Vinessa Naidoo

According to Zinkhan and Karande (1990), risk is encountered when an individual’s action produces social and economic consequences that cannot be projected with certainty. Zinkhan and Karande (1990) also see risk averseness as the propensity to avoid taking risks and are generally conceived as a personality variable. Levitt (1990) argues that the ways in which business managers handle risk can markedly affect economic performance and the standard of living in various societies. It was, thus, imperative that this study coupled risk-taking ability with economic performance amongst male entrepreneurs in Centurion. The entrepreneurial phenomenon remains a widely researched topic. Extensive research with regards to the attributes of entrepreneurs has been done in the recent past. It has, thus, become important to better understand South African entrepreneurial behavior, as not many local studies has been done on the topic. The purpose of this study is to establish whether the identified factors affect the risk taking behavior of male entrepreneurs within the Centurion CBD. The risk-taking behavior of male entrepreneurs versus their economic performance was also investigated. By gaining an understanding of the risk taking behavior of the population, recommendations for future studies could be made. This study is based on a deductive approach to establish possible factors which might affect the risk-taking behavior of male entrepreneurs within the Centurion central business district. It also investigates the relationship between their risk-taking behavior and their economic performance. The researcher established possible factors from the literature and adopted and modified the DOSPERT scale developed by Weber, Blais and Betz (2002). Quantitative data were obtained within the population of 161 respondents. The results indicate a strong correlation between the factors identified and the risk-taking behavior of the entrepreneurs, except for the factor ethnic background. It was also found that a strong relationship exists between risk-taking behavior and economic performance

The intense competition in the current marketplace has forced local companies to re-examine their methods of doing business to improve product quality and reduce cost of production at a faster ratethan its competitors (Singh & Ahuja, 2012). The South African manufacturers have struggled with growing trade deficits and outsourced operations. Although proponents cite the many benefits of JIT adoption, its implementation rate in South Africa has been relatively conservative and is highly criticized, especially in comparison with India (Jacobs, 1997; Singh Ahuja, 2014). The purpose of the study is to verify the financial impacts on a company’s performance on reduction of waste by implementing the JIT principle. The focus of the study will be looking at the profit derived of a company’s production line by comparing the amount of waste reduction of a JIT line, as opposed to a non-JIT line. This is of significant importance, since the profits of a company effects the GDP of South Africa, and increases employment (Jacobs, 1997). This study is a replication from Cua (2000) and is a quantitative study. The case study company, Sabertek, has two different manufacturing plants where one plant uses JIT, whilst the other plant does not use JIT. Structured questionnaires were considered and administered to the senior staff and various technical staff of each plant for the collection of primary data. This was approximately 120 personnel (60 questionnaires in each plant) with a total expected response rate of 30%. This was used to compare the profit of a JIT line, as opposed to a non-JIT line, especially in relation to reduction of waste. Secondary data from the company’s financial records of each plant relating to the return rate from rework, sales, profit from the different production lines were equally looked at.

Keywords: JIT, market place, profit, JIT line, non-JIT line, primary data, secondary data.
JEL Classification: L10, D21, C8

This study on environmental economics has noticed that a growing concern for healthy food and environmentally friendly production has resulted in increased attention towards organic food. In South Africa, the market for organic food is still in the infancy stage. Food marketers continue to grapple in designing marketing campaigns to attract organic food consumers. Using a survey method, self-completed questionnaires were collected from customers aged 18 and above, by means of convenience sampling technique from a sample of 120 customers at the Hazel food market (HFM) in Pretoria. A total of 118 questionnaires were received back. STATA software was used to analyze the data. This is a quantitative study in which data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics, the Chi-square test and reliability analysis. The results suggested that customers at HFM have the intention to purchase organic food. The major findings of the study indicated that factors such as consumer values, attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control significantly influence consumer’s intention to purchase organic food. This study intends to provide valuable insights into current studies of consumer behavior towards organic food in South Africa. Potential beneficiaries of this research study include consumers, vendors and government agencies.

Keywords: environmental economics, consumer purchase intention, theory of planned behavior, organic food.
JEL Classification: Q5, M31

This study was prompted by the fact that no research study focused on the application of the Open Contracting principle of disclosure in South African public procurement. The main issue examined in this study pertained to the application of the disclosure principle of Open Contracting in the South African public procurement system. The study population included members of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply Chain (CIPS) employed in the South African public service. This research study used applied, exploratory and non-experimental research in conjunction with descriptive and inferential statistics. The measuring instrument designed for this study included an online survey containing a structured, close-ended questionnaire that measured the disclosure aspect covered in an in-depth literature study. With regard to the results obtained from this study, it is evident that the respondents indicated that there are opportunities to adopt the disclosure principle within South African public procurement. This study provides definite guidelines to procurement practitioners and policy makers concerning the application of proactively disclosing information at the different stages of government procurement. Disclosure in public procurement is rapidly changing and the South African public sector should keep abreast of such changes (e.g., the use of Open Contracting) to ensure that its procurement system is suitably equipped to deliver better deals, minimize fraud and corruption, ensure high quality of performance and a fairer business environment.

The main purpose of the study was to establish the conformity of South African legislation and policies to the global principles of Open Contracting. The specific objective of the study was to establish whether South African legislation supports the application of Open Contracting in public sector procurement. The study employed a descriptive survey research design. Primary data was collected using questionnaires targeting members of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply Chain (CIPS) employed in the South African public service. A total of 300 (100%) completed questionnaires were returned. Fifty-two (52) of the targeted 300 respondents were excluded from the study. They were found not to be “public procurement champions”. This would imply that a final total sample size of 248 was employed in this study, thus a realization of 82.7%. The study findings revealed that although government institutions have policy statements for Open Contracting, the principles are not fully implemented. The study recommends that the National Treasury put forward a single coherent, comprehensive and overarching procurement law to standardize and clarify the procurement process to be followed by procuring entities in South Africa. Particularly the study recommends the development of a policy framework for the implementation of Open Contracting in the South African public sector procurement system.