The purposes of this thesis are to examine the measurement, determinants and potential contribution to manufacturing output of capacity utilisation in the South African manufacturing sector. The thesis is based on the results of an empirical survey of plant level capacity utilisation practice. Experience elsewhere suggests that increasing capacity utilisation can contribute to raising the level of manufacturing sector output. The impact of changes in capacity utilisation on manufacturing output is estimated. The analysis suggests that prima facie, if capacity utilisation can be increased, there may be considerable scope to increase the level of manufacturing output. A literature review of two key aspects of capacity utilisation: its measurement and determinants, is conducted. A wide range of measures, used in the empirical literature elsewhere to estimate capacity utilisation, are examined. Existing measures for the South African manufacturing sector suggest that there remains scope for increasing the level of capacity utilisation. A detailed critique of the sole existing utilisation measure derived using the survey method is provided. It is found that this measure does not take account of the extensive theoretical and empirical developments which have taken place elsewhere in the past three decades. Consequently a detailed questionnaire-based survey is conducted to obtain information on new capacity utilisation in the South African manufacturing sector. Data from the survey are used to develop and apply for the first time several new measures of utilisation for the sector in South Africa, including the time-intensity, electricity and shiftwork measures. The new data are also used to estimate the effects of several variables on the firm's choice of utilisation levels for the sector.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:393655 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Rustomjee, Cyrus Dinyar Rustom |
| Publisher | SOAS, University of London |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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