Companies seeking competitive advantage in the highly competitive fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry can no longer differentiate themselves from competitors on products and pricing alone. Customer service and the perceived value that customers gain from suppliers is key in staying ahead. The FMCG industry in South Africa (SA) does not place much emphasis on evaluating customer service. This study is an evaluation of the outbound logistics customer service of Unilever Home and Personal Care (UHPC), a multinational FMCG company in SA. The study focuses on attributes of customer service that major retail customers with distribution centres {DC's) consider important and evaluates logistics customer service against key competitors. A survey of three major retail customers' of UHPC was conducted in the major regions of SA. Thirty self-administered questionnaires were sent out to staff at Shoprite, Clicks and Spar DC's across SA. Staff targeted were those associated with inbound logistics and included people as senior as DC Managers to Receiving Controllers. As these are specialised job functions, the sample size comprised of only 30 respondents. A total of 24 responses were analysed to determine the attributes of customer service which UHPC customers consider important and also to determine the perceived performance of UHPC against other competitors. The results revealed that DC customer consider order accuracy, timeliness of delivery, order quality, product availability, order fulfilment, personnel contact, cooperation of supplier, alerts on transportation delays, relationship with supplier and service level agreements to be the ten most important attributes of logistics customer service. The different customer groups did not rank the attributes in the same way. Shoprite and Clicks perceive UHPC's logistics customer service to perform from good to excellent on all 32 attributes whilst Spar felt that UHPC under-performed on 8 attributes. UHPC was highly rated amongst key competitors in the local FMCG industry and outperformed competitors on 28 attributes of logistics customer service. The following areas of improvement were identified for UHPC: order discrepancy handling after delivery, quality/durability of packaging, personal contact knowledge and ability and helpfulness in solving problems and supplier innovation in improving delivery. Recommendations for improvement in UHPC's logistics customer service were made based on the results and the literature review which included repeating the survey at least quarterly on attributes needing improvement so as not having to wait for at least 3 years for another competitor benchmarking survey. / Thesis (M.B.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

This report reflects the results of and conclusions and recommendations arising from an investigation into the demand for, composition of and financial viability of a new, specialized, or niche MBA in Nature Conservation Management, to be offered by the Pietermaritzburg section of the University of KwaZulu-Natal Graduate School of Business. The report finds that nature conservation, whilst almost universally recognized as a highly desirable, if not crucial element of government responsibility, is increasingly being expected to pay its own way. This dichotomy is forcing nature conservation and protected area managers into a dual role encompassing both the science and practice of nature conservation and protected area management on the one hand and business management on the other, at least at the very highest levels of management. It is submitted that the report provides clear evidence of the need for such a programme aimed at providing senior nature conservation and protected area managers with a suite of relevant business skills including financial management; resource economics; human resource management; project management; ecotourism development, marketing and management and the like. Whilst the report ultimately recommends the implementation of the niche programme, it recognizes two concerns. • Given the very small pool of nature conservation professionals in the region and the chronic underfunding of nature conservation agencies, it is not certain that programme would, on its own, be financially viable. • The reaccreditaion process undertaken by the Department of Education has set back the university's MBA programme by several years and now is clearly not the time to attempt to launch a new offering. / Thesis (M.Bus.Ad.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2004.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the transfer of training in the Central Bank of Lesotho. To guide this study, the following questions were formulated and answered: .:. How do managers assess transfer of training in the Central Bank of Lesotho? .:. What is the extent of transfer of training in the bank? .:. What are the reasons behind lack of transfer of training, if it exists in the bank? .:. What can be done to promote transfer of training in the bank? The research method that was used in this study was the survey method, which aims at gathering data about large numbers of people. Questionnaires were used to elicit answers to these questions and were given to the management of the Central Bank of Lesotho, as well as to the employees who have undergone training. This company was chosen because the researcher has worked there for seven years and understands how it operates. The study found that behavioural performance appraisal is used by Central Bank of Lesotho management to assess transfer of training and that a high percentage of training is transferred immediately after training, when trainees are still excited about what they have learned. It was concluded that there are barriers to transfer of training such as lack of management and co-worker support, lack of resources after training, lack of motivation and many others. On the basis of these findings and conclusions, it was recommended that Performance Appraisal should not only be carried out by managers, but colleagues also have to assess an individual. Follow-up training and management support were encouraged, to motivate trainees to apply what they have learned. / Thesis (M.Bus.Ad.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

