Faktore wat winsgewende groei in klein en mediumgrootte sakeondernemings beïnvloed

[摘要] English: The existence of a small business sector presents certain advantages to economichouseholds. The continued existence of the small business sector will, however, only besecured if small businesses grow profitably. It seems that profitable growth is the exceptionand when it occurs, growth is uncontrolled or the results thereof is negative. The questionis therefore: Why do some businesses grow profitably and others not? According to thisstudy, profitable growth is rooted in a combination of factors. The purpose of this study wasto determine to what extent the entrepreneur, opportunity and resources contribute toprofitable growth in a small business enterprise.A two-fold investigation, consisting of a literature study and empirical research, wasconducted. Section A consists of Chapters 2 to 5, and covers the theoretical discussion ofprofitable growth and the three factors influencing profitable growth, namely theentrepreneur, opportunity and resources. Section B includes the empirical results andconclusions of the study.Profitable growth is regarded as the real increase in profitability and turnover in relation toeach other over the long term. Profitable growth leads to wealth increase which is thejustification for the existence of businesses. Profitable growth will only occur ifentrepreneurs identify sound opportunities and overcome financial and managementproblems due to the growth process.Sound opportunities can be classified as follows: the organisation has the ability to exploitthe opportunity; the duration of the opportunity is long enough to recover investment; a realdemand for the product exists; products differ from those of the competitor's; littlecompetition and substitute products exist; low bargaining power of customers and suppliersand entry barriers can be overcome. A competitive advantage ensures profitable growth.Small businesses can obtain a competitive advantage through strategy differentiation. Agrowth strategy that can be used to adapt to the changing environment is intensive growth,with specific reference to product and market innovation.Management problems that entrepreneurs experience as a result of growth are leadershipdilemmas; poor long term focus; poor communication; increased uncertainty amongstworkers; forming of subgroups in the organisation; poor human resource management;increased stress for the entrepreneur; increase in rigidity and a change in organisation'sculture. Added to the aforementioned, the entrepreneur's own role has to change as well.The entrepreneur also plays a crucial role in the development of organisational structures,entrepreneurial teams and organisational cultures.Small businesses usually experience shortages in capital. One of the main results of growthis cash flow problems which increases the shortages in capital. To prevent financialproblems, cash flow can be monitored by means of cashflow statements, cashflow ratio'sand by determining an affordable growth rate by using the percentage of sales model and theBoston-model. Entrepreneurs are forced to use external financing to finance growthalthough the generation of own funds for growth is the most desirable. The financing ofgrowth in small businesses, however, often takes place by means of debt.The literature study is followed by an empirical study that consisted of four phases, namelythe definition of the target population, compilation of the questionnaire, completion of theinvestigation and the processing of the data. Structured data collection, namely personalinterviews by means of a questionnaire was used to obtain information from the sample(profitable, growing, small and medium sized businesses in Bloemfontein). After that datawas analyzed by means of cross tabulation and variance analyses.It is clear from the empirical investigation that profitable growth is an attainable objectivefor small businesses. Profitable growth is anchored in identifying and exploiting of soundopportunities and the overcoming of management and resource problems stemming fromthe growth process. The potential for profitable growth does exist for small and mediumsized businesses in different markets, trades and circumstances.

[发布机构] University of the Free State