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The purpose of this study is to focus on the development experience in the global world of two small communities, Viimsi in Estonia and Magog in South Africa. These two communities were chosen as exemplars because the authors were familiar with both, and understood them to be illustrative of differing outcomes of interaction of small communities with the global economy offering the prospect of generalisation of findings to the framework and theory. Twenty years ago, both were poor, since then Viimsi has become wealthy, while Magopa remains poor. It is not believed that becoming the wealthiest community in Estonia was Viimsi’s per-determined destiny. What people of Viimsi did to make their community a success relative to the surrounding peer communities is a story of the visible as much as the invisible attributes.

These attributes are examined using a framework the authors’ originally developed to explore the participation of Indigenous communities in the global economy in pursuit of development as they defined it. A thorough investigation was done on the interactions among various community stakeholder groups in an attempt to describe the social fabric of these two communities, and this was used to explain why Viimsi was able to take advantage of globalisation, when Magopa was not.

While it will be hard, no doubt, to translate all the success attributes of Viimsi to a different location and time, some of the lessons that were uncovered from the study are universal in nature, making them potentially useable for other small communities trying to find their way in the global world.

Studying only two communities means that the generalisation of the findings is limited to theory. None can be made directly to the population of similar communities, except indirectly through exploration using the theory being developed to test its validity in other circumstances.

The findings from this paper will increase the understanding of the factors that contribute the a community’s success of lack of, in participating in the global economy.

This is an under-researched area within development literature.

This paper aims to assess the impact of protected geographical indications (GIs) on the trade performance of South Africa’s wine industry within the European Union (EU). This is critical in enhancing informed policy decisions towards securing more GIs for wines and other products. The unearthed evidence may provide a basis for more government interventions in support of the initiative while protecting the good reputation in communities where production occurs.

This paper uses the gravity flow model framework. The Rand value of wine exports was used as a trade performance measure whereas GIs data was extracted from the E-Bacchus database, and three proxies are used to capture the GIs variable.

GIs foster South Africa’s wine exports into the EU. When GIs were proxied as a dummy variable, results suggest that GIs led to about 170% increase in wine exports. However, when the actual number of GIs was used, the estimate also indicates 0.7% rise in exports, whereas using the difference between South Africa’s and the EU’s number of GIs, results suggest that GIs are associated with 87% increase in wine exports.

This paper did not take into consideration protected designation of origins (PDOs) on the side of the Europe given that South Africa has no registered PDOs. Further research at industry level should be undertaken to ascertain whether some of South Africa’s wine meets the specifications required to register as a PDO.

This paper adds empirical evidence to the existing literature on the competitiveness of South Africa’s wine industry. The role of GIs in international markets remains a silent feature in the literature yet the industry exhibits an outstanding footprint in GIs. This paper, in part, responds to Biénabe and Marie-Vivien’s (2017) recognition for the need for interdisciplinary empirical analyses to better understand the GI concept. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to analyse the impact of GIs on the industry’s trade performance.

The purpose of this paper was to assess the expectations of policing of citizens and police members in South Africa and to determine citizens' perceptions of the police.

The paper shows a cross‐sectional survey design was used. Stratified random samples of both the police (N=677) and the community (N=2,153) were taken in the North West Province of South Africa. The measuring battery for the community contained two sections, namely a section with biographical questions and items about contact with the police, neighbourhood concerns and confidence in the police, and a section about expectations. The measuring battery for police members also included two sections, namely a section with biographical questions, and a section with questions about their (police members') perceptions of the community's expectations.

The paper finds that regarding community expectations, a principal component analysis with a direct oblimin rotation resulted in four internally consistent factors, namely crime prevention, crime investigation, control, and assistance. The results showed that members of the community and the police differ regarding perceptions of present policing priorities. Most police members reported that their performance in serving the community was good, while a total of 47 percent of community members who had contact with the police showed little confidence in the police, and 44 percent felt dissatisfied with the service they received from the police.

The paper researches the relationship between what the community expects of the police and the perception police members have of their functions in only one province in South Africa. More research into expectations in other provinces is needed.

The results of this paper can be used as a baseline for future studies of the expectations of, and satisfaction with, the police in South Africa.

The study explores experiences of African immigrants in their self-employment journey. South Africa has been receiving many African immigrants seeking for socio-economic survival. This presents a gap to understand the self-employment journey of such immigrants post-settlement.

