ABSTRACT

The notions of foreign-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have gained the attention of scholars in the SME literature due to the contributions that they make in both their home and host countries. Despite the growing attention on foreign-owned SMEs in the academic literature, there is limited literature exploring the motivations and unique challenges that these enterprises face in the various African contexts. This study, therefore, used the grounded theory approach on a sample of forty-two (42) owners of successful foreign-owned SMEs operating in South Africa to explore their motivations and unique challenges. Eight (8) categories of motivations and five (5) unique challenges for successful foreign-owned SMEs to start businesses in South Africa were identified. A grounded theory in this study shows the motivations for starting SMEs, dealing with unique challenges and success factors of foreign-owned SMEs. The study provides useful insights into the motivations of foreign-owned SMEs, as well as on how successful foreign-owned SMEs deal with unique challenges to succeed.

摘要

外资中小企业 (SME) 的概念因其在本国和东道国的贡献而引起了中小企业文献中学者的关注。尽管学术文献中越来越关注外资中小企业，但探索这些企业在各种非洲环境中面临的动机和独特挑战的文献有限。因此，本研究对四十二 (42) 名在南非经营的成功外资中小企业所有者的样本使用了扎根理论方法，以探讨他们的动机和独特的挑战。确定了成功的外资中小企业在南非开展业务的八 (8) 类动机和五 (5) 种独特挑战。本研究中的扎根理论显示了创办中小企业的动机，应对外资中小企业的独特挑战和成功因素。该研究为外资中小企业的动机以及成功的外资中小企业如何应对独特的成功挑战提供了有用的见解。