Eskom Transmission Division (ETD) is being forced to rethink its business development strategies, in order to deal with rapid technological, capital and social changes. As a result, there is a high need for contract managers to learn to procure goods and services effectively and efficiently. Subsequently, the capabilities and skills of buyers, and in particular contract managers, need to reflect Eskom's challenges faced in delivering on South Africa's developmental needs for affordable electrification. Because of the complex nature of contract management, it is required that a detailed and carefully written contract management framework that defines the commercial supplier relationship, contract management aspects of the results and the desired behaviour of the contracting parties, be established beforehand. Therefore, there needs to be greater emphasis on structuring and delivering of procurement training in the future, as contract managers will need to have skills to be able to work within a cross functional team, be strategic thinkers, and manage supplier base and relationships. A variety of methods can be used to implement training and they range from formal education, coaching, on job training and intemet training. The ETD senior managers need to monitor the performance of the contract managers wants the training methods have been introduced to identify the gaps. The aim is for this contract management framework to provide intangible elements of quality cost to enable contract managers to perform strategic sourcing in order to be innovative in their decision making. The contract management framework will focus on identifying and discussing strategic ideas that will enhance and improve the effectiveness of contract management at ETD. Contract managers need to be trained to enhance and update their skills. The training should focuses on: • Total cost of ownership in selecting the suppliers rather than concentrating on price only, • Reducing their supplier base and building strategic relationship with their suppliers, • Formation of formal cross functional teams, • Formation and management of supplier relationships, A Proposed Contract Management Framework for Eskom Transmission Division (ETD) By Thembisile Khomo ix • Monitoring and Measuring the performance of the suppliers and contract managers, • Strategic Sourcing, and all other cost reduction methods. This contract management framework will focus on the following cost saving and risk sharing opportunities, which will result in an efficient and effective contract management at ETD: • Expenditure Analysis In terms of expenditure analysis ETD should consider reducing the supplier base in order to consolidate and leverage expenditure and to manage the relationship with strategic suppliers more effectively. This will result in contract managers concentrating more on long term partnership and strategic relationships with its suppliers. As a result, ETD could benefit in terms of an increase in access to technology, where those suppliers that have received more volume and longer-term contracts become willing to invest in the manufacturing equipment that will improve their equipment production and processes. Because of the long term relationship that will be developed with these suppliers, they will also be willing to share the costs and risks with ETD. • Training and the Skills of Contract Managers It is very important for contract managers to be trained and have the required skills to manage contract. This was confirmed by the case study conducted in one of the ETD contract to refurbish transformers. In analyzing this contract, it was found that: ~ The rates quoted in the contract are above the market rates. ~ ETD contract managers do not challenge the specifications or operating practices and quotation costs. As a result most of the quotation costs or rates and ideas of how the transformers should be refurbished come from Rotek. ~ Contract managers do not know how much they spent in paying the labour, materials and other varied costs associated with the refurbishment of the contract. ETD has been paying numerous indirect costs or rates, such as A Proposed Contract Management Framework for Eskom Transmission Division (ETD) By Thembisile Khomo x additional overtime, rework due to unacceptable components quality, materials costs on heavily engineered components and so forth. All this contract mismanagement matters could have been avoided if the contract was managed effectively, and there is collaborative relationship with the supplier to ensure a solid working relationship and to reduce lead-time and costs. This relationship should be based on trust, cooperation, interdependence, joint quality improvement efforts, information sharing, risk and benefit sharing, and joint problem solving. Especially during the future capital expansion projects which ETD will be engaged in, there will be a high need for dependable suppliers to provide the required design and technological input needed for marketable profitable products and for satisfactory services to result. • Cross functional teams The formation of formal cross functional teams will help in making the decisions that impact multiple functional areas. Without the representatives of various areas the decisions are likely to meet resistance. Thus, if the representatives of each of the functional areas are involved on the team, they will provide beneficial input in the resulting agreement. In turn, each representative will be responsible for ensuring acceptance by his or her functional area, of the team's decisions. Cross functional teams also enhance problem resolution as the team will be bringing their different expertise in solving problems or making decisions. • Top Management Support For successful implementation of this framework, ETD top management need to support it by communicating its importance in terms of helping contract managers to think out of the box and see the competitive benefits of the new ways of managing the contracts. • Cost