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Item Open Access Intention to use chat banking: A behavioural reasoning and cross-environment perspective(University of the Free State, 2023) Mabuyana, Brian; Maziriri, E. T.; Rukuni, T. F.This study examined the adoption of chat banking by considering cross-environment evaluations originating from the use of the bank’s mobile banking application. The researcher discovered that there are deficiencies in studies that simultaneously address the determinants (reasons for and against) in a single framework related to chat banking, which the current study addresses. The researcher believed that incorporating characteristics of the innovation diffusion theory (reasons for) and perceived risk dimensions (reasons against) would be an essential linkage between people’s openness to change-attitude towards the chat banking relationship that resultantly leads to the intention to use chat banking. The study also aimed to ascertain the influence of attitude toward chat banking on intention to use chat banking. A quantitative research approach was used for this study and a non-probability sampling method was employed. Data was collected from 305 mobile banking users using an online survey. According to the structural equation modelling analysis results, the tested relationships produced satisfactory results consistent with how they were hypothesised. Forty-seven hypotheses were tested and the hypotheses results confirmed that eleven hypotheses were statistically significant and therefore accepted. Specifically, it appeared that openness to change had a positive and a significant impact on attitude towards chat banking. It was also discovered that attitude towards chat banking has a positive and a significant impact on the intention to use chat banking. The results of the statistical testing showed that direct effects of openness to change on characteristics of innovation diffusion theory (perceived relative advantage, trialability, complexity and observability) and perceived risk dimensions (performance risk, time-loss risk and privacy risk) were statistically significant. Moreover, the data supported the hypothesised effect of perceived risk dimensions (performance risk, financial risk, social risk, time-loss risk, privacy risk) on attitude towards chat banking. However, the characteristics of innovation diffusion theory on attitude towards chat banking were statistically insignificant. Moreover, it was discovered that trust in mobile banking did not positively moderate the nexus between openness to change and all the characteristics of the innovation diffusion theory (perceived relative advantage, trialability, complexity, observability). Trust in mobile banking did not negatively moderate the association between openness to change and perceived risk dimensions such as performance risk, time-loss risk, privacy risk, and security risk. By comprehensively examining the intention to use chat banking, this study has valuable implications for academics and practitioners such as marketers and bank managers. This research will add to the corpus of information on chat banking in Africa, which is generally overlooked by academics in developing countries. The theoretical contributions of the study include the following: The study contributed to the limited body of knowledge of customer’ intention to adopt chat banking. The study results extended the findings from prior literature by providing evidence that within the perceived risk construct, psychological risk could not be a mediator of the openness to change -attitude towards chat banking relationship. Specifically, this study provided evidence that reasons against (perceived risk dimensions: performance risk, financial risk, social risk, time-loss risk, privacy risk and security risk) mediated the openness to change – attitude towards chat banking relationship in a chat banking context. Also, the study discovered that reasons for (perceived relative advantage, trialability, complexity and observability) are not mediators of the openness to change – attituded towards chat banking while attitude towards chat banking did not mediate the openness to change – intention to use chat banking relationship in the chat banking context. Based on the results of the study, managerial recommendations were proposed to enhance the amplification of customers’ openness to change onto the attitude towards chat banking of non-users of chat banking. The study concludes with identifying the limitations of the study and presented future research opportunities.Item Open Access Understanding factors affecting technology entrepreneurship of university-incubated firms(University of the Free State, 2022) Rambe, Patient; Neneh, Brownhilder𝑬𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉 Despite the consensus in entrepreneurship literature on the significant contribution of technology business incubation to the realisation of technology entrepreneurship, the range of factors that merge with technology business incubation to shape technology entrepreneurship remains highly contentious. For instance, some studies have placed exclusive emphasis on individual psychological and cognitive factors (e.g., poor business knowledge, limited experience and perceived entrepreneurship capabilities) as explanations for low technology business incubation and poor technology entrepreneurship outcomes. Yet, other studies have concentrated on institutional levels factors such as inadequate incubation support (e.g., the lack of physical capital, social capital and intellectual capital) as critical explanations for suboptimal technology business incubation and technology entrepreneurship outcomes. To further compound the puzzle on key drivers of these business outcomes, other scholars have foregrounded systemic level factors (e.g., national entrepreneurship policy, regional innovation culture, regional SMME funding, the legitimacy of incubators’ mediation of business networks, and system-wide partnerships and collaborations) as contributing to technology business incubation and technology entrepreneurship. The emphasis on the aforesaid different layers of analysis (i.e., individual, institutional and environmental factors) precludes entrepreneurship scholars from developing an integrated picture of these factors to provide a more nuanced and holistic account of factors affecting technology business incubation and technology entrepreneurship. The scientific gap this study explores, therefore, is the varying, hierarchical but partial explanations for low technology business incubation and suboptimal technology entrepreneurship outcomes (i.e., few commercialised applications, low business growth and financial sustainability), which complicate the creation of synergy from individual, institutional and environmental factors affecting technology business incubation to generate technology entrepreneurship, when these factors are considered individually and selectively. The study draws on a humanist perspective and interpretive phenomenology involving two cases of university-based incubation ecosystem actors drawn from a population of 65 participants to provide a comprehensive account of the diverse factors that coalesce around technology business incubation to influence technology entrepreneurship. The phenomenological study which covered 30 in-depth semi-structured interviews, 2 focus group discussions and an extensive review of documents revealed that, scripts, intuition, physical capital, social capital, intellectual capital, national entrepreneurship policy and regional innovation culture were the main individual, institutional and environmental factors that merge with technology business incubation to influence technology entrepreneurship. Moreover, the study established that, at technology business incubation level, gut feelings were critical in incubation decisions such as investment deals, procurement decisions, concluding sales deals, determining product prices, investigating reasons for cancelling of product purchases and managing partnerships. Regarding the realisation of technology entrepreneurship, gut feelings were instrumental in optimising opportunity exploitation in the innovation ecosystem, especially locating new customers, new investment and funding opportunities, which culminated in increased revenue base, return on investment and profit margins of technology startups. Scripts were instrumental in navigating the entrepreneurial stages, especially ascertaining the value proposition, prototype development, securing client feedback during product tests, launching new technology innovation products and ascertaining perceived risks for products in the market. Concerning the advancement of technology entrepreneurship, when the lean canvas business model was applied as a script, the script enabled incubatees to develop an innovative lens to the entire technology business development process – optimising the pricing of products, revenue generation and sustainable technology innovation for startups. From a technology entrepreneurship perspective, the provision of physical capital to incubatees provided a central nodal point for incubatees to access new customers, augmenting opportunities for concluding more sales of technology products and services and increasing the revenue base for these tenants. Incubation sponsors’ availing of social capital through the creation of an innovation platform for promoting incubation sponsor-incubatee networking enabled incubatees to hone their innovative ideas, perfect their technology products and solutions leading to more effective commercialisation of their innovations. The provision of human capital training in legal matters, technical and advisory services, grant proposal development, and accessing venture capital catalysed incubatees to develop a more sophisticated view of the venture development process, enabling them to better identify and exploit new scientific and technology innovations, which created avenues for firm expansion and financial growth. From a technology business incubation perspective, national policy shaped the regional innovation development programmes that strengthened the formation of the regional innovation ecosystem, which influenced the localisation of technology innovations at the grassroots. Regional innovation culture enabled knowledge spillovers that unfolded among universities, industry and firms in the incubation ecosystem, allowing business startups to leverage the intellectual property created by or through universities, even though a dearth of technology innovations persisted outside university contexts. Regarding its contribution to technology entrepreneurship, national entrepreneurship policy directed universities to identify academics and students that possess innovative ideas with potential for commercialisation to form technology startups and emphasised the creation a cohort of entrepreneurs who could generate patents, startups