Browsing Research articles (Dept of Management) by Subject "Small and medium enterprises"
Now showing items 1-6 of 6
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Temtime, Z.T. (Science Publications / ANSI Journals; http://www.ansijournals.com/3/c4p.php?id=1&theme=3&jid=jas, NaN, 2001)[more][less]
Abstract: Although environmental scanning is a key concept in management research, its application and importance, particularly in developing African countries, is not well investigated. Scanning the company's external environment for the purpose of exploiting opportunities and minimizing threats in a precondition for the survival and success of firms in the developed economies. Does this precondition also apply to African developing countries like Botswana? Are firms in Botswana formulating their strategies for the attainment of organizational goals without scanning their environment? If not, what are their scanning behaviours? Data were collected from a randomly selected sample of 44 firms in Botswana. Findings indicated that companies in Botswana do scan their environment and use the information in major managerial decision-making processes, particularly in strategy formation. Though more importance is attached to the customer / market, competition and economic sectors, corporate leaders in Botswana tend to rely more on impersonal and internal sources as opposed to personal and external sources to analyse an increasingly uncertain sector, This scanning practice calls for the attention of researchers in strategic management in developing countries. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/187 Files in this item: 2
license.txt (1.998Kb)temtime_pjas_Jul2001pdf.pdf (715.6Kb) -
Temtime, Z.T.; Pansiri, J. (Business Perspectives; Sumy State University (Ukraine); http://www.businessperspectives.sumy.ua/, NaN, 2005)[more][less]
Abstract: Although the discovery of diamond has propelled Botswana from one of the poorest countries in 1966 to its current stage of development as a middle-income country, the country still faces the problems of economic diversification, employment creation, income generation and distribution, and poverty alleviation. Government and non-governmental organizations have put many efforts on the development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to diversity the economy away from mining, to create jobs and alleviate poverty. However, the pace of development of SMEs, after 30 years, is very slow and discouraging. The SMEs failure rate, caused by a plethora of internal and external factors, is now estimated to be over 80%. There is a general consensus among policy makers, politicians, and researchers in Botswana that this trend should not be allowed to continue indefinitely. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceived critical management factors (PCMFs) affecting the development of SMEs by collecting primary date from 203 SMEs in 3 cities in the Republic of Botswana by means of questionnaire. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to present the demographic distribution of the sample firms, the identification, ranking and association of PCMFs. The findings showed that five PCMFs (human resources development; organizational development; managerial background; managerial leadership and competitive strategy) affect the performance of SMEs. The PCMFs are strongly related among themselves, indicating the need for a holistic and systematic approach in addressing them. Important relationships were also found between the PCMFs and firm-specific demographic variables such as ownership status, experience and operating period. Recommendations and implication of the findings for future research, policy makers, practitioners in SMEs, and SMEs support agencies and groups were also forwarded. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/188 Files in this item: 2
license.txt (1.998Kb)temtime_PPM_2005.pdf (2.663Mb) -
Temtime, Z.T.; Pansiri, J. (Botswana Institute of Administration and Commerce (BIAC), May NaN, 2006)[more][less]
Abstract: Although the discovery of diamond has propelled Botswana from one of the poorest countries in 1966 to a middle-income developing nation, the country still faces the problems of economic diversification, employment creation, income generation and poverty alleviation. The main strategy to achieve these goals has been the promotion of entrepreneurship and small business development. In spite of the concerted efforts made to promote the development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), the small business failure is increasing at an alarming rate. This paper investigates the perceived impacts of marketing and finance on the development of SMEs in Botswana. 39 marketing and finance related problems were identified, largely from the small business literature, and the respondents were asked to rate the impact of these problems using a five-point scale. Principal component analysis with varimax rotation produced four critical factors (ie marketing actions, customer relationship, investment analysis and working capital management). These factors were also found to have a statistically significant relationship with firm specific demographic variables showing the need for comprehensive and flexible small business assistance programmes. The implications of the findings for policy makers, practitioners and researchers are also presented. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/191 Files in this item: 2
