Browsing by Author "Kennon, Denzil"
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- ItemImprobable circumstances strategic framework(Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2010-03) Kennon, Denzil; Schutte, C. S. L.; Bosman, S.; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Industrial Engineering.ENGLISH SUMMARY: The research documents the development of a conceptual framework, the improbable circumstances strategic (ICS) framework, which guides organisations in the preparation for improbable circumstances. Four fields include: strategic management, innovation, systems thinking and complexity theories (black swans). The black swan principle was introduced with its applicability to the 2008 economic crisis. The black swan is an event which is retrospective in its predictability, highly improbable and carries extreme impact. There are various principles to cope with black swans which will now play a role in strategic management. Strategic management is studied from a systems thinking perspective which is a school of thought that strategy is a process which an organisation should follow from analysis, synthesis, implementation through to the operation phase. Some tools applicable to the analysis and synthesis phases were studied to give a greater understanding of the current field of strategic management. Innovation is an underlying principle which supports the strategic process. Innovation is a field which is currently not playing a large role in the strategy process. The principles of the innovation life cycle, innovation management and open innovation were studied to support the framework as well as create awareness around the advantages thereof within the field strategy. The dissertation uses aspects of these four fields to form the ICS framework. The framework consists of four phases: the analysis phase; the improbable event creation phase; the fragility analysis phase; and the synthesis phase. The first three phases run parallel with the current analysis phase of strategic management as the ICS framework is not designed to replace the strategic management process, but to add to it. The synthesis phase is where the design of the strategic plan for improbable circumstances takes place. Each phase sets out the inputs, requirements and deliverables needed for the successful implementation of the framework. Some tools for each of the phases are given, but they are given merely as a guideline as different organisations have the infrastructure for different tools. The framework is partially validated by being able to apply various tools to each phase, but the framework’s place in the field of strategy should be validated. The validation is done through interviews with eight industry experts in the four fields of study discussed. The results show a positive response with a call for future study through implementation, a tracking of the framework through this implementation and critical factors that arise from that.
- ItemThe status and challenges of industrial engineering in South Africa(SAIIE, 2016-05) Schutte, Cornelius S. L.; Kennon, Denzil; Bam, WouterThe industrial engineering discipline in South Africa is examined by introducing the context of the discipline and by revisiting its history. The drivers influencing the context and future of industrial engineering in South Africa are also considered, and the discipline is analysed in terms of the following aspects: university qualifications, employment in industry sectors, race and gender profiles, use and competence in industry, and income profiles. The analysis is based on a recent survey sent to practising industrial engineers, on membership data from the Southern African Institute for Industrial Engineering (SAIIE), and on two internal SAIIE investigations. The study concludes that the success of transformation, particularly in terms of race, has been limited. The results also indicate that there are an almost equal number of black and white industrial engineers, yet the majority of black industrial engineers have technical qualifications, while the majority of white industrial engineers have academic qualifications. The results indicate that this limits the use of black industrial engineers in industry and, consequently, the success of their careers. This in turn means that there are fewer black role models to attract young black students to the discipline. Some preliminary opportunities to unlock the increased transformation of the profession are identified.
- ItemA strategic framework for improbable circumstances(SAIIE, 2015) Kennon, Denzil; Schutte, Corne S. L.Rare events, known as ‘Black Swans’, have determined the course of history. One of these was the global economic crisis of 2008. Such events highlight fields like strategic management and their shortcomings in helping to prepare organisations. The Strategic Framework for Improbable Circumstances was designed to add to the strategic management process by improving organisational preparation for these rare events. The framework was validated through interviews with experts who showed the need for such a framework, and who confirmed that it is a good first step for organisations to take towards addressing these Black Swan events.