A qualitative inquiry is used with semi-structured interviews using a sample of African immigrants based in South Africa. Narrative enquiry was utilised in trying to understand the African immigrant self-employment journey.

The findings show strategies used by African immigrant entrepreneurs in their self-employment journey. These include immigrant relying on established relationships to respond to contextual challenges. Further, immigrant entrepreneurs turned to borrowing from family, including personal savings and using fronts as a capital generation strategy.

Based on the findings strategies are suggested as a useful precursor in advancing understanding of the African immigrant self-employment journey. This becomes useful especially considering ideals for assisting post-settlement of migrants.

Executive sponsors play a significant role in the success of megaprojects which, in turn, affect national economies and millions of people. However, the literature on the requisite attributes of project sponsors on megaprojects is still sparse. The purpose of the paper is to provide guidelines to company boards and executives who are tasked to appoint suitable executive sponsors to megaprojects. Thus, the paper contributes to the sparse literature on megaproject sponsors.

A total of 26 senior managers, with experience in megaprojects ranging from 8 to 15 years – and who were involved in 6 recent megaprojects with a combined value of US$13.75bn – were interviewed on the attributes of megaproject sponsors. Transcriptions of semi-structured, open-ended interviews were analysed with computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS).

The study identified the most essential attribute as appropriate seniority, being empowered and accountable, with appropriate seniority, being empowered and accountable, with apposite credibility and with both personal and positional power. The study also uncovered 13 attributes – all components of “competence” – which have not previously been explicitly identified in literature as elements of sponsor “competence”.

In the current study guidelines are provided for the selection and appointment of appropriate megaproject sponsors.

Given the tumultuous history of policing in South Africa, the historic relationship between the police and the public, and the continuous rising crime rates, it is perplexing that little quantitative research has been conducted on legitimacy and the SAPS. The current study assesses public confidence in police in South Africa by analyzing data from a more than three-decade-old public opinion survey. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to examine changes in public confidence since 1981; and second, to determine factors that cause variations in confidence during a given period.

To achieve the objectives, the authors analyzed longitudinal data collected from 1981 to 2014 as part of the world Value Survey program. ANOVA and multivariate regression analyses were conducted.

Findings indicate that confidence in SAPS was highest during the period immediately after apartheid and then dwindled from 1999 onwards. Moreover, race, happiness and education have historically influenced public confidence in the police.

These findings provide information that could be useful for transforming the SAPS, especially in developing viable strategies to strengthen the police’s relationship with citizens. Additionally, the manuscript provides an original contribution to the study of public attitudes toward the police and police legitimacy, especially in a non-western society.

The paper aims to investigate the problems experienced and problem‐solving techniques of very small businesses during growth. Evidence shows that if managers can understand the potential for growth and the barriers in their own business path, they will be able to address the problems and achieve success. The purpose of the paper is therefore to provide guidelines to assist very small Black business entrepreneurs with overcoming growth problems, so to become sustainable.

A qualitative research approach with a combination of content analysis and grounded theory was used in the paper. The sample was restricted to very small Black business entrepreneurs in the formal sector, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Snowball sampling was used where the first participant identified supplied the names of other possible participants and so forth till the sample size of ten very small Black business entrepreneurs was obtained. One of the very small businesses had two owners, and another had three owners (total of 13 participants). The researcher collected the data through five rounds of mostly unstructured, non‐directive and in‐depth individual interviews on the Black entrepreneurs' premises (65 personal interviews in total). Observations and on‐site experiences were also noted. Utilising the constant comparative method, the problems could be divided into four main themes: solvable, partially solved, solved and ongoing problems and then further divided into seven management functions. The synchronic reliability method was used and the triangulation method was used to ensure validity. Coding of data also ensured both reliability and validity.

Problems are mostly solved through experimental learning with human resource and financial problems as top priority training areas to assist growth. Many problems are computer related and some are personal such as stress management. Workshops or mentorship are indicated as possible ways of solving problems.

General guidelines in five functional areas and in general were provided as to how problems could be solved to assist with growing these very small businesses. These guidelines are based on the experiences of the very small entrepreneur and to a lesser extent to what literature suggests. Suggestions were practically executable taking into consideration the time, money and staff constraints of very small business entrepreneurs.

The paper suggests guidelines and solutions for solving very small business growth problems.