As the world economy continues to move towards increased integration, some of the greatest opportunities for Small-to-Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) will derive from their ability to participate in the global marketplace. It is generally accepted that SMEs are becoming increasingly important in terms of employment, wealth creation, and the development of innovation. However, there are considerable doubts about the quality of management in this sector with policy-makers suggesting that there are particular weaknesses in innovation, a lack of financial acumen, marketing, entrepreneurial flair, practical knowledge, and human resource management. As a result, many firms do not reach their full potential and fail to grow. According to organisational life cycle models, the introductory phase is particularly important since it is generally known and accepted that there is a high mortality rate of SMEs within the first two years. Given this high failure rate, it becomes vital to research the factors/characteristics/management abilities that are required to enable the SME to survive and indeed progress to the growth phase of the organizational life cycle. This research seeks to investigate the internal and external factors that are consistent in the success of SMEs who have reached the growth phase. A significant contribution to the enhancement of the growth potential of a firm will be made through the understanding of these factors.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the role that they play in the economy have been widely studied. SMEs are of particular interest because they are seen as greatly contributing to innovation, economic competitiveness, equity and redistribution, employment creation. Given the positive role that they are seen as playing in the economy, the growth and transformation of small enterprises into medium enterprises is welcomed. It is seen as increasing the benefits of the SMEs to the economy and society in general. The research sought to analyze and draw insights on the growth of enterprises from small to medium size. This issue has been widely studied but as late as 2007, reviewing the state of knowledge about growth in small businesses, Dobbs and Hamilton (2007, p.296) observed that despite the growing volume of applied research, our knowledge base still lacks a body of theory capable of explaining the growth of small businesses. This research therefore responds to this call by Dobbs and Hamilton (2007) for new theoretical perspectives and alternative types of research. It does so by focusing on the practical role that the entrepreneur plays in facilitating or hindering growth. It also responds to this call by using a methodological approach that has not been widely used in this field to date. In addition, not sufficient attention has been paid to the role of the entrepreneur as the dynamic element in the growth and transformation process, neither globally but even less so in the Southern African case in general but even less so in the South African construction setting specifically and in Gauteng in particular. The lack of sufficient attention to the role of the entrepreneur in facilitating or hindering the growth and transformation process is very pronounced in the context of the Southern Africa region. This thesis therefore seeks to address this gap. This thesis takes as its departure, the decisiveness of the entrepreneur in the business system. It places the entrepreneur at the centre of the enterprise and analyses the role that the entrepreneur plays in facilitating or hindering the growth of the enterprise from small to medium size. Freel (2000: p.321) observed that more significantly, the internal dynamics of firm growth have remained something of a 'black box'. Focusing on growth, this research seeks to identify the key drivers of why some firms grow and others do not. It seeks to unravel the "black box" of small enterprise growth in the context of South Africa. In this process, the research sought to focus on the role of the entrepreneur in facilitating or inhibiting growth. The main question that this research sought to answer is: Is the entrepreneur the main driver of small enterprise growth and graduation, and what role does he or she play and how does he or she facilitate the growth and graduation of small into medium enterprises in South Africa? Building on the main and sub research questions the research sought and successfully proved the following Propositions: Proposition One (P 1): The entrepreneur is the key driver of small enterprise growth and graduation in South Africa. Proposition Two (P 11): The entrepreneur is the main inhibitor of small enterprise growth and graduation in non- growth small enterprises in South Africa. Proposition Three (P 111): Macro - economic environmental factors are a key but not the decisive driver for growth and transformation of SMEs. Proposition Four (P 1 V): The growth and competitiveness of the industrial sub sector is a key but not decisive driver of growth and competitiveness of SMEs. This research was undertaken within the framework of qualitative research. It was undertaken in four phases, namely: Phase One: Sector and SME Selection Phase Two: Individual Interview Phase Three: Document Analysis Phase Four: Case Study Development focusing on the role of the Entrepreneur in the Growth Process The data analysis was driven by the model of the drivers of SME growth and transformation already outlined above. It sought to apportion qualitative weightings to key already identified drivers of growth and transformation: macro-economic environment, industry sub sector, access to finance, technology, and BDS and the entrepreneur's motivation and skills. The data analysis delved deeper into the last category of drivers, entrepreneur's motivation and skills. It dissected the role that the entrepreneur's skill played in the overall growth and transformation of the enterprise. The data gathered from the three methods, namely individual interviews, follow up telephonic interviews and the document analysis were analyzed to arrive at the role that the entrepreneur's skills played in the growth and transformation process. Qualitative analysis of the entrepreneur's responses was undertaken to apportion the weighting given to the key drivers of the growth and transformation process. The data analysis also sought to unravel the key constituents of the entrepreneur's skills. It identified