Sustainability In South Africa Research Articles

Marketing mix Framework as a Tool to Enhance Women’s Business Viability in Limpopo-South Africa

Motivated by lack of empirical research on how the marketing mix (price, place, product promotion, process, packaging, physical evidence, people, programming and partnership) directly or indirectly enhance the women’s business viability and sustainability in South Africa and elsewhere. This research empirically investigated how marketing mix can be used to enhance women’s business viability among 301 registered business owners trained in marketing and participated in the survey and answered details questions focusing on Limpopo province -South Africa.  AIDA theory, diffusion of innovation theory and Marketing Mix Theory underpinned the study. Quantitative descriptive survey research strategy was adopted, Robustness analysis was entirely performed using SPSS version 28. The study’s findings were that women’s businesses in Musina and Blouberg in Limpopo province use the 10Ps.  The four most used marketing strategies were, price, place promotion and product. The averagely used marketing strategies were: people, packaging, programming, physical evidence and partnership. This study contributes to the current body of knowledge and further contributes to the use of 10Ps marketing mix strategies and framework by women’s businesses. The study’s main implication is that business entities may not achieve their full financial performance potential due to little or no attention to the use of 10Ps marketing mix components and training. This study provides robust recommendations and insights into marketing practices applicable to other business entities globally.

Framework for the Assessment of Virtual Archival Systems and Provision of Virtual Archival Services for Environmental Sustainability in South Africa

Archival records/resources in electronic and those that only existed in physical formats have been made available to a larger audience and received much more usage as a result of digitization and remote accessibility. Virtual archives can help to reduce the environmental impact of traditional archival practices by storing and sharing information digitally rather than physically. The aim of this paper is to assess and develop a framework for the delivery of a virtual archive system tailored to the needs of both users and archival institutions for the promotion of environmental sustainability especially in developing countries. The qualitative research explained user expectations and perspectives on the provision of a newly established electronic archival system for the provision of virtual archive services at an archival institution in the City of Cape Town. This paper anchored on the Expectation Confirmation Theory proposed the Virtual archival systems expectations and satisfaction (VASES) framework to identify electronic archival system users’ expectations, measure perceived performance of electronic archival systems, and assess confirmation and satisfaction.

Use of Biotechnology in Improving Crop Yields and Sustainability in South Africa

Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate the use of biotechnology in improving crop yields and sustainability in south Africa.
 Methodology: The study adopted a desktop methodology. Desk research refers to secondary data or that which can be collected without fieldwork. Desk research is basically involved in collecting data from existing resources hence it is often considered a low cost technique as compared to field research, as the main cost is involved in executive’s time, telephone charges and directories. Thus, the study relied on already published studies, reports and statistics. This secondary data was easily accessed through the online journals and library
 Findings: The use of biotechnology in South Africa to improve crop yields and sustainability has yielded significant positive outcomes. Biotech crops, including drought-tolerant varieties and genetically modified maize, have been widely adopted by smallholder farmers, particularly in drought-prone areas. These crops have contributed to enhanced food security and increased resilience in the face of climate variability. Furthermore, studies have demonstrated that the adoption of biotech crops is associated with higher yields and reduced production costs, making farming more profitable. Overall, biotechnology plays a pivotal role in South Africa's agriculture, fostering both increased productivity and sustainability.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Theory of Green Revolution, Theory of Technological Determinism, Theory of Innovation Diffusion may be used to anchor future studies on use of biotechnology in improving crop yields and sustainability in south Africa. Findings can prioritize the development of drought-resistant crop varieties using biotechnology. Public-private partnerships can accelerate technology adoption and promote sustainable agriculture practices.

Race to carbon neutrality in South Africa: What role does environmental technological innovation play?

Governments worldwide have prioritized carbon reduction and neutrality to address the escalating threat of climate change. These goals are in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG-13). These goals stress taking action on climate change to lessen the bad effects of human activities and using fossil fuels for energy. To this end, the present study investigates the connection between conventional energy usage, agricultural practices, economic growth, and their impact on environmental sustainability in South Africa. Additionally, it explores the role of renewable energy consumption and environmental technological innovation in mitigating these effects. To achieve the study objectives, a carbon-income function is fitted with an annual frequency data from 1975 to 2020. The present study leverages on Pesaran's Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) method and for robustness analysis the dynamic ARDL simulations method to simultaneously explore the short and long-run coefficients of the study's outlined variables. Empirical analysis, confirmed by bounds testing for cointegration, reveals a long-term equilibrium relationship among the variables considered. Notably, economic growth, fossil fuel energy consumption, and agricultural activities have adverse effects on environmental sustainability in South Africa, indicating a trade-off between economic growth and environmental quality. Dynamic ARDL simulations provide further evidence of an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) phenomenon. However, renewable energy consumption and environmental technological innovation positively influence environmental quality. These findings highlight the imperative for South Africa and its stakeholders to adopt green growth policies and transition to cleaner energy alternatives.

Leadership Succession Planning Contributions Towards Family-Owned Business Performance and Sustainability in South Africa

Worldwide, family business has gained prominence as one of the critical vehicles for creating employment and hence made a contribution in the efforts to eradicate poverty. However, most family business lack of leadership succession planning, which eventually lead to low levels of performance and lack of sustainability. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between leadership succession planning, performance, and sustainability of family businesses. A qualitative methodological approach was utilized where participants were selected using purposive and snowball sampling methods. Semi-structured interviews were used in collecting data and the collected data was analyzed thematically. The study found that leadership succession planning is linked to sustainability and general performance within family businesses. Conversely, it was found that levels of sustainability and failure of family businesses are related to their inability to come up with effective succession leadership planning. This finding confirms the vital role that leadership succession planning plays in enhancing the performance and sustainability of a family business.

A time-varying approach to the nexus between environmental related technologies, renewable energy consumption and environmental sustainability in South Africa

Ecological degradation is a major challenge for all nations. The problem is particularly worrying for South Africa, which has recently suffered from various ecological catastrophes. Thus, the empirical study evaluates the nexus between CO2 emissions and financial development, renewable energy, economic growth and environmental-related technologies in South Africa utilizing data between 1980 and 2020. We employed autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and time-varying causality to evaluate these connections. The results from the ARDL show that financial development and environmental-related technologies lessen CO2 emissions while economic progress intensifies CO2 emissions. Surprisingly, renewable energy does not mitigate CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the time-varying causality shows that all the independent variables can forecast CO2 emissions at different sub-periods. Finally, our results are resilient to various policy ramifications useful in reducing CO2 emissions and associated adverse ecological consequences.

Considerations for higher education to enhance economic security and sustainability in South Africa and beyond

Considerations for higher education to enhance economic security and sustainability in South Africa and beyond

Considerations for higher education to enhance economic security and sustainability in South Africa and beyond.

Considerations for higher education to enhance economic security and sustainability in South Africa and beyond.

An assessment of literature on construction and demolition waste management barriers in Sub-Saharan Africa: lessons and implications for sustainability in South Africa

An assessment of literature on construction and demolition waste management barriers in Sub-Saharan Africa: lessons and implications for sustainability in South Africa

Environmental sustainability in South Africa: Understanding the criticality of economic policy uncertainty, fiscal decentralization, and green innovation

AbstractSouth Africa, like most developing nations, is confronted with choosing between the need to advance their economy and the need to protect the environment. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN‐SDGs‐7, 11, 12 & 13) provide a strong foundation for this investigation. To this end, the current research investigates the combined impacts of economic policy uncertainty, fiscal decentralization, and green innovation on environmental sustainability for the instance of South Africa with yearly frequency data from 1960 to 2020. The current research leverages on dynamic ordinary least squares, fully modified ordinary least squares, and canonical cointegration regression. The Maki cointegration test shows how the variables being evaluated have an equilibrium connection across the time period under review. Empirical findings support the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) framework. These findings imply that, in the first stages of economic expansion, ecological environment is being sacrificed for economic progress (scale stage). Based on the EKC hypothesis, long‐term quadratic economic growth reduces emissions by 0.162% whereas a 1% rise in economic growth increases emissions by 0.791%. Similar to this, long‐term economic globalization and economic policy uncertainty impair ecological sustainability, whereas long‐term fiscal decentralization and green innovation raise it in South Africa. These results have broad environmental repercussions. The present investigation supported environmental stick measures and investment in initiatives on a fundamental change from fossil‐fuel energy consumption base to renewables. The final portion highlights further insights.

