The diploma work is about research of bioproducts. The opinion of the people and the interest of buying bioproducts.

In managing organisations for peak performance, managers have to deal with the strategic paradox of either exploiting their current resources, skills and competencies, or exploring and finding new alternatives. Managers are constantly challenged with this complex paradox and must decide how to leverage these seemingly opposite tensions for best performance. This study investigates the factors that affect exploitation and exploration, the implications of not balancing them, and finally whether they should be traded off against one another or done ambidextrously, which is a metaphor for organisations that are equally dexterous at exploiting and exploring. To this end, a qualitative research study with an explorative design was conducted in order to delve deep into this quandary. Interviews with 14 leading executives and four strategy experts were held to uncover their unique insights into this paradox. The insights from these in-depth interviews formed the basis of the data that was analysed using content analysis to produce the research findings of this study. The research identified the factors that could influence the degree to which an organisation explores or exploits. The research confirmed that exploitation and exploration are interdependent and should be done ambidextrously. The exploitation versus exploration management model emerged from these research findings. This model will assist managers in understanding the paradox and will put them in a position to better manage exploitation and exploration in order for the company to be sustainable. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lmgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

This research aimed to investigate how GE developed an organisational ambidexterity capability to significantly accelerate its growth in emerging markets. Dissatisfied with its growth in emerging markets, GE launched the Global Growth & Operations organisation (GGO) in November 2010. The internationalisation process had been led by its P&Ls with an exploitation focus and needed a shift towards an exploration focus that would develop disruptive capabilities required to promote growth. The research was undertaken as a case study of GGO in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) to gain an in-depth understanding of how the OA capability was developed and managed at GE. A qualitative research approach was adopted that consisted of a literature survey and 14 semi-structured interviews with senior leaders of the P&Ls and GGO for SSA. The study found that a top brass leadership, supported unequivocally and well-resourced were key to GGO’s ability to shift GE’s centre of gravity to the emerging markets. A paradox mindset at ease with tension was characteristic of the leaders allowing them to engage constructively. GGO, ambidextrous itself, developed exploration and exploitation capabilities enabling the P&Ls to do business as usual in the emerging markets. A model to develop OA for market expansion was developed. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lmgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Commercial capital markets have started to recognise that the context of investment must be considered, this is seen via the widespread adoption of the United Nation’s Principals for Responsible Investment. Impact Investing, has developed into a recognised mechanism for achieving a triple bottom line returns (financial returns, social returns, and environmental returns). Governments are recognising the benefits of this capital resource, by structuring policy to attract capital towards achieving impact. Private equity impact investing is a new alternative asset class that is regarded as a highly efficient instrument for allocating capital whilst achieving impact. This paper investigates the factors that are influencing Private Equity Impact Investing in South Africa, and it provides an exploratory investigation into the landscape of public policy that affects this asset class. This research is relevant through identifying trends and best practice for Private Equity Impact Investing in emerging markets, and evaluating their suitability for adoption in South Africa. This study was a qualitative study using data collected via 16 semi-structured interviews. These interviews included 8 private equity fund managers, 4 investment intermediaries, and 4 policy makers. The data was processed with the use of a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software. Thematic coded analysis was performed on the data, and relationships were defined in accordance with the categorisation of themes. Findings were triangulated to ensure validity. The research found that whilst Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment provided an opportunity for targeted investment, it has the potential for expansion to incorporate additional impact areas. The poor implementation of policy by government agencies is resulting in failure to effectively feed soft capital into the investment spectrum, thereby creating a gap in the capital continuum. This has resulted in a shortfall in investment in SME and VC, thereby inhibiting the pipeline for Private Equity Impact Investment / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / zkgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / Unrestricted

This qualitative exploratory study was designed to discover the impact emerging exponential technologies (EmX technologies) have and will increasingly have on the talent and business models of knowledge-intensive services (KIS) firms. This research indicated the importance of talent and the extent to which talent is likely to be augmented or replaced due to these technologies. The dichotomy between talent and technology was of particular interest as KIS firms have generally based their ability to compete purely on their recruited and trained talent. The rationale for this study is that the researcher found limited academically published research addressing the impact of how KIS firms could increasingly use EmX technologies to enhance their competitive advantage in the market, while many of these firms face intensified client expectations and increased competitor rivalry. It was the researcher’s assumption that this research would aid KIS firms to obtain a more profound understanding of how they could use EmX technologies to modify their business models as a means of gaining a competitive advantage over their competitors. A judgement sample of ten senior executives in KIS firms was selected and in-depth interviews were employed as the primary data-collection method. The data was coded and organised according to the research questions. The analysis and interpretations of findings was structured to answer each of the research questions. This research revealed that EmX technologies are likely to evolve KIS firms’ business models to ensure greater use of these technologies through adopting digital strategies that better enable their talent; enhance their products and services and how they are delivered and alter their methodologies, processes and structures to gain an initial competitive advantage. Resultantly, KIS firms are likely to obtain reputational benefits of being ‘idea leaders’, which aids in differentiating them in the market; they would be able to better scale their businesses and achieve cost efficiencies. However, KIS firms would need to keep innovating as their competitors rapidly imitate any successful implementations. Various talent and business model recommendations were made to KIS firms in this study to help them take advantage of EmX technologies in an effective way. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / zkgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / Unrestricted

