Thesis (doctoral) - Techn. Univ., München, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 293-323).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-145).

The research problem addressed in this study was to provide a planning guideline for Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME’s) to assist them to plan more effectively and be sustainable in their businesses. A guideline for planning is needed, as planning is one of the most difficult activities a business owner needs to undertake. Yet it is essential to do because, before taking action, you must know where you are going and how to get there. Well-developed plans can assist the business owner to interest banks and/or investors to invest in the business, guide the owner in operating the business, give direction to and motivate employees, and provide an environment to attract customers and prospective employees. To become an effective business owner, one must look ahead. Planning, which is the process of setting objectives and devising actions to achieve those objectives are imperative to be sustainable in business. The findings of the literature survey clearly highlights the reasons why a business owner needs to plan and provide a guideline how to plan. It was found in the empirical study that Standard Bank rate the SMME market as a very valuable part of their business. The SMME market has a benefit to various departments within the bank, not only the SMME business market. The empirical study also found that not every entrepreneur that holds a business plan is successful. Many reasons for this exist. One aspect that was identified, is that the wrong idea was implemented. The empirical study revealed that in all respondents agreed that planning forms an integral part of the entrepreneurs business. The empirical study found that a business plan will assist the entrepreneur to be sustainable in their business, only if a thorough feasibility study was conducted. The respondents agreed that the feasibility study, will either support or contradict the assumptions made in the business plan, this will assist the entrepreneur to decide to either continue or end the business activity. It was found that the entrepreneur, with especially a financial expert should be involved when a business planning is undertaken. Other experts in the various business arenas should also be requested to assist with the setting up of the business plan.

The skills shortage is one of the problems that existed in South Africa as a result of its historic political situation. South Africa was characterized by a white dominant government in an economy which was marked by exclusions of various people of race and gender. In the working environment, the situation reflected job reservation for white males, limited career opportunities for white females with repercussions of isolation, sanctions and global deprivation. The 1994 elections brought a change in leadership and a democratic government had as its primary mission skills development for all. On a macro level, South Africa was marginalized from global participation and on a micro level, many people were not able to enter the workforce because of a lack of skills let alone be active in the economy. The South African government’s resultant Human Resources Development – (HRDS) and National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) were driven by supportive legislation namely the Skills Development Act No 97 of 1998, Employment Equity Act No 55 of 1998, Skills Development Levies Act of 1999 and the South African Qualifications Authority Act No 58 of 1995. These strategies and legislative measures intended to address the skills shortages through the implementation of learnerships as a national qualification. Following from the high level strategy were the initial over-ambitious targets for people to become qualified learners. The result was a push-through effect of individuals who were not necessarily suited to a particular learnership nor were they able to function on the required standard. Low level evaluations were used to ‘certify’ potential learners in terms of their numeracy and literacy levels only. This provided an opportunity to evaluate the suitability of learners on the New Venture Creation Learnership in terms of their entrepreneurial functionality and leadership qualities. After evaluating a number of models (Carland Entrepreneurial Index, the Bar-on Emotional Intelligence test and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), the Functional ii Intelligence Assessment Tool (FIAT) scientific model was selected because of its holistic approach of the individual and his/her functionality within an environment. The Functional Intelligence Assessment Tool identified and substantiated the suitability or non-suitability of the respondents in terms of entrepreneurial requirements. An additional questionnaire was administered to evaluate leadership qualities which are an essential component of the entrepreneur. The first of three research goals were attained when the respondents who were in the process of completing the New Venture Creation Learnership were successfully assessed in terms of entrepreneurial functionality. The outcome of this research concluded that only three (3) out of nineteen (19) candidates were found to be suitable for the entrepreneurial environment while two of the three had leadership qualities. The analysis of one candidate was such that no accurate analysis in terms of leadership qualities could be obtained. In terms of Functional Tendency, eight (8) candidates showed extrovert tendencies, six (6) showed introvert tendencies while five (5) candidates rendered results that did not give a clear indication of the individual’s functionality. Nine (9) individuals intentionally tried to manipulate their results but were identified through their inconsistent results while candidate 1 manipulated her results unintentionally; Five (5) individuals tried to disguise their results by giving extreme scores thereby hoping to impress with their choice of answers (impression management) while two (2) individuals were in denial about their situation having scored unrealistic results. Two (2) individuals had serious problems with their emotional functioning to the extent that they should consult a professional person (professional intervention). Twelve (12) individuals revealed inconsistent results while the remainder of candidates shows some or an insignificant degree of inconsistency in their results. Only three (3) individuals should be re-assessed due to the extent of their inconsistency. iii The second research goal to give comprehensive feedback to the Services Seta and respondents regarding the outcome of the Functional Intelligence Assessment Tool assessments will only be attained after this thesis but it sets the base for follow-up of the respondents’ progress and to conduct future research. The third research goal is also more medium - to long term - to apply this tool to potential learners and – employees in addition to the initial research performed. This goal will also only be attained after negotiations with SETAs and continuous populating of a central database with the FIAT’s assessments. The holistic approach to assessing the functionality of an individual gives the person a vast number of areas known as super constructs (self perception and emotional functioning; relationships and corporate functioning, personal – and organizational value comparison) that will either highlight a serious situation or spell out how the individual will react and interact in certain situations. Small business is said to drive the economy of a country. It is therefore critical that the entrepreneurs in a country are identified early (through a scientific instrument such as FIAT) and skilled appropriately (through learnerships or other educational routes). It is equally important that individuals that are not entrepreneurs be found their rightful vocation and then everyone can contribute effectively to the economic activity. / Prof. J.J.D. Havenga

Research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management with specialisation in Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, March, 2017 / This paper explores how the provision and access to financial and human capitals creates a conducive environment and enhances entry into entrepreneurship by individuals earmarked as potential beneficiaries of the Uwezo Enterprise Development Fund in North Horr Constituency in Kenya. Financial capital is discussed from the point of how improved accessibility influences entrepreneurial inclinations and motivation. The study also explores whether boosting human capitals resources through training (skill development), market linkage (improve networking), and mentorship (improve self–efficacy) among the Uwezo Enterprise Development recipients encouraged them towards considering entrepreneurship as a career option. The purpose of the study was to assess whether provision of financial resources and enhancement of human capabilities through Uwezo Enterprise Development has influenced the individuals to consider entrepreneurship as an alternative form of employment. The study employed a quantitative design, where a survey questionnaire was used to gather the data and the data collected analysed using the Statistical Package for Statistical Analysis System (SAS) / MT2017

No description available.

‘Corporate Venturing (CV)', which is broadly defined as an innovation practice by creating and nurturing internal CV teams or investing in external start-ups (Burgelman, 1983b; Dushnitsky and Lenox, 2005), has been adopted by large incumbent firms wishing to ensure their survival and business s growth in the future. Despite its promised benefits, CV activities are often terminated in the early stages. Nevertheless, some firms start their CV programs again, and these recurring patterns of CV activities contribute towards ‘CV cyclicality'. However, we have limited understandings of the phenomenon of CV cyclicality at the level of the firm. This thesis, therefore, aims to develop a better understanding of the cyclical nature of CV (i.e. CV cyclicality) in a way that helps managers manage CV activities—engaged scholarship (Van de Ven, 2007). To explore CV cyclicality at the firm level, this thesis adopted an in-depth case study approach. A large Korean ICT firm (pseudonym: Company Alpha), which is the exemplar of a large firm in Korea that repeated CV activities over time, was examined (from early 2013 to 2017) to find out how CV activities were developed, terminated, and then re-started during the period between 1990 and 2015. This approach enabled to find the importance of the term ‘direction' for the CV practitioners at Company Alpha and in the Korean context. Hence, this thesis also aims to usefully conceptualize ‘direction' itself to understand and explain Company Alpha's corporate venturing activities and how they repeat over time. This thesis suggests that the direction of corporate venturing (CV) can be usefully conceptualized as an internal consistency between the firm's structure (with actors residing in the structure) and its strategy. Drawing on research orchestration theory (Sirmon et al., 2007; 2011), a conceptual framework (the direction of CV) was developed by combining both the main managerial actors who conduct CV activities (the starting point) and the primary strategic objective that the CV program pursues and is designed to achieve (the end point). The thesis demonstrates that this new framing of direction helps us to better understand and explain Company Alpha's repeating CV cycles. From the examination of the twenty-six years history of CV (from 1990 to 2015) at the Korean ICT firm through the lens of the direction of CV, this thesis makes its main argument about the CV cyclicality at Company Alpha: rather than being terminated separately, a series of CV programs evolved over time for the purpose of combining resources in a new way; results of deliberate and experimental efforts then formed an evolutionary cycle of CV. The thesis also argues that what was terminated during the firm's repeated CV activities was, instead, a distinct evolutionary cycle of CV, which later re-initiated with the next CV cycle. This thesis makes substantial contributions to knowledge. Firstly, this thesis makes contributions to the CV literature by providing a detailed and empirical evidence-based explanation of CV cyclicality at a large Korean high-tech firm (repeated evolutionary CV cycles aimed at new resource combination), which goes beyond a relatively simple dichotomy between termination and evolution. Secondly, the thesis also contributes to the strategy and innovation management literature by suggesting a new framing of direction from an internal firm perspective. This helps us to understand organizational and strategic change in a new way that organizations can generate changes proactively by reconfiguring their internal elements, even without stimuli external to the firm. Thirdly, for practitioners, the findings from the thesis contribute by providing an empirical insight that can help managers manage their CV activities. Almost no organizational memory about their previous CV efforts remained within the firm, however, this thesis casts an empirical light by unfolding how a repeating pattern (the evolution of CV) occurred within the first (1997–2002) and the second CV cycle (2011–2015) of the firm. The case firm and other companies may benefit from having knowledge of a corporate history of CV cycles including failures.

Thesis (MBA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / The post apartheid Republic of South Africa experiences several economic challenges that need urgent attention. These economic challenges include poverty, unemployment, slowing economic growth, high supply of unskilled labour, skills shortages, and an ever-escalating crime rate amongst others. In an attempt to resolve these economic challenges, the South African Government targeted the SMME sector as an economic empowerment vehicle for historically disadvantaged individuals. This follows the evident role of SMMEs in the creation of employment opportunities, poverty alleviation and contribution to GDP, amongst others. Over the years after the dawn of democracy, public procurement has been used as a tool for local economic development. The South African Government has therefore recently emphasised the empowerment of Township SMMEs through state procurement. The purpose of the research was to investigate the extent to which sourcing strategies provide a mechanism for public sector SCM to empower Township SMMEs. The qualitative methodology was used to collect and analyse the data using the case study design. The research revealed that procurement opportunities can be provided to Township SMMEs through several appropriate sourcing strategies, and other procurement methods. Nonetheless, the research further revealed that there are constraints that may hinder the successful empowerment of Township SMMEs through the application of the identified sourcing strategies and procurement methods. Such constraints have to be taken into account and addressed to ensure that the objectives behind the empowerment of Township SMMEs are realised.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2006. / 1 electronic text (111 p. : ill. (some col.)) : digital, PDF file. Title from title screen. Dr. Ben Oviatt, committee chair; Brett Anitra Gilbert, Detmar W. Straub, William C. Bogner, committee members. Description based on contents viewed Mar. 28, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-111).

No description available.