- ItemA strategic framework to utilise venture capital funding to develop manufacturing SMEs in South Africa(Southern African Institute for Industrial Engineering, 2014-08) Snyman, Hendrik Andries; Kennon, Denzil; Schutte, Cornelius S. L.; Von Leipzig, KonradSMEs contribute considerably to the national GDP and to private sector employment, but they struggle to gain access to the funding needed to support business sustainability and growth. Venture capital provides the necessary funding, but SMEs lack understanding of the business value curve utilised by financiers to gauge the risk-reward characteristics of an investment. Strategies need to convey how the business model will evolve in order to deliver on the strategic intent. A framework is proposed through which SMEs can develop a strategy aligned with investor requirements. As a case study, the framework is applied to the local tooling sector.
- ItemTowards an antifragile South African SME(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12) Kennon, Denzil; Schutte, C. S. L.; Von Leipzig, Konrad; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Industrial Engineering.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: “In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.” – Bertrand Russell The contribution of small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to the employment, GDP and other factors that affect poverty and income inequality of South Africa is considerable. South African SMEs contribute to the economy despite the fact that 75% of SMEs fail within the first 42 months – worse than most other countries. If SMEs can be set up to survive and prosper in the experienced volatility, economies will prosper. Enterprises are complex adaptive systems where the dynamic constructs of the enterprise cannot be determined to their finest detail. Enterprises can therefore be represented as a system with subsystems and components which should align functionally in pursuit of the purpose of the enterprise. These subsystems and components are usually formally defined in large corporations, but they often lack that level of definition in SMEs. SMEs require a way in which to master the complexity of the enterprise at effective levels. Smaller enterprises respond to volatility in their external- or internal environment, and there is a need to understand the possible responses. These responses can be fragile (reduced in value/functionality), robust or resilient (maintain value/functionality) or seen to improve in value/functionality, also now known as 'antifragile'. Antifragile, on the opposite side of the spectrum of fragility, is the system response which improves under volatility. The field of antifragility is in its infancy and a part of this study sought to find characteristics that enabled antifragility in systems. The objective of this study was to develop a framework that will assist South African SMEs to be more antifragile. The research was conducted through a constructivist perspective which sought to better understand phenomena whilst understanding that an absolute answer will most likely not be found. The research was exploratory in nature, with antifragility being approached by evaluating constructs and adapting these constructs to provide a more informed and sophisticated theory than those preceding its existence to allow for utilisation in the real world. The basic systems engineering process was utilised for the exploratory building study. This resulted in the creation of a set of requirements that needed to be met by the framework, the design of the framework, and verification and validation that the framework had met the requirements. Nine characteristics of antifragility were identified to provide guidelines for explicit antifragile SME design. In order to transform these guidelines to the design of the SME, the systems engineer is provided with the field of enterprise engineering. Enterprise engineering has evolved into three schools of thought of which the enterprise-in-environment adaptation school of thought, focussing on dynamic endo- and exogenous stressors, was chosen as the most representative of antifragile enterprise design. Requirements were gathered from the fields of South African SMEs, antifragility and enterprise-in-environment adaptation and were grouped into five types of categories: 1) user requirements, 2) functional (essential and desirable) requirements, 3) design restrictions, 4) attention points and 5) boundary conditions. These were filtered into groups which play a role in: 1) understanding the current enterprise state, 2) providing an understanding of the future enterprise status, and/or 3) those that provide guidance for the transformation from the current to the future status. These provided the three distinct phases of the framework. These requirements were further distilled, per phase, into requirements which meet the same objective and resulted in nine stages. The three phases with the nine supporting stages resulted in the output, as the objective of the study, the Epictetus framework, with each stage providing an objective, requirements, and antifragile considerations to guide the enterprise design decision-making for the SME. The validation was done through 1) a per stage validation, 2) semi-structured interviews that were held both locally and internationally, and 3) through an illustrative case study. The study provides explicit characteristics for antifragility, as well as a method in which antifragility in a system can be assessed. It also provides the clarity of practical steps which can make antifragility explicit in enterprises and more importantly in South African SMEs. It provides a stepping stone from which a better understanding of antifragility can be gained as well as how it can be used to design systems. It also provides a foundation from which SMEs can be designed to improve under volatility.