An assessment of selected organisational-based factors on the perceived success of agribusinesses: a corporate entrepreneurship perspective

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of selected organisational-based factors on the perceived success of agribusinesses in South Africa. Business success, for the purposes of this study, was measured by means of two dependent variables, namely Business development and improvement and Business growth. Structured questionnaires were administered to the managers of five of the largest and three smaller agribusinesses in South Africa. A total of 533 usable questionnaires were returned. The construct validity of the measuring instrument was assessed by means of a principal component exploratory factor analysis and by calculating Cronbachs’s alpha coeffi cients. The results show that the managers in the participating agribusinesses perceived the selected organisational-based factors of Strategic intent, Autonomy, Customer orientation and Rewards to have a positive influence on their Business development and improvement. A positive relationship was also found to exist between the selected organisational-based factors of Strategic intent and Customer orientation and the dependent variable Business growth in the participating businesses. Practical recommendations were also proposed to enhance and foster corporate entrepreneurship within these businesses.

Key words: corporate entrepreneurship, agribusinesses, perceived success