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A systemic exploration of the external risk factors impacting SMEs survival in South Africa
No full textSmall and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries have a high failure rate, and South Africa is no exception with most SMEs failing within their early years of commencement. Notwithstanding efforts to support SMEs in South Africa, the failure rate has remained high, and despite ongoing research, most SMEs are likely to fail. While research has been conducted in South Africa, few studies have identified the risk factors affecting SMEs, with none focusing on the interrelations of these factors. As a result, this research aimed to explore the key risk factors affecting the survival of SMEs in South Africa and to determine their interrelations using Interpretive Structural Modelling. This objective was addressed through the following research questions. a) What are the key risk factors affecting the survival of SMEs in South Africa? b) What is the relationship between the identified key risk factors? c) What is the root cause of the identified key risk factors? Interactive Management (IM), a systems thinking methodology, was used in the study. This approach was most suitable because of its applicability in addressing complex issues in a pluralistic environment. The IM methodology introduced a collaborative learning framework that enhanced research on the risks faced by SMEs in South Africa. This approach acknowledges the intricate and often chaotic nature of the SME business environment, characterized by rapid changes and unpredictability. By fostering collaboration among stakeholders, the IM methodology enhanced deeper insights for more effective strategies to be formulated for SMEs to thrive amidst the threatening presence of risks. The research was conducted through the four IM stages, namely, idea generation, idea clarification, idea structuring, and model interpretation. A total of 15 risk factors were selected for idea structuring by participants through voting for the most critical risk factors. The 15 risk factors were structured through a pairwise comparison activity to produce a digraph that shows the interrelations of the risk factors. Amongst these risk factors, skills shortages and natural disasters proved to be the core risk factors affecting SME survival in South Africa and, consequently, these two risk factors aggravate the other risk factors in the model
The influence of social media marketing on the rise of emerging African Language repertoires in South African digital communication
No full textThe multilingual South African landscape is represented by the country's twelve official languages, of which nine are African languages. This landscape presents an opportunity for brands to foster inclusive communication with and amongst diverse communities. As global communication increasingly becomes digitalised, social media is rapidly growing as an easily accessible communication platform for social engagements and digital marketing. This study aimed to analyse how African language speakers communicate with and about local brands on social media platforms to identify emerging social media trends and marketing opportunities using African languages when engaging with South African consumers. The research case study primarily observed the interaction between four proudly South African brands and the brands' “followers” on three social media platforms. The four brands were selected for being top-performing African brands that play a significant role in driving the continent's economic growth. The said brands have also enhanced their digital communication, resulting in stronger consumer engagement. The qualitative data was collected through screenshots of social media posts by the brands and their followers. For data integrity and analysis, the screenshots were converted into verbatim texts. Core findings indicate that social media platforms, particularly Twitter—rebranded as “X” —, are the quickest way to initiate and broadcast new African language repertoires. The social media platforms of four brands were included in this study: two food brands and two financial brands. The chicken-based food outlets, Nando's SA and Chicken Licken SA, went out of their way to celebrate the linguistic, cultural and social diversity of their followers by embracing new language repertoires, code-switching, and interacting with a great sense of humour. Meanwhile, the financial brands, Capitec and OUTsurance, did not communicate with followers in African languages, and their shortcoming was that they forfeited broader consumer engagement. This study illustrated that brands that engage consumers with familiar social jargon, such as emerging African language repertoires, have the potential to maximise their marketing opportunities, as observed from the social media marketing of Chicken Licken SA and Nando's SA
Assessing seasonal forecast use in Western Cape viticulture: a risk framework approach
