Thèses sur le sujet « Success in business – Health aspects »

Small business managers often lack the leadership skills necessary to sustain their businesses beyond 5 years. The United States Small Business Administration reported that more than 65% of small business owners, including home health care agency managers, fail within the first 5 years of operation. Guided by Burns and Bass's transformational leadership theory, this multiple case study explored leadership skills that managers in home health care agencies need to sustain their new businesses beyond 5 years. The purposeful sample comprised of 3 managers from 3 different home health care agencies within a 75-mile radius of Baltimore, Maryland, that had demonstrated success in surviving past 5 years. Semistructured interviews, agencies' quality assurance plans and policies were reviewed, and procedural documents related to leadership skills were gathered as data. Yin's 5-step data analysis technique was used to identify key themes. Member checking enhanced the credibility of data interpretation. Themes that emerged from data analysis were business management, knowledge and performance, and transformational leadership. Study findings may contribute to positive social change by providing practical guidance to home health care managers, which may improve their agencies' viability and delivery of patient care. Business implications include the provision of long-term employment to workers and safety assurance to patients' families.

This survey collected information on aspects of health amongst an employed population, employees in 14 different organisations in the West Midlands Regional Health Authority; and was a stratified sample of senior managers, middle managers and operatives. Nine hundred and sixty questionnaires were distributed asking for both quantitative and qualitative information on 58 questions covering health, work, family, leisure activities and life-style. A response rate of 48% (459 returned questionnaires) came from 290 men (63%), 165 women (36%) and four people (1%) who did not answer the gender question. The initial findings from this study are unique in that there has not been a specific review of the health of people at work. In answer to the main research questions, 92% felt they were healthy. Compared to others of a similar age, 34% felt their health was `above average', 58% `average', and 7&37 `below average'. Thirty two percent of respondents had visited their GP in the past 1-2 months; the highest reason given was disorders of the respiratory system, 20%. People's perceptions on the effects of work on their health were: good effect, 13% fair effect, 20% no effect, 27% poor effect, 27% and bad effect, 7%. The effects of leisure activities on health were thought to be more positive: good effect, 46% fair effect, 20% no effect, 21% poor effect, 3% and bad effect, 2%. The perceptions of effects of life-style on health were considered to be: good effect, 32% fair effect, 32% no effect, 20% poor effect, 9% and bad effect, 1%. In this survey, leisure and life-style were seen by employees to have more beneficial effects on health than work. Future implications include a review of occupational health as a major policy development area within primary care. There is a need to influence the education and training of health care practitioners in order to affect their ability to practise effectively in this new and challenging area of work.

Conventional thought dictates that what cannot be measured, cannot be improved. In a quest for improved operational and financial performance, many project-based enterprises have developed numerous methods to measure success. Unfortunately, many of these methods appear to be neither applicable beyond the project boundary nor able to promote effective and proactive decision-making. As a potential remedy, a theoretical framework was developed using principles of Enterprise Engineering to create a performance measurement system for project-based organizations. Known as ARIES (Agile Resource Information and Execution System), the framework builds upon existing project and program management knowledge in order to provide a quantitative methodology for evaluating aspects of enterprise sustainability. By incorporating specific measures, the framework is also able to create a graphical depiction of the enterprises operational performance. To validate the framework, retrospective data were obtained from a successful Architecture and Engineering (A/E) firm that designs and oversees commercial building projects. Analysis of the data provided a picture of the frameworks immediate and long-term benefits for project-based enterprises. From this picture managers can make improved decisions regarding existing and future work, thereby positively impacting the operational performance of the enterprise and enabling it to remain viable over a considerable period of time.

The purpose of this study is to find the relationship between financial health in an ice hockey club and its sport success. The study answers the research question: How can financial health of Swedish ice hockey clubs be able to explain the sport success in the Swedish Hockey League? Based on the research question, the study uses the theory Benchmarking and a more specific benchmarking terminology called Financial benchmarking. The study selects eight financial variables in order to benchmark the icehockey clubs in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). A particular methodology within financial benchmarking, called Grey Relational Analysis (GRA), is used in order to determine the financial health of the clubs in relation to each other and therefore be able to rank the clubs based on each individual variable. The same financial variables, with the addition of four non-financial variables and exclusion of two financial variables, are used in a selected Logistic Regression model to explain how the variables contribute to the sport success of the clubs. The main conclusions which can be drawn from the study are as follows: The variables Net sales and Net profit are the two only variables which are statistically significant and are able to contribute to sport success. Secondly, the club HV71 is overall the club with the most optimal financial health in SHL, among the 12 clubs investigated. Lastly, accounting trends within this industry affects the financial outcome and further how it explained sport success. Trends such as a minimal or no amount of long-term liabilities is common among the clubs, where instead the total amount of liabilities mainly consists of current liabilities. It can be further concluded that profitability, revenue and equity are financial corner stones in a hockey club which participates in SHL.

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
Management Information Systems

The primary purpose for this study was to investigate small businesses organizational support and interest in health promotion. The research question for this study was, "Are small businesses actively involved with the organizational support of health promotion programs?"A survey was distributed via mail to small businesses in the Lynchburg, Virginia area, with a follow up three weeks later because an appropriate number of surveys had not been returned. The results of this study have provided insight into the current status of worksite wellness programs of businesses with fewer than 250 employees.Small businesses do actively support healthy food and smoking policies at the worksite. Some small businesses provided activities to measure employee health risks. The main issue small businesses deal with are safety/accident prevention. Other health topics are not prevalent in small businesses. Small businesses that had a health promotion program in place offered more programs and awareness materials than those who did not and are actively involved in the organizational support of health promotion programs.
Fisher Institute for Wellness

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration (Entrepreneurship)))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2015.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of business incubators on survivalist entrepreneurs in the Cape Metropolitan Area. The question that guides this research is: What is the impact of business incubators on survivalist entrepreneurs in the Cape Town Metropolitan Area? This study was conducted in the context of economic growth and development, considering addressing the following problems: small business failure and the unemployment rate in South Africa. Although entrepreneurship is of greater importance to the growth and development of an economy, not all entrepreneurs are presented with the same opportunities and resources as others. As opposed to formal businesses, informal small businesses are normally discriminated against in terms of support, which is offered to them to necessitate their growth. The contribution that they make towards economic growth and development is often seen as insignificant. They lack opportunities that are enjoyed by large businesses and they suffer from discriminating policies, which has resulted in suppressed growth of these business ventures.

South Africa is a country facing divisive social and economic challenges. It has a history that generated imbalances within the economy and requires urgent solutions to one of the most significant issues the country faces, having too few South Africans in work. Globally, a key solution to creating work has been to make small business the engine-room of economies. Consequently, the South African Government has identified the establishment of small businesses as a priority, which incorporates the development of collaborative forms of businesses in marginalised communities. The co-operative form of business and a strong co-operative movement is, therefore, a critical element of government’s initiative to create work and economic independence for South Africans. Governed by the seven International Labour Organization (ILO) principles, this form of business is often more complex than a typical firm, making the task of establishing and growing these entities particularly challenging. This study analyses the literature to gain an understanding of co-operative movements across the globe. It then looks at the specific challenges the movement faces in South Africa, followed by an analysis of best practice that a business should engage in its establishment and growth. Specifically, the literature examines whether there is a relationship between opportunity-related industry, market and entrepreneurial team aspects and improved business performance of business entities such as co-operatives. The study collates data from co-operatives in the South African economy using two separate methodologies. Firstly, a structured interview was used to acquire information on the opportunity-related aspects. Secondly, business transactions were recorded and basic financial statements were produced for each co-operative, enabling a rating on business performance. The primary data was then analysed within Chapter 6, to investigate the strength of the relationship between opportunity-related aspects and business performance. The findings extracted from the primary data reinforced certain facts within the body of knowledge as it relates to the relationship between opportunity-related aspects and business performance, but there were also some interesting new insights that were extracted from the data. The South African co-operative movement has achieved certain success and momentum as well as experiencing certain failures, and the study clearly highlights both, and makes recommendations to improve the movements and government’s efforts to establish a vibrant and meaningful co-operative sector.

The world needs entrepreneurs now more than ever; fresh thinkers, who spot opportunities and apply their talents to overcome obstacles to make their ideas happen. Entrepreneurs need to reframe the recession as an area of business opportunity for all. They must unleash their innovative ideas around the world and inspire solutions that will tackle issues ranging from poverty, unemployment and climatic change. It is the fundamental precept of the Christian faith that God calls not only ministers and other spiritual workers, but everyone to specific roles in his kingdom. Christian Entrepreneurs must realise that their calling to establish and lead business organisations that are designed to achieve results in the secular world. Christian Entrepreneur Organisations differ from secular businesses because they do business while being led by the Holy Spirit. Christian Entrepreneurship is the return of unfulfilled business leaders to the sense of "calling" enjoyed by fellow laity in the U.S.A. and Western Europe prior to the 20th Century. The goal is to develop a business that blends business excellence and entrepreneurship with Christian Biblical and theological perspectives. This exploratory study investigated the role of the Christian faith in Entrepreneurship and in Entrepreneurial businesses. The study identified some of the Christian business practices and introduced the reader to the different approaches this group of entrepreneurs have to that of the secular business equivalent.

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are a new health care reform initiative that has been highlighted as one of the most important organizational structures that could lead to quality improvements and cost savings in the United States through shared savings. The inability of health care managers to successfully implement ACOs could result in financial losses, reduced patient access to health care, and poor patient outcomes. Grounded by von Bertanlaffy's general systems theory, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the system change strategies health care managers used to implement an ACO to meet ACO quality and cost standards. Health care managers from Arizona, New York, and Wisconsin who successfully implemented ACO system change strategies in their organizations comprised the population for this study. Data were collected through face-to-face semistructured interviews with 9 health care managers. Data were analyzed using methodological triangulation, thematic analysis, and Yin's 5 analytic techniques to identify patterns and themes. Three main themes resulted from the data analysis and included leaders with system change strategies improved successful ACO implementation, leaders who implemented health information technology improved successful ACO implementation, and leaders with care management system change strategies improved successful ACO implementation. The application of the findings from this study may contribute to positive social change because health care managers may use these system change strategies to successfully implement ACOs to improve patient care and access and reduce the financial burden of health care costs throughout the United States.

Student nurse athletes may experience difficulties effectively obtaining academic success in nursing programs. Many athletes need extra support and assistance to complete a nursing degree. Some institutions provide general academic courses to enhance the athlete’s academic skills and knowledge. There is limited literature addressing success of student athletes in Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs. The purpose of this study was to identify facilitators, barriers, and motivators of student nurse athletes that attribute to academic success. A quantitative descriptive comparative study was conducted from September 8, 2014 to October 3, 2014. Data were obtained on sixty-one participants that included athlete and non-athlete nursing students. All participants completed the Demographic-Socio-Economic Questionnaire and the Facilitators/ Barriers Questionnaire. In addition, the athletes (n=18) also completed the Motivational Questionnaire. Results indicated that both groups ranked academics as requiring the highest demand of time. In second rank were athletics (athletes) and family (non-athletes). Both groups ranked time management as first and prioritization second as being critical to academic success. Student athletes identified facilitators as support with time management and prioritization. Barriers were schedule conflicts between classes and clinical days. Motivators were the needs to successfully complete academic and athletic related tasks. This study reinforced the importance of academic support services for student nurse athletes to assist in their academic success. These services can provide time management and prioritization skills which are facilitators needed to assist the student in managing the unique characteristics of being a successful student nurse athlete.

