Marketing of the North West development corporation to small, medium and micro enterprises
Abstract
South Africa has its head office situated in Mafikeng and is primarily there to foster the business development of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs). The empirical focus of the study was in the Ngaka Modiri Molema region (Mafikeng and Zeerust) since it encapsulates the capital city of the Province an.9 had the highest
population of registered SMMEs. The research problem was the perceived lack of effective marketing communication from the NWDC regarding its support services and the lack of (researched) feedback from the registered SMMEs regarding their satisfaction with NWDC services rendered. The research objectives formulated to address the problem were to identify the marketing communication challenges of the NWDC, determine the effectiveness of NWDC's marketing communication , establish the level of awareness by the SMMEs and to make suggestions that addressed the identified marketing communication challenges of the NWDC to SMMEs. The empirical research methods employed were exploratory, qualitative and quantitative. The population for the study comprised of all the SMMEs in the Mafikeng and Zeerust area that were registered (at the time) with the NWDC and were located in one of the NWDC Industrial Sites. A total of 82 completed
questionnaires were collected by the researcher. The sample size comprised 58.6% of the total population.
The study revealed that the SMMEs showed uncertainty with regards to their awareness of NWDC's support services and communication levels. This was an indication that NWDCs marketing communication message was not effectively communicated to the SMMEs. Practical recommendations were made to the NWDC for implementation.