Entrepreneurial Bricolage Behavior in Navigating Small Businesses Conundrums in South Africa

The stagnant growth of small enterprise start-ups in South Africa is worrying. Small, micro, and medium enterprises (SMMEs) are recognized for playing a significant role in addressing the socioeconomic issues facing the nation, such as job creation and balanced sustainable development and growth, but their numbers have not expanded in nearly three decades. This is not to suggest that South Africans haven’t been entrepreneurial; however, survival rates are very low. The chapter then focuses on the major policy implications and provides an overview of various types of challenges faced by small entrepreneurs, emphasizing the continued existence of a resource-constrained environment. As a result, within the context of entrepreneurial bricolage, the chapter conducted a comprehensive evaluation of small enterprises’ challenges in South Africa and how using the existing resources, moving away from resource-based theory, can help them cope with those challenges as well as survive harsh conditions. Consequently, recommendations are drawn for the small enterprises and the private and public sectors in handling their operational glitches and hitches and conundrums, and the prerequisites for their survival and development.