and spinouts that create jobs, fuelling economic growth and national wealth creation. The study contributes to theory, model development, methodology, policy and practice. The study contributes to theoretical knowledge on university technology business incubation by illustrating the combination of individual, institutional and environmental factors that merge to shape technology business incubation in ways that contribute to the realisation of technology entrepreneurship. The study draws on complementarities of institutional theory and resource-based view to demonstrate how incubation rules and norms shape incubatees’ venture development behaviours and how the superiority of resources served as a differentiating factor in incubatees’ decisions to join private technology business incubators or remain in their incumbent university-based incubators. The study employed contextual embeddedness and resource differentiation as concepts that integrate the resource-based view and institutional theory in showing how different incubatees at various stages of their entrepreneurial journeys need distinct types of resources and forms of support to realise technology incubation and technology entreprepreneurship. The study also employed policy diversity and strategic alignment of institutional stakeholders and incubation processes to the resource endowments and situated contexts of these actors to establish entrepreneurial and incubation ecosystems germane to the level of entrepreneurial maturity, resource affordances and capabilities of these stakeholders in that ecosystem. The study developed a conceptual model based on the combination of individual, institutional and environmental factors whose synergy with technology business incubation contributed to the realisation of technology entrepreneurship. Methodologically, the study develops an integrated approach that merged the supply-side approach (technology business incubator perspectives) with demand-side approach (technology business incubatees perspectives) thereby providing a more inclusive, comprehensive perspective on the dynamics of business incubation and technology entrepreneurship. The study makes some policy recommendations concerning the development of resource mobilisation strategy for incubatees well aligned to their preferred funding mechanisms, development of comprehensive policies explaining different funding models, mechanisms, and instruments and their trade-offs. It also recommends the development of a context-embedded approach to modelling and implementing regional innovation ecosystems to improve the effectiveness of innovation ecosystems and developing an ecological policy framework for incubation ecosystems framed around the prioritisation and ranking of incubation factors in terms of their importance, relevance and socio-economic impact. ___________________________________________________________________Item Open Access Employee perceptions of share ownership schemes: an empirical study(University of the Free State, 2000) Mazibuko, Noxolo Ellen; Boshoff, C.All South Africans need to share a common vision. Constructing a common vision is not an easy task but is certainly worth the try. One aspect could be to persuade people to take risks by encouraging them not to be frightened off by threats of disastrous consequences. The first priority and most critical part of the vision is to draw all South Africans together. The second aspect of the vision is to attempt to negotiate the future with all participants, especially in the upliftment of the country's economy. The word 'all' should be seen as important and should be stressed because there are genuine players from all spheres who should be given the opportunity of sitting together and discussing issues of concern, with particular reference to the business environment of the country. Economic variables, socio- economic and political issues relevant to the business environment of the country are discussed in this study. This study concentrates on the important issues of employee participation because employees are the basic foundation of any business. Employees in the workplace have the same basic aim as that of consumers in the market-place. In other words, employees and consumers want the maximum amount of output for their input. For employees, this usually means more say in management decisions, a greater stake in the success of the company, more attention to their ideas, and higher income. A company can be truly participative only when all stakeholders are actively involved in creating the vision, interdependencies and systems of the company and when their day-to-day actions are appropriately participative. Participative behaviour extends· beyond the company's boundaries. The truly participative company involves customers, suppliers and union representatives as well as employees, managers and functional staff members. Since members of all these groups help to create the quality of the company's products and services and of the business relationships uniting them, participation must extend to all these groups. Additionally, participation praises.and values the capacity of people byway of encouraging financial participation and by respecting employees. Participation values the capacity of people to grow, to contribute meaningfully to performance. When people come together in an economic organisation or a workplace, an effort must be made to ensure that the company is productive, that it adds value and that people work together toward a common purpose. One of the ways of contributing meaningfully in an organisation and adding value can be the involvement of employees in decision-making processes and financial participation. Profit-sharing and Employee Share Ownership Schemes (ESOPs) have ·been fairly common financial participation practices in many countries. For the purpose of this study, the activities of ESOPs as employee participation option was investigated since it forms part of the management approach called "participative management". It is believed that ESOPs will contribute to a society based on democracy, equality and respect for the person. Also, employee ownership will make employees more committed to their jobs, companies and work performance and will also increase labour management co-operation. Furthermore, allowing full participation in decision-making increases employee awareness of the prospects and problems facing the company. Companies with ESOPs generally report increased employee motivation, productivity and retention. However, implementing an ESOP in isolation will have little bearing on employees. To be an effective motivational tool, an ESOP must be combined with other factors, particularly an employee-participation programme which affords employees greater decision-making responsibilities in their jobs. An ESOP will only be successful if a company does a good job of informing it's employees about the programme. Lastly, the successful implementation of employee ownership reduces confrontation and industrial disputes. The aim of this study was to investigate some of the problems associated with the introduction and successful management of ESOPs. Furthermore, an ESOP considers possible alternatives which will address the needs of both parties (employees and management) with regard to the implementation of ESOPs. A further aim was to investigate how perceptions of ESOPs can be influenced and managed through managerial antecedents such as trust, empowerment, communication and organisational commitment. Ownership is not a simple concept. Various definitions have been suggested. Some of the confusion stems from the fact that many authors have failed to distinguish between the following criteria: the role shares play; the method of share purchase or acquisition; the manner of shareholding; the provision of the sale or transfer of shares; the-extension of the employee ownership; the share concentration; the role of outside investors and the principles of control. Some organisational researchers, having looked at variations in employee-ownership systems, observed that ownership systems employ different degrees of employee ownership and employee control. Some are built around employee ownership, some emphasise employee control and others emphasise both ownership and control dimensions. Because the term ESOP cannot be precisely defined and may be understood in different ways by different practitioners, it was decided in this study to define an ESOP as a company arrangement in which employees hold rights to company equity, information and influence. In other words, shares are made available to all employees who wish to participate and the company helps them to buy the shares. This scheme can have unique features based on an individual company's needs. The employee share ownership scheme (ESOP) concept was developed in the 1950s by Louis Kelso a San Francisco lawyer and investment banker, who argued that the capitalist system would be stronger if all employees, not just a few shareholders, could share in ownership of capital producing assets. He believed that the best way to accomplish this goal was to create a corporate mechanism, turning workers into owners. Kelso tried, over a number of years, to convince companies to use this plan by suggesting that productivity would improve and that they could achieve tax breaks. The ESOP scene is no longer new to South Africa. A small number of companies have introduced ESOPs in South Africa. There is a lot of publicity surrounding the idea of ESOPs and around each new issue of shares to employees. The empirical findings revealed that perceptions of ESOPs can be enhanced by improving trust between employees and management. Reliable management positively influences, the employee perceptions of ESOPs. Employees appreciate and believe in the union that responds to their demands and shares information that is of importance to the members with regard to ESOP matters. This leads to positive perceptions of ESOPs. It is concluded that providing adequate training and empowering employees with more responsibility in their working environment positively influences employee perceptions of ESOPs. This leads to stronger organisational commitment which, as shown by a lot of studies, has beneficial outcomes for business firms, including enhanced profitability. This study" revealed that trustworthy management positively influences employee perceptions of ESOPs. Trust in management can be enhanced by sharing useful information with employees, by understanding each other's needs and by dedicating time for employees and resources to serve each other better. Trust must however be earned through a partnership built on a relationship where management demonstrates a sincere attempt at caring for employees in their place of employment, thereby providing security. This study revealed that employees have confidence in reliable management. Management can maintain this by improving communication between employees