Record Details

Introducing the composite business success index: Enhancing small and medium enterprise competitiveness in South Africa

Acta Commercii

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Introducing the composite business success index: Enhancing small and medium enterprise competitiveness in South Africa
 
Creator Jacobs, Donovan M. Kabaso, Boniface
 
Subject business; commercial; information technology small and medium enterprise competitiveness; composite business success index; financial performance; organisational culture; cash conversion cycle; Altman Z-score; configurational accuracy score; South Africa
Description Orientation: This study explored the composite business success index (CBSI), a novel framework designed to enhance small and medium enterprise (SME) competitiveness in South Africa by integrating financial and cultural metrics.Research purpose: The aim was to introduce CBSI as a tool for assessing small and medium enterprise performance, combining financial indicators like the cash conversion cycle (CCC) and Altman Z-score with cultural metrics such as the Configurational Accuracy Score for a more holistic evaluation.Motivation for the study: Small and medium enterprises in South Africa face significant challenges, including financial instability and misalignment of organisational culture. Existing performance models often fail to address these non-financial factors, which CBSI integrates into one evaluative tool to improve both financial health and cultural alignment.Research design, approach and method: A pragmatist research approach integrated quantitative and qualitative methodologies, including financial data from small and medium enterprise statements, semi-structured interviews with small and medium enterprise owners and experts and questionnaires to collect cultural data for insight into the role of culture in small and medium enterprise success.Main findings: Composite Business Success Index proved effective in predicting small and medium enterprise performance. Higher CBSI scores ( 0.65) were associated with successful small and medium enterprises, while lower scores ( 0.50) indicated areas for improvement, highlighting the link between financial stability and organisational alignment.Practical/managerial implications: The CBSI offers small and medium enterprise leaders actionable insights for enhancing financial performance and organisational culture, boosting competitiveness and long-term sustainability.Contribution/value-add: By integrating both financial and cultural metrics into a single framework, the CBSI provides a novel tool for assessing and developing small and medium enterprise performance for the small and medium enterprise managers.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor SEDA
Date 2025-06-05
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — mixed method approach
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/ac.v25i1.1328
 
Source Acta Commercii; Vol 25, No 1 (2025); 14 pages 1684-1999 2413-1903
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://actacommercii.co.za/index.php/acta/article/view/1328/2648 https://actacommercii.co.za/index.php/acta/article/view/1328/2649 https://actacommercii.co.za/index.php/acta/article/view/1328/2650 https://actacommercii.co.za/index.php/acta/article/view/1328/2651
 
Coverage South Africa , Africa The study focuses on the development and application of the Composite Business Success Index (CBSI), with a primary emphasis on evaluating the financial and operational performance of SMEs. small and medium enterprises across various industries
Rights Copyright (c) 2025 Donovan M. Jacobs, Boniface Kabaso https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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