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",isbn:"978-1-83968-924-6",printIsbn:"978-1-83968-923-9",pdfIsbn:"978-1-83968-925-3",doi:null,price:0,priceEur:0,priceUsd:0,slug:null,numberOfPages:0,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"ea4ec0d6ee01b88e264178886e3210ed",bookSignature:"Dr. Hiran Wimal Amarasekera",publishedDate:null,coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9500.jpg",keywords:"Bone Tumors, Oncology, Childhood Tumors, Cancer, Risk Factors, Modern Management, Benign Lesions, Tumor-Like Conditions, Immunology, Histochemistry, Cell Oncology, Tumor Markers",numberOfDownloads:389,numberOfWosCitations:0,numberOfCrossrefCitations:1,numberOfDimensionsCitations:1,numberOfTotalCitations:2,isAvailableForWebshopOrdering:!0,dateEndFirstStepPublish:"September 28th 2020",dateEndSecondStepPublish:"October 26th 2020",dateEndThirdStepPublish:"December 25th 2020",dateEndFourthStepPublish:"March 15th 2021",dateEndFifthStepPublish:"May 14th 2021",remainingDaysToSecondStep:"4 months",secondStepPassed:!0,currentStepOfPublishingProcess:4,editedByType:null,kuFlag:!1,biosketch:"Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon from Sri Lanka currently working in University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire, UK, trained at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka, at the Oldchurch Hospital in Essex UK and The Avenue Hospital Melbourne, Australia and University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire, UK, obtained the FRCS from Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Scotland.",coeditorOneBiosketch:null,coeditorTwoBiosketch:null,coeditorThreeBiosketch:null,coeditorFourBiosketch:null,coeditorFiveBiosketch:null,editors:[{id:"67634",title:"Dr.",name:"Hiran",middleName:"Wimal",surname:"Amarasekera",slug:"hiran-amarasekera",fullName:"Hiran Amarasekera",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/67634/images/system/67634.jpg",biography:"Hiran Amarasekera is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon from Sri Lanka currently working in University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire, the UK as a hip preservation fellow. \r\nHis special interests include young adult hip and knee problems, sports injuries, Hip and knee arthroplasty, and complex arthroscopic procedures. \r\nHe completed the MBBS from Kasturba medical college Manipal, India and did his postgraduate in Trauma and Orthopaedics at the Post-graduate Institute of the Medicine University of Colombo obtained the MS. \r\nHe was initially trained at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka and then completed the further training at the Oldchurch Hospital in Essex UK and The Avenue Hospital Melbourne, Australia and University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire, UK.\r\nHe obtained the FRCS from Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 2003 and was elected a fellow of Sri Lanka College of surgeons (FCSSL) 2012. \r\nHe has a keen interest in academia and research. Working as a clinical research fellow in Warwick Medical School he obtained the MPhil form University of Warwick and was elected for a research fellowship to University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). \r\nHis research interests include blood flow to the hip, failure of hip resurfacing, designing new hip prosthesis, and surgical approaches to the hip. \r\nHe has over 30 international publications and presentations and several book chapter. \r\nHe also works as a reviewer for international orthopedic journals and has reviewed over 35 papers and is a member of the editorial board of Sri Lanka Journal of Surgery.",institutionString:"University of Warwick Science Park",position:null,outsideEditionCount:0,totalCites:0,totalAuthoredChapters:"3",totalChapterViews:"0",totalEditedBooks:"1",institution:{name:"University of Warwick Science Park",institutionURL:null,country:{name:"United Kingdom"}}}],coeditorOne:null,coeditorTwo:null,coeditorThree:null,coeditorFour:null,coeditorFive:null,topics:[{id:"16",title:"Medicine",slug:"medicine"}],chapters:[{id:"73224",title:"Management of Early Osteoarthritis",slug:"management-of-early-osteoarthritis",totalDownloads:109,totalCrossrefCites:0,authors:[null]},{id:"71336",title:"Non-Surgical Regional Therapy for Osteoarthritis: An Update and Review of the Literature",slug:"non-surgical-regional-therapy-for-osteoarthritis-an-update-and-review-of-the-literature",totalDownloads:165,totalCrossrefCites:0,authors:[{id:"77195",title:"Dr.",name:"Charles",surname:"Mackworth-Young",slug:"charles-mackworth-young",fullName:"Charles Mackworth-Young"}]},{id:"72715",title:"Simultaneous Bilateral Joint Arthroplasties in Treatment of Osteoarthritis",slug:"simultaneous-bilateral-joint-arthroplasties-in-treatment-of-osteoarthritis",totalDownloads:98,totalCrossrefCites:1,authors:[null]},{id:"75062",title:"Bone Cancer Pain, Mechanism and Treatment",slug:"bone-cancer-pain-mechanism-and-treatment",totalDownloads:17,totalCrossrefCites:0,authors:[null]}],productType:{id:"1",title:"Edited Volume",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"},personalPublishingAssistant:{id:"247865",firstName:"Jasna",lastName:"Bozic",middleName:null,title:"Ms.",imageUrl:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/247865/images/7225_n.jpg",email:"jasna.b@intechopen.com",biography:"As an Author Service Manager, my responsibilities include monitoring and facilitating all publishing activities for authors and editors. 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Venkateswarlu",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/371.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"58592",title:"Dr.",name:"Arun",surname:"Shanker",slug:"arun-shanker",fullName:"Arun Shanker"}],productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"878",title:"Phytochemicals",subtitle:"A Global Perspective of Their Role in Nutrition and Health",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"ec77671f63975ef2d16192897deb6835",slug:"phytochemicals-a-global-perspective-of-their-role-in-nutrition-and-health",bookSignature:"Venketeshwer Rao",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/878.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"82663",title:"Dr.",name:"Venketeshwer",surname:"Rao",slug:"venketeshwer-rao",fullName:"Venketeshwer Rao"}],productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}}]},chapter:{item:{type:"chapter",id:"18208",title:"Electromyography Assessment of Muscle Recruitment Strategies During High-Intensity Exercise",doi:"10.5772/24358",slug:"electromyography-assessment-of-muscle-recruitment-strategies-during-high-intensity-exercise",body:'\n\t\tElectromyography (EMG) is an experimental technique concerned with the recording and analysis of myoelectric signals. Since the EMG signal detected on the surface of the skin directly reflects the recruitment and firing characteristics of the detected motor units within an area, EMG activity can be used to study the neuromuscular activation of muscles within postural tasks, functional movements, work conditions and treatment/training regimes (Basmajian and De Luca 1985). Furthermore, EMG activity has been correlated on multiple occasions with fatigue-related events occurring within the muscle (Bigland-Ritchie et al. 1986a; Bigland-Ritchie and Woods 1984; Moritani et al. 1986; Nordlund et al. 2004). Other chapters in this book describe the use of EMG for various applications. In the exercise sciences, EMG activity is typically used to explore muscle recruitment strategies (i.e., time-dependent, internal, physiological modifications) and, thereby, understand the complex relationship between the development of locomotor muscle fatigue and the cortical regulation of exercise intensity (Billaut et al. 2010; Marino 2004). Neuromuscular fatigue can be induced by sustained muscular contractions. It is essentially accompanied by external manifestations such as the inability to maintain a desired force output, muscular tremor, and localized pain. The effects of this fatigue are localized to the muscle or group of synergistic muscles performing the contraction. According to several authors (Bigland-Ritchie 1984; Fitts 1994; Gandevia 2001; Merton 1954; Szubski et al. 2007), this fatigue may have its source peripherally (within the muscle tissue or neuromuscular junction) and/or centrally (within the brain and spinal cord). During fatigue the EMG activity may display two typical characteristics. The first is a change in amplitude (Figure 1), whereby additional motor units are recruited or already-active motor units are de-recruited. The second characteristic is a shift of the EMG power frequency spectrum (Figure 2), which shows the relative electrical activity contributed by slow (on the left) or fast (on the right) motor units. A leftward shift suggests increased stimulation of smaller, slow, fatigue-resistant motor units.
