Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Management Sciences: Business Administration, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / Given the current, global, economic situation, the status of youth entrepreneurship in South Africa is no different to that of the youth in other countries. It is debatable whether similar support and mechanisms used by other countries can be used without contextualising them for the South African environment. Cultural differences, level of education, different market standards, and a different socio-political environment are some of the factors that should be taken into consideration, when aiming to create an enabling environment that will open entrepreneurial opportunities for South African youth. A major threat for youth, especially in South Africa, is that if their needs and desires are not addressed, the youth will lose faith in starting their own entrepreneurial activities and in that way, become more dependent on the government to create employment opportunities for them. This situation certainly could add to the currently high unemployment rate and in the long-term, high youth unemployment could destabilise the country. This study is aimed at investigating entrepreneurship activities in a semi-rural area, with the aim of identifying the inherent weaknesses that prevent young people from pursuing entrepreneurial activities, as well as those enabling factors that can mitigate against these identified weaknesses. The study is conducted in the UGu District Municipality, specifically, the Umdoni Local Municipal area has been selected. A mixed methods research approach was used and 120 respondents from the selected municipal area participated in this study, including the municipal official. The study highlighted that access to financial support is one of the primary obstacles for the setting-up of a new business, since the majority of young people in the area tend to come from disadvantaged backgrounds. In addition, the research pointed to other challenges, including the business registration process, lack of adequate entrepreneurial training and mentoring programmes, the impact of crime in starting a fledging business and general support from government departments and agencies. Should these challenges not be addressed through an enabling environment, young people will, in the process, be discouraged from engaging in entrepreneurial activities. Given that the study was conducted in a semi-rural area, there are certainly greater challenges to the development of youth entrepreneurship. Therefore, the recommendations include municipalities creating a special relationship with government agencies to obtain greater assistance; that Government and its agencies consider setting up a designated fund to assist young people who want to open business in semi-rural and rural areas; that the administrative requirements for such a group of young entrepreneurs, in respect of funding, training, support, mentoring and business registration, be much more accessible and easier to obtain. / M

Human beings have been gathering with other human beings for any and all reasons. These gatherings have occurred since biblical times. The Roman baths were the first gatherings that can be classified as clubs. In contemporary terms, humans gather in small numbers for a coffee with friends at a coffee restaurant, they gather in the thousands to show their dejection of wage offerings and they gather in the millions to support a sports jersey. The common factor in all of these gatherings is that they do it because of one shared goal, one shared vision. The places where people with the same interests gather, called clubs and organisations, have been around for many years. They fulfil some of the very basic human needs as well as some of the most intricate human wants. Ensuring that clubs or organisations remain in our social fibre for many years to come is in the best interest of all of their stakeholders. These clubs or organisations need to adjust to the times of present and adjust the offering they make to the members as the needs of the members change over time. It is this premise that led the researcher to The Port Elizabeth Club. This social club is struggling with dwindling membership numbers and the development of a membership strategy that will increase its membership numbers and the benefits that are offered to them. The secondary literature study conducted revealed many benefits and strategies that clubs currently use or that they could use to improve their membership brand. It further showed the different approaches, of the different clubs, to attracting and retaining the members they wanted. These benefits and strategies formed the basis iv of the primary study that was conducted by the researcher and were the main constructs in the study. The primary study was in the form of questionnaires and these were given to the target market of The Port Elizabeth Club as well as The Port Elizabeth Club members themselves. The primary study revealed that many of the benefits and strategies found in the literature can be used by The Port Elizabeth Club to improve their membership offering. The literature also stated this type of study, a questionnaire or survey, should be done on a regular basis by The Port Elizabeth Club to ensure that it is on track with its members’ needs and wants. The literature revealed that many club members feel that the value that is offered by clubs are diminishing and this results in the loss of members and disinterest from prospective members. It is for this reason that the research study conducted is important to The Port Elizabeth Club and shows that they should focus on the value they offer to their members and continue to improve this value offering. The research study concludes with a detailed description of benefits that The Port Elizabeth Club could implement for its members as well as strategies that will assist it in attracting new members and retaining its current members.

