This research aims to explore the borrower-specific financial constraints that prevent black youth entrepreneurs in Tshwane from accessing finance to for their own start-ups. To achieve its goal, the research seeks to explore whether there are significant differences between black youth entrepreneurs in Tshwane in terms of their personal demographics, business information and personal factors towards business. The empirical results and theoretical literature are examined to facilitate a better understanding of the borrower-specific financial constraints preventing access to finance for start-ups by youth entrepreneurs. These learnings contributed to the body of knowledge relating to entrepreneurship development in South Africa. The literature review revealed that although youth entrepreneurial activity is vital to sustained economic growth, access to finance is the challenge that negatively impacts youth entrepreneurial activity globally. More specifically, the literature indicates that borrower-specific factors to a large extent prevent youth entrepreneurs from accessing finance for their start-ups. The borrower-specific financial constraints are described. During this research, data was obtained by way of a judgment sample using a structured questionnaire consisting of 40 questions. A total of 110 useable questionnaires were returned. The findings of the study reveal that there are no significant differences for respondents in relation to factors for personal savings, business acumen and credibility differences. There are significant differences to certain factors for borrower-specific financial constraints, such as the intention to commence business start-up, gender and the educational level of respondents in relation to their attempt to access finance. Finally, significant learnings from the research are that the poor attitude of black youth towards saving are similar to youth reviewed in the literature, and the culture of South African black youth towards entrepreneurship has improved. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The management of work-family conflict is an important aspect within the context of family firms. Managing work and family domains successfully are often known to be an issue for members of family firms and may result in negative outcomes affecting both individuals and organisations. Organisational cultures supporting individuals in managing work and family domains is believed to reduce the level of work-family conflict and constitutes the focus of this study. Historically, most of the scholarly contributions within the field of work-family conflict and organisational culture are within a non-family firm context. This thesis contributed to current literature with in-depth insights on the family business concepts by relating it with work-family conflicts. Family firms possess unique characteristics that are different from non-family firms, making the management of work-family conflict more difficult. The study shows that the relationships between the components of supportive work-family culture and work-family conflict are factors that impede individuals’ ability to manage multiple roles satisfactorily. The findings of this study could be used to contribute understanding  in future research within the field of family firms and in connection to the management of work-family conflicts.

