Neneh, BrownhilderMandavha, Ndovhatshinyani2023-12-082023-12-082023http://hdl.handle.net/11660/12346Thesis (Ph.D.(Development Studies))--University of the Free State, 2023Since the advent of democracy, the South African government has held transformation and empowerment at the helm of its objectives. The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B−BBEE) policy has been instrumental in the drive towards the transformation and empowerment of black people, particularly in business. The introduction of the B−BBEE Codes of Good Practice in 2007 was set to deliver on the key areas of the economy that the government had prioritised for transformation and empowerment. Government amended the BBBEE Codes of Good Practice in 2013 to strengthen implementation and fast-track transformation and empowerment. Although the small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) have always been regarded as instrumental to economic growth, the 2013 Codes placed emphasis on the support and inclusion of black-owned SMMEs through the enterprise and supplier development code. Enterprise and supplier development requires collaboration between the government, corporates and SMMEs because they are the key role players. This study focused on the amended 2013 B−BBEE Codes of Good Practice, specifically the enterprise and supplier development code that came into effect in May 2015. The study analysed the implementation of enterprise and supplier development through the capability approach to understand the challenges and the perceptions of the government, corporates and SMMEs regarding enterprise and supplier development. The capability approach of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum presents ideas that expand beyond traditional economic thinking and focuses on what human beings can achieve. The capability approach was found suitable for exploring whether B−BBEE enterprise and supplier development can and would potentially increase capabilities among corporates and SMMEs, in particular black-owned SMMEs. Existing literature in B−BBEE emphasises that the intentions of B−BBEE as a transformation and empowerment policy are to broaden empowerment and ensure economic inclusiveness. However, B−BBEE is faced with many challenges. The study applied mixed methods research; qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews, whereas quantitative research employed a survey. Data was collected in South Africa. Qualitative data was collected from two different population groups: the government and corporates. Semi-structured interviews were held with two government officials from Gauteng, whereas 20 corporates in the manufacturing sector were interviewed from Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape province. The survey was issued to SMMEs operating in the manufacturing sector in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North-West, Western Cape, Northern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Eastern Cape provinces. Non-probability sampling was used for the qualitative research, whereas respondents for the quantitative research were selected using simple random sampling. Qualitative research findings from the government indicated that government was cognisant that implementing B−BBEE, particularly enterprise and supplier development, would not be easy because corporates must use their resources in the implementation, and SMMEs need to be well positioned to benefit meaningfully. Qualitative findings from corporates indicated that there was a high B−BBEE compliance with enterprise and supplier development and that corporates aimed at maintaining their level of B−BBEE compliance. In contradiction to the high levels of compliance depicted by corporates, quantitative research findings from SMMEs indicated that the majority of SMMEs had not benefited from enterprise and supplier development. This depicts that the status quo for black-owned SMMEs has not improved; SMMEs still face many of the operational challenges that enterprise and supplier development intends to address.enBroad−based black economic empowermentcapability approachcorporatescapabilitiesempowermententerprise and supplier developmentsmallmediummicro enterprisestransformationSouth AfricaThesisUniversity of the Free State