South Africa's public institutions are expected to conduct their activities in a way that satisfy the public interest to ensure the welfare of the people. In formulating public policies and in carrying out their duties, these institutions are constitutionally required to be answerable to the communities, particularly in a democratic state. Hence, many community leaders strongly believe that transparency and public accountability can help to expose and reduce large-scale tendencies of financial irregularities and corruption in public agencies. Despite different racial groups, levels of education and occupation the ordinary members of the public are discontented about inadequate accountability and openness of parastatals. This can tend to lead to unethical and irresponsible conduct in government departments and parastatals. Therefore this thesis assesses an emerging challenge experienced by public enterprises in reacting to the urgent need for increased answerability for the behaviour of administrators and officials. Over the past few years, parastatals have attracted heavy criticism from several quarters of various communities for embracing racial discriminatory policies and conniving with departments of the previous government to fortify those racial policies. The veil of confidentiality clause and the right to privacy, which clouded the abuse of political power by both the government and public organisations, shrouded the activities of the parastatals. However, even the advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994 did not reduce unethical conduct, such as corruption, patronage and nepotism, among administrators and officials. Instead the scale of these unbecoming tendencies have currently either increased or received more publicity. Frequent financial irregularities are continuously reported, which cause great damage to the image of public organisations and erodes public trust. Therefore, in trying to address these problems attributed to the inadequacy of public accountability and transparency, parastatals have to consider and evaluate several bewildering challenges. The main thing is to critically re-examine the role of public accountability and transparency in public institutions. In doing that, a focus must be on finding answers for the following questions. To whom and how are parastatals accountable? Why is it necessary for them to publicly give full account of their activities to the communities? Essentially, this thesis is particularly concerned with a large parastatal in Kwa-Zulu/Natal, which is chosen a point of references, namely, Umgeni Water Board. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

This dissertation relates to the study of valuing a business. Edcon, a well known listed retailer, was found its market values to be lower than its net asset value at 2002 financial year-end, while all of the major competitors of Edcon had a market value considerably in excess of net asset value. It was possible that Edcon's share was underpriced at year-end recently, as it was known that Edcon was a well-managed company with sound fundamentals. The "true" value of Edcon was investigated in this dissertation. Two valuation models, Discounted Free Cash Flow and Economic Profit model, were used and simple assumptions had to be made in order to arrive at a consensus valuation in this dissertation. Finally, all valuation performed in this case revealed that the share of Edcon was underpriced at year-end, and it was concluded that investors using these fundamental valuation methods and buying the shares could have made a profit. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

This study investigated the contribution of women entrepreneurs to the economic growth of the North West Province. The aim of the study was to identify the contribution of women entrepreneurs in the economic growth, to determine forces driving women to become entrepreneurs. The study also aimed at examining future challenges for women entrepreneurs as well as strategies to advance women entrepreneurs . The Quantitative research method was chosen for the study and the targeted population was women entrepreneurs and women interested in entrepreneurship in Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp in the North West Province. A total of200 participants were selected for the study, 100 women entrepreneurs and 100 women interested in entrepreneurship. Stratified random sampling was used to randomly select a subset of 50 women entrepreneurs and 50 women interested in entrepreneurship. The primary instrument used to collect data from the selected respondents was the questionnaire. Data were collected, analysed and presented in tables and figures. The findings of the study reveal~ that women entrepreneurs made positive contributions on the economic growth of the North West Province. They create employment, reduce poverty, initiate businesses, build self-employment and expand their businesses. The study confirmed that women entrepreneurs lack skills, knowledge and experience in business. They do not get support in infrastructure, finance and education to run their businesses. The researcher recommended that women entrepreneurs should get training and education with regard to running a business. There should also be infrastructure, accessibility of technology, funding and support for women entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneurs should get support from local governments and appropriate information should be made available to them. / (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2006