\n\t\t\tHowever, studies have mainly explored constant work-rate tests, along with incremental tests to maximum effort. In these examples, ecological validity has been limited due to work rate being either fully or partly dictated by the protocol; this excludes the individual subjective assessment of the task. Because performance in competitive events depends largely upon pacing strategies (Figure 3) (Billaut et al. 2011; Hettinga et al. 2006; Palmer et al. 1997; Paterson and Marino 2004; St Clair Gibson et al. 2006), it is necessary to investigate the neuromuscular responses to self-paced exercise to further understand the role of the central nervous system (CNS) in the regulation of exercise performance. Thus, a more realistic paradigm for future research in the exercise sciences is one that would permit the individual to use sensory cues to adjust the effort along with the fatigue process. In fact, Marino and colleagues (2011) recently re-emphasised that bringing the brain (and subsequent muscle recruitment strategies) into modern fatigue research represents the next phase in the unravelling of the fatigue process.
\n\t\t\tTypical increase in EMG amplitude (represented on the y axis as integrated EMG, µV.s) with time (s) at constant intensities (275, 300, 350 and 400 watts). The increase in iEMG indicates the recruitment of additional motor units by the central nervous system to maintain the required power output as time (and fatigue) goes on. It can be seen that the slope of the linear regression (rate of rise in iEMG as a function of time) is higher at higher intensities because fatigue occurs more quickly. It was therefore suggested that the non-invasive analysis of iEMG slope coefficient could provide a sensitive measure of motor unit fatigability. Modified from Moritani et al. (1993).
Traditionally, endurance exercise has been researched extensively but our understanding of the factors that regulate muscle recruitment during very high-intensity exercise is much poorer. This is surprising since
\n\t\t\tmany sports (e.g., team and court sports, athletics) involved burst of “all-out” activity (Billaut and Bishop 2009; Spencer et al. 2005), and
newly-developed training regimes targeted at improving health include repetitions of sprint exercise (Gibala 2007).
Certainly, a greater understanding of neural recruitment strategies during high-intensity tasks would lead to better training programs to enhance fitness in athletes and patient populations.
\n\t\t\tTypical changes in EMG power frequency spectrum (Hz) of a muscle during a fatiguing contraction. The solid line indicates the pre-fatigue state, and the dash line indicates the fatigued state. The leftward shift in the EMG power frequency spectrum indicates the recruitment of more fatigue-resistant motor units (with lower firing frequency) to cope with the task constraint. The non-invasive analysis of the power spectra could provide a sensitive measure of motor unit fatigability that may reflect the activities of different types of muscle fibers.
Performing a sprint at “all-out” intensity requires very high levels of neural drive (typically +/– 5000 µV in elite sprinters) (Ross et al. 2001); therefore failure to activate fully the contracting musculature can theoretically decrease force and power production and, thereby, impair the ability to sprint. Whilst not a well-studied mode of exercise, several studies have demonstrated that the fatigue that develops during single and repeated sprints is associated with changes in muscle recruitment strategies which ultimately originate within the CNS. The aims of this chapter are
\n\t\t\tto use most recent data to describe the behaviour of the EMG signal (serving as a surrogate for muscle recruitment) during sprint exercise using traditional and innovative analysis techniques, and
to give some insights into the main mechanisms thought to contribute to the regulation of muscle recruitment and the fatigue process during sprint exercise.
For over a century, neuromuscular fatigue has been viewed and researched as a finite quantity of essential (metabolic and/or cardiovascular) resources causing exhaustion, independent of any regulation by the CNS (Allen et al. 1995; Bassett and Howley 2000; Fitts 1994; Hill 1924; Shephard 2009). This view has encouraged the interpretation that exercise results in linear changes in metabolism, in energy provision, and in the cardiovascular, respiratory, thermoregulatory, and hormonal responses, among many others. Ultimately, demand exceeds capacity in one or more systems, which causes them to fail. As a result, this failure to maintain homeostasis in the active muscles causes the termination of exercise. Overall, this has produced a “brainless” physiology (Marino 2004; Marino et al. 2011; Noakes 2011; Noakes et al. 2001) that is still currently taught in most exercise science classes throughout the world. In contrast, increasing evidence has accumulated in the last few years suggesting an anticipatory regulation of exercise intensity (Billaut et al. 2011; Kayser 2003; Marino 2004; Noakes 2011; Noakes et al. 2001; Noakes and St Clair Gibson 2004; St Clair Gibson et al. 2006; St Clair Gibson and Noakes 2004; Tucker et al. 2004). This mechanism allows feedback from varied sources to influence the magnitude of the feed-forward neural drive that determines the quantity of muscle mass recruited (i.e., the number of motor units recruited in the exercising limbs). In this model, therefore, an athlete’s pace is continuously regulated via the action of varied physiological and psychological inputs before and during exercise (Noakes 2011; Noakes and Tucker 2008; St Clair Gibson and Noakes 2004). In other words, the brain is able to anticipate a future failure and modify accordingly and in “real time” muscle recruitment and, hence, exercise intensity to ensure homeostasis is protected.
\n\t\t\tAverage running speed (meter.s-1) for each interval during world-record performances in 800-m, 1-mile, 5000-m and 10000-m events. * Significantly slower than the first lap (P < 0.05). $ Significantly faster than the preceding interval (P < 0.05). This figure clearly shows different paces selected by athletes at the beginning of every race that depends upon the distance to run. The presence of an end-spurt is also shown in “endurance-type” events. Modified from Tucker et al. (2006a).
In this perspective, the results from several recent studies conducted on well-trained athletes and patient populations reveal that during high-intensity, constant-load and self-paced exercises participants terminate the task with a given level of severe locomotor muscle fatigue (assessed via quadriceps twitch force) that appears to be never exceeded under ‘normal’ exercise conditions, despite manipulations of exercise performance (Amann 2011; Amann et al. 2006a; Duffield et al. 2010; Romer et al. 2007; Saey et al. 2003). This end-exercise level of peripheral muscle fatigue has been purported to be task specific and to vary across participants (for review see (Amann 2011)). So, overall, in the early years of the 21st century, several scientists worldwide agree that the CNS constantly monitors and deliberately regulates and limits the development of peripheral fatigue in the exercising limbs (via changes in the extent of muscle recruitment). This may presumably be to avoid overtraining / overexertion and potentially long-lasting harmful consequences to critical organs (Amann 2011; Calbet 2006; Kayser 2003; Marino et al. 2011; Noakes 2011; Nybo and Secher 2004). Several physiological variables (e.g., afferent feedback from exercising, fatiguing muscles (Amann et al. 2008; Amann et al. 2009), cerebral oxygenation (Billaut et al. 2010; Nielsen et al. 1999), rate of heat storage (Marino 2004; Marino et al. 2004; Tucker et al. 2006b)) would potentially be closely monitored depending upon the exercise conditions, and would influence more or less the CNS to attenuate muscle recruitment.
