The growth of the Small Medium and Micro Enterprise (SMMEs) has been phenomenal in the last 17 years since the advent of democracy in South Africa. Turbulant economic conditions have also led more people to seek opportunities for survival by participating in the economy as small entrepreneurs. Small entrepreneurs in townships lack sophistication to understand new development trends in business such as the emergence of shopping malls in townships, bringing along major national and international retailers. The study aims to determine the effects of the emergence of shopping malls on SMMEs in eThekwini; a case study of Umlazi. The Umlazi Mega City Mall is used as a point of reference. The challenges faced by small business owners after the emergence of Umlazi Mega City will be explored in detail in this study. A probability sample of 120 small businesses falling under the SMME sector were identified based on a population of approximately 500 SMMEs operating in and around Umlazi. It is important to highlight that from the above sample, 100 completed the questionnaire which was used for data analysis. Quantitative research method was used and a questionnaire with a total of 25 closed questions was used to collect data directly from participants. The questionnaire was distributed directly to respondents and that proved to be very effective but time consuming. The presentation of results has been covered using graphs, tables and statistical percentages. The analysis is accompanied by the researcher‟s interpretation and remarks to explain the salient features discovered in the findings. The respondents in this study ranged from street hawkers, chicken stalls, shoe repairs, butcheries and supermarket owners. The findings revealed that the majority of participants indicated a decrease in turnover after the emergence of Umlazi Mega City. One of the recommendations put forward was that, new developments of shopping malls should create an empowerment venture of not less than 10% that would be owned by a consortium of SMMEs. This arrangement has a potential to build loyalty of SMME tenants if they become part of that mall, and at the same time, remove resentment. The definition of the sizes “small business” and “medium business” will be covered during the course of the research. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

The purpose of this research was to investigate and analyse the factors that lead to the failure of SMMEs, especially the businesses owned by previously disadvantaged individuals in Durban. The study was motivated by the fact that SMMEs are not growing but instead there seems to be an increase in the failure rate of SMMEs. A range of literature was reviewed that included past research papers and journals on the subject of SMMEs, government papers and acts, information from NGOs, financial institutions and government agencies to help understand the role players in the SMME sector. Primary data was collected in the form of a questionnaire which was given to SMME owners to complete in order to get their views on the sector. The findings show that SMMEs owned by previously disadvantaged individuals are dealing with issues such as lack of finance, insufficient government support and lack of information on services available to them from government and NGOs, which if left unattended, can cause their businesses to fail. Among other things, it was recommended that business owners be mentored and trained in both financial and business management in order to be able to take advantage of the services available to them. It was also recommended that government assess its position on SMME policies in order to be readily available to the SMME sector. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the impediments to the expansion of small black owned businesses in Durban. The study was based on the assumption that small black owned businesses are not expanding in Durban despite the support from eThekwini Municipality, Government and Black Economic Empowerment policies. Participation in seminars, conferences and meetings in which barriers to the expansion of SMMEs were discussed also helped in data collection, and the questionnaires were also given to the small black owned businesses. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the small black business owners who have experience as small entrepreneurs. Websites of SMMEs like Khula and Ntsika were visited to establish the direction of SMMEs in Durban. Visits to eThekwini Municipality and South African Chamber of Commerce helped in gathering the information about the impediments to the expansion of small black entrepreneurs. The finding was that small black owned businesses are facing serious impediments such as lack of capital, lack of training and lack of government support. It was recommended that the UKZN-Graduate School of Business should provide small businesses development courses interpreted in both English and Zulu. It was also recommended that Government establish one central office for entrepreneurs to sort out licenses, tax and service contracts. It is recommended that South African Revenue Service to be a right place for sorting out licenses, tax and service contracts. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2008.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Sc.U.R.P.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1996.

This study investigated the production strategies employed by the small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in the Jacobs area in Durban. The research on the production strategies employed by SMMEs supports the government’s initiative of growing small businesses to help create employment and contribute to poverty alleviation in the country. This study is also significant as its recommendations will be of value to SMME owners and prospective SMME owners. The research methodology employed in this study is quantitative research methodology. The questionnaire used in this study elicited views of seventeen questions designed from the literature review. The questionnaire used the five point Likert scale for question two to seventeen, while in question one respondents had to choose from a list of production strategies. The questionnaire was divided into five parts with each part of the questionnaire linked to one of the five objectives of the study. A sample of 30 registered SMMEs in the Jacobs area was used. Though this is a small scale study, if its findings and recommendations are followed by the SMME owners they will add to their businesses an abundance of value. The findings from the field work provided by the respondents to the questionnaire were consistent with the findings in the literature review. The key findings of the study were that there are challenges when implementing production strategies; however the effectiveness, benefits and the risks of not having a production strategy in place far outweigh those challenges, furthermore it was found that with good planning, training and communication the effect of those challenges can be mitigated. A rigorous study on SMMEs that do not use production strategies was recommended as a suggestion for further research to establish if their productivity and profitability were the same as those SMMEs that employed production strategies. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

Urban informality is a process established by people in the informal urban context to shape existing formal cities to form new informal cities that facilitate their everyday lives. This phenomenon has grown substantially in Latin American, Asian and African cities to a point that people have transformed many of their formal post-colonial cities within these regions to informal cities that can facilitate urban informality. Instead of seeing this process as a way where people living in the informal urban context are trying to create cities and infrastructure that suite their context and way of life, architects and urban design professionals are repeatedly adopting 'western norms‘ to solve urban informality rather than facilitating it. This starts to create a gap between the architectural built form and the way people live. The research was then undertaken to bridge this gap between built form making and the lived realities in the informal urban context by using the underlying principles of urban informality defined by the people to generate meaningful built form within the South African, African context. To achieve this, the research carried out investigations on current literature that dealt with three main principles that defined urban informality that could be used to generate an appropriate built form with the informal urban context. These principles were; socio- economic principles, emergence and the culture of urban informality and these started to suggest a flexible built form that can be adapted by its users to suit their needs. These principles were then tested against precedent and case studies to see their validity in the global and South African context. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a number of professionals that had a better understanding of the case studies than the author to make sure that the analyses and the conclusions based on those analyses were accurate. The research findings ultimately defined an indeterminate built form that is formed through a participatory process between the collaboration of urban design professionals and the future inhabitants of the built form. This built form is 'loosely‘ defined and its inhabitants can manipulate and reconfigure it, to a certain extent, to suit the future unforeseen states of urban informality. The research also outlined a framework that can be applied in the design phase of a multi-purpose trade hub in Durban, South Africa. / M. Arch. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2013.