Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Business environment'
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Price, David A. "Environmental choices : coal, industry, environment, and society." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.244902.
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冼澤榮 and Chak-wing Simon Sin. "International business environment: air services agreement." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1997. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31268286.
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Rantos, Konstantinos. "Key recovery in a business environment." Thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.248051.
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Сабадаш, Віктор Володимирович, Виктор Владимирович Сабадаш, Viktor Volodymyrovych Sabadash, and Теофілус Айінесоне Абулбіре. "Economic decisions in the business environment." Thesis, Сумський державний університет, 2020. https://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/84192.
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У матеріалі розглянуто ключові проблеми прийняття бізнес-рішень в умовах невизначеності і ризиків економічної рецесіїВ материале рассмотрены проблемы принятия бизнес-решений в условиях неопределённости и рисков экономической рецессии
The key problems of business decision-making in the conditions of uncertainty and risks of economic recession are considered in the material
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Cook, Gina. "Analysis of the US Business Environment." Doctoral thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2006. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-115490.
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In the last five years, the US has experienced a significant number of unprecedented events, many of which will have long-term impact on its business environment. Given this fact and the rapid pace of change in the world today, there is a new imperative for understanding and managing these complex dynamics and associated emergent risks. This dissertation, therefore, focused on analyzing the current state of the US business environment; the analysis creates a basis for further examination of the various aspects of the studied problems. The author undertook a comprehensive environmental scan, using a broad set of information resources, in order to look at its present status and the factors affecting it as well as the perceived level of risk. During this process, the author also attempted to verify whether the current method of PEST analysis is still a relevant and useful tool given today's complex, intertwined and quickly evolving global business environment. The first chapter is devoted to the theoretical background of information seeking and environmental analysis as well as classifying international business risks. Chapter two takes a broad look at the US macro economy, including the following areas: Political, Legal, Economic, Socio-Cultural and Technological. Chapter three is a business application, and the bulk of its content is devoted to the specifics of the current US business environment; the perceived risks affecting it are also investigated. Final conclusions are drawn based on the research conducted.
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Sin, Chak-wing Simon. "International business environment : air services agreement /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1997. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B18837414.
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Stewart, Douglas Malcolm. "Importance of business environment to forecast accuracy." Thesis, Brunel University, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.327116.
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Lewis, Gerard J. "Integrating the 'green' environment into business strategy." Thesis, University of Manchester, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.633025.
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Why are business organisations not integrating the natural environment into business strategy? This question is important because green issues have strategic importance for business organisations, green issues are under-researched, and current management practice is believed to be inappropriate for managing such issues. This research focuses on answering the question by studying how senior executives in the UK textile industry (a) perceive uncertainty in the natural environment and (b) make strategic decisions involving green issues. The research uses questionnaires and interviews for data collection. Both research instruments are grounded in two main constructs; 'perceived environmental uncertainty' and 'rationality in strategic decision making'. A contingency perspective is taken and organisation performance is measured using Ashby's (1956) Law of requisite variety. The findings show that a number of barriers to integration exist. Exogenous barriers are: (a) the quality and availability of information, (b) sources of uncertainty and equivocality in the natural environment, and (c) rational and non-rational decision making techniques are either not available or undeveloped. Endogenous barriers are: (d) executives' limited mental models of the natural environment, (e) a relatively low level of rationality in strategic decision making for green issues, and (f) a vicious circle which discourages investment in information structures. The research is novel in that perceived environmental uncertainty and rationality in strategic decision making have been applied to green issues for the first time. Other contributions to knowledge include the development of the macro environment concept (Le. commercial and natural environments combined), the development of green research instruments, and the application of Ashby's (1956) Law to the measurement of green organisation performance. The practical implications of the findings are that executives should be sensitised to green issues and trained to think systemically. At the organisational level, information processing structures can be improved by using scenario planning techniques. It is also the case that environmental management systems have limited application in green strategic decision making.
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Chapagain, B. (Bimala). "Retail business model transformation in multichannel environment." Master's thesis, University of Oulu, 2015. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-201510152075.
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With the advent of internet and e-commerce, the way of carrying out business and transactions has changed to a great extent. Consumers are continuously changing the way they do shopping and this has forced retail business to transform their traditional brick and mortar into adopting multi-channel business models. Retailing is one of the most dynamic and competitive areas of business organization. Effective marketing, customer relationship management is the central dimension of successful retailing and the key to successful retailing is to be aware of the emerging opportunities and threats caused by environmental changes now and in the future.
This thesis paper investigates current conceptualization of ‘brick and mortar’ business models and electronic commerce business models and also tries to identify a unified conceptual model that helps retail business to effectively integrate the two channels and deliver a unique value to the consumers. This is achieved by reviewing the attributes of both the models and finally channeling the reviewed theories to adopting a multi-channel business model. The thesis paper first identifies the concepts of business model, as it is the business model of any organization, that helps to understand what kind of activities are carried out by certain organizations and how and why are those activities carried out. The business model is used to define unique value propositions for the customers of a company, and it is these business models that need transformation, in order for a company to adapt to changing competition and recognizing opportunities in certain scenarios.
The Brick and Mortar model is the oldest model that retailers have been using since centuries, however with the advent of internet; there was a threat of survival as the changing retail environment required retailers to change their traditional business models to adapt to the e-commerce environment. It is however true that, no single model is extremely superior to the other, but they do have relative advantages over the other. It is these differences and pros and cons, that influences a retailer to adapt to a multi-channel or hybrid business model.
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Jarrett, Loran. "Social Media Deployment in a Business to Business Environment: Theory and Practice." Scholar Commons, 2018. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7527.
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Social media is increasingly being used by business-to-business (B2B) firms to engage with their customers as they seek to maintain and grow their relationship with their customers. In my dissertation, I examine what communication objectives B2B firms seek to achieve via social media at different stages of the relationship cycle (exploration, expansion, maturity). I then use a panel of social media experts to evaluate the social media efforts of these firms to determine how well these firms achieve their social media objectives. I then contrast how the social media communication objectives of these firms at different stages of the relationship line up with what academic literature suggests as being the most appropriate at the given stage of the relationship and thus highlight the gaps between theory and practice.
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Raudaskoski, J. (Jukka). "International project management in the Russian business environment." Master's thesis, University of Oulu, 2016. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-201604141481.
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Project management is a discipline that manages projects, both domestic and international, so that they are completed successfully in time and according to project plan. In international and especially in Russian business context, project management is vital tool in order to fulfill customers’ need and solve possible cross-cultural problems and in this way foster new possibilities for new project opportunities for project providers.
Russian business environment is approaching to the Western business culture and environment, but it still has its own characteristics. These characteristics must be taken account when Western project providers enter the Russian markets or operate there.
The purpose of this Master’s Thesis was to study how can the international projects be successfully managed in the Russian business context from the project providers’ perspective The focus was on risk management and stakeholder management in the Russian business environment. Also the cultural aspects were taken account in this study.
The research approach of the Thesis was deductive and qualitative. The empirical data was collected through seven unstructured face-to-face interviews with Finnish small and middle sized project providers which possess experience on Russian business environment as well as with Russian business experts.
