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The Impact of Standardisation on Business Performance of Fast food Franchises in South Africa: Customer Perspectives
No full textA research report submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Management in the field of Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation, in the Faculty of Commerce Law and Management, Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2025The South African fast food industry is a dynamic and competitive space where standardisation plays a crucial role in ensuring operational efficiency, brand consistency, and customer experience. However, achieving a balance between uniformity and adaptability remains a challenge, particularly in diverse and evolving markets. This study explores the relationships between standardisation, customer satisfaction, and business performance, examining whether customer satisfaction mediates this relationship. The Dynamic Capabilities Theory (DCT) serves as the theoretical framework, emphasising the importance of sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring resources to maintain competitiveness. A quantitative research design was adopted, with data collected from 450 respondents through an online consumer panel associated with major South African fast food franchises. Statistical analyses, including correlation, regression, and mediation tests, were conducted using SPSS. Findings reveal that standardisation does not significantly impact customer satisfaction, loyalty, or perceived quality. Moreover, customer satisfaction does not mediate the relationship between standardisation and business performance, suggesting that other factors such as innovation, localisation, and digital transformation may be more influential. This study advances DCT’s application in the franchise industry, challenging assumptions about rigid standardisation as a driver of customer satisfaction and business success. The findings provide critical insights for franchisors, emphasising the need for a more flexible, customer-centric approach that incorporates adaptability, innovation, and market responsiveness. Future research should explore alternative mediators and moderators, particularly the role of technology, sustainability, and personalised service strategies.MM202
The perceptions of informal entrepreneurs on the impact of formalisation in Cosmo City, Johannesburg
No full textA research report submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Business Administration, in the Faculty of Commerce Law and Management, Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2025This study explored the perceptions of informal township entrepreneurs in Cosmo City, Johannesburg, on the impact of formalisation, factors hindering them from formalising, and the support required from the government for them to transition. Utilising an inductive, qualitative approach and a semi-structured interview guide, in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 participants operating informally across diverse industries within the informal sector. Through thematic analysis, key themes emerged from the participant’s experiences. The findings highlight the positive perception that informal township entrepreneurs have about formalisation. Despite all the structural challenges inhibiting the participants from formalising, the study found that the rest of the hindering factors were solely in their control. This study underscores the influential role policymakers have in enabling informal township entrepreneurs to formalise their enterprises.MM202
Health Risk Assessment of Nail Technicians in the Formal and Informal Sectors of Johannesburg South Africa
No full textA comparative study of operational performance of container seaports in South Africa
No full textA research report submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Business Administration, in the Faculty of Commerce Law and Management, Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2025This research study compares the operational performance of the four major container seaports in South Africa.MM202
Global burden of 292 causes of death in 204 countries and territories and 660 subnational locations 19902023 a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023
No full textRethinking social security financing in the shadow of the digital age: A view from the global South
No full textOver the past several decades, there has been a significant expansion in social security coverage across the global South. Yet, access to social security remains highly uneven. In low- and lower-middle-income countries, fewer than one third of the population has effective access to social security benefits – and this proportion is even smaller when considering able-bodied adults of working age. Recent debates have largely centred on expanding tax-financed social assistance. Advocates of this approach argue that contributory schemes tied to employment are inherently exclusionary and increasingly obsolete in a digital age where labour is being displaced by machines. However, the digital age has also eroded the state’s capacity to raise the revenue necessary to finance social security programmes. As a result, most tax financed social security measures are inadequate to meet household’s reproductive needs. Without new sources of financing, social security responses will continue to be constrained by the fiscal space available. Drawing on case studies from across the global South, this paper examines innovative approaches to financing social security systems in the digital age. The first section traces the historical evolution of social security and the contested politics that underlie it. The second section proposes a normative framework for assessing financing options, based on the principles of progressivity, feasibility, sufficiency and sustainability. The third section considers the role of contributory social insurance, noting both their redistributive potential and challenges posed by widespread informality. The fourth section explores new strategies for resource mobilisation in the digital age, including global corporate tax regimes, financial transaction taxes, robot taxes, taxes on digital financial services and sovereign wealth funds. Drawing on the normative framework, the paper evaluates the redistributive potential and political implication of each approach. Ultimately, the paper argues that the financing of social security is not merely a technical matter but a political question of how to restructure redistribution in an increasingly precarious world of work.This research was made possible with the support of Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO), to whom the authors are deeply grateful.AK