A review of Teaching and Learning for Change: Education and Sustainability in South Africa Edited by Ingrid Schudel, Zintle Songqwaru, Sirkka Tshiningayamwe and Heila Lotz-Sisitka

Achieving environmental education within the current South African school system feels akin to putting eggs into a beer crate. But such is the difficulty, delicacy and discomfort of the project of system change we are struggling within, to remake and reimagine our relationships in and with the world. South African environmental educators and researchers have been involved in this task over the past 40 years. As the book Teaching and Learning for Change: Education and sustainability in South Africa shows, the school system is animportant place to start, as a meeting point of knowledge and learning and as a site in which young South Africans spend much of their time. This book not only tells a story of efforts towards realising environmental learning within the school system over the last 10 years of the Fundisa (learning) for Change Programme but it distills the significant lessons for the context of environmental education practice, going forward.

Coal mining and environmental sustainability in South Africa: do institutions matter?

This study investigates the effects of coal mining on environmental sustainability in South Africa in relation to the moderating role of institutions. To achieve the study's objectives, the fully modified least square (FMOLS), dynamic least squares (DOLS), canonical cointegrating regression (CCR), Bayer-Hanck cointegration and Toda-Yamamoto causality test are employed for the period 1984-2018. Results from the study show that coal mining contributes to environmental degradation in South Africa, while its interaction with institutional quality mitigates the severity of this negative impact. Furthermore, there is evidence that economic growth has a bidirectional causality with ecological footprint and coal mining, while institutional quality also Granger causes ecological footprint. To promote a sustainable environment, there is a need for the government and the institutions to form the foundation for the shift toward environmental sustainability, with particular attention paid to the development and implementation of greenhouse policy.

Analysis of climate change on entrepreneurial behavior towards business sustainability in South Africa

This study aims to investigate the behaviours of entrepreneurs towards business sustainability in response to the impact of climate change. The study provides a South African perspective on entrepreneurial business sustainability and an analysis of business sustainability. Adopting a desktop study, a comprehensive literature review that utilised recent data through various databases such as EBSCO host, Scopus, Taylor and Francis and Google Scholar was carried out. Findings reflect that entrepreneurs are impacted positively by entrepreneurial business sustainability through financial gains and reduced operational costs. Entrepreneurs, globally, have contributed to entrepreneurial business sustainability by trying to reduce energy consumption and waste in their business operations through the sustainable practices they undertake such as reducing resources and emissions. The study found that entrepreneurial business sustainability has positively impacted entrepreneurship goals, society and the environment which is evident in better business efficiencies. This impact is achieved through decreased emissions, decreased pollution, proper waste management and by being eco- friendly. Consequently, these actions have resulted in increased sales.

South African Healthcare Professionals' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding Environmental Sustainability in Healthcare: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Climate change, biodiversity loss and large-scale environmental degradation are widely recognized as the biggest health threats of the 21st century, with the African continent already amongst the most severely affected and vulnerable to their further progression. The healthcare system’s contribution to climate change and environmental degradation requires healthcare professionals to address environmental issues urgently. However, the foundation for context-relevant interventions across research, practice, and education is not readily available. Therefore, we conducted a convergent mixed-methods study to investigate South African healthcare professionals’ knowledge, attitudes, practices, and barriers to environmental sustainability. Healthcare professionals participated in a cross-sectional questionnaire (n = 100) and in-depth semi-structured focus group discussions (n = 18). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis, respectively, and integrated to provide holistic findings. Our results confirm overwhelmingly positive attitudes and a high degree of interest in education, implementation, and taking on more corresponding responsibility, but a lack of substantial knowledge of the subject matter, and only tentative implementation of practices. Identified barriers include a lack of knowledge, resources, and policies. Further research, education, and policy development on overcoming these barriers is required. This will facilitate harnessing the extant enthusiasm and advance environmental sustainability in South Africa’s healthcare practice.

