Mridula Gungaphul

Entrepreneurship and marketing: an exploratory study in Mauritius

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the importance that successful entrepreneurs in Mauritius attach to marketing in operating their business and how marketing is actually practised or is prevalent in their enterprises.Design/methodology/approach – This paper forms part of a broader study undertaken by the authors. The survey instrument is a personally administered semi‐structured questionnaire. A sample of 30 successful entrepreneurs for this paper is drawn judgmentally from the broader study.Findings – The results indicate that entrepreneurs surveyed use marketing to a large extent although some apply it unknowingly. Respondents tend to emphasize product development rather than improving product offering based on customer needs and wants. The results also reveal that some of the entrepreneurs practice marketing in mostly unconventional ways although there is evidence of convergence with traditional marketing in many respects. On the whole, the results of this survey indicate that entrepren...

Consumer Buyer Behaviour: The Role of Internet Banking in Mauritius

The present paper reports on key findings from a study of the Mauritian banking sector of the influence of internet banking. It also explores the expectations of users of internet banking services offered by local banks in Mauritius and issues influencing the adoption of internet banking. Two semi-structured in-depth interviews were held with two top executives, and a survey-questionnaire using a representative sample of 300 participants from round the island. This exercise was carried out on Saturday mornings over a period of 7 weeks. Saturday mornings were chosen as it is the day of high utilization of ATMs in all urban and rural areas, and when most offices are closed in Mauritius. Of all the questionnaires, collected, 240 were usable and were compiled and grouped in categories. The key findings were: confidentiality and security when transacting online, convenience and accessibility for doing banking on a round – the – clock, ease of navigation of banks’ website to complete the transactions, factors that constitute barriers to its adoption, the high cost of internet communications and computer equipment, the accessibility and downtime of the internet which act as hurdles for Internet Banking acceptance and limitations of the study is discussed.

Third Party Logistics Outsourcing: An Exploratory Study of the Oil and Gas Industry in Nigeria:

Not much has been researched in logistics outsourcing in the emerging countries, particularly in the oil and gas industry. This article investigates the feasibility of logistics outsourcing by the international oil and gas companies in the emerging business environment of Nigeria. An exploratory, multicase, qualitative approach was applied, involving 40 interviewees in three international oil companies and three of their logistics service providers. Findings reveal that vendors’ capabilities, host community issues, joint venture influence, and employees’ reactions challenge international oil companies’ logistics outsourcing implementation while relationship management, contract management, and change management skills enable them handle these challenges. The results also show that surveyed organizations implement logistics outsourcing piecemeal and need to scale up their current capabilities to effectively integrate logistics outsourcing. The research confirms logistics outsourcing is achievable in Nigeria, but requires synergies and symbiosis between the oil companies and their local vendors.

An Insight into the Networking Approaches of Women Entrepreneurs in Mauritius

Studies on gender and entrepreneurship often attempt to compare personal characteristics, business practices and behaviour of male and female entrepreneurs. One key element in entrepreneurship that has started to gain attention is networking. Networking can be of strategic importance to entrepreneurs since starting a business requires resources such as capital, labour and information and advice. Networks thus contribute to the access of the needed support and facilities to entrepreneurs and potential ones in starting and operating their businesses effectively. Furthermore, networks are related to business performance as the contacts from these networks form the social capital of entrepreneurs. Research in many countries has shown that although women are involved in networking, they nonetheless lack suitable and effective social networks compared to men. Since it is generally accepted that there is a relationship between networks and the survival and success of businesses, especially in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the main objectives of the present study is to investigate the network composition of female entrepreneurs in Mauritius and also to identify the benefits derived from networking. The study will also identify causes, if any, that hinders the networking practices of women entrepreneurs. Ten women entrepreneurs from diverse sectors formed part of a focus group, the chosen method of data collection for this study. The findings reveal that female entrepreneurs tend to favour family and friends in their contact lists. Their networks comprise more women than men. The reasons and benefits derived from their networks include receiving business support and emotional support. The main hindrance preventing women to network effectively is due to family responsibilities. The findings from this study provides useful insights for support institutions, policy makers and entrepreneurs – especially women entrepreneurs – in identifying ways and means about how to enrich social networks to ensure success and survival of businesses.