanced enterprise performance. In pursuit of this aim, theory and practices relating to the development, operation and use of a PBFMS were investigated and analysed from both literature and field work leading to findings being reported in the thesis. In addition, the actual financial management systems of SMCEs were investigated to determine the extent to which their attributes match those of the proposed PBFMS model. The motivation for embarking on the study was brought about by three aspects observed in Botswana. Firstly, was the frequently documented poor delivery of projects, that is, for a sustained period of time, projects were being delivered beyond stipulated times, above agreed cost, and below specified quality. In some worst scenarios, projects were being abandoned at various stages execution but before completion. Secondly, the investigation was also prompted by the frequent financial failures of enterprises that were being recorded in the construction industry. Thirdly, the conduct of the proprietors of the construction enterprises was also frequently circumspect, particularly in matters relating to financial management. Thus in pursuing the study, a number of premises were made. Firstly, the financial management systems of the SMCEs were considered inadequate to fulfil their functions, that is, they were incapable of facilitating the strategic management, project planning and control process. It was also speculated that management of SMCEs were not committed to the PBFMS i.e. they did not participate, get involved and did not comply with the policies regarding the planning, developing, and operation of financial management systems. As a result, PBFMS were unable to play their role of facilitating to the successful delivery of projects for improved contribution to the financial performance of SMCEs. The second premise was that financial models available are either too generic to guide SMCEs in financial management matters or the strategic component is not linked to the operational plans to execute the strategy. For those which are meant for construction enterprises, they normally prescribe practices for project planning and control without including the strategic element and vice versa. In essence there is a gap in each of the models available for use by the SMCEs. It is the closing of this perceived gap in knowledge that the results of the thesis contribute in finding a solution to the mentioned problem. Thus the study aimed at answering two research questions: (i) Do SMCEs have adequate PBFMS that facilitate the effective delivery of projects for enhanced financial performance? and (ii) Is there a relationship between the adequacy PBFMS and poor performance of SMCEs? To facilitate the answering of these two question two hypothesis were formulated namely: Hoi: The PBFMS of SMCEs are adequate to facilitate the delivery of projects; and Ho2: The adequacy of the PBFMS is positively correlated with the performance of SMCEs. To test the two questions a research process was planned and executed in several steps. Firstly, a survey strategy using the questionnaire was selected as the most appropriate method to provide a snap shot of the existence of attributes of PBFMS and to investigate associated practices relating to their development and operation. The method was considered more appropriate and effective in gathering large data in a short space of time in line with the doctoral time framework. Construction enterprises registered with Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) for building and civil work in classes A, B, C and D were surveyed. The internal quantity surveyor, estimator or accountant were requested to respond on matters relating PBFMS on behalf of the SMCEs. The sampling frame from which the SMCEs considered for study were obtained from the two government departments which work closely with PPADB, the Department of Building and Engineering Services (DBES) and Department of Roads (DR). The sample sizes for each group category (small and medium) were determined using Krajcie and Morgan (1970) table. Stratified and systematic random sampling was used to select the identity of the members to form a sample fro study from the sampling frame. The second step was to design the questionnaire to probe the three aspects identified as constituting the PBFMS namely the strategic management; project planning and control; and management commitment. Essentially the questionnaire sought to investigate the knowledge, tools, techniques, practices, opinions and attitudes of those who design, develop, operate and use the PBFMS in the SMCEs. To ensure a high quality design, the questionnaire was given to experts in the subject area to provide some comments on its suitability and was also piloted on four enterprises. Data collected was analysed using mainly the SPSS software and involved application of various statistical techniques including cross-tabs, ratio analysis, ttests and correlational tests. A total of 101 completed questionnaires were received, made up of 55% and 46% small and medium enterprises, respectively. The demographic profile of SMCEs confirmed some of the expected results, for example, majority (59%) of the respondents were owner/managers confirming the dominance of the owner in SMCEs. Majority of SMCEs (59%) were more than 9 years old, with medium enterprises being more mature (60% older than 9 years) than the small sized enterprises (49% older than 9 years). Majority (56%) of SMCEs had 10 or more employees, with medium sized enterprises having more employees (75% with 10 or more) than the small sized enterprises (42% with 10 or more). SMCEs performed more of building work alone (48%) than both building and civil work (48%) or maintenance (11%) and no enterprise performed civil work (0%) alone. Majority of SMCEs (65%) acted as main contractors as opposed to sub-contractors, though as expected sub-contracting was seen more in small (20%) than medium (10%) enterprises. Lastly, the public sector (central and local authorities) provided majority (65%) of the SMCEs jobs. However, if parastatals which are wholly owned by government were added, the public sector job market adds up to 73% (65%+8%). The testing of the major two major hypothesis resulted in the following conclusion. The results indicated that the first hypothesis was supported, that is, in a majority of SMCEs operating in Botswana the PBFMS were found to be adequate in facilitating the delivery of projects. The results were therefore not in agreement with the basic premise made at the commencement of the study. In view of the finding, it suggests that SMCEs in Botswana have adequate systems that support the efficient and effective project planning and control. Secondly, management is committed to the 'welfare' of the PBFMS in terms of complying and supporting their development and operation. However, like any human endeavour, there are weaknesses in the PBFMS, for example, they were found inadequate in facilitating the strategic management process, including lack of linking the process to the operational process in order to execute the strategy. They were also found weak in one of the most crucial process of project management; that of project control. The second major investigation showed a weak link between the adequacy of a PBFMS and performance. Secondly, the results also indicated that the SMCEs which had adequate PBFMS performed better than their counterparts. The first results were not surprising since the cause of poor performance were shown as three pillars (business environment, client/representatives and enterprise factors). However, the second results emphasise that SMCEs with adequate PBFMS posted better performance than their counterparts with inadequate systems. In this way the role of PBFMS in contributing to better performance was illustrated by the results. Some recommendations are proposed resulting from the findings and how to achieve a deeper understanding of the subject. Firstly, SMCEs should pay more attention to matters pertaining to strategic management to ensure a long-term view of their enterprises. Secondly, when a strategic plan is developed, it must be implemented through operational plans as a means of executing the strategy. Thirdly, concerted effort should made in ensuring that the projects are controlled as it is the only way to achieve sustained profitability and satisfied customers. Fourthly, as a way of providing a deeper understanding of the subject, it is suggested a longitudinal study could be undertaken to yield a more encompassing investigation than a cross sectional study which captured only one business cycle of the industry (down turn). Lastly, the study could be replicated in another industry with a similar profile like the construction industry in Botswana, for example, Namibia or/and the study could include large enterprises to provide means of comparing the different profiles of enterprises. / Business Management / D. B. L.

The main aim of the study was to analyze the socio-economic variables effecting agritourism business using data from two rural communities of the Limpopo province, Nwa’metwa and Lenyenye. The results showed that there are significant socio-economic differences among agritourism and non-agritourism farmers. The socio-economic variables used are literacy, gender, age, land size and family size. Two multinomial models were used to model agritourism behavior. The two models, namely fully and partially registered agritourism farmers were estimated. Non-registered agritourism farmers were used as the reference group. These models denoted the relative probability of both fully and partially registered agritourism farmers to the probability of the non-registered agritourism farmers. The logarithm results implied that older farmers were less likely to prefer to operate business as a fully or partially registered agritourism farmer compared to the non-registered agritourism group. Farmers’ decisions in business operation were informed by their level of education, experience as well as social networks. / Agriculture, Animal Health & Human Ecology / M. Sc. (Agriculture)