Reduction The cost reduction can be through the use of: A Proposed Contract Management Framework for Eskom Transmission Division (ETD) By Thembisile Khomo xi ~ Total cost of ownership (TeO) - where not only the price is considered when evaluating tenders from the supplier, but quality, delivery, maintenance, disposal and other cost saving ideas, including flexibility levels offered by the suppliers are considered by the contract managers. Thus, the contract managers need to have the skill to see the value stream, sequence of value creating steps required to design, make and deliver the product and to learn to remove the waste, mistakes and rigidities. Therefore in analyzing Tea, it is vitally important to understand the suppliers' market and financial reports to come to an effective solution with regard to the factors that make up the prices for the product or services they procure in addition what drives cost into the product or service in the market place. ~ Strategic sourcing - contract managers should focus on development of competitive value based pricing, where the overall costs are considered, and innovative strategic sourcing, where consideration is based on new products and services that deliver a competent advantage and new ways of doing business. For example, how quickly can the supplier adapt to changing ETD requirements? ~ Performance monitoring and measurement - contract managers need to continuous monitor the performance of suppliers based upon metrics that are directly derived from the service. By monitoring the performance of the supplier the contract manager will know in advance about any production or service delivery problem and come with mitigation steps together with the cross functional team. This will then prevent ETD in continuously accepting late and inadequate products or poor services from the suppliers. ~ Supplier relationship - the formation of supplier relationship with suppliers will benefit ETD in risk sharing and cost reduction. Therefore, the objective of a contract management framework must be to establish relationships with suppliers that have resources in order to integrate their specialist capabilities in a way that yield significant value potential from both sides. A Proposed Contract Management Framework for Eskom Transmission Division (ETD) By Thembisile Khomo xii ~ Training of contract managers - as there is greater emphasis on structuring and delivering of procurement training in the future, contract managers will need to have skills to be able to work within a cross functional team, be strategic thinkers, and manage supplier base and relationships. A variety of methods can therefore be used to implement training, which can range from formal education, coaching, on job training and internet training. Networking with other contract managers can also assist in the development of personal skills and adoption of better practices whether formally (as part of membership of a professional body) or informally (at conferences), exchanging ideas and meeting with other professionals can be extremely useful. The ETD senior managers need to monitor the performance of the contract managers wants the training methods have been introduced to identify the gaps. • Conclusion In conclusion, before a new contract is established, it is important to review the success and failures of the current contract, in order to establish a clearer understanding of what makes contract management successful. These lessons will then form the basis of planning tender requirements and negotiations for the next contract. For successful contract management, contract managers should ensure that a preferred relationship type and pricing structure is selected, and agreed succession plan. A contract review should also examine the cost-effectiveness and efficiency issues. / Thesis (M.Com.)- University of Kwazulu-Natal, 2005

Due to the growth of our economy and our rising standards of living, customers of today have a larger variety of products to choose from than in the past. This causes an increase in competition which has raised customer expectations on the quality of goods and services they receive (Palmer, 2001 p26). Along with this, the modern customer has become sophisticated, educated, confident and well informed. Hence, they have raised their expectations of the service they intend on receiving. This has placed enormous pressure on service organization's to improve the way they do business with these customers. This "customer transformation" has placed an increasing emphasis on customer service as a means of gaining a competitive advantage. As a consequence of competition becoming global and more intense, many organizations have come to the realization that they cannot compete on price alone. Hence, the level of customer service has a direct impact on an organization's market share, as it determines not only whether consumers will become customers but also whether existing customers will become loyal ones. If service quality is to become the cornerstone of an organisation's marketing strategy, marketers should have the means to measure it. Although research in this field exists, the researcher proposed the need for further research specifically in the area of customer perceptions toward the quality of service they receive. The issues addressed in this study will be of importance to both service managers and future researchers as a customer's evaluation of service quality and, the resulting level of satisfaction is thought to determine the likelihood of a repurchase and ultimately the success of the business. This dissertation is based on the perceptions of customers of Ola Milky Lane and the level of quality customer service they receive. Looking at the business from the customer's viewpoint will help the researcher investigate how current customers feel about the organization as well as their attitude toward the business. The expectations of these customers together with their levels of satisfaction, which shape their perceptions of the customer service, serve as the foundation on which service quality will be evaluated. Moreover, the research study hopes to assist the participating organisation establish whether gaps in service delivery exist, the reasons for their presence and identify possible solutions which can be implemented to close or prevent those gaps from further widening. This will benefit the organization as it can be used as a tool to understand customer perceptions, which can equip them to gauge the effectiveness and efficiency of their relationship programmes. With this motivation in mind, the research study takes a strategic look at the importance of customer service as perceived by customers by means of determining whether the organisation is or is not meeting their expectations. / Thesis (M.Comm.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

