Browsing Management by Subject "Botswana"
Now showing items 1-15 of 15
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Pansiri, J.; Temtime, Z.T. (Emerald Publishing Group Ltd, www.emeraldinsight.com/jmd.htm, NaN, 2008)[more][less]
Abstract: The paper aims to identify perceived critical managerial factors (PCMFs) affecting the performance of SMEs, show the direction and extent of relationship between PCMFs and firm characteristics, and forward some research and policy implications. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/180 Files in this item: 2
license.txt (1.998Kb)temtime_JMD_2008.pdf (1.957Mb) -
Temtime, Z.T. (Faculty of Business, University of Botswana, http://www.ub.bw/ord/ord_journals.cfm?pid=540&rf=545, March NaN, 2004)[more][less]
Abstract: Although the relationship between planning and profitability is inconclusive, there is much consensus in the strategic management literature that no firm can survive in todayâ s turbulent and competitive markets without some form of business planning. This paper examines the business planning practices of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with special reference to the planning processes and contents. Data were collected from 87 SMEs in three cities in the Republic of Botswana through a structured interview. The findings of the study indicated that owner-managers of SMEs are not actively involved in the planning process. Instead they use external consultants and advisors to prepare their business plans, which they use primarily for the purpose of external validation and legitimacy. Although both small and medium sized firms put greater emphasis on operational and short-term survival oriented issues than strategic activities, the study found that there is a positive relationship between firm size and planning practices. As a firm grows in market share or number of employees, owner-managers tend to actively engage in the planning process. The study stresses the critical importance of business planning process rather than business plans in developing strategic thinking and awareness in SMEs. Some suggestions and implications for future research are also discussed. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/179 Files in this item: 2
license.txt (1.998Kb)temtime_BJB_2004.pdf (2.774Mb) -
Temtime, Z.T.; Mmereki, R.N. (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, www.emeraldinsight.com, NaN, 2011)[more][less]
Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the degree of satisfaction and perceived relevance of the Graduate Business Education (GBE) programme at the University of Botswana. Design/methodology/approach – A self-administered questionnaire and face to face interviews were used to collect data from Master of Business Administration (MBA) participants on their reason for studying MBA, level of satisfaction, and the extent to which the skills and experiences obtained correlate with those required by the corporate world. The data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics. Findings – The majority of the respondents are male adults attending part time MBA classes and working full time in administrative positions in the public and private sectors. The study found that improved managerial skills, career development and broader business insights are major reasons for joining the MBA programme, while employability and economic gains were ranked low as driving forces. Even though the overall satisfaction with the programme is mixed and inconclusive, the MBA programme has assisted participants to develop basic management and administration skills. However, the programme puts greater emphasis on conceptual, technical and analytical skills than on problem solving, innovation, communication and entrepreneurial skills which are perceived to be most needed by employers, implying a relevance gap. What the MBA participants learnt does not correlate with what they perceived to be most needed by employers. Research limitations/implications – Since the findings are based on perceptions of MBA participants, the conclusions drawn from these findings must be considered tentative and interpreted with care. Future research must include representative sample of all MBA stakeholders such as faculty, students, graduates, employers and administrators to get rich information about quality of inputs, processes and products of MBA programme. Practical implications – There is strong need for the MBA programme to integrate traditional management and administrative skills with experiences and skills relevant for today's world of work. Bridging the growing theory-practice gap requires attracting professors with practical business experience, revising staff recruitment policies and procedures, establishing formal partnership with external organization, and develop long-term strategies to reduce teaching load and staff turnover. Originality/value – Most of the studies on the relevance and quality of GBE programmes are conducted in western higher education institutions, very little has been done in African universities. This is the first of its kind in the context of Botswana, an important contribution to existing literature and foundation for further advanced studies in the area. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/860 Files in this item: 1
Temtime_QAE19_2011.pdf (1.911Mb) -
Temtime, Z.T.; Chinyoka, S.V.; Shunda, J.P.W. (Journal of Management Development; Emerald Group Publishing Limited; www.emeraldinsight.com/0262-1711.htm, NaN, 2004)[more][less]
Abstract: There is a general consensus among public policy makers, academics and researchers that entrepreneurship is a vital route to economic advancement for both developed and developing economies. As a result, a host of small business assistance programs are conducted by public, private and nonprofit organizations. Although the need for integrating these programs has always been a high priority on the national agenda for public policy and research in entrepreneurship, their implementation particularly in developing economies is characterized by fragmentation and lack of coordination. Small business assistance will be meaningful if they are designed in a holistic and systematic way and implemented with a view to achieve long term sustainable development. This paper offers a conceptual framework for designing an integrated model of small business assistance. The paper identifies the major characteristics of small firms and potential small business assistance programs, and presents a decision tree model that matches the characteristics of firms with appropriate assistance program(s). A case study of small business assistance programs in the Republic of Botswana was conducted to provide an empirical evidence of the need for an integrated design or model. Finally, conclusions, discussions and the implications of the model for policy makers, practitioners and further research are presented. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/12 Files in this item: 2
