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Development of a critical success factor assessment for small organisationsMaritz, Anna-marie 03 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2001 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Small businesses are the traditional source of local and national economic
growth. Small businesses in South Africa absorb almost half the people formally
employed in the private sector and contribute nearly thirty seven percent to the
country's gross domestic product. Unfortunately small businesses also have the reputation of a high failure rate some literature quote figures as high as sixty six percent of all small businesses
within the first six years of their existence. An Australian survey indicated that nearly sixty five percent of all business
failures were caused by controllable factors, which implicates that the use of
consultants, or simply better management of the small business, could have
prevented the failure. This study explains why small business owners are so
reluctant to make use of outside consultants and looks into the most common
causes of small organisation failure.
This research project is designed as an incremental development study, where
an existing model is adjusted to focus on a smaller nische market. A consulting
model, developed to use in large organisations, was evaluated by identifying the
problem areas that most often cause small organisations to fail and then
comparing them to the areas addressed in the existing model. The conclusion reached was that although this model will definitely help small business owners
to improve their businesses, it doesn't address the mest common causes of
small business failure and adjustments is needed to customise this product for
the small organisation.
Based on the available data on the most common causes of small organisational
failure, a new model is developed, which addresses the specific causes of small
organisation failure.
The new model gives examples of what would be in place in an organisation
where the relevant critical success factor is successfully implemented as well as
examples of what the situation will be if the relvant factor is absent. The small
business owners evaluate themselves on a scale of one to ten. The model has a
dual purpose, firstly to create an awareness with the owner of the full spectrum
of factors that need to receive attention in a small organisation, and secondly to
give a benchmark against which progress on each of the critical success factors
can be measured. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Klein besighede vorm die ruggraat van die Suid Afrikaanse ekonomie, met byna
sewe-en-dertig persent van die Bruto Nasionale Produk (BNP), wat aan klein
besighede toegeskryf kan word en as werkverskaffer aan bykans die helfte van
alle werknemers wat formeel in diens is van die private sektor. Ongelukkig het
klein besighede ook die reputasie van 'n groot mislukkingskoers met mislukkings
so hoog as ses-en-sestig persent van alle klein besighede in die eerste ses jaar
van die ondernemings se bestaan.
'n Australiese studie het getoon dat ongeveer vyf-en-sestig persent van die
oorsake van klein besigheid mislukkings aan beheerbare faktore toegeskryf kan
word. Met ander woorde hulp van konsultante, of bloot beter bestuur van die
klein besigheid, kon die mislukking verhoed het. Hierdie werkstuk kyk na redes
hoekom konsultante so min deur klein besighede gebruik word en na die mees
algemene oorsake van klein besigheid mislukkings.
Die werkstuk neem die vorm aan van 'n inkrementele ontwikkeling studie waar 'n
reeds bestaande evaluasie model, aangepas word om te fokus op 'n kleiner
nismark. 'n Konsultasie model, wat ontwikkel is vir gebruik in die diagnostiese
fase van die konsultasieproses vir groot besighede, is ondersoek en daar is
gekyk watter van die mees algemene faktore vir klein besigheid mislukking in hierdie model aangespreek is. Die gevolgtrekking was dat alhoewel die model
definitief klein besigheids eienaars sal help om hul organisasies te verbeter, dit
meeste van die oorsake vir mislukking in klein besighede nie direk aanspreek
nie, en dat aanpassings van die model nodig is.
Gebasseer op reeds bestaande navorsing oor die oorsake van klein besigheid
mislukkings, is 'n nuwe model ontwikkel, wat spesifiek gerig is daarop om die mees
algemene oorsake van mislukking aan te spreek.
Die hersiene model gee voorbeelde van wat in plek sal wees in 'n organisasie
waar die kritieke suksesfaktor suksesvol geimplementeer is asook voorbeelde
van hoe die situasie daar sal uitsien indien die relevante faktor afwesig is. Klein
besigheidseienaars evalueer hulself op 'n skaal van een tot tien. Die doel van die
model is tweeledig, eerstens om die eienaar attent te maak op die volle omvang
van faktore waaraan aandag gegee moet word, en tweedens om 'n riglyn te bied
waarteen vordering op elkeen van die kritieke sukses faktore gemeet kan word.
