School of Business and Finance

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Browsing by Subject "Business"

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    An investigation into the applicability of a retail audit as a planning and controlling tool for small clothing retailers.
    (Univeristy of the Western Cape, 1992) Isaacs, Eslyn Bleighnaul Hugh
    "The affluence of a nation may be judged by its ability to produce useful goods and services and to distribute them widely throughout the population." 1 The distribution of goods and services from the producer to the final consumer is handled by one or a combination of the traditional institutions in the distribution system. These traditional institutions are wholesalers, retailers and agents. This study will concentrate on the retailer but with particular reference to the small retailer. A retail business is defined as a business which derives more than 50%2 of its sales income by selling directly to consumers. Wholesalers, however, derive more than 50%3 of their sales income by selling directly to retailers and other wholesalers. The small 1 retailer, because of its location, is in many respects in a better position to satisfy the needs and want s of its target market than its bigger counterparts. Since 1967, there has been a sharp growth in the establishment of small retailers. 4 This could be attributed to the relative perceived ease with which these types of businesses can be started. In South Africa the only legal requirement to start a formal small retail business is a valid business licence. No regulations stipulate that a person should have been trained to manage a retail business. It could be argued, therefore, that this relative ease is also contributing to the unprofessional management of these enterprises, resulting in relatively high small business failures. Statistics show that at least 27,2%5 of small retail businesses in the United States of America fail within the first three years of operation. The probable causes of these failures are the following: 6
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    An investigation into the problem of debt collection in the Durban area, with the aim of suggesting cost-reducing alternatives
    (Univeristy of the Western Cape, 1982) Patel, Madhubala Lila
    The purpose of this study is to investigate the problems faced by businesses in the Durban area, in the field of Debt collection, with the aim of suggesting alternatives that would help reduce the cost of collections, as well as lead to the development of a sound system of credit approval. Accounts receivables is an important asset in the books of any organization. In some smaller companies it is often the single largest asset which the firm owns. It is therefore vitally important that top management pay attention to the development of sound business policies and procedures to control this asset and also make certified effort in developing the quality of personnel to head this department. It is hoped that the results of this investigation will point out to management some of the problems facing credit departments, and also provide them with some solutions and areas which need improvement. To achieve the aim of this study it was necessary to ascertain what practices and procedures were being followed by businesses with respect to credit and collections and to evaluate the strength and weaknesses of these procedures.
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    Micro-perspective lens on entrepreneurs in the early stage of business: Expectations vis-à-vis realities
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2022) Nheta, Daniel Silent; Shambare, Richard; Sigauke, Caston
    In the early stage of business, which is where most new ventures fail, many entrepreneurs experience discrepancies between their entrepreneurial expectations and business realities. These discrepancies referred to by this paper as an entrepreneurial gap (EG) are, therefore, among other factors, professed to be responsible for the high attrition rate of emerging ventures in South Africa. An oversight in this area of EG, despite the provision of most required resources, may still lead to business failure. This paper argues that there is more yet to be comprehended regarding early-stage business success, concerning the entrepreneur component. The purpose of this paper was to recognize and classify factors responsible for establishing entrepreneurial gaps with the intent to improve the level of preparedness among emerging entrepreneurs. A qualitative approach with in-depth interviews was employed in the data collection. ATLAS ti 8 was used to unpack factors that instigate entrepreneurial gaps while posing challenges to emerging entrepreneurs in the early stage of business. The groups identified were: entrepreneur management, familism and personal management. The findings provide information that is credible to improving the level of preparedness among emerging entrepreneurs, and could be used by mentors, coaches and relevant support structures.