The establishment, restoration, enhancement and maintenance of the Culture of Learning, Teaching and Service (COLTS) in a school, remains a precondition for a successful Education System. Colts aims at restoring functionality in the schools with the view to improve the quality of learning and teaching activities. The COLTS campaign programmes were launched in February 1997 by the then President Mandela, to promote a culture of learning, teaching and service in every institution in the country. From the National to Circuit level the focus is directly or indirectly devoted to the Culture of Learning, Teaching and Service in a school. The Culture of Learning, Teaching and Service promotes the idea that it is the duty of educators to teach and of learners to learn. The question is how Learning, Teaching and Service structures, processes ensure viability with the application of a Viable System Model (VSM) in a school The Viable System Model is a powerful diagnostic tool to promote viability in an organization. Therefore, the Viable System Model is applied as a methodology for understanding structures and processes of learning and teaching in a school. The application of a Viable System Model in the context of learning and teaching is used as a consistent intervention tool to develop the organizational competence. The application of a Viable System Model as an intervention tool in managing the Culture of Learning, Teaching and Service becomes a powerful learning experience or challenge for schools. The core business of any school organization is learning and teaching; thus its mechanisms for identity and viability determine survival and success. This demands that the learning and teaching programmes or approaches need to adapt to the changing environment and the new approaches require a new way of thinking, research and learning. Therefore, the Viable System Model is applied as a methodology that is capable of improving performance in a school as an organization. It is used as a diagnostic tool to check the culture of learning, teaching and service structures and processes to ensure viability and effectiveness. The culture of learning, teaching and service context explores the usefulness of VSM in dealing with complex situations in the organization. The aim is to use a Viable System Model to improve synergy between learning and teaching autonomy of parts and the whole school. It is hoped that the usefulness a of Viable System Model in the culture of learning, teaching and service context will develop a school's competence. The restoration of COLTS is a challenge to both the Education System and school community. The VSM is applied at different levels of COLTS to make specific recommendations, taking into consideration the internal and external environment. The VSM theory is used to pinpoint the various systemic or structural constraints within and outside the school. For schools to succeed as adaptive goal-seeking entity, they need understanding and application of VSM. The relevance of VSM theory such as the idea of recursion, cybernetic principles and arrangement of functions at different levels provide organizations with flexibility they need to survive in complex changing environments. Through the application of a Viable System Model, schools are encouraged to learn and understand how change unfolds through circular patterns of interaction rather than linear patterns. The discord or common faults, constraints and harmonising elements in the COLTS scenario reveal that the relationship between school and the environment should be understood as ongoing processes that need to be maintained. Therefore, the COLTS activities should meet the business idea of the organization and the principles of viability. To achieve learning and development in COLTS context, schools need to practice new behaviour skills and integrate new skills into new ways of thinking and doing. The school has to seize the opportunities created by the process of using a Viable System Model as a tool for maintaining COLTS in school. In conclusion, personal living model and the Toulmin Argument Model are included as part of systematic management, reflection and learning experiences. The models are a self-reflective process of how I can deal with COLTS issue in my organization which becomes an on - going process for personal and school as an organization to develop into new thinking horizons in COLTS context. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

Most institutions of higher learning in South Africa have had to merge because of the directive from the Department of Education enacted in the Higher Education Act of 1997, which aimed at restructuring the higher education sector. Academic libraries as departments within these institutions also had to merge as their parent organisations merged. The Durban Institute of Technology (DIT) became the first merged institution of higher learning in the country. The purpose of this study is to diagnose whether the merged DIT libraries are viable. This is tested by using the Viable Systems Model (VSM), which is based on cybernetic principles. This research project is meant to give a holistic view of the viability of the DIT libraries. Members of the library staff were asked through an interview process what their views were about the library. The interviews were semi-structured and were conducted individually so as to elicit detailed information from library staff about the library, its processes, procedures, structure and management. Observation and document analysis were also used to gather further information relevant to the study. The study concluded that the library does not have enough resources and there is confusion amongst members of the library staff about what the library goals are. Although the library does not have a single image and culture it is very active and is well represented in the Library and Information Services structures and within the DIT. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

