Toward a research agenda for the study of business practices in information industries

Nezlek, George S.; Hidding, Gezinus J.

doi:10.1109/hicss.2000.926947

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…An entrepreneur"s day-to-day business practices are directly related to his organisational performance, and as such differ from that of other entrepreneurs and business sectors (Nezlek and Hidding, 2000). Because entrepreneurs are the key decision makers in SMEs, they have a high influence on the formation of the business strategy of the SME and are responsible to set the roadmap for their firms to move towards their set goals (Masurel et al, 2003).…”

Section: The Relationship Between Business Practices and The Long-termentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards establishing long term surviving small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa: An entrepreneurial approach

Neneh¹

2012

Afr. J. Bus. Manage.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The question of why some businesses survive and others do not is still a central focus in entrepreneurship studies. Considering that entrepreneurs/owner-managers are the key decision makers in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and have direct control over the day to day operations of their business, ensuring the long term survival of their businesses remains a crucial issue to them. The objective of this paper is to establish a unique set of entrepreneurial competencies (entrepreneurial mindset, entrepreneurial characteristics and business practices) that can help entrepreneurs to create long term surviving SMEs. This study adopts the theoretical framework on achieving long term SME survival established by Neneh et al. (2011) and empirically tested the validity of their findings. The population for the study comprised of entrepreneurs in the SME sector in Bloemfontein, Botshabelo and Thaba'Nchu (Free State province in South Africa). The results corroborated with the theoretical assumptions established in the framework. The key finding was that all entrepreneurs who possessed all the entrepreneurial competencies had a very high probability of achieving long term SME survival. This study provides empirical evidence to endorse the theoretical framework for achieving long term SME survival. It is assumed that this study will act as a guide for business consultants and academics to gain a better understanding of the type of learning tools they need to adopt to take entrepreneurs through the learning process in order to ensure the long-term survival and sustainability of SMEs.

show abstract

Section: The Relationship Between Business Practices and The Long-termentioning

confidence: 99%