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The performance of property companies in Hong Kong: a style analysis approachWong, Siu-kei., 黃紹基 January 2003 (has links)
published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Real Estate and Construction / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy
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The impact of interest rates on small businesses and local economies.Zandamela, Horácio Lucas January 1998 (has links)
A research report submitted to the Faculty of Management, University of
the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the
degree of Master of Management (in the field of Public and Development
Management). / Many debates have been waged about the effect of the interest rate ceilings
on the provision of financial services to small businesses. It has been
considered as one of the major constraints in small business access to capital
and it is also considered a major inhibitor of small business development. The
present study attempted to determine whether interest rate ceilings should be
undertaken or not, and how in a South African socio-political context this
would help small business development. Concomitantly, it was considered
how the interest rates affect small businesses according different purposes,
size and terms of loans.
A case study method was used to pursue this research. The case study of
Mamelodi Township (Pretoria) and Kildare/Jonkllanqa village (Mhala District -
Northern Province) were undertaken. Open-ended interviews with borrowers
and financial institutions (providers) were conducted. The result of the
interviews was analysed and reinforced with an analysis of national and
international secondary literature.
One of the main findings of the research was that interest rates ceiling are
necessary and substantial in helping small business development. It was
established that interest rate ceilings have to be considered in a flexible
manner, accordlng specific conditions of small business activity. It was also
concluded that interest rate ceilings have to be a consequence of a regulatory
framework which enables small business access to capital, and, thus,
development of their local community. The result of the research likewise, has
indicated that for small, short term, working capital loans, the impact of
interest rates on borrowers is smaller than for larger, longer term borrowers.
The effect of the circulation of resources in a community in the case of a lower
level interest rates deserves more investigation but there are primary
indications of some positive impact on. / Andrew Chakane 2019
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An exploration of international acquisition and Joint Venture collaboration as means for closing strategic deficiencies of automotive suppliers : providing an evidence-based advisory framework for cross-border transactions with US partnersHagel, Michael W. January 2018 (has links)
Purpose/objectives: The study considered international Joint Venture projects (‘IJV’) and international acquisitions (for recognition purposes, the term of international Mergers & Acquisitions ‘IM&A’ is used even though mergers are not specifically part of the study) with a focus on automotive suppliers in the passenger car market and regionally on US partners. The objective was to analyse how suppliers in the automotive industry can close their strategic deficiencies through these IJV and IM&A transactions. The regional focus on US partners was chosen, as the USA is a major market for automotive suppliers (volumes/size and innovation-focus). The idea was to identify, categorise, and subsequently analyse decision-making parameters of the engagement in IJV and IM&A. Design/methodology/approach: The research had two main areas: a general literature review and an empirical part with a case study approach. As the research drew on a constructivist perspective, the empirical part of the research was conducted with a qualitative approach. At the centre were three case studies of a major German supplier analysed in depth: one IM&A, one IJV and one ‘hybrid’ transaction. These studies examined good practices, highlights, and challenges through semi-structured interviews. Senior experts in the Business Units and collaboration teams involved in these strategic projects were interviewed. Documentation reviews and the researcher’s own observations flanked these interviews. Findings: Bringing together ideas from the existing literature, and enriching them with insights from projects in the real automotive world, the current study contains valuable considerations about these complex strategic transactions. In order to enhance the deliberate use of these collaborations, the research reflected on the possible alignments of the various parameters and strategic factors. Contributions: The study represents a contribution to the practice and to the academic world, since it is a study to bridge the relevant theory/practice literature with real casestudy- based insights of German-USA inter-firm collaborations in the automotive industry. On that basis, an ‘advisory framework’ was developed to enhance decisionmaking in that area of corporate strategy. It focuses on important factors to consider when engaging in cross-border IJV and IM&A in a specific industry. Research limitations/implications: The research results would need to be further explored in practice, which could be the subject of future research. Limitations from the current study stem from the chosen research design and sample size.
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Firm diversification and performance : the roles of geographic location and product relatednessGu, Jinlong January 2018 (has links)
No description available.