Black business community participated in SA economy for survival purposes rather than for prosperity and contribution to its development at large. The rest of the black population formed a labour pool as a race-based lumpenproletariat. It is only in 1993 that BEE was introduced to dramatically reform the economy by including all races. The aim of the study was to determine BEE owned company success factors given the criticism and challenges faced. A qualitative, exploratory study was undertaken to gain in-depth knowledge from thirteen BEE experts through semi-structured interviews. The respondents were selected by way of purposive and snowball sampling and the highest combined total NAV of the BEE owned companies studied is over R92 Billion. The study found that at a macro-economic level for economic empowerment to succeed, political, psychological, economic and social powers need to be present. At a micro-economic level access to funding, skills and value creation is instrumental in ensuring BEE ownership succeeded. White corporates also had to be involved to de-racialise the economy. To this effect a model was developed which maps out a blueprint for BEE owned company success. It is the recommendation of the study that BEE-owned companies should continuously innovate to fuel growth / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / zkgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / Unrestricted

The recent development in the Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) has resulted in major changes in the social, cultural and economic changes globally. The impact of ICT investments has been noticed in developed countries such as Singapore and United States of America. This has stirred up an interest in developing economies, whereby governments are also perceived to be increasing a portion of their annual budgets towards ICT investment in an effort to improve national competitiveness. Several countries are implementing various government policy interventions to promote foreign direct investments (FDI) so as to build ICT clusters similar to the Silicon Valley model. One of the recent and successful clusters amongst the developing countries is the ICT cluster in Costa Rica, which is an ideal example for other developing countries to imitate. Amongst such developing countries is Kenya. The objective of this research was to gain an understanding on how the ICT policy has helped create an enabling environment for FDI, which further boosts national competitiveness within the context of an African country. A qualitative case study research design was adopted for the Kenyan case. A sample size of eight respondents consisting of representatives from multinational companies in ICT and government policy experts was used. The findings on the Kenya case study were later compared to lessons learnt from the Costa Rica case. The study identified the importance of adopting supporting and supplementing policies in relation to the National ICT policy. The mere supply of technology infrastructure is not enough, but as in the case of Kenya, the demand side of ICT adoption was equally important in order to shift the economy to the next stage of growth. Furthermore, as demonstrated by the findings in Costa Rica, an independent, non-political organisation plays a vital role in the effective implementation of ICT policies. Poor execution of ICT policy, re-introduction of VAT on ICT products and old school mentality were identified as factors, which are detrimental to the adoption of ICT policy. The findings indicated that political instability affects different industries at varying degrees. The results also outline the importance of multinational companies in managing relationships with governments especially during the times of government transition. A model was constructed in order to provide a guide for policy makers in adopting national ICT policies for national competitiveness. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / zkgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / Unrestricted

Sustainable business practices are fundamental for the future of business, society and the environment within which business operates. In this journey, stakeholders provide a sustainability compass that must be consulted by companies in determining and realigning the business context to their legitimate needs. Businesses have constantly been accused of an imperious attitude towards stakeholders that manifests in one directional conversations designed to manage rather than engage and report objectively on the state of their relationship with stakeholders. Whilst much exploration has been conducted on stakeholder engagement, the cardinal objective of this research was to explore the role of this engagement in determining the gradation of issues in the businesses’ sustainability reporting process. A review of other significant scholarly material highlighted gaps in the realm of this broad subject that were used in the construct of the research questions. Data in this qualitative study was obtained from sustainability practitioners employed by companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. This was achieved through content analysis of their reports and structured in-depth interviews that sought to understand the materiality concept through their stakeholder engagement process. The findings suggest that stakeholder engagement and materiality determination in particular is a complex area fraught with a lot of challenges as well as diversity in approach and purpose. The findings also suggested that the determination of the sustainability content is a unilateral process instituted and guided by the reporting entity with no involvement of other stakeholders beyond the data-gathering phase. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / zkgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / Unrestricted

Business rescue is still in its infancy stage in South Africa, with the introduction of Chapter 6 of the Companies Act 71 in 2008 that took effect in mid-2011. To date the success rate has been dismal and value has been eroded as many companies opt to file for business rescue, but shouldn’t. The objective of this research is to determine glaring attributes that would require extensive consideration before filing for business rescue. These facets should be considered in the pre-assessment stage and should be given the due respect to ensure the organisation has a fighting chance at survival. Business rescue is becoming a tarnished industry within South Africa as a few business rescue practitioners are enriching themselves at the expense of the unexperienced creditors to this new piece of legislation that is designed to help facilitate a turnaround, whilst under the protection of the legal system. This in turn, will help to preserve, not only ailing businesses and their communal value, but the mere jobs of each individual within these distressed ventures. South Africa has struggled from a growth perspective for the past few years and with the help of legislation, and a thorough pre-assessment, ailing and distressed businesses may be saved. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / zkgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / Unrestricted

The ‘bottom of the pyramid’ (BoP) refers to the world’s poorest socio-economic group. In South Africa, consumers in this segment are an increasingly attractive target market for multi-national corporations (MNCs), partly because they constitute more than one-third of the population. However, a key managerial challenge remains in distributing goods and services to these consumers. This research sought to identify the alternative channels of distribution that firms develop to reach the BoP. Using a qualitative research methodology, eighteen depth interviews were conducted tracing the channels of seven firms from firm to end-user. The results suggest that many MNCs are indeed developing BoP channels, with varying degrees of success. Further, success seems to be driven by the level of managerial commitment. In addition, the BoP in South Africa is best understood as two distinct sub-segments, the urban BoP is characterised by more competition and crime, while the rural BoP has lower population density which heightens logistical challenges. Community involvement, where locals serve as distributors or salespeople, is a central feature of successful strategies to reach the BoP. Finally, the findings suggest that alternative distribution channels present benefits for MNCs in terms of cost to serve, local knowledge and increased penetration. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / zkgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / Unrestricted