license.txt (1.998Kb)temtime_BIAC_2006.pdf (3.029Mb) -
Temtime, Z.T.; Shunda, J.P.W. (Science Publications / ANSI Journals; http://www.ansijournals.com/3/c4p.php?id=1&theme=3&jid=itj, June NaN, 2002)[more][less]
Abstract: The relationship between the degree of information technology usage, company size and its strategic planning practices has critical implications for sustainability of firm competitiveness. However the relationship has been conceptualised and operationalised in relation to only large firms. Only a few studies have attempted to examine the nature of this relationship in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in developing economies. This article examines three things: (1) the perception of SMEs about the role of IT in firm competitiveness, (2) the planning behaviour and practices of SMEs, and (3) the relationship between SMEs IT usage and planning behaviour. Data were collected from 44 SMEs in the Republic of Botswana. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/198 Files in this item: 2
license.txt (1.998Kb)temtime_PJIT_2002.pdf (2.582Mb) -
Temtime, Z.T. (Science Publications; ANSI Publications http://ansijournals.com/3/c4p.php?id=1&theme=3&jid=jas, NaN, 2001)[more][less]
Abstract: Although strategic planning and information technology are key concepts in management research, they have been widely used in relation to only large firms. Only few studies attempted to examine the perceptions of small and medium enterprises (hereafter, SMEs) about the role of IT in strategy making. Moreover, these studies are of less significance for developing countries as the definition and environment of SMEs vary from developed to developing country. This article analyses the strategic use of microcomputers and software packages in corporate planning and decision-making in small and medium enterprises (hereafter, SMEs). Data were collected from 44 SMEs from 3 cities in the Republic of Botswana to study their perceptions about the use of computer-based technology to solve managerial problems, and analyzed using simple descriptive statistics. The findings indicate that SMEs in Botswana engaged in both strategic and operational planning activities. However, microcomputers and software packages were used primarily for operational and administrative tasks rather than for strategic planning. They perceive that strategic planning is costly, timeconsuming, and hence appropriate for only large firms. The study also showed that firm size and strategic orientation have direct and positive relation to the use of computer technology for strategic decision making. The major implication of the findings for future research has been identified and presented. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/199 Files in this item: 2
license.txt (1.998Kb)temtime_PJAS_2001.pdf (1.835Mb) -
Temtime, Z.T.; Pansiri, J. (Asian Network for Scientific Information, www.ansinet.org, NaN, 2004)[more][less]
Abstract: Although the discovery of diamonds has propelled Botswana from one of poorest countries in 1966 to its current economic status as a middle-income country, the country still face the problem of economic diversification, employment creation, income generation and distribution, and poverty alleviation. Governmental and non-governmental organisations have put many efforts on the developments of small and medium enterprises (SMEs)to diversify away the economy from mining, to create jobs, generate income and alleviate poverty. However, the pace of development of SMEs, after 30 years, is slow. The small business failure rate is currently estimated to be over 80 percent. There is a general consensus among policy makers, politicians, and researchers in Botswana that this trend should not be allowed to continue indefinitely. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceived critical success/factors (PCSFSs) affecting the development of SMEs by collecting primary data from 203 SMEs in 3 cities in the Republic of Botswana through questionnaire. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to present the empirical data. The findings showed that ten PCSFs (human resource development, organizational development, managerial background, managerial leadership and competitive strategy) affect the performance of SMEs. The PCSFs are strongly related among themselves, indicating the need for a holistic and systematic approach in addressing them. Important relationships were also found between the PCSFs and firm-specific demographic variables such as ownership status, experience and operating period. Recommendations and implications for policy and research are also forwarded. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/849 Files in this item: 1
Temtime_AJAS_2004.pdf (998.3Kb)
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