\n\t\t\tTo the author’s best knowledge, the presence of pacing during short and “all-out” sprints has been examined in one study. The authors (Billaut et al. 2011) deceived the participants to evaluate the degree of pacing depending upon the number of sprints to be performed. Astonishingly, the anticipation of performing fewer sprints (i.e., 5 instead of 10) resulted in enhanced muscle recruitment (as evidenced by higher EMG activity in the lower limb), which was associated, in turn, with a higher mechanical output during the first 5 sprints. On the other hand, when participants were not informed of the actual sprint number they recruited less muscle and, hence, exhibited a lower mechanical output profile, despite similar levels of encouragement and similar perceived exertion. These results demonstrated that pacing occurs during short repeated-sprint efforts in anticipation of the number of sprints that are included in the trial (Billaut et al. 2011). Furthermore, it may be speculated from these findings that the pacing strategy adopted by these athletes has been mostly subconscious, because it is not clear how athletes can consciously regulate their muscle recruitment and power output precisely enough to account for such variations at this very high intensity and in this short time frame. Importantly, a key measure in all these experiments has been the central motor drive, namely muscle recruitment, which is directly assessed via EMG activity. Therefore, the investigation of EMG events holds a critical role in understanding humans’ ability to cope with physical challenges.
\n\t\tAlthough not extensively studied, changes in skeletal muscle recruitment may contribute to performance decrement during maximal sprint exercise. Vandewalle and colleagues (1991) observed a parallel decline in power output and integrated EMG of the vastuslateralis (average values not reported by the authors) during a 45-second cycle sprint, and suggested a progressive attenuation of spatial and/or temporal recruitment of motor units during the exercise. These findings are supported by another study that reported a ~15% (P < 0.05) decline in the integrated EMG of the plantar flexors and a ~15–19% (P < 0.05) reduction in the median frequency of the EMG power spectrum of the plantar flexors and the knee extensors during a 30-s Wingate anaerobic cycle sprint (Greer et al. 2006). While Hunter et al. (2003) did not observe any change in the EMG amplitude of the vastuslateralis muscle during a 30-second cycle sprint (whereas power output declined), the authors reported a shift of the mean power frequency towards lower values (14.7%; P < 0.05). These acute frequency changes may be caused by an accumulation of metabolites and a consequent decrease in muscle pH, and/or some form of neural control through reflex regulation of muscle force to prevent excessive metabolic perturbations (De Luca 1997; Juel 1988; Noakes 2011; Noakes et al. 2004; St Clair Gibson et al. 2001). Unfortunately, skeletal muscle function was not examined in these studies (via maximal voluntary contraction and twitch technique), which precludes from drawing firm conclusions about the (maximal allowed) level of peripheral muscle fatigue at the end of these tasks. Clearly, more studies using electrically- or magnetically-evoked stimulation need to be conducted to clarify whether central motor drive parallels the power output decline observed during a single maximal effort and whether it is regulated in an anticipatory manner to limit development of excessive limb muscle fatigue.
\n\t\tThe first investigations of the changes of the EMG signal (serving as surrogate for muscle recruitment) provoked by “all-out” repeated sprints have only been conducted recently (Billaut and Basset 2007; Billaut et al. 2006; Giacomoni et al. 2006). These studies have examined the EMG activity of the quadriceps muscles during brief, maximal, isometric voluntary contractions of the knee extensors performed before and immediately after the ten 6-s sprints separated by 30 s of passive rest. In every case, the maximal knee extensors force was reduced after the sprints (average: ~12%; P < 0.05) and this was accompanied by a higher EMG activity (average: ~15%; P < 0.05). The authors also observed a concomitant decrease in frequency components, which suggests a modification in the pattern of muscle fibre recruitment and a decrease in conduction velocity of active fibres (Basmajian and De Luca 1985; De Luca 1997; Gerdle and Fugl-Meyer 1992; Linnamo et al. 2000; Moritani et al. 1986). In fact, during the final sprints, the relative contribution of less-powerful type I muscle fibres involved in the production of power may have increased as a result of the greater fatigability of type II muscle fibres, highly solicited during this type of exercise (Casey et al. 1996; Gerdle and Fugl-Meyer 1992; Komi and Tesch 1979; Ross et al. 2001). However, the conclusions from these studies may have been confounded by methodological factors. Indeed, while investigating EMG activity during isometric contractions may greatly reduce muscle movements underneath EMG electrodes and artefacts due to wire movements, and thus ease signal processing (Farina et al. 2004; Merletti and Lo Conte 1997), it is now well accepted that physiological responses and neuromuscular fatigue are highly task specific (Hunter 2009; Maluf and Enoka 2005). Accordingly, results and conclusions would be highly specific to the task performed, hence, the isometric contraction, with less relevance to the actual fatigue that develops during the repeated sprints.
\n\t\t\t\tMore recently, muscle recruitment strategies have been investigated during sprints, and authors have reported a concurrent decline in mechanical performances and the amplitude of the EMG signal in primer-mover muscles (Billaut and Smith 2009; Billaut and Smith 2010; Mendez-Villanueva et al. 2007, 2008; Racinais et al. 2007; Smith and Billaut 2010). For example, Billaut and Smith (2010) demonstrated a ~15% decline (P < 0.05) in the quadriceps muscles EMG activity from the first to the twentieth cycle sprint of 5 s separated by 25 s of rest. Importantly, such a reduction in agonist muscle recruitment during repeated cycle sprints has been strongly correlated (r = 0.91 to 0.98, P < 0.05, Figure 4) with the decline in mechanical output (Billaut and Smith 2009; Billaut and Smith 2010; Mendez-Villanueva et al. 2008). That being said, it is interesting to note that when fatigue is moderate (e.g., fatigue index or sprint decrement score is ~10% or lower), studies have typically reported a steady level of muscle recruitment during repeated-sprint exercise (Billaut and Basset 2007; Billaut et al. 2005; Girard et al. 2008; Hautier et al. 2000; Matsuura et al. 2007). However, when the neuromuscular fatigue level is more substantial (> 20%), a concurrent decline in mechanical performance and the amplitude of EMG signals has consistently been reported across sprint repetitions (Billaut et al. 2011; Billaut and Smith 2010; Mendez-Villanueva et al. 2007, 2008; Racinais et al. 2007; Smith and Billaut 2010). Furthermore, a reduction in the knee flexor EMG amplitude (i.e., antagonist muscle) has been observed during fifteen cycle sprints of 5 s separated by 25 s of rest (Hautier et al. 2000). Overall, these data suggest that under conditions of considerable neuromuscular fatigue development the failure to fully activate the contracting musculature may become an important factor limiting performance during “all-out” sprint repetitions.
\n\t\t\t\tRelationship of EMG amplitude (integrated EMG) of the vastuslateralis muscle (expressed as a percentage of initial-sprint value) to mechanical work (expressed as a percentage of initial-sprint value) performed over twenty 5-s cycle sprints interspersed by 25 s of rest. The correlation shows that the greater the drop in EMG amplitude the greater the drop in mechanical work [r = 0.91 (95% Confidence Interval, 0.75;0.97)]. The short-dashed lines represent 95% confident intervals. Reproduced from Billaut and Smith (2010) with permission.
