An analysis of business interventions and their effect on the perceived success of South African small and medium enterprises

A prestudy by the author of the assistance available to small business ownersin South Africa revealed that although much assistance is available, manysmall businesses still fail. The question that arose was whether smallbusiness owners are receiving the proper assistance in respect of the rightfunctional areas of the business, for the appropriate duration, at the rightstage of the business life cycle and by the right people. Taking all theseissues into account, the main purpose of this study was to determine whattypes of business interventions have the greatest impact on the success ofentrepreneurs and small and medium enterprise owners.The literature study includes the history of small business development inSouth Africa and the interventions that have taken place in this and othercountries. It also provides a definition of a successful small business and thegeneric business needs of small business owners.The sample used in this study was drawn from the members of theConfederation of Employers of South Africa (Cofesa). The research findingsof this study are reliable for the SME owners who are members of Cofesa.The Cofesa group is not representative with regards to demographics,location, economic sectors or qualifications of South African SMEs. Thefollowing are some of the findings of the study of successful small businessowners:* They generally make use of assistance in the areas of finance, marketingand human resources.* Most of them make use of assistance on a continuous basis during all thestages of the business life cycle, suggesting the way forward for aspirantbusiness owners who should start making use of assistance even beforestarting their businesses.* Consultants or business specialists are mainly used for assistance.* More than two-thirds of the business owners thought that their businesseswere more successful after they had received assistance.* The assistance was neither the cause of failure nor was it the main causeof their success.Assistance is a contributing factor to success but not the main reason for it.The success of a SME will depend mainly on other factors such as type ofproduct, product quality and marketing. Assistance, however, proves vital andshould first be provided for the areas as identified by the respondents in thisstudy (mainly finance, marketing and human resources).