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Cash flow accounting and the cost of debtLari Dashtbayaz, Mahmoud January 2011 (has links)
The aim of this study is to examine why firms may manipulate not just their earnings but also their cash flows, and to investigate the effects of this behaviour in debt markets with respect to the cost of debt. This research addresses current concerns about accounting rules (both GAAP and IFRS) which allow companies discretion in the presentation of their operating cash flow in financial statements. Using a sample of 8,684 UK and 23,935 USA firm-years from 1998 to 2010, the reported operating cash flow is decomposed into two components, unmanaged and managed, in order to examine the association between the estimated discretionary part of operating cash flow and the cost of debt. The results show that the cost of debt has a significantly positive association with the managed component of operating cash flows. By using path analysis, it is further shown that the effect of cash flow management in increasing the cost of debt is largely through its impact on accounting quality. Also it is found that the market positively prices abnormal operating cash flow information when firms experience financial problems, especially when companies are faced with low cash flows.
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Corporate syndicated loan pricings in Germany : an exploration of the hidden driversSchmidt, Daniel January 2017 (has links)
Syndicated loans are a common debt financing format for large corporations in general. For those situated in Germany—with its bank-based financial system—such loans play a vital role. Given the multibillion volumes raised annually, the pricing of syndicated loans is economically significant, with its levels, structure, and determination having attracted the interest of researchers around the world. A critical review of the existing worldwide literature of syndicated loan pricing revealed notable gaps, including an almost complete absence of studies on the German corporate market. The overall research aim was to address this gap by exploring and analysing the “hidden drivers” of banks’ pricing of syndicated loans to German corporate borrowers, thereby developing an enriched understanding of the elements and determinants of pricing and its underlying processes and decisions. Adopting a pragmatist research paradigm, I chose a sequential mixed-methods approach, with a limited quantitative analysis preceding an extensive qualitative study. The first stage of the research was designed to evaluate the availability of reliable quantitative pricing data in the public domain—this being the main data source for the clear majority of extant studies. I found the availability and quality of pricing data for the German corporate market to be extremely limited, particularly in comparison to that available relating to the U.S. market. There was clearly much that remained unexplained; hence, primary research was required to illuminate syndicated loan pricing and the decision processes that contribute to it. The main element of the qualitative study was a series of semi-structured, in-depth interviews with a sample of bank lending professionals and key informants. The purpose of these interviews was to explore the complex realities of syndicated lending through the eyes and experiences of the people involved and to interpret the socially constructed phenomena surrounding the pricing of German corporate syndicated loans. The study succeeded in revealing and substantiating important and to date hidden phenomena concerning numerous dimensions of syndicated lending in general and pricing in particular. An explanation was developed for the relative opacity of the German corporate syndicated loan market. The study enabled significant enhancements to the understanding of the concept of pricing and its complex and interwoven elements. More broadly, a new and richer perspective was developed of syndicated lending as a behavioural phenomenon, involving a complex interplay of relationships and strategies, and involving individuals and departments within banks, between banks as members of the syndicate, and between lenders and borrowers. The insights gained informed the development of a comprehensive model of the pricing elements of syndicated lending and their determinants. This research is the first to conduct and produce an in-depth study of the internal workings of syndicated corporate lending in the German market and a study that does not rely on secondary data that are at best incomplete. It has resulted in many rich and original insights and a conceptualisation of syndicated lending that differs radically from the classical understanding of lender-borrower relationships as founded on theories of asymmetric information. The research presented here, therefore, makes significant contributions to the literature, in helping to close notable gaps in the banking and financial intermediation literature.
