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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:cut/oai:ir.cut.ac.za:11462/223 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Agbobli., Edem Korku |
| Contributors | DZANSI, D.Y., Central University of Technology, Free State, Faculty Management Sciences |
| Publisher | Bloemfontein: Central University of Technology, Free State. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 2 752 894 bytes, 1 file, Application/PDF |
| Rights | Central University of Technology, Free State |
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