La collaboration entre plusieurs personnes peut prendre plusieurs formes, et la technologie soutient depuis longtemps ces pratiques. Mais lorsque la collaboration doit se faire à distance, est-elle aussi bien assistée par la technologie ? Dans ce travail, je soutiens l'idée selon laquelle le succès d'un système de télécommunications ne dépend pas de sa capacité à imiter une collaboration colocalisée, mais dans sa capacité à faciliter les pratiques collaboratives découlant des caractéristiques spécifiques de la technologie. J'explore cet argument en utilisant un mur d'écrans en tant que technologie collaborative. J'ai commencé par observer des collaborateurs effectuer leur travail quotidien à distance en utilisant des prototypes. Ensuite j'ai conduit des expériences et j'ai trouvé que les utilisateurs peuvent interpréter avec précision les instructions déictiques à distance et le regard direct quand un collaborateur à distance est affiché par une vidéo, même si celle-ci n'est pas placée directement devant l'observateur. À partir de ces résultats, j'ai créé CamRay, un outil de télécommunication qui utilise une rangée de caméras pour enregistrer le visage des utilisateurs lorsqu'ils parcourent physiquement les données le long de l'écran et présente cette vidéo sur un autre mur d'écrans distant par dessus le contenu existant. Je propose deux possibilités pour afficher la vidéo: Follow-Local, où le flux vidéo de l'utilisateur distant suit l'utilisateur local, et Follow-Remote où il suit l'utilisateur distant. Je montre que Follow-Remote préserve les relations spatiales entre le collaborateur à distance et le contenu de l'écran, créant ainsi la possibilité de désigner les objets par des gestes de pointage, tandis que Follow-Local facilite les conversations grâce à un face-à-face virtuel qui transmet plus facilement la communication gestuelle. Finalement, je me base sur ces résultats pour guider la conception de futurs systèmes de communications à distance entre murs d'écrans, et dégager des considérations à suivre lorsque des capacités de communication à distance sont ajoutées à de nouvelles technologies. / Collaboration can take many forms, for which technology has long provided digital support. But when collaborators are located remotely, to what extent does technology support these activities? In this dissertation, I argue that the success of a telecommunications system does not depend on its capacity to imitate co-located conditions, but in its ability to support the collaborative practices that emerge from the specific characteristics of the technology. I explore this using wall-sized displays as a collaborative technology. I started by observing collaborators perform their daily work at a distance using prototypes. I then conducted experiments and found that people can accurately interpret remote deictic instructions and direct gaze when performed by a remote collaborator through video, even when this video is not placed directly in front of the observer. Based on these findings, I built CamRay, a telecommunication system that uses an array of cameras to capture users' faces as they physically navigate data on a wall-sized display, and presents this video in a remote display on top of existing content. I propose two ways of displaying video: Follow-Local, where the video feed of the remote collaborator follows the local user, and Follow-Remote, where it follows the remote user. I find that Follow-Remote preserves the spatial relations between the remote speaker and the content, supporting pointing gestures, while Follow-Local enables virtual face-to-face conversations, supporting representational gestures. Finally, I summarize these findings to inform the design of future systems for remote collaboration across wall-sized displays.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / The Blueberry situation in Peru is in a stage of development, in which it is necessary to incorporate good management practices as well as productive to raise the competitiveness of the enterprises. The findings were synthesized and analyzed, to propose improvements and to support the growth of the small companies in the long term. The improvement proposal is based on the best practices and supply chain models applied in the industry. Also, the research was based on sources of information from researchers with experience in evaluating and analyzing the supply chain of the perishable sector in different scenarios worldwide. / Revisión por pares

In der Arbeit werden verschiedene Ansätze zur Erfassung von Unternehmenskultur betrachtet. Darauf aufbauend wird ein eigenes Messinstrument entwickelt, mit dem der Zusammenhang von Aspekten der Unternehmenskultur und des Unternehmenserfolgs erklärt werden soll. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird im Besonderen ein kurzer Überblick über die Operationalisierung und das Untersuchungsdesign gegeben.

This Master’s thesis deals with the analysis of current situation in a company ARMO Green, its environment and with the analysis of factors with which is company influencing its market surroundings. On the basis of findings, the work includes the proposal of support of future development of this business company.

As firms intend on entering low-income markets as a result of stagnation in developed economies, they face numerous organisational barriers within their firms and external that hinder entry and ensure continued success in these markets. In order to successfully serve these BoP consumers in emerging markets, new innovative business models are required; however there are entities that are currently serving the BoP successfully – these are Small and Medium Enterprises.The purpose of this study was to deepen our understanding of why small and medium sized businesses have been successful in low-income markets through an understanding of their business models and their competitive advantages over MNCs.The objective of this report, hence, was to explore the business models for firms that are currently serving the BoP successfully and what their competitive advantages are as compared to their MNC counterparts within the South African context. Using the grounded theory approach of building theory from data that offers a new perspective on the BoP for MNCs a framework resulted and was theorized from the data from interviews with owners of SMEs in the FMCG manufacturing domain. The BoP Blueprint is a framework that describes elements of business models of SMEs in the context of SME Fundamentals – basic business fundamentals and the Customer Core – focus on the customer. Eleven in-depth interviews were conducted with owners from 11 different companies to test the research questions that were derived from the literature.As a result of the grounded theory, no unique or innovative business models were discovered that made these SMEs successful contrary to the literature and the essence of the findings is that MNCs need to focus on fundamental business practises with the customer as the centre of their decisions when entering BoP markets. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The need for this research stemmed from the fact that most of what we know about the internationalisation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) emerges from developed countries; little is known about internationalisation of African SMEs or, in particular, South African SMEs. The impact of globalisation, trade liberalisation, and technology advancement on SMEs is that they face increased competition right on their doorstep. To remain in existence and sustain their growth, SMEs are concertedly seeking opportunities in foreign markets. In order for SMEs to succeed and exploit international opportunities, they develop and rely on networks to compensate for their liability of foreignness, as well as their lack of resources in terms of finance, marketing, human capital, reputation, and technology.This research investigated the effect of resource acquisition networks on the internationalisation of small and medium enterprises. The study involved SMEs who had internationalised their operations. Data were collected through unstructured interviews in Phase One and semistructured interviews in Phase Two of this research study, with SME owners and their managers who were responsible for international operations. The key focus was the three research propositions dealing with networks, which focused on three network characteristics: network diversity, network density, and network size.The findings show that the South African SME internationalisation process is highly influenced by resource acquisition networks. SMEs use their networks to exploit international opportunities by accessing resources that they lack internally. A highly diversified and highly connected network is significant to the SMEs’ opportunity identification of and access to resources, while the size of the network is quite important. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