Learnerships are occupational and vocational education training programmes that have been provided to fast-track acquisition of qualifications for unemployed youth, equipping them with knowledge, skills and experience. This research is an investigation of learners’ experiences of learnership programmes and the factors affecting the retention of the learners. More precisely, the research is about learners’ experiences of learnership programmes in an information technology (IT) organisation in South Africa. The retention rates of learners in learnership programmes have been comparably low in recent years. In order to understand this phenomenon, one had to investigate the factors that affect such retention rates. This is a study of the lived experiences of learners enrolled in a learnership programmes, conducted to examine their perceptions of a learnership qualification. A qualitative research approach was used to collect the lived experiences of 16 participants selected from one training provider. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with the learners. The data collected was analysed by adopting thematic analysis and findings presented in a narrative form. The results from both the theoretical framework and the empirical inquiry suggest that competitive remuneration, career advancement possibilities, exciting jobs and opportunity for personal development improve learner retention, whereas the lack of these attributes is seen to entail turnover. The study was conducted in only one IT organisation and the results cannot, therefore, be generalisable throughout the IT learnership programmes. Future studies should include learners from a sizeable number of organisations and should also consider organisations in other provinces, and not those in Gauteng alone. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

1 online resource (viii, 155 leaves) / This study explores the ways in which female entrepreneurs in Zambia and South Africa use their cellular phones, as well as their interests and needs in using this technology. The findings in this study are therefore crucial to the body of knowledge on programmes that seek to uplift women's lives through the deployment of ICTs, since current policies do not make full provision for the use of mobile phones in female entrepreneurship. Information on female entrepreneurs and cellular phones was collected in the literature review. The scrutiny of various literature sources and the analysis of the responses from the interviews with the female entrepreneurs were carried out to arrive at answers to the following research questions: 1. Can telecommunications (specifically, cellular phones) increase the participation of women in the economy? 2. What are the consumer habits of female entrepreneur cellular phone users in Zambia and South Africa? 3. Are the communication needs of business women in Zambia and South Africa adequately met? 4. What are the obstacles that female entrepreneurs in Zambia and South Africa face in the use of cellular phones? 5. What are the similarities and differences in the consumer habits of female entrepreneur cellular phone users in Zambia and South Africa? In order to gather information on the consumer habits of female entrepreneurs in Zambia and South Africa, a survey was conducted of 100 female entrepreneurs. The female entrepreneurs identified in this survey consist of female business owners with no more than 50 employees each, from Gauteng Province in South Africa, and Lusaka Province in Zambia. The female entrepreneurs were identified through the accidental sampling technique, and a structured questionnaire was used to collect information from them. The findings of the investigation reveal that cellular phones have the potential to increase the participation of women in mainstream economic activity, since they are a useful means of communication that allow women from diverse backgrounds to communicate easily for both business and social purposes. Accordingly, national policy-makers in South Africa and Zambia need to investigate further the potential of using cellular phone or similar technology to empower small-scale businesswomen. The investigation also shows that the cellular phone consumer habits of female entrepreneurs in Zambia and South Africa differ when it comes to using cellular phones for business and social communication purposes. More Zambian women indicated that they use their cellular phones in business operations, while South African women showed a tendency to use their phones more for social purposes. The results of this investigation further illustrate that despite the importance in value which the mobile phone has for women entrepreneurs in both Zambia and South Africa, the communication needs of women's entrepreneurship are not adequately met. The main obstacles in meeting the communication needs of female entrepreneurs in Zambia and South Africa are inadequate network coverage and high prices. The study shows that a number of women (52,2%) indicated that they are inhibited from effective communication services and therefore resort to borrowing other people's mobile phones. The lack of empirical studies on the use of telecommunications by female entrepreneurs in both Zambia and South Africa attests to the fact that women's entrepreneurship is still an area that requires in-depth investigation. If various development efforts are to meet their targets, clearly the area of women's entrepreneurship and how various ICTs such as cellular phones are used therein needs urgent investigation. / Communication Sciences / M. A. (International Communication)