license.txt (1.998Kb)temtime_decision_tree.pdf (5.483Mb) -
Temtime, Z.T. (WileyInterscience, http://www.wileyinterscience.com, NaN, 2008)[more][less]
Abstract: Today’s business environment is characterized by stiff competition, rapid technological advancements, and changing requirements of customers and employees. To grow and survive in this turbulent environment, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) must balance the emphasis they put on the improvement of short-term operational efficiency and long-term competitiveness. Due to the apparent lack of resources and expertise, most SMEs pay very little attention to long-term competitiveness and dynamism. Preoccupied with operational bits and pieces, SMEs lack strategic awareness and orientation. Strategic awareness is a mental process of continually evaluating organizational and environmental factors and improving on how they are identified, recognized, influenced, and interpreted, and consequently used in making strategic business decisions. The widespread use of short-term oriented, non-formal business planning practices indicates lack of strategic awareness and competitiveness among SMEs. This paper examines the degree of emphasis attached by SMEs, during their business planning, to the achievement of long-term competitive advantages by presenting evidence from a recent empirical study based on data collected from 91 SMEs and analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation. The findings indicated that SMEs put greater emphasis on short-term profitability and operational efficiency than developing strategic awareness and long-term competitiveness. Although this could be attributed to the relative lack of resources required for the implementation of strategic planning, policy deployment, and positioning, SMEs should be assisted to think and act strategically if they are to survive and grow in today’s turbulent and dynamic markets. Government agencies, policy-makers, consultants, non-governmental organizations, and other small business support agencies must redirect their efforts toward bridging the gap between short-term operational efficiency and strategic competitiveness and sustainability. This paper provides managerial and policy implications for SMEs, SME support agencies, government and non-government agencies, and future research. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/841 Files in this item: 1
Temtime_SC17_2008.pdf (1.252Mb) -
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. (Emerald; http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0954-478x.htm, NaN, 2003)[more][less]
Abstract: Total quality management (TQM) research has concentrated on large firms. Little has been done on the TQM practices of small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly in developing countries. This paper investigates the relationship between TQM, planning behaviour and firm size by reviewing existing literature and collection of primary data from 54 SMEs in the Republic of Botswana. The findings indicated that the majority of SMEs understand the importance of both TQM and planning activities for their survival and growth. However, their approach to both is unsystematic, non-formal and short-term orientated. Both firm size and planning behaviour are found to have statistically significant relationships with TQM practices. As firm size increases from small to medium, and as SMEs move from operational to strategic planning, they attach greater degree of importance to TQM practices. However, the planning behaviour of SMEs is more strongly related to TQM practices as a prerequisite to the adoption of formalised TQM practices. Some implications for SMEs are also forwarded. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/193 Files in this item: 2
license.txt (1.998Kb)temtime_TQM_2003.pdf (2.598Mb) -
Temtime, Z.T. (International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business; Inderscience Enterprises Ltd; http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalCODE=ijgsb, NaN, 2006)[more][less]
Abstract: The process of gathering and interpreting pertinent information from the environment and introducing the results into the business planning process is referred to as environmental scanning. This paper investigates the practices and perceptions of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in monitoring environmental complexities and changes through the use of different scanning sources and frequency. Data were collected from 44 SMEs in Botswana through questionnaire and analysed using simple descriptive statistics. The findings indicated that SMEs in Botswana do monitor their environment and use all the major scanning sources with different degrees of frequency. Though more importance is attached to the customer/market, competition and economic sectors, owner-managers in Botswana tend to rely more on impersonal (written) and internal sources as opposed to personal (informal) and external sources to analyse an increasingly uncertain sector. This is in contrast to previous findings, since information from these sources is less reliable for analysing unstable, turbulent and hard-to-measure sectors than personal and external sources. The use of inappropriate scanning sources could be partially attributed to the fact that most SMEs in Botswana do not have an integrated management information system designed to capture, store and analyse environmental data for use in strategic decision-making processes. Further implications for SMEs and future research are highlighted. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/49 Files in this item: 2
license.txt (1.998Kb)temtime_ijgsb_2006.pdf (157.1Kb) -
Marobela, M. (Emerald Group Publications, www.emeraldinsight.com, NaN, 2006)[more][less]
