| dc.description.abstract | The objective of this study has been to investigate the influence of an entrepreneurial
orientation on the perceived success of personal protective equipment organisations
in South Africa. For the purpose of this study, business success has been measured
by means of two dependent variables, namely Business development and
improvement and Business growth.
Structured questionnaires have been administered to managers in one company that
is perceived to be the current market leader in the personal protective equipment
industry in South Africa. Construct validity of the measuring instrument has been
assessed by means of a principal component exploratory factor analysis and by
calculating Cronbach alpha coefficients.
A literature study on the field of Entrepreneurship has been conducted. The term
entrepreneurial orientation consisting of five constructs, namely autonomy,
innovation, pro-activeness, risk-taking and competitive aggressiveness, is defined.
Perceived success of the industry is defined in terms of growth and development.
Both ratings of the constructs and their evaluation of the perceived success of the
industry, have been measured, analysed and reported. The results obtained from the
questionnaire in conjunction with the literature review, are used to draw conclusions
and make recommendations.
The study is based on perceived corporate entrepreneurship within the line, middle
and senior management levels of SPPE, a division of SAMSAC Africa (Pty) Ltd. The
year 2009, has marked a series of economic events that placed the personal
protective equipment market under immense pressure to maintain its bottom line
growth. The environment within the organisation is constantly changing. SPPE
customers, which are mainly the mining industry, have pressurised SPPE to filter
cost savings through to them to ensure that they, in turn, alleviate the pressure to cut
costs. Costs have been identified as one of the key challenges facing the entire mining
sector. In turn, the suppliers of SPPE have also been applying pressure to the
company to increase their purchase price, due to increased labour, production and
overhead costs.
The strengthening of entrepreneurship is an important objective for any organisation
that is building its responsiveness to a globalised and changing environment. For
SPPE to face the pressures brought to bear upon them by their customers and
suppliers respectively, and, coupled with fierce competition in the personal protective
equipment industry, it is necessary to review its processes and actively search for
new ways to increase its capacity for innovation and competitiveness.
The results show that the managers in the participating personal protective
equipment business have perceived that the entrepreneurial orientation factors of
Pro-activeness, Risk-taking and Autonomy have a positive influence on their
business’s development and improvement. A significant relationship within the
dependent variable Business development and improvement has also been found
to exist within the independent variable Competitive aggressiveness.
Corporate entrepreneurship is seen as a critical component to organisational
success, especially in organisations that operate in rapidly changing industries.
Corporate entrepreneurship can be a solution to large organisations’ lack of
innovation, stagnated top-line growth and the inaction that often overtakes the large,
mature organisations of the world. Organisations need to consistently search for new
opportunities and therefore may benefit from adopting an entrepreneurial orientation.
Established organisations may in essence be forced to behave entrepreneurially
within the organisation, in order to defend their positions in the market. Competitive
successes for organisations require managers to make strategic choices. Strategy is
about relating the organisation with its environment and entrepreneurship is about
exploiting opportunities in the same environment.
To enhance the entrepreneurial orientation in personal protective equipment
businesses, it is recommended that the word “entrepreneurship” should specifically be included in the vision statement of the businesses, setting goals and developing
strategies for entrepreneurship. The focus of the business then becomes opportunity
identification, discovery of new sources of value, and product and process innovation
that could lead to greater success. | en_US |
