- Title
- An appraisal of the East London Industrial Development Zone’s role in local innovation, entrepreneurship, and industrial development
- Creator
- Masiwa, George Bonginkosi
- Subject
- Industrialization
- Subject
- Economic development
- Subject
- South Africa -- Economic conditions
- Date
- 2021-02
- Type
- Doctoral theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/21213
- Identifier
- vital:47406
- Description
- This study focuses on the East London Industrial Development Zone (ELIDZ) in South Africa. The ELIDZ strategy came as a response to the need for a robust catalyst for sustainable regional economic development, industrial diversification and to create meaningful employment opportunities in the country. It was supposed to provide customised solutions for various industries including automotive, agro-processing and aqua-culture. However, an Industrial Development Zone should promote innovati on and entrepreneurship to stimulate economic growth and global competitiveness. Economic stagnation, joblessness and inequality continue to be a reality for the previously marginalised groups after 16 years of the ELIDZ despite significant investments in the automotive sector, the growth of companies that supply Mercedes Benz with parts and the establishment and growth of innovative start-up companies at the ELIDZ Science and Technology Park (STP). Massive joblessness, poverty and economic stagnation had followed the collapse of the old industrial parks. The ELIDZ strategy of industrial development came as a response to the demise of the old parks and was meant to become the main vehicle for job creation, local innovation and global competitiveness. This study therefore investigated the extent to which innovation and entrepreneurship have fared in driving sustainable local economic development and how they have impacted jobs at the ELIDZ and within the East London community. The study was qualitative in nature and employed the non-probability sampling technique. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants that included Industrialists, Business Executives that were tenants at the ELIDZ, the Buffalo City Municipal Metro and community members with knowledge of and association with the ELIDZ. This was augmented by desktop and observational data. It was found that innovation and entrepreneurship was still a fairly new phenomenon at the ELIDZ and their flagships had the vision but were not yet driving sustainable local economic development to a large extent. The model lacks adequate diversification as most of the innovation projects are in the renewable energy and information communication spaces. Very few have made it to mass production with downstream industry employment creation for plumbers, artisans and marketers involved in the supply, distribution, instalment and maintenance of the Hotspot and Thin-film solar panels. New industrialists like YEKANI Technologies and Manufacturing and KGI Holdings, already employ some people and have the vision to employ thousands more of young people. The main innovation and entrepreneurship projects of the ELIDZ have had some impact at the grassroots level even though it is still limited. Too few jobs have been created compared to the old industrial parks model. The ELIDZ is therefore playing an important (albeit limited) role as a local employment creator, even though it has not revitalised the Eastern Cape manufacturing landscape. Due to its highly technology driven and specialised skills nature, the ELIDZ model is benefiting the few and therefore has not yet been an effective instrument to resolve the disturbing levels of inequality, poverty and unemployment, that underlie racial, class and gender dynamics in East London. The study concluded that innovation and entrepreneurship projects at the ELIDZ were contributing towards driving sustainable local economic development to some degree. However, due to its narrow industrial focus and highly technical and specialised skills driven business model, it excludes most historically disadvantaged communities and the local academic institutions need to do more to produce the skills relevant to support local innovation and local industrial development in a time when economies rely more on intellectual capabilities rather than natural resources.
- Description
- Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2021
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (341 leaves)
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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UFH Department of Sociology and Anthropology
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | MASIWA BONGINKOSI THESIS.pdf | 3 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |