Louise van Scheers

This research analyzes whether there is a link between economic growth and SMEs success in South Africa. The South African economy can only grow with the contribution of growing sustainably SMEs which will accelerate economic growth.
The research concluded that SME success has a positive impact on sustainable economic growth in South Africa and that there is a link between economic growth and SME success. The conducted research recommends that by improving the success rate of SME, the South Africa’s stagnating economy

It seems that most small farmers focus on technical skills rather than on conceptual skills, as technical skills are seen to contribute most to the performance of the small farm. The need for this research came from this perception and, therefore, the aim of this article is to determine the small farmers’ managerial skills level in the Tshwane area of Gauteng. A quantitative survey was conducted amongst 50 small farmers in the Tshwane area of Gauteng.
The conducted research established that most small farmers focus on technical skills rather than on conceptual skills. Small farmers also indicated that they need training in marketing and financial management which are conceptual skills

When examining retail patronage, customer satisfaction must also be considered. Secondary resources (American Marketing Association, 2007; Berman, 2011; Berry, 2008; Chang, 2006, p. 209; Helgesen & Nesset, 2007, p. 129, Kong and Jogaratnam, 2007, p. 279) observed that customer satisfaction is the degree to which customer’s expectations agree with the actual performance of the product and/or service
South African consumers situated in Gauteng consider a sales person’s product knowledge as the most important attribute when making purchasing decisions. American consumers, in contrast, consider sales person respect as the most important attribute when making purchasing decisions. The implications for marketers and sales managers are that marketers and sales managers must provide adequate training for their sales personnel in order for them to treat customers in such a way to obtain their loyalty.
The quality of the products sold at the retailer does not form part of the trade off options that customers are presented with.

Keywords: retail store customer, prices compared to competitors, salesperson product knowledge, salesperson responsiveness, South African retail consumers.
JEL Classification: L81, M31

The aims of this project are to manage the risk of a community engagement project, improve managerial of SME owners in the Tshwane community and promote CE scholarship engagement. CE opportunities as well as the high failure rate of SMEs motivated the lecturers of the Department Marketing and Retail to initiate training workshops in their community. This CE project SME skills transfer workshops aims to expand the involvement with the community and develop community engagement projects in addition also transfer managerial skills to SME owners in the community. Quantitative, exploratory research was used in the form of questionnaires with owners of SMEs participating in the workshops. The conducted research established that the most successful advertising medium is wall painting. With this community engagement project it had been reached 200 SMEs. It has been promoted CE scholarship engagement and manage the risk of this project. One of the secondary objectives was to manage the risk of this project. The results in table 1 indicate that the risk is managed adequately. This project is not considered as a high risk project for the university. The aims were achieved as evidence of transferring of managerial skills; managing risk of the project, promotion of CE scholarship and publishing articles through our CE project were achieved.

Keywords: SME managerial skills transfer, risk management, community engagement, Tshwane community, advertising media, advertising key success factors, word of mouth.
JEL Classification: M37