Development of an inter-generational business sustainability framework for family-owned passenger bus companies in Zimbabwe.
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Date
2023
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Abstract
Family businesses being the predominant form of business organization, and estimated in the
range of 60-98% of all firms worldwide, contribute immensely to world economies. It is
however deplorable that throughout the world they are victims of intergenerational demise,
failing to sustain themselves over multiple generations, emanating from a plethora of
challenges that seed them into total collapse. Their very low survival rates are a matter of
concern. Zimbabwe’s passenger transport sector is typical, with glaringly overwhelming cases
of failure. Evidence abound in Zimbabwe of family-owned passenger bus companies
(FOPBCs) that have folded, following the passing on of their founders. The sibling and
consortium generations succeeding the founders have plunged the businesses into extinction.
Despite a tremendous surge in family business research due to their global importance, the
totality of studies focused on Africa is small. Notwithstanding their prevalence there exists
absence of in-depth knowledge on their operations, including in Zimbabwe. Accordingly, this
study focussed on investigating the determinants for business sustainability of FOPBCs in
Zimbabwe. Drawing from various business theories, models and literature, the research
utilized a pragmatic paradigm that adopted the exploratory sequential mixed method design
(Qual – Quan research) to investigate the factors influencing the survival of Zimbabwe’s
FOPBCs. The qualitative research component undertook ten (10) interviews based on nonprobability
sampling techniques, to derive relevant themes based on NVivo 2020, that were
then employed to design a questionnaire. The follow-up questionnaire was deployed on a
census of one hundred and fifty-three (153) FOPBCs in Zimbabwe as the study population.
The resultant quantitative data was analysed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) through
the application of principal components analysis (PCA), to determine the factors influencing
the survival of Zimbabwe’s FOPBCs. The key outputs are methodological, contextual and
intergenerational business sustainability framework contributions. The study revealed that
succession planning, leadership, total capital, management, family entrepreneurship, strategy,
governance, and external environmental factors bear strongly on cross generational
sustainability. These factors form the intergenerational business sustainability framework for
the FOPBCs. Imperatively, leaders of such companies, policy makers and scholars must pay
devout attention to addressing the challenges in logistics and passenger transport
management.
Description
Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.