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
Marketing

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study examines the different components of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) based on the classification of the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory evaluation and the importance of Emotional intelligence in the working environment. It also suggests ways of improving one's EO by different exercises. The five main categories are Intrapersonal qualities, Interpersonal Skills, Adaptability, Stress Management and General Mood. The first component consists of Emotional Self-awareness, Assertiveness, Independence, Selfesteem and Self-actualisation; the second component consists of Empathy, Social Responsibility and Interpersonal Relationships; the third component consists of Problem-solving, Reality-testing and Flexibility; the fourth component consists of Stress Tolerance and Impulse Control and the final component consists of Happiness and Optimism. The above-mentioned components of EO are seen as the building blocks of reaching success in life by many people around the world. Many research shows that emotional intelligence is the new yardstick used to evaluate people's potential. People need to know themselves, their inner fears, strenqths, weaknesses and understand why they have these different feelings. Then only can they begin to really understand others and interact in a meaningful relationship, whether social, business or personal. How one feels have a direct impact on how one performs. The good news is that EQ can be learned and improved by anyone who is willing to learn. Some research suggests that it is or can be more powerful than the Intelligence Quotient (IQ). This study can be seen as a guideline to improve one's EQ and helping to understand the relationships with others and how to be successful.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doelwit van die studie is om die verskillende komponente van Emosionele Intelligensie (EI), of Emosionele Kwosiënt (EK), te ondersoek wat op die Bar-On Emosionele Intelligensie Vraelys gebaseer is, as ook die belang van EI in die werkomgewing. Daar word ook verwys na verskillende oefeninge om EI te ontwikkel. Die vyf hoofafdelings is: Intrapersoonlike vaardighede, Interpersoonlike vaardighede, Aanpasbaarheid, Streshantering en Algemene gemoedstoestand. Intrapersoonlike vaardighede word verder verdeel in Emosionele selfbewustheid, Selfhandhawing, Onafhanklikheid, Selfbeeld en Selfverwesenliking. Interpersoonlike vaardighede bestaan uit Empatie, Sosiale verantwoordelikheid en Interpersoonlike verhoudings. Aanpasbaarheid bestaan uit Probleemoplossing, Werklikheidstoetsing en Aanpasbaarheid. Streshantering word verdeel in Strestoleransie en Impulsbeheer. Die laaste afdeling, Algemene gemoedstoestand, bestaan uit Geluk en Optimisme. Die bogenoemde komponente van EI word algemeen gesien as die boustene vir 'n suksesvolle toekoms. Baie navorsing het getoon dat EI die nuwe maatstaf is om die mens se vermoëns te meet. Elke persoon moet bewus wees van sy eie vrese, sterk en swakpunte en verstaan waarom daardie emosies ervaar word, en slegs dan kan betekenisvolle sosiale, persoonlike of werkverhoudings suksesvol ontwikkel word. 'n Persoon se emosies het 'n direkte impak op sy prestasievermoë. Die goeie nuus is dat EI aangeleer en verbeter kan word. Sekere navorsing dui daarop dat EI belangriker is as die Intellektuele Kwosiënt (IK). Hierdie studie kan gesien word as 'n riglyn om EI te bevorder, om insig te gee in die verhoudings met ander persone, en hoe om beter te presteer.

