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Background: The gap between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large businesses that perform risk assessment is significant. SMEs continuously face many operational risks and uncertainties in their daily operations, and these risks threaten to reduce productivity, increase costs and reduce profits.Aim: The purpose of this article was to develop an operational risk management framework that SMEs can use to identify and analyse risks in their operations and take corrective actions to mitigate these risks.Setting: Small and medium-sized enterprises in South Africa do not view risk management as a key component of organisational success, despite evidence that businesses that adopt risk management strategies are more likely to survive and grow.Methods: The article is exploratory in nature, and a conceptual analysis approach was used to formulate the framework. This study reviewed relevant literature sources on risk published between 2002 and 2017.Results: The four process steps of risk management were used as a reference point and form the foundation for the operational risk management framework. The categories of operational; marketing; technical and financial risks were identified from a review of available literature on risk management.Conclusion: There is a dearth of research that deals with operational risk management frameworks for SMEs. The expected contribution of this article, therefore, is twofold: firstly, it is envisaged that managers or owners of SMEs could use the proposed framework as a tool to appraise and minimise their operational risks; secondly, it will add to the current body of knowledge on risk appraisal for SMEs.

Background: State Procurement Board procedures and the public procurement process have been blamed for the lagging behind of government projects that impact on public service delivery in Zimbabwe.Objectives: This article provides insight into challenges resulting from the legal framework for public procurement in Zimbabwe that detract from service delivery.Method: Empirical data was collected through in-depth interviews with five participants at five public entities, using a semi-structured interview guide. Content analysis was used to analyse the primary data.Results: The findings revealed various challenges in the public procurement process that detract from service delivery. These include a lack of strategic recognition of the procurement function and procurement policy; a lack of professional, managerial and leadership skills; a lack of appropriated funds from Treasury; and a lack of accountability in the procurement process.Conclusion: There is a dearth of research on the public procurement process and its efficiency in Zimbabwe, and this study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by identifying areas through which public procurement can be improved in Zimbabwe.

PurposeThis study aims to demonstrate how integration is achieved in an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design by assessing the effect of collaborative cultural dimensions on supply chain collaboration amongst firms in Ghana's downstream petroleum sector. Specifically, the study examined how collectivism, long-term orientation, power symmetry, as well as uncertainty avoidance influence supply chain collaboration. Besides, it also demonstrates how integration is achieved in an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design.Design/methodology/approachUsing an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, the study employed a partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) analysis of quantitative data (N = 166), followed by a thematic analysis of eight semi-structured interviews to explain how and why the dimensions of collaborative culture impact supply chain collaboration.FindingsThe quantitative findings suggest that three out of the four dimensions of culture significantly predict supply chain collaboration. Integrating the quantitative and qualitative findings suggests convergence between the results of the quantitative and qualitative phases of the study as the qualitative results compliment the quantitative findings and offer more nuanced understanding of the cultural mechanisms responsible for successful supply chain collaborations.Practical implicationsThe findings provide managers in the downstream petroleum sector with insights into how and why the dimensions of collaborative culture influence supply chain collaboration. These managers should, therefore, build corporate cultures characterized with high levels of long-term orientation, power symmetry and uncertainty avoidance.Originality/valueOwing to the role of culture in successful supply chain collaborations, this study, through a mixed-methods design, links the dimensions of collaborative culture with supply chain collaboration in the downstream petroleum sector. Moreover, it demonstrates how integration and complementarity are achieved at the study design, methods, as well as the interpretation and reporting levels of an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design.

Background: The public sector occupies a key role in the economy comprising the appropriation of state revenue to purchase goods and to render services productively, while ensuring the optimum utilisation of available funds and resources to benefit the inhabitants of the country. Problems in the Zimbabwean public procurement sector that detract from service delivery are key contemporary issues. This is evident from the numerous complaints of poor service delivery received by the public that can be attributed to public procurement.Objective: The purpose of this article was to report on a study that investigated problems in the different stages of the operational procurement process in the Zimbabwean public sector that detract from service delivery, the extent of these problems and how the public procurement process can be improved to enhance service delivery.Method: This descriptive and exploratory study followed a quantitative approach. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire administered to all public entities in Zimbabwe. Data were analysed using SPSS. Results: The majority of the identified problems in the public procurement sector that detract from service delivery are found in the advertising, bid evaluation and contract stages.Conclusion: As only a few studies on this topic have been conducted in Zimbabwe, the findings of this research add a significant perspective to the existing body of knowledge and can assist stakeholders with regard to how the public procurement process can be improved in order to enhance service delivery through public procurement process reform and restructuring.