SMME business management: The role of institutions and government

Abstract

The role and importance of small, medium and micro-enterprise (SMME) all over the world cannot be disputed. It is a known fact that SMMEs are responsible for the creation of jobs in all economies, and that in Africa, specifically poverty alleviation, economic growth and job creation is in the hands of SMMEs. Many organisations – local and international – invest billions of dollars in the upliftment of SMMEs by means of various actions, interventions and activities. It is also evident that most of these initiatives result in a lot of wastage, or does not reach its potential due to a variety of reasons. Although many of the reasons for this can be laid at the door of the SMMEs themselves, much blame can be appropriated to the institutions themselves. Staff employed to implement these actions are either not committed, or not trained, or not qualified to assist these SMMEs. This has led to the study conducted amongst 946 SMMEs in South Africa, using non-probability sampling regarding their experiences dealing with organisations providing assistance to SMMEs. The focus was on aspects such as: how queries were handled by the various management levels of the institutions, types of queries submitted, type of assistance received, and how problems were overcome by SMMEs. There was a clear indication that there is a lack of commitment from staff of these support organisations, their level of knowledge and their willingness to assist. The majority of respondents indicated that small businesses were not seen as important enough to warrant sufficient and dedicated attention. The nett effect is that the assistance offered to SMMEs is ineffective or not sufficient to address the needs of SMMEs – resulting in a culture by organisations to “just tick the boxes”. Recommendations are made on how the needs of SMMEs can be better addressed by organisations that aim to support and assist SMMEs.