Increasing attention on the role played by product quality on desirable customer behavioural outcomes has been empirically examined over the past decades. Nevertheless, there are significant issues yet to be addressed and resolved, one of which relates to the influences of the quality of electronic gadgets on students' perceived value, trust and their intention to purchase. In view of this research gap, five posited hypotheses are empirically tested using a sample of 151 in South Africa. The results supports all the posited hypotheses except hypothesis four which although positive as postulated, is insignificant. Managerial implications of the findings are discussed and limitations and future research directions are indicated.

Notwithstanding the increasing acknowledgement of the prominence of brand loyalty in business performance, research efforts directed at investigating the influence brand service quality, satisfaction and trust on brand loyalty in the context of South African retailing industry have largely been neglected. Therefore, the principal objective of this study is to fill this void. In particular, the current study seeks to explore the direct effects of brand service quality on consumer brand satisfaction and brand trust; and the mediating role of brand satisfaction and trust in brand service quality -brand loyalty relationship. To empirically test the six posited research hypotheses, data was collected from consumers in Vanderbijlpark city of Gauteng Province in South Africa. The collected data was analyzed using Smart PLS statistical software for structural equation modeling. Managerial implications of the research findings are discussed and limitations and future research directions are indicated.

Orientation: There appears to be a dearth of literature that addresses the relationship between employee satisfaction and organisational performance in South African public organisations. Motivation for the study: This study attempted to contribute to the discourse on the influence of human resources to organisational performance.Research purpose: The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between employee satisfaction and organisational performance in a public sector organisation.Research design: A three-section survey questionnaire was used to collect data from a conveniently recruited sample of 272 members of a South African government department. Pearson’s correlation test as well as a regression analysis were employed to test the existence of a relationship between employee satisfaction and organisational performance. The mean score ranking technique was used to compare the impact of the individual employee satisfaction factors on organisational performance.Main findings: Positive correlations were observed between organisational performance and all five employee satisfaction factors, namely working conditions, ability utilisation, creativity, teamwork and autonomy. Amongst the five factors, teamwork had the greatest impact on organisational performance, followed by ability utilisation, creativity, autonomy, with working conditions exerting the least influence.Practical and/or managerial implications: Strategic interventions involving positive adjustments on the five employee satisfaction dimensions examined in this study may be initiated and applied to improve overall organisational performance in public organisations.Contributions and/or value add: The study endorses the notion that a satisfied workforce could be the key to enhanced organisational performance.

Strategic planning is a business tool that small and medium businesses need in todays dynamic and highly competitive business environment. It has a potential to cushion these enterprises from such unpredictable harsh business conditions. The purpose of this paper was to establish the relationship between strategic planning practices and business performance among SMEs in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Data were analysed from 200 useable questionnaires that were distributed to SME owners/managers. Factor analysis, correlations, and regression techniques were used in order to extract the dimensions of strategic planning and their relationships with business performance. Environmental scanning, business mission and vision, formality of strategic plans, evaluation and control, informing sourcing, strategy implementation incentives, employee participation, and time horizons emerged as strategic planning dimensions. The results confirm that strategic planning has a positive association and predictive relationship with the performance of SMEs. The results of this study can serve as a guide to SME owners and managers to properly implement strategic planning practices which will enable them to propel and sustain their businesses in turbulent and uncertain business environments.

Background: The assessment of supplier performance is an important activity for small to medium enterprises (SMEs) as they adopt and implement plans and policies aimed at enhancing their performance in order to achieve sustainable competitive advantages.Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of information sharing, supplier trust and supplier synergy on supplier performance in SMEs.Method: A quantitative research design was adopted in which a survey questionnaire was administered to a sample of 309 owners and managers of SMEs based in southern Gauteng, South Africa. A confirmatory factor analysis was undertaken to assess the properties of the measurement scale. Hypotheses were tested using the path modelling technique.Results: Information sharing exerted a moderate positive and significant influence on supplier trust and a weak but sigificant influence on supplier synergy. Supplier synergy had a strong positive and significant influence on supplier performance. However, the influence of supplier trust on supplier performance was weak and insignificant.Conclusion: The study provides a useful framework for analysing the interplay between information sharing, supplier trust, supplier synergy and supplier performance in SMEs.