Abstract
South African entrepreneurs have a poor skills record, which often leads to business failure. To effectively manage a spaza shop requires applying management functions and some management skills. The implementation of simple systems can assist spaza shop owners to manage their businesses more successfully and even grow. A quantitative study was done, by interviewing sixty spaza shop owners in the township. The empirical results identified the gaps in the management abilities of spaza shop owners in terms of the eight management functions and show that the purchasing, financial and information management function is the most neglected. Guidelines on how each of the functions could or should be applied are given. This research clearly indicates that spaza shops can assist in economic growth and relieve unemployment in the country.
Highlights
South Africa is one of the most sophisticated and promising emerging markets in the world, offering a unique combination of highly developed first world economic infrastructure with a vibrant emerging market economy (Timmons & Spinelli, 2003:47)
Fuller (2003:297) emphasises that “to develop the South African economy, things need to be done at the smallest scale in every township”
A survey was conducted amongst spaza shop owners in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality in Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Summary
South Africa is one of the most sophisticated and promising emerging markets in the world, offering a unique combination of highly developed first world economic infrastructure with a vibrant emerging market economy (Timmons & Spinelli, 2003:47). New initiatives have been taken to renew and re-vitalize the view of South African townships, especially in preparation for the 2010 Soccer World Cup (Wikipedia, 2009). It is within these townships that many small businesses are struggling for survival and growth. Policy makers in South Africa continue trying to identify and support those productive, and innovative small businesses that will generate employment and promote economic growth within the country (Dobbs & Hamilton, 2007:296)
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