Hailegnaw, Etenesh Tatek2024-10-142024-10-142024-03-13https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14519/794A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Business Studies in Finance in the Department of Finance and Investment. Faculty of Economics and Finance at the Tshwane University of Technology.Background: The 21st century is shaped by increasing market competition and business failures. Studies show that the survival rate of local start-up businesses in South Africa is low by global standards. Research aim: This study aimed to determine the effect of consumer confidence on business failure. The motivation for this study is South Africa’s persistently low established business prevalence rate that paints a bleak picture of sectors such as manufacturing, which has huge potential to contribute meaningfully to job creation, economic growth, and more equal income distribution. Methodology: This study was conducted following the attribution theory and behavioural finance theory. The study employed descriptive and econometric analyses to determine the effects of the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) as explanations for business failure in the manufacturing sector in post-apartheid South Africa. Research limitations: The scope of this study narrowly focused on the manufacturing sector only. This study considered the CCI as the main factor of analysis; however, most of the challenges that a business will face may not be foreseeable as some will be completely unpredictable. Originality/value: Measuring the CCI and its impact on the performance of manufacturing and other sectors is not well documented. This study is unique in exploring the nexus between the CCI and insolvencies and liquidations in the manufacturing sector in South Africa using longitudinal data. Findings: The higher the measures of the CCI, the lower the number of compulsory and voluntary liquidations and insolvencies in the South African manufacturing sector, holding other factors constant. Similarly, manufacturing utilisation of production capacity in the South African manufacturing sector negatively affects the number of compulsory and voluntary liquidations and insolvencies. With regard to age and income groups considered, this study found that different age groups have different effects on the number of liquidations and insolvencies. There is no single age group that dominantly affects liquidations and insolvencies as a proxy for business failure. The same findings hold true for the three income groups analysed in this study. In the case of compulsory liquidations and insolvencies, all the income groups significantly affected the dependent variable. In contrast, none of the three income groups significantly affected the number of voluntary liquidations and insolvencies.1-138 PagesenConsumer confidenceInsolvencyLiquidationManufacturing sectorSouth AfricaThesis