what constitutes the entrepreneur's skills that are crucial to the growth and transformation process. Focus was on the technical, managerial or leadership aspects. Findings from the data analysis assist in the conclusions and recommendations. This study was limited to Gauteng province of South Africa. It is hoped that this province will represent the best construction macro-economic environment in South Africa. This study concentrated on the sectors that were selected from the sector selection process. The study interviewed entrepreneurs and enterprises that are exclusively in the selected sector. The study was limited to medium sized enterprises that grew out of small enterprises that were formal - registered, licensed and operating within the framework of the law. The medium enterprises that this study focused on were not subsidiaries of larger conglomerates. This study also did not focus on medium enterprises that were created as medium enterprises and did not grow in size. The study is based on three key assumptions: the growth in employment is a sufficient reflection of the growth process, changes in the structure of the business are a direct result of the growth in employment and what the entrepreneur does directly reflects itself in the growth or lack of growth in the enterprise. This study has the following limitations: the peculiarities of the selected sector construction, growth in employment may not capture the entirety of the growth process and the fact that the study was conducted in the period of the Soccer World Cup 2010 affected the perceptions of the owner managers to be more positive than could have been experienced outside of this unique event. This research has proven through the data gathered, presented and analyzed that the owner manager of the respondent enterprises is the fulcrum upon which all the major decisions in the enterprise revolve. It is the quality of these decisions that drive or hinder the growth process. The owner manager makes the key decisions regarding: - the role and nature of interaction with the government, - the structure of the enterprise and the roles and responsibilities of the staff within the enterprise, - the marketing strategy, - the quality and skill level of the staff, - the role information technology, the nature and type of communication within the enterprise and between the enterprise and its external stakeholders, - the culture of the enterprise, - the interaction between the business and family and, - the management of the book of accounts. It is the cumulative impact of these decisions that the owner manager makes that propel the enterprise to growth. This confirms that the entrepreneur is the main driver of enterprise growth and graduation from small to medium enterprise size through the decisions that he or she makes. This research has also identified that it is not only the decisions that the owner manager makes that matter. It is also the management style that the owner manager adopts that facilitates or hinders growth. The owner manager needs to adopt a participatory management style which empowers the staff, to facilitate enterprise growth and transformation. Based on the data gathered this research has dealt with the issue of the impact of the macroeconomic environment on the growth of the owner managed construction enterprises. Focusing on growth, this research has identified the key drivers of why some owner managed construction enterprises firms grow and others do not. The research has identified the macroeconomic environment as a key driver of the performance of the whole economy. A key element of the construction industry which positively benefitted the enterprises in the period 2002 - 2010 is the construction boom experienced because of the Soccer World Cup 2010. The construction bonanza was based on the ten new stadia to be build or renovated and the accompanying road infrastructure. This played a key factor in the positive growth experience by most of the firms in the industry. The South African economy performed well in the period 1994 - 2008. The good performance of the economy in the period 1994 - 2008, had a positive spillover effect on the construction sector and the enterprises in that sector. This proves that the macroeconomic environment is a key driver of growth and competitiveness. However, starting in 2008, the GEFC set in. The impact of the GEFC on the economy was very severe. The GDP declined dramatically and the inflation rose. This impacted the whole economy. Added to this was the impact of the newly introduced National Credit Act. The National Credit Act made access to credit especially for housing loans more difficult. Despite the combined negative consequences of the GEFC and the National Credit Act, the majority of the respondent enterprises continued to experience growth. One respondent enterprise suffered a dramatic decline in sales and growth in this period. This was more because of the 'wrong' marketing strategy it chose to respond to the overall down turn in the economy. Significantly, when the owner manager adjusted the marketing strategy, sales and growth have begun to pick up again. This proves that a positive macroeconomic environment is crucial as a driver of growth but is not a decisive factor because even when the macroeconomic environment turns negative, growth firms are able to maintain their growth path. So, in conclusion, the macroeconomic environment is a necessary but not sufficient condition for enterprise growth. The above conclusion on the macroeconomic environment is also true of the sector competitiveness and growth's impact on the growth of enterprises in that industrial sub sector. As the economy has grown, so has the construction industry. Within the period 2000 - 2008, the construction industry has also been performing well on the back of the good macro economic performance. As a result the RMB / BER and the FNB / BER Business Confidence Indexes have been on a gradual upward trend. The Respondent Enterprises in this research clearly benefited from this gradual upward trend in the economy in general and the construction industry in particular. The Respondent Enterprises experienced sustained growth in this period as well. This confirms that growth enterprises benefit from a growing and competitive industrial sub sector. However, the industrial sub sector took a negative turn on the back of the GEFC, the National Credit Act and the end of the 2010 Soccer World