Full text also available online. Scroll down for electronic link. / Submitted to the African Centre for Food Security. Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

In this paper we investigate entrepreneurship in the informal sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using data from the World Bank we examine the motivational antecedents for why individuals become self-employed within the informal sector. We build on research focusing primarily on data from the formal sector to generate a number of testable hypotheses regarding individual-level predictors of opportunity status. We test our hypotheses using multiple probit model regression analyses. Our results indicate that opportunity-driven entrepreneurs comprise a large portion ofinformal sector in Sub-Saharan Africa and suggest that there are important differences between the antecedents of entrepreneurship in the informal sector in the region and the findings of research focused on the formal sectors of developed countries. Despite a number of limitations, our paper sheds important light on an interesting and comparatively understudied topic but leaves much room for future development.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:16:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 3131233 bytes, checksum: 83f5bbb34f82262424c7269d985a46bc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-08-30 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The study of informal footwear industries in the city of Campina Grande-PB is related to the creation of productive structure in its spatial context, social and economic development. Then, the objectives in the present research were: to discuss the origin and evolution of the industrial sector in Campina Grande, specifically the footwear sector, to identify and map the micro and small informal footwear industries in this space and, finally, to study the informal industries and its dynamics in the socio structure of the city. Thus, it was tried to discuss the reality of socio-casual footwear industries in Campina Grande, through a survey of analyticaldescriptive, with quantitative and qualitative approach. Among the findings, it was noted that the informal industries investigated have archaic physical structure and operational and cheap labor with little or no professional qualification, seasonal production of shoes, a fact that leads people in the activity to instability related to generation work, a small representation when compared to formal industries. The review of the study may suggest that the informal arrangement Campinense footwear needs efficient and effective actions on the part of institutions that support the industry, and government incentives, so that they develop and become competitive, adequate the current capitalist model of production, governed, for example, by technological innovation and expanding consumer markets, otherwise they are bound to decrease and even disappear. Therefore, this work is proposed to contribute to a better knowledge about the origin of "sweatshops" of shoes, and to analyze the socioeconomic role of informal activity shoe for the city of Campina Grande. / O estudo das indústrias calçadistas informais na cidade de Campina Grande-PB está relacionado à constituição desta estrutura produtiva em seu âmbito espacial, social e econômico. Desse modo, os objetivos do presente trabalho foram: discutir a origem e a evolução do setor industrial em Campina Grande, especificamente o setor de calçados; identificar e mapear as micro e pequenas indústrias informais calçadistas neste espaço; e, estudar as indústrias informais e sua dinâmica na estrutura socioespacial da cidade em questão. Assim, procurou-se discutir a realidade socioespacial das indústrias de calçados informais em Campina Grande através de uma pesquisa de caráter analítico-descritivo, com abordagem quantitativa e qualitativa. Em meio aos resultados encontrados, notou-se que as indústrias informais investigadas apresentam estrutura física e operacional arcaica, mão de obra barata com mínima ou sem qualificação profissional, produção sazonal de calçados, fato que provoca instabilidade às pessoas inseridas na atividade e com relação à geração trabalho, uma pequena representatividade, quando comparada as indústrias formais. A análise crítica do estudo permite considerar que, o arranjo calçadista informal campinense, necessita de ações eficientes e eficazes, por parte das instituições que apóiam o setor, além de incentivos governamentais, para que estas se desenvolvam e tornem-se competitivas, adequando-se ao atual modelo capitalista de produção, regido pelas inovações tecnológicas e ampliação dos mercados consumidores, e caso contrário, estarão fadadas a uma redução e até o desaparecimento. Portanto, este trabalho tem a proposta de contribuir para um melhor conhecimento acerca da origem das fabriquetas de calçados, além de analisar o papel socioeconômico da atividade calçadista informal para a cidade de Campina Grande.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T13:53:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RosaneAAS_DISSERT.pdf: 4589226 bytes, checksum: e7b6f28aeddfbb736bf4ddac79e5a70d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2003-09-30 / The phenomenon of the informality has been common in the quarrels that involve Sciences Social and Human. First for not corresponding to a temporary and isolated phenomenon, and on the other hand for dealing with a presente situation in the majority of the Brazilian urban centers. In Cuiab? municipality, the alternative commerce appears as a social answer to the problems caused for the economic crisis of the country and seems to be deep-rooted to the urban landscape. This assignment angles was the street peddlers, in special that ones who develop their in a specific location on lowered of Cuiab?. Researches pretending to fill a blank of information about this subject involve theoritical and empirical levels. The theory searched to raise in