The primary research objective considered by this study was to determine the nature of the governance system employed by the Offerman Family businesses in ensuring that all company assets, resources and actions are directed at, and controlled in the achievement of established company objectives and are accounted for to all legitimate stakeholders. Four related secondary objectives were also examined. The Offerman Family businesses consist of three separate companies that all make clay bricks in some form. Over recent years, the Offerman Family businesses have grown and taken on various minority shareholders in these three separate companies. For this reason, the governance requirements of the businesses have changed significantly from when the businesses were smaller and owned by a single family. The literature review on which the study is founded commences with an overview of family business topics appropriate to the research. Following this introduction, the history of the Offerman Family businesses is presented through until the present day (August 2010). Topics of governance are then considered in depth with a particular focus maintained throughout on that most applicable to the Offerman Family businesses. The research followed a case study approach within the phenomenological research paradigm. The details of the methodology employed are provided including an explanation of the questionnaire used as the research instrument. The questionnaire was submitted to ten people capable of influencing governance in the Offerman Family businesses and a useful response rate of 90 percent was achieved. The findings of the research detail the nature of the governance system employed by the Offerman Family businesses. It appears that there are shortcomings with family governance while governance of the businesses seems to be facilitated by the presence of the requisite governance building blocks such as a board of directors. Nevertheless, these governance systems are currently not functioning optimally leaving considerable room for improvement. The study closes with a review of the secondary research objectives and the resolution thereof. A list of recommendations is provided, which if implemented, could assist the Offerman Family businesses towards improving governance. Recommendations towards additional research are offered followed by an explanation of the limitations of the study.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:8628 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Offerman, John Leonard |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MBA |
| Format | 150 p, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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