THE IMPACT OF ENTREPRENEURIAL CHARACTERISTICS AND BUSINESS PRACTICES ON THE LONG TERM SURVIVAL OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SMEs) Bloemfontein -Republic of South Africa 2011 (original) (raw)

In South Africa, entrepreneurial ventures have a low survival rate as entrepreneurs start businesses but are unable to turn them into sustainable businesses (Foxcroft, Wood, Segal, Herrington and Kew, 2002: 14). note that most new SMEs in South Africa do not move from the first stage (existence) of growth to other stages such as survival, success, take off and resource maturity. As such, it is believed that many of these SMEs do not survive in their first years of operation and thus, do not provide their benefits to society (Persson, 2004). is of the opinion that if business owners and managers are good at managing their businesses, then they will do extremely well in terms of ensuring their continuous survival of their businesses. For SMEs to survive and succeed in their business operations, it is pertinent that its owners or managers possess certain entrepreneurial characteristics (MacGregor and Varzalic, 2005; and carry out specific business practices. For these reasons SMEs deserve much more attention, especially with regard to its business practices, which are often developed as part of the entrepreneur"s personal life strategies. These business practices and personal life strategies are used as a means of earning a living, which in turn is largely influenced by the entrepreneur"s personality characteristics . Hence, an increase in the long-term survival of SME will result in sustainable job creation; poverty eradication and improved standards of living.