a generalized manner given pertinent the informality and the pratical level through field research searched to analyze excellent aspects on the economic and occupational situation of a composed sample for two hundred and theree workers who develope the pratical one of the informal commerce in Shopping Popular in Cuiaba/MT. The analysis of gotten data alllowed to appreciate some excellent aspects with regard to the activity os the peddler, as: origni, formation, income, perspectives with regard to activity among others. In las analysis it still alllowed to verify the factors that condition the permanence these workers in this type of informal activity / O fen?meno da informalidade tem sido comum nas discuss?es que envolvem as Ci?ncias Humanas e Sociais. Primeiro por n?o corresponder a um fen?meno passageiro e isolado, e por outro lado por se tratar de uma situa??o presente na maioria dos centros urbanos brasileiros. No munic?pio de Cuiab?, o com?rcio alternativo emergiu como resposta social aos problemas ocasionados pela crise econ?mica do pa?s, e parece estar cada dia mais arraigado ? paisagem urbana. O foco desse trabalho foram os camel?s , exclusivamente ?queles que desenvolvem suas atividades em um local espec?fico na Baixada Cuiabana. A pesquisa pretendendo preencher uma lacuna de informa??o sobre o tema compreendeu os n?veis te?rico e emp?rico. A n?vel de teoria buscou-se levantar dados pertinentes a informalidade de maneira geral, e a n?vel pr?tico atrav?s de pesquisa de campo buscou-se analisar aspectos relevantes sobre a situa??o econ?mica e ocupacional de uma amostra composta por duzentos e tr?s trabalhadores que desenvolvem a pr?tica do com?rcio informal no Shopping Popular em Cuiab?/MT . A an?lise dos dados obtidos permitiu apreciar alguns aspectos relevantes com rela??o ? atividade do camel?, como: proced?ncia, forma??o, rendimento, perspectivas com rela??o a atividade entre outros. Em ?ltima an?lise, permitiu ainda verificar que fatores condicionam ? perman?ncia desses trabalhadores, nesse tipo de atividade informal

Orientador: Carlos Alonso Barbosa de Oliveira / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Economia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-10T09:52:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Santos_AnselmoLuisdos_D.pdf: 3543917 bytes, checksum: 3ada5cb583b0723d03171ee4afc71602 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: Esta tese tem como objeto de estudo a evolução da ocupação e das condições de trabalho em pequenos negócios no Brasil no período 1980-2005. O conjunto dos ocupados em pequenos negócios é aqui entendido como o universo que compreende os trabalhadores assalariados - com e sem carteira de trabalho assinada - e empregadores nas micro e pequenas empresas, os trabalhadores por conta própria, os empreendedores sem empregados e os trabalhadores sem remuneração. A hipótese considerada é que esse conjunto de trabalhadores ampliou de forma expressiva sua participação na estrutura ocupacional brasileira, processo que aprofundou a precariedade das condições de trabalho neste segmento e que expressa parcela expressiva da deterioração das condições e das relações de trabalho do conjunto da estrutura ocupacional brasileira, no período analisado. O desenvolvimento do trabalho mostrou que este processo ocorreu principalmente em função das reduzidas taxas de crescimento econômico, das profundas transformações estruturais pelas quais passou a economia brasileira nos anos 90 e pelas transformações ocorridas nas estruturas social, cultural e de consumo que continuaram transformando aspectos importantes do aparelho produtivo e da estrutura ocupacional, mesmo num contexto de reduzido crescimento econômico. Confirmando a hipótese considerada, o trabalho mostrou que o maior ritmo de expansão dos ocupados neste segmento e a deterioração das condições de trabalho ocorreu de forma mais acentuada no período 1994-99, de maiores transformações estruturais na economia brasileira e que, no conjunto do período, este processo expressa principalmente uma forte expansão do trabalho assalariado, com e sem carteira de trabalho e dos trabalhadores por conta própria ? com piores condições e relações de trabalho, rendimentos mais reduzidos e menor proteção em termos de direitos trabalhistas e sociais. Por fim, o trabalho trata das limitações das políticas públicas para as MPE, assim como de novas propostas de políticas de corte liberal, destacando a impossibilidade de superação do quadro de precariedade revelado, sem considerar um processo de crescimento econômico acelerado e sustentado / Abstract: This dissertation has the occupational evolution and the labor conditions in small enterprises in Brazil in the 1980-2005 period as the study object. The occupied in small business set is understood as the universe of the wage laborers in small and micro enterprises, self-employed, the entrepreneurs without employees, and the workers without pay. The hypothesis considered here is that this set of workers has widened his participation in a very expressive manner in the Brazilian occupational structure, what has deepened the worsening of the labor conditions and labor relations of the whole Brazilian occupational structure in the period studied. The development of this dissertation shown that this process happened most of all in consequence of the low rates of economic growth, of the deep structural changes of the Brazilian economy in the nineties and of the transformations that occurred in the social, cultural and consumption structures that continually changed the productive sector and the occupational structure, even in a context of very low economic growth rates. Confirming the hereby considered hypothesis, this dissertation shown that the biggest part of the occupation expansion in this sector and the worsening of the labor conditions occurred within the period of the 1994-1999, in which happened the most important structural transformations in Brazilian economy. In the whole period, this process was expressed mostly by a strong expansion of the wage labor in the formal and informal sector and by the self-employment ? with the worst labor conditions and labor relations, lowest pay and weaker social and labor protection and rights. At the end, this dissertation deals with the public policies limits for the small and micro enterprises as well the neoliberal political proposals, underlining the impossibility of the overcoming of this situation without considering a process of sustained and accelerated economic growth / Doutorado / Teoria Economica / Doutor em Ciências Econômicas

