The literature reveals that 40 per cent of new business ventures fail in their first year, 60 per cent in their second year, and 90 per cent in their first 10 years of existence. The research problem of this study is suggested by this high rate of business failure. This study investigates whether lack of marketing and managerial skills in business owners contributes to the high rate of business failure in South Africa.It is evident from the results that small business owners lack certain managerial skills, including financial, marketing and human-resource management skills, needed to operate their businesses successfully. The findings confirm that small business owners are in need of support services such as training, counselling, and financial assistance. They also show that small businesses are constrained not only by financial factors but also specifically by non-financial factors such as lack of education, inadequate managerial skills, poor access to markets, lack of information and unreliable infrastructure. The analysis also indicates that the managerial skills possessed by the respondents do not correlate with those that they preferably should have to run a successful business. The study concludes that a lack of MARKETING AND managerial skills has a negative impact on the success, viability and development of small businesses. The challenge is to improve the managerial skills of small business owners, since the small business sector is widely considered to be the ideal site for the solving of South Africas unemployment problems and the rejuvenation of its stagnating economy. JEL M13

Technology advances such as Internet have changed consumers shopping behaviour and increased South Africa consumers online shopping in the last few years. The purpose of this research paper was to determine the consumer attributes that influence online shopping behaviour of South African consumers. The paper determines whether consumer attributes influencing online shopping differ across consumer demographic factors and frequency of purchase. Online shopping has been a topic of interest for many researchers in SA and globally. As online shopping gain momentum among consumers, it is important for online retailers to understand what influence consumers to shop online. This is more important for developing countries such as SA. The population for the study was SA consumers who have internet access. A convenience sampling method was used to reach 104 respondents in SA. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 24. Various statistical analysis such as descriptive statistics, factor analysis and Anova were used. The findings of the study revealed that consumers attributes: perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and security have an influence on their online shopping behaviour. The conducted research also established that age of consumers, significantly influence on online shopping while gender, income and education level have no significant influence towards online shopping consumer behaviour. The attributes differ across the frequency of purchase with those frequently buying attaching more value to perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of online shopping.

It is estimated that the failure rate of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMEs) is between 70 per cent and 80 per cent. Millions of Rands are being lost on business ventures because of essentially avoidable mistakes and problems. It is maintained that often the ideas are good and the people behind them are competent, but “they do not have a clue of how to run a business” and have no underlying appreciation of business fundamentals. Problems encountered by small businesses are numerous and can be described amongst others as being environmental, financial or managerial in nature. The objective of this chapter is to establish to what extent owners/managers of spaza shops (small family businesses) in a typical South African setting, experience selected problems or issues as negatively influencing the success of their small business. The spaza shop is as a small family owned business who sells goods from home in the black suburbs of South Africa. Spaza is a Zulu word meaning “hidden” or “camouflaged”. As a result of strict legislation in the past, spaza shops traded in secret. Up to January 1989, spaza shops were illegal, but were then legalised on condition that they obtained a trading licence (Marketing Mix 2000:12). Further to this, the aim is to investigate whether relationships exist between these problem categories and selected demographic factors. A questionnaire was constructed and judgment sampling was used to solicit the responses of 300 spaza shops. The following were identified as the most prominent problem areas influencing small businesses in the Gauteng area of South Africa namely, economic factors, competition, socioeconomic problems and change. Significant relationships were identified between demographic variables such as management qualification and background of the respondent and certain problem categories.

Abstract

Substantial evidence shows that strategic marketing planning leads to increased small business performance, yet most small business owners do not draw up a plan for their businesses. This paper presents the results of a secondary research survey on strategic marketing planning of SMEs in South Africa. They indicate that while the higher performing SMEs give a higher priority to marketing than to other business functions, they are still sales-or production-oriented. The higher performing SMEs are more aware of strategic planning tools. They compete with value-added products and good buyer-seller relationships. The findings suggest that broad, small business marketing principles to some extent contribute to the success of SMEs.

This research analyzes whether there is a link between economic growth and SMEs success in South Africa. The South African economy can only grow with the contribution of growing sustainably SMEs which will accelerate economic growth. The research concluded that SME success has a positive impact on sustainable economic growth in South Africa and that there is a link between economic growth and SME success. The conducted research recommends that by improving the success rate of SME, the South Africa’s stagnating economy

A government organisation in the water supply business was faced with the challenge of changing their traditional way of doing business to operate as a profitdriven entity. This research focuses on how privatisation has affected front-line service employees. Both the front-line service employees and management were interviewed and included as cases to investigate changes that have occurred as a result of privatisation. These cases revealed that after privatisation front line service employees have received better training, appreciated a better system of communication, experienced a higher degree of empowerment and enjoyed an organisational culture that is more customer focused. The research, however, indicated lower levels of motivation, that employees do not appreciate an improvement in their reward system neither do they get feedback regarding their achievements and that they experience little job security. JEL L16, 33

Samsung Electronics entered the mobile device market on the back of their successes in other markets for electronic devices. The mobile device space in South Africa was dominated by Nokia and Blackberry and in a short space of time Samsung stormed into a tie for the top spot alongside Blackberry with a market share of 23%. In 2013 Samsung's market share dropped 5%, moving down to 18%, placing them second to Blackberry as they entered 2014. Samsung's IMC strategy for their mobile devices has been consistent and well-thought throughout the years. The influence of WOM suggests a greater need for Samsung to determine the effectiveness of WOM as part of their IMC strategy for mobile devices in South Africa. It is important for Samsung to understand how WOM shapes South African consumer purchasing decisions, what causes WOM, and what types of marketing are available to drive WOM for their mobile devices in South Africa. This study therefore attempts to investigate WOM as advertising tool in an IMC campaign, with a focus on Samsung and the South African market for mobile devices. The research indicates that 94% of South African consumers trust WOM from family and friends more than any other form of advertising. This statistic clearly indicates that South African consumers trust WOM from family and friends more than any other form of advertising. It can be deduced that if 87% of consumers actively seek WOM when purchasing a mobile device, and 94% of consumers trust WOM, then WOM is indeed powerful. In conclusion, it is clear that for Samsung, WOM is effective as part of an IMC strategy for its mobile devices in South Africa. KEY WORDS: IMC strategy for mobile devices in South Africa, Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC), Word-of-mouth (WOM), Word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM), Consumer decision-making process. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUNDSouth Africa has a competitive mobile market that has seen rapid growth since the 1990s (Africantelecomsnews.com, 2014). Market penetration is above 100%, driven by separate subscriptions of voice and mobile broadband, and resulting in a proliferation of consumers with