Thus far, the above sections have particularly highlighted the importance of the “quantity” of EMG activity or muscle recruitment in the production of maximal power. During “all-out” actions, the timing of muscle activity also comes into play in determining neuromuscular performance. In fact, during sprint exercises maximal power production requires muscles to be fully activated during shortening and fully relaxed during lengthening phases (Neptune and Kautz 2001). Thus, when studying sprint exercises, the inter-muscle coordination patterns (i.e., the kinematics of muscle activation and deactivation) should also be taken into account when analysing the fatigue process (Neptune and Kautz 2001; Prilutsky and Gregor 2000; Van Ingen Schenau et al. 1992). Muscle coordination is defined as a “distribution of muscle activation or force among individual muscles to produce a given combination of joint moments” (Prilutsky and Gregor 2000), and, therefore, can be studied from both EMG and force patterns of individual muscles. The appropriateness of using EMG recordings for studying muscle coordination has been discussed on several occasions and the reader is referred to the following detailed reviews (Hug 2011; Hug and Dorel 2009). Studies that focus on muscle coordination usually report muscle activity profiles (i.e., EMG patterns; Figure 5). Typically, a linear envelope of the EMG signal is first computed by rectification (Hug and Dorel 2009). Then, the EMG is related to mechanical events (e.g., foot switches, force signal), and is time normalized. Finally, a representative EMG profile is obtained for every muscle by averaging the linear envelopes for a number of consecutive cycles or trials. EMG profiles are characterised by bursts of activity. Muscle coordination is presumably modulated by the neural command in order to generate an appropriate neural control strategy or more simply reflects task constraints (Hug 2011; Tresch and Jarc 2009). Thus, it provides an attractive simplifying strategy to study the control of complex movements in sports and daily activities. Because this approach allows describing multiple patterns of muscle activity in an integrative fashion, it is believed to be a useful way of examining muscle coordination.
\n\t\t\t\tAs this is a rather innovative approach of using EMG signals to study the brain regulation of exercise capacity, very few data are available during sprint exercise. To the author’s best knowledge, the only study on coordination patterns in sprints has demonstrated that the agonist–antagonist activation strategy is altered during ten 6-s cycle sprints. The biceps femoris muscle was activated earlier within a pedaling cycle presumably to account for the loss of force of the prime movers in order to maintain the transfer of force to the pedal. Importantly, this locomotor alteration occurred before any changes in the “quantity” of muscle recruitment (i.e., EMG amplitude), which suggests that muscle activation sequence is an important parameter in the regulation of exercise intensity (Billaut et al. 2005). Admittedly, much work lies ahead to substantiate this hypothesis and fully comprehend the neural processes behind the complex regulation of muscle actions. Future studies devoted at challenging muscle coordination and investigating how the brain copes with task constraints are warranted.
\n\t\t\tWhile it is suspected that multiple feedback originating from various locations within the body alter the output of the spinal motor neuron pool, and therefore muscle recruitment, research into neuromuscular fatigue during “all-out” sprints has defined at least two potential influences. The mechanisms that lead to a decreased output of the spinal motor neuron pool are still not well understood, especially during repeated sprints. Nevertheless, it is now clear that the CNS receives sensory input from muscle afferents (e.g., muscle spindles, Golgi tendon organs, group III and IV fibres) which are integrated into the determination of central motor drive. Evidence is accumulating that the purpose of this reflex mechanism may be to limit the development of excessive peripheral muscle fatigue (Amann 2011; Kayser 2003; Marino et al. 2011; Noakes 2011). This consensus is supported by experimental studies showing that pre-existing locomotor muscle fatigue has a dose-
\n\t\t\t\tExample of surface electromyographic signal processing to examine muscle coordination strategies. Panel A displays a raw EMG signal recorded from the vastuslateralis muscle during pedalling. The linear envelope is first computed by rectification and low-pass filtering (9 Hz in this example). All cycles are then extracted using a trigger pulse that is delivered at the top dead centre (crank angle = 0°; Panel B) and time normalised. Finally, a representative EMG profile is obtained for every muscle by averaging the linear envelopes for a number of consecutive cycles (Panel C). Onset and offset values are then determined from this averaged pattern using an EMG threshold (fixed at 20% of the peak EMG recorded during the cycle in this example; horizontal dashed line). Reproduced from Hug (2011) with permission.
dependent, inverse effect on muscle recruitment and power output during a 5-km time trial (Amann and Dempsey 2008). Specifically, the higher the level of pre-existing fatigue, the lower the muscle recruitment and power output during the trial. Furthermore, in a nicely-designed series of studies Amann and colleagues (2008; 2009) presented convincing results that sensory feedback from fatiguing muscles restrict muscle recruitment and, therefore, the exercise-induced development of peripheral fatigue during whole-body endurance exercise. However, whether the central projection of afferent feedbacks from fatigued muscles changes according to the continuous vs. intermittent nature of the exercise task remains unknown. It is intuitive that the dramatic metabolic disturbances that occur within the exercising muscle during “all-out” and repeated sprints (for review see (Billaut and Bishop 2009)) influence the central projection of these feedbacks and thus affect the central neural drive during such intense tasks (Billaut et al. 2005; Billaut and Smith 2010; Mendez-Villanueva et al. 2008; Racinais et al. 2007). That being said, the manipulation of intramuscular pH, for example, by oral administration of sodium bicarbonate does not influence EMG activity and mechanical performance during repeated cycling sprints (Matsuura et al. 2007). Further studies manipulating the metabolic “milieu interieur” during sprint repetitions to examine the effects on centrally-regulated muscle recruitment are needed.
\n\t\t\t\tA second potential line of inquiry for fatigue research during “all-out” activity is the influence of oxygenation on motor neuron activity. Recently, studies have been performed to further unravel changes in muscle activation. In this perspective, it is worth noting that the drop in EMG amplitude observed during repeated sprints has been shown to be strongly correlated (r = 0.80 to 0.95, P < 0.05) with a decline in arterial blood oxygen (O2) saturation (Billaut and Smith 2009; Billaut and Smith 2010). This relationship is also very similar in men and women, suggesting that there is no sex dimorphism in this phenomenon (Billaut and Smith 2009) and demonstrating the strong recurrence of this phenomenon. So, is it simply coincidence that muscle recruitment falls concomitantly with arterial saturation? One may interpret existing correlative evidence (Billaut et al. 2010; Billaut and Smith 2009; Billaut and Smith 2010) to mean that the CNS deliberately down-regulates muscle activity to keep peripheral fatigue within “tolerable” limits. We further tested this hypothesis and used a hypoxia paradigm to alter O2 delivery to tissues and evaluate its impact on muscle recruitment. The reduction in prefrontal cortex oxygenation induced by acute hypoxia was correlated (r = 0.89 to 0.92, P < 0.05) with the changes in EMG amplitude of active muscles during ten 10-s cycle sprints (Smith and Billaut 2010). This shows that the larger the brain deoxygenation, the lower the muscle recruitment. At this point however, it is important to acknowledge that the use of surface EMG as a sole determinant of the neural response is questionable and requires caution, even though its rate of change throughout the exercise may be used as an index of the rate of motor unit recruitment (Amann et al. 2008; Amann et al. 2006b; Amann et al. 2007; Romer et al. 2007). Taken as it is (i.e., without neuromuscular stimulation technique), our EMG data are compatible with the general finding that hypoxia has an effect on cortical and subcortical functions of the CNS, and thereby, on motor neuron excitability and synaptic neurotransmission. This hypothesis is consistent with the findings that systemic hypoxaemia and insufficient brain oxygenation depress central neural drive (Amann et al. 2006a; Amann and Kayser 2009; Bigland-Ritchie et al. 1986b; Dillon and Waldrop 1992; Dousset et al. 2003). The latest research has strengthened this consensus by showing that scalp-recorded brain cortical activity (as assessed via electroencephalography combined with localized electromagnetic tomography) is affected during whole-body exercise at high intensity (Brummer et al. 2011; Schneider et al. 2010) and in a hypoxic environment (Schneider and Struder 2009). The use of electromagnetic tomography during supra-maximal exercise is restricted by head movement artifacts, but remains a powerful tool to shed light on muscle recruitment strategies in future years.