The result revealed that risk management of projects should be accordance to the target market, in this case the Russian Federation, and must contain also general risk management of project business. Also stakeholder management is vital when operating in Russian business environment since networking and trust are extremely important in Russian business
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Sousa, André Justino Neves. "Simulation software development in a global business environment." Master's thesis, Universidade de Aveiro, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10773/4520.
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Mestrado em Engenharia e Gestão IndustrialCom a globalização e o aumento de competitividade as empresas viram se forçadas a encontrar novas formas de optimização e de estar constantemente à acrescentar mais valor aos seus produtos. Como resultado, existe uma mudança progressiva para uma perspectiva externa com ênfase na concepção e implementação de novas parcerias estratégicas, que são geralmente nomeadas com o título de gestão da cadeia de abastecimento. No entanto, apesar do florescimento de várias soluções informáticas neste contexto, ainda há vários obstáculos evidentes a superar. Principalmente devido à maior complexidade dos problemas gerados numa rede logística onde existem conflitos resultantes de objectivos locais versus estratégias de integração. A simulação que conta já com um vasto histórico em aplicações industriais poderá revelar-se numa importante mais-valia neste novo âmbito. Esta ferramenta é usada para efectuar análises, estudos, optimizar projectos e identificar novas oportunidades. As empresas actualmente produzem numa rede complexa na maioria das vezes estão presentes em diferentes países, com múltiplas oportunidades de mercado. Normalmente existe a necessidade de produzirem componentes sofisticados que raramente são criados num único local. Isso representa um desafio extra para a plena utilização das ferramentas de simulação. Este trabalho tenta validar a ideia de que há um potencial inexplorado no uso e desenvolvimento de software de simulação. Novas aplicações tecnológicas estão a ser formuladas que tiram partido destes novos parâmetros e dão resposta a um superior número de critérios de eficiência e de produtividade nas empresas. Em conjunto procuram dar uma resposta a estes problemas, bem como integrar plenamente e com sucesso as empresas em novas formas de negócio como a gestão cadeia de abastecimento.
The increased level of competitiveness in all industrial sectors, exacerbated in the last years by the globalization of the economies. This is pushing enterprises to find new ways to optimize their processes, and in particular to pursue new forms of collaboration and partnership with their direct logistics counterparts. As a result, at a company level there is a progressive shift towards an external perspective with the design and implementation of new management strategies, which are generally named with the term of supply chain management (SCM). However, despite the flourish of several IT solutions in this context, there are still evident hurdles to overcome. Mainly due to the major complexity of the problems to be tackled in a logistics network and to the conflicts resulting from local objectives versus network strategies. Simulation has now a solid background in manufacturing applications. This tool is used to perform analyses, studies, optimize designs and also identify problems. Companies now produce in a complex environment and most of the times they are present in different countries with different market opportunities, manufacturing intricate products that are seldom created in a single location. This poses an extra challenge for the full use of simulation. This work tries to validate the idea that there is an untapped potential in simulation software. And new forms of distributes simulation techniques are growing to give an answer to these problems as well as fully integrate companies successfully into new ways of business like supply chain management.
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Or, Tin-lun, and 柯天倫. "Review of the deregulating telecommunications business and the regulatory environment in telecommunications business." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1998. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31269163.
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Tan, Yi. "Effective business strategies for energy service companies in the East Asian business environment." Thesis, Robert Gordon University, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.402034.
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Huxtable, Louisa Anne. "Input by business into business-environment policy formulation in Wales : a case study." Thesis, Swansea University, 2009. https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa43040.
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This thesis investigates the case of the Expert Panel on Resources Management for Wales (EPRM). The research problem addressed is whether the EPRM process was a novel, repeatable and effective method for business to inform public policy, specifically in the area of business-environment policy making. The aim of the research was to create a case study that included: observations of the EPRM process and its wider context; a comparison of the process with that used traditionally; and an assessment of the effectiveness of the process and its outcomes. A review of the literature suggests that the incidences of research and political theory being proactively and practically applied to policy making by those who are political or social science practitioners are few. Much of the research in this field occurs independent of policy operation, and is often observational and critical in its nature, creating an opportunity for novel study and practical input to the policy making process. Using participant observation, documentary evidence, survey methods and interviews, the case study presented here provides an insight into the workings of the EPRM in the context of business-environment policy making in post-devolution Wales. It shows that in practice the Panel's work was novel and, although suffering from some limitations, it could be suitable for use in other policy areas and by other non-autonomous devolved governments. The thesis concludes that the EPRM process resulted in viable, sensible public policy recommendations that were the product of a valid evidence base and credible public participation, and that it was a fit for purpose, effective and innovative method for developing policy ideas.
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Or, Tin-lun. "Review of the deregulating telecommunications business and the regulatory environment in telecommunications business /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1998. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B19872586.
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Shaaban, Sarah, and Sumera Magsi. "Digital business strategy : The driver for change in internal and external business environment." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för ekonomisk och industriell utveckling, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-159938.
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Title: Digital business strategy - The driver for change in internal and external business environment Authors: Sumera Magsi and Sarah Shaaban Advisor: Andrea Fried Master thesis, 30 credits Background:The effects resulting from a more intense use of digital technologies in companies is visible in the integration between business and IT strategies which creates an urge for digital business strategies to emerge. Thesis aim: The aim is to investigate the current state of digital business strategies which includes highlighting benefits and challenges. By doing that we also are aiming towards answering, in what way ITBA can be questioned due to DBS. Methodology: A qualitative research based on a multiple case study by conducting semi- structured interviews. All the selected case companies are using digital business strategies as a part of their internal and external business environment (IEBE). The respondents have a role in the chosen case companies of being responsible for the implementation and use of strategies, digital business strategies and digital technologies. Findings: This study identifies that their exits a linkage between business strategy and ITBA. The main finding about the current state of DBS involves both internal and external DBS activities. Further findings show that benefit of digital business strategy to be the opportunity to levering costumers and challenges to be connected to the different IT maturity levels of the employees. The way that digital business strategy can question ITBA is based on that it is the driver for change for the case companies.
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Kim, Jongsung. "Manufacturing strategy and the environment : an analytical study." Connect to resource, 1989. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view.cgi?acc%5Fnum=osu1265730795.
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Landman, Stephanus. "Leveraging business intelligence management to business performance management in a manufacturing environment / Landman, S." Thesis, North-West University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10394/7062.
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No business can effectively be managed without the proper management and information that reflects and creates the milieu it operates in. Business performance management creates the framework in which a structured approach can be followed in setting the scene for a predictive and controllable environment. Business intelligence creates the information structures; information relationships and a reflection of the value chain of the business. By combining the two methodologies it creates a total business solution that harmonises all aspects of value creation in an objective manner.
The aim of this study is to conduct a thorough theoretical study on the relevant aspects involved in business performance management and business intelligence, and to assess the relationship of business performance management and business intelligence within the South African natural resource' mining and manufacturing sector.
The various processes of business performance management and business intelligence are
discussed in the literature study. During the literature research several approaches to
business performance management implementations and the pros and cons of business
performance management are discussed. A broad look at business intelligence is done, with
key focus on delivering of information.Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.
