Lutz, D. W. (2009). The nature of the spaza shop sector in the township environment is survivalist and revenue levels can be inconsistent (Ligthelm, 2008), which means they may not have enough money to contribute to a bulk buying group. International Journal of Value-Based Management, 16(1), 53–65. A lack of trust was the predominant barrier to emerge from the interviews with the South African owners in Alexandra, and was shown to be present in three important areas of their businesses, namely, the employment of staff to assist in their shops, with some respondents even saying they would not trust family members to manage the shop temporarily; a reticence to work with other spaza owners, including high levels of suspicion of any bulk buying scheme and finally, a general mistrust of others in the community, be they neighbours or customers. Journal of Development Economics, 82(2), 509–528. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 5(10), 205–215. Perks, S. (2010). Exploring the management abilities of spaza shop owners in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality. The authors have declared that no competing interest exist. Analytico found that the median earnings for Gauteng is slightly higher however, the percentage chance of not earning anything is 2% higher in Gauteng than the Western Cape. https://doi.org/10.1142/S1084946711001719, Yee, K. M., Ashkanasy, N. M., & Härtel, C. E. J. South African Journal of Business Management, 46(2), 15–27. The price difference reflects their higher As noted by Warner (1965), respondents will attempt to evade certain questions, the answers to which could reflect negatively on them. Of those who did not raise it directly, when asked if price was an important influencer most respondents confirmed it was: [05:03] ‘Oh yes, people consider the prices that they buy their products for from you’. South Africa’s apartheid history has led to the economic marginalisation of township communities where crime is prevalent, unemployment is high and social cohesion is unstable (Charman et al., 2012). They come and they smile, we laugh’. Sroka, W. (2012). (Respondent 14), [14:07] ‘Well…actually for me, I don’t go for cheap one. Working from home 4 hours a day! Results: An absence of trust and a general lack of awareness of the potential benefits of coopetition are the major barriers. In this paradigm, policies to address social problems must work at a system or landscape level, rather than at the level of the individual. (Eds.) Ligthelm, A. Most would only use immediate family to assist in their shops and although there was some low-level cooperation, it was sporadic and only driven out of necessity. Given that the nationalities of the respondents and the way they described their identity was central to the study, we initially adopted a typology consisting of three categories, namely, South African citizens, ‘recent immigrants’ (first- or second-generation immigrants) and ‘foreign nationals’ or ‘migrants’ (Somalis, Ethiopians, Bangladeshi and Pakistanis). Barriers of coopetition in the high-tech sector. (2008). Alexandra was also considered to be a suitable location because it is the oldest and most established township in Gauteng, as opposed to Diepsloot, for example, which is newer and has a higher proportion of foreign residents (Mahajan, 2014). As several studies have shown, the main problem is that many microenterprises are survivalist in nature and do not grow revenue, increase employment or make enough profit to remain sustainable over the long term (Ligthelm, 2004; Strydom, Martins, Potgieter, & Geel, 2002). Of the three non-South Africans, two felt that they were viewed as foreign nationals and the third was ambivalent on the issue of nationality. Health Behavior and Health Education: Theory, Research and Practice. The foreign spaza shops. South African Review of Sociology, 43(2), 81–105. For mutual benefit to work, the anticipated value of coopetition must be higher than the expected cost, where the latter includes the possibility of business failure as a consequence of revealing vulnerabilities in business practices, or the general climate of competition. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajems.v13i4.98, Piper, L., & Yu, D. (2016). (Respondent 2), [03:05] ‘Interviewer: fong kong means fake? Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Food availability and accessibility in the local food distribution system of a low-income, urban community in Worcester, in the Western Cape province. There was very limited BDS, if any, and that it was probably mostly embedded 7. Xenophobia was mentioned by two of the non-South African owners: [06:01] ‘When I have my own business, people call me names. Competition, however, was not the only challenge to their businesses; crime and lack of finance also affected many respondents’ ability to run their business: [02:01] ‘I build this so that it can be safe because here eish … too much tsotsis’. https://doi.org/10.1108/20425961201000017, Walley, K. (2007). Spaza shop, general dealer or a grocery store owner who is a South African based in the township and rural area and holds a valid trading permit (including temporary) or business license in the case of a general dealer qualifies to apply. Obviously before the Somalians came we used to make a lot of money so yes we still making money but it’s not like before. https://doi.org/10.2753/IMO0020-8825370201, Warner, S. L. (1965). Submissions extended for Special Issue Call for Papers under the Theme: Women in Business in Africa, 2020 Special Issue Call for Papers under the Theme: Women in Business in Africa. Fuentes, M. D. A third possible reason for the mistrust amongst spaza owners is the historical context in which they operate. Mahajan, S. (2014). Strydom (2015) highlighted in his article that the ‘heightened level of competition between informal businesses and formal businesses has a major negative effect on the business survival of the informal retailers’ (p. 466). Block, D. (2013). A copy of the letter is attached to this document. (2004). In the study, each respondent was asked if they felt ubuntu existed in their communities. Given the replies to the first research question, it is apparent that South African spaza owners are aware of the growing numbers of foreign spaza shops in the township and the competitive threat that they present. Enterprise future lies in cooperation: Entrepreneur cooperatives in Africa. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(98)00097-5, Khosa, R. M., & Kalitanyi, V. (2014). Retrieved from https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/wp.wpi.edu/dist/f/266/files/2010/12/Strengthening-Spaza-Shops-Project-Proposal-2.pdf. Ligthelm andVan Zyl (in Chebelyon Dalizu- et al, 2010) further state The retailing needs of a disadvantaged community in South Africa. So rather fail alone’. A number of owners referred to the fact that the foreign spaza shops sold fake or poor-quality goods: [02:18] ‘Most of their things are fong kong [fake], they are not original’. This would seem to be the tall poppy syndrome in action, where the jealousy of others’ success may cause shop owners to be suspicious of another shop owner and thus feel reluctant to trust them in any form of coopetitive relationship. 4th ed. American Journal of Political Science, 41(3), 999–1023. International Journal of Business and Management, 5(10), 128–136. In the coding process, certain phrases and words were interpreted by the researcher to give a clearer picture of what the respondents were saying. Although coopetition is widely used by foreign nationals who own and manage such shops, and who are reported to be more successful, South African owners have failed to establish such relationships. A. Spaza shops are open long hours as the businesses serve residents throughout the day, both before and after work hours. https://doi.org/10.1080/08276331.2012.761800, Tidström, A. (Respondent 4). (2014). The concept of ubuntu often involves the idea that a person is a person because of other people, which one young male South African spaza owner hinted at: [07:14] ‘Yeah, because I’m living by the people. Journal of Business & Management, 20(2), 89–103. The third factor for successful coopetitive relationships is commitment, which in this situation is described as consistent financial and emotional investment in the relationship. In terms of meeting other spaza owners, a project in Cape Town suggested that meeting one another was a good first step to building more trusting relationships (Chebelyon-Dalizu et al., 2010). New data shows the comparative earnings analysis of the informal sector in South Africa’s two major cities of Gauteng and the Western Cape. We design functional everyday household items guided by environmental kindness and the upliftment of people - … There were, however, some owners who would be happy to consider cooperating and especially bulk buying. Although the recent immigrants are seen as ‘outside people’, they do not run their businesses in the same way as the Somalis, Pakistanis or Ethiopians. (Respondent 14). When you close late you need to make sure that you are safe or you will come back tomorrow and find everything gone’. In terms of cooperation more generally, respondents also listed issues such as jealousy, pride, poor communication skills, a lack of unity and even a fear of death as issues that have prevented them from engaging with their networks: [01:20] ‘You know my brother, it is very difficult for Africans to unite and run the business’. Using its Salary Analysis ModelTM of 128,087 individuals, Analytico, a data and earnings analytic consultancy, finds the following: According to Statistics South Africa the informal sector consists of: “…businesses that are not registered for income tax or VAT. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 6(4), 481–501. 