and themselves. For example, management must communicate the financial benefits of the ESOP lo the employees ai the time of it's establishment, with periodic updates as required. The responsiveness of unions facilitates a positive relationship between employees and an ESOP once the employees believe in and are confident that the union representing them is willing to act in its members best interests. Although the study reveals that the lack of information by unions with regard to the benefits and financial position of ESOPs has no significant direct influence on employee perceptions of ESOPs, this does not strain the relationship between unions and their members. This means that if employees believe that the union representing them always passes on and shares ESOP information that might be useful with them, employees will perceive the ideas of management with regard to ESOP matters as genuine. The results of this study also indicate that unions may willingly allow their members to participate in ESOP matters once they have overcome their doubts about the reality and existence of ESOPs. It must be taken into consideration that when employees believe the reality and existence of ESOPs, this goes beyond the possession of a share in the equity of a company. Management must be deeply committed to the concept of employee ownership and this can only be possible if an employee-ownership system is implemented. Based on the results of this study, it is believed that employees feel more capable to meaningfully contribute to the well-being of the company when they are adequately equipped with the required and necessary skills to solve their daily problems and have a positive view of ESOPs. These companies should reflect that ongoing education and training in socio-political issues, business awareness (including company financial and performance reports) and people management (leadership skills) are the major success factors in a company. Those processes are fundamental in exposing those who lack understanding and knowledge of the meaning of ESOPs and how ESOPs operate. Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that overall employee empowerment promotes a situation in which employee involvement initiatives with regard to ESOP matters obtain the full support and encouragement of management. Once employees feel empowered, are held responsible for initiating tasks and contributing to the company's performance, they perceive ESOPs positively. Empowering employees can speed up decision-making processes and reaction times. The creativity and innovative capacities of employees can be released through empowering employees by affording them more responsibilities. Based on this premise, employees can gain a greater sense of achievement in terms of being a share owner (owning a part of the company) and being able to carry out more responsibilities with minimum supervision from management. Managers can empower employees not by giving up control, but by changing the way control is exercised. Although they have to learn to trust their subordinates, delegate more authority.and allow individuals and teams more scope to plan, act and monitor their own performance, managers still retain responsibility to provide guidance and support to their staff as required. The finding that share ownership does influence organisational commitment is based on other aspects as well, meaning that organisational commitment can be further enhanced by employee trust in management with regard to ESOP matters. This study has also revealed that unreliable management of ESOPs can lead to a lack of organisational commitment. To enhance organisational commitment, unions. have to be quick in responding to members' demands with regard to iriformation sharing about ESOP matters. In other words, both management and employees must pressurise unions to share information regarding ESOP matters. Working environment aspects such as, on-the-job training and empowerment based on responsibility, create a favourable environment for organisational commitment to take place. However, ESOPs can only find acceptance among employees if they are accompanied by certain elements which enlighten employees as to the actual meaning of and reasons for their implementation. Companies wishing to implement ESOPs, and those who have already done so, must therefore, practice enlightened labour policies and explain the actual contents of ESOPs. Before an ESOP is introduced, employees need to be familiarised with the reasons for their involvement because they are often left out of certain aspects relating to share ownership schemes. To summarise: Employee share ownership schemes or plans can only yield the positive outcomes summarised in this study if employees have a positive attitude towards ESOP's. No study has ever been done to assess which variables influence employee attitudes towards ESOPs. Given South Africa's unique historical background this study makes valuable contribution in identifying the managerial and work environment variables that managers who want to enhance the effectiveness of ESOPs should concentrate their efforts on.Item Open Access Customer's perceptions of business units within an agricultural business in South Africa(University of the Free State, 11-Nov) Alsemgeest, Liezel; Smit, A. v. A.Afrikaans: Die voordele van die bestuur van kliënteverhoudings bring kritieke faktore soos kliëntetevredenheid en loyaliteit na vore. Klantetevredenheid is ʼn goednagevorste bestuursaspek waarna al as “God, King and beyond” verwys is. Maatskappye se oorlewing word deur klantetevredenheid en/of positiewe klantepersepsie bepaal omdat die bestaan en groei van maatskappye van klante se herhaalde en toenemende aankope op grond van positiewe gevoelens jeens die maatskappy afhang. Verder kan klantetevredenheid die goeie reputasie van ʼn maatskappy uitbou en tot positiewe persoonlike reklame lei wat weer nuwe klante kan lok. Alhoewel die landbousakesektor ʼn belangrike middel tot landbouontwikkeling in Suid- Afrika is, is navorsing oor klantetevredenheid by landbouverwanteklante skaars. Landbouondernemings (voorheen bekend as koöperasies) is daarop geskoei dat hulle deur samewerking tussen verskeie boere beter dienste en produkte teen verlaagde pryse kan bekom wat waarde tot die boer op sy plaas kan toevoeg (boergesentreerd). Koöperasies was ʼn lewensvatbare ondernemingsvorm tot en met 1996 toe die Bemarkingsbeheerraad en gesubsidieerde rentekoerse afgeskaf is. Die meeste landboukoöperasies is in beleggersgeoriënteerde firmas (BOF’s) omskep met die hoofoogmerke winsgewendheid en die handhawing van waardeerbare aandeelpryse (maatskappygesentreerd). Landbouondernemings is kompleks omdat die klante van ʼn landbouonderneming ook in die meeste gevalle die aandeelhouers van die maatskappy is. Landboumaatskappye dien ook ‘n nismark (boere) en die verhouding tussen die onderneming en die klante verskil van diè van ander industrieë. Tradisionele klantetevredenheidsnavorsing fokus op die gebruik van die SERVQUALmetode, wat in der waarheid slegs dienskwaliteit toets. Hierdie studie stel dit ten doel om die meetinstrument te vereenvoudig en ook ander klantetevredenheidsaandrywers by te voeg, naamlik tevredenheid rakende prys, produk, personeel, diens en bestuur. ʼn Landbouonderneming bestaan uit verskeie sake-eenhede wat as kleiner ondernemings bestuur word en almal deel van die groter landbou “sambreel”-maatskappy uitmaak. Die hoofoogmerke van hierdie studie is dus om die verhouding tussen die klantetevredenheidsaandrywers (prys, produk, diens, personeel en bestuur) van die onderskeie sake-eenhede te bepaal en dit met die winsgewendheid van hierdie eenhede in verband te bring; en om die impak van hierdie veranderlikes op klantetevredenheid ten opsigte van die maatskappy te bepaal. Die sekondêre empiriese doelwitte van die studie behels om te bepaal watter van die klantetevredenheidsaandrywers die grootste impak op klantetevredenheid ten opsigte van die algehele maatskappy het; watter van die sake-eenhede die grootste impak op algehele tevredenheid het; of die gebruiksfrekwensie van die onderskeie sake-eenhede die algehele tevredenheid met die landbouonderneming beïnvloed; en, laastens, of klante se persepsie rakende die prestasie van die sake-eenhede ʼn invloed op winsgewendheid het. Die studie was kwantitatief van aard en het gebruik gemaak van vraelyste wat per gewone pos na die algehele populasie (bestaande uit die lede van ʼn groot landbouonderneming in Sentraal Suid-Afrika wat meer as R100 000 bydra tot die omset van die landbouonderneming) gestuur is. Altesaam 963 vraelyste is uitgestuur en 345 bruikbare vraelyste is teruggestuur. Die responskoers was dus 35,8%. Die vernaamste resultate toon ʼn statisties beduidende verband tussen tevredenheid ten opsigte van kleinhandelswinkels, versekering en meganisasie (werkswinkels) en algehele klantetevredenheid – wat daarop dui dat om algehele klantetevredenheid te verhoog, tevredenheid ten opsigte van hierdie drie sake-eenhede eerste aandag moet geniet. Produk, diens en tevredenheid met bestuur het as klantetevredenheidsaandrywers al drie ʼn statisties beduidende invloed op algehele klantetevredenheid. Verder, toe die onderskeie aandrywers inherent aan die onderskeie sake-eenhede teen algehele klantetevredenheid getoets is, het die resultate getoon dat daar twee beduidende aandrywers inherent aan ʼn sake-eenheid is, naamlik kleinhandelswinkelproduk en graanbemarkingsprys. Hierbenewens toon statisties beduidende resultate dat die gebruiksfrekwensie van ʼn sake-eenheid die mate van klantetevredenheid weerspieël (behalwe in die geval van kleinhandelswinkels). Elke sake-eenheid se gemiddelde bydrae tot netto wins is oor ʼn tydperk van vyf jaar bereken en met sy gemiddelde prestasie vergelyk. Die grafiek toon ʼn definitiewe korrelasie tussen wins en klantetevredenheid. Kleinhandelswinkels as ʼn sake-eenheid het interessante resultate opgelewer wat aandui dat kleinhandelswinkelpryse, kleinhandelsproduk, kleinhandelswinkelpersoneel en kleinhandelswinkeldiens die grootste impak op al die algehele klantetevredenheidsaandrywers het. Hiervolgens beskou klante kleinhandelswinkels as die “venster” van die landbouonderneming. Respondente is ook gevra om aan te dui wat hulle as die hoofdoelwitte van die landbouonderneming beskou teenoor wat hulle voel die doelwitte behoort te wees. Van groot belang was die beduidende resultate waarvolgens bepaal is dat respondente die doelwitte as synde maatskappygesentreerd waargeneem het, maar gevoel het dat die doelwitte boer-gesentreerd behoort te wees. Daar word spesifiek aanbeveel dat kleinhandelswinkels verbeter word en dat die beskikbaarheid en kwaliteit van kleinhandelswinkels verhoog word om klantetevredenheid te maksimeer.Item Open Access Challenges faced by urban Zimbabwean women entrepreneurs(University of the Free State, 2011) Nani, Gwendoline Vusumuzi; Smith, A. van A.; Cilliers, J. O.The primary objective of this study was to investigate the challenges