Abstract: Capitalist transformation of the public sector is global phenomenon that affects many countries. This paper seeks to examine recent public sector reforms introduced by the Government of Botswana to improve civil service performance. The underlying political philosophy behind the change in the public sector is explored by relating neoliberal ideology which is driving the reform agenda to the discourse of new public management (NPM) URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/858 Files in this item: 1
marobela_IJSE35_2006.pdf (1.480Mb) -
Temtime, ZT; Pansiri, J (Development and Learning in Organisations; Emerald Group Publishing Ltd; www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints, NaN, 2006)[more][less]
Abstract: Although the discovery of mineral wealth (i.e. diamond) has propelled Botswana into the middle-income category, the country still faces the problem of economic diversification, employment creation, income distribution and poverty alleviation. The main strategy employed by the government to diversify the economy and create employment has been the promotion of the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). There is a general consensus that Botswana should not continue putting all its ‘‘eggs in one basket’’. The most common argument in favor of SMEs is that they are sustainable forms of diversifying the economy away from mining; they create substantial job opportunities; and they help narrow the gap between urban and rural development, and alleviate poverty. SMEs employ more people per unit of investment as compared to large firms. The prevalence of low-skill and unskilled labor force in the economy coupled with the tendency of the government to reduce its role as primary employer made the promotion of SMEs a primary source of employment creation, income generation and poverty alleviation. The objective of the study was to investigate how managerial problems are affecting the performance and development of SMEs, and analyze the relationship between these factors and firm specific demographical variables, and the association among the problems themselves. Data were collected from through questionnaire from 250 SMEs. The majority of the sample firms were small in size (70 percent), owned by males (78 percent) and concentrated in the non-manufacturing sectors (merchandising and service) (90 percent) of the economy. Respondents were asked to rate the impact of 34 managerial items on the performance of SMEs on a five-point scale ranging from 5 (very high) to 1 (very low). URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/47 Files in this item: 2
license.txt (1.998Kb) -
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) -
Ongori, H. (Academic Journals, www.academicjournals.org, NaN, 2009)[more][less]
Abstract: The study tries to find out the driving forces for ICTs adoption, benefits, ICTs tools and barriers to ICTs adoption by SMEs.The methodology adopted for the study was a survey method whereby a conveneince random sampling of 150 managers/owners of SMEs were selected for study in Gaborone, Botswana. The data was analysed by descriptive statistics. The findings of the study indicated that, SMEs have not fully adopted ICTs in their business process because of internal and external challenges. This study will make pertinent contribution to the existing literature and inspire managers to come up with appropriate strategies on how to adopt ICTs in their business process in order to be competitive. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/845 Files in this item: 1
Ongorri_RJIT_2009.pdf (490.8Kb) -
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) -
Temtime, ZT (Botswana Institute of Administration and Commerce (BIAC), November NaN, 2004)[more][less]
Abstract: The number of new indigenous business start-ups in Botswana has significantly increased during the past two decades. Unfortunately, the majority of them are not successful. Over 70% of new start-ups fail during their first 18 months. The general failure rate is over 80%, and only less than 2% of small businesses expand their businesses. It is noteworthy that this increased failure rate is substantially greater than the increase in the rate of new business creations. It is therefore essential to study the conditions that account for such a substantial rate of business failure and develop appropriate strategies to overcome the problems. The increasing rate of business failure has seen the emergence of several public policy approaches and assistance programs that attempt to improve the success rate of new businesses. One of the most intriguing of these is the Business Incubation Programmes (BIPs)... The purpose of this paper is to analyse why BIPs are critical for the development of all business and entrepreneurship and to put forward some suggestions on how BIPs can effectively be used for a proactive and sustainable entrepreneurial development. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/189 Files in this item: 2
license.txt (1.998Kb)temtime_BIAC_2004.pdf (2.785Mb) -
Pansiri, J.; Mmereki, R.N. (Routledge, www.routledge.com, September NaN, 2010)[more][less]
Abstract: The health sector is pivotal to any national development initiative; hence, Botswana has taken seriously the principle of primary health care as contained in the the Alma-Ata declaration of 1978. As a demonstration of their commitment, the government of Botswana has passed a number of National Development Plans, health policies, and numerous reforms with a view of enhancing service quality in this sector. Many reforms and restructuring exercises are still ongoing. This study uses the SERVQUAL model to evaluate the implementation of Work Improvement Teams (WITs) in the hospitals=clinics as a reform initiative adopted by the Botswana government to enhance the productivity, efficiency, and performance of the public sector (particularly the health sector). This discussion will demonstrate that the SERVQUAL model can be used to review the impact of public policy. This will be achieved by measuring the level of service quality and customer satisfaction using the SERVQUAL model through data that were collected from 151 hospital=clinic customers in Gaborone, the capital city of the Republic of Botswana. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data, and the findings indicate that the adoption and implementation of reforms in the public health sector have not improved the level of service quality and customer satisfaction as indicated by a significant gap between customer expectations and perceptions. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/969 Files in this item: 1
Pansiri_JAB11_2010.pdf (1.236Mb)
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