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The learning outcomes are as follows: students should be able to provide definitions for ethical dilemmas; students should be able to identify ethical dilemmas in a real business context; and students should be able to determine the outcomes of applying given decision-making models to a specific scenario.

The aim of this study is to demonstrate the complexity of ethical decision-making in start-up enterprises in emerging markets. The study draws on two well-known decision-making models to illustrate how their application in this context may lead to conflicting outcomes. The study data was collected through reflective entries provided by the business proprietor. These were followed up by three in-depth interviews. The data was supported by analysis of company documents provided by the case. The study demonstrates the crucible moments in entrepreneurial startups that give rise to ethical questions and the need for decision making. It demonstrates the complexity of ethical decision making in emerging contexts. The study business elected to maintain anonymity for commercial protection. This limits the scope of information that may be divulged. The study and the accompanying teaching note provide context for how to apply decision-making frameworks to real business dilemmas. This study contributes to scholarly work on teaching business ethics to undergraduate students.

Final Year Undergraduate.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

This paper seeks to systematically review and synthesise existing research knowledge on African women entrepreneurship to identify gaps for future studies.

The paper conducted a systematic literature review of published studies from 1990 to 2020 on women entrepreneurship in Africa using a 5M gender aware framework of Brush et al. (2009).

The systematic literature review of published studies found the fragmentation, descriptive and prescriptive orientation of studies on Africa women entrepreneurship and devoid of theoretical focus. Further, women entrepreneurship studies tended to be underpinned from various disciplines, less from the entrepreneurship lens, mostly quantitative, and at its infancy stage of development. With a primary focus on development, enterprise performance and livelihood, studies rarely attended to issues of motherhood and the nuanced understanding of women entrepreneurship’s embeddedness in family and institutional contexts of Africa.

The paper questions the view that women entrepreneurship is a “panacea” and unravels how family context, customary practices, poverty and, rural-urban and formal/informal divide, significantly shape and interact with African women entrepreneurs’ enterprising experience and firm performance.

The findings and analyses indicate that any initiatives to support women empowerment via entrepreneurship should consider the socially constructed nature of women entrepreneurship and the subtle interplay of the African institutional contexts’ intricacies, spatial and locational differences which significantly influence women entrepreneurs’ choices, motivations and goals for enterprising.

The paper contributes to a holistic understanding of women entrepreneurship in Africa by using a 5M framework to review the research knowledge. In addition, the paper not only identifies unexplored/or less examined issues but also questions the taken-for-granted assumptions of existing knowledge and suggest adoption of context- and gender-sensitive theories and methods.

With the steady overall development of the continent, the African business landscape over the last decade has witnessed increased growth through numerous avenues. Growth has been through the emergence of formalised small and medium enterprises, the growth of business and transition from one scale to another as well as inward foreign direct investment. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how this business growth can be sustained, particularly in the area of talent management, within the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

This paper presents the findings of a narrative inquiry conducted in 2016 on an expert panel of talent managers in businesses based in South Africa.

The focus of the inquiry was the challenges in talent currently faced by South African businesses and what possible solutions, that address the question of sustainable development, may lie in talent management practices. The study finds that there may be scope for the augmentation of current practice in psychometric testing which may address a plethora of problems currently defining the talent context in African business.

The growth of African businesses has presented interesting challenges in managing the African business particularly in the area of human resources and talent management. A persistent notion is the question of sustaining this growth on the continent. As enterprise grows, the need for talent is ever more pressing. This paper seeks to present pathways to sustainability in this regards.

The purpose of this paper is to explore and articulate the profile of handicraft entrepreneurs operating in the Maboneng precinct of Johannesburg, South Africa.

This study is qualitative in nature – implementing a phenomenology through which cases of four handicraft entrepreneurs are developed.

Handicraft entrepreneurs in Maboneng possess a spiritually motivated profile that does not allow them to be neatly characterised in the profiles of the literature.

This study contributes to addressing the dearth of knowledge in the literature on the profile of entrepreneurs in Africa. It provides insights on the spiritual motivation of artisanal entrepreneurs in particular who represent a part of the largest proportion of African small-scale entrepreneurial activity.

Artisan businesses in Africa have distinct ways of being that make them peculiar to manage when compared to non-artisanal enterprises. Artisan businesses are often developed on the basis of tacit knowledge that is passed on from one generation to the next through an apprenticeship model. Furthermore, these businesses are often driven by an intersection of necessity motives (the need for the artisan to make a living) and opportunity (the honing of a valued handicraft that can be monetized). The challenge for artisanal businesses of this nature is therefore broadly twofold: firstly, the sustainability of the enterprise due to knowledge transfer challenges; and secondly, the motivation of artisanal apprentices who are preoccupied with meeting their livelihood needs over the opportunity to practice a craft. This case study presents an insight into how these challenges playout but also an insight into how these challenges can be overcome. Kazuri Beads have survived these challenges for over 40 years and therefore is an ideal showcase of how an artisan business can be established, grown and sustained in the long run.