Cup construction boom in the pperiod 2008-2010. Despite this, the majority of the respondent enterprises continued to enjoy significant growth. This leads to the conclusion that the growth and competitiveness of the industrial sub sector is a key but not decisive driver of growth and competitiveness of SMEs. This research has therefore unraveled the "black box" of owner managed small construction enterprise growth of the South Africa context by analyzing the role of the macroeconomic environment, the growth and competitiveness of the industrial sub sector and the owner manager. In this process the research has focused on the role of the entrepreneur in facilitating or inhibiting growth and highlighted the entrepreneur's centrality to the growth process. Through the use of the case study method this research has been able to address the how and why of construction enterprises growth in Gauteng. This study has added value to the existing body of literature on enterprise growth by delving deeper into many already known factors driving enterprise growth. This research in most of the identified areas has been to analyze deeply and give greater insight into the dynamics of how growth actually happens within the enterprise through the role of the owner manager. Through this process this research has helped in opening Freel (2000)'s 'black box" of enterprise growth with particular reference to the construction sector in Gauteng, South Africa. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on the growth and transformation of SMEs globally. But specifically it makes a contribution to the understanding of the growth and transformation of the construction SMEs in Gauteng province of South Africa where there is a dearth of such studies. In a country and province where the issues of increasing black participation in the economy is topical, this study will increase society's understanding of how construction SME growth and transformation can contribute to the realization of this goal. This study assists in creating awareness within society of how entrepreneurship development can play a major role in achieving the goal of equitable distribution of the region's wealth. It contributes to a realization of a society that is supportive of enterprise development and an enterprise culture. The study contributes to the debate of what policy measures can assist in the development of a construction entrepreneurial class. The BEE policies attempt to create an environment which facilitates the growth and graduation of SMEs. This study will assist in informing how these policies can best be shaped. This study contributes to a greater understanding of this phenomenon in the context of the construction sector in South Africa. By focusing on the qualltative approach this study seeks to bring a different angle to the largely quantitative approach which has dominated the study of SME growth thus far. / Business Management / D.B.L.

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / This research study explored perceptions which small business owners and managers have of the impact that initiatives, aimed at revitalisation, have on small business development. The Woodstock Salt-River Revitalisation Framework (WSRRF, 2002) served to guide these initiatives in order to achieve their various objectives, which included, inter alia, the development of small business. Often, official initiatives cannot adequately meet the needs of all stakeholders. The benefits that are derived from these initiatives may differ amongst stakeholders owing to their varying expectations and perceptions. The main research problem that was identified relates to reasons why the impact of this framework initiative is currently not appropriately understood and, as a result, not effectively and efficiently implemented. Hence, this research study evaluates the extent to which the Revitalisation Framework has affected the development of small businesses within the study area.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of a Degree of Master of Technology: Business Management, Durban University of Technology, Durban, 2017. / Positive women entrepreneurial support can change the entrepreneurial spirit, attitude and perceptions among the women communities with specific references to rural women in the northern region of KwaZulu-Natal province. A lot of previous research survey about how SMMEs can improve women’s socio-economic challenges did not properly include those women living in the rural places such as KwaZulu-Natal. This study aims to analyse the use of SMMEs as a strategic tool for women’s socio-economic empowerment in rural northern KwaZulu-Natal. The study was conducted within the rural areas of northern KwaZulu-Natal using qualitative method. The sample for the study consisted of 250 respondents of rural women SMMEs. The respondents were selected using quota sampling. Respondents were asked to complete 2 page questionnaires with an interviewer present to assist. The data analysis was done by using SPSS version 24.0. The results were presented through tables and bar graphs. The main aim of the study was to investigate and describe the use of SMMEs as a strategic tool, to identify factors influencing the use and to examine to what extent they affect the use of SMMEs as a strategic tool for women empowerment. The findings of the study reveals that rural women SMMEs are mostly affected by external factors while on the other hand they also indicated that lack of proper training and entrepreneurial education have impact on the day- to -day running of their businesses. The study was limited by the exploratory nature and small sampling size. Therefore, generalisation of the findings should be done with care and further research is encouraged and should include other places in the area. / M