Owing to the fact that entrepreneurship is widely considered to be a mechanism for reducing unemployment, the purpose of the study was to assess whether final-year Commerce students in the predominantly rural provinces, the Eastern Cape Province and the Limpopo Province, have the intention to start their own businesses.The study draws heavily from entrepreneurial intent models and focuses on the relationship between three key variables, namely, exposure to entrepreneurship education, awareness of entrepreneurial support and social capital to establish whether they are related to the intention of final-year Commerce studentsto start their own businesses. The literature review concentrated on entrepreneurial intent and entrepreneurial intent models; government entrepreneurial support initiatives in South Africa and in other countries and their role in the development of entrepreneurial intent, emergence of new ventures and the growth of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs); entrepreneurship education and its role in enhancing entrepreneurial self-efficacy, entrepreneurial competencies and entrepreneurial intent;the influence of social capital on entrepreneurial intent and the different stages on the new venture life-cycle; and concludes with the link between entrepreneurship and the establishment of SMMEs. A survey was conducted among National Diploma (ND): Internal Auditing, Cost and Management Accounting and Financial information systems students (IAUD, CMA and FIS) (who had six months exposure to entrepreneurship education), ND: Entrepreneurship/Small Business Management (E/SBM) (who had three years exposure to entrepreneurship education) and ND: Management (without exposure to entrepreneurship education). The respondents for the study comprised 355 final year students of which 276 were from Walter Sisulu University in the Eastern Cape Province and 79 were from Tshwane University of Technology (Polokwane Campus) in the LimpopoProvince.Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and nonparametric statistics. The findings reveal that the majority of the respondents had the intention to start a business in the future.The entrepreneurial intent of the ND: E/SBM students was v stronger than the entrepreneurial intent of the ND: IAUD, CMA and FIS students and ND: Management students. Some significant relationships were found between entrepreneurial intent and the key variables of the study. / Business Management / D.Com. (Business Management)

This study shows that managers of short-term insurers may improve their financial results if they can identify and manage the factors that are critical to their financial results. The development and application of the concept of critical success factors are therefore used as a basis for this study. The study reviews the functions performed by short-term insurers, focusing on the effect these functions have on their cash flows. Selection and pricing of risk are discussed in detail. The underwriting cycle in South Africa, and several possible causes of the cycle are investigated. Reinsurance, claims handling and rilanagement expenses are important components of the cash flows of short-term insurers and are therefore examined in detail. The optimum risk level at various combinations of underwriting and investment income is empirically tested, using the financial results of several insurers. The study investigates different approaches to the measurement of financial success of insurers, and the return on shareholders' funds is found to provide the fairest and most reliable method. Empirical comparisons are made on the financial results of the insurers that participated in the study to distinguish between those that are financially successful and those that are not. To discover what the industry consider to be their critical financial success factors, a postal survey was done of key decision makers in the South African short-term insurance industry. Respondents identified several success factors, but did not include some success factors discovered during the review of the literature. Respondents apparently experienced difficulty in separating strategic issues from operational ones. The survey revealed that the pricing of risk is problematic for short-term insurers. The importance of the investment function is also underestimated by the industry. The study concludes that the combined systematic risk of the investment and underwriting portfolios is a critical success factor, along with the capital base of the insurer, the ability of the insurer to use the leverage provided by using policyholders' funds as free reserves and the size and direction of an insurer's cash flows. / Business Management / D. Com (Business Management)

