An assessment of the influence of entrepreneurial orientation on the success of an automotive organisation

Abstract

Entrepreneurial orientation is a process of re-energising and enhancing an organisation's ability to acquire innovative skills and capabilities. The main objective of entrepreneurial orientation is to create new business in an already existing organisation. The primary objective of this research was to assess the influence of entrepreneurial orientation on the success of Toyota Tsusho Africa (TTAF) an organisation from the automotive sector in South Africa. The five entrepreneurial orientation variables, namely innovativeness, autonomy, risk taking, pro-activeness and competitive aggressiveness and the two organisation success variables, namely business growth and business development and improvement were used to conduct the assessment. Furthermore, suggested recommendations that would improve implementation levels of entrepreneurial behaviours were provided. The research begun with an introduction which explained the problem statement, followed by a literature review that investigated the origins and definitions of entrepreneurship, entrepreneur, intrapreneur, characteristics of entrepreneurs, corporate entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial orientation variables. In addition, the research investigated the history of TTAF and further detailed the relationship between TTAF and Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC). Questionnaires were distributed to TTAF employees. The target population of the research was 310 employees of TTAF automotive division. A total of 127 valid responses were received on which a statistical analysis was conducted. The validity of the measuring instrument was found to be reliable by calculating the Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient. The mean and standard deviation of each variable were analysed and comparisons between levels of employment was conducted. Additionally, multiple regression analysis and correlations analysis using the Pearson Correlation Coefficients (r) were analysed. Recommendation in line with the results and conclusions were proposed. The objective of recommendations was to improve the level of implementation of entrepreneurial orientation in TTAF. An assessment of the primary and secondary objectives was also conducted and finally suggestions for future research were provided