Masters Degrees (Industrial Engineering)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Industrial Engineering) by Author "Bam, Hendrik"

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    A feasibility study framework for E-business start-ups: a case study on Sxuirrel
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03) Bam, Hendrik; Kennon, Denzil; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Industrial Engineering.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: E-businesses that use technology to infiltrate the biggest rising market today, the Millenials, have become more and more popular over the past few years. This market however is very unpredictable and seems easy to infiltrate, but this is not at all the case. Due to lack of knowledge everybody is looking to becoming entrepreneurs by attacking the e-business market. The large number of ebusiness failures, that occur every year, are a good example of the rise in e-business start-ups over the last few years. This creates an opportunity for a tool that can help determine the potential of an e-business start-up before the start-up has started, while simultaneously helps defining the market and idea of the e-business start-up. The objective of this study was to develop a process that could help e-business start-ups to determine if it is worth taking on the challenge of continuing with the start-up. By answering the question of feasibility, start-ups could determine if it worth taking the risk. In this context, the question of feasibility can be answered by the following components: Return on investment of the start-up, the market potential, the acquisition cost and the e-business customer life cycle. The research endeavour investigated the main factors of feasibility, namely market feasibility and financial feasibility. Each main factor was divided into sub-factors that were also investigated. These main and sub-factors are the core of the feasibility study framework. After the framework was set up a validation process confirmed that the feasibility study framework has achieved its goal and can help e-business start-ups, to determine the potential feasibility of the e-business start-up. This resulted in e-business start-up founders as well as incubator liaison seeing the potential of an ebusiness start-up before the start-up was out of the idea phase. The feasibility study framework for an e-business start-up is an important stepping stone towards developing a better understanding of the e-business start-up itself, the e-business start-up world and in what direction the start-up needs to go in order to reach maximum potential.