This research posits that tacit knowledge, explicit knowledge and hubris influence the decision-making process of managers when deciding to enter an emerging market. The literature on emergent market strategy and the decision-making process is abundant but tends to focus on the extant explicit information available. However, the prevalence of literature on the influence of tacit knowledge or experience needs to be further developed. Given the focus on Africa as an area for economic development and the complexity that comes with doing business in Africa, this study seeks to explore what homage is given to tacit knowledge and experience by strategy makers during the process of strategy development, how this knowledge is harboured and developed. The study also seeks to explore the transferability of the knowledge between countries, and if this knowledge can become an inhibitor in developing strategy. A review of the relevant literature is undertaken and a model is developed to map out this decision-making process. A qualitative tool is developed and eight interviews with managers responsible for emergent market strategy development are held to obtain an understanding of how tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge feature on the decision-making process. Key learnings from the study includes a disparity between literature on the importance of tacit knowledge and the growing tendency to formalise the country entry process; the prevalence of heuristics and hubris in the decision-making process, and absence of a review process to validate strategies and decision making. / Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / vn2017 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Organisations today face the pervasive problem of commercial crime. The losses suffered result in reduced profitability, diminished shareholders' returns, loss of growth opportunities and, in certain instances, even threaten the sustainability of the organisations. Despite dedicated investigation units and courts, specific legislation and enhanced awareness and monitoring in organisations in South Africa, commercial crime still abounds. Establishing the key drivers of commercial crime will enable organisations to better evaluate their risks and to understand how practising good corporate governance can assist in this regard. Qualitative research using exploratory methods was utilised firstly to establish the key drivers of commercial crime; and secondly, to assess the role of corporate governance in addressing these drivers. A total of 13 semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with management and executive leadership in a diverse range of organisations to explore this topic. A further seven interviews were conducted with experts in the field of forensic investigation and corporate governance, whose insights were used to test the initial findings by process of triangulation. The insights gleaned formed the basis of the data that was analysed to produce the findings in this research. The research found both internal and external drivers of commercial crime and identified common themes, despite the diverse nature of the organisations researched. Collusion between employees as well as financial distress due to the current economic climate, were found to be amongst the key drivers. It was found that corporate governance does in fact play a critical role in addressing these drivers, and thereby making organisations more conscious and proactive to address commercial crime; however, poor or inadequate implementation of corporate governance standards weakens the effectiveness thereof. The reality that corporate governance is not legislated contributes to the haphazard manner in which it is applied in different organisations. Lastly, corporate governance needs to be supported by an ethical culture in order to serve its purpose, and this is neglected by certain organisations. The findings from the triangulation exercise supported the above findings. / Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / vn2017 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Innovation has long been established as a cornerstone of economic growth, and governments use a mixture of innovation policy instruments to achieve the economic and social goals of a country. South Africa's manufacturing sector has seen a contraction in 2015. The manufacturing sector is particularly driven by innovation, and this study examines how South Africa's innovation policy mix needs to be rebalanced in order to achieve growth in the sector. The study is approached using quantitative methods to characterise and compare South Africa's innovation policy mix to two comparator countries. Canada was chosen as an example of a developed country, and India as an example of an emerging nation. The effectiveness of South Africa's innovation policy mix is then evaluated using qualitative methods and the results applied to show how South Africa's innovation policy mix could be reconfigured to achieve economic growth. It was found that South Africa's policy mix is dominated by supply-side measures. India and Canada have applied a combination of supply-side and demand-side innovation policy measures to achieve goals that are comparable to South Africa's. It was also found that a chasm existed between policy instruments that support research and development efforts and the instruments that support market development. Rebalancing the innovation policy mix towards using more demand-side instruments and more generic rather than population targeted instruments could provide a remedy to this problem and improve the prospects for the sector. / Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / vn2017 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Orientation: The shortage of technical skills in South Africa is causing grave concern for the country and businesses alike, impeding economic growth and competition. In particular, South Africa is experiencing an increasing number of technical professionals in the oil industry who emigrate. Compounding this situation, South African universities are not producing enough