Graduate School of Technology Management

IEE880
CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Examination Assignment

CHARLES PHILLEMON DUMISANI MSIBI

STUDENT NO: 28375824

Release Date: 1 May 2020, 12:00 (via Click-UP)

Submission Date: 8 May 2020, 12:00 (via Click-UP)
Marks: 100
Internal Examiner: Prof Elma van der Lingen
Contact Details: elma.vanderlingen@up.ac.za
External Examiner: Dr Chris Heunis

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ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS

1. Read through the whole exam assignment before starting with Task 1.
2. You can contact your lecturer by e-mail elma.vanderlingen@up.ac.za on 1 May 2020
between 12:00 and 15:00 if anything in the assignment needs clarification.
3. You may make use of your textbook, class notes and the internet to assist you in
answering the questions in this assignment.
4. Make use of the exam assignment document to compile your answers for each task. Do not
change any formatting on the document. Answers to each task can be more than one
page, but keep page breaks in order that each task starts on a new page.
5. The examination assignment needs to be submitted through Turnitin (TII) by following the
Examination Assignment Submission link on clickUP. The submission needs to be done
before 12:00 on the 8th of May 2020.
6. Assignment can only be submitted once on ClickUP.
7. Assignment can be submitted in PDF (using either Adobe software or cute PDF (do not
scan)) or Word format.
8. Assignment will be checked for plagiarism by the lecturer.

TIPS FOR EXAM ASSIGNMENT:

1. Please read each task request several times to make sure you address all aspects of the
task.
2. The assignment tests your understanding of the theory and how you apply it to a real case
as shown schematically. It is thus of utmost importance that you know and understand the
related theory before taking on any of the tasks in this assignment. Make use of your
prescribed material as indicated in study guide.

3. Task 3 will take at least 1 to 2 days to ponder on and start thus early with your thinking
process.
4. Take note of mark allocations within task when structuring your answer.
5. Appendix A at end of document may be used for planning, mind maps, etc. [3 bonus
marks]
6. Remember: Anything in life can be achieved with good planning.
7.
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 Coronavirus impact may cost Africa
over 100 million jobs
The coronavirus outbreak could
affect a third of the 440 million
formal and informal jobs in Africa as
lockdowns across the continent
deprive people in the world’s poorest
continent of the means to make a
living, according to McKinsey & Co.
Between 9 million and 18 million of
the continent’s 140 million formal
jobs could be lost as a result of the
crisis, McKinsey said in its Finding
Africa’s Path report.
A further 30 million to 35 million
could see a reduction in wages and
working hours. One hundred million
of the 300 million informal jobs on the continent are at risk, it said.
In major sectors such as manufacturing, retail and wholesale, tourism, and construction, the jobs
of more than half the workforce could be affected, McKinsey said.
Extract from: https://mybroadband.co.za/news/business/348065-coronavirus-impact-may-cost-africa-over-
100-million-jobs.html

Organisations world-wide are affected and need to adapt at a significant rate to the impact caused
by the Covid-19 pandemic.

”Corporate entrepreneurship can be defined as the effort of promoting innovation from an internal
organisational perspective, through the assessment of potential new opportunities, alignment of
resources, exploitation and commercialisation of said opportunities.” (McFadzean et al.,
2005:352).
“Entrepreneurs are the creators, the innovators, and the leaders who give back to society, as
philanthropists, directors and trustees, and who, more than any others, change the way people
live, work, learn, play, and lead. Entrepreneurs create new technologies, products, processes and
services that become the next wave of new industries.“ (Jeffrey Timmons, 1999)

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BACKGROUND TO TASKS

In order to enhance the local economy several billion Rand will be made available by government
to local organisations. The aim of this government grant is to create innovations that can retain
existing jobs or even result in new jobs. Your organisation has received a R1m grant to assist in
this government programme. Your CEO has approached you to take the lead in this programme on
behalf of your organisation. You have been selected due to your knowledge of your organisation,
background in SET, as well as your recent enrolment in the Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE)
module through GSTM, resulting in gained knowledge, skills and expertise in CE to make a success
of this grant on behalf of your organisation. Your entrepreneurial characteristics have been spotted
by your CEO, which make you able to cope with the turbulence caused in the external
environment due to Covic-19.

The schematic hereunder illustrates the external environment (political, environment, legal,
economic, social and technology) which surrounds an organisation with a CE architecture
(leadership, culture, strategy, structure/resources), and in the middle the corporate entrepreneur
(you).

With the knowledge of your organisation’s CE architecture, and your entrepreneurial characteristics
you (and your team) were able to identify two potential innovations through the Strategic
Entrepreneurship process – strategic renewal - to meet the aim of the government grant.