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Accruals: signalling or misleading? Evidence from New ZealandKoerniadi, Hardjo Unknown Date (has links)
Studies on earnings management usually hypothesise that managers manage accruals opportunistically. Few studies however, argue that managers can also use accruals to improve the value relevance of reported earnings to help investors better assess the firm's operating performance. While substantial evidence on managers' opportunistic behaviour on accruals has been documented in the literature, empirical evidence on the informativeness of accruals is scarce and inconclusive. The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether managers use accruals to communicate private information regarding the firm's operating performance, or as reported in the literature, use them for their own benefit. This thesis finds that on average, firms reporting high earnings accompanied by high accruals have significantly negative subsequent period stock returns suggesting that these firms manage their accounting earnings. Focusing on stock dividend issues as an incentive to opportunistically increase accruals, the results are found to be consistent with the earnings management hypothesis. Stock dividend issuing firms are reported to significantly increase accruals in the issue year followed by poor earnings and stock price performances in the subsequent year. Moreover, discretionary accruals of the issuing firms are negatively correlated with both future earnings and abnormal stock returns. This evidence attempts to complement the earnings management literature. The analysis on the incentive to decrease accruals related to share repurchases, however, does not provide sufficient evidence to suggest that managers use their discretion to decrease accruals. To investigate the hypothesis that managers use accruals to convey information regarding their firm's future profitability, this thesis employs the contemporaneous earnings and dividend announcements as the research setting. This choice was made to increase the likelihood of detecting the use of accruals as private information communication while simultaneously mitigating the likelihood of the opportunistic income smoothing hypothesis to explain the results. The evidence strongly indicates that managers use both accruals and dividend increases as their private information communication regarding their firm's future profitability. Dividend increasing firms report positive accruals which are positively correlated with future profitability. This finding contributes to the literature by providing evidence on the accrual signalling hypothesis. Overall, the results of this thesis suggest that, depending on the incentives, managers can use the discretion accorded under the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in estimating accounting accrual, either to manage accruals opportunistically or to help investors better assess the firms' operating performance.
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The influence of customer-supplier relationships through the facilitation of credit on the development of micro enterprises in the Sobonakhona Makhanya tribal area of KwaZulu-NatalMaome, Itumeleng Judith January 2009 (has links)
Submitted in compliance with the requirements for the Masters Degree in Technology: Business Administration, Department of Entrepreneurial Studies and Management, Durban University of Technology, 2009. / The purpose of this study is to identify the influence of customer-supplier
relationships through facilitation of credit on the development of Micro enterprises
in the Sobonakhona Makhanya Tribal Area of KZN. This study originates from the
fact that there are many SMME‟s in South Africa, absorbing about 15 million
people (DTI, 1995:7). Even though this sector is providing most of the
employment in the country, they still find it difficult to arrange funds to start or
expand their businesses. Lending institutions do not want to provide finance for
them, and if they do, they do it with reluctance and reservations. As a result,
SMME‟s are not able to grow and develop into big businesses.
This is a quantitative and exploratory research study which was used to explore,
for the first time in Sobonakhona Makhanya Tribal area, the relationship between
customer-supplier relationships and accessibility of credit facilities. The study
made use of questionnaires to obtain the respondents‟ perceptions on the
research questions developed. A questionnaire that consisted of 35 questions
was distributed to 50 SMME owners in Adams Mission, Madundube and
Umbumbulu (AMU) villages. Cronbach‟s reliability analysis was not applied as it
was not appropriate for use with this questionnaire.
The research showed that a relationship between customers and suppliers
assists SMME‟s to obtain access to credit facilities. Added to this, SMME owners,
who had access to credit facilities, experienced positive changes in their
businesses. This serves to prove that access to credit is essential for the
development of SMME‟s. As a result, recommendations to train and educate
SMME owners on how to manage their businesses, how to apply for credit and
the requirements needed for applications have been set out.
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The accessing of finance by Small Medium Micro Enterprises in the Mafikeng / Karabo KhibaKhiba, Karabo January 2006 (has links)
The research study investigates some of the problems or challenges faced by SMMEs in
the Mafikeng and Mmabatho area of the North West province. It strives to find out the
extent to which these problems occur and the impact they have on these businesses. The
research focuses on a number of major problems considered to be hindering the growth of
SMMEs in this area, namely the lack of entrepreneurial management, financial skills,
accessing finance and the role played by lack of financial and mentoring support on the
success or failure of SMMEs.
Some of the significant findings of this study are that the majority of the businesses fail
because of lack of access to finance, lack of entrepreneurial skills and lack of mentoring
support from the government. The government and banks should make it easier for
SMMEs to access finance. The government should act as collateral for SMMEs to secure
finance from commercial institutions. The government should involve the private sector
in training SMMEs to acquire entrepreneurial skills. This will help SMMEs to run their
businesses professionally and therefore become sustainable. This will impact positively
to the economic growth, in terms of job creation to the entire province
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