Specialist Savvy Versus Generalist Grit Elucidating the TradeOffs in Adaptive Dietary Ecomorphology Amongst African Green and Bush Snakes
No full textSeasonal analysis and environmental risk assessment of selected emerging pollutants in the Vaal River catchment area of South Africa
No full textAcceleration Effects on 3-D Aerodynamics of Slender Bodies
No full textA research report submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy, in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Mechanical, Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2025Transient fluid dynamic effects in the transonic regime generate unique fluid behaviour during rapid acceleration when compared to a steady analysis. There is a change in the pressure load- ing upon the aerodynamic body during rapid acceleration (or deceleration) where well-known steady prediction methods for aerodynamic coefficients may not be accurate. Knowledge of changes in aerodynamic loads is valuable in obtaining increased agility and manoeuvrability. This study investigated the effect of acceleration and deceleration for a cone-cylinder at four angles of incidence, α=0◦, 5◦, 10◦, 15◦. The aerodynamic coefficients for acceleration and deceleration were compared with constant velocity to identify acceleration effects. The effects at the shoulder were tested for α=0◦, by using three cone half-angles: 10◦, 20◦ and 30◦. The computational model was three dimensional symmetric for α>0◦ and axisymmetric for α=0◦. The acceleration magnitude was constant 100g for α=0◦, and 400g for α>0◦, with straight and level flight. The Moving Reference Frame acceleration technique for one-dimensional flight was implemented in ANSYS Fluent® V.19 series and validated against Schlieren data from a free-flight ballistic range. The effects of significant axial acceleration and deceleration on an axisymmetric body was investigated in order to understand the development of the unsteady flow field and its influ- ence on drag in the transonic region. Wave and separation behaviour differed substantially between acceleration and deceleration cases. Acceleration to higher speeds was dominated by the developments of the bow, terminal, and wake shocks, which appear at higher Mach numbers than in the equivalent steady flow; due to the lag acceleration effect. Acceleration caused a shift in the transonic drag rise to higher Mach numbers with reduced maximum drag. The flow field for an accelerating cone-cylinder at incidence in the transonic Mach regime is described by downstream wave propagation and gradual wave development. The axial force coefficient for acceleration at incidence is characterized by a gradual slope in the subsonic iii Mach regime until a flight Mach number of M (t) near 1. There occurred no transonic peak and the maximum axial force was delayed to M (t)=1.1. The normal force coefficient for acceleration at incidence is characterized by a subsonic step- jump at the onset of acceleration. This is maintained until the transonic rise near M (t)=1 with an α-dependent behaviour in the supersonic Mach regime. There is an offset in the position of the primary body vortex core between acceleration and constant velocity, when measured from the cylinder surface. The position of the primary vortex core was closer to the cylinder surface during acceleration. The rear-foot of the lambda shock was classified as a weak shock, this shock was initially aft of the shoulder and propagates downstream towards the cylinder-base vertex, as the cone-cylinder accelerates from subsonic to supersonic speed. The foot of this shock locally disrupts the vortex lift, and as this shock leaves the cylinder- base vertex, the full vortex lift is then applied to the cylinder surface. This produces a step-disturbance in the normal force coefficient. The flow field for a decelerating cone-cylinder at incidence in the transonic Mach regime is characterised by upstream wave propagation and wave-surface interaction. The axial force coefficient for deceleration is characterized by a gradual reduction through M (t)=1, followed by wave-surface interactions. The cause is associated with upstream propagation of the asymmetric bow shock. The strength of this shock, the post shock pressure, and its proximity to the cone-apex modify the cone-surface pressure load in the axial direction. This gradual reduction of the axial force coefficient is maintained until the foot of the terminal and wake shocks are incident on the cone surface, the occurrence of which generates a sharp increase of the axial force coefficient. The normal force coefficient for deceleration at incidence is characterised by vortex lift flow history for deceleration through M (t)=1, from supersonic flight. The body vortices developed at supersonic flight remain in the flow field, as the cone-cylinder decelerates from supersonic to subsonic speeds. This leads to an increase in vortex lift during the subsonic Mach re- gime, compared to the constant velocity case. The elevated vortex lift during deceleration is maintained until the wake shock interacts with the body vortices at the cylinder’s aft-end. This significantly disrupts the vortex lift reducing the normal force coefficient. The upstream propagation of the terminal and wake shocks leads to shock wave boundary layer separation aft of the shoulder-vertex and with development of spiral vortex pairs around the leeward periphery of the shoulder. This raises the vortex lift, creating a temporal and sharp rise in the normal force coefficient while the terminal and wake shocks are located aft of the shoulder- vertex. This effect dissipates when the terminal and wake shocks propagate upstream and away from the shoulder vertex.MM202