The objective of the chapter is to illustrate how an interpretive phenomenological research approach can be used to understand the reasons behind the low tax compliance rates among small businesses. A combination of purposive and snowball sampling techniques was employed to select participants who were willing to share their experiences and perceptions with the researcher. Semi-structured interviews were employed to interview 25 small business owners, mainly situated in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The results suggest that the participants’ confidence in their ability to undertake the tax compliance functions by themselves is low. Furthermore, the feedback from the participants submit that stakeholders such as customers, suppliers, funders, investors and employees play an important role in the tax compliance decision-making of small business owners. Stakeholders increasingly prefer to deal with tax compliant businesses.
The lack of proximity between economic agents in Africa and the rest of the world is compounded by regional instability, including pandemics and conflicts. Identifying these ever-changing challenges provides the foundational problem when desiring growth in such environments. Hence, the primary research objective of the study is to develop a growth-strategy support model (GSSM) to provide the requisite rigor when developing such growth strategies. This chapter elucidates the research method applied herein. The study embraced a realism framework utilizing SWOT and PESTLE techniques, built on the principles of stakeholder and stewardship theories. The results from the qualitative research, i.e., the semi-structured interviews, were weighted to align with predetermined organizational risk appetite and tolerance levels. Ultimately, taking cognizance of such risk appetite and tolerance, the envisaged model facilitates the analysis and ranking of pertinent risk factors. The conclusive findings confirmed medium risk, which, based on the predetermined risk profile, suggests the organization move to the next phase of its growth-strategy process.
The main objective of this chapter is to demonstrate the application of a mixed methods approach to investigate credit management practices at five selected South African Universities of Technology. The study is nested in a post-positivistic paradigm with empirical data comprising two sources. Firstly, a qualitative archival research document analysis was performed using the universities' student credit management policies and annual audited financial statements, from which five themes were identified. Secondly, a survey was conducted with 1382 senior students completing a questionnaire. The quantitative study revealed that nine factors embrace the students' perceptions of (i) their debt, (ii) their universities' credit management policies, and (iii) their personal financial management. Furthermore, the chapter demonstrates how triangulation was applied to combine and interpret the qualitative and quantitative results. This study faced practical difficulties, such as obtaining ethical clearance and gatekeeping permission from each university, and data were collected just after the #FeesMustFall student-led movement. After completion of the study, a positive outflow was that the principal researcher initiated funding to assist students at two of the investigated universities.
This chapter presents a case study approach to develop a competitive strategy for an automotive distribution company in preparation for Saudi Vision 2030—a policy initiative to introduce significant economic and structural reforms in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study was nested in a pragmatic paradigm following a sequential mixed methods design. Data about the competitive environment of the case study were collected by utilizing a combination of a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis, a PESTEL (political, economic, social, technical, environmental, and legal) analysis, a balanced scorecard (BSC), and Porter’s generic strategies and linking it with the concept of competitive intelligence. Firstly, semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with 32 senior managers in the case study company to collect qualitative data. The results of the interviews were used to design an electronic questionnaire. Secondly, this questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data from 205 case study employees. The actor-network theory (ANT) was used to provide insight into the results. A triangulation process was followed to combine the qualitative and quantitative data results. A new conceptual model, the actor intelligence theory, was formulated based on the triangulated results and insights from the literature review.
