Browsing by Author "Mansfield, G. M."

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    Entrepreneurial opportunities in the craft- distilling market in South Africa
    (Academic Journals, 2015) Ungerer, Marius; Kruger, S. M.; Vorster, S.; Mansfield, G. M.
    Opportunities for entrepreneurial entry into the craft-distilling product and market domains of the agricultural sector are presented in this study. Although the craft spirits industry in South Africa is currently in its infancy, the study is able to investigate potential entrepreneurial opportunities for such activities in the farming areas of the Western Cape Province. The first part of the study explores the supply side (product-led diversification) of the market. This in turn leads to a better understanding of the current state of the craft-distilling industry, and establishes a base for the survey. An appropriate survey instrument is developed and administered to existing distillers. The subsequent findings confirm the small size of the craft spirits industry. As expected, the small number of active producers generates a limited range of products in a market with established players having strong bargaining power. To perform effectively however, the entrepreneurial craft producer is advised not to compete directly with these players but rather to exploit niche product opportunities created in the premium consumer market segment attracted to handcrafted, locally-produced and customised offerings. By developing products with a competitive positioning of focussed differentiation complementary to the current portfolio of offerings, new market space can be created and new entrants should find attraction.
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    Strategy and business models - strange bedfellows? A case for convergence and its evolution into strategic architecture
    (AOSIS, 2004) Mansfield, G. M.; Fourie, L. C. H.
    Strategy aims for sustainable competitive advantage; business models are said to be the sine qua non of value creation. Firms in the networked economy may ask which approach is the more relevant and whether either, or both, are sufficient for success - and then misinterpret the linkage between them. Internet-based businesses are faced with rapid change in an environment characterised by connectedness and choice in which dynamism, innovation and customer-centricity appear to be the winning ingredients for success. In the networked economy the internet with its open standards has created commercial arrangements which manifest a disdain for traditional boundaries and demand new patterns of management behaviour for effective performance. The classic approach to strategy formulation with its perceived indifference, for example, towards network formation, confusion around generic strategy deployment, lack of dynamism and its vacuous treatment of customer-centricity have led electronic business practitioners to the flawed conclusion that a business model is the only compelling strategic behaviour which predicates success. This conceptual paper builds a theoretical base which traces the roots of strategy and business models, reviews the context of each, postulates a relationship between these two fundamental approaches and offers some guidelines on the missing ingredients.