Get PDFViticulture refers to the practice of cultivating grapevines for winemaking. With a rapidly changing climate and rising global temperatures, this type of farming is under significant threat. Seasonal forecasts (SF) offer the potential to reduce farmer's vulnerability to climate risks by offering advanced climate information. This study aims to use a risk management framework to identify and compare the level of risk involved in using or not using seasonal forecasts in viticulture. The study's primary data was collected through self-administered semi-structured interviews with viticulturists, agricultural consultants. and farm managers at different wineries within the Western Cape province, South Africa (SA). Wine grape farmers were interviewed to learn about their adaptation strategies in response to climate variability and their use or no-use of SF. The interviews explored the nature and types of risks that exist when climate conditions are above and below normal conditions, with and without the use of SF. A risk management framework, designed for this study's context, was used as a reference point, giving common ground to analysing the responses thematically and produce evidence toward each study objectives. The results show that climate variability poses a significant threat to the yield and quality of wine produced and has a negative impact on the labour and finances in- volved in running a vineyard. Analysing the responses showed that forecast uncertainty is the main driver of low SF uptake thus correlating with a lack of risk precautionary decision-making measures by farmers. Making them more vulnerable to unexpected climate impacts and risks. Farmers who make use of SF are mainly commercial who work with consultants and whose main income is made from selling grapes. The evidence presented suggests that the adoption of a risk framework could potentially aid farmers in making better decisions to help them identify, mitigate and/or avoid risks using SF technology to inform risk identification for present and future climate scenarios of their vine-yards
Understanding the contributing factors and the barriers prohibiting successful implementation of smart cities in Africa
Get PDFAfrica is a rapidly developing continent with immense potential. Several “Smart solutions” or “Smart Cities” have been initiated at various scales and with different ethos's. The Smart City concept has been proposed as a solution that aims to aid in solving some of the socio-economic problems that are currently being faced in the different contexts on the continent. What is important to consider and understand is how these developments have fared and understand the barriers and contributing factors to the different results that have been produced. This research used interviews from different perspectives from subjects who have knowledge of or have been involved with Smart Cities to uncover the barriers and contributing factors to smart city implementation on the continent. Themes were uncovered in the literature that the interviews tested to prove or disprove the research proposition made. The research proved the proposition to be true. Various socio-economic issues have hindered the execution and progression of the smart city concept in the selected African cities analysed. Literature has noted smart cities as a potential aid in combating rapid urbanisation and the research corroborated this claim. The research determined that urbanisation can be looked at from different perspectives and that innovative solutions regarding transport, the economy and housing will contribute to positive reactions to urbanisation. Governance served to be a multi-faceted issue. Governance relates to the level of understanding of the smart city concept that staff in decision-making decisions have and their ability to implement the concepts that are relevant. The research uncovered that a lack of understanding led to the reluctance of implementing smart solutions and the lack of robust systems meant that the operations taking place during the development and running of smart solutions were often sub-optimal. This brought into question the design considerations that have been made in the smart solutions that have been designed and implemented. The research determined that there have been holistic considerations when designing smart cities and solutions to consider all the facets of an urban space that are relevant and constitute as “smart solutions”. Additionally, the research identifies the design considerations are contextual to the application and serve to solve some of the issues that currently exist and have been forecasted. Ultimately, the success of these projects and the project success criteria determines the value system and the direction that the project will take, and the research illustrated congruency between the projects and literature. Smart city project success criteria, from the research, can be seen as the fulfilment of people/user-centric solutions that is tangibly felt by the integration and usage of the solutions provided. Finally, the research recommended that improved stakeholder engagement will create a foundation with better direction for the development of smart cities. Additionally, governing bodies should task themselves to do the following: review and overhaul the old systems they're currently looking to use in new applications, understand the smart city concept in its most ideal form for application, pivot to use more innovative solutions that may be more productive than the outdated solutions they have attempted to use in the past
Degradation of mechanical properties of bovine cortical bone during long-term whole bone storage.
Get PDFUnderstanding the mechanical properties and behaviour of bone is critical for predicting fractures and failures in the human skeletal system. Mechanical testing has been the conventional method for characterizing bone materials. However, due to the limited wall thickness of whole bones, only small cortical bone specimens can be obtained which creates challenges when accurate modulus measurements are required. Large-scale universal testing machines often introduce global compliance errors that obscure precise displacement data, in addition to localized compliance at the specimen-platen interface. These compliance effects are especially acute when conducting tests on quasi-brittle materials like cortical bone, that exhibit low failure strains. A thorough review of existing literature shows that there is a gap regarding the storage protocols for bone specimens prior to mechanical testing. While storage methods are generally well described, important parameters such as the interval between donor death and bone retrieval, or the time between specimen preparation and testing, are seldom reported. As bone degrades after removal from the donor, understanding this degradation is crucial to determining the duration that stored specimens remain representative of in-vivo conditions. This dissertation investigates the effects of long-term storage on the mechanical properties of bovine cortical bone, comparing two protocols: "machined-frozen" (MF) and "frozen-machined" (FM). While degradation was observed in both cases, FM samples retained their mechanical integrity slightly better than machined specimens. The elastic moduli for both groups were at the lower end of expected values after one month of storage, with a significant decline by the third month. The work described above required the development of specialized testing techniques. In particular, this work addresses compliance errors by utilizing a micronaccurate sub-press equipped with novel frustum platens designed to centralize and uniformly distribute loads. These platens, enabled precise theoretical and experimental evaluations of localized compliance, ensuring accurate modulus measurements for small specimens. Validation was achieved by comparing results from compressive tests on cylindrical polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and aluminium (Al) specimens of varying heights against three alternative methods i.e. stress wave propagation, tensile extension, and three-point bending, each of which typically require larger specimens. A high degree of correlation between the methods demonstrates the accuracy and utility of this approach in small-specimen testing
Plain language and multilingualism in South Africa: a focus on literacy and understanding in law drafting
Get PDFMultilingualism and plain language are underexamined concepts in the prescripts of South African law, in which their minimal representation has deterred the ordinary citizen from linguistic liberty, due to complex and insufferable legalese. Madiba (2014) and Moen et al. (2023) studied literacy and multilingual classrooms in South Africa where indigenous knowledge creation and sustenance were discovered as literacy interventions. This study focuses on multilingualism and plain language within the prescripts of South African law drafting in assembling plausible resolutions for legal illiteracy among ordinary consumers. Previous studies looked at multilingualism and plain language as a lacking factor in the judiciary and recommended that rigorous indigenous language implementation be adopted by the law for fair consumer protection. The study focuses on the challenges faced when decoding legalese and enquires as to whether plain language would be more helpful for a select sample of South Africans. This study looks at how the judiciary can use plain language as a principal framework for legal indigenous language glossaries and vocabularies. The study conducted interviews and observations using law order documentary evidence. The participants were provided with a law order to read, which was followed by a semi-structured interview and discussion. The study discovered that the select sample in the study tentatively points to a preference to read law documents in English. Indigenous languages were referred to as optional languages or ‘niceto-haves' for law orders to be provided in. The English desire emanated from the economic and social status of the language, which provided more improved educational and employment outcomes than indigenous languages. English dominates legal communication even though citizens struggle with its legal understanding. Legalese tends to be upheld by law professionals in which commitment to law literacy interventions for unlearned citizens needs to be consigned to. Moreover, the study found that media viewership influenced citizen emotions and perceptions of the law as legal televised programming often provides law education and insight
Investigating gene expression differences in acute and organotypic mouse hippocampal brain slices as models for studying the brain
No full textOrganotypic brain slice cultures (OBSCs) are widely used to study neural circuit function, but their molecular and cellular composition relative to acute brain slices remains poorly characterized. Here, using single-nucleus RNA sequencing, I performed a comprehensive comparison of gene expression between OBSCs and acute brain slices prepared from postnatal day 7 mouse hippocampus. I identified significant differences in cellular composition, with OBSCs showing an overrepresentation of glial cells and a relative underrepresentation of neuronal populations. Notably, oligodendrocytes were almost exclusively found in OBSCs, while dentate progenitor cells were predominantly present in acute slices, reflecting ongoing developmental processes in culture. Differential gene expression analysis revealed over 4200 unique differentially expressed genes across major cell types, with excitatory neurons and astrocytes showing the most substantial transcriptional changes. Gene ontology analysis demonstrated upregulation of pathways involved in neuronal development and cell signalling alongside downregulation of axon guidance pathways in OBSCs. Specific cell-type analysis revealed distinct adaptations, including altered inflammatory responses in microglia and astrocytes as well as modified synaptic signalling in dentate gyrus cells. These findings provide crucial insights into how brain slice cultures adapt to ex vivo conditions and highlight important considerations for their use as experimental models in neuroscience research