The exam assignment gives you the opportunity to assist your organisation with innovative ideas
in desperate economic times. This assignment can become a real life changing experience for
yourself and your organisation. The exam assignment will lead you as CE through different steps
that need to be taken to generate new ideas, identify opportunities, implement and develop these
to potential success stories. (Hopefully your boss will see the advantages and reward you
accordingly…) Thus, make use of this assignment opportunity and do not just see it as an
academic assessment. All information in this assignment will be kept confidential.

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Task 1 [5]
Provide background information on your organisation that is relevant to this assignment
(this information can be copied and paste from your organisation website or rewritten in
your own words) [5 marks]
Organisation Name: Mgiba Group (Pty) Ltd
Organisation Website address: https://www.mgibagroup.com
Background Information (200 words maximum):

Mgiba Group (Pty) Ltd is company that specialises in the provision of civil engineering
works, structural engineering works, renewable energy technologies construction and
consulting, consulting services, project management, infrastructure development, real
estate development and management, cost analysis and bills services to the semi-
conductor industry. The services also extend to consulting engineering services,
contractor development, mentoring and training programs. The company is in the process
of acquiring accreditation from profession organisations such as (ECSA), (PMP), and (ISO
9001), (SACPCMP), (SACNASP) and other relevant professional bodies. Mgiba Group
has further decided to expand into the technology management sphere due to the need of
the discipline in the corporate market of South Africa. As of March 2018, the company
decided to open a new division which will deal with technology management identification,
selection, acquisitions, exploitation, learning and protection. The technology management
division was aimed to be an innovative approach in expanding the technical expertise of
the company. The company has noticed that it only receiving revenue from consulting and
contracting services from as and when required from mostly government tenders. The
company wants to also specialise in construction and installation of new technologies to
broaden its scope of work.

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Task 2 [10]
You (and your colleagues) need to generate new ideas. Make use of the six techniques introduced
to you during the IEE880 lectures. Study each of these techniques and decide on two that you will
make use of to generate new ideas. In the table hereunder provide reasons why you have decided
on these two techniques and why you have rejected the other four techniques. Unique answers to
your organisation’s CE architecture for each is required. [Marks 10]

Techniques YES / NO Reasons (one reason for NO and 2 reasons for YES)
Brainstorming Yes  It will allow the free flow of ideas, divergent
thinking and suspend the criticizing of ‘off-the-
wall’ ideas
 An opportunity to be exploited in the market
Why-why exercise No  In this exercise, there will be no need to ask
the questions of why a particular
product/service is designed a specific way and
trying to provide an alternative solution for
the particular product
Analogy No  This approach centres on a product/service
being developed and will need examples of
how that particular product/service will benefit
the customer.
Attribute analysis No  This is a product-centred approach where
certain alterations can be made to a specific
product to better it; but for this exercise, the
team will be focusing on the market and

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 bringing a new product to fulfil a need.
Gap analysis Yes  There is a gap in the market for which
potential customers will fill.
 Majority of customers notice that there is a
need for specific products to be entered into
the market but they do not know where in the
market that particular need such be filled.
Delphi method No  The ideas are there to exploit a new
opportunity and not there to disrupt or
discontinue an existing technology, product or
service.

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Task 3 [30]
Make use of the two techniques identified above and generate new ideas (you can do Task 3 on
your own or involve also colleagues (skype, zoom, hangouts, surveys, etc.) to assist in the idea
generation. As you are the leader, you need to take the lead making use of the selected idea
generation techniques. Capture your approach, outcomes, blocks/barriers experienced, how these
blocks can be overcome, and how existing resources in your organisation can be used [for each of
the 2 selected techniques in task 2]. [2 X 10 marks]

Technique 1: Brainstorming
Approach:
 Select a group of 10 people from all divisions of the company
 A facilitator will be requested to pitch the business idea to the selected group
around an informal/conference area
 Define the objective and determine what will make the new project successful
 Show the opportunities areas and not focus on the problems but outcomes to
achieve
 Allow the facilitator to introduce other ideation techniques that can help stimulate
the idea generation process such as visual thinking, question thinking for
example, flip-charts, Vision boards, mind-maps, group sketching
 If participants are afraid to contribute to the ideas at the beginning of the
process, the vision boards and maps will be left in the “war room” where when
someone comes with any idea on executing an idea, they can add their value
inserting their input whenever they see fit
 Allow the facilitator to explain that the ideas will be discussed every second day
so that everyone will start to relax and engage with their fellow participants
 The ideas will be evaluated based on specific criteria such as feasibility,
desirability, and market timing
 Propose the each and every participant to research the business idea after the
session or in their free time in order to broaden their scope on the topic
 Present a selection of the ideas to the CEO before the client, get feedback, revise
and make a decision on what to implement
 Lastly, formulate an execution plan using SMART approach meaning Specific,
Measureable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely
Outcomes:
 The more engaged the team member were to the task, the more ideas were
generated
 Voting allowed the participants to have a say on which idea generated the most
traction amongst the others
 Affinity diagram, decision matrices and the six decision hats were useful in
evaluating the selected ideas.
 Renewable energy technologies are gaining momentum in the African market
Blocks/Barriers:
1) Having the same people from the same professional discipline/field, usually have
the same thinking and problem-solving styles which was picked up while studying
at the university
2) Cultural differences and the ability to view different ideas from different
perspectives (systems thinking approach)
3) The tendency to follow already established practices and not willing to look for
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 ways to radically change the way things are done
4) The fear of appearing ridiculous on ‘out-of-box’ ideas and fearing to be judged
5) The misconception that being logically in creative is important for idea generation