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Pienaar, Nico. "The role relationship benefits have on customer equity in the business-to-business environment." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/41987.
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This study aims to extend previous research studies investigating drivers of
customer equity in a business-to-business environment. The study also aims to
address the role of relationship benefits on customer equity in a business-tobusiness
environment beyond psychological, functional and social benefits.
Furthermore the study focuses on the importance of building relationships
influencing customer equity in organisations operating in a business-to-business
environment.
The study is based on two phases. Phase one consisted of face-to-face
interviews with experienced professional individuals from three different
industries. These industries covered financial services, utility services and
property development within a South African demographic. The data gathered
from these interviews was combined with literature to understand the drivers of
customer equity and the role that relationship benefits play on customer equity.
Data was also gathered from a 146 questionnaires and statistically processed.
Significant findings made in the study reflect the importance of customer equity
within business-to-business environments. Further focusing on the importance for
organisations to build long-term relationships with their customers. this will finally
explain the significant impact that relationship benefits have on customer equity
beyond psychological, functional and social benefits for organisations in
business-to-business environments. The study recognises that the individual
customers and the organisation on its own will both benefit from developed
customer equity, highlighting the fact that not one driver of customer equity is
exclusive to the next.
Contributions made for academic purposes include hypothesised variable on
customer equity, with the main aim on relationships. This study will be beneficial
for various departments in organisations that interact with customers and want to
improve their customer relations, specifically organisations operating in a
business-to-business environment.Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013.
zkgibs2014
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
MBA
Unrestricted
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Fránová, Alžběta. "Business environment, cultural characteristics and business practices of the Dutch market, cooperation with CR." Master's thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2008. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-10605.
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The first chapter describes the general characteristics of the Dutch market from the perspective of the historical, political or economic position. In the second chapter I deals with specific cultural habits of both countries (the Netherlands and the Czech Republic) with a focus on conflicts in the negotiations and cultural differences. The last chapter is devoted to the practical example of Czech company cooperating with the Dutch company. In addition, more present outlined the emergence of cooperation, as is currently developing a partnership and future perspectives.
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Gudfinnsson, Kristens. "Taking Advantage of Business Intelligence in Complex-Systems Environment." Thesis, Högskolan i Skövde, Institutionen för kommunikation och information, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:his:diva-6032.
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Business intelligence has fundamentally changed how many companies conduct their business. The focus of academic literature has however been on volume-operation companies that provide services to millions of customers. Complex-systems companies have fewer customers and pursue customer needs by providing more customized products and services. The knowledge in the research society is limited to volume-operation companies and there a need for more case studies regarding how companies actually use their information systems, specifically complex-systems companies. This work looks at a case of a complex-systems company with the overall aim to see how complex-systems companies may take advantage of business intelligence. A framework was used to measure BI maturity; expressed future needs were compared to future trends in BI literature and BI usage in specific areas was analyzed with the help of a framework from BI literature. The results indicate that the company is somewhere between Aspirational and Experienced with respect to BI maturity. BI is used for reporting a variety of key performance indicators and the main analysis tool for various calculations is Excel. The expressed future needs are mainly strategy-driven and technology-driven and often involve better and faster access to information. The difference in the business models of volume-operations companies and complex-systems companies could influence the BI maturity and help to explain the maturity difference between these two types of companies. Furthermore, the results indicate that there is a difference between the roles of BI tools in complex-systems companies compared to volume-operations.
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Shen, Xijin. "Environment support for business modelling, concepts, architecture and implementation." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1994. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp04/MQ37304.pdf.
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Shen, Xijin 1966. "Environment support for business modelling : concepts, architecture and implementation." Thesis, McGill University, 1994. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=26456.
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The goal of business modelling is the design, analysis, and simulation of an enterprise's architectural structures and their information technology components. To comprehensively support business modelling, an appropriate modelling environment with adequate visualization mechanisms is required. Such an environment may handle model information in a flexible, yet expressive way and support substitution, documentation, validation and dynamic analysis of models as well as model visualization and alternative representations.We have developed a business modelling approach which is based on the formalism of extended, colored Petri nets. To support and validate our approach, we have engineered the Macrotec environment. Macrotec meets a list of requirements we have identified as crucial for the quality of a comprehensive modelling environment. It is conceived as a set of various tools which are seamlessly integrated. Our experience with Macrotec suggests that our concepts and environment substantially facilitate business modelling.
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Chin, Yee-ming Margaret, and 陳綺明. "The business environment of tour operators in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1985. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31263161.
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Hung, Pharo Quoc. "Analysis of set of commitment constructsin Vietnam business environment." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.502154.
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The examination of the multiple-commitment theory and the threecomponent commitment ·model, two leading approaches in the research of work commitment, lacks empirical evidence outside North America, and especially, the combination of the theory and model is still new. This study, based on a sample of 502 employees in Vietnam, examined the theory and model simultaneously in combination, using the three-component commitment model to measure organizational and occupational commitments. The results evidenced the three-component structures of organizational and occupational commitments, and supported the mediation of commitment components on the effects of commitments'antecedents on work outcomes. Affective and normative organizational· commitment, and normative occupational commitment had negative effects on turnover intention. Organizational commitment and continuance occupational commitment had positive effects on external career success, while only occupational commitment (affective & continuance) had positive effects on internal career success. No commitment component had significant effect on job performance. This study suggests that a mixed approach combining the theory and model is . appropriate in the study of work commitment, and this approach should be further examined especially in other developing and Asian countries. For managers in Vietnam, this study implies that understanding the relationships among variables analyzed in this study, in combination with their experiential knowledge, they can create better solutions to increase and maintain employees' work commitment in order to increase major work outcomes.
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Alimohamadi, Bardia, and Nasrin Khorshidi. "Six Sigma Perspectives : In Academic World and Business Environment." Thesis, Högskolan i Borås, Institutionen Ingenjörshögskolan, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-19644.
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In beginning of 1980s, a majority of business sectors were suffering from high operating costs and inefficiencies which were a big loss to these sectors. These inefficiencies and lack of effectiveness were consequently producing high levels of customer dissatisfactions as well. Six Sigma culture has been predominantly inspired and affected by Japanese business culture with a focus on total customer satisfaction. This had turned out to be an alert to Motorola that was not famous for its arrogant attitude toward their customers. Motorola has been a pioneer in developing and applying Six Sigma within their operations and processes. Six Sigma has been initially introduced as a response to Motorola’s problems in the mid-1980s. [15]The reason for crediting the Japanese business culture at that time was mainly the Japanese growing sales power in global competitive market. With gained efficiency through proper engagement of all employees and simpler designs, Japanese could become more efficient with higher levels of quality. [15]Six Sigma initiators learned enough from Japanese competitors and their own learning to create their vision and framework. [15]However Six Sigma has been officially launched in Motorola for the first time in 1987. Six Sigma has shown to be a successful management strategy since first time introduction and implementation. [15]Six key components or main lines of work required for successful upgrading from a non-Six Sigma company to a company with Six Sigma culture are as it comes in the following lines: Six Sigma cultural renovation, reward and credit system, training, unified measurement system, facilitators, communication and senior executive commitment. [15]Six Sigma is a wide covering issue that covers different aspects and sectors of a company. Six Sigma is considered as a project based strategy. [31]Framework for a Six Sigma organization is very important for them to start the journey in order to become a Six Sigma organization. In the establishment process of Six Sigma although it is necessary to use appropriate tools and techniques, it is also required to benefit from a comprehensive training system provided for everyone in the organization. [31]Hence, by proper application of quality management tools and statistical methods, Six Sigma is to remove source of errors and reduce variability in process outputs to a certain level. Variability can either be in business or production processes.However, nowadays, companies are using different Six Sigma training systems to better establish this strategy within their business. The implementation process is enabled with appropriate and relevant tool box with proper frame work and measurement techniques.2The issue is that the definition and application of Six Sigma in different sectors and companies may differ. This is a source of a controversy in this field area. Also the academic perspective towards Six Sigma may differ from the business perspective.In order to investigate these claims, we will try to collect definitions, methods and techniques by literature review and being used by different abovementioned parties to make a comparison between these perspectives.