Orientador: Ricardo Luiz Coltro Antunes / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-26T04:46:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Raslan_FilipeOliveira_D.pdf: 17758982 bytes, checksum: 82b2fffc23423e2c925a15c4f7507c42 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: Essa tese busca analisar o processo de reestruturação produtiva contemporâneo, como um conjunto de mudanças nas relações entre as empresas, a classe trabalhadora e o Estado, reflete o âmbito organizacional do trabalho, imantando-se numa fase específica de recomposição das formas da acumulação capitalista. A modernização levada ao cabo pela reestruturação produtiva da década de 1990 em Nova Serrana fez com que a indústria de calçados racionalizasse a exploração do trabalho, recompondo formas da acumulação antes dispersas, reinventando as bancas de pesponto. Tomando como ponto de partida a reestruturação produtiva como processo histórico no contexto do desenvolvimento do capitalismo no Brasil, buscou-se compreender as diversas nuances da informalidade, tais como a feminização do trabalho domiciliar remunerado, o trabalho infanto-juvenil, dentre outros elementos presentes nas práticas diárias dos trabalhadores e como estes têm enfrentado a crise de emprego nos setores produtivos iniciada na década de 1990 com a abertura econômica. Para tanto, foram realizadas entrevistas semi-estruturadas com operários das bancas de pesponto na cidade, utilizando como caminho metodológico a pesquisa explicativa. Os resultados apontam para um cenário em que a informalidade nas bancas de pesponto da indústria calçadista em Nova Serrana como figura imanente à acumulação flexível do capitalismo contemporâneo se reflete no processo de reestruturação produtiva, ao mesmo tempo em que o reverbera / Abstract: This thesis looks to analyze the contemporary process of productive restructuring, as a set of changing relationships between companies, the working class and the state, reflects the organizational scope of work, attracting a specific phase of restoration of the forms of capitalist accumulation. The modernization carried out by the productive restructuring of the 1990s in Nova Serrana made the shoe industry rationalize the exploitation of labor, rebuilding forms of accumulation and reinventing the home workshops. Taking as its starting point the productive restructuring as a historical process in the development of capitalism in Brazil, we tried to understand the various nuances of informality, such as the feminization of home paid work, child and youth work, among other elements present in daily practices of workers and how they have faced the crisis of employment in productive sectors starting in the 1990s with the economic opening. To this end, semi-structured interviews with workers of the workshops in the city, using the explanatory methodological research approach. The results point to a scenario in which informality in the home workshops in the footwear industry in Nova Serrana as inherent to flexible accumulation of contemporary capitalism figure which is reflected in the restructuring process / Doutorado / Sociologia / Doutor em Sociologia

M.Com. (Business Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / This study investigates ways in which migratory trajectories relate to the gradual insertion and eventual integration of immigrants. It therefore shows the contribution of social capital in the migration and insertion into the entrepreneurial city of the host country. The focus of the study is on immigrants of African origin. It is hypothesized that immigrants of different nationalities in South Africa use particular assets to engage in street vending as a way of insertion into their new environment. Data were obtained through a survey of two hundred and eight (208) respondents conveniently selected. The survey was carried out in five suburbs of Cape Town and as well as at some major road junctions where these vendors are found. The Statistical package for Social Science (SPSS) was used to analyse the data. The results showed that nationality was an important determinant of the migratory trajectories of immigrant vendors.Migration has been on the increase with the improvement in technology and globalization. In the same light, migration into South African cities mainly from the rest of Africa and Asia took an upward trend especially after the fall of Apartheid Regime and the advent of democracy in the nineties. Street vendors form part of these immigrants in South Africa. Many of them especially from other African countries find it a suitable means of survival. Faced with the difficulty of getting jobs in South Africa, immigrants resort to informal trading as a starting point for survival.They may change to other activities depending on certain variables like duration of stay, level of education, age, sex, marital status, social capital and networks. Coming from different socioeconomic, cultural and political backgrounds, these immigrants resort to different ways of migrating and forms of adaptation aimed at sustaining their livelihood in their new environments.Most studies in the field of migration and entrepreneurship focus on remittances by the migrants as well as their impact on both their place of departure and on the place of destination. Little attention is paid to the way they migrate and how they insert themselves in the entrepreneurial city.

