The effectiveness of strategic management intervention in developing profitable high growth African businesses
- Kaija, Godfrey, Nieuwenhuizen, Cecile
- Authors: Kaija, Godfrey , Nieuwenhuizen, Cecile
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Strategic planning , Business enterprises , Small business - Economic aspects , Small business - Management , Sustainable development , Human capital
- Language: English
- Type: Conference proceedings
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/235963 , uj:24141 , Citation: Kaija, G. & Nieuwenhuizen, C. 2017. The effectiveness of strategic management intervention in developing profitable high growth African businesses.
- Description: Abstract: The objective of the research was to determine how the the strategic management intervention of the African Management Services Company (AMSCO) has contributed to improved profitability, growth and sustainability of businesses in African countries. Businesses ranging from very small to multinational subsidiaries that were involved in a three year AMSCO intervention were selected to participate in the study. Self-administered questionnaires as well financial and other records and documents of 55 participating businesses resulted in the findings that the intervention, especially with the placement of the AMSCO managers, was instrumental in successfully transferring business and management skills to local employees within these enterprises and organisations. During and after the intervention the profitability, growth, sustainability, employment numbers and retention of the majority of the businesses increased and training became a norm.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Kaija, Godfrey , Nieuwenhuizen, Cecile
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Strategic planning , Business enterprises , Small business - Economic aspects , Small business - Management , Sustainable development , Human capital
- Language: English
- Type: Conference proceedings
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/235963 , uj:24141 , Citation: Kaija, G. & Nieuwenhuizen, C. 2017. The effectiveness of strategic management intervention in developing profitable high growth African businesses.
- Description: Abstract: The objective of the research was to determine how the the strategic management intervention of the African Management Services Company (AMSCO) has contributed to improved profitability, growth and sustainability of businesses in African countries. Businesses ranging from very small to multinational subsidiaries that were involved in a three year AMSCO intervention were selected to participate in the study. Self-administered questionnaires as well financial and other records and documents of 55 participating businesses resulted in the findings that the intervention, especially with the placement of the AMSCO managers, was instrumental in successfully transferring business and management skills to local employees within these enterprises and organisations. During and after the intervention the profitability, growth, sustainability, employment numbers and retention of the majority of the businesses increased and training became a norm.
- Full Text:
Strategic management intervention towards the transitioning of African enterprises into profitable and sustainable enterprises
- Authors: Kaija, Godfrey
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Strategic planning , Business enterprises , Small business - Economic aspects , Small business - Management , Sustainable development , Human capital
- Language: English
- Type: Masters (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/237611 , uj:24348
- Description: M.Com. (Business Management) , Abstract: As most African economies emerge from conflict, subsistence and most recently from the financial crisis, it has become apparent that enterprise is going to play a key role in aiding economic recovery and success. It should be appreciated that Africa as a continent has emerged post the conflict era with a big shortage of human capital. The objective of the research was to understand how the African Management Services Company (AMSCO) with the patronage of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) the private arm of the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) has spearheaded the fight of the challenges of human capital development on the continent. The problem statement was that Enterprise is an important driver of growth in economies across Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) and SMEs account for up to 90% of all enterprises in these markets. In southern African research, it is estimated that only 1% of new enterprises will make the transition to a successful established profitable enterprise (Fatoki 2014). This study aimed therefore to establish the relationship between strategic management interventions as well as the role these interventions play in helping transition selected enterprises into profitable and sustainable enterprises. The research study purposively sampled 100 enterprises that have benefited from a Strategic management intervention from AMSCO. It engaged the enterprise owners, and relevant business heads within the intervention process. The objectives of the study were geared towards analysing the process and ensuring that the results achieved during the AMSCO interventions had been properly executed and that the various SME’s that AMSCO set out to satisfy had been adequately served. The study achieved a response rate of 55% which offered credible and dependable information about AMSCO assisted enterprises. According to the findings, most of the respondents were males i.e. 74.5%, with only 23.6% of the respondents being females. The respondents indicated a high number of respondents within the age group of 36 – 55 years. The research found that the strategic management intervention by AMSCO especially with the placement of the AMSCO managers was instrumental in successfully transferring business and management skills within these enterprises and organisations. And after 3 years, many were turned into profitable and sustainable enterprises. A large percentage of respondents i.e. 70% indicated that after the intervention by AMSCO, training became a norm. With the seconded manager expected to pass on skills to the local staff.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Kaija, Godfrey
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Strategic planning , Business enterprises , Small business - Economic aspects , Small business - Management , Sustainable development , Human capital
- Language: English
- Type: Masters (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/237611 , uj:24348
- Description: M.Com. (Business Management) , Abstract: As most African economies emerge from conflict, subsistence and most recently from the financial crisis, it has become apparent that enterprise is going to play a key role in aiding economic recovery and success. It should be appreciated that Africa as a continent has emerged post the conflict era with a big shortage of human capital. The objective of the research was to understand how the African Management Services Company (AMSCO) with the patronage of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) the private arm of the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) has spearheaded the fight of the challenges of human capital development on the continent. The problem statement was that Enterprise is an important driver of growth in economies across Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) and SMEs account for up to 90% of all enterprises in these markets. In southern African research, it is estimated that only 1% of new enterprises will make the transition to a successful established profitable enterprise (Fatoki 2014). This study aimed therefore to establish the relationship between strategic management interventions as well as the role these interventions play in helping transition selected enterprises into profitable and sustainable enterprises. The research study purposively sampled 100 enterprises that have benefited from a Strategic management intervention from AMSCO. It engaged the enterprise owners, and relevant business heads within the intervention process. The objectives of the study were geared towards analysing the process and ensuring that the results achieved during the AMSCO interventions had been properly executed and that the various SME’s that AMSCO set out to satisfy had been adequately served. The study achieved a response rate of 55% which offered credible and dependable information about AMSCO assisted enterprises. According to the findings, most of the respondents were males i.e. 74.5%, with only 23.6% of the respondents being females. The respondents indicated a high number of respondents within the age group of 36 – 55 years. The research found that the strategic management intervention by AMSCO especially with the placement of the AMSCO managers was instrumental in successfully transferring business and management skills within these enterprises and organisations. And after 3 years, many were turned into profitable and sustainable enterprises. A large percentage of respondents i.e. 70% indicated that after the intervention by AMSCO, training became a norm. With the seconded manager expected to pass on skills to the local staff.