\n\t\t\tIt is becoming clear that the CNS modulates muscle recruitment (both quantity of muscle mass and coordination strategies) to cope with task constraints during high-intensity exercise. It may do so presumably to counteract the increasing fatigue process and limit the development of peripheral muscle fatigue to a non-harmful level. Exercise physiologists and sport scientists can no longer pretend that conscious or subconscious decision making plays no role in the fatigue process and, ultimately, in the regulation of exercise intensity. Perhaps, as Marino and colleagues wrote, “this means that studying fatigue as a closed feedback loop will no longer suffice. At this stage in our understanding of the brain, bringing feed-forward mechanisms of the brain into fatigue process” is necessary to promote greater understanding of human physiology (Marino et al. 2011). Now is an appropriate time to move the field of exercise physiology forward and acknowledge the controlling role of the brain. Understanding these complex neural strategies during sprint exercise constitutes a necessary step if we want to implement such tasks in interventions designed to enhance performance and health. And in this quest, the recording of surface EMG activity holds potential.
\n\t\tThe start-up process of a new entrepreneurial venture and until such time the entrepreneur decides to exit the business is a contentious issue. On the one hand, the entrepreneur is found working on a business plan intending to start an entrepreneurial venture. On the other hand, the entrepreneur is also found crafting a long-term business harvesting strategy. As contradicting as this may sound, this gives the entrepreneur a clear entrepreneurship roadmap which in many circumstances will be adjusted as the business owner responds to macro- and micro-environmental changes. Having a harvesting strategy upfront is critical for guiding the entity owner towards achieving the business mission. A business harvesting strategy could be characterised as the path to the finishing point at which the entrepreneur is expected to celebrate the sacrifices made, that is, effort, time and money. It is at that finishing point where the entrepreneur recovers the value-added into the business by selling either the firm in its entirety or partly in the form of assets. When this is done, the entrepreneur can start a new entrepreneurial venture or retire completely from the entrepreneurship career.
The significant contribution of entrepreneurship in our societies cannot be underestimated, especially on employment creation [1]. This is a key to addressing income inequalities leading to poverty reduction and economic growth [2]. As a result of this critical role, the campaign is mainly on establishing more entrepreneurial entities, and there is very little concern about harvesting an entrepreneurial entity [3]. There is very little empirical evidence on this subject from an African perspective [4]. However, it is important to note that entity harvesting is equally important as setting up a new entrepreneurial venture [5]. Resultantly, this chapter contributes to this gap in the literature by exploring this subject matter relying on primary data from SMEs in Sub-Saharan countries (Botswana, Eswatini, South Africa and Zimbabwe). The goal of this chapter is to explore the preferred entity harvesting options of SME owners in Sub-Saharan Africa and to determine why they prefer such options.
The next section will define business harvesting, followed by reasons for harvesting and a discussion on harvesting strategies available to entrepreneurs. The methodology used to gather primary data is explained, and a discussion of the findings is made. The chapter further outlines the implications of investigating small- and medium-sized entities (SME) harvesting practices, areas for further research.
After entity start-up, the entrepreneur invests time, effort and money with the intent of growing the business. The entrepreneur invests time, effort and money to make money from the firm in the future. Through such entrepreneurial efforts, the entity accumulates value and ends up attracting competition. In such instances, the business could be vulnerable to hostile takeovers, and harvesting the business provides the entrepreneur with maximum returns on the investment made. By definition, business harvesting is a systematic practice by which the entrepreneur recovers value gained by the entity through the selling of individual assets or the entire firm as a whole. Various reasons compel the entrepreneur to harvest the entity and the section to follow outlines some of them.
Factors beyond the control of the owner or entity management could influence the mentioned entity players to consider harvesting [6]. Macro-environmental factors such as the global pandemic similar to Covid-19 have seen most entrepreneurs harvesting their entities as most entities could not operate under the global lockdown, which has extended for at least 3 months in some countries. Owing to the global lockdown, supply chain networks have been severely affected. Firms that rely on imported raw materials have suffered the most as movement of non-essential goods are currently suspended globally. Some factors leading to business harvest include the untimely death of the entrepreneur, serious ill health, or poor mental health. Unrest in the labour market or loss of key expertise may force the entrepreneur to harvest the business. Generally, harvesting reasons are unique to each entrepreneurial entity [5].
Micro-environmental factors speak to reasons for harvesting the entity which the entrepreneur has significant control over. The first example relates to the goal of the entrepreneur [7]. Some entrepreneurs start an entity and work hard to grow the firm so that it becomes very attractive to competition and later sell the entity for a substantial profit. The second example for wanting to harvest the entity could be that the entrepreneur falls in the category of serial entrepreneurs [8]. These are individuals who start entrepreneurial entities but after running the entity for a given period, they develop other lucrative business ideas and sell the existing firm to raise the needed capital for the new entrepreneurial venture.
Succession is another micro-environmental reason for harvesting the existing entity and it is common in family business [7]. Under succession, the family business owner steps down and pass entity ownership to the next family member. When the family business is carefully run, through succession, the firm will pass from generation to generation and this may continue over many decades. Further, the entrepreneur may start a new entity hoping that this would afford him free space and more time to himself but only to find out later that business demands are far much greater than envisaged. Traditionally, the entrepreneur still has to balance both home and business demands. Unfortunately, the inability to find a middle point between these competing issues may drive the entrepreneur to the point of harvesting the business. However, not all entrepreneurs fail to balance home and business demands. Some entrepreneurs are good at what they do such that the entrepreneurial entity they have built can outlive their physical and mental strength. When this happens, entrepreneurs often choose retirement as they no longer have the physical and mental strength to keep up with both business and home demands. Resultantly, they recover the value added in the business in the form of cash which in this case could be equated to a retirement package.
Choosing between available business harvesting options may not be that easy for the entrepreneur. Each harvesting option has its advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, the entrepreneur must diligently make the difficult decision to pick the one that would yield maximum returns in line with sacrifices made in building the entity. The next section looks at harvesting strategies that an entrepreneur can exercise.
Several harvesting options exist and these range from buyouts, mergers, outright sale, employee share ownership scheme and an initial public offering. The paragraphs to follow elaborate on the mentioned harvesting strategies.
Buyouts or an outright sale of entity results in the establishment of a new independent entity owned and controlled by managers and sometimes by a private equity entity. Buyouts are generally in five types:
Leveraged buyout (LBO). LBO happens when a large portion of a publicly quoted entity is sold to a private equity firm. During the sale process, the private equity firm gains a larger number of shares.
Management buyout (MBO). In an MBO scenario, the current management of the entity raises funds to buy out the entity owner. In instances where the firm decides to divest in a subsidiary, the current management takes control of a significant amount of equity. As much as the management remains in control of the larger share of the voting equity, to ensure continued smooth flow of operations, that is, firm relations with customers, creditors and suppliers, the previous owner may retain ownership of an equity stake in the firm. This practice is common in family-owned businesses where a small number of managers take control of a portion of equity.
MBO can be extended to other managers or employees and at that point, it then becomes a management employee buyout (MEBO). In many instances, employees are factored in the equation because of the key expertise they possess. This is common where branches of the entity are geographically dispersed, and it becomes an issue of common sense to involve the branch manager in the MEBO to facilitate easy management control. From a business perspective, the success of the branch becomes of interest to the manager owing to stake ownership. MBO or MEBO is advantageous to the owner as it offers a quick exit. The big disadvantage is that the management may not possess similar entrepreneurial traits to those of the departing owner, leading to the downfall of the newly established business.