technical graduates to effectively counter the impact of skilled emigration. Research purpose: Accordingly, the reseacher sought to explore country and organisational factors that influence emigration of technical professionals in the oil industry. Furthemore, the research intended to identify and appraise reward elements that are being expended to curb emigration of technical professionals in this industry. Motivation for the study: There is a need to understand the contributing factors to technical professionals' emigration decisions in the oil industry. Research design, approach and method: The researcher conducted a case based qualitative study which was exploratory in approach. The sample included technical professionals drawn from different engineering disciplines at Engen refinery. The researcher initially used purposive sampling, followed by snowball sampling. Accordingly, 12 in-depth semi-structured interviews were held. AtlasTi and excel were used to analyse the results obtained from this research. Main findings: The main findings of the research revealed that the most important country factors influencing technical professionals' decisions to emigrate were remuneration, crime and security. While at an organisational level, leadership and remuneration were the most important drivers. Technical professionals consider Engen's reward model stale and in need of innovation. The reward elements are not aligned with the drivers of skilled emigration and therefore will not limit the rate at which technical professionals emigrate. Value add and managerial implications: The value and implication of this research is that it gives insight into the drivers of emigration decisions of technical professionals in the oil industry, and provides information to managers of oil companies that can help in designing attractive employee value propositions, taking into account external factors. / Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / vn2017 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Organisations are increasingly turning to downsizing to respond to the increasing pressures of remaining sustainable in a highly competitive environment. This is done with the aim of reducing organisational costs in order to improve the performance on the bottom line. Unfortunately, downsizing often results in organisations losing more employees than anticipated as highly mobile and skilled employees voluntarily leave the organisation as a result of the downsizing process. In the end, the organisation may be faced with the increasing costs of replacing the skilled employees and thereby negating the cost reduction initiatives that the downsizing process was meant to achieve. This research report investigates the key factors that influence employees to consider voluntary turnover as a result of the downsizing process. This is done with the aim of guiding organisations to design the downsizing process that will help minimise the voluntary turnover of employees. The research is based on a survey that was done in one selected organisation and complemented by surveys conducted on general employees employed in South African organisations. The findings of the research indicate that employees are influenced to consider voluntary turnover mainly as a result of the trust that they have in management and the consistency that the downsizing process was conducted. Practical implications are given that could be used to improve the organisations' reduction of voluntary turnover intentions. This study adds to literature by expanding the attachment theory by identifying which of the emotions experienced by employees during downsizing influence voluntary turnover intentions. / Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / vn2017 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Change is an ever-present feature of organisational life that affects all levels of the organisation. It is noted that the pace of change has never been greater than in the current business environment. State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) are companies owned by the government, which have a crucial role to play in advancing governments? objectives, including economic growth, job creation, and key infrastructure development. Like all organisations they are not immune to change, however the reported success rate of change is of concern. Over the years, SOEs have been characterised by chronic underperformance, with some reported to be in distress. Literature on communication has suggested that one of the primary reasons organisations are ineffective or ultimately fail is communication and lack of employee engagement. This research seeks to evaluate communication and employee engagement as enablers for change management in the context of SOEs, and aims to contribute to the body of knowledge with insights on how change can be managed for positive results in SOEs. Based on the systems theory, a qualitative research methodology was adopted, using convenience, quota and judgement sampling techniques. Data Analysis was through means of content analysis Research findings supported literature in confirming that change is still complex and difficult for organisations to manage. Communication was recognised to be taking place, the pace of communicating the message of change was found to be slow often resulting in rumours. It was further found that information was filtered too much losing meaning and content resulting in employees disengaging with some making their own effort to make sense of the change message resulting in failures of change initiatives. For an employee to understand, be engaged and respond to change the role of leader was found too weak in effecting the message of change effectively with an overly reliance on technology. Emails and workshop sessions which were found to be too overused, lacked depth and personal touch and not effective in communicating and engaging employees. / Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / vn2017 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

The South African medicines regulatory authority will shortly be moving from under the control of the National Department of Health to become a Section 3A public entity with its own governance structure. This presents the ideal opportunity to address the urgent need for evaluation of stakeholder engagement and mechanisms to improve the efficiency of the regulatory authority. This research was designed in order to join and contribute to the on-going conversation regarding the optimum functioning of the medicines regulatory authority by evaluating stakeholder engagement and governance, through the perceptions of stakeholders involved in the regulation and approval of medicines in South Africa. Governance, stakeholder and industry dynamics theory provided the foundation on which the research was based, allowing the researcher to create a lens through which the results of the research were viewed. Qualitative, deductive exploratory research was performed using perceptions of twelve respondents. These included key stakeholders involved in the provision of pharmaceuticals, as well as medicine regulatory decision-makers. Perceptions of previous experiences with, and proposed future optimal frameworks for, stakeholder interaction and governance of the medicines regulator to enable innovation in the pharmaceutical industry were derived from in-depth interviews. The research found many areas of improvement urgently needed in the current model of governance of the medicines regulatory authority. New academic insight was developed into the efficiencies needed within a medicines regulatory authority, as well as the stakeholder interactions to improve efficiencies and operating conditions within the pharmaceutical industry. It was found that internal efficiencies within the medicines regulatory authority as well as more effective stakeholder interaction framework would better enable innovation of products and processes within the pharmaceutical industry. Analysis of themes derived from in-depth stakeholder interviews, along with the literature review, was used to construct a framework of optimal governance and stakeholder interaction of the new medicines regulatory authority. This provides a contribution to theoretical management literature and provides guidance for regulators and stakeholders to create an efficient regulatory system to allow for innovation and result in better quality healthcare for the public. / Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / ms2017 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Most studies of subsidiary knowledge flows involve technological knowledge seeking, and exclude currently less important subsidiaries in the multinational corporation (MNC). Yet those subsidiaries are often located in developing markets with high economic growth and expansion opportunities for MNCs. Less is known about knowledge flows between less important subsidiaries, or about operational knowledge seeking. This study proposes a definition for subsidiary importance, compares more and less important subsidiaries, and examines technological and operational knowledge seeking. Findings suggest headquarters remain the dominant source for technological knowledge for both high and low importance subsidiaries but operational knowledge seeking is more varied. / Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / vn2017 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Frontline employees play a crucial role in service industries and the rapid expansion of these industries and their contribution to GDP in developing countries is becoming increasingly important. The "darker side" of service dynamics are the acts of sabotage by employees, which damage the service experience. Despite the growing prevalence of service industries and the acknowledgement that acts of service sabotage exist, to date there has been little published data on the drivers of service sabotage among frontline retail staff. The objective of this research was to explore the drivers of service sabotage amongst frontline employees in a retail context. Eighteen qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted, using the long interview method. Respondents included senior management as well as frontline employees. The study established eight drivers of service sabotage in the sample population. The drivers encompass a broad range of factors, both internal and external to the organisation, and provide useful starting points for further improvement in overall service levels. The study includes a discussion of the results and suggestions for management and for future research. / Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / vn2017 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Women constitute almost half of the world's population yet their representation in business does not correspond to this. They are faced with several challenges in both their social and professional spheres of influence which hinder them at times from succeeding in business. The research study sets out to investigate the role of mentorship and networking on the success of women business leaders and how these challenges can be mitigated. The ensuing benefits therefore make it necessary to investigate how the economy is impacted by the demise of women in business. Qualitative research with an exploratory design was conducted, as a means to investigate this predicament. 13 in-depth interviews with successful well renowned business leaders across different industry sectors were held to unravel the challenges and pitfalls surrounding this issue. The invaluable data that was unearthed was analysed using thematic content and frequency analysis. The empirical findings of this research found that women face a multitude of challenges when it comes to upward mobility in corporate organisations or in leading their own businesses. However mentoring and networking are some of the ways that are most effective in ensuring active and effective participation of women in business. The benefits of these are numerous and beneficial to individuals, organisations, society and the national economy at large. / Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / vn2017 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted