Title page for ETD etd-03182010-160845

Document Type

Master's Dissertation

Author

Aswani, Frank

URN

etd-03182010-160845

Document Title

Barriers and facilitators to transitioning of small businesses (SMME’s) from the second to the first economy in South Africa

Degree

MBA

Department

Gordon Institute of Business Science

Supervisor

Advisor Name	Title
Prof M Sutherland	Supervisor

Keywords

small medium and micro enterprises

Date

2008-04-01

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

This Research was undertaken to explore and better understand the perceptions of SMME owners, in South Africa, of the financial and non financial barriers and facilitators to the formalization/transitioning process. The study was motivated by the lack of data on the South African context of the barriers and facilitators of the formalization process. The conversion of enterprises from informal to formal concerns is not well researched and understood. In the absence of hard data, experienced observers and practitioners in the small business field express extreme skepticism about the efficacy of attempts to convert informal businesses to formal ones, (Bernstein, 2004).
The research was conducted, mostly in Alexandra township Johannesburg, by means of 20 in-depth, semi-structured, face to face interviews with SMME owners; 10 operating informally and 10 who formally were, but have since transitioned/formalized.
The resulting findings showed that lack of access to information on formalization and limited access to cash or credit are the major non financial and financial barriers respectively. Improved access to information on formalization is the major non financial facilitator and ability to access a bigger market plus increased access to cash or credit are the major financial facilitators. These findings also indicate that there may be a difference in the barriers and facilitators to formalization in South Africa as compared to what’s reported internationally in the literature.
© 2007 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria

Please cite as follows:
Aswani, F 2007, Barriers and facilitators to transitioning of small businesses (SMME’s) from the second to the first economy in South Africa, MBA dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-03182010-160845/ >
G10/117/ag

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