Probing the Financial Sustainability of Eskom’s Open Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGTs) Utilisation (2018–2021)

Contributing to achieving sustainability in South Africa’s energy sector, this study probes financial sustainability and its relationship to the environmental sustainability of Eskom. This is because, over the past three financial years (FY2018–2019 to FY2020–2021) of Eskom’s generating plants’ performance, the energy availability factor (EAF) has taken a deep dive, reaching an extremely low generation availability year-end performance of 64.2%, translating to approximately an average of 29,800 MW available generation capacity out of a nominal generation capacity of 46,466 MW in FY2020–2021. Therefore, the study employed a quantitative research methodology, where the relevant financial records were analysed, and the necessary energy calculations made using descriptive analysis in Microsoft Excel. The findings show that the volumes (GWh) produced by the OCGTs during this period far exceed the regulatory approved volumes, thus attracting substantial costs, amounting to ZAR 25.9 bn instead of ZAR 8.9 bn, that could have been spent on the OCGTs if the level of efficiency achieved in FY2016–2017 and FY2017–2018 was maintained. The analysis also revealed that the OCGTs’ long-term financial and environmental sustainability could be achieved through switching from diesel to natural gas, thus resulting in lower fuel costs and lower emissions. Further, potential savings of approximately ZAR 27 bn (excluding capital expenditure) at a 10% load factor can be realised over a ten-year period when the natural gas price is sitting at ZAR 85/GJ (minimum). Finally, in order to attain financial and environmental sustainability, it is recommended that both Eskom’s and the independent power producers’ (IPPs) OCGTs must switch fuel from diesel to natural gas and be run at a 10% load factor, allowing the OCGTs to be run as mid-merit generators.

MITIGATING KEY BARRIERS TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION: A THEORETICAL ASSESSMENT

The construction industry is a significant consumer of energy, natural resources, and water, as well as a major polluter. The need to construct more facilities to meet society's needs has exacerbated the construction industry's inherited detrimental effects on achieving long-term sustainability. In order to foster these endeavors, this paper aims to mitigate sustainable construction barriers in order to promote sustainability in South Africa. To accomplish the goal, three (3) major innovative practices were identified through cross-analysis of structured interviews with reference to published theoretical literature. The primary findings indicate that (1) energy conservation, (2) material conservation, and (3) water conservation are the most influential innovative practices for reducing barriers to promoting sustainable construction in South Africa. To be considered sustainable, a building must meet certain criteria such as resource and energy efficiency, emission reduction, pollution prevention, noise reduction, and improved indoor air quality, which are some of the common parameters, and it must be based on integrated and systematic approaches. The findings of the study will benefit and will add to the body of existing knowledge of construction industry professionals, owners, and policymakers.

MITIGATING KEY BARRIERS TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION: A THEORETICAL ASSESSMENT

The construction industry is a significant consumer of energy, natural resources, and water, as well as a major polluter. The need to construct more facilities to meet society's needs has exacerbated the construction industry's inherited detrimental effects on achieving long-term sustainability. In order to foster these endeavors, this paper aims to mitigate sustainable construction barriers in order to promote sustainability in South Africa. To accomplish the goal, three (3) major innovative practices were identified through cross-analysis of structured interviews with reference to published theoretical literature. The primary findings indicate that (1) energy conservation, (2) material conservation, and (3) water conservation are the most influential innovative practices for reducing barriers to promoting sustainable construction in South Africa. To be considered sustainable, a building must meet certain criteria such as resource and energy efficiency, emission reduction, pollution prevention, noise reduction, and improved indoor air quality, which are some of the common parameters, and it must be based on integrated and systematic approaches. The findings of the study will benefit and will add to the body of existing knowledge of construction industry professionals, owners, and policymakers.