that urban Zimbabwean women entrepreneurs face. The study was motivated by the theoretical findings that women have always been discriminated against politically, economically, socia-culturally, legally, educationally and at work. Scholars of gender studies assert that despite the fact that over the last decades women had attained educational levels comparable to those of men, women still remained in relatively low paying jobs (Wirth, 2001:49; Carter & Silva, 2010:19, 20-1). Due to frustrations and challenges faced in the workplace, some women in both developed and developing countries had left formal employment to start their own businesses. According to Coulter (2000:114), even in business where women had opted to be, they continued to face challenges. A review of literature further indicated that the historical background of women in developed countries differed from that of women in developing countries because of differences in environmental factors (Adler & Israeli quoted by Waldie & Ardesua, 2004:79). However, the challenges that women faced were similar except that in developed countries more gains had been registered in improving women's lives compared to developing countries. Theoretical findings about Zimbabwe showed that historically, women were excluded from actively participating in politics and in decision making. Economically, women were denied ownership of resources such as land and were thus dependent on men who were regarded as bread winners. Socia-culturally, activities were arranged according to gender; thus, there were activities strictly done by men and others reserved for women. Legally, women were regarded as minors and for that reason women could not enter into any contractual obligations in their own right. In regards to education, girls were encouraged to take up subjects that were not strategically linked to the mainstream economy, while boys were channeled towards subjects that would enable them to occupy meaningful and strategic positions in the workplace. However, it was worth noting that the Government of Zimbabwe, just like governments in other countries had instituted legal amendments to redress discrimination on the basis of sex and positive developments had been achieved. These developments had enabled women to start their own businesses. According to Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Zimbabwe, 2010}, in Zimbabwe, there are 20 665 registered urban women entrepreneurs. In the light of the statement by Coulter (2000:114) that in business women continued to face challenges, it was fundamental that the challenges faced by urban Zimbabwean women entrepreneurs be identified, hence the need for this study. Identification of these challenges would enable the government of Zimbabwe and other stakeholders to devise specific policies and strategies to minimise the impact of these challenges on women owned businesses. This would enable women entrepreneurs to operate viable and sustainable businesses. An empirical study was therefore conducted to investigate what the challenges women entrepreneurs faced were. This study was a combination of quantitative research design and descriptive research in which the simple random sampling technique was used to draw the sample. The sample comprised 580 registered women entrepreneurs drawn from the Small and Medium Enterprises sector in the four major cities of Zimbabwe, namely, Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru and Masvingo. The survey method was adopted as the data gathering method where a self constructed and self administered questionnaire was used as the data gathering instrument. A pilot study was conducted before the questionnaires were distributed for the main study. Reliability testing of the questionnaire showed a Cronbach's Alpha value of 0.802 for all Likert questions based on the background of women of Zimbabwe and business challenges. These results indicated that the questionnaire was reliable as a data collecting instrument. Data collected was transformed for statistical analysis through the use of Excel software. After data processing, the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for data analysis. Statistical techniques used in this study included frequencies, percentages, cross tabulations and Pearson chi-square tests, descriptive statistics and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Relating to respondents' demographic profile, empirical results showed that 50.4 percent of the respondents in this study are married compared to 24.5 percent single and 25.1 percent separated, divorced or widowed. Results further indicated that 83.8 percent of the respondents have children and 73.2 percent have dependent children. The average number of children is 2.26 and the average number of dependent children is 1.50. The average age of respondents in this study was 38.0 years. Results further indicated that respondents in this study are highly qualified, with 51.5 percent having tertiary education. The dominant religion in this study was Christianity. Most of the respondents owned businesses in the services sector compared to 'other' businesses (67.2 percent and 32.8 percent respectively). Results indicated that 54.7 percent of the respondents had been in business for 5 years and below. Results also showed that 37.2 percent of the respondents had relevant start-up experience. In terms of start-up capital, women entrepreneurs in this study used internal more than external sources of finance (79.2 percent and 20.8 percent respectively). Findings also indicated that women entrepreneurs were predominantly sole proprietors compared to those in partnership. The following empirical findings were indicated regarding women's background. Firstly, women can now actively participate in politics and decision making processes in spite of the fact that women have more confidence in male than female political leaders. Secondly, economically, women can own property in their own right and the majority of women are no longer financially dependent on men. Thirdly, socio-culturallv, women are more confident than they were historically and can now challenge men on religious issues. Fourthly, women can now engage in activities that were previously done by men only, such as being formally employed. Men can also perform duties that were previously done by women only. Fifthly, legally, men and women are equal before the law. Sixthly, after 18 years of age, women can make any legal decisions without consulting male members of the family. Seventhly, some men do not accept women as their equals. Eighthly, some men still abuse their wives because they have paid lobola (bride price) for them. Ninthly, despite their legal rights, married women predominantly still have to consult their husbands before making any business decisions. Tenthly, regarding education, girls are now given equal educational opportunities by their parents and at school girls are free to study subjects and embark on courses of their choices. However, there are still some cultures and religions that expect girls to leave school young to marry. Finally, at work, both in the private and public sectors, there are equal job opportunities for both men and women. There are also fair promotional opportunities for both men and women in the public and private sectors. Men and women doing the same jobs are remunerated at the same levels and there is equal taxation for both men and women. There are no jobs exclusively reserved for women both in the government and private sectors. However, there are more educated men than women in the job market. According to empirical results, women started their businesses due to opportunity (pull) and necessity (push) factors. Findings also showed that some women have left formal employment to start their own businesses due to work related factors such as the "glass ceiling" that blocked their access to top executive ranks; gender role stereo typing, negative societal influences and pay differentials, lack of acceptance by men, sexual harassment, balancing home and family responsibilities, and stress. The following empirical results were revealed about the market environment: First, customers no longer look down upon women owned businesses. Second, male workers now respect women who have employed them. Third, suppliers now offer both men and women entrepreneurs the same credit terms. Fourth, bank officials in Zimbabwe give women the same treatment as men when applying for loans. Fifth, women entrepreneurs can easily access established private business networks. Sixth, male auditors have developed a positive attitude towards women running businesses. Finally, some men entrepreneurs have accepted women entrepreneurs as equal business partners. The study also revealed some challenges that women entrepreneurs still have to contend with in the market environment. Women still have a problem of lack of collateral. Another challenge that women entrepreneurs face is that of becoming members of formal business organisations. Women also find it difficult to access government networks. According to empirical findings on the macro environment, women now have equal chances of getting business tenders as men. On the socio-cultural front women indicated that their religions allowed them to run their own businesses. There are now support services to enable women to operate their own businesses. Respondents also indicated that they registered their businesses without legal problems and that women can now own property in their own names. Women entrepreneurs also confirmed that amended laws have brought equality between men and women entrepreneurs. However, empirical results also indicated that at economic level, women still find it difficult to enter male dominated sectors like construction. Socia-culturally, most women entrepreneurs indicated that they still face the challenges of balancing home and business responsibilities. Despite the availability of support services, the HIV/AIDS pandemic has also exacerbated their workload. Married women still have to request their husbands to co-sign before they can get any loans. Conclusively, empirical findings indicate that most of the cases of discrimination highlighted in the problem statement in Chapter 1 Section 1.4, and in the historical background of Zimbabwean business women, have been reduced and in some cases eliminated.Item Open Access Real-time strategy implementation in the electricity industry(University of the Free State, 02-May) Van Buuren, Rudolph Barend; Grous, M. J.; Nortje, J. D.Afrikaans: Hierdie studie fokus op die elektrisiteitsindustrie, met spesifieke verwysing na die wyse waarop organisasies in die industrie hul strategiese beplanning implementeer. Die elektrisiteitsindustrie is spesifiek geselekteer aangesien dit in 'n toenemende komplekse en snelveranderende omgewing opereer. Herstrukturering en deregulering is verskynsels wat tans regoor die wêreld in die elektrisiteitsindustrie plaasvind. Van 'n eens