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Business Administration, Durban University of Technology, 2017. / This study was premised on the knowledge that the democratic government of South Africa has availed a lot of funding for SMMEs to start or develop their ventures. This is because it is an accepted fact that this sector has the ability to grow the country’s economy. The study then aimed to ascertain the extent to which the competence of Small, Medium and Micro Entrepreneurs (SMMEs) can impact sustainable economic development in eThekwini Municipal Area of South Africa. The study scrutinized the ability of the SMME managers and operators on how they can utilize available resources effectively and efficiently to ensure that their enterprises contribute to sustainable economic growth. Also, the factors that militate the growth and performances of SMMEs in eThekwini Municipal Area were examined. The basis through which this study was undertaken was that of human behaviour of SMME managers, operators and business owners as to how they can contribute to the economic development and survive in the competitive market. Using simple random sampling, data was collected from various SMMEs in the eThekwini Municipal Area. A total of 229 entrepreneurs responded to the questionnaire, which made the sample of the study. This data was captured and analyzed on SPSS (version 24) and yielded both descriptive and inferential statistics. The key findings of the study were that the entrepreneurs alluded to the fact that knowledge, skills, value judgments, behavioural characteristics and social networks were all very important in establishing and running a successful business. A challenge that emerged from the respondents was that they were not well equipped to identify business opportunities. They were, however, taking good care of their environments and were using their businesses to employ community members. Some of them did contribute to community development programmes. The main recommendation that is made here is that potential entrepreneurs must be assisted with tools on how to identify business opportunities. This could also be an avenue for further research. / M

The debate concerning small firm access to finance continues. The proliferation of research of the issue underlines the importance attached in promoting a strong entrepreneurial culture within a country. Small firms are significant to economic growth if they are growing. Central to this significance is ascertaining the role of finance and in particular bank finance in accelerating small growth potential. The case study, through its ontological, epistemological and methodological position, draws on a document review and interview material from small firm owners and key informants to explore the role of bank finance in small firm growth. Case study evidence reveals that small firm owners do not intend to finance firm growth with bank finance but prefer to finance growth with internally generated funds. The owners indicate that non-financial and behavioural factors, such as, maintaining decision-making control, experience accessing bank finance, the perception of the banking relationship and growth aspirations of owners may be more important in dertermining the finance structure for firm growth. From the bank's perspective, findings suggest that risk assessment, financial viability of the enterprise and provision of collateral are more important in the lending decisions; findings supported by an analysis of selected documents. The small sample of small firm owners, bank representatives, experts and documents makes it difficult to generalize the findings. However, the findings are significant because exploring the issue from different perspectives presents invaluable insights, which can be investigated further to assist small firm owners, to develop finance products geared for small firm operations, and in the development of the knowledge base on finance-related issues in the South African context.

Submitted in fulfillment of part of the requirements for the Masters of Business Administration, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / In South Africa, emphasis is being placed on the importance of establishing small and medium sized business enterprises. There is acknowledgement in the extant literature of the value of these enterprises as job creators and useful drivers for economic growth and innovation. Given the growth in small businesses, attention in this study is given on comparing the critical success factors between those businesses that are owned by foreigners and those owned by locals. Relationships between the two groups have not always been fruitful across the country, yet synergies can be generated to shed light into how both groups cannot only co-exist but operate optimally in managing their businesses. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore (comparatively) the critical success factors between foreign and locally owned small businesses. A qualitative, exploratory study was conducted using interviews with five (5) foreign owned and five (5) locally owned small business conducted within the Ndwedwe area of Kwazulu-Natal. A thematic analysis approach was used to analyse the data. Upon analysis of the data, three themes emerged as critical success factors affecting local and foreign owned businesses: (1) the underlying motives of starting a business enterprise, (2) the nature of business environment and (3) the necessity of formal or/and informal education in running a business. Interestingly, these themes appeared common in both groups. Furthermore, each of these factors affecting the success of small business was accompanied by poor community infrastructure and the unavailability of support and funding from government, including reimbursement during occurrence of natural disasters. Existence of sufficiently a strong business enterprise motive based on research findings is vital in any research undertaking. Substantially, an empirical angle to map more than one overriding motive for a business enterprise provides an opportunity to evaluate business success or failure based on the grounded motives. These motives may progressively incorporate the analyses of business environments, use of indigenous business knowledge and consideration of business education (formal and informal). Findings from this study encourage knowledge-sharing and interaction of SMEs in order to improve business enterprise development in Ndwedwe. The findings of this study also magnify the factors that are deemed critical to the success of small businesses and may be useful in mapping out recommendations on strategies and frameworks that affect either foreign or locally owned business. Based on the findings of this study, a network hub that places emphasis more on interdependence rather than isolated working between foreign and local owned businesses is encouraged. Through collaboration and sharing of experiences, small businesses in South Africa may potentially thrive. Furthermore, the findings of this study stipulate that SMEs need to have long-term plans and grounded motives on starting businesses. This will not only encourage SMEs to plan but will also develop educational strategies where SMEs can work together and share aptitudes to engage in strategic planning related to entrepreneurial success. / M