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Chin, Yee-ming Margaret. "The business environment of tour operators in Hong Kong /." Hong Kong : [University of Hong Kong], 1985. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B12317007.
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Hersi, Ahmed, and Michal Aleksandrowicz. "Broadening the horizon whilst using ones environment : Case studies exploring environmental influence on SMEs international expansion." Thesis, Umeå universitet, Handelshögskolan vid Umeå universitet, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-37503.
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Globalization and technological progress are the two issues influencing our lives to a great extent nowadays. Indeed, national borders between countries are blurring in terms of cultural differences. The information overflow around us is evident. Progressing convergence is making the Earth a homogeneous entity. This, in turn, might be perceived as desirable or harmful, depending on one’s standpoint; however, it is having a strong impact on the world of business, among others. This research investigates internationalization of two companies embedded in the clustered Swedish music industry. At first, the process is analyzed making use of many theoretical concepts in order to get a holistic picture, which results in an eclectic approach. Later on, the environment is studied to find out how it had determined the companies’ development, international potential and therefore foreign expansion. The result indicates congruent evidence that the companies’ successful rapid internationalization is derived from their embeddedness in the Swedish music environment. A strong synergetic relationship between networking, learning and resource acquisition is identified to be strongly enhanced by environmental conditions and its legacy. Therefore, competitive advantage in international markets of the globalized world is still locally embedded. Keywords: SME’s internalization process, Toontrack AB, Propellerhead AB, Cluster, Environment, Swedish music industry, networks, born global, resources.
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Hugill, Andrea Read. "Strategies for the Non-Market Environment." Thesis, Harvard University, 2015. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:16881894.
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ABSTRACT 1: This paper examines whether mobile telecom operators with access to different
kinds of knowledge pursue different strategies in politically risky markets. Using
data from 2000-2010 I find that firms with country-specific knowledge, gained
via presence in the local market, and general knowledge, gained through a long
history of operations, were more likely to increase or maintain investment and
operations even as political risk rose to the highest levels while peer firms drop
both investment and operations. Firms with market-risk knowledge, gained
through previous experience confronting political risk, drop investment similar to
peer firms but increase operations to capitalize on their short-term competitive
advantage. Therefore, country-risk knowledge and general knowledge are
associated with strategies that are durable to political risk, while market-risk
knowledge is associated with the distinct strategy for political risk of increased
operations. These results contribute to the literature by documenting distinct
market-based strategies for firms with differing knowledge sets that remain in a
market as political risk rises.
ABSTRACT 2: Scholars of corporate governance have debated the relative importance of country and
firm characteristics in understanding corporate governance variation across emerging economies.
Using panel data and a number of model specifications, we shed new light on this debate. We
find that firm characteristics are as important as and often meaningfully more important than
country characteristics. In fact, 16.8% percent of firms in emerging economies have been able to
exceed the 75th percentile of ratings in developed economies. Our results suggest that over
recent years firms in emerging economies had more capability to rise above weak home-country
institutions than previously suggested.
ABSTRACT 3: Outsourcing firms seeking to avoid reputational spillovers that can arise from dangerous,
illegal, and unethical behavior at supply chain factories increasingly rely on private social
auditors to provide strategic information about the conduct of their suppliers. But little is
known about what influences auditors’ ability to identify and report poor supplier
conduct. We find that individual supply chain auditors’ monitoring practices are shaped
by social factors including their experience, gender, and professional training; their
ongoing relationships with suppliers; and the gender diversity of their audit teams.
Providing the first comprehensive and systematic findings on supply chain monitoring,
our study identifies previously overlooked transaction costs and suggests strategies to
develop governance structures to mitigate reputational spillover risks by reducing
information asymmetries between themselves and their suppliers.
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Myllynpää, Ninja, and Linda Oskarsson. "Towards a Sustainable Built Environment : Case Silverdal." Thesis, Uppsala University, Department of Business Studies, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-111666.
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This paper intends to give the reader a wider knowledge about sustainable construction by taking a closer look at what drivers and goals have been of most importance in Silverdal - a construction project with environmental commitment and focus on energy efficiency. The research is formed by using a compilation of variables, such as regulation, brand building and risk management, which serve as a base for the qualitative research of the case study. The empirical findings have been gathered by interviewing people responsible for the Silverdal project. These findings imply that compliance with regulations has become more important with time and that brand building can still have greater relevance than long-term commitment to environmental related risk management. Also, economic benefits seem to be the most desired ones at the expense of making a contribution to real sustainability.
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Moore, Michele Schmidt. "Written communication in an online learning environment." Fairfax, VA : George Mason University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1920/4581.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--George Mason University, 2009.Vita: p. 203. Thesis director: Priscilla Norton. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Oct. 11, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 198-202). Also issued in print.
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Kilpatrick, Brett Alan. "The role relationship benefits have on brand equity in the business to business, services environment." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/30612.
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A review of the literature reveals that companies‟ brands and their management have dominated the marketing of goods and services to consumers but the idea of measuring brand equity has been slow to take hold in business to business (B2B) marketing. On-going relationships between businesses and their industrial customers are receiving renewed interest in marketing and the building of strong customer relationships has been suggested as means of gaining a competitive advantage particularly for service businesses. The importance of benefits recieved through relationships indicates that customer value is not linked to the the product or service received, but is also derived from the benefits recieved from relationships with the organisation. The study seeks to determine the importance relationships have on the brand equity of organisations that operate in a B2B services environment. This is achieved by focusing on the drivers of brand equity in a B2B services environment, consisting of price, product quality, service quality and relationship benefits.The findings offer important insightas to the drivers of brand equity in the B2B services industry. The results indicate that the benefits a buying organisation receives from having a relationship with the organisation providing the service is significant to improving itsbrand equity . The other drivers that significantly influence the brand equity of the orgnsiations providing the service is the quality of the product or service it provides followed by the price.The research involved a two phase approach. Phase one involved face-to-face interviews with five Learning and development professionals from various industries in South Africa, namely Financial Services, Manufacturing, Telecommunications and Retail sectors. The data gathered from the interviews, together with the reviewed literature was used to develop an instrument that was used to measure the importance relationship benefits have on brand equity in the B2B services environment . One hundred and twenty one questionairres were processed. The data was subjected to inferential and multivariate statisical analysis.This research provides both an academic contribution to the relationship marketing field as well as a practical implication for marketing managers within B2B service organisations. The main contribution for academic purposes involves confirmation from hypothesised relationships. This research is of specific value to managers who are responsible for increasing brand equity within their organisations. With a more dedicated focus on improving the benefits the buying organisation receives from the organisation providing the service will allow managers to improve their brand equity.Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012.