A management buy-in (MBI). External managers are granted the opportunity to buy equity in the firm. Often the challenge here is that the newcomers have no extensive knowledge of the existing business particularly regarding how it operates. In rare cases, newcomers may be from the same sector as the existing business and therefore come with valuable insights concerning technology, knowledge on the competition, and how to grow the business leading to its success.
A more advantageous scenario is a hybrid buy-in/management buyout (BIMBO), and this is where a portion if inside managers and a portion of outsiders both acquire a stake in the firm. This is advantageous in the sense that existing managers have profound knowledge on the operations of the firm, meaning there will be little disruptions. More importantly, the incoming managers bring valuable operational insights towards growing the existing business which may have been missing all along.
Investor-led buyout (ILBO). The entire entity or part thereof is purchased by a privately owned equity firm. Depending on the circumstances or the state of the acquired firm, new management can be brought to run the affairs of the newly acquired entity. This is normally done to safeguard the investments made, especially when the acquired firm is in a precarious position. Conversely, when the newly acquired firm’s affairs are in order, existing management is likely to be retained, or a mix of new management and existing management may be the one responsible for the acquired firm. Unfortunately, in an ILBO, existing managers occupying specific office positions in the firm are normally not given the option to purchase stocks.
Leveraged build-up (LBU). When the goal of a private equity firm is to generate profits from a buyout or buy-in investment, they practice leveraged build-up. This is where the newly acquired entity, as a result of buyout or buy-in, is used as an investment platform, where a series of acquisitions are continuously added to it, forming a large corporate group. This move brings with it the ability to lure skilled and experienced managers, who can exponentially grow the entity through further acquisitions.
Merging a business is a process where the smaller entity is absorbed, often by a larger entity mostly to provide an extra muscle on the weaknesses of the small entity and to maximise on its strengths. The outcome of a merger is a large and very competitive entity. The entrepreneur who intends to harvest the entity through merging with another firm focuses more on the price, structure and terms of the proposed deal. Where mergers occur, special attention is also given to issues about organisational culture, the coming together of different personnel into a single entity, and the coming together of different products under one firm. Other issues that need to be addressed are the fears of employees regarding downsizing or retrenchment that may be necessary to ensure the viability and success of the new entity. More important, operational and marketing issues need further attention considering that products and services may have become so diverse as a result of the merger. Management has to decide as to which products and services they will discontinue or continue offering based on each product/service’s cash inflow strength. Research and development initiatives and manufacturing methods are some of the issues that will require special attention. More importantly, the entity has to decide with regards to supply chain partners they would want to continue to be in business with. When supply chain partners have been decided, that also influences the distribution channels they will adopt to ensure a hustle-free logistics management process.
The entrepreneur who opts for an outright sale of his firm as the harvesting option sells the entire business to any person who is willing to pay for the asking price. The buyer could be a supplier interested in forward integration, or the customer who is interested in backward integration. Sometimes the buyer is completely a neutral player from another sector whose intentions are to spread and diversify the risk. Often, entrepreneurs shy away from selling the business to the competitor as this entails disclosing or providing access to trade secrets, which could backfire if the deal fails to materialise.
Various governments, particularly in developing countries, have been advocating for employee share ownership schemes as a means of maximising productivity and also as a means of fighting the inequality gaps as far as wealth distribution is concerned. In Africa, it is no secret that the majority of the wealth is controlled by a minority who are predominantly white. From the Africans’ point of view, this is gross injustice as they feel they are not benefiting from what is rightfully theirs (riches of Africa). To address this challenge, most African countries have crafted and legalised the employee share ownership scheme [9]. By definition, the employee share ownership scheme is a legalised route by which the employer can transfer some or all of the shares to employees who in turn assume ownership of the shares received [10]. By the end of the deal, employees develop a vested interest in the entity’s well-being and become motivated to participate strongly in the growth of the entity to realise as much wealth as they can. Through the ESOS, the entrepreneur harvesting the entity receives cash at different intervals on his way out. The advantage is that the management continues to run the entity at the same time benefiting from the scheme. The disadvantage is that this could also result in the loss of the entrepreneurial drive in the entity. Often, the ESOS is best suited for large corporations given the complications surrounding the structuring and mapping of the finances involved.
The entrepreneur who chooses initial public offering as a harvesting option enlist the entity on a public stock exchange and have its shares publicly traded [11]. As attractive as this is, the downside is that the entrepreneur now must account to several shareholders on issues related to entity growth and many other key issues shareholders may be interested in [12]. In other words, this could add more administrative issues to the entrepreneur that he/she may have not anticipated before choosing this harvesting option.
This research is exploratory and predominantly quantitative. However, open-ended questions were incorporated to solicit further insights concerning the subject in question. A self-administered questionnaire was designed from extant literature on the subject of entity harvesting. Qualitative data gathered from open-ended questions provided rich insights as to the SME owner’s preferred method of harvesting and motivations to harvest the business. A sample of 612 SMEs was approached in Botswana, Eswatini, South Africa and Zimbabwe (Sub-Saharan Africa). Opportunistic convenience sampling was carried out. In the absence of a trusted sampling frame, field workers approached SME owners who were willing to participate in this research. Field workers explained the goal of the research and participants’ rights with regards to research that is the right to terminate participation without questions asked, right not to answer questions that infringe on their privacy, anonymity and truthful presentation of their views. Having explained at length issues related to the rights of the participants, their consent was sought and obtained. Descriptive statistics were performed to make the meaning of quantitative data. Similarly, qualitative data obtained were grouped into themes and each theme was observed and monitored in terms of recurrence. Thus, the frequency distribution of each theme was established to determine how popular that theme was among SME owners.
The results presented in this section provide a detailed background of the business owner and the SME. These cover issues related to the age of the business, location of the business, industry or sector in which the business is operating, the ownership structure of the business, the business development stage and sales revenue growth. Further, this section presents findings concerning harvesting practices preferred by small businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Data on the year of business establishment for the SMEs were gathered. The findings revealed that 40% of SMEs were between 5 and 10 years old whilst the other 40% were between 10 and 20 years old and 20% of the SMEs were established more than 20 years ago. Therefore, all the SMEs were in business for a considerable amount of time. This implies that the SME owners in question are fairly experienced business players. The findings with regards to the location of the SMEs reveal that that 20% of the SMEs were based in Gaberone, Botswana, 25% of the SMEs were based in Harare, Zimbabwe, 40% were based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and 15% of the SMEs were located in Mbabane, Eswatini. Data with regards to sector distribution of the SMEs revealed that 40% were in manufacturing, while mining, tourism, transport and logistics and retail sector were each represented by 15%, respectively. Data further revealed that 60% of the SMEs were registered as private companies, while partnerships and sole traders were both represented by 20%, respectively. The chapter further reveals that all SME owners who participated in this research are multiple business owners with 60% having total control and ownership of three operational SMEs, while 20% owned four operational SMEs and a further 20% being owners of two operational SMEs.
SME owners were further asked to identify the stage at which they thought their businesses occupied in the business life cycle (the SME at which they were found during fieldwork, that is, ignoring other SMEs they owned). The findings reveal that SMEs were at varying stages of the business life cycle with 20% being at the growth stage, while 40% were at the maturity stage and a further 40% already at their decline stage. A country analysis showing sales revenue growth in the past 12 months shows that SMEs in Botswana realised a more satisfactory movement (44%) followed by SMEs in Eswatini (42%) and SMEs in South Africa represented by 40%. Only 12% of SMEs in Zimbabwe registered satisfactory movement in sales revenue. This could be a reflector of the ongoing economic crisis that has affected the Zimbabwean economy for over a decade. As shown in Table 1, Zimbabwean SMEs further leads on the declining sales revenue option as 34% of SMEs registered a decline in sales revenue and 54% registering non-satisfactory movement in sales revenue in the past 12 months.