The Rising Influence of Sustainability in South Africa’s Fashion Industry

The designer fashion industry has become a key creative sector and a vibrant wave of fashion innovation has transformed the global fashion industry from a small economy to a significant economic sector in a bustling global creative and arts scene. The African fashion industry has shown creative dynamism and innovation aligned to global trends but infused with a unique cultural flavour showcasing the range of creative dynamism on the African continent. Sustainability has risen to the fore as a design philosophy and an integral part of garment making. In line with global trends, sustainability has heralded a new era in fashion design globally very evidently. In this paper trends in the fashion industry are explored with a focus on Johannesburg and South Africa as well as the influence of a growing move towards sustainability becoming more evident globally and in South Africa.

Revisiting fiscal deficit sustainability in South Africa

PurposeThis study reexamines fiscal deficit sustainability in South Africa.Design/methodology/approachThe study applies three cointegration testing approaches, namely testing for multiple structural changes in a cointegrated regression model, time-varying cointegration test and asymmetric cointegration test.FindingsThe results point to the existence of a level relationship between government revenue and spending. In addition, the long-run equilibrium relationship between government revenue and spending in South Africa is found to be characterized by breaks. As such, assuming a constant cointegrating slope may be misleading. Results from time-varying cointegration and an estimation of a cointegrated two-break model indicate that cointegrating coefficient has been time-varying but has remained less than 1 for the entire study period, indicating that fiscal deficits have been weakly sustainable. This finding is also confirmed by the results from an estimated asymmetric error correction model.Practical implicationsIn view of the findings, authorities should put in place policies to improve the fiscal budgetary stance and reinforce the sustainability of the fiscal deficits in South Africa. Among other things, South Africa could undertake reforms to state-owned companies to reduce their reliance on public funds, slow down the pace of the public sector wage growth and devise effective economic measures to boost long-term growth. In addition, tax compliance and other revenue collection measures should be enhanced for additional tax revenue.Originality/valueThe contribution of this study is twofold; first, the study uses a long series of annual data spanning over a century, from 1913 to 2020. Indeed, cointegration is better modeled using long spans of time series data. Second, to examine the existence of a level relationship between spending and revenue, the study uses cointegration tests which allow capturing time-variation in the cointegrating slope coefficient, and accounting for asymmetries in the relationship between government spending and revenue. It is important to allow for time-variation in the cointegrating slope coefficient, especially when it has been hardly treated in the empirical literature on fiscal deficit sustainability. Allowing for time-variation in the cointegrating slope coefficient helps us to analyze fiscal deficit sustainability by periods of time. Indeed, the degree of fiscal sustainability can change from one time period to another.

Climate change and agriculture: Analysis and implication on South Africa

Environmental change is the greatest threat to human life on the planet in the twenty first century. Its miles a manner of unnatural weather exchange, relatively because of ‘nursery gases’ as an after effect of human interest. Agricultural sector is anticipated to be adversely impacted by environmental change both in the present and in the future, thereby negatively impacting means livelihood and food security. Agriculture undoubtedly is a vital economic factor, and means of livelihoods in South Africa. Because Climate change is expected to reduce crop yields in South Africa, thus affecting food security and livelihood, adaptation strategies need to be implemented to mitigate climate change effects. This paper gives a detailed analysis and implications of environmental change effects on agriculture sectors and significance for achieving growth results such as food security, poverty alleviation, and sustainability in South Africa. Future Prospects for South Africa show decreased rainfall, rising heat, and high unpredictability for the better part of the area coupled with severe declines on the drier and marginal western areas, hence it will affect food security.  These consequences has great effects for farming production in South Africa. As a result, South Africa is expected to see 10% to 50% reductions in agricultural output, a situation that might increase food insecurity in the region.  By perfecting knowledge through educational institutions, knowledge will be raised concerning the impact of climate change and how to militate against present and anticipated circumstances.