People innovation capability maturity model (PICaMM) for measuring SMMEs in South Africa

Abstract

The South African Government has recognised the potential of the contribution of Small Medium Micro Enterprise’s (SMMEs) to the overall economy of the country. Government and the private sector have introduced agencies and operations to support the development of SMMEs. Given this support, SMMEs continue to face serious challenges and barriers leading to failure, for example, finance, government policy and communication, marketing, infrastructure, limited use of technology, weak business management, inadequate training and skills development. To stem the tide of failure and offer support and solutions, the challenge was to develop a maturity model (PICaMM) which could support South African SMMEs in improving their business processes and improve their overall level of maturity as a developing organization. This paper will indicate how PICaMM can be applied by SMMEs to measure and improve themselves. After PICaMM was applied in two SMMEs through a mixed methodology approach results indicated that PICaMM did support these SMMEs to evaluate their level of maturity regarding the management of the workforce, new ideas, products and services, knowledge, skills and training. Maturity improvement within the SMME is evaluated along a ‘step-wise’ continuum of staged levels, one to five, where, at the fifth level the enterprise will be able to align its processes and activities with its business objectives to become more successful and competitive in gaining market share.