ABSTRACTPurpose: The purpose of this study is to assess and examine the nature and scope of brandingduring exportation within SMEs in the B2B context. The findings of this study will increaseknowledge of the relative challenges that SMEs are faced with when it comes to branding duringexportation and how it influences their export performance.Research Methodology: This research uses an exploratory approach with a qualitative methodfor understanding the in-depths of the subject matter because it is mostly appropriate for smallsamples, while its outcomes are not measurable and quantifiable.Research Findings: This research points out to the main challenges faced by SMEs in the B2Bduring exportation from this study which are; lack of resources, time and talents for brandmanagement activities. Hence, showing that previous research on branding has in SMEs has beenlacking in the Marketing literature.Contributions: It contributes to the branding literature by comprehensively identifying andsynthesizing relevant studies on B2B SMEs during exportation which makes a call for theadvancement of theory by suggesting the need to examine more issues raised in different economiccontexts, as well as business sectors.Research Type: Academic ResearchKey Words: Branding, Business-to-business sector, Exportation, Small and medium sizedenterprises.

Problem: A decisive majority of Swedish firms are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and studies indicate that most of these lack, among other things, financial resources, which often limit smaller firms from implementing sustainable practices. Since SMEs compete with larger enterprises, with more established departments and therefore, they cannot strategize their sustainability work to the same extent. The problem emerges when requirements from stakeholders, based on the 2030 agenda, cannot be met due to lacking organizational abilities. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to gain an understanding of how sustainability consultants support SMEs in their sustainable development work. The research, therefore, investigated the practical processes of consultants when they work with SMEs. The varying processes between sustainability consultants will also be investigated, so similarities and differences can be discovered in their processes. Method: The research conducted follows a grounded theory, an exploratory approach, an abductive research design, all under an interpretive philosophy. The primary data collected consists of semi-structured interviews with sustainability consultants in the Jönköping area. Following the grounded theory, this included three stages of analysis namely open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. During selective coding, it is critical to use an abductive design to ground the empirical findings in existing literature and theory. The analyzed findings were thereafter transformed into a proposed model which is supported by both the empirical findings and theory. Conclusion: Sustainability consultants can support SMEs with their knowledge and expertise when developing sustainable business practices in smaller firms. This research also contributes to a proposed model that shows the process for SMEs and further explains how SMEs and consultants can work together to develop strategic goals for regenerative firms. However, it is noted that contextual factors and specific gains in knowledge cannot be conveyed in a model. Although, describing the processes of knowledge transfer using an adaption of agile methodology was found suitable for this study. Conclusively, the model’s success is highly based on contextual factors such as firm maturity and the knowledge of the consultant in the specific field under development.