beskermde monopolistiese organisasie tot een waar mededinging tussen konkurrente toegelaat word. Tradisioneel het elektrisiteitsorganisasies gebruik gemaak van beplanningsiklusse wat wissel vanaf een jaar en langer. Hierdie studie fokus spesifiek daarop om die beginsel van intydse strategiese implementering as 'n alternatief vir beplanningsiklusse in die elektrisiteitsindustrie te ondersoek, aangesien die industrie tans in 'n komplekse en snelveranderde omgewing opereer, wat nie gunstig vir die gebruik van beplanningsiklusse is nie. Die empiriese navorsing vir hierdie studie is onder vier van die grootste elektrisiteitsmaatskappye in die Verenigde State van Amerika gedoen. Die Verenigde State van Amerika is spesifiek gekies omdat die elektrisiteitsindustrie in hierdie land van die eerstes was om 'n mededingende mark vir elektrisiteit bekend te stel. Aan die hand van hierdie studie is 'n aantal gapings tussen strategiese beplanning en strategiese implementering blootgelê. Hierdie gapings het toenemend bygedra tot die algemene opvatting dat strategiese beplanning nie as effektief in die industrie gereken word nie en dat dit bloot 'n vermorsing van tyd is. Hierdie gapings kan soos volg saamgevat word: (a) Probleme word ondervind om te reageer op geïsoleerde en onvoorspelbare gebeure in die industrie en wat die potensiaal het om die huidige mededingende posisie van die elektrisiteitsindustrie te vernietig. (b) Die herstrukturering van die industrie en die gevolglike ontbondeling van die eens vertikaal geïntegreerde aard van die elektrisiteitsindustrie het gelei tot die onstaan van konflik wat betref strategiese doelstellings tussen die korporatiewe vlak in die organisasie en die besigheidseenhede van die organisasie. (c) Dit het verder tot gevolg gehad dat die strategiese beplanningsprosesse wat in hierdie organisasies gebruik word, lomp en tydsintensief geraak het, met die gevolg dat senior bestuur nie effektief aan die proses wou deelneem nie. (d) Ten spyte van die beskikbaarheid van 'n verskeidenheid van strategiese beplanningsinstrumente, soos industrie- en mededingerontledings, is gevind dat die meeste van die strategiese beplanningsprosesse in die elektrisiteitsindustrie intern gesentreer is. (e) 'n Algemene probleem om die ontwikkelde strategie te koppel aan effektiewe metingsnorme en verwante metingstelsels , is ondervind. Gevolglik word die belangrikste aanbevelings, gebaseer op die resultate van hierdie studie, gegee: (d) Ten spyte van die beskikbaarheid van 'n verskeidenheid van strategiese beplanningsinstrumente, soos industrie- en mededingerontledings, is gevind dat die meeste van die strategiese beplanningsprosesse in die elektrisiteitsindustrie intern gesentreer is. (e) 'n Algemene probleem om die ontwikkelde strategie te koppel aan effektiewe metingsnorme en verwante metingstelsels , is ondervind. (a) Top bestuur behoort 'n goeie basis te lê vir die implementering van 'n strategie. Dit moet gedoen word deur 'n openlike verbintenis en vrywillige betrokkendheid by die strategiese beplanning en implementering, ten einde die strategiese vaardighede van die organisasie uit te bou en strategiese outonomie regdeur die organisasie te bewerkstellig. (b) Intydse (real-time) strategiese beplanningsprosesse behoort geïnisieer te word, insluitende intensiewe en volgehoue situasie-analise en implementeringsinitiatiewe om strategiese kwessies teen markspoed op te los. (c) Effektiewe strategiese ondersteuningstelsels en -prosesse behoort geïmplementeer te word. Dit sluit inligtingsondersteuning in en verseker effektiewe integrasie van die strategie regdeur die organisasie. (d) Effektiewe strategiese gerigtheid regdeur die organisasie is noodsaaklik. Dit sluit die koppeling van effektiewe prestasiebestuursprosesse aan die strategie van die organisasie in, asook om die betrokkenheid van soveel werknemers as moontlik, op verkeie vlakke met betrekking tot strategiese beplanning en implementering te bewerkstellig. Verdere, meer spesifieke aanbevelings vir die implementering van intydse strategiese beplanningsisteme sluit die volgende riglyne is: (a) Topbestuur behoort betrokke te raak by die strategiese beplanning en implementeringsprosesse van die organisasie, as voorvereiste vir strategiese sukses. (b) Alle vlakke binne die organisasie behoort aangemoedig te word om op 'n outonome manier betrokke te raak by strategiese beplanning en implementering. Intydse strategiese beplanningsprosesse behoort as effektiewe inligtingstelsels ontwikkel te word. (d) Strategiese doelwitte en strategieë behoort op 'n deurlopende basis hersien te word. (e) Die gebruik van strategiese beplanningsiklusse behoort gestaak te word in die lig van 'n intydse strategiese implementeringsproses. (f) Werkprestasie ooreenkomste behoort by wyse van konsensus tussen werknemers en bestuurders onderhandel te word, asook horisontaal tussen verskillende departemente. (g) Die gebruik van omslagtige strategiese beplanningsdokumente behoort gestaak te word. (h) Strategiese beheer behoort aan die hand van 'n gebalanseerde meetkaart (balanced scorecard) gedoen te word.Item Open Access The impact of the South African business enviroment on the availability of debt finance to new small and medium enterprises(University of the Free State, 10-Jul) Fatoki, Olawale Olufunso; Van Aardt Smit, A.South Africa suffers from high unemployment with an official estimate of approximately 24.5% of the economically active population unemployed (Statistics South Africa, 2009). In addition, the country experiences high levels of poverty and income inequality. SMEs are expected to be an important vehicle to address the challenges of job creation, sustainable economic growth, equitable distribution of income and the overall stimulation of economic development. According to Maas & Herrington (2006) the contribution of the SME sector cannot be sustained without the creation of new SMEs. New SMEs are seen as a significant component of the solution to South Africa's development issues. Maas & Herrington (2006) also point out that the creation rate of new SMEs in South Africa, as measured by the Total Early-Stage Entrepreneurial activity is one of the lowest in the world. In addition, the failure rate of new SMEs is one of the highest in the world. Non-availability of finance is one of the primary causes of failure for new SMEs in South Africa. The two major external sources of finance for new SMEs are equity and debt. External equity is generally unavailable for new SMEs in both developed and developing countries. New SMEs in developed countries, unlike developing countries such as South Africa, are able to access debt finance from commercial banks and trade creditors. The primary objective of this study was to determine how to improve the availability of debt from commercial banks and trade creditors to new SMEs. The argument of this study was that there are factors in the business environment that cause debt not to be available to new SMEs. Understanding the causes of non-availability of debt is important to determining how to improve the availability of debt to new SMEs. For this purpose an initial 52-item questionnaire was developed after a thorough review of the literature on the business environment and debt finance and administered to 100 respondents from commercial banks and 100 respondents that were trade creditors in a pilot study. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in the reduction of 52-item questionnaire to a 43-item questionnaire and nine underlying factors for commercial banks and 39-item questionnaire and nine underlying factors for trade creditors. The nine factors included four internal factors and five external factors. The internal factors were labelled as managerial competencies, collateral, networking and business information. The external factors were labelled the macro-economy, the legal environment, ethics, crime and corruption. Another objective of the study was to investigate empirically if commercial banks and trade creditors perceive new SMEs as beneficial to their business. Empirical research was conducted to investigate the impact of the nine factors on non availability of debt to new SMEs. The instrument used was the self-administered questionnaire. The statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, frequencies, factor analysis, T-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation. The Cronbach's alpha was used as a measure of reliability. The research findings were: • There is a significant positive relationship between lack of managerial competency and non-availability of debt from commercial banks and trade creditors to new SMEs. • There is a significant positive relationship between lack of business information and non-availability of debt from commercial banks and trade creditors. • There is a significant positive relationship between lack of collateral and non-availability of debt from commercial banks and an insignificant relationship for trade creditors. • There is a significant positive relationship between lack of networking and non-availability of debt from commercial banks and trade creditors. • There is a significant positive relationship between bad macro-economic environment non-availability of debt from commercial banks and trade creditors. • There is a significant positive relationship between the inefficiency of the legal environment and non-availability of debt from trade creditors and an insignificant relationship for commercial banks. • There is a significant positive relationship between ethical perception of new SMEs and non-availability of debt from trade creditors and an insignificant relationship for commercial banks. • There is a significant positive relationship between crime and non-availability of debt from commercial banks and trade creditors. • There is no significant relationship between corruption and non-availability of debt from commercial banks and trade creditors. • Commercial banks and trade creditors perceive new SMEs as beneficial to their business. The findings suggested that there is a significant relationship between the business environment and the availability of debt. Eight out of the nine variables in the business environment have significant relationships with the availability of either bank credit or trade credit. The findings also indicated that are some similarities and differences with respect to why debt is not available to new SMEs from commercial banks and trade creditors. In addition, the findings suggested that internal factors are more important than external factors with respect to why debt is not available from both commercial banks and trade creditors. The study suggested some recommendations to improve the availability of debt finance to new SMEs. The recommendations included the need to improve the investment readiness of new SMEs. To access debt, new SMEs must have collateral and adequate owners' equity. Training and communication can also help new SME owners to get investment ready. In