Development of sustainable smes: conceptualized criteria for measuring the sustainability of youth-owned small retail businesses in selected rural areas of south Africa

Abstract

High failure rates among youth-owneds mall retail businesses has prompted the need for strengthening sustainability in the sector. The current paper sought to establish a framework for use in determining youth-owned small retail business sustainability. An exploratory mixed study approach was followed (qualitative and quantitative methods). Snowball and cluster sampling procedures were utilised to select respondents. Data were collected using semi-structured interview guides and close ended questionnaires. Qualitative data was analysed using the Atlas.ti version 7 software network techniques, while the IBM SPSS version 25 techniques were utilised to generate quantitative results. Principal component analysis outcomes reflected that the framework for measuring youth-owned small retail business sustainability comprises 6 major components. The components included security measures (18.01%), outsourcing abilities (13.70%), marketing strategies (10.07%), risk management (8.54%), financial management (8.43%) and innovation (7.89%). The six pillars of the criteria were utilised to further develop time specific indices that were expressed in the following formula: R1= ƒ (SM1, OA1, MS1, RM1, FM1, I1, S1) + e. Based on this formula, the sustainability of youth-owned small retail businesses can be assessed based on the six pillars on the right side of the equation and other subjective attributes at a particular time. The current study provided a framework that can be used by managers and practitioners to determine key sustainability building blocks of youth-owned small retail business at a particular time and track how they change over time.