Browsing by Author "Saungweme, Percy"

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    Relationship marketing: Strategic and tactical challenges for SMEs
    (Academic Journals, 2010) Saungweme, Percy; Naicker, Visvanathan; Chuma, Watson
    This study sought to explore the tactical and strategic challenges, which small and medium sized service firms may face in their bid to successfully practice and implement Relationship marketing. The framework of the requirements for successful practice of relationship marketing propounded by Gronroos (1996) was used in this study to explore likely, the tactical and strategic challenges that small and medium sized service firms face in their endeavour to practice Relationship marketing (RM). A critical literature review was undertaken on the inherent characteristics of SMEs and how they pose the aforementioned challenges. Small and medium sized firms could find it strategically and tactically challenging to meet effectively, the requirements of successfully implementing and practicing Relationship marketing owing to their inherent characteristics and constraints. Researchers are recommended to empirically investigate the applicability of the ''generalized'' requirements for the successful practice of Relationship marketing in small and medium sized service firms. The study viewpoint, which is the first of its kind, demonstrates that the ''one size fit all'' approach as regards the practice of Relationship marketing does not generically apply to all business forms (large and small) hence, may not be generalized to small and medium sized service firms as well across all types of economies.
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    Strategic alliance governance in Zimbabwe policy and strategy
    (Academic Journals, 2009) Naicker, Visvanathan; Saungweme, Percy
    Worldwide interest in strategic alliances has increased dramatically partly because of their potential to expand firms operations in the short run. Among the many issues posed by the increasing interest in strategic alliances, this paper focuses specifically on the dynamics associated with the governance of strategic alliance relationships. Furthermore, due to the constant deterioration of the Zimbabwean economy and the resultant heightened customer expectations, Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have to enter into collaborative relationships which involve a high level of trust, goal alignment and commitment. The research used a multi-method field approach to gather, information on strategic alliances and corporate governance from 50 strategic alliance relationships from a wide spectrum of firms in a variety of industries in Zimbabwe. Ultimately, this paper identifies four critical governance areas into a framework for strategic alliance governance. The advent of the Internet has increased the ease of application or collaboration to form strategic alliances. Factors such as increased competition because of easier market entry, speed of data, and demanding customer requirements are necessitating a revolutionary change in the way that SMEs are managed. The struggling economy of Zimbabwe provides a platform that enables SMEs to extend their alliances to its suppliers thereby forming dynamic industrial districts. These factors, shared with an eagerness to contribute towards information and technology flow, will enable an efficient alliance thereby responding to the needs of customers.