FACULTY OF business & management sciences

The faculty of Business & Management Sciences strives to establish itself as a place of outstanding learning, research and innovation. During the year under review, much progress was made in the creation of an environment conducive to research and innovation. Support from executive Management and the offices of the DVCs, as well as from external funding organisations, enabled ten staff members to take study leave to complete their master’s or doctoral degrees. four of these staff members completed their degrees at CPUT, while the other six were registered at other South african universities or abroad.

The faculty’s research agenda is spearheaded by CPUT’s RTI Blueprint, which was adopted in 2012 to provide a framework for growth in research and innovation. Guided by the blueprint, the faculty implemented a number of interventions during 2014 to facilitate research growth across the faculty’s disciplinary spectrum and multidisciplinary partnerships with other faculties.

One such intervention was the introduction of research summer and winter schools, where postgraduate students were encouraged and equipped with skills to complete their degrees at CPUT within the stipulated time. Academics both from within the faculty and from other faculties, as well as external institutions, contributed to the success of these schools. The research summer and winter schools will continue to run to benefit our postgraduate students.

Another intervention was aimed at increasing the number of staff with doctoral degrees. Based on the belief that research and business innovation at the highest level requires staff with outstanding talent, the faculty has embarked on a mission to retain and recruit staff with doctoral degrees. This strategic action resulted in an increase in the number of staff with doctoral degrees from 16 in 2011 to 28 in 2014. The number of NRFrated researchers also increased from three in 2013 to four in the year under review.

The faculty’s continued efforts to develop a supportive research environment has also paid off as far as research publications output is concerned. Thanks to an increase in the productivity of our researchers, the faculty produced the highest number of DHET subsidised journal article units in 2014. Output in this category increased from 14.57% in 2013 to 26.41% in 2014.

I take this opportunity to welcome all staff with doctoral degrees who joined the faculty in 2014. I also thank all faculty staff for their continued loyalty and for showing their commitment to the research enterprise by working hard regardless of resource limitations and environmental constraints. On the same note, I wish to thank all staff members who have contributed to us re-gaining our position as the faculty that produced the highest DHET subsidised research output in 2014 in the category of journal articles. trust that we will continue doing sterling work.

F u ND i N g (CONFCO m )

CPuT hosts SACDA meeting

The f aculty of Business & Management Sciences hosted a conference of the South a frican Commerce Deans’ a ssociation (S a CD a ) at CPUT’s Hotel School in June 2014. S a CD a , an association of deans of commerce faculties in public universities in South a frica, holds biannual meetings at its member institutions. The two-day conference at CPUT was hosted by the Dean of Business, Prof Mzikayise Binza.

DVC: a cademic, Prof a nthony Staak, delivered a presentation on CPUT’s recent innovations such as the nanosatellite, and patented inventions such as the Unmanned a erial Vehicle and the o mega Caro- e capsules. BankS e Ta C eo , Mr Max Makhubalo, discussed the S e Ta’s roles and functions and the opportunities that it avails to higher education institutions. He said the BankS e Ta offers merit bursaries to students studying accounting, mathematics, computer engineering, economics and actuarial sciences. It also funds doctoral students and facilitates internships.

During the conference, delegates discussed, among other topics, possible collaboration with the South a frican Institute of Chartered a ccountants (S a IC a ), as well as possible revision of the S a CD a Constitution with specific reference to the association’s role and implications for resources and future prospects of offering joint degrees.

CPUT launches Journal of Leadership and Management Studies

a new research periodical, the Journal of Leadership and Management Studies (JoLMS), was launched at CPUT in october 2014. The multidisciplinary journal is a sequel to the annual Leadership and Management in Project-driven Industries South africa (LaMIPISa) Conference, which the Department of Management and Project Management has been hosting since 2013. all papers accepted for LaMIPISa were peer reviewed and some were selected and published in the current issue of JoLMS.

editor-in-Chief, Dr Larry Jowah, said the journal has 35 contributors from various parts of the world, including four from CPUT. Dr Jowah thanked all staff members who made the journal possible.

Speaking at the launch, Dr Chris Nhlapo congratulated the department on producing a journal of high quality. He said that in the decade ending in 2012, CPUT’s average growth rate in research output was ranked second in the university of technology sector. Dr Nhlapo pointed out that CPUT has a large number of young scholars, between the ages of 35 and 44, compared to other universities whose scholars are generally in their 50s. acting Head of Department (HoD), Ms angela Buys, said the conferences and the journal have greatly enhanced the department’s research image.

Purpose of the chair

The WRLC was established in collaboration with the Wholesale and Retail SETA (W&RSETA) in 2013 to generate industry relevant information through research. Such information is disseminated through publications and seminars. The chair also facilitates, promotes and supports higher level studies at master’s and doctoral levels with the main objective of developing professionally qualified retail managers.

Activities Of The Chair

The WRLC awards research contracts to established researchers from all over the world. Each year, a number of projects are selected based on a study to identify the needs of the South African retail industry. A lead researcher is appointed, together with a researcher from CPUT. The project reports are published on the chair’s website (www.wrlc.org.za), in accredited journals and as summaries aimed at the busy retail executive. Our researchers have presented six papers at major practitioner conferences such as the Consumer Goods Council Summit and the Research Congress Africa.

Projects completed during 2014 include:

• Informal and SMME retailers in South Africa

• Retail’s contribution and strategies for job creation and retention

• E-business development and skills requirements in retail

• Strategy alignment of the W&R sector with the National Development Plan

• Interventions to achieve employment equity objectives in the W&R sector

• A model for assessment centres for W&RSETA Quality Council for Trades and Occupation (QCTO) qualifications

• Development of a W&RSETA management system and procedures for an Assessment Quality Partner (AQP) for QCTO retail qualifications

• Development of a QCTO retail store manager qualification

Projects initiated in 2014 and still in progress include:

• Expansion of South African retailers’ activities into Africa

• Nature of existing and emerging cooperatives in the W&R sector other activities conducted or overseen by the chair in 2014 include: funding received by the WrLC in 2014 includes:

• International visits: During 2014, visits were made to the Retail Management Institute at the Santa Clara University (California), IPAG Business School in Nice (France) and Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg (Germany); visits were received from retail professors at Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg and the University of Colorado (USA).

• Staff exchanges: International academics spent time in Cape Town, either contributing to our lecturing programme or participating in research projects, and a number of our lecturing staff visited universities abroad.

• Student exchanges: We have been running student exchanges for some time whereby our students spend a term at an overseas university, and overseas students spend a similar amount of time at CPUT.

• Our website supports researchers by providing databases of international information on retail courses, retail journals and publications, and sources of information on retail. It also includes a retail alumni site and a learner tracking system.

• Undergraduate research is promoted through awards for BTech students at all universities of technology, and we publish the winning research projects on our website.

• R1 242 900 (W&RSETA)

• R2 477 198 (W&RSETA)