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
unrestricted
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Davids, Faghmie Jamiel. "Understanding business strategy factors that support or impede moving business capabilities to a cloud environment." Thesis, University of Cape Town, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28426.
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Organisations are facing increased competition in contemporary business environments. At the same time, cloud computing is a catalyst for new software applications and services available to organisations. Therefore, cloud computing is a viable option to provide innovation within the organisation. Therefore, organisations need to recognise the potential transformation of its business model, to take advantage of cloud computing. This research sets out to describe and explain the relationship between the various business strategy factors and CC. Organisations have to guard against using cloud-computing capabilities only to provide organisational efficiencies, as the efficiencies gained do not always translate into business value. Adopting cloud computing can cause disruptions in the organisation. Therefore, the organisation needs a strategy and understand the relationship between the business strategy and the cloud computing options available. The present study performs multi-method qualitative research, within the South African context. By taking a constructivist view, the researcher believes the knowledge will emerge from the interaction the people have with their environment. The research purpose states the research as descriptive and explanatory. Data collection for the present study performs face-to-face interviews. A general interview-guided approach ensures the research covers same areas of interest in all the interviews. For the data analysis, the researcher uses an inductive thematic analysis method. Software-as-a-Service influences the customer behaviour and forces organisations to re-evaluate their use of cloud computing. However, new cloud computing capabilities brought into the organisation need to provide a value proposition with an expected time-to-market. Also, large organisations require a technology architecture review to assess the impact on their infrastructure. The multi-faceted cost structure coupled with legacy systems and legacy investment products can prevent the adoption of cloud computing. Another factor is the vendor relationship and their influence regarding the solutions into which an organisation invests. The present study concludes how cloud computing offers no competitive differentiation for South African investment services organisations. For these organisations, their existing business models remains profitable. Business strategy, therefore, has no compelling reason to consider cloud computing. Furthermore, information technology is a utility service. For these organisations, the information technology and business strategy align through the service-level method. This alignment method forces the information technology department to focus on maintaining a stable and reliable infrastructure. Cloud computing is only considered when contributing to the service-level. A misalignment then follows, and individual business units adopt cloud computing to fulfil their business need. As a result, the business unit is ready to adopt cloud computing while the information technology department is a hindrance towards adopting cloud computing. Software-as-a-Service solutions are the most used cloud computing option, based on its ability to offer an accelerated time-to-market for proof-of-concept products and services. However, most final business solutions move onto the internal infrastructure of the organisation. Platform-as-a-Service and Infrastructure-as-a-Service are used to a lesser degree by organisations in this study.
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Wasserman, Megan B. "The changing competitive environment of the banking industry." Honors in the Major Thesis, University of Central Florida, 1997. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETH/id/20.
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This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your Honors Thesis, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by following the instructions on the distribution consent form at http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalInitiatives/DigitalCollections/InternetDistributionConsentAgreementForm.pdf You may also contact the project coordinator, Kerri Bottorff, at kerri.bottorff@ucf.edu for more information.Bachelors
Business Administration
Finance
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Suikki, R. (Raija). "Changing business environment—effects of continuous innovations and disruptive technologies." Doctoral thesis, University of Oulu, 2007. http://urn.fi/urn:isbn:9789514283437.
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Abstract
Today's turbulent business environment, which is characterised by uncertainty and inability to predict the future, is extremely challenging. Mobile and Internet Protocol (IP) convergence, which brings together technologies and services from the mobile and Internet domains, has been identified as a discontinuity in the mobile telecommunications business. Additionally, new disruptive technologies are introduced together with new, complex products.
This research addresses the approach that, along with introducing disruptive technologies in the mobile and IP convergence era, a new operational mode is needed in the new product development (NPD) process. This study approaches the operational mode from five perspectives: business environment, competence development, process renewal, running technology pilots, and product reliability.
The research on the business environment area proposes two frameworks: one for building and describing and another for evaluating business models. The study on competence development arrives at the conclusion to propose a project management competence development framework. The third research perspective suggests that, when the business environment is changing, and disruptive technologies and continuous innovations create new kinds of products, it is likely that processes need renewal. Running technology pilots to involve customers early enough in new product development is proposed in the fourth research area. Finally, the fifth research topic proposes that it is essential for companies to be able to estimate the reliability of their products during the product development phase.
It is concluded that the new operational mode when introducing disruptive technologies requires reconsidering business models, special attention to competence development, process renewal, customer involvement in new product development, and requires a means to guarantee software reliability.
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Yusoff, Mazirah. "Evaluating business student satisfaction in the Malaysian private educational environment." Thesis, Northumbria University, 2012. http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/7991/.
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The educational environment is very dynamic and challenging with intensifying competition, as well as an increase use of public comparisons between institutions. Therefore, understanding and attempting to improve student satisfaction is becoming critical to educational institutions. In Malaysia, education is a leading industry and plays a vital role in national development. As the private education sector is growing rapidly, there is a mounting interest to use service quality improvement measures to enhance competitiveness. The main aim of this study is to identify and evaluate the drivers that influence business student satisfaction in the Malaysian private educational environment. Specifically, this study seeks to measure the influence that each driver has on business student satisfaction and the importance of each driver to students; identify the underlying dimensions of the satisfaction drivers that influence business student satisfaction; evaluate the influence of factors such as gender, year of study, programme of study, semester grade and nationality on the results; identify areas of service priority towards better allocation of resources; and to discuss the practical implications of the results. A positivist approach is adopted in this study, whereby 1,200 questionnaires have been distributed to undergraduate business students at four private educational institutions in Malaysia. A total of 823 responses were found to be usable for analysis giving a response rate of 69%. This study adopted and extended a “service-product bundle” model to evaluate the satisfaction level and the importance of the specific service attributes at the educational institutions. Results were analysed using SPSS and quadrant analysis. The results revealed that students are satisfied and placed more importance on the physical facilities of an institution, followed by the teaching and learning drivers. Analysis of the underlying dimensions of the satisfaction drivers resulted in the adoption of a 12-factor solution after conducting several trial rotations. Significant differences exist between the demographic factors and six factors. Quadrant analysis conducted showed eight out of the 12 factors require attention by the educational institutions towards better allocation of their resources. This study contributes to the marketing literature by providing an examination of several marketing constructs. This is an important contribution as it provides an improved understanding of student satisfaction and perceptions of the factors linking to the physical facilities and facilitating goods as well as the teaching and learning issues. From the professional practice contributions, this study will benefit the business schools and educational institutions in general as it provides practical information about what and how students of different levels of study; programme of study; gender; nationality; and level of academic performance consider important in their level of satisfaction and perceptions.