11th Global International Entrepreneurship Conference. Indeed, research reports that somewhere between 65% and 75% of South African SMMEs do not become established firms (Fatoki & Odeyemi, 2010; Grundling & Kaseke, 2010). As a result, it was decided that interviews with foreign owners would not be further pursued. Unpublished, Retrieved March 29, 2019, from http://bdsknowledge.org/dyn/bds/docs/244/Study-Spaza-TladiMiehlbradt2003.pdf. Although coopetition offers the opportunity to reduce costs and hence become more price-competitive, it was demonstrated that the South African owners in the sample population are not forming such relationships as a consequence of a lack of trust, poor understanding of the mutual benefit of coopetition and a general socio-economic environment in the township within which developing a commitment to long-term stable and trusting relationships is difficult, if not impossible. MISSION STATEMENT AND OBJECTIVES. The exception to the trend in microenterprise failure is foreign-owned spaza shops, which are growing in numbers with studies reporting that in some locations the majority of spaza shops are now foreign-owned (Charman, Petersen & Piper, 2012). Profit Projections: Following conservative estimates, your ‘My African Shop’ can see profits of R3000 – R15000 on a monthly basis when using all the training provided in the package effectively. The financial self-efficacy of spaza shop owners in South Africa. Morris et al. Management Research: Journal of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management, 6(3), 207–217. Most interviews were conducted in English but in cases where the interviewee’s level of English was poor, a research assistant was present to translate. Networked micro-enterprises: The added value of collaborative procurement in rural South Africa. Finally, it is noted that the study was able to cover only a small cohort of shop owners, and that the extrapolation of the results to the broader population of owners in South Africa is not possible. Get specific, domain-collection newsletters detailing the latest CPD courses, scholarly research and call-for-papers in your field. Other challenges included poor infrastructure (water and electricity), customers who wanted credit and the fluctuation in supplier prices. In management research, the role of agency is often assumed or emphasised, whereas in the sociological perspective, context and structure are considered to be more significant in explaining social phenomena. So we are in between’. (2012). What inhibits cooperation with competitors? Language and Intercultural Communication, 13(2), 126–147. Furthermore, the breakdown in trust has led to increased levels of suspicion and a general feeling that township communities are jealous of business success. Up to 200 a hour! City investment helping former spaza … (Respondent 10). Infrastructure in townships is notoriously unreliable and affects the ability of any business to operate (Chebelyon-Dalizu et al., 2010; Olawale & Garwe, 2010; Webb, Morris & Pillay 2013). At a more personal level, a number of respondents raised questions about bulk buying, either concerning the type of arrangements that would be necessary or expressing doubt that the other spaza owners would be able to commit to such a relationship. The choice of a purposive strategy was also made on the basis that this was an exploratory, qualitative study that sought to yield insight into and understanding of the phenomenon under study (barriers to coopetition). But not that we would put money in one pool and send one person. Moreover, the approach of open-ended questioning, which is necessary in exploratory, qualitative studies such as this study, raises issues of interpretation and interviewer bias. International Business & Economics Research Journal, 12(6), 707–716. Further work is required, firstly, to confirm the main results of the study, and secondly, to validate the main recommendation from the study, namely, to establish training programmes in this cohort on the benefits of coopetition. Southern African Business Review, 8(1), 39–52. The fact that no foreign-owned spaza shops were interviewed was another possible limitation to the study but, as discussed above, the literature has revealed much about their cooperative trading activities and provides enough of a comparative to South African owners. How can I leave such a person for the whole weekend if these are the things they do in your presence?’ (Respondent 8). Somalinomics: A case study on the economics of Somali informal trade in the Western Cape. A number of respondents admitted that the idea of cooperating was a new one, either as a general concept or in reference to a bulk buying cooperative. In 2010, South African microenterprises represented almost 8 million employment opportunities (Grundling & Kaseke, 2010), mostly for the individual owner, and were valuable sources of economic growth, job creation and poverty alleviation (Ligthelm, 2008; Mthimkhulu & Aziakpono, 2015). (Respondent 5), [08:20] ‘No there no longer is. Coopetition in business networks. Job creation over 3 year period South African Spaza Shop Owner (recipient 1) There are about 70,000 Spaza Shop operators in the country with around 20% of whom being South African. The second aspect of using relationships to improve the running of their businesses was whether they would consider general cooperation with other spaza owners such as borrowing money, restocking at cheaper rates and sharing employee resources or transport costs. They also serve the purpose of supplementing household incomes of the owners, selling small everyday household items. (Respondent 4), [12:21] ‘Hai, I don’t know, because each and everyone just go to whatever you go to buy the stock’. Khosa and Kalitanyi (2014) proposed that ‘social networks are vital in the formation and growth stages of an immigrant-owned business, as networks provide the necessary support’ (p. 52). https://doi.org/10.1080/21528586.2012.727550. In terms of employment, there was an overwhelming reluctance to employ anyone else in the business, mainly because of a lack of trust, based on first-hand experiences of employees stealing from them previously. Spaza shops were originally established as a result of apartheid, as black people were not allowed to own businesses and so there was an agreement that they would not compete on price to allow anyone to enter the market (Charman et al., 2012). According to a World Bank report, ‘South African townships account for 38% of the country’s working-age population, [and yet] they are home to almost 60% of its unemployed’ (Mahajan, 2014, p. 2). Retrieved from http://www.finmark.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/FS-Lesotho-2011-launch-presentation.pdf. So how I see it it’s as if it is no longer there. Objectives:The objective of this study was to explore the reasons why South African owners do not for… Licensee: AOSIS. Transformation, 78(1), 47–73. Most Spaza shop owners had no knowledge of BDS 6. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 18(4), 1–20. The second major implication of these results is that incorporating trust-building initiatives into any programme is vital given that the absence of trust amongst spaza owners is the major barrier to them forming coopetitive relationships. Journal of Small Business Management, 47(3), 308–330. Unfortunately, there are no comprehensive maps or lists of South African-owned spaza shops, although there have been some attempts to map them in some townships. Spaza shop definition: South African slang for a small shop in a township | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples Price was raised by many of the respondents as being very important to customer purchasing decisions. In this research, we have attempted to fill this gap, with the core focus being the reluctance of South African spaza shop owners (in Alexandra) to form coopetitive relationships. population of approximately 325 000 (98 000 households), i.e. That thing. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-010-0136-1. Blacklaws, D. (2001). https://doi.org/10.1080/00049538908260088, Franco, M., & Haase, H. (2010). https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835032000149243, Metz, T. (2007). Many microenterprises end up failing, often within a short space of time. manage a spaza shop requires applying management functions and some management skills. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021984005070. A variety of theoretical frameworks have been used to explain or examine the concept of coopetition, including the resource-based view, game theory and network theory (Gnyawali & Park, 2009), interorganisational dynamics theory (Padula & Dagnino, 2007; Tidström, 2008), migration theory (Woodruff & Zenteno, 2007) and a more empirical framework based on barriers to coopetition in Poland’s high technology sector (Zakrzewska-Bielawska, 2014). https://doi.org/10.2307/2283137, Webb, J. W., Morris, M. H., & Pillay, R. (2013). The main theme emerging from the interviews was that a lack of trust explained the absence of coopetitive relationships, whether in employing people, participating in bulk buying schemes or cooperating in general with other business owners. The spaza shop industry in South Africa is mostly ran by non South Africans. A vast majority felt that it did not, or if it did it was only with a few people: [05:12] ‘It’s no longer existing. The person wouldn’t bring it back’. A quantitative study was done, by interviewing sixty spaza shop …
Roux Pronunciation In French, Kern County Sheriff Pio, Stoner Trim Shine Ingredients, Gun License Interview Questions, Best Carnival Excursions In Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Day-by-day Natural Science And Technology Grade 6 Pdf, Professional Properties Reviews, Fireworks San Antonio Today, Houses For Sale In Tsakane Ext 8, Daybed Couch Cape Town, Meervoud Van Ski, Randy's Troo Vaporizer Manual, Casa Grande Dispatch Police Log,