addition, owners of new SMEs should network by attending seminars and trade fairs. The legal system has to be made more efficient in practice to reduce unethical behaviour, crime and corruption.Item Open Access An evaluation of support institutions in enhancing the commercialisation process(University of the Free State, 15-Jul) Booysen, Karen; Van Zyl, J. H.; Brahilder, N.Afrikaans: Hierdie navorsingstudie het ‘n tweeledige doel waar dit eerstens gedien het om die befondsingsproses van entrepreneuriese ondersteuningsinstellings te evalueer ten einde die hindernisse tot kommersialisering te identifiseer. Tweedens, met hierdie hindernisse ingedagte, argumenteer hierdie studie vir ‘n nuut-geformuleerde fase-georiënteerde proses wat baseer is op drie onderskeidelike, tog komplimentêre fases, naamlik Haalbaarheid, Lewensvatbaarheid en Volhoubaarheid. Hierdie fase-georiënteerde proses word aanbeveel ten einde die ondersteuningsinstellings te lei in hul evaluering van aansoeke vir befondsing en sodoende hulle in staat stel om waarlik die entrepreneurs en ondernemings-idees met meriete te identifiseer. Addisioneel sal hierdie fase-georienteerde proses die entrepreneurs in staat stel om die aansoekproses suksesvol te voltooi deur ‘n hanteerbare, verstaanbare proses wat konstant gemonitor word. Sodoende sal tydige veranderinge moontlik wees en dit die uiteindelike suksesvolle vestiging van ‘n onderneming meebring waarna die entrepreneurs in staat gestel is om hul ondernemings, asook die industrie waarin hul gaan meeding, te verstaan.Item Open Access The role of cultural diversity in brand management success in the South African cellular industry(University of the Free State, 2009) Rammile, Nthabeleng; Van Zyl, JohanThe focus of this study was on cultural diversity and its possible impact on brand management in the cellular industry. The study showed that cultural diversity, as one of the important aspects in the consumer’s environment, is important to consider when carrying out brand management and branding activities. Doing so will play a role in influencing consumers to make favourable purchasing decisions. Data were collected from Free State Province individuals (510). Cross-tabulations, factor analysis and cluster analysis were carried out on the database. The study resulted in the identification of four clusters. The cultural diversity components used to identify these clusters were: age, gender, race, social class and lifestyle. These clusters had different characteristics from one another. In each cluster there was a difference in lifestyle characteristics and perception of brand equity. There was also a difference in the reasons why a cellular phone is used. The results about the clusters show that no single approach can be used to target them. There has to be different approaches of which each can also be an opportunity for marketing managers to differentiate their branding activities. The manner in which clusters were identified is complex and yet gives insightful information which will help marketing managers make better decisions. In other words simple segment approaches should be avoided. Also, the clusters are not constant; they evolve over time. It is therefore suggested that such an activity should be reviewed more often. The main contribution of this study is that cultural diversity is an integral part of brand management from the perspective of the consumer. Furthermore, consumers can no longer just be defined by cultural diversity components in isolation, i.e. age, gender, race, social class and lifestyle. Their definition will vary depending on the industry in concern. In other words, the consumers will need to be defined by the unique clusters they belong to and these clusters will be different depending on the industry concerned.Item Open Access Mean variance optimisation, stochastic simulation modelling and passive formula strategies for equity investments(University of the Free State, 04-Nov) Pawley, Mark Gary; Van Zyl, Helena; Greeff, PetriThe research is a quantitative study that formulates an approach to future portfolio asset allocations within the South African domestic equity market, and the diversification of assets across global markets, specifically the U.S.A. The research takes the view that investors are rational, have a long term investment horizon and seek investment wealth maximisation by applying a sustainable investment strategy towards the ongoing management of the portfolio. Investors experience a significant negative divergence in investment outcomes relative to the potentially achievable result. This negative divergence is a result of the lack of a strategic approach to, and an understanding of asset allocations, and the lack of a sustainable approach to the management of a portfolio. Repetitive sub-optimal investment performance, below the levels of inflation, is an investment disincentive with negative micro and macro implications. The purpose of the study is therefore to address the issue sub-optimal investment performance through the effective application of a strategy that includes the integration of the mean-variance model through the use of a mean-variance optimiser, using resampled data inputs, the mean reversion of markets, passive investment management, appropriate asset class selection and the ongoing management of a portfolio, using both calendar and contingent rebalancing techniques, and passive formula strategies. The challenge is accordingly to develop a reliable asset allocation model that accommodates past performance, and which is stable enough to produce optimised forward-looking investment portfolios, which are able to address the issue of optimal asset allocation and selection, within a global context, and which produce optimised investment outcomes, taking cognisance of the fact that the future is unknowable and dynamic. The research methodology makes a positivist assumption that something exists and can be numerically tested. In this regard various portfolios are constructed, using passive investment instruments, in accordance with mean-variance model principles, using resampled data inputs to minimise the instability of the mean-variance optimiser. This resampling process is fundamental to the research, and incorporates the use of a stochastic simulator. A unique aspect of the research was solving the issue of multiple market integration particularly when the domestic markets are comprised of multiple asset classes. Finally, the resultant resampled efficient portfolios are compared to control portfolios in order to ascertain whether the resampling process indeed offers a return premium. Due to the dynamic nature of equity markets contingent and calendar rebalancing strategies are applied to the asset allocation in order to maintain an optimal portfolio. This dynamism may necessitate the adjustment of asset allocations. The test for asset allocation optimality takes the form of measuring portfolio outcome correlations to the actual market outcome. Where the portfolio is sub-optimal the asset allocations are redetermined, otherwise the portfolio is merely rebalanced to the original asset allocations. Regarding the management of the portfolio a value averaged passive formula strategy is applied. This process acknowledges that markets may behave stochastically over the short term, therefore a predetermined value line is derived that the portfolio is to achieve. This value line is based on a long term equity premium plus inflation. Should the portfolio breach the value line on the upside a portion of the investment is liquidated, conversely when the portfolio fails to reach the value line the portfolio is elevated to the value line by means of increasing the investment. The results of the research manifest unambiguous results in favour of resampled portfolios. In this regard, therefore, data resampling does seem to produce stable portfolio results that are effective at capturing a higher proportion of future returns than a simple market portfolio. Furthermore, the rebalancing process, although not absolutely perfect, does provide a level of adjustment to the asset allocation to ensure optimality. Finally, management of the portfolio through value averaging unambiguously provides an internal rate of return in excess of a portfolio that is allowed to stochastically rise and fall. In summary, the integration of the identified processes clearly provides a performance premium in excess of alternative approaches, and within a framework that is sustainable from period to period.Item Open Access Strategic marketing planning for radio stations in Lesotho(University of the Free State, 07-Nov) Maliehe, Makhakhe; Van der Merwe, W. J. C.This research study advocates that radio stations in Lesotho should make full use of the benefits offered by marketing both as a philosophy and a business function. The research study also recommends that the radio stations in Lesotho use the strategic marketing planning steps and approach that have been prescribed throughout this project, that is, the development of a mission statement, corporate objectives, situation analysis, competitor analysis, and marketing objectives.Item Open Access A portfolio approach to improving market and credit risk management(University of the Free State, 2011/12/15) Botha, Marius; Van Vuuren, Gary; Van Zyl, HelenaAfrikaans: Die kredietkrisis wat besig is om te ontvou (in 2008 ‘n aanvang geneem), het omtrent elke segment van die internasionale finansiële stelsel beïnvloed. Krediet is ernstig ingekort soos wat banke worstel om verdere verliese, veroorsaak deur roekelose uitleenpraktyke wat die afgelope 20 jaar gekenmerk het, in toom te hou. Batepryse het getuimel soos wat angstige beleggers na veiliger toevlugsoorde vlug, en tradisionele beleggings en verskansingsfondse laat vaar. Regerings, in ’n poging om stagflasie te voorkom en suk- kelende ekonomieë aan die gang te kry, het rentekoerse tot historiese laagtepunte verminder, aanspo- ringspakkette geïnisieer en reddingspogings vir banke aangevoor, maar die pogings het (tot op hede) ’n minimale tot geen effek op markte gehad. Die knellende ekonomiese omgewing, gekenmerk deur laer bedryfsproduksie, huis- (en ander bate-) pryse wat daal en stygende werkloosheid, het besteding en investering ontmoedig en kapitaalopgaring bevorder. In die daaropvolgende krisis, is die regule- rende ekonomiese omgewing (gedomineer deur die Basel II Akkoord van die Basel Komitee vir Bank Toesighouding (BKBT)) as ontoereikend bewys. Moontlike oplossings het hulle nog nie voorgedoen nie en dit lyk waarskynlik dat die krisis vir die afsienbare toekoms sal voortduur In die lig van hierdie gebeure en die hedendaagse tekortkominge van die finansiële omgewing oor die algemeen is die behoefte om voortdurend bestaande tegnieke om finansiële risiko te meet en te bes- tuur, uit te brei, asook om nuwe tegnieke te vind. Hierdie proefskrif verken vier belangrike probleme wat deur moderne risikobestuur in portefeulje verband in die gesig