Business Development Services (BDS) and SMME Development in South Africa

Small businesses are regarded as economic growth engines with the potential to address the unemployment crisis in South Africa. The government has limited capacity to employ the majority of the unskilled and semi-skilled who are unemployed. Agencies and private organisations offering business development services (BDS) are required to assist small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) help government to address unemployment. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are recognised for the crucial role they play in activating and supporting economic growth. While much attention and hope has been placed on SMEs to provide the much-needed jobs, they are faced with enormous challenges and continue to fail. These challenges make it impractical for SMEs to realise their full potential and deliver to the government's and society's expectations. It is documented that SMEs face unique problems, which negatively affect their prospects and as a result, weaken their capacity to contribute to sustainable economic growth. Government and other private sector stakeholders have availed various types of business support in South Africa both as financial and non-financial support to assist SMEs overcome these problems. There has also been an emergence of business development service providers (BDSPs) that seek to extend support to SMEs, to ensure their sustainability, improve production techniques, market access and increase competitiveness but this has not yielded the desired results. Business development services refer to services that improve the performance of the enterprise, its access to markets, and its ability to compete. This study sought to explore the nature of BDS offered to SMMEs with a view to help them remain sustainable. Further, the study explored the challenges faced by BDSP. The study used an inductive qualitative research approach and employed semi-structured interviews to collect data. The population of the study consisted of SME business development service providers in South Africa, with an eventual study sample size comprised of ten providers. The findings indicate that there is a range of services offered to SMEs, with training and technical assistance and market access being the focus areas. While providers offer these services to SMEs, they themselves experience various challenges such as internal challenges which include funding and resources; expertise and skills levels of providers; and design of services. In addition, there are external challenges such as payment inability of SMMEs; low market awareness; commitment to and from SMMEs; perceived value of BDS; finding the right clients; and the business operating environment, which hinder their service provision. iii The study concludes by providing recommendations on approaches that BDS providers can adopt to offer solutions to some of the identified challenges. These approaches include: developing sector-specific approaches in delivering business development service; attracting enterprise and supplier development funds as a possible strategy to solve the lack of resources in this sector; alignment of the Broad-Based Black Economic legislative framework to business development services strategies; introduction of professional standards and guidelines in the business development services sector and implementation of an impact assessment matrix

The ranking of creditors’ claims during business rescue proceedings as envisaged in the Companies Act 71 of 2008.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.No abstract availabl

Revisiting the standing of International Business journals in the competitive landscape

© 2016.Journal rankings are contentious, proliferating and bring about a significant change to research productivity and quality assessment. In this paper, we assess the quality and impact of International Business (IB) journals in relation to each other and management and business journals more broadly. In so doing, we overcome methodological limitations of previous journal rankings by adopting a novel approach that incorporates a worldwide meta-ranking. Its key advantage is the ability to look at the standing of journals both within and between subject-areas. Comparisons between subject areas are important because centralization of resource allocation decisions within institutions has ramifications for disciplines and staff involved. Results indicate that within the IB domain, JIBS continues to top the list, JWB has solidified its position and joined the upper tier of IB journals, the space below JIBS and JWB is increasingly contested, pointing to the emergence of a multi-tier set of "core" IB journals. In the wider competitive landscape of management and business journals, IB journals perform well in the upper tier, but there is a long tail of IB journals at the lower end of our meta-ranking

The strengths and capacities of Authentic Followership

Purpose - Exploring a new conceptual framework for authentic followership (AF) comprised of three components: individual, dyadic and organisational. The purpose of this paper is to explain how the components of AF interact as a positive, non-linear feedback loop. It presents three propositions of positive outcomes arising from AF. First, AF builds follower's strengths and capacities. Second, AF strengthens dyadic relationships between followers and leaders. Third, AF deepens and strengthens positive organisational culture thereby improving organisational performance. It discusses the practical significance of these propositions for followers, leaders and firms. Design/methodology/approach - The paper provides an overview of AF. Then three propositions of positive outcomes arising from AF are presented. It identifies how these propositions could benefit followers, leaders and firms. In conclusion, it offers suggestions for future research directions and notes some limitations of this work. Findings - The key finding of this paper is that AF could potentially strengthen the capacities and performance of followers, leaders and organisations if the propositions presented in this work are correct if the three components of AF interact with each other as a positive feedback loop strengthening and reinforcing each component of AF. To establish the validity of the AF model and the three propositions the paper suggests that investigations in different empirical settings are undertaken: SME's and multinational corporations, in different countries under different market conditions, with followers and leaders of different gender, age, education level, roles and tenure of employment. Originality/value - The paper's core contention that the components of AF interact as a positive feedback loop has significant practical implications - beneficial outcomes for followers, leaders and firms. P1 explains how AF enables followers to gain confidence, maturity and create solid foundations from which to thrive and flourish. P2 explains how dyadic relationships between followers and leaders could be strengthened, deepening trust and respect between each party, thereby enhancing leadership effectiveness. P3 explains how the dynamic processes of AF can strengthen and deepen positive organisational culture and enhance organisational performance

Using entrepreneurial activities as a means of survival: Investigating the processes used by Australian universities to diversify their revenue streams

This study provides a profile of the actions taken by Australian universities to diversify their revenue streams in order to generate more independent (non-government) income. Marginson's taxonomy of Australian universities is used to catergorise universities and contrast levels of independent income (Marginson and Considine 2000). This study finds that some Australian universities have used isomorphic tactics in their attempts to diversify their revenue streams. Unitechs (Universities of Technology) and New Universities are over-reliant upon income earned from overseas student fees, whilst earning comparatively small amounts of revenue from Royalties, Trademarks and Licences, Consultancy, Contract Research and Investments. This work discusses the dangers inherent in over-reliance on a single type of independent income. It argues that if Australian universities seek to enhance their success competing in global research, staff and student markets then they need to augment efforts to diversify revenue streams with structural and cultural changes, transforming themselves from being rigid hierarchical public bureaucracies to become more flexible network enterprises (Castells 2000)

Academic units in a complex, changing world: Adaptation and resistance

This book uses case studies of academic units from Australian public universities to explore the reasons why those units respond in different ways to similar contemporary challenges. The 'academic units'-departments, schools and faculties-in the world's public universities may be their own administrative fiefdoms, but the wider environment within which they operate is both complex and dynamic. In fact, today's academic landscape is barely recognizable from what it was like two decades ago. The globalization of higher education markets for students, faculty and research funding has expanded the challenges and opportunities for academic units beyond the boundaries of nation states. However, academic units must also deal with the diverse needs and expectations of national and local stakeholders, as well as operate within government regulatory and policy frameworks. In addition, they are required to adhere to policy and operational directives from institutional executives and consider the often-competing needs and expectations of other stakeholders such as faculty, students, employers, funding bodies and professional associations. As public funding slowly evaporates some university faculties have embraced the imperative to be more business-oriented. Others have shrunk from congress with Mammon. The milieu of tertiary education is having to adapt to fresh trends in this domain, such as the advocacy of marketization, entrepreneurialism and corporatization, the three pillars of so-called 'new public management'. With its case studies from different academic disciplines and types of university, this book asks some key questions: Why do some units adapt to environmental challenges and others resist change? How and why do academic units adopt different modes and processes of adaptation or resistance? Along with its new conceptual framework for the wider context, the text makes an important contribution to scholarship on leading and managing change in universities, while at the same time offering those in academic leadership positions relevant advice and practical suggestions to guide their units through these complex challenges. Where other academic studies have examined the university as an institution in its entirety, this focused study compares the decision-making on a lower rung of the administrative ladder