ABSTRACT

Postgraduate studies in business faculties pose particular challenges to candidates who have come from practically-oriented undergraduate programmes, particularly those that adopt a 'technical-rational' approach towards the improvement of business practices or organisational efficiency. Research studies in the applied business fields usually expect that the candidate will take a more sociological approach, or be able to work within socio-historical or political frameworks (Hordern, 2014). Candidates who are enrolled for postgraduate business studies have to negotiate this complex transition. The focus of this paper is how candidates acquire the necessary academic and social practices for theorising their research, for conducting research activities and writing up their research findings in Masters level applied business studies. We selected candidates who had experienced difficulties throughout their Masters studies and who had successfully completed, or who were close to completion, despite initial difficulty for narrative interviews. The interview data were analysed with a view to establishing the practices that supported successful transition from practice-based undergraduate business degrees to postgraduate studies in the field. This paper concludes with suggestions for supervisory practices that have the potential to support successful postgraduate research in applied business studies.

One of the fundamental ways of enhancing destination development and sustainability is through the satisfaction of the tourists, as it provides ripple effects for the destination. The purpose of this paper was to assess the value of integrating views of the tourists in the development of a resort destination - Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. The study followed a quantitative research design in testing seven critical elements of the tourism product drawn from literature which include accommodation, activities and tours, accessibility, attractions, facilities, image and price from the tourist visiting Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Data from 377 respondents were collected using systematic sampling and analysed using IBM23 Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The results of this study underscore the importance of integrating the views of tourists as a fundamental element in the growth and development of a sustainable tourist destination. The tourists’ evaluation of the seven elements of the tourism product further revealed the price of the offering as deeming too high, while attractions, image, accommodation and activities and tours were the outstanding elements of the resort destination’s tourism product. A mixed reaction (mainly neutral), were noted on the accessibility and the facilities of the resort destination tourism product.

Coastal and marine tourism is a sector that draws visitors from around the globe to South Africa. This is largely because of an array of marine wildlife resources found in the country. Despite this strong pull factor, there is limited information on the economic value of the marine environment. This article focuses on establishing the profiles of visitors taking part in shark cage diving in Gansbaai. Such profiling will facilitate the understanding of the potential target market of CMT visitors to Gansbaai, whilst contributing towards targeted developments in the area aimed at capturing the economic value of such visitors through the provision of a range of visitor-specific activities to make the destination more appealing. It will also contribute to further developments in the area, in providing a wide range of activities to make the destination more appealing. In ascertaining the profile of visitors, a quantitative research design was adopted. A total of n = 378 self-administered questionnaires were collected from visitors taking part in shark cage diving using a face-to-face proportionate sampling technique. The results revealed that a majority of visitors were drawn to Gansbaai because of shark cage diving and that a large portion travelled to Gansbaai for holiday purposes. There was a challenge in the ability of the destination to attract overnight visitors because of a limited product offering in the area. As a result, minimal spending occurs in Gansbaai as an overwhelming majority of the visitors are day visitors. These results have implications for tourists, tourism destination planners, tour operators and tourism establishments in Gansbaai.