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Boon, Y. L. "Operating environment, competitive business strategies and performance of Singapore's hotels." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.596766.
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This research attempts to investigate the relationships between the perceived competitiveness of the operating environment, competitive business strategies and the performances of hotels within Singapore's hotel accommodation industry. The operating environment is conceptualised using Porter's industry structural framework which comprises five competitive forces, i.e. perceived bargaining power of buyers and suppliers, perceived threat of new hotels and substitutes, and perceived rivalry amongst existing hoteliers. This research reveals that there are distinctly three strategic groups of hotels in Singapore, i.e. the 'QPS(high)', 'QPS(mid)' and 'P(low)' groups. The 'QPS(high)' groups focuses on the market, which expects luxury and could afford it. It employs, dominantly, a combination of strategies of differentiation by quality, price and support. The 'P(low)' group focuses on budget travellers and employs, dominantly, the strategy of differentiation by price. The 'QPS(mid)' group focuses on the market sandwiched by the other two groups. In identifying these strategic groups, there seems to be convergence between the 'multivariate strategic dimensional' approach and the 'self-typing paragraph' approach. In addition, the survey method and the case study method were employed to help explore why some hotels outperform others. There is a significant relationship between competitive strategies and the perceived bargaining power of buyers on the performances of hotels based on the 'ibfchot' indicators. Overall, the performances of the strategic groups, in descending order, are 'P(low)', 'QPS(high)' and 'QPS(mid)' groups. Nevertheless, each group has hotels which are successful as well as those which are less successful. Hence, membership in any strategic group does not necessarily guarantee success or failure. Financial success of hotels is, therefore, not strategy-specific. However, the successful hotels in all the strategic groups have the following characteristics, i.e., ability to align the threats of the perceived operating environment to formulate suitable competitive strategies to meet the expectations of the target market segments at relatively low operating costs; dynamic management to effectively communicate and implement the strategies formulated; and synergy of the owner's and management's business objectives.
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Parks, Jacob. "OIL, POLITICS OF THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND THE PERSIAN GULF." Master's thesis, University of Central Florida, 2008. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/4109.
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This study investigated the effect the price of oil has on enabling political establishments to maintain their presence within the business environment. The study consists of three different case studies with each of the states (Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates) being chosen based upon their level of state involvement within the business community. Each case study investigated whether the price of oil had any effect on influencing the amount of political involvement within the business community, property rights or trade freedom. The findings for all three case studies suggest that the price of oil has little to no effect on determining the amount of influence the state possesses within the business environment. Based on the results of this investigation, recommendations were made to improve the United States relationship with each country. Additional analysis and recommendations were made concerning the future economic impact of Iraq relying solely on oil as its revenue source.M.A.
Department of Political Science
Sciences
Political Science MA
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Yunggar, Manuel Melvyn. "Scanning the environment for business information in selected Malaysian Institutions." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.296918.
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Garbo, Samuel P. (Samuel Paul). "Technology development and business strategy : a changing environment impacts practices." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/10540.
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Twehues, Jennifer Elisabeth. "Exploring the management of corporate reputation in Germany's business environment." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/49961.
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Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2004.Some digitised pages may appear illegible due to the condition of the original hard copy
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Since the 1990's researchers have been adding different perspectives to the phenomenon of corporate reputation and its management (Fombrun, 2002a: x; Gotsi & Wilson, 2001: 99). To some extent, the growing attention paid to this topic has come from a consciousness about prevailing trends in the current business landscape, such as the ongoing globalisation, the proliferation of media, the public's new focus on transparency and social responsibility, as well as an avalanche of corporate crises. Yet, besides leading to an unfortunately high fragmentation of the study subject in the academic area, a result of this rapidly increasing interest seemed to be a lack of practitioner's knowledge about the nature, potential, and practical implication of this new management issue (Abratt, 2001: 368). With the general aim to examine this assumed gap between reputation theory and practice, this empirical study therefore presents a preliminary attempt to explore how corporate reputation is approached in real business life. It focuses on the German business environment and seeks to investigate companies' current understanding of corporate reputation, as well as their moves towards fostering and protecting it. To be able to explore corporate reputation management in this particular business environment, the study uses a qualitative research design, for which a range of in-depth interviews are conducted with 18 managers of German companies. The results of this empirical research reveal how German companies understand, value, and approach the issue of reputation and its management. Examining the responses, it becomes evident that, although German companies attach high importance to the reputation issue, even with regard to a strategic consideration, they demonstrate a less specific and less pro-active approach when putting reputation management into practice. After all, this research project informs academics about areas in reputation management that still require theoretical underpinning, whereas practitioners can gain unique insights into what the current reputation management practice looks like and how it could possibly be improved. Thus, the ultimate value of this study stems from providing a bridge which enables these two groups to learn from and move towards one another.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Navorsers het sedert die 1990s verskillende bydraes met betrekking tot die begrip, die reputasie van 'n maatskappy en die bestuur daarvan, gemaak (Fombrun, 2002a: x; Gotsi & Wilson, 2001: 99) Die groeiende belangstelling in hierdie onderwerp het tot 'n mate te doen met die bewuswording van heersende tendense in die sake-omgewing: toenemende globalisering; groei van die media; die publiek se aandrang op deursigtigheid en sosiale verantwoordelikheid; sowel as 'n stortvloed van korporatiewe krisisse. Tog, benewens die feit dat hierdie belangstelling tot die ongelukkige verbrokkeling van die studie-onderwerp op akademiese gebied lei, volg daar ook 'n gebrek aan praktiese kennis aangaande die aard, potensiaal en praktiese implikasies van hierdie nuwe bestuursgeskilpunt (Abratt, 2001: 368). Die doel van hierdie studie is om ondersoek in te stel na die veronderstelde gaping tussen die teorie en praktyk van reputasie-bestuur. Hierdie empiriese studie behels 'n voorlopige ondersoek na die hantering van 'n maatskappy se reputasie in die sake-wêreld. Dit fokus op die sake-omgewing in Duitsland en doen ondersoek na maatskappye se huidige opvattings oor korporatiewe reputasie sowel as die pogings wat deur maatskappye aangewend word om sodanige reputasie te bevorder en te beskerm. Die studie gebruik 'n kwalitatiewe ondersoekmetode in 'n poging om die bestuur van die korporatiewe reputasie in hierdie spesifieke sake-omgewing te ondersoek. Daar is gebruik gemaak van 'n aantal in-diepte onderhoude wat met 18 bestuurders van Duitse maatskappye gevoer is. Die bevindings van hierdie empiriese ondersoek dui aan hoe Duitse maatskappye die kwessie van maatskappy-reputasie, en die bestuur daarvan, begryp, na waarde skat, en benader. 'n Ontleding van die respondente se terugvoer lewer stawende getuienes dat, alhoewel hulle baie waarde heg aan die kwessie van reputasie, selfs met betrekking tot strategiese oorwegings, Duitse maatskappye 'n minder gedefinieerde en minder pro-aktiewe benadering volg sover dit die praktiese bestuur van reputasie betref. Ten slotte word bydraes gemaak ten opsigte van die akademiese kennis in die veld van reputasie-bestuur wat steeds mank gaan aan 'n teoretiese onderbou, terwyl die praktiese veld unieke insigte met betrekking tot huidige praktyke in reputasie-bestuur, en hoe dit verbeter kan word, bykry. Die uiteindelike waarde van die studie lê daarin dat dit kennis verskaf wat hierdie twee groepe bymekaar kan laat leer, en nader na mekaar kan laat beweeg.