Resources:
1) Majority of the selected participant are regularly doing continuous professional
development at different academic institutions, so the selected group are given the
opportunity to help in identifying short courses that can help with the business
case
2) Site visits for various facilities where similar products are made and how there are
introduced to the market
3) Customer interaction where the group interacted with communities and also
attended seminars on the particular technology
4)

Technique 2: Gap Analysis

Approach:
 Firstly, the market area that has a gap needs to be identified
 The goals of the market need should be formulated and clearly defined
 Future and scenario planning should be done in order to understand the future
ideal state of the market regarding the product/service
 The current state of the market should be analysed
 The current and ideal state of the market must be compared with each other
 Once the current and ideal state are compared, the gap can be described and
quantified through the difference
 Lastly, summarises and recommendations can be made which will allow a space
to create a plan to bridge the gaps
Outcomes:
 Big Data, virtual reality, cloud computing, renewable energy, clean energy,
biotechnology infrastructure and professionals are needed and gain traction in the
African market
 Big data can be used by top, and middle management to make decisions
regarding product performance, market need, market response and possible near
future.
Blocks/Barriers:
1) The misconception of following already established business models where the
company is broken up into different areas
2) Stressed financial control on resources needed to perform the gap analysis on
current market position of products
3) Hoarding of problems from group members

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Resources:
1) Discussion topics are allowed to be posted on company’s intranet/ suggestion box
or the facilitator’s work e-mail titled New Business Generation ideas
2) Training and reskilling of work force through short courses and inviting industry
practitioners who have started implemented such technologies to their day-to-day
operations.
3) The facilitator will structure a review session and feedback session of ideas every
Monday and Friday, also giving the incentive of a reward for the individual or
individuals who comes up with the most innovative idea in the form of a cash
reward/trophy/gift voucher.
4) Staff is allowed a half day on Friday to work on ideas or join the team after lunch
hour for recreational/socialising in order to enhance interactivity between
participants in the business case.

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Task 4
In the table hereunder provide a name for each of the ideas identified, a brief description and
main impact on one of the six external environment elements (as shown in schematic – outer
circle - on second page of assignment.)
[Marks 20]
Name [1]:
Renewable Energy Technology – wind,
solar, biomass, biogas and hydropower
Description [3]:
Renewable energy can be defined as an
energy source that is restored rapidly by a
natural process such as wind, water or the
sun. This energy is generated from these
sources and not depleted in the process.
IDEA 1
https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/rene
wable energy.htm
IDEA 2
Name [1]:
Big Data Analysis
Description [3]:
De Mauro et al. (2016) defines Big Data as
the information asset identified by a
collection of gigantic data sets of high
volume, velocity and variety that are
analysed to recognize patterns, trends and
associations to require specific technology
and analytical techniques for its
reconstruction into value.
De Mauro, A. Greco, M. & Grimaldi, M.
2016. Data based on its essential features.
Library Review, 65(3), pp. 122-135.
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[20]
Main impact on any one of the external environment
elements and 2 reasons (include a full reference to
support each reason) [6 marks]:
1) Reduce the carbon dioxide emission
footprint from 912 g/kWh to 600 g/KWh by
2030.
 Walwyn, D.R., Brent, A.L. 2015. Renewable
energy gathers steam in South Africa.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
41, pp. 390-401.
2) Addition of energy capacity to the national
electrical grid to reduce the shortage of and
create opportunities for economic
development in the renewable sector.
 Walwyn, D.R., Brent, A.L. 2015. Renewable
energy gathers steam in South Africa.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
41, pp. 390-401.
Main impact on any one of the external environment
elements and 2 reasons (include a reference to
support each reason) [6 marks]:
1) It gives birth to a new industry and sector.
Pham, P. 2020.The Impacts of Big Data That You
May Not Have Heard Of. Forbes. Available at:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterpham/2015/08/
28/the-impacts-of-big-data-that-you-may-not-have-
heard-of/#6217479d6429 [Accessed 7 May 2020].
2) It improves business regardless of size
meaning that information can be
transmuted to its full value which can speed
up the process of decision-making.
 Pham, P. 2020.The Impacts of Big Data That You
May Not Have Heard Of. Forbes. Available at:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterpham/2015/08/
28/the-impacts-of-big-data-that-you-may-not-have-
heard-of/#6217479d6429 [Accessed 7 May 2020].

