Almost twenty years after democracy we find growing economic activity in the informal sector. The spaza market in Khayelitsha 1 can be seen as an example of entrepreneurial activity offering an entry point to many that are excluded from mainstream economic activities. This study included 352 participants and is comprised of South African (locals) and Somali (foreigners) owned spaza shop entrepreneurs operating in Khayelitsha. In recent years foreigners have become a dominant force in this market often resulting in the closure of many local businesses. This has often given rise to xenophobic violence resulting in deaths of innocent persons. We focus on the role of culture on business practices and entrepreneurial orientation on business performance. Entrepreneurial orientation is used as a psychological concept to reflect on the level of entrepreneurial potential within the informal sector. Business practices include rudimentary financial management practices that provide a measure of financial stability of the business.
This research applies the changing of cognitive mechanisms of University students through Entrepreneurship Education (EE). The study hypothesises that entrepreneurial orientation (achievement orientation, personal control, innovation and self-esteem) improves after completing the entrepreneurship module. The context of this research involves undergraduate commerce students from the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in South Africa. The study involves quantitative research using questionnaires through a longitudinal approach. The research design consists of a pre-test, post-test and post-test after the intervention. The impact of the training intervention was assessed over a 12 month period based on a randomised control design. This study indicates that entrepreneurial orientation was influenced through this Entrepreneurship module. The practical implications of this study emphasises the importance of training approaches that are based on empirical research. The uniqueness of this paper lies in the pedagogy used that allows the effectiveness of assessing a training program.
The total entrepreneurial activity rate in South Africa was 9.1% in 2011, compared with 8.9% in 2010, which is below the average for similar economies. This study examines the moderating impact of environmental difficulty on the relationship between planning strategies and entrepreneurial success. The authors carried out a cross-sectional interview-based study of 60 start-up entrepreneurs in the Western Cape in South Africa. The results show that environmental difficulty moderated the relationship of ‘opportunistic’ and ‘reactive’ strategies to entrepreneurial success. No moderation effects were found for environmental difficulty on the relationship between success and ‘complete planning’ and ‘critical point planning’ strategies.
The objective of this paper was to demonstrate the use of information technology as an e-learning instrument to develop entrepreneurial skills of entrepreneurs assisted through RED DOOR[1], a government entrepreneurship support program, with a specific focus on financial management and management accounting skills. Historically, many emerging businesses that have received entrepreneurial support and training from RED DOOR have met with limited success. This study focussed on a longitudinal assessment of a pilot training program implemented by RED DOOR. This study included a sample of 40 entrepreneurs that obtained entrepreneurial training. The methodology involved four phases, namely, knowledge transference, skills application, business simulation and business evaluation. The results indicated that twelve months after the training most participants were successful.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.