The problem this study addresses is the key factors which have played an important role in the growth of small Indian retailers situated in some of the previous Group Areas of Pietermaritzburg. More particularly, the intention was to examine what role marketing played in this growth. The main reason for undertaking this study is that it seems that many small Indian retailers appeared to have exhibited growth despite having been affected by Apartheid and other problems commonly associated with being small. This study is unique in that it studies growth ie. a positive phenomenon amidst difficult situations ie. Apartheid and problems that are inherent in being small. This problem is explored by firstly analysing literature on the history of small Indian retailers in South Africa with the intention of identifying possible factors which may have played an important role in their growth. Stemming from this exploratory study into the history of small Indian trade in South Africa were the following factors which seemed to have played an important role in their growth: a. business experience and skills, b. hard work and support especially from family members, c. good knowledge of the needs of Indian customers, d. superior service, e. competitive prices, f. keeping overheads low, g. adequate capital possessed particularly by small Passenger Indian retailers, h. effectively identifying and exploiting opportunities. Secondly, the literature was once again explored to ascertain and examine factors which have been known to play an important role in business and more specifically small business growth. Having examined the literature, it was found that such growth factors could be grouped under six broad headings viz. Personal, Marketing, Financial, Technical, Management, and General. Relating what seemed to have played an important role historically in South Africa in the growth of small Indian retailers to what has been known to play an important role in small business growth generally, it was found that there were a number of common associations. Hence, this allowed for the generation of the following hypotheses: The growth of small Indian retailers in some of the previous Group Areas of Pietermaritzburg was because of: Hypothesis I (HI) - Personal Factors, Hypothesis 2 (H2) - Financial Factors, Hypothesis 3 (H3) - Marketing Factors, Hypothesis 4 (H4) - Management Factors, Hypothesis 5 (H5) - Technical Factors, Hypothesis 6 (H6) - General Factors. A survey was conducted in two areas which were part of the previous Group Areas of Pietermaritzburg and are often referred to as the 'hub' of Indian retailer activity in Pietermaritzburg with a high concentration of small Indian retailers. The areas in question were the 'bottom end of town' which included all those businesses in Church Street between East and Retief Streets; the other area included businesses in Old Greytown Road between Naidoo and Allandale Roads. A total of 67 small retailers were interviewed who survived for at least three years, were in business during the Apartheid era, and exhibited some form of growth during this period. Cluster/area samples were chosen on the basis of convenience and judgement to suit the financial and time constraints of the study; and elements were included in the sample randomly but in proportion to the size of their clusters/areas in the total cluster/area population. The 67 businesses studied were classified as low, medium, and high growth using Hatten's (1997) and Walker's (1988) growth models. There were 31 low growth, 32 medium growth, and 4 high growth businesses. The most important factors in this study were found to be in order of importance: personal, financial, marketing, management, and technical. In addition, the results of the qualitative study revealed that Culture and Religion, Group Areas, and past business experience also played an important role in business growth, in this study. The 'top ten' sub factors in this study were found to be: Honesty, Hard Work, Commitment, Involvement, Common Sense, A belief in Superior Quality and Service, Learning from Failure, Knowledge of Business and Market, Adequate Capital, Price. In testing the hypotheses, using the Chi-squared test, it was found that there were significant relationships between business growth and personal, financial, marketing, management, and technical factors, at the 95% confidence level. For all factors, using the Chi-squared test, significant differences, and high frequency counts were apparent at levels of importance thus suggesting that all factors studied were at least important in the growth of small Indian retailers situated in some of the previous Group Areas of Pietermaritzburg. The results of this study may be useful to: a. prospective small business people wanting to increase their chances of growth, b. those small businesses that want to increase their growth, c. those small businesses experiencing growth problems, d. small business operators from disadvantaged backgrounds, e. organisations involved in small business development, support, and training. The limitations of this study include: a. the lack of a pre-prepared sampling frame, b. unique results which may not be applicable to other small businesses, c. lack of literature on small business growth and the history of Indian trade in South Africa, d. inapplicability of the chi-square test for businesses in the high growth category due to a small cell size, e. restricted response from the Likert scale measurement used. / Thesis (M.Comm.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1999.