gestaar word. Die eerste probleem ondersoek die aanname van ’n normaalverspreide portefeulje-opbrengs. Onomstootlike bewys vir die deurlopende mislukking van hierdie aanname word gelewer. ’n Maatstaf wat portefeulje-prestasie in rangorde plaas, word bespreek en verduidelik met verwysing na verskeie Suid-Afrikaanse verskansingsfondsportefeuljes. Die tweede van hierdie probleme verken die aanname van onbeperkte likwiditeit in markrisiko metingsmodelle. Hierdie aanname word as misleidend bewys en daar word inderdaad geglo dat dit die hoofkomponent van die kredietkrisis is. ’n Nuwe portefeulje markrisiko model, wat die effek van we- senlik verminderde likwiditeit inkorporeer, word bekendgestel en op verskeie Suid-Afrikaanse porte- feuljes toegepas. Die resultate dui op ’n substansieel verbeterde model van markrisiko. Die derde probleem peil die effek van skuldenaar wanbetalingskwaliteit diskriminasie om ’n subtiele teenstrydigheid in die BKBT se formulering van kredietportefeulje kapitaalkostes aan te spreek. Die oorsaak van hierdie teenstrydigheid is vasgestel en die effekte daarvan bespreek met verreikende gevolge vir alle kleinhandel leningsportefeuljes. Ten slotte is die gebrek aan ’n robuuste tegniek om kleinhandel batekorrelasies uit empiriese lenings- verlies data te ekstraheer, ondersoek. ’n Metodologie wat die onderliggende BKBT formulering vir kredietrisiko gebruik, is bepaal en die resultate verkry word vergelyk met kleinhandel batekorrelasies soos gestipuleer deur die BKBT. Die empiriese korrelasies (en geassosieerde kapitaalkostes is as aan- sienlik laer as die BKBT korrelasies (en kostes) bevind, selfs tydens die verhoogde verliese wat tans (2009) ondervind word. Die akkuraatheid van hierdie belemmerende beperkings in portefeulje ver band is geassesseer en voorstelle vir verdere empiriese studie word aan die hand gedoen.Item Open Access Challenges faced by urban Zimbabwean women entrepreneurs(University of the Free State, 11-Nov) Nani, Gwendoline Vusumuzi; Van Aardt Smit, A; Cilliers, J. O.The primary objective of this study was to investigate the challenges that urban Zimbabwean women entrepreneurs face. The study was motivated by the theoretical findings that women have always been discriminated against politically, economically, socio‐culturally, legally, educationally and at work. Scholars of gender studies assert that despite the fact that over the last decades women had attained educational levels comparable to those of men, women still remained in relatively low paying jobs (Wirth, 2001:49; Carter & Silva, 2010:19, 20‐1). Due to frustrations and challenges faced in the workplace, some women in both developed and developing countries had left formal employment to start their own businesses. According to Coulter (2000:114), even in business where women had opted to be, they continued to face challenges. A review of literature further indicated that the historical background of women in developed countries differed from that of women in developing countries because of differences in environmental factors (Adler & Israeli quoted by Woldie & Ardesua, 2004:79). However, the challenges that women faced were similar except that in developed countries more gains had been registered in improving women’s lives compared to developing countries. Theoretical findings about Zimbabwe showed that historically, women were excluded from actively participating in politics and in decision making. Economically, women were denied ownership of resources such as land and were thus dependent on men who were regarded as bread winners. Socio‐culturally, activities were arranged according to gender; thus, there were activities strictly done by men and others reserved for women. Legally, women were regarded as minors and for that reason women could not enter into any contractual obligations in their own right. In regards to education, girls were encouraged to take up subjects that were not strategically linked to the mainstream economy, while boys were channeled towards subjects that would enable them to occupy meaningful and strategic positions in the workplace. However, it was worth noting that the Government of Zimbabwe, just like governments in other countries had instituted legal amendments to redress discrimination on the basis of sex and positive developments had been achieved. These developments had enabled women to start their own businesses. According to Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Zimbabwe, 2010), in Zimbabwe, there are 20 665 registered urban women entrepreneurs. In the light of the statement by Coulter (2000:114) that in business women continued to face challenges, it was fundamental that the challenges faced by urban Zimbabwean women entrepreneurs be identified, hence the need for this study. Identification of these challenges would enable the government of Zimbabwe and other stakeholders to devise specific policies and strategies to minimise the impact of these challenges on women owned businesses. This would enable women entrepreneurs to operate viable and sustainable businesses. An empirical study was therefore conducted to investigate what the challenges women entrepreneurs faced were. This study was a combination of quantitative research design and descriptive research in which the simple random sampling technique was used to draw the sample. The sample comprised 580 registered women entrepreneurs drawn from the Small and Medium Enterprises sector in the four major cities of Zimbabwe, namely, Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru and Masvingo. The survey method was adopted as the data gathering method where a self constructed and self administered questionnaire was used as the data gathering instrument. A pilot study was conducted before the questionnaires were distributed for the main study. Reliability testing of the questionnaire showed a Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0.802 for all Likert questions based on the background of women of Zimbabwe and business challenges. These results indicated that the questionnaire was reliable as a data collecting instrument. Data collected was transformed for statistical analysis through the use of Excel software. After data processing, the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for data analysis. Statistical techniques used in this study included frequencies, percentages, cross tabulations and Pearson chi‐square tests, descriptive statistics and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Relating to respondents’ demographic profile, empirical results showed that 50.4 percent of the respondents in this study are married compared to 24.5 percent single and 25.1 percent separated, divorced or widowed. Results further indicated that 83.8 percent of the respondents have children and 73.2 percent have dependent children. The average number of children is 2.26 and the average number of dependent children is 1.50. The average age of respondents in this study was 38.0 years. Results further indicated that respondents in this study are highly qualified, with 51.5 percent having tertiary education. The dominant religion in this study was Christianity. Most of the respondents owned businesses in the services sector compared to ‘other’ businesses (67.2 percent and 32.8 percent respectively). Results indicated that 54.7 percent of the respondents had been in business for 5 years and below. Results also showed that 37.2 percent of the respondents had relevant start‐up experience. In terms of start‐up capital, women entrepreneurs in this study used internal more than external sources of finance (79.2 percent and 20.8 percent respectively). Findings also indicated that women entrepreneurs were predominantly sole proprietors compared to those in partnership. The following empirical findings were indicated regarding women’s background. Firstly, women can now actively participate in politics and decision making processes in spite of the fact that women have more confidence in male than female political leaders. Secondly, economically, women can own property in their own right and the majority of women are no longer financially dependent on men. Thirdly, socio‐culturally, women are more confident than they were historically and can now challenge men on religious issues. Fourthly, women can now engage in activities that were previously done by men only, such as being formally employed. Men can also perform duties that were previously done by women only. Fifthly, legally, men and women are equal before the law. Sixthly, after 18 years of age, women can make any legal decisions without consulting male members of the family. Seventhly, some men do not accept women as their equals. Eighthly, some men still abuse their wives because they have paid lobola (bride price) for them. Ninthly, despite their legal rights, married women predominantly still have to consult their husbands before making any business decisions. Tenthly, regarding education, girls are now given equal educational opportunities by their parents and at school girls are free to study subjects and embark on courses of their choices. However, there are still some cultures and religions that expect girls to leave school young to marry. Finally, at work, both in the private and public sectors, there are equal job opportunities for both men and women. There are also fair promotional opportunities for both men and women in the public and private sectors. Men and women doing the same jobs are remunerated at the same levels and there is equal taxation for both men and women. There are no jobs exclusively reserved for women both in the government and private sectors. However, there are more educated men than women in the job market. According to empirical results, women started their businesses due to opportunity (pull) and necessity (push) factors. Findings also showed that some women have left formal employment to start their own businesses due to work related factors such as the “glass ceiling” that blocked their access to top executive ranks; gender role stereo typing, negative societal influences and pay differentials, lack of acceptance by men, sexual harassment, balancing home and family responsibilities, and stress. The following empirical results were revealed about the market environment: First, customers no longer look down upon women owned businesses. Second, male workers now respect women who have employed them. Third, suppliers now offer both men and women entrepreneurs the same credit terms. Fourth, bank officials in Zimbabwe give women the same treatment as men when applying for loans. Fifth, women entrepreneurs can easily access established private business networks. Sixth, male auditors have developed a positive attitude towards women running businesses. Finally, some men entrepreneurs have accepted women entrepreneurs as equal business partners. The study also revealed some challenges that women entrepreneurs still have to contend with in the market environment. Women still