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Correia, Zita da Conceicao Corderio Pereira. "Scanning the business environment for information : a grounded theory approach." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 1997. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/14714/.
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This thesis examines the scanning of the business environment for information by a sample of Portuguese chemical companies. Nineteen companies were studied and forty senior managers were interviewed during 1992. The methodology used coupled the multiple case study approach with the grounded theory method of qualitative analysis. The grounded theory proposed in this thesis comprises three main components: the categories, the principal relationships among them and the contextual factors that shape the categories and relationships. Variability among companies is explained by a few key relationships among these categories. Environmental scanning is the phenomenon under study and constitutes the core category, to which the other six categories that emerged out of the qualitative data analysis were related: perceived environmental change and strategic change, information consciousness and information climate, organizational outwardness and individual exposure to information. The relationships identified among these categories contribute to understanding how managerial perceptions of environmental change affect strategic change and also how internal factors of an organizational, as well as of an individual, nature influence the environmental scanning activity. From an internal perspective, the contextual factors include company history and culture; from an external perspective, those factors include the overall economic, social, cultural and political conditions that characterize modem Portugal and shape those organizations, to a certain extent. This research unravelled three main issues concerning the problematic of environmental scanning in Portuguese chemical companies: 1) The scanning focus and scanning mode used by managers are inappropriate to deal with the important discontinuities they perceive in their business environment; 2) The integration of environmental information with internally-generated information is achieved only at top level, by means of senior managers' ability to relate and integrate disparate data provided by the functional areas; 3) Organizational culture emerged as an important factor in the analysis of information issues within organizations. However, the fact that the three ''best'' companies have developed different sorts of information cultures suggests that there is not a "best" culture: different cultures may be required for different contexts.
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Zhang, Li. "Quality Management in the small business environment of South Africa." Thesis, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11838/1210.
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Dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
Master Technologiae: Quality
in the Faculty of Engineering
at the Cape Peninsula University of TechnologyBeginning in the United States in December 2007, and with much greater intensity since September 2008, much of the industrialised world is being subjected to an economic downturn, which manifests in unemployment, small-business lending, and in particular, the closing of small business enterprises, etc. Customer satisfaction, quality and retention are global issues that affect all organisations, no matter whether they are large or small, profit or non-profit, global or local. In a globally changing landscape characterised by continuous structural changes and enhanced competitive pressures, the role of small business in society has become even more important as providers of employment opportunities and key players for the well-being of local and regional communities. Under the current global worldwide economic crisis, small business is considered to be a major force behind the South Africa‟s economy. Regarding the implementation of quality, probably the most serious constraints a small firm has is that the manager is almost constantly under time pressure, usually dealing with the urgent staff and operational matters.Especially in very small companies, the manager usually has to cope with to all issues irrespective of their nature, in addition to day to day duties such as record keeper, inventory management and scheduling. Ironically, it is this type of small business that needs quality solutions because quality strategies do not from the basis of the traditional small business enterprises, thus impacting on the successful management of the business environment.
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Soulier, Laurent A. B. "Business strategy and the environment in a traditional manufacturing sector." Thesis, Aston University, 1999. http://publications.aston.ac.uk/10721/.
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This research is concerned with the relationship between business strategy and the environment within traditional sectors. It has sought to learn more about the strategic environmental attitudes of SMEs compared with large companies operating under the same market conditions. The sector studied is the ceramics industry (including tableware & ornamental-ware, sanitary ware & tiles, bricks, industrial & advanced ceramics and refractories) in the UK and France. Unlike the automotive, oil, chemical, steel or metal processing sectors, this industry is one of the few industrial sectors which has rarely been considered. The information on this sector was gathered by interviewing people responsible for environmental issues. The actual programme of valid interviews represents approximately a quarter of the UK and French ceramics industry which is large enough to enable a quantitative analysis and significant and non-biased conclusions. As a whole, all companies surveyed agreed that the ceramics activity impacts on the environment, and that they are increasingly affected both by environmental legislation, and by various non-legislative pressures. Approaches to the environmental agenda differ significantly among large and small companies. Smaller companies feel particularly pressed both by the financial costs and management time required to meet complex and changing legislation. The results of this survey also suggest that the ceramics industry sees environmental issues in terms of increased costs rather than new business opportunities. This is due principally to fears of import substitution from countries with lower environmental standards. Finally, replies indicate that generally there is a low level of awareness of the current legislative framework, suggesting a need to shift from a regulatory approach to a more self-regulated approach which encourages companies to be more proactive
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Fajinmi, Funlola Francesca. "Multinational Corporations' Return on Investment Optimization in Nigeria's Business Environment." ScholarWorks, 2016. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/2255.
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Trade between the United States and Africa decreased 32% from US$125 billion, in 2011, to US$85 billion, in 2013; however, MNCs from other regions have continued to increase investments in Africa. Multinational corporations (MNCs) generate most of their return on investment (ROI) from the Western world. Globalization, increasing middle classes in emerging markets, and decreasing population in the Western world have lead to unsustainable ROI. Nigeria, the most populous and largest economy in Africa and the 27th largest economy in the world, offers new opportunities with an annual growth rate forecast of 6% to 8%. Utilizing the diamond theory of competitive advantage of nations, this single case study was an exploration of the strategies that managers of MNCs have used to optimize Nigeria's higher ROI. Interview questions on new entry challenges, operational obstacles, and strategies to mitigate the challenges contributed to answering the overarching research question related to the strategies that managers of MNCs have used successfully to take advantage of Nigeria's high ROI. The participants were 5 executives at the Nigerian operation of a global technology conglomerate with presence in 166 countries. Data collection included a series of semistructured face-to-face interviews. Data analysis using modified van Kaam method resulted in 5 themes: business environment, effective entry strategies, challenges in Nigeria, mitigating challenges in Nigeria, and volatility of Nigerian market and mitigation strategies. Findings may contribute to ROI optimization and influence social change by providing more jobs, thereby increasing standard of living in Nigeria.
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Miah, Shah Jahan. "An Ontology Based Design Environment for Rural Business Decision Support." Thesis, Griffith University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/367948.
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Decision support systems (DSS) provide appropriate information for making effective
decisions relevant to business needs. DSS development technologies however, have
shown limited success in many problem areas, including rural business applications.
DSS developed for rural business decision makers have been limited by a range of
issues. These include low user uptake, retaining rigid analyses in the face of changing
industry needs, and the need for ongoing reengineering effort to incorporate new
information in the current system. User factors such as a limited fit with their specific
context of decision making problems, differences in problem definition between users
and designers, and poor usability, generally only compound this situation. Such issues
have led to the low adoption rate of DSS within the rural sector.