This study examines the perceived influence of the following factors on the performance of expatriate academics: biographical profile, social and cultural adjustment, homesickness, language, organizational socialization, and satisfaction with the policies and practices of the organization with regard to salary, rewards and promotion. The study was conducted on a sample of 85 expatriate academics employees of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa). The research data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire where all answers were requested using a five point likert scale (from 'strongly disagree' to 'strongly agree‟) except for the section on the biographical profile of the participants. In other words, the research data captured the perceptions of the respondents measured on the above-mentioned scale. This means for example that every expatriate academic in the study made a self-assessment of his or her work performance. The research sample was constructed using a snowball sampling method. The results obtained from the inferential statistical analysis indicate that language is the only predictor of work performance. The frequencies and means analysis revealed that respondents are not quite satisfied with their salary and rewards. Correlation analysis also revealed the following relationships between the research variables: a correlation was found between social and cultural adjustment and homesickness; a correlation was found between social and cultural adjustment and organizational socialization; and correlation was found between satisfaction with the policies and practices of the organization with organizational socialization. The findings of this research can be useful to universities for improvement of the performance of their expatriate academics through the following research recommendations: conducting language training; providing market-related salaries to expatriate employees; and granting holiday allowances and stress management programmes to expatriate academics so as to alleviate their homesickness. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2009.

Worldwide, women entrepreneurs play a major role in the economic growth and development of any nation, yet women are still facing a multiplicity of challenges in the small business sector. Women entrepreneurs could play a more significant role in the small business sector given all the necessary support. The main objective of this study was to review the South African government initiatives that were designed to stimulate women entrepreneurship during 1995 to 2009. This topic is exploratory as well as descriptive in nature. As a result of this, qualitative and quantitative data was collected in order to address the research objectives of the study. A non probability sampling technique, known as snowballing was used to identify the research participants. The sample for the study was made up of two different groups of participants; namely women entrepreneurs and experts from the field of entrepreneurship. Data was analysed using content analysis. Although content analysis is often used for analysing qualitative data, it has a limitation in that it sometimes fails to interpret delicate and intricate texts (Denscombe, 2003:221). Because of this limitation, Kruskal Wallis and Chi square tests were used in order to complement content analysis. These two data analysis tools were adopted because of the non parametric nature of the research data. The main limitation of the study was that primary data was collected in Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu Natal due to limited resources. In addition to this, the sampling technique used has a disadvantage in that the results of the research cannot be generalized to the population at large. However, the empirical results in conjunction with the literature review could assist in policy evaluation of the initiatives that could stimulate the development of women entrepreneurs in this country to a higher level. The empirical findings of the study revealed that women entrepreneurs are still experiencing a lot of barriers to entry into the small business sector such as access to finance, lack of entrepreneurial training and lack of information, just to mention a few. The results also revealed that the government support programmes are failing to address the barriers to entry that women are experiencing in the small business sector. In as much as the government is making progress in providing support programmes towards women entrepreneurship, the empirical findings also revealed that the majority of women entrepreneurs are not aware of the available support programmes that are targeting them. Lack of awareness of the available government initiatives was cited as the major reason why women are not benefiting fully from the government support programmes. Based on the research findings, it could be recommended that the government should review the current policies and programmes that are designed to assist women entrepreneurs in this country in order to evaluate the weaknesses and strengths that are inherent in the system. Future programmes should be designed based on empirical research in order to match the actual needs of women entrepreneurs in relation to the challenges that they encounter. This is crucial because women in the small business sector are a heterogeneous group with different needs and challenges. For this reason, a small business research foundation should be established with the core mandate of carrying out on-going research on the small business sector in this country. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.