A study, as part fulfilment of the MBA requirements, was undertaken to establish the critical success factors within the township establishment process through the Townplanning and Township Ordinance 15 of 1986. The study included a literature survey and evaluation of current practises to get a thorough understanding of the present requirements and procedures available to developers to do township establishment. This created a knowledge base from which a guideline was extracted to determine what activities are critical to the township establishment process in terms of the Township Ordinance. This was supported by personal interviews and questionnaires with experienced relevant role players i.e. developers, project managers, engineers and town planners to draw on their experiences with regard to the factors which they deem critical to the successful establishment of a township. The study found that there are four critical success factors that can have a detrimental impact on the profitability of a project. These factors include the quality of the professional team, preliminary investigations, geotechnical and environmental investigations. However, with the current skill shortages and lack of enthusiasm experienced within the local and external governmental bodies, obtaining statutory approval from these authorities seems to have a more significant impact on the timely transformation of land into residential, commercial or industrial stands. The findings of the study concluded that the crux of a successful township application lies in the pro-active management, integration and coordination off all activities within the scope of the professional team, local and external bodies: Obtaining statutory approval from local and external authorities is becoming increasingly difficult as local authorities lack the necessary expertise and enthusiasm to facilitate the application process. This places further emphasis on the pro-active management of all activities to optimize the township establishment process in order to minimize the risk of project delays, cost overruns and loss of income. It is therefore recommended that careful consideration supported by further research be conducted to identify the managerial activities and requirements to manage the township establishment process successfully within the present environment of an uncoordinated approach, acute shortage of skills, lack of knowledge and even corruption as a new simplified bill will not necessarily remove all the present short comings. This should include the structures required to develop the necessary capacities within the governmental authorities to facilitate the process. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Graduate School of Management / unrestricted