Voices from the margins: amplifying the workplace realities of black child-free women in South Africa
No full textThe rising number of individuals identifying as child-free has sparked a growing interest in understanding this demographic's unique challenges and opportunities. Despite progress in South Africa's equality legislation, child-free black women remain marginalised, frequently confronting stereotypes and assumptions that challenge both their personal and professional identities. This study explores these specific dynamics through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 22 child-free black women in South Africa, exploring how ‘race', ‘gender', and ‘child-free' status intersect to shape their workplace experiences. All women were formally employed and resided in South Africa, identifying as black, and between the ages of 24 – 38, with at least two years of full-time working experience. Through an intersectional lens and the application of role theory, this paper provides a nuanced perspective on how child-free individuals navigate and negotiate their roles and identities. Thematic analysis was employed to explore the data, delving into participant's insights and perspectives to gain a thorough understanding of their lived realities. The study's findings revealed the opportunities and challenges faced by child-free black women in their workplace. Three key themes emerged that reflected child-free black women's lived experiences in the South African workplace: (1) The availability paradox: navigating time and identity in child-free lives, (2) Redefining family at work: child-free identities within organisational norms, (3) Unseen needs: fostering inclusive spaces for child-free workers. Through these findings, recommendations for improving workplace support for child-free black women are presented
Outcomes of patients admitted with acute coronary syndrome to a district level hospital in a lower to middle income country
No full textBackground: Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) has become a leading cause of death in low-and middle-income countries. There is a lack of data regarding the outcomes of ACS in Africa. This study aims to assess the outcomes of ACS patients admitted to a resource-limited district hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study of patients admitted with ACS to the Department of Medicine at Victoria Hospital, Cape Town, from the 1 st September 2020 to 30 November 2020. Results: Eighty eight patients with a diagnosis of ACS was admitted, of who 52 had NSTEMI/UAP and 36 patients had STEMI. The median age was 60 years, with a male predominance of 61.36%. The major risk factors for CAD were hypertension and smoking. The overall 1-month, 6-month, and 12-month mortality rates for our cohort were 4%, 17%, and 19%, respectively. Patients that received coronary intervention (thrombolytics/PCI/CABG) had better outcomes than in those who were managed conservatively. Conclusion: This study describes the experience of ACS management in a resource-limited public hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Our patients had multiple cardiovascular risk factors with a higher mortality than published data. The lack of receiving coronary intervention was associated with worse outcomes
Covid-19 impact on Johannesburg Stock Exchange for the duration of the pandemic period
No full textFor a considerable time and for different reasons, the financial system shocks endured during rare events continue to pique investors' and policymakers' keen interest. Consequently, this study explores COVID-19's impact on the JSE. The pandemic caused significant shocks to financial systems and economies. Uncertainties emanating from investor fear in response to the pandemic outbreak affected portfolio investment decisions. Additionally, policymakers implemented ‘social distancing' and stringent measures to restrict the contagion of the health crisis, which had a disruptive impact on global value chains. To limit these adverse effects, policymakers — subject to budgetary constraints — implemented fiscal, monetary, and other stimulus packages to lessen the adverse impact on the real economy. Extensive studies have examined the reaction and recovery of financial and economic markets following pandemic-induced shocks. These studies draw on theories from behavioural finance, financial risk contagion, and the efficient market hypothesis to analyse market responses and stability. This dissertation builds on the existing literature by examining the health crisis' transmission to the financial markets in an emerging economy. The study employed new deaths and stringency measures implemented during the pandemic period as proxies for COVID-19 and assessed their impact on ALSI returns, the variable of interest, using a quantile regression estimation technique. The results indicate a level of collinearity and multicollinearity between ALSI returns and global financial market performance indicators. The correlation between ALSI returns, the S&P 500 and Implied Volatility is statistically significant at 0.716 and –0.600 respectively. This outcome indicates the deepened integration of South African financial markets with the globe. The flight to safe havens was not observed. Contrasting ALSI returns with macroeconomic factors represented by crude oil and the rand–dollar exchange rate, the relationships are statistically insignificant. The real economy disturbances do not appear to have been transmitted to the financial markets in the long term. Progress in vaccine development and coordinated global policy interventions may have limited the sustained adverse impact on the real economy. This study offers key recommendations for portfolio design, policymaker intervention timing, and the balance between economic stimulation and containment efforts during pandemics