The Republic of South Africa (RSA) became a democracy when the African National Congress (ANC) came to power in 1994. However, more than twenty years after the apartheid era, the people of the RSA are highly politicised and society still shows an extremely high level of inequality in income that is aggravated by the lack of formal job opportunities in the country. Disturbingly, early-stage entrepreneurial activity in the RSA declined from 7.8 percent in 2008 to 5 percent in 2009. As a result, the low levels of entrepreneurial activity are partly responsible for the stagnation in the structural transformation of the economy. The economy remains dependent on sectors such as agriculture and mining where looting, instability, violence and rent-seeking are endemic in spite of plentiful natural resources. As a consequence of these factors, manufacturing is becoming increasingly uncompetitive and the economy is becoming increasingly less innovative. The RSA‟s government leaders should have used the strengths of the country to minimise or rectify the weaknesses of the extremely high levels of inequality in income and the lack of formal job opportunities. Instead, these leaders identified their supporters, satisfied their short-term consumption demands, distributed jobs to the party faithful and provided social welfare to the poor. Additionally, the majority of school leavers are not pursuing tertiary studies but, with limited or little education, they still have to form part of the potential labour force of the future. The youth employment rate for 15 to 24 year-olds, in the RSA, is as low as 12.5 percent. Again, this highlights the importance of finding alternative ways to increase the population‟s participation in the economy, probably through some form of entrepreneurship. The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretical model with the main objective being to identify the factors (variables) that will promote growth, sustainability and good governance in Christian-owned Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMME) within the RSA. Business is commonly viewed as a secular pursuit and religious people, particularly in Western societies, have a narrow view of the conceptual and practical application of their faith and spirituality in their businesses. As a result, the potential of businesses to influence communities, particularly with regard to issues such as social iniquities and cultural reform, good governance, responsible business behaviour, social capital, spiritual intelligence (SQ) and Christian entrepreneurship orientation appear to be, at worst, more or less irrelevant and, at best, greatly under-valued and under-utilised. The intersection of these constructs provides an understanding of how an entrepreneur‟s heightened consciousness in terms of his/her personal values and beliefs can affect his or her business activities and crucial characteristics of the entrepreneurial process, such as the recognition of opportunities, the creation of new ventures, as well as the operation and growth of these business ventures. This study uncovered a number of themes that shed light on how Christian SMME owner-managers rationalise the everyday dealings of their business lives as an expression of their faith. This study is an expression of a complex phenomenon that is extremely relevant in the present day and sharpens the focus on the important role that religious faith has to play in the field of business outcomes. Many Christian entrepreneurs express a motivational need to give back to their communities, customers and other stakeholders of the business venture. Christian entrepreneurs value intrinsic factors like purpose, passionate work and personal calling above wealth, fame, power, money, and recognition. A combination of Christian character traits forms the backbone of a Christian‟s internal power and purpose. God created people to glorify Him and this purpose is achieved through the fulfilling of a personal calling. A calling is often accompanied by a conviction of divine influence and the vocation in which one customarily engages. The call to the Christian entrepreneur is to be the salt and light in an environment (Mathew 5:13) like RSA, that is not conducive to entrepreneurial behaviour, where unemployment is very high, infrastructure is buckling under the pressures of bad management and corruption is rife.

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2015.
The necessary skills and knowledge on how to open and manage a business can be mastered but the uncertainties during decision-making, as well as the risks, obstacles and barriers present in the business environment can change established ways of conducting a business. However, identifying the causes of such uncertainties, risks and obstacles is essential as it may reduce the probability of failure in the future, and supports effective policy-making. The purpose of this thesis was to examine the factors contributing to the failure of small enterprises in the Luanda province in Angola, with three specific objectives: to assess the critical management and financial factors; to examine the effect of market competition; and to assess the factors in the economic conditions associated with the causes of small business failures. Recommendations made to government could mitigate the high number of business failures. Similar studies were conducted in countries other than Angola. As alarmingly high rates of business failure exist in Angola, this study sought to examine the factors associated with such failures. This research was conducted under a positivism theoretical perspective and a quantitative research method was adopted. A questionnaire was the primary data collection instrument and the snowball sampling technique was employed. Questionnaires were distributed to 130 small business owners and managers who had experienced business failures and 108 questionnaires were collected. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used to analyse the quantitative data which was collected. Results were statistically descriptive in nature and presented in tables, pie charts, and bar charts. The results indicated that critical factors which influenced the failure of small enterprises in Angola were: small business owners and managers lacked knowledge of business systems; small business owners and managers lacked financial accounting skills; and negligence by small business owners and managers in planning and controlling business resources. This indicates that institutions do not actively promote entrepreneurship knowledge and skills development and there is an absence of successful entrepreneur role models and business mentors or coaches for entrepreneurial capacity-building. Among others factors influencing business failure in Viana, this study identified a lack of economic support and availability of fundamental business resources such as raw material, skilled people and finance, rigid policy-making regulations, and a high level of corruption and theft in the country, to the extent that the small business may lack money and is unable to continue operations.The study recommends that since most small businesses operate on a basis of sole decision-making, it is important that the entrepreneur/manager should make a concerted effort to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills in management and finance systems, primarily to start a business or as needed, so that risk and probability of failure can be reduