Even the best developed policies can and do fail, without attaining their desired
outcomes. Many countries have developed small business policies directed at
supporting and creating a favourable environment for cultivating small business
and entrepreneurship. Policies specifically aimed at entrepreneurship are less
prominent but also growing (Lundström & Stevenson, 2005:53; United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), 2012:1). The existence of
entrepreneurship policies in developing nations continues to be rare, despite the
belief that entrepreneurship can spur economic growth and employment.
The literature review introduced various important elements within the field of
small business and entrepreneurship and, specifically, in the policy domain. The
context of policy monitoring and evaluation was also addressed. Furthermore, the
literature revealed clear differences between small business and entrepreneurial
ventures which were not genuinely considered when small business support was
initiated in South Africa with the introduction of the National Small Business Act
(No. 102 of 1996) as amended. Only a small business was defined by the
Department of Trade and Industry (dti) and not an entrepreneurial venture (dti,
2003:8). At present, both start-up and established businesses are operating in South Africa with the possibility of either growing into a small business or
entrepreneurial venture.
The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the national small business policy of
South Africa and to determine its shortcomings. An entrepreneurship policy was
identified as a possible alternative to address the gaps left by the small business
policy. A content analysis of entrepreneurship and small business policies
highlighted that the main differences between these two policies are the focus on
individuals versus business ventures; pre-start-up versus post-start-up support;
and a broad versus narrow definition of which institutional structures constitute the
support environment.
In this research, constructs drawn from the literature study were used to formulate
the conceptual framework, research questions and hypotheses. Quantifiable data
were obtained from three groups of respondents – namely, start-up business
owners, established business owners and government officials involved in small
business development and entrepreneurship. The sample consisted of
23 government officials and 340 start-up and established business owners from
five metropolitan municipalities in the Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape
provinces of South Africa. The empirical research was undertaken between
01 November 2011 and 30 April 2012. The One-Way ANOVA Test, Kruskal-Wallis
One-Way ANOVA Test, Friedman Two-Way ANOVA Test, Mann-Whitney U Test
and Chi-square Test were executed to present the statistical significant differences
between the three groups of respondents. The statistical tests were also executed
to illustrate the statistical significant differences within the different groups as well
as within different metropolitan municipalities in selected provinces. Pearson’s
correlation coefficient was conducted to determine whether there was a significant
relationship between the different small business policy evaluation factors and the
needs factors of business owners. The findings of this empirical study prove that
the small business policy does not address the needs of both start-up and
established business owners which may support their development into small
business and entrepreneurial ventures. Even though there is a mismatch between
the supply and demand of support services, this study did not find evidence to
support the need for an entrepreneurship policy in South Africa to supplement the existing small business policy. Businesses will continue to operate irrespective of
an additional policy. The results of the study can be utilised by government to
formulate and design adequate policies that focus on the specific needs of start-up
and established business owners.
The contribution of this study to the body of knowledge, and the possible
limitations of the study, are discussed. Areas of future research are outlined and
various recommendations are made to guide current and prospective small
business and entrepreneurship policy makers regarding the choice of policy
instruments, monitoring and evaluation. In conclusion, this study demonstrates the
importance and value of policies to business owners and entrepreneurs that can
effectively assist business venture survival, growth and success. / Thesis (DCom)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Business Management / DCom / Unrestricted
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:up/oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/46221 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Moos, Menisha |
| Contributors | Botha, Melodi |
| Publisher | University of Pretoria |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | © 2015 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
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