Country | Sales revenue movement in the past 12 months | % |
---|---|---|
Botswana | Satisfactory movement | 44 |
Non-satisfactory movement | 36 | |
A decline in sales revenue | 20 | |
Eswatini | Satisfactory movement | 42 |
Non-satisfactory movement | 28 | |
A decline in sales revenue | 30 | |
South Africa | Satisfactory movement | 40 |
Non-satisfactory movement | 40 | |
A decline in sales revenue | 20 | |
Zimbabwe | Satisfactory movement | 12 |
Non-satisfactory movement | 54 | |
A decline in sales revenue | 34 |
SMEs sales revenue growth by country.
SMEs were given a list of entity harvesting options and were asked to rank in order of preference to identify the harvesting option they would consider when the time of harvest has come. Findings are summarised in Table 2. They reveal that the majority of SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa preferred the outright sale harvesting option, M = 4.6, SD = 0.89, followed by the management buy-in harvesting option, M = 4.4, SD = 0.89, mergers, M = 3.8, SD = 1.3, investor-led buyout, M = 3.6, SD = 1.67 and leveraged build-ups with M = 3.4, SD = 1.51 concluded the top five preferred SMEs entity harvesting options.
SME owners who identified outright sale as their preferred entity harvesting method cited unavailability of an heir to take over the business, desire to pursue other interest, business reaching its peak performance level, retirement reasons, uncertain business environment and unavailability of a working turnaround business strategy as factors that would drive them to consider an outright sale of the entity. Table 3 provides descriptive statistics summarising the observed frequencies of the mentioned reasons.
Harvesting option | Mean score | Standard deviation |
---|---|---|
Outright sale | 4.6 | 0.89 |
Management buy-in (MBI) | 4.4 | 0.89 |
Mergers | 3.8 | 1.30 |
Investor led buyout (ILBO) | 3.6 | 1.67 |
Leveraged build-ups | 3.4 | 1.51 |
Management buyout (MBO) | 3.0 | 1.41 |
Employ share ownership scheme (ESOS) | 2.8 | 1.30 |
SMEs preferred entity harvesting options in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Justification | Frequency (%) |
---|---|
Absence of an heir | 33 |
Desire to pursue other interests | 22 |
Business performance reached peak level | 18 |
Retirement plan | 12 |
Uncertain business environment | 9 |
Failure of a business turnaround strategy | 6 |
Reasons behind choosing the outright sale harvesting option.
The paragraphs to follow further expand on the findings outlined in Table 3.
Absence of an heir. In the absence of an immediate family member to take over the business, SME owners pointed out that it is rather wise for them to cash in on their businesses and enjoy the fruits thereof than to leave the business to a distant relative who never contributed towards the well-being of the entity.
Business performance is at peak. Other SME owners pointed out that they would consider an outright sale harvesting option when the entrepreneurial entity has reached its all high-performance mark. This move is advantageous considering that this is the point where the business will be very attractive to competition and other individuals or organisation interested in a takeover. Given this situation, the entrepreneur has more bargaining power and is more likely to receive a significant amount better than the firm’s asking price.
Desire to pursue other interests. The desire to pursue other interests in this research was found to be triggered by the failure of the current enterprise to bring forth the anticipated results. Although some SME owners are genuinely interested in pursuing other business avenues, SME owners pointed out that they would rather cash in on the business especially once signs and symptoms of decline are noticed. They argued that rarely does it pay to continue investing time, effort and money once the business has started showing negative signs of performance.
Conversely, not all SMEs were of the view that they would harvest the entity through outright sale when it is poorly performing. The findings also revealed that most entrepreneurs preferred harvesting their ventures on discovering new and exciting opportunities, which they viewed as more profitable than the existing one. In support, some respondents also argued that where an entrepreneur comes up with a more lucrative business plan that has been well evaluated, the less lucrative venture must be harvested to mobilise funds to finance the lucrative business opportunity. Some SME owners were also quick to emphasise that the culture among SME owners was such that as long as the venture is still viable, there is no reason for harvesting the entity.
Retirement plan. A few SME owners pointed out they would consider the outright sale as their harvesting strategy and completely retire from the entrepreneurial life. The outright sale harvesting option would provide them with enough funds to sustain them when they are no longer actively involved in business markets.
Uncertain business environment. A significant number of SMEs particularly those found in the mining sector pointed out that for them, their businesses are largely affected by ever-changing government policies around mineral ownership and the processes involved in the selling of the minerals. The SMEs in the mining sector felt that they are the least protected by regulations. Mining operations are severely threatened by artisanal miners who continuously invade mining shafts and plants. In all this chaos, SME owners blame governments for doing very little to protect SMEs in the mining sector and their employees. When the rule of law is compromised as is the case in the mining sector, an outright sale was the preferred harvesting strategy. This enables the entrepreneur to invest capital in countries where the rule of law is known to be uncompromised.
Failure of the business turnaround strategy. Unlike some other SMEs who would harvest once symptoms and signs of failure start being noticed, some prefer to try and resuscitate the firm. However, when these efforts fail, they then choose to practice the outright sale harvesting option. The disadvantage of this strategy is that the business may have hit rock bottom a long time ago without the owner noticing. As such, when the new buyer comes, he or she has more bargaining power and the entrepreneur may receive proceeds that are far below the market value of the entity.
The findings reveal that entity merger was the third preferred harvesting option, M = 3.8, SD = 1.30. A study conducted in India by Mantravadi and Reddy [13] found out that firm profitability levels behaved differently depending on the sector after the merger, with some having their profitability levels increasing yet others experienced a decline. Generally, mergers are known to result in improved profitability for firms that were experiencing a sharp decline in profits. It was therefore very much anticipated for SME owners in Sub-Saharan Africa to at least consider business merger as a harvesting method given its tremendous benefits which include, improved revenues and profitability, faster growth in scale and quicker access to markets, acquisition of new technology, elimination of competition and increased market share [4]. Also, through mergers, firms enjoy tax shields and investment savings.
In this research, SME owners who opted merging with other firms as a harvesting technique cited lack of operating and growth capital as the major reason.
Lack of operating and growth capital. SME owners pointed out that if the firm is experiencing liquidity challenges, merging with a financially stable firm is the only route to preserving the legacy of the founder and keep initial business ideas, products, or services for a reasonable time in the market. Some of the SME owners pointed out that they had undertaken this harvesting practice before. For the previous mergers to occur, SME owners pointed out that the underlying reason that led to those mergers was liquidity problems. However, family and friends played an influential role in choosing the harvesting option. Other SME owners pointed out that they consider a business merger as it is a welcome opportunity to come out of financial distress without having to approach banks for funding.
The research sought the respondents’ views on different types of buyouts they would consider as their harvesting options. The findings imply that buyout options are widely used by SMEs. Buyouts involve a transition from one set of owners to another where the previous owners lose control over the firm and the new ones pay a premium for shares that gives them a controlling interest in the firm. The results on the different types of buyouts as entity harvesting options preferred by SMEs owners show that management buy-in is the second most preferred entity harvesting option, M = 4.4, SD = 0.89.
