Exploring the perception of copreneurship in the Vaal Triangle, South Africa

Abstract

Family businesses constitute a significant share of economic activities globally. In South Africa, over 80% of companies are family-owned. Many studies have been conducted on the nature of family businesses, exploring the opportunities and challenges faced by such companies. Copreneurship or couple-owned businesses form an integral part of the literature on family businesses. Some scholars have argued that it is a challenging type of business partnership as it involves merging two critical domains of business and love, and failure to integrate the two can result in adverse consequences. However, other studies argue that there is no superior business partnership to copreneurship, citing its unique competitive advantages. This study’s primary objective was to explore the perception of copreneurship in the Vaal Triangle. The study followed a qualitative research method framed within an inductive approach. The researcher used a literature review to gather an understanding of copreneurship and an empirical research study, using semi-structured face-to-face interviews to collect data. The researcher selected a sample of ten (10) copreneurial businesses in the Vaal Triangle through non-probability and snowball sampling techniques. Furthermore, the researcher analysed the research data using a Thematic Analysis approach. The study, through the six themes identified through coding, revealed that copreneurship is composed of challenges and benefits. Role allocation, separating business and home issues, conflict management, the measurement of business growth, and the involvement of family members in the business form part of the critical discussions in this study. Overall, participants in this study encouraged copreneurship, citing that it gives the business a unique, difficult-to-imitate competitive advantage. However, participants also provided recommendations for success to existing and aspiring copreneurs. They argue that failure to follow these recommendations could result in challenges in the business and family spheres.