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Task 5 [25]
Select one of the ideas in Task 4 to complete Task 5.

Task 5: Complete the Business Model Canvass (BMC) on the template provided on the next page
for one of the ideas.

Provide 3 bullet statements for each of the blocks within the canvass.

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Idea Name: Renewable Energy Technology – Photovoltaic System

Key Partner s Key Activities Value Proposition s Customer Relationships Customer Segment s
 Design and manufacturers  After-sale services and PV  Pre-fixed and non-pre-fixed  Direct interactions, personal  Industrial and commercial
of PV System insurance packages relationships enterprises
 Energy producers  Price bargaining of PV  Environmental protection  Online contact forms  Schools, hospitals, malls,
connected to the energy System  Reduced energy bills  Close collaborative and hotels
grid  Marketing activities distributor-buyer  Environmentalists and
 Banks relationship farmers

Key Resource s Channels ]

 Technical knowledge ls Sales representatives
 Human capital e.g. technical  Different personal channels
staff for e.g. multi-level marketing,
 Brand image solar walks
 Online and offline promotion
using company website and
billboards

Cost Structure ] Revenue Structure

 Stock costs  PV System installation
 Wages of staff  Energy Consulting
 Inventory holding and warehouse costs  Sales of PV panels

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Task 6 [10]
Your organisation’s CEO was very impressed with your business model canvass, and decided
to provide you with your own group to develop this idea further. What a wonderful
opportunity – you have the privilege to form “your own organisation” within the mother
organisation. As you are confident that you will develop this idea to be commercially viable,
you realise that the CE architecture will need amendments from the concept to maturity
stages. For your idea selected in Task 5 indicate in the Table hereunder how the CE
architecture elements (leadership and culture) will change with time and provide a reason
for each stage. The goal remains throughout each stage to develop this idea to be
commercially viable.

Stage Leadership

Concept The leader is selling the future of the firm if the idea is successful which
creates a ‘cult’ following where the leader is more product-focused

Advanced Engineering Outward looking , supportive, introduces professional and functional

managers to run operations which is more focused on market
development of the idea

Commercialisation The leader in this stage is more focused in the process development. Sales
and distribution channels matter as much as the product itself.

Growth Inward looking, more concerned on the market-share of the company

Maturity Inward looking where the leadership focuses on protecting the financial
aspects of the firm

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Stage Culture

Concept The company culture is unstructured and it is based on achievement driven

by innovation and creativity

Advanced Engineering The company culture is driven by product and perfecting the engineering
and system requirements of the product.

Commercialisation The company culture is driven by formalising a definite corporate identity

and behavioural patterns because the company is changing from early
market to the mass market

Growth The company culture is more focused on incremental innovation rather

than radical innovation because other start-up firms are also on the rise
wanting to supersede the innovations/products/services that are already in
the market.

Maturity The innovation culture of the company moves from free-form innovation
to risk averse. Focus is more on professional management of internal
resources, profit margins and distribution channels.

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 APPENDIX A [3 bonus marks]

Steps
Business Ideas for Mgiba Group

1. Fourth Industrial revolution technologies that can be integrated in RSA – Big Data, Virtual
Reality, Biotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, cloud computing, Renewable energy

4IR Technologies Renewable energy technologies

Big data Solar
AI Wind
Cloud computing Water
Robotics

2. What is the most feasibility idea for Start-up companies in SA in 2020/Co-vid19

situation/unemployment benefits?
- Solar is the cheapest of the three renewable technologies because it can be installed for
individual homes, enterprises, organisation, environmentalists etc.
- There is need for electricity in every corner of South Africa, ESKOM loadshedding is not
helping the economy
- How can solar energy be identified as an efficient source of energy? Many communities in
Gauteng have implemented/installed solar PV systems. But how can these systems expand
to the rest of the provinces.
- How many solar energy is need to power a single home?
- Why is solar energy more effective than water and wind?
- What gap in the market is renewable energy going to fill or are they useless? Do they
depend on province, climate, and temperature?
- How can solar energy be marketed?

3. Big Data

- A lot of companies in corporate SA are employing data scientists

- What skills are needed for big data analytics? Is it multi-disciplinary or not?
- How is income generated from big data analysis
- Can big data analytics be taught?
-

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