The manufacturing industry of eThekwini municipality has been the most important
aspect of economic development and job creation. This sector currently contributes
22% of gross domestic product to the local economy, with finance and transport being
the other major sectors. The growth in manufacturing has averaged about 1% per
annum over the past 10 years which has contributed to jobless growth of eThekwini.
Whilst policy makers have realized the importance of the manufacturing industry, the
important sub-sectors within the manufacturing industry are proving to be uncompetitive
in a more open economy as they are faced with numerous growth challenges. The
rationale of this study was to investigate the factors that affect the growth of
manufacturing businesses that operates within the eThekwini municipality. Despite the
contributions of the manufacturing businesses to the local economy, this sector has
never been given due attention as past studies of business performance had been
biased towards larger businesses.
For the purposes of this study, the questionnaire used was aimed at respondents who
own manufacturing businesses within the area. Questions were distributed electronically
via QuestionPro to 100 respondents and 76 respondents accessed the questionnaire
with 44 respondents who completed the survey which gave the completion rate of 44%.
The results from the respondents indicated that access to finance or credit, business
skills, technology and globalisation were the factors that negatively affects the growth of
the manufacturing businesses. The results also indicate that the unpredictable business
environment, the regulatory environment and other economic factors such as inflation
also affect the growth of the manufacturing businesses. The quantitative results
supported by the literature review confirm that these factors affect development and
growth of businesses especially small manufacturing businesses. Recommendations is
also made on the actions to be undertaken to address factors affecting manufacturing
businesses. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/9715 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Biyase, Manqoba. |
| Contributors | Msomi, Steven. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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