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The natural environment as an integral part of the triple bottom line
- Authors: O'Carroll, Michael
- Date: 2009-02-05T07:15:43Z
- Subjects: Corporations , Business enterprises , Social responsibility of business , Green marketing , Sustainable development
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:8103 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/2030
- Description: M.Sc. , Corporations are beginning to realize that they are members of the wider community and must therefore behave in an environmentally responsible fashion. This translates into corporations that believe that they must fulfill environmental objectives in conjunction with profit related objectives. The recognition that a corporation is embedded within its surrounding environment has profound implications for the way that its business operations are conducted. No longer are the actions taken within the corporation considered to be separate from the external environment, and no longer are events unfolding outside the corporation considered to have no impact on the internal structure and functioning of the company. According to this mode of thought, everything is linked and interconnected. In recognition, smart corporations have initiated social, economic and environmental practices (Anon, 2002a) and incorporated these three components in to the Triple Bottom Line (TBL). The Triple Bottom Line was designed to promote the objectives of sustainable development (Elkington, 2003) by considering a holistic approach to business. Because sustainable development involves the simultaneous pursuit of economic prosperity, environmental quality and social equity, organisations that aim for sustainability need to perform not against a single, financial bottom line but against the triple bottom line i.e. economy, society and the environment. It is also true that a corporation, which is not socially or environmentally sustainable in the long term, is unlikely to be financially sustainable in the long term (Elkington, 2003). The main aim of this study is to investigate how the natural environment can play an integral role in the implementation of the TBL. Five main issues relevant to the TBL are investigated in the problem statement, to determine how the environment can possibly form an integral part of the TBL and thus justify the implementation of the TBL in a corporation’s business strategy. Each main issue is then broken down into a number of specific support questions for analysis. The 16 support questions were then individually analysed to determine whether or not the environment could in fact play an integral role in the implementation of the TBL. The five main issues of investigation and the 16 sub-questions showed that the environment could play an integral role in the implementation of the TBL in any corporation.
- Full Text:
- Authors: O'Carroll, Michael
- Date: 2009-02-05T07:15:43Z
- Subjects: Corporations , Business enterprises , Social responsibility of business , Green marketing , Sustainable development
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:8103 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/2030
- Description: M.Sc. , Corporations are beginning to realize that they are members of the wider community and must therefore behave in an environmentally responsible fashion. This translates into corporations that believe that they must fulfill environmental objectives in conjunction with profit related objectives. The recognition that a corporation is embedded within its surrounding environment has profound implications for the way that its business operations are conducted. No longer are the actions taken within the corporation considered to be separate from the external environment, and no longer are events unfolding outside the corporation considered to have no impact on the internal structure and functioning of the company. According to this mode of thought, everything is linked and interconnected. In recognition, smart corporations have initiated social, economic and environmental practices (Anon, 2002a) and incorporated these three components in to the Triple Bottom Line (TBL). The Triple Bottom Line was designed to promote the objectives of sustainable development (Elkington, 2003) by considering a holistic approach to business. Because sustainable development involves the simultaneous pursuit of economic prosperity, environmental quality and social equity, organisations that aim for sustainability need to perform not against a single, financial bottom line but against the triple bottom line i.e. economy, society and the environment. It is also true that a corporation, which is not socially or environmentally sustainable in the long term, is unlikely to be financially sustainable in the long term (Elkington, 2003). The main aim of this study is to investigate how the natural environment can play an integral role in the implementation of the TBL. Five main issues relevant to the TBL are investigated in the problem statement, to determine how the environment can possibly form an integral part of the TBL and thus justify the implementation of the TBL in a corporation’s business strategy. Each main issue is then broken down into a number of specific support questions for analysis. The 16 support questions were then individually analysed to determine whether or not the environment could in fact play an integral role in the implementation of the TBL. The five main issues of investigation and the 16 sub-questions showed that the environment could play an integral role in the implementation of the TBL in any corporation.
- Full Text:
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