A review of the available literature reveals a significant gap in finding technical
solutions for these problems. While there are several approaches to developing DSS
including expert systems, model-based systems, hybrid systems and user-developed
systems, each has limitations. Expert systems do not support fully functional DSS
development and their well-known limitations include obsolescence and lack of context
sensitivity. Whilst model-based and hybrid decision systems may overcome some
limitations, they do not represent knowledge in forms that typical end users can
understand. On the other hand, while end-user developed applications reportedly
achieve higher user uptake, they suffer from local subjectivity, quality and business
alignment issues. End-user development is also often associated with risks including
data disarticulation, threats to data integrity and security, and the inability to
interoperate with other systems. From a practical viewpoint, current DSS development
approaches also fail to accommodate rapidly changing factors necessary for effective
decision making in rural businesses. These factors include external markets regulation
and legislation, and new scientific discoveries. Despite significant need for decision
support, no prior research has satisfactorily addressed these problems.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Griffith Business School
Griffith Business School
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Bryant, Molly E. "Physical Environments Conducive To Creativity and Collaboration Within the Work Environment." The Ohio State University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1338474660.
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Hackett, P. M. W. "Environmental and nature conservation : a facet study of concern for the quality of the natural environment." Thesis, Aston University, 1989. http://publications.aston.ac.uk/10915/.
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A multi-variate descriptive model of environmental and nature conservation attitudes and values is proposed and empirically supported. A mapping sentence is developed out of analysis of data from a series of Repertory Grid interviews addressing conservation employees' attitudes towards their profession's activities. The research is carried out within the meta-theoretical framework of Facet Theory. A mapping sentence is developed consisting of 9 facets. From the mapping sentence 3 questionnaires were constructed viewing the selective orientations towards environmental concern. A mapping sentence and facet model is developed for each study. Once the internal structure of this model had been established using Similarity Structure Analysis, the elements of the facets are subjected to Partial Order Scalogram Analysis with base coordinates. A questionnaire was statistically analysed to assess the relationship between facet elements and 4 measures of attitudes towards, and involvement with, conservation. This enabled the comparison of the relative strengths of attitudes associated with each facet element and each measure of conservation attitude. In general, the relationship between the social value of conservation and involvement pledges to conservation were monotonic; perceived importance of a conservation issue appearing predictive of personal involvement. Furthermore, the elements of the life area and scale facets were differentially related to attitude measures. The multi-variate descriptive model of environmental conservation values and attitudes is discussed in relation to its implications for psychological research into environmental concern and for environmental and nature conservation.
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Andersson, Pernilla. "The Responsible Business Person : Studies of business education for sustainability." Doctoral thesis, Södertörns högskola, Miljövetenskap, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-29400.
Full textAbstract:
Calls for the inclusion of sustainable development in the business curriculum have increased significantly in the wake of the financial crisis and increased concerns around climate change. This has led to the appearance of new initiatives and the development of new teaching approaches. This thesis explores business education at the upper secondary school level in Sweden following the inclusion of the concept of sustainable development in the curriculum. Drawing on poststructuralist discourse theory, the overarching purpose is to identify the roles of a responsible business person that are articulated in business education and to discuss how these roles could enable students to address sustainability issues. The thesis consists of four studies, based on textbook analyses, teacher interviews and classroom observations. Three categories of roles have been identified, implying that a business person is expected to either adapt to, add or create ethical values. These three categories are compared with the roles indicated in the environmental discourses constructed by Dryzek and the responsibility regimes developed by Pellizzoni. Drawing on Dryzek’s and Pellizzoni’s reasoning about which qualities are important for addressing sustainability issues, it is concluded that the roles identified in the studies could mean that students are unequipped (the adapting role), ill-equipped (the adding role) or better equipped (the creating role) to address uncertain and complex sustainability issues. The articles include empirical examples that illustrate how and in which situations specific roles are articulated, privileged or taken up. The examples also indicate how the scope for business students’ subjectivities are facilitated or hampered. It is suggested that the illustrative empirical examples could be used for critical reflection in order to enhance students’capabilities of addressing uncertain and complex sustainability issues and to improve educational quality in terms of scope for subjectivity.I kölvattnet av den finanskris som kulminerade 2008 och växande uppmärksamhet för olika miljö- och hållbarhetsutmaningar, som exempelvis klimatförändringar, har uppmaningar till integrering av ’hållbar utveckling’ i ekonomiutbildningar ökat internationellt. Miljö och hållbarhetsfrågor har sedan tidigare varit framskrivna i gymnasieskolans styrdokument men i samband med den senaste gymnasiereformen 2011 skrevs begreppet hållbar utveckling tydligare in i Företagsekonomiämnets ämnesplan. Denna avhandling undersöker integrering av hållbarhetsfrågor inom ramen för undervisning i företagsekonomi och närliggande ekonomiämnen på gymnasienivå. Utifrån ett poststrukturalistiskt perspektiv är det övergripande syftet att identifiera vilka företagarroller som artikuleras i läromedeloch undervisning, och även att diskutera i vilken utsträckning dessa roller förbereder de studerande, som framtida företagare, att hantera hållbarhetsfrågor. Avhandlingen består av fyra delstudier som baseras på analyser av läroböcker, lärarintervjuer och klassrumsobservationer. Tre kategorier av företagarroller, som rymmer olika förväntningar på en ansvarstagande företagare har identifierats. Dessa olika roller innebär att en företagare förväntas antingen: anpassa sig till etiska värden som uttrycks i lagar och regler, addera etiska värden som efterfrågas av andra, eller skapa etiska värden. Rollerna skiljer sig åt huruvida en företagare: skall hålla egna känslor för hållbarhetsfrågor åt sidan (anpassande rollen), har utrymme för egna känslor (adderande rollen) eller måste involvera egna känslor (skapande rollen), vid fattande av affärsbeslut. Dessa roller jämförs med de företagarroller som impliceras i Dryzeks miljödiskurser och Pellizzonis ansvarsregimer. Utifrån Dryzeks och Pellizzonis argument om vilka kvaliteter som är viktiga för att hantera hållbarhetsfrågor dras slutsatsen att de studerande kan bli: icke rustade (den anpassande rollen), illa rustade (den adderande rollen) eller bättre rustade (den skapande rollen), att hantera osäkra och komplexa hållbarhetsfrågor, beroende på hur hållbarhetsfrågor integreras i företagsekonomiundervisningen. De fyra artiklarna innehåller detaljerade exempel på hur och i vilka situationer specifika företagarroller artikuleras eller privilegieras. Exemplen visar också i vilka situationer utbildningen tilltalar de studerande och potentiellt blivande företagarna som moraliska subjekt och ger utrymme för de studerandes subjektivitet (som inbegriper förnuft och egna känslor).Dessa exempel kan användas av (bl a) lärare som utgångspunkt för kritisk reflektion i syfte att förstärka de studerandes förmågor att som framtida företagare hantera osäkra och komplexa hållbarhetsfrågor, samt för att utveckla utbildningens kvalitet avseende dess subjektifierande funktion.