Title: Investigating the ebb and flow between research and industry developments within the South African business management landscape

Biography:

Dawie) Bornman is a senior lecturer, post-graduate supervisor and researcher in the Department of Business Management at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Focusing on Entrepreneurial Creativity, Business Management Innovation and Leadership Communication, he has presented his research at international conferences, doctoral seminars and personal development workshops. Dr Bornman studied and worked at the University of Leipzig in Germany, through the EUROSA grant and acts as a guest lecturer at international universities in Austria and Belgium. He serves as Guardian for the University of Pretoria’s Marketing and Communication Management Student Society (MC Experience), and has received awards such as Best Undergraduate Lecturer (in the Department of Business Management), a Teaching and Learning Excellence Award, and a Real Life Influencer Award (both in the Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences at the University of Pretoria). In 2018 he was named one of seventeen educators in the Mail and Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans. He is passionate about youth, ‘artrepreneurship’ and SMME development projects and has worked with UNICEF, PWC, the Mamelodi Business Clinic, SA Cane Growers, the South African National Council for the Blind and the South African Creative Industries Incubator (SACII).

Abstract

According to Stats SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey released on 30 November 2021 the unemployment rate in South Africa reached an alltime high of 34.9% in 2021, which is an increase of 4,1% from 2020 to 2021. The reason for this increase is of course clear as the global Coronavirus pandemic ushered in unimagined complexities (Mhlanga, 2021). The United Nations (UN) Secretary General, António Guterres, has called for the world to react decisively, innovatively and to collaboratively conquer the rise of the virus whilst also responding to the socio-economic devastation that the virus is causing world-wide (UN, 2020). The question surrounding this global problem in terms of its economic impact is therefore not focused on how this problem can be solved, but rather on what the effects of this pandemic have been on entrepreneurs, as well as the general academic landscape of entrepreneurship and business management education in developing countries such as South African (ASSAf, 2022). Individuals studying on a tertiary level in the field of entrepreneurship or business management have always been viewed as being a step ahead of individuals who would want to pursue a career in business, but who do not have the theoretical understanding of concepts or literature. Graduandi however do not necessarily have the technical, practical and on job training knowledge base of individuals who have been working in industry. This has however come to a point where the potential of becoming or being an entrepreneur is no longer linked to the completion of tertiary education, but rather linked to increasing an entrepreneur’s potential, developing a thorough theoretical academic knowledge base and enhancing self-efficacy of entrepreneurs. The question then becomes, what is the gap that has emanated between academia and industry, and how should business research and education be re-aligned toward assisting entrepreneurial development? In order to address this pressing issue, the focus needs to fall on what is currently seen as imperative research being conducted within the field of business management, what is being taught in the academic sphere and which trends are developing. Once this is established, the questions develops into how can academia and industry re-align or amend the current business management landscape into one which is conducive to rectify aspects such as unemployment, poverty or under developed communities or societies (Madondo, 2021; Yende, 2021). Trends within the field of business management research in South Africa that have been growing in popularity include, but are not limited to: networking (Mlotshwa & Msimango-Galawe, 2020), business-to-busienss relationships (Goran, Mercy & Mornay, 2019), the role of leadership (Bornman, 2019), and business sustainability (Gregorio, Pié, & Terceño, 2018). The rapid rise of technology, especially that of the 4IR (Mawere, Mukonza & Kugara, 2021) has also played a major part in re-shaping the business landscape, and even more so in developing countries where there might be a lack of proper infrastructure and current academic know-how to assist growing industry needs.