| Summary: | South Africa is a country facing divisive social and economic challenges. It has a history that generated imbalances within the economy and requires urgent solutions to one of the most significant issues the country faces, having too few South Africans in work. Globally, a key solution to creating work has been to make small business the engine-room of economies. Consequently, the South African Government has identified the establishment of small businesses as a priority, which incorporates the development of collaborative forms of businesses in marginalised communities. The co-operative form of business and a strong co-operative movement is, therefore, a critical element of government’s initiative to create work and economic independence for South Africans. Governed by the seven International Labour Organization (ILO) principles, this form of business is often more complex than a typical firm, making the task of establishing and growing these entities particularly challenging. This study analyses the literature to gain an understanding of co-operative movements across the globe. It then looks at the specific challenges the movement faces in South Africa, followed by an analysis of best practice that a business should engage in its establishment and growth. Specifically, the literature examines whether there is a relationship between opportunity-related industry, market and entrepreneurial team aspects and improved business performance of business entities such as co-operatives. The study collates data from co-operatives in the South African economy using two separate methodologies. Firstly, a structured interview was used to acquire information on the opportunity-related aspects. Secondly, business transactions were recorded and basic financial statements were produced for each co-operative, enabling a rating on business performance. The primary data was then analysed within Chapter 6, to investigate the strength of the relationship between opportunity-related aspects and business performance. The findings extracted from the primary data reinforced certain facts within the body of knowledge as it relates to the relationship between opportunity-related aspects and business performance, but there were also some interesting new insights that were extracted from the data. The South African co-operative movement has achieved certain success and momentum as well as experiencing certain failures, and the study clearly highlights both, and makes recommendations to improve the movements and government’s efforts to establish a vibrant and meaningful co-operative sector.
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