Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
Thinking small further? South Africa's company law reform and its German counterpart: perspectives for SMMEs
Every economy has its flagships that can be seen from afar. They fly the flags of Standard Bank, MTN, Vodacom, Deutsche Bank, Mercedes and BMW and are often the pride of the nation – or at least the pride of stock analysts. In their wake flow, another powerful armada – the thousands of small- and me...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
Centre for Law and Society
2026
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613183711117312 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Baumann, Jan |
| author2 | Idensohn, Kathy |
| author_browse | Baumann, Jan Idensohn, Kathy |
| author_facet | Idensohn, Kathy Baumann, Jan |
| author_sort | Baumann, Jan |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Every economy has its flagships that can be seen from afar. They fly the flags of Standard Bank, MTN, Vodacom, Deutsche Bank, Mercedes and BMW and are often the pride of the nation – or at least the pride of stock analysts. In their wake flow, another powerful armada – the thousands of small- and medium-sized entrepreneurial vessels – often used to sail below political radar level. But in the past few decades a paradigm shift towards a more entrepreneurial-friendly environment took place. In line with the realisation of the developmental assistance community that large-scale poverty reduction could only be achieved from within the economy,1 many policy makers realised the potential of small entrepreneurship. The slogan “thinks small first” quickly gathered momentum. And even though this valuable insight was picked up earlier in developing economies, such as the South Africa of the 1980s,2 it is now influencing the economic agenda around the world. Even the European Union felt the urge to focus more on the “think small first” approach. Günter Verheugen, former Vice President of the Commission of the European Union responsible for enterprise and industry policy is sure that “[e]ntrepreneurs and entrepreneurship are of enormous importance for our societies. Today and even more so tomorrow small and medium sized enterprises will provide for professional education and employment opportunities. Caring about SMEs means therefore caring about present and future jobs [...].”3 In 2006 micro, very small and small businesses accounted for 27 – 34 % of South Africa's total GDP,4 an impressive figure. But more importantly, those enterprises employed 56 % of all employees – with small businesses employing an impressive 21 % of all South African employees. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42984 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | English eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:32:06.010Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Centre for Law and Society |
| publisherStr | Centre for Law and Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42984 Thinking small further? South Africa's company law reform and its German counterpart: perspectives for SMMEs Baumann, Jan Idensohn, Kathy SMMEs South Africa law Every economy has its flagships that can be seen from afar. They fly the flags of Standard Bank, MTN, Vodacom, Deutsche Bank, Mercedes and BMW and are often the pride of the nation – or at least the pride of stock analysts. In their wake flow, another powerful armada – the thousands of small- and medium-sized entrepreneurial vessels – often used to sail below political radar level. But in the past few decades a paradigm shift towards a more entrepreneurial-friendly environment took place. In line with the realisation of the developmental assistance community that large-scale poverty reduction could only be achieved from within the economy,1 many policy makers realised the potential of small entrepreneurship. The slogan “thinks small first” quickly gathered momentum. And even though this valuable insight was picked up earlier in developing economies, such as the South Africa of the 1980s,2 it is now influencing the economic agenda around the world. Even the European Union felt the urge to focus more on the “think small first” approach. Günter Verheugen, former Vice President of the Commission of the European Union responsible for enterprise and industry policy is sure that “[e]ntrepreneurs and entrepreneurship are of enormous importance for our societies. Today and even more so tomorrow small and medium sized enterprises will provide for professional education and employment opportunities. Caring about SMEs means therefore caring about present and future jobs [...].”3 In 2006 micro, very small and small businesses accounted for 27 – 34 % of South Africa's total GDP,4 an impressive figure. But more importantly, those enterprises employed 56 % of all employees – with small businesses employing an impressive 21 % of all South African employees. 2026-03-16T12:33:25Z 2026-03-16T12:33:25Z 2010 2026-03-16T11:32:05Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters LLM http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42984 en eng application/pdf Centre for Law and Society Faculty of Law University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | SMMEs South Africa law Baumann, Jan Thinking small further? South Africa's company law reform and its German counterpart: perspectives for SMMEs |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Thinking small further? South Africa's company law reform and its German counterpart: perspectives for SMMEs |
| title_full | Thinking small further? South Africa's company law reform and its German counterpart: perspectives for SMMEs |
| title_fullStr | Thinking small further? South Africa's company law reform and its German counterpart: perspectives for SMMEs |
| title_full_unstemmed | Thinking small further? South Africa's company law reform and its German counterpart: perspectives for SMMEs |
| title_short | Thinking small further? South Africa's company law reform and its German counterpart: perspectives for SMMEs |
| title_sort | thinking small further south africa s company law reform and its german counterpart perspectives for smmes |
| topic | SMMEs South Africa law |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42984 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT baumannjan thinkingsmallfurthersouthafricascompanylawreformanditsgermancounterpartperspectivesforsmmes |