The informal economic sector is a very important part of the economy for any developing country; it is a growing employment sector for the less skilled people living in both rural and urban areas. Organizing the informal sector and reorganizing its role as a profitable activity may contribute to local economic development. This can also build the capacity of the informal workers to meet their basic needs by increasing their incomes and strengthening their legal status. Municipal support for the informal business sector may play an important role in achieving these objectives. The problem statement of this research report highlights the problems of poverty and unemployment in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, which has resulted in the growth of informal business sector. In order to improve economic development, local authorities are expected to give support to any sector that provides employment and incomes for the poor, including the informal sector. The overall aim and objectives of the research were to investigate the role of Local Economic Development strategies in the informal sector in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality. To discover whether there is any support programme employed by Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality Local Economic Development Unit to boost the informal sector economy. To, assess the impact of the informal sector, in generating income for the unemployed. To identify Local Economic strategies employed in the area to develop the local economy. An overview of the literature on the informal sector provided a basis for the research into the problems facing street traders in Mdantsane, a large township adjacent to East London in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods have been used in the study. The use of data collection tools such as interviews, questionnaires and observation helped to solicit the required information. An analysis of the findings confirmed that the informal sector plays an important role in in generating an income for the unemployed particularly for unemployed women. It appears that the informal traders have some basic requirements that would make a difference to their survival and working conditions, but that minimal support is received from the municipality. These findings recommend that in the absence of formal job opportunities in Buffalo City, the Municipality should develop strategies to support the informal sector participants to survive and thrive in difficult economic times.

The informal economy in South Africa and other parts of the continent is a safe haven for many who are unable to find jobs in the formal sector of the economy. In the case of South Africa, it is not only the nationals of the country who are striving to survive and generate their income from this sector. Since 1994, the country has experienced a huge influx of immigrants from other parts of the continent some escaping from dire living conditions in their home countries and looking for better life opportunities while many others were forced to migrate from their own countries as a result of political unrest and lack of stability and security. Among these later example is the Somali community who are the subject matter of this study. Many of these mainly African immigrants including Somalis got involved themselves in the informal sector of the South Africa. This has increased the competition in this sector and caused clashes between South Africans and immigrants who were also involved in the sector. This study examines the involvement of the Somali immigrants in South Africa’s informal sector. The study is exploratory in nature and tried to find the surrounding factors that impacted on the involvement of Somalis in the informal economy of Motherwell. The study has found that Somalis who arrived in Motherwell are generally young unmarried men who were attracted to the area mainly because there were affordable business opportunities in the township. Somalis financed their businesses through various resources including their savings from working while working inside and outside South Africa and from the contributions by their families and friends. Despite facing high levels of crime where many Somalis were killed and their property looted, they are still determined to stay in the township. This can be shown by their high level of savings and their intention to invest in the township. Although this research does not aim to be comparative in nature, personal and business characteristics of Somalis as well as South Africans who are also involved in the sector vii were compared. Because of this comparison, it has became clear that though price is an important factor in the business competition between the two groups, it is not the only factor, neither the most important, that creates friction and the shift of loyalty of customers from one side to another. Quality of service, the number of the people working in the business, responsibility towards the area the business serves, the strictness or the leniency towards customers who want to buy but are short of money and many other factors created a friendly atmosphere between the businesses run by the Somalis and their customers. The study showed that some of the Somali as well South African business owners were of this view. Although the vast majority of the Somalis have a minimum level of education, they still contribute positively to the economy of the township and the greater Nelson Mandela Bay. This is done through renting business premises, paying both direct and indirect taxes and taking the business services to remote areas of Motherwell. The study suggests that there is a need to sooth the relationship between the two groups particularly between Somalis and South Africans who are involved in grocery businesses through meetings, seminars, and other get-together activities. This can be done by South African Police Service, Somali Association of South Africa in Korsten, community elders from both sides and other concerned government institutions as well as the academic institutions particularly Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. The business skills of both groups need to be uplifted in order to maximise their profitability and contribution to the people in the area.