The findings reveal that SME owners are willing to surrender their businesses to external management for considerable value than their internal ones. Investor-led buyout (ILBO) was identified as the fourth preferred entity harvesting option, M = 3.6, SD = 1.67. SME owners argued that if the business is taken over by some investor institutions and is rejuvenated, their peers judge them better than if the same happens with former employees. Leveraged build-ups (LBUs) were identified by SME owners as the fifth preferred entity harvesting option, M = 3.4, SD = 1.51, whereas management buyout (MBO) was the sixth preferred entity harvesting option, M = 3, SD = 1.41.
SME owners identified the unavailability of a successor, de-risking and entity owner poor health as major drivers for preferring various buyout entity harvesting options.
No suitable family member to take over the firm. Similar to the outright sale harvesting option, the MBI, ILBO, LBU and MBO entity harvesting options were identified as harvesting options by SME owners citing unavailability of a suitable family member to drive the firm forward when they quit. SME owners experienced displeasure in the idea that a distant relative would inherit the estate in case their close relatives are not business focused. Hence, SME owners preferred to settle for either the MBI, ILBO, LBU or MBO entity harvesting options.
De-risking. Some SME owners singled out the LBO entity harvesting option. They cited de-risking as their motivation for preferring this strategy. SMEs owners pointed out that the ILBO by design brings in the much-needed capital to fund business growth initiatives, in the process guaranteeing business continuity. In other words, a portion of SME owners is not interested in total entity harvesting but partial harvest.
Poor health. Some SME owners opted for the ILBO harvesting option citing deteriorating health conditions. In this case, the owner sells a division of a firm instead of the entire firm. Health failure means that the SME owner is no longer able to participate in business affairs daily. In certain instances, the entrepreneur remains hopeful that he or she would recover and be actively involved in the affairs of the entity and possibly buy out the investor. For the hopeful entrepreneur, it is better to have somebody taking care of the firm until the entrepreneur’s recovery point, and by design, the ILBO from the SME owner’s perspective, it provides this opportunity.
The research findings reveal that the ESOS is the least preferred entity harvesting options among SME owners, M = 2.8, SD = 1.30. SME owners who preferred this option pointed out that because they would have succeeded in building a strong performance-oriented culture, it was more strategically important for them to involve entity employees in the entity’s succession plans. From the SME owner’s perspective, having employees who are best performers to own a stake in the firm and participate in running the affairs of the entity would make it easier to pass on the performance-oriented culture to all incoming employees. This is critical in ensuring that the firm’s competitive advantage is sustained and the firm’s profitability abilities maintained for a foreseeable future.
The findings presented in this chapter indicate that both macro- and micro-environmental factors play a significant role concerning the SME owner’s preferred entity harvesting strategy. The majority of SME owners in Sub-Saharan Africa pointed out that they prefer an outright sale as an entity harvesting strategy. The results show that this decision is largely influenced by the absence of an heir (macro-environmental factor). SME owners have little control over this aspect and as much as business skills can be learned, people’s interest differs upon realising and accepting this reality, SME owners are left with the option of disposing of the entity and salvage the value they may have added to the firm.
The results further reveal that among buyout options, the ILBO is more popular with SME owners as it was more preferred compared to all other buyout options. The findings further reveal that SME owners are worried about the volatility, uncertainty, chaos and unpredictability of the business environment. From the findings, the majority of SMEs are either declining or static and very few are making significant profits as most economies are in a recession. The present circumstances do not help SME owners in Zimbabwe who have consistently braved the economic downturn for over a decade and with the global economy in recession owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, this situation will drastically affect preferred entity harvesting options, possibly from an outright sale to mergers including some of the buyout options.
Despite the global recession that is very likely to have a bearing on preferred entity harvesting options, SME owners are somewhat hopeful that their businesses can have a second life. This is why apart from an outright sale, they believe that through MBI and mergers, their entities or entity offerings are still relevant to the market. What also can be learned from the findings is that such decisions are not being made only in light of the bad economic situation but it appears they were made right from the start as part of the business plan and continue to be adjusted as the economic situation changes.
However, from findings, it has been observed that SMEs owners appear not ready to give current employees and management a chance to own shares and to run the business as a harvesting option. In contrast to extant literature which pointed out that the ESOS is meant to spread the wealth between entity employees and entity owners, the findings reveal that entity owners are utilising this strategy to secure entity profitability for a longer period by extending share ownership to best-performing employees who in turn will have the obligation to pass on the performance-oriented culture to newly recruited employees.
The chapter explained SME owner preferred entity harvesting strategies making use of primary data collected from four Southern African countries and to the author’s best knowledge, by the time of writing, this research is the first to adopt such a strategy. More importantly, this chapter calls for more research to be done in this area and advance the debate on SME owner business exit strategies as they are critical in guiding the owner in achieving the entity’s mission. Also, the findings presented in this chapter contribute significantly to the gap in extant literature in the Sub-Saharan Africa region and beyond.
The findings presented in this chapter point to the notion that the preferred SME owner entity harvesting strategies are largely reactionary. This means that SME owners respond to macro- and micro-environmental factors and by so doing they are more of spectators rather than influencers of the business environment. The only way SMEs can succeed in practicing their original entity harvesting plan without being reactionary is to work diligently and make sure that micro-environmental factors are aligned to their needs. As a result, business consultants, policymakers and business support institutions can help SMEs in training their employees to be the best performers and ensure that all employees with funds can participate in ESOS. Currently, the practice is that only best performing employees benefit from this initiative defeating the original purpose which it was designed for. Other training activities can be held to help SMEs with risk management skills which would help when the de-risking time comes. SME owner-preferred entity harvesting options are influenced by the unavailability of an heir to take over the reins of the entity. This affects mostly family-owned SMEs. It should be acknowledged that succession is not a short-term endeavour but a long-term issue. Therefore, the search and training for a potential successor should start early to ensure the continuity of the firm. The critical aspect of the succession plan is raising awareness among the current SME owner/managers to kick start the search and preparation for succession early. This will enable them to identify the needed support tools, measures and the relevant infrastructure to enhance the success chances of the incoming an heir. When this is done on time, the thinking is that succession plans would have less effect on the SME owner’s preferred entity harvesting strategy.
The research is exploratory and descriptive. Although this is a stepping stone in trying to answer complex questions around SME owner-preferred entity harvesting strategies, considering that this was a cross-country analysis, issues related to culture and economic outlook were not controlled to determine if they had a major bearing on entity harvesting strategies reported. The reader should, therefore, exercise caution in the interpretation and application of the findings.
Future research should focus on similar harvesting strategies to establish causal relationships and also identifying boundaries in which the SME owner’s choice of entity harvesting strategy is directly or indirectly influenced by country characteristics, age of the business and economic outlook. Given that this was an exploratory research, the author further advocates for more studies making use of both simple and complex multivariate statistical analysis to establish definite relationships on this phenomenon.
The chapter outlined SME owner-preferred entity harvesting strategies and determined why the given option is preferred. Relying on cross-country data, the chapter concludes that the majority of SME owners prefer the outright sale option when harvesting their entities. This option is mainly influenced by the absence of an heir to take over the reins of the business implying that most SMEs are family-owned businesses. The chapter also concludes that SMEs do prefer other entity harvesting strategies such as mergers and buyout which includes among them ILBO, MBI, LBU and MBO as well as employee share ownership schemes. Mergers and buyout options are largely influenced by deteriorating economic conditions among other factors. The chapter further concludes that SMEs also prefer ESOS as a harvesting strategy but solely to secure the entity’s competitive advantage and profitability for as long as they can. This is evident in their willingness to sell entity stake to best performing employees who in turn have the duty to pass on the performance-oriented culture to recruits. However, among all other harvesting strategies that SMEs do prefer, the IPO was not one of them. The reason could be that SMEs are still battling with issues related to entity control and autonomy.
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