Thesis (MTech (Business Information Systems))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2005 / The Internet was functioning on Internet protocol (IP) and transmission control protocol (TCP) in the 1970s and soon afterwards electronic mail (email) was invented allowing messages to be sent from one person to another using packet switch services (PSS). However email did not form an information space for information to permanently exist. The World Wide Web (Web) arrived in the late 1980s, riding on top of the Internet providing a global and persistent information space available to everyone. This information space has assisted in small business facing dramatic change, often referred to as the 'e-commerce evolution'. Compared to the industrial revolution with the advent of the railways and electricity the magnitude of ecommerce is no less. Advances in the information technology (or e-comrnerce elements) and the use of Information systems (or applications) are the main drivers behind this e-commerce evolution. Some authors believe all businesses will be equal in the utilisation of e-commerce eroding any competitive advantage the one may have over the other. The 'digital economy' is now available with the explosive popularity of the Internet and the Web as seminal applications of e-commerce. In South Africa the maturity level of e-commerce adoption has increased from skepticism to positivism since the world wide availability of the Internet. Although e-commerce has generated a profusion of articles in South Africa, there has been a lack of research into the effects and benefits of e-commerce utilisation by small business. Various elements of e-commerce are explored highlighting the suitability of use towards a small business. This stUdy will explain the fundamentals that small business owners will need to understand to enable them to knowledgably participate in the global phenomenon of e-commerce. Authors nationally and internationally have explored the applications of e-commerce for example email and electronic data interchange (EDI).

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2014. / The majority of craft retail outlets in Cape Town are owned by immigrants mostly from the SADC and elsewhere on the continent. However, a notable proportion of African immigrant-owned survivalist and micro businesses that do not grow and develop into small and medium size enterprises (SMEs). Despite many studies conducted on craft businesses generally, little information exists on factors affecting the growth of African immigrant-owned craft businesses. The main objective of this study is to determine these factors. This study focused on four craft markets in the Cape Town area: Greenmarket Square, Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Hout Bay.The population of the study comprised all African immigrants at the selected craft markets and the municipal managers responsible for managing these selected markets. The sample frame of this study constitutes African immigrant entrepreneur-owned businesses that are three or more years old, registered and located in one of the selected markets. The study utilised a mixed method approach to collect and analyse data. Questionnaires (Quantitative) were administered to 122 African immigrant entrepreneurs and in-depth interviews (Qualitative) were conducted with the three municipal managers responsible for the four selected craft markets. Quantitative data was analysed separately using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) software, and face-to-face interviews were analysed by means of content analysis. The results of both methods were presented in tabulated format. Pushed by the need to survive and pulled by the many tourists in South Africa, African immigrant entrepreneurs turned to the craft business. In terms of the challenges faced, it was noted that limited access to finance and difficulty in acquiring a business location were start-up challenges, whereas the growth challenges were the seasonal and irregular nature of trade and xenophobia. Emanating from the findings of this study, recommendations were made to municipality managers to persuade the financial agencies to extend their funding assistance to deserving African immigrant entrepreneurs. Local government should grant immigrants trading permits and relax some of the restrictions to allow them to have a stall and do business. The municipalities should organise workshops to educate African immigrant entrepreneurs on the benefits of selling unique products and anti-xenophobic sentiment.

There is a remarkable increase in the participation of females in business activities due to their involvement in the informal sector. These activities appear to be insignificant and not measurable because they are outside the regulatory framework, but they also absorb multitudes of the unemployable. Notwithstanding the challenges of low levels of education, lack of skills and finance as well as the need to balance reproductive and productive roles, females are under pressure to generate income through trading in small scale businesses that can hardly grow beyond subsistence level. With the meagre earnings from their activities, they ensure the survival of their families. If female entrepreneurs are developed and brought into the economic main stream, they will bring with them their unique survivalist techniques that will contribute towards economic development and growth in the country. This report examines the constraints that affect the development of female entrepreneurs in the informal sector.

The Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM), situated in the second largest province in South Africa, the Eastern Cape, is an unfortunate victim of low economic development and high unemployment. The South African Government, through the Department of Trade and Industry, identified the need for SMMEs to address these issues with the inception of the White Paper on National Strategy for the Development and Promotion of Small Business in South Africa over 20 years ago. SMMEs in South Africa are noted to have a failure rate of around 70% which does not bode well for the efforts to improve economic development and reduce unemployment through SMMEs. This research sets out to determine the significance of variables such as human resources, financial resources, information systems, government assistance and competitive intelligence on the sustainability of SMMEs. The researcher examined the literature relating to the challenges and issues faced by SMMEs with particular emphasis on the use of competitive intelligence as a tool to assist in sustainability. The literature review was followed by an analysis and interpretation of a qualitative study of SMMEs within the BCMM. Through an analysis of the results it was possible to determine the nature of the relationships between the independent variables and sustainability. Finally, the researcher was able to make recommendations based on the research.

D.Comm. (Business Management) / The effectiveness of government policies and Programme for black women in Tshwane is investigated in this study. Five townships, Soshanguve, GaRankuwa, Mamelodi, Atteridgeville, Hammanskraal and Inner city were investigated by means of questionnaires. A sample of 241 black women entrepreneurs in Tshwane townships was investigated after which the results were reported. The primary objective of this study has been to investigate the extent to which black women entrepreneurs utilise government policies and Programme in Tshwane. Descriptive statistics indicated the following: 1. Information about government policies is not known by the majority of women entrepreneurs in Tshwane. 2. Local business centres are not assisting black women entrepreneurs by disseminating government policies. 3. SEDA is not effective in providing training for the SMMEs. 4. SAWEN is not effective in assisting women to start and grow their business…

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are recognised internationally and in South Africa as a critical component of the economic development of a country as a result of their contribution to job creation, alleviation of poverty, sustainability and innovation. Furthermore, the majority of SMEs are also family-owned and play an increasingly important role in the South African economy, making up approximately 84 per cent of businesses in the country. Despite the critical role that family and non-family SMEs play in economic development, they are still plagued with high failure rates and unique challenges that make it difficult for them to survive. These challenges include, amongst others, regulatory burdens, restrictive labour policies, a lack of access to finance, markets and technology, as well as an overwhelmingly constant emphasis on survival. As a result of the added dynamic of family relationships within family-owned SMEs, they face additional challenges such as conflict between family members and inadequate succession planning. Focus is often placed on the factors leading to failure, but little is known about success-aiding behaviours that could reduce the high failure rate and improve the success rate of these businesses. As a result, it is important to examine what determines success and how it is measured. Success can be defined as the attainment of goals, therefore the achievement of goals plays a critical role in the success of the business.

The importance of SME family businesses is evident in society. Coming out of a recession, the innovation, labour absorption and employment creation capabilities of SMEs and family businesses globally, and in emerging economies with high levels of unemployment and poverty, is incredibly important for environmental sustainability and societal harmony. Good governance is empirically proven to improve long-term sustainability of organisations, and poor governance is linked to the demise of many businesses – large and small, family and non-family businesses alike. This research, by means of a thorough literature review of family business and governance, and a single in-depth case study, identifies the components of SME family business governance in a contextual setting in South Africa. The literature review defines SMEs, family businesses and corporate governance. It reviews the nuances of family businesses that make them distinctive from non-family businesses, the models of family businesses that have been developed over time, the approaches to corporate governance, corporate governance codes of conduct, and family business governance models, as well as the components and dynamics of family business governance. The qualitative case study approach adopted enables the in depth contextual identification and exploration of the dynamics of family business governance. Empirical data collected from interviews, observations and reports are analysed using triangulation and pattern matching logic to ensure validity and reliability. Empirical findings are discussed with reference to the literary research findings, integrating literary and empirical findings, and resulting in the development of a conceptual model of family business governance, an SME family business governance structures model, and an SME family business authority delegation model. Governance is defined as the manifestation of the intent of the founder/owners of the business. Governance is manifest in structures, strategies, policies, procedures, relationships and performance. The reciprocity of transfers and outputs between the family business systems, the family business and its contextual environment is reflected in the performance of the business; which in turn is a reflection of the governance of the family and the family business. The study concludes with the importance of the family and its cohesion and harmony, and the impact it has on synergy, unity and harmony in the business. The study also finds that governance is strategic leadership, and that efficient and effective governance leads to synergies between the family, the family business and its contextual environment that when harnessed and directed towards a vision, can produce unimitable competitive advantages for the family firm.