The financial stability of the insurers is important to fulfil its role as a risk transfer mechanism and to protect the purchasers of their products. The European Union is introducing the Solvency II to modernise the current Solvency I regime and to harmonise the different insurance legislation of the members of the European Union. Solvency II introduces an architecture consisting of three pillars, with Pillar I setting the solvency capital requirements, Pillar II the governance and risk management requirements and Pillar III the reporting requirements. The South African Regulator initiated Solvency Assessment and Management for implementation in 2016 to align the South African prudential regulatory framework to meet the Solvency II requirements for third country equivalence. The problem that this study addressed is the possible effect that the introduction of Solvency Assessment and Management may have on the sustainability of short-term insurers in South Africa. The results of a empirical component of the study indicated that small and medium short-term insurers may be negatively impacted due to the costs incurred to implement and comply with the requirements of the new regulatory framework. The effect on the South African short-term industry can be that cover is concentrated among a few large short-term insurers. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / Some digitised pages may appear illegible due to the condition of the original hard copy. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The manufacturing industry is an important contributor towards the economic well-being and competitiveness of any country. It is widely accepted that improvement in the standard of living is linked to the improvement in productivity, and that this can be achieved through the manufacturing sector of a country. The level of business excellence of manufacturing organisations in the Western Cape is not currently known. It was the aim of this research to determine the level of business excellence of manufacturing organisations in the Cape Metropolitan Area, to determine the content of manufacturing strategy, and to investigate the linkages of manufacturing strategy and levels of business excellence. The research was conducted amongst manufacturing organisations in the Cape Metroplitan Area with an annual turnover of at least R50 million rand. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to organisations. Twenty responses were received and analysed. Due to the small sample, this study can only be regarded as exploratory in nature. The main results of the research indicated that the respondent organisations tended to overscore themselves, with an . average level of business excellence of 73.6%. Furthermore, there is a significant difference in the perception of the SAEF model criteria weights between the surveyed organisations and the SAEF. Although it was not possible to identify a 'right' or the 'best' manufacturing strategy, important trends were identified. Furthermore, the research indicated that there are several manufacturing strategy related factors that can positively contribute towards higher levels of business excellence. One area is the focus on overall organisational strategy development, and another is the implementation of several manufacturing practices such as '5-S' and 'selfdirected work teams', 'balanced score card', and 'TQM', amongst others. Several recommendations were made, addressing issues such as specific actions for manufacturing organisation, policy makers, and the SAEF, but also recommendations regarding research methodology and future research areas. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die vervaardigingsindustrie is 'n belangrike bydraende faktor tot die ekonomiese welstand en kompeterendheid van 'n land. Dit word wyd aanvaar dat verbetering in produktiwitiet tot verbetering in lewenstandaarde lei, en dat dit deur middel van die vervaardigings sektor van 'n land bereik kan word. Die vlak van besigheids uitnemendheid van vervaardigings organisasies in die Wes-Kaap is nie tans bekend nie. Dit was die doel van hierdie navorsing om die vlak van besigheids uitnemendheid van vervaardigingsorganisasies in die Kaapse Metropolitaanse Area te bepaal, om die inhoud van vervaardigingstrategieë te bepaal, en om die verband tussen vervaardigingstrategie en vlakke van besigheidsuitnemendheid te ondersoek. Hierdie navorsmg was uitgevoer onder vervaardigingsorganisasies in die Kaapse Metropolitaanse Area met 'n omset van ten minste R50 miljoen. 'n Vraelys is ontwerp en versprei aan organisasies. Twintig response is ontvang en geanaliseer. Weens die klein steekproef, kan hierdie studie slegs as verkennend van aard beskou word. Die hoofresultate van die navorsing het getoon dat die organisasies geneig is om hulself te oorskat, met 'n gemiddelde waarde van die vlak van besigheids uitnemendheid van 73.6%. Verder is daar 'n beduidende verskil tussen die organisasies en die SAEF in die persepsie van die kriteria gewigte van die SAEF model. Alhoewel dit nie moontlik was om die 'regte' of 'beste' vervaardigingstrategie te bepaal nie, is belangrike tendense geïdentifiseer. Die navorsing het getoon dat daar verskeie vervaardigingstrategie faktore is wat positief bydra tot hoër vlakke van besigheids uitnemendheid. Een area is die fokus op algehele organisasie strategiese ontwikkeling, en 'n ander is die implementering van verskeie vervaardigingspraktyke soos onder andere '5-S', 'self-gerigte werkspanne', 'balanced score card', en 'TQM'. Verskeie aanbevelings is gemaak, wat kwessies aanspreek soos spesifieke aksies VIr vervaardigingsorganisasies, beleidmakers, en die SAEF, maar ook aanbevelings rakende navorsingsmetodologie en areas vir toekomstige navorsing.

The financial stability of the insurers is important to fulfil its role as a risk transfer mechanism and to protect the purchasers of their products. The European Union is introducing the Solvency II to modernise the current Solvency I regime and to harmonise the different insurance legislation of the members of the European Union. Solvency II introduces an architecture consisting of three pillars, with Pillar I setting the solvency capital requirements, Pillar II the governance and risk management requirements and Pillar III the reporting requirements. The South African Regulator initiated Solvency Assessment and Management for implementation in 2016 to align the South African prudential regulatory framework to meet the Solvency II requirements for third country equivalence. The problem that this study addressed is the possible effect that the introduction of Solvency Assessment and Management may have on the sustainability of short-term insurers in South Africa. The results of a empirical component of the study indicated that small and medium short-term insurers may be negatively impacted due to the costs incurred to implement and comply with the requirements of the new regulatory framework. The effect on the South African short-term industry can be that cover is concentrated among a few large short-term insurers. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

1 online resource (viii, 155 leaves) / This study explores the ways in which female entrepreneurs in Zambia and South Africa use their cellular phones, as well as their interests and needs in using this technology. The findings in this study are therefore crucial to the body of knowledge on programmes that seek to uplift women's lives through the deployment of ICTs, since current policies do not make full provision for the use of mobile phones in female entrepreneurship. Information on female entrepreneurs and cellular phones was collected in the literature review. The scrutiny of various literature sources and the analysis of the responses from the interviews with the female entrepreneurs were carried out to arrive at answers to the following research questions: 1. Can telecommunications (specifically, cellular phones) increase the participation of women in the economy? 2. What are the consumer habits of female entrepreneur cellular phone users in Zambia and South Africa? 3. Are the communication needs of business women in Zambia and South Africa adequately met? 4. What are the obstacles that female entrepreneurs in Zambia and South Africa face in the use of cellular phones? 5. What are the similarities and differences in the consumer habits of female entrepreneur cellular phone users in Zambia and South Africa? In order to gather information on the consumer habits of female entrepreneurs in Zambia and South Africa, a survey was conducted of 100 female entrepreneurs. The female entrepreneurs identified in this survey consist of female business owners with no more than 50 employees each, from Gauteng Province in South Africa, and Lusaka Province in Zambia. The female entrepreneurs were identified through the accidental sampling technique, and a structured questionnaire was used to collect information from them. The findings of the investigation reveal that cellular phones have the potential to increase the participation of women in mainstream economic activity, since they are a useful means of communication that allow women from diverse backgrounds to communicate easily for both business and social purposes. Accordingly, national policy-makers in South Africa and Zambia need to investigate further the potential of using cellular phone or similar technology to empower small-scale businesswomen. The investigation also shows that the cellular phone consumer habits of female entrepreneurs in Zambia and South Africa differ when it comes to using cellular phones for business and social communication purposes. More Zambian women indicated that they use their cellular phones in business operations, while South African women showed a tendency to use their phones more for social purposes. The results of this investigation further illustrate that despite the importance in value which the mobile phone has for women entrepreneurs in both Zambia and South Africa, the communication needs of women's entrepreneurship are not adequately met. The main obstacles in meeting the communication needs of female entrepreneurs in Zambia and South Africa are inadequate network coverage and high prices. The study shows that a number of women (52,2%) indicated that they are inhibited from effective communication services and therefore resort to borrowing other people's mobile phones. The lack of empirical studies on the use of telecommunications by female entrepreneurs in both Zambia and South Africa attests to the fact that women's entrepreneurship is still an area that requires in-depth investigation. If various development efforts are to meet their targets, clearly the area of women's entrepreneurship and how various ICTs such as cellular phones are used therein needs urgent investigation. / Communication Sciences / M. A. (International Communication)