ABSTRACT

The Cultural and Creative Industries have great potential for providing employment and economic development, as has been demonstrated by a number of international studies. However, cultural firms tend to be small and employment is precarious, with a high level of informality and freelance work. This study investigates the characteristics of micro-enterprises who sew bespoke garments for individual customers using a particular South African textile, called Shweshwe. Findings show that the informality of the businesses does not have a statistically significant impact on turnover, when controlling for other factors, such as the education level of the owner. This suggests that the informal business model may be a deliberate, rational choice for firm owners working in a project-based cultural sector, rather than a survivalist strategy of last resort. Employment creation is, however, greater for those micro-enterprises operating in the formal sector, suggesting that there may still be benefits to formality for some firms.

抽象的

文化和创意产业在提供就业和经济发展方面具有巨大潜力，许多国际研究已经证明了这一点。但是，文化公司往往规模较小，就业不稳定，具有高度的非正式性和自由职业者。这项研究调查了使用特殊的南非纺织品Shweshwe为个人客户缝制定制服装的微型企业的特征。。研究结果表明，在控制其他因素（如所有者的教育程度）时，企业的非正式性对营业额没有统计学上的显着影响。这表明，对于在基于项目的文化部门工作的公司所有者而言，非正式的商业模式可能是有意的，理性的选择，而不是最后的生存主义策略。但是，对于那些在正规部门经营的微型企业而言，创造就业机会更大，这表明某些公司的正规化可能仍然会受益。