have a problem of lack of collateral. Another challenge that women entrepreneurs face is that of becoming members of formal business organisations. Women also find it difficult to access government networks. According to empirical findings on the macro environment, women now have equal chances of getting business tenders as men. On the socio‐cultural front women indicated that their religions allowed them to run their own businesses. There are now support services to enable women to operate their own businesses. Respondents also indicated that they registered their businesses without legal problems and that women can now own property in their own names. Women entrepreneurs also confirmed that amended laws have brought equality between men and women entrepreneurs. However, empirical results also indicated that at economic level, women still find it difficult to enter male dominated sectors like construction. Socio‐culturally, most women entrepreneurs indicated that they still face the challenges of balancing home and business responsibilities. Despite the availability of support services, the HIV/AIDS pandemic has also exacerbated their workload. Married women still have to request their husbands to co‐sign before they can get any loans. Conclusively, empirical findings indicate that most of the cases of discrimination highlighted in the problem statement in Chapter 1 Section 1.4, and in the historical background of Zimbabwean business women, have been reduced and in some cases eliminated.Item Open Access A management model for a pharmaceutical contract research organization(University of the Free State, 04-May) Jacobs, Yvonne Leonie; Lazenby, A. A.English: Competitive success for a Contract Research Organization (CRO) entails unlimited process improvement to sustain excellence. Chapter One describes the generic business environment CROs operated in which customers dictate the pace of competition through asking for higher standards of quality, speedy delivery, reliability, and lower prices, as markets are becoming increasingly saturated. Opportunities for market growth and maintaining market share, are testing experiences for all CROs. This imposes the tenets of theories and models on CROs so as to understand the critical factors that have a statistically significant effect on their bottom-line figures. CROs need to take note of causal factors drivin g time and costs, even at the height of their success. Therefore, Chapters Two and Three present informative writings on the tenets of best-practices and activity-based management, because best-in-class principles must be reviewed to contemplate which risks to take; which new ideas to implement; which critical factors will drive success, and which will challenge the myths distinctive to the contract research environment. Informative writings, documented as background information, were used to evaluate the results presented in Chapter Five. During the construction of a model for a CRO in the final Chapter, an attempt is made to explain phenomena experienced in everyday life and to discern aspects necessary to sustain competitive success in contract research. For the purpose of this research a model is defined as a set of statements that make explanatory or causal claims about reality, statements that aim to represent everyday phenomena as accurately as possible, and simplify our understanding of the CRO business environment. This research is aimed at developing a management model to explain the particular phenomena applicable to a pharmaceutical CRO and can be classified as an empirical study, analyzing existing primary and numerical data, gathered from a case study. Although management models are well described in literature, this research adds value to an aspect still to be researched, i.e. a management model comprising the most applicable best-practices for a pharmaceutical CRO. Because throughput time is of utmost importance in clinical drug research programs and because time consequently generates costs, an activity-based methodology is considered the best-in-class information tool to gather the necessary data for the calculation of time and cost factors for a CRO. The results presented in Chapter Five, analyzed with a statistical linear regression model using univariate and multivariate analyses to discern which variables have a statistically relevant effect on time and cost factors, were used to formulate the management model in Chapter Six. The productivity model presented shows that if the productivity of the operational divisions imitates the output of the most productive division, the profit can almost be doubled, or conversely, the same profit can be maintained but, with a reduction in the number of full time employees. This holds win-win benefits for the company and the customer, especially if cost can be used as leverage in a competitive market. Pricing is a complex instrument because of the two-sided conflict and competitive nature of the buyer -seller relationship where the one’s gains are the other’s loss. The researcher evaluated time, costs and pricing to make pricing a win-win element through which improved throughput efficacy can provide greater customer value and higher profits to the shareholder. Secrecy agreements are signed between CROs and sponsoring companies and therefore project information is the intellectual property of the sponsoring company. This limiting factor inevitably made a case study approach for this research project a necessity. Research information should preferably have been included from different CROs worldwide, and a case study approach may be regarded as not meeting minimal design requirements for comparison. However, a single, well-designed case study can provide a major challenge to informative writings and theory. It can provide new insight into traditional concepts and figments of the imagination, and identify statistically significant cost drivers to sustain the knowledge base to make recommendations on the optimization of resource utilization. As CROs enter foreign markets, global harmonization of clinical trial standards serve to provide uniformity in processes in trial execution. Guidelines reach beyond the sponsoring country to regulate quality and ensure uniformity of trials globally. Thus, the results obtained from FARMOVS-PAREXEL case studies can be extrapolated to other CROs and the model formulated, as a result of global uniformity enforced by regulations universally applicable to CROs. The project was important because in the quest for developing new drugs, CROs compete inter alia as providers of choice on timelines and price. The interpretation of the results emphasized that factors traditionally perceived as cost drivers, may not have statistically significant effect on time or cost factors. The synergy between techniques applied from the theoretical fields of accounting and project management, i.e. to quantify and optimize resource ut ilization, provided the information to formulate a unique management model for a CRO. The lack of outcome based research results, from a management perspective, on resource consumption during the execution of bioavailability studies, emphasizes the importance of this research project. The research results indisputably prove that concepts and traditions need to be tested with a statistical linear regression and productivity model as the core logic of a management model for a CRO. The results conclusively indicate that a management model with a customer focus for a pharmaceutical CRO is a necessity to align financial performance measures, which are pivotal in the alliance with the customer and shareholder.Item Open Access Returns on initial public offerings (IPOs) on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE): success and failure patterns(University of the Free State, 13-Jul) Neneh, Brownhilder Ngek; Smit, Van Aardt A.Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) offer a fresh source of capital that is vital to the growth of the company and provides the company and existing shareholders a liquid market for their shares. An IPO renders investors an opportunity to share in the rewards of the growth of the company. However, empirical evidence indicates that IPOs have a high level of initial underpricing and poor long run performance. The high rate of initial underpricing is detrimental to both the company and existing shareholders since they are not able to attract the much needed capital to either finance their investment projects or to harvest as a means to get out of the business and ideally reap the value (cash flow) from their investment. Also, the long run underperformance of IPO shares hurts the investors, since they do not get an opportunity to earn superior long run returns from their investments. The high rate of initial underpricing and long run underperformance have been accompanied by high failure rates and low success rates of IPOs all around the world. This has resulted in IPO companies earning very poor long run returns, and has led to a loss of confidence from investors and cast a pall on the IPO market. Investors typically have very little information about the companies going public and their behavior in early trading is conditioned by basic information. Because of uncertainty about the value of the company, asymmetric information exists between informed and uninformed investors. This as a result has placed investors in a challenging position, where they find it difficult to get sufficient information that can enable them make informed decisions. Consequently, most uninformed investors end up with a bulk of the least desirable shares, yielding poor long run returns (Asma, 2010:9). Thus, in order for investors to maximise their returns, there is a need to critically improve the IPO selection process. In improving the IPO selection process, several factors and characteristics have been identified to be key determinants for predicting IPO returns, and IPO success and failure, although with contradicting results. Therefore, to encourage stock market investment on the JSE, there is need to critically find out which IPO characteristics can be used to predict IPO returns on the JSE and differentiate between successful and failed IPO companies. The primary objective of this study was to find out which IPO characteristics can be used to predict IPO returns and explain the differences in the success and failure patterns of IPO companies on the JSE. The argument of this study was that there are some IPO characteristics which have been identified to be key determinants for predicting IPO returns, and IPO success and failure. A total of 313 IPO companies listed on the JSE from 1996-2007 were used in this study. Secondary data was obtained from McGregor-BFA database. The statistical analysis used included descriptive statistics, frequencies, cross-tabulation, chi-square, ANOVA, t-test, principal component factor analysis (PCA), correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).