An assessment of entrepreneurial orientation in an automotive component manufacturing company in Gauteng Province, South Africa

Abstract

In South Africa developments in the automotive industry have been in the spotlight in the last few decades. This was as a result of rapid export expansion first in the component segment and later followed by vehicles. Most of the world's major automobile manufacturers have set up assembly plants in the country. In the last couple of decades the automotive sector has received considerable amount of money in foreign investment including substantial fixed investment in assembly plants and component production. The export objectives of all these companies has resulted tremendous improvement in productivity and quality in the last decade or so. Approximately 20 years ago the South African government introduced an incentive benefit scheme known as Motor Industry Development Plan (MIDP) to encourage automotive and component manufacturing companies to setup operations in the country. The Motor Industry Development Plan worked well for South Africa, achieved the purpose of attracting automotive manufacturing companies to the country. European, American, Japanese and Korean automotive manufacturing companies setup profitable assembly plant. As a result automotive component manufacturing companies such as manufacturers of tyres, catalytic converters etc. also step lucrative operations in South Africa. The 1990s and early 2000s were particularly boom periods in this industry however everything changed when after the 2008 economic meltdown. Corporate entrepreneurship in the form of entrepreneurial orientation of the South African automotive industry specifically component manufacturing sector can make positive impact in the survival and prosperity of the industry. Entrepreneurial orientation of company and employees in an automotive component manufacturing company in Gauteng Province of South Africa is explored. A literature study on the field of entrepreneurship is conducted. The term entrepreneurial orientation consisting of five constructs or dimensions, namely pro-activeness, innovativeness, autonomy, competitive aggressive and risk-taking is defined. Perceived success of the company is defined in terms of business growth, and business development and improvement. An entrepreneurial orientation questionnaire was distributed among employees including middle managers of the company. Both ratings of the constructs of the constructs and their influence on the perceived success of the company has been measured, analysed and reported. The results obtained from the questionnaire in conjunction with literature review are used to draw conclusions and make recommendations.