Thesis (D. Tech. (Business Administration )) - Central University of Technology, Free State, 2013. / A major concern for developing countries including South Africa is the high levels of unemployment, poverty and inequity. Developing countries have accordingly been pre-occupied with finding solutions to these problems. Drawing on the success of small, micro and medium enterprises (SMMEs) from the developed countries such as the US and the UK, developing nations have embraced the idea of promoting development through SMMEs. But the overall performance of the small business sector in most developing countries has rather been dismal and as such have not been able to contribute optimally to the development agenda. Adopting a strategic management perspective, this study hypothesised that an integration of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and market orientations (MO) glued together by innovativeness (INNO) would yield superior outcomes than the stand-alone effects of these strategic postures. To test the hypothesis, a sample of 198 small scale agricultural enterprises (SSAEs) in the Vryburg region was surveyed. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed on the data generated. The empirical findings showed that EO + MO + INNO interactively exhibited positive and significant correlation with the performance (sales growth and profitability) of SSAEs in the Vryburg region. However, the inter-correlations of EO + MO + INNO with business performance were practically moderate. The moderate correlations create opportunities for strengthening the entrepreneurial and market orientations and innovativeness of SSAES and in fact small businesses in general. An intensive and co-ordinated intervention of government and NGOs in transforming the small business sector into the real engine of growth of the economy is imperative. The study also attempted to predict firm performance holding EO + EO + INNO as predictor variables. Multi linear regression and multinomial logistic regression analysis however did not yield significant predictions of performance of SSAEs. This outcome provides a launch pad for further research into the proposed model in different settings because this study was mainly exploratory and executed in a rural and agricultural environments. Notwithstanding, the study made important contributions to the literature. It showed that it was possible to integrate EO + MO + INNO (previously viewed by many authors as exclusive constructs) into a single business model for the synergic enhancement of small business performance. It is hoped this would stimulate economic growth and development especially in developing countries.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Technology: Marketing, Durban University of Technology, 2010. / Many researchers undertook research about small, medium and micro enterprise in South Africa. Although there are numerous articles and a lot of previous research surveys about SMMEs in South Africa, USA, UK, Taiwan, China, Australia and many other countries, no research has been done in South Africa with regard to the use of marketing strategies by SMMEs in rural areas with specific reference to KwaZulu-Natal rural areas. Therefore, the assumptions and the confusion that surrounds rural owners‘/managers‘ awareness, perceptions and the use of marketing strategies in their areas highlight the need and create interest for marketers to conduct more research on this particular area. There were number of other important reasons such as the failure rate of SMMEs, high rate of unemployment and the large numbers of people moving from South African rural to urban areas due to unemployment and poverty. The study was conducted within the rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal province, using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The sample for the study consisted of 374 respondents of owners/managers of SMMEs. The respondents were selected using quota sampling. Respondents were required to complete a 10 page questionnaire with an interviewer present to assist. The overall aim of the study was to investigate and describe the use of marketing by SMMEs, in order to identify factors influencing the possible insufficient use of marketing, so as to improve rural SMME marketing, and thus reduce SMME failure. The results of the research revealed that there was a lack of marketing knowledge and expertise and limited use of marketing strategies by the owners/managers of the rural SMMEs. There were also some external and internal factors contributing to the use of marketing strategies by the rural SMMEs. This means that marketers in South Africa cannot simply apply the marketing strategies and marketing theories in this situation. It is also important for marketers to conduct more specific research studies to determine the suitable marketing strategies for the rural businesses, as the rural situation is different from the urban situation. / Durban University of Technology.

M. Tech. Business Administration / Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly seen as playing an important role in the economies of many countries. Thus, governments throughout the world focus on the development of the SME sector to promote economic growth. However, SMEs suffer from a high failure rate. The adoption of corporate governance is one of the factors that can help to improve the performance and reduce the high failure rate of SMEs in South Africa. The primary objective of this study was to establish the adoption of corporate governance principles by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In addition, the study investigated the barriers to the adoption of corporate governance by SMEs. Principles adopted from the King 111 report were used to measure the corporate governance of SMEs. Four principles were used by this study to measure the adoption of corporate governance by SMEs. These were (1) Management of risk: this included accounting measures, control system and risk management. (2) Use of information technology. (3) Responsible and ethical leadership and (4) Compliance with applicable laws and rules. The study area was Tshwane Central Business District.