A cost-benefit analysis of electricity supply in a developing country, with reference to Venda
- Authors: Themeli, Tshimangadzo Booi
- Date: 1992
- Subjects: Electrification -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Venda , Electric utilities -- South Africa -- Venda , Cost effectiveness , Electrification -- Cost effectiveness
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: vital:1022 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002757 , Electrification -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Venda , Electric utilities -- South Africa -- Venda , Cost effectiveness , Electrification -- Cost effectiveness
- Description: This study concentrates specificaUy on assessing those elements of private and external costs and benefits which need to be accounted for in analyzing the role of electricity supply in a developing region. To facilitate this aim, three interrelated questions are addressed. The first question examines the reasons why a critical need for electrification in developing areas exists. In this regard, a selective review of the literature on development economics is offered, illuminating the previous neglect of the rural dimension in development and the associated problems of poverty and inequality, a lack of infrastructure and the general inability to fulfill basic needs. The second question is devoted exclusively to an economic analysis of the supply of electricity in developing areas. A broad theoretical review on whether an unregulated or regulated (private or public) sector should be responsible for the provision of electrification is presented. This evaluation highlights the various welfare implications and efficiency considerations that appear to be relevant in the present context. The final question, which constitutes the central proposition of the thesis, establishes how electrification should be supplied in developing areas. To this end, the conditions specific to a region in Venda are discussed. An attempt is made to identify the private and external costs and benefits relating to electricity supply and the corresponding costs and benefits pertaining to alternative sources of energy. Since the incidence and nature of these costs and benefits could only be ascertained from individual households, it was deemed necessary to undertake a questionnaire study of residents in Makwarela township and its periurban settlement of Lufule-Tshisele. A number of basic trends were evident from the research results. As far as the various benefits are concerned, respondents tended to place a much higher value on both the private and external benefits associated with electricity than its alternatives. At the same time, the survey found that although the private (or monetary) cost of electricity far exceeded the corresponding cost of alternative energy sources, the external costs were significant in the case of alternative energy sources, but virtually non-existent in the case of electricity. On the whole, the Venda survey seems to suggest that an economic case can be made for involving the broader community in subsidising the supply of electricity in Makwarela, Lufule-Tshisele and other areas. While such a subsidy can perhaps be justified on distribution grounds alone, and more specifically in terms of the rapid and pronounced effect it is likely to have on the quality of life in the region, its real worth lies in the fact that it may confer certain external benefits on the community.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1992
- Authors: Themeli, Tshimangadzo Booi
- Date: 1992
- Subjects: Electrification -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Venda , Electric utilities -- South Africa -- Venda , Cost effectiveness , Electrification -- Cost effectiveness
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: vital:1022 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002757 , Electrification -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Venda , Electric utilities -- South Africa -- Venda , Cost effectiveness , Electrification -- Cost effectiveness
- Description: This study concentrates specificaUy on assessing those elements of private and external costs and benefits which need to be accounted for in analyzing the role of electricity supply in a developing region. To facilitate this aim, three interrelated questions are addressed. The first question examines the reasons why a critical need for electrification in developing areas exists. In this regard, a selective review of the literature on development economics is offered, illuminating the previous neglect of the rural dimension in development and the associated problems of poverty and inequality, a lack of infrastructure and the general inability to fulfill basic needs. The second question is devoted exclusively to an economic analysis of the supply of electricity in developing areas. A broad theoretical review on whether an unregulated or regulated (private or public) sector should be responsible for the provision of electrification is presented. This evaluation highlights the various welfare implications and efficiency considerations that appear to be relevant in the present context. The final question, which constitutes the central proposition of the thesis, establishes how electrification should be supplied in developing areas. To this end, the conditions specific to a region in Venda are discussed. An attempt is made to identify the private and external costs and benefits relating to electricity supply and the corresponding costs and benefits pertaining to alternative sources of energy. Since the incidence and nature of these costs and benefits could only be ascertained from individual households, it was deemed necessary to undertake a questionnaire study of residents in Makwarela township and its periurban settlement of Lufule-Tshisele. A number of basic trends were evident from the research results. As far as the various benefits are concerned, respondents tended to place a much higher value on both the private and external benefits associated with electricity than its alternatives. At the same time, the survey found that although the private (or monetary) cost of electricity far exceeded the corresponding cost of alternative energy sources, the external costs were significant in the case of alternative energy sources, but virtually non-existent in the case of electricity. On the whole, the Venda survey seems to suggest that an economic case can be made for involving the broader community in subsidising the supply of electricity in Makwarela, Lufule-Tshisele and other areas. While such a subsidy can perhaps be justified on distribution grounds alone, and more specifically in terms of the rapid and pronounced effect it is likely to have on the quality of life in the region, its real worth lies in the fact that it may confer certain external benefits on the community.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1992
A critical analysis of the marketing of mohair in South Africa with special reference to the period 1963 to 1989
- Norton, Eustace Herbert Fraser
- Authors: Norton, Eustace Herbert Fraser
- Date: 1992
- Subjects: Mohair -- South Africa -- Marketing , Mohair industry -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: vital:1020 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002755 , Mohair -- South Africa -- Marketing , Mohair industry -- South Africa
- Description: The objective of the research was to determine the extent to which marketing in general, and the Mohair Scheme in particular, played a part in the re-emergence of South Africa as the world's leading mohair producer. The two major components of the Scheme, the 'voorskot', or initial payment, and reserve prices were analysed separately. In an adaptive expectations, distributed lag model of supply adjustment, only the weighted rainfall and the average real net price of mohair during the previous season, were found to be important determinants of mohair production. The significant negative correlation between the average real net 'voorskot' price and mohair production was contrary to expectations, and probably due to the 'voorskot' always having been set well below the market price. The 'voorskot' may nevertheless have played an important part in making the Scheme as a whole acceptable to producers. As no record is kept of the reserve price, its influence was tested indirectly in two stages. In the first, its influence on price stability was determined by a comparison of ranges, standard deviations and variances, and by several multiple linear demand regressions. Three of the four models showed clearly that price stability was increased by the Mohair Scheme. In the second stage, formulae and diagrammatic analyses were used to assess the welfare gains and losses resulting from the Mohair Scheme. There was a welfare gain to local producers and most of the welfare costs of the Scheme were borne by foreign consumers. With this gain to producers and the more stable price, it was concluded that the reserve price had stimulated mohair production. It was therefore established that the Mohair Scheme had played a major part in the re-emergence of South Africa as the world' s leading mohair producer. Nevertheless, in view of the massive stockpiling in recent seasons, because the reserve price was set too high, the result was a substantial loss to the Scheme; it was therefore recommended that the Mohair Scheme be discontinued or, at least, that the reserve price should be set at a much lower long-run, market clearing level.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1992
- Authors: Norton, Eustace Herbert Fraser
- Date: 1992
- Subjects: Mohair -- South Africa -- Marketing , Mohair industry -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: vital:1020 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002755 , Mohair -- South Africa -- Marketing , Mohair industry -- South Africa
- Description: The objective of the research was to determine the extent to which marketing in general, and the Mohair Scheme in particular, played a part in the re-emergence of South Africa as the world's leading mohair producer. The two major components of the Scheme, the 'voorskot', or initial payment, and reserve prices were analysed separately. In an adaptive expectations, distributed lag model of supply adjustment, only the weighted rainfall and the average real net price of mohair during the previous season, were found to be important determinants of mohair production. The significant negative correlation between the average real net 'voorskot' price and mohair production was contrary to expectations, and probably due to the 'voorskot' always having been set well below the market price. The 'voorskot' may nevertheless have played an important part in making the Scheme as a whole acceptable to producers. As no record is kept of the reserve price, its influence was tested indirectly in two stages. In the first, its influence on price stability was determined by a comparison of ranges, standard deviations and variances, and by several multiple linear demand regressions. Three of the four models showed clearly that price stability was increased by the Mohair Scheme. In the second stage, formulae and diagrammatic analyses were used to assess the welfare gains and losses resulting from the Mohair Scheme. There was a welfare gain to local producers and most of the welfare costs of the Scheme were borne by foreign consumers. With this gain to producers and the more stable price, it was concluded that the reserve price had stimulated mohair production. It was therefore established that the Mohair Scheme had played a major part in the re-emergence of South Africa as the world' s leading mohair producer. Nevertheless, in view of the massive stockpiling in recent seasons, because the reserve price was set too high, the result was a substantial loss to the Scheme; it was therefore recommended that the Mohair Scheme be discontinued or, at least, that the reserve price should be set at a much lower long-run, market clearing level.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1992
Applicability of the SERVQUAL instrument under South African conditions : an assessment of four situations
- Authors: Pitt, Leyland Frederick
- Date: 1992
- Subjects: SERVQUAL instrument , Customer service , Measurement , Service quality , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: vital:1160 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001627
- Description: On-going research in recent years has shown quality of product and service, as perceived by customer, relative to competition, to be the single most important factor contributing to organizational well-being. Quality of product and service also presents one of the most significant opportunities for corporate differentiation. A major requirement for the successful management of quality is therefore effective measurement. In the case of physical goods, progress has been made over a long period. However, in the case of services, real advances have only occurred within the past decade. The importance of service quality is also highlighted by the fact that most businesses today are losing customers due to its inadequacy, rather than poor products. Indeed, from the customer's point of view, services and products probably do not exist in a dichotomy, but, rather, along a spectrum. Therefore, the measurement of service quality is critical, not only in traditional service organizations, but in manufacturing situations as well. The development of the SERVQUAL questionnaire in 1988, offered researchers, perhaps for the first time, an apparently reliable and valid instrument for the measurement of service quality. However, to date the instrument has not been subjected to rigorous testing for reliability and validity in South Africa, across a range of service organizations, within a typology. In this study, the SERVQUAL instrument was used to measure service quality across a range of firms within the Larsson-Bowen contingency framework, under South African conditions. Its main objectives were to assess its reliability and validity in these circumstances. It was found that SERVQUAL performed well across all organizations within the Larsson-Bowen framework, under South African conditions, with regard to reliability, convergent and nomological validity. Its construct validity proved to be less sound, and it was not found to possess discriminant validity. It is suggested that this is less attributable to South African circumstances than to the nature of the organizations. In cases of low diversity of demand, the instrument appears to capture the essence of service quality less effectively. Means of overcoming this in future studies are suggested, as well as other directions for research in the area of service quality measurement
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1992
- Authors: Pitt, Leyland Frederick
- Date: 1992
- Subjects: SERVQUAL instrument , Customer service , Measurement , Service quality , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: vital:1160 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001627
- Description: On-going research in recent years has shown quality of product and service, as perceived by customer, relative to competition, to be the single most important factor contributing to organizational well-being. Quality of product and service also presents one of the most significant opportunities for corporate differentiation. A major requirement for the successful management of quality is therefore effective measurement. In the case of physical goods, progress has been made over a long period. However, in the case of services, real advances have only occurred within the past decade. The importance of service quality is also highlighted by the fact that most businesses today are losing customers due to its inadequacy, rather than poor products. Indeed, from the customer's point of view, services and products probably do not exist in a dichotomy, but, rather, along a spectrum. Therefore, the measurement of service quality is critical, not only in traditional service organizations, but in manufacturing situations as well. The development of the SERVQUAL questionnaire in 1988, offered researchers, perhaps for the first time, an apparently reliable and valid instrument for the measurement of service quality. However, to date the instrument has not been subjected to rigorous testing for reliability and validity in South Africa, across a range of service organizations, within a typology. In this study, the SERVQUAL instrument was used to measure service quality across a range of firms within the Larsson-Bowen contingency framework, under South African conditions. Its main objectives were to assess its reliability and validity in these circumstances. It was found that SERVQUAL performed well across all organizations within the Larsson-Bowen framework, under South African conditions, with regard to reliability, convergent and nomological validity. Its construct validity proved to be less sound, and it was not found to possess discriminant validity. It is suggested that this is less attributable to South African circumstances than to the nature of the organizations. In cases of low diversity of demand, the instrument appears to capture the essence of service quality less effectively. Means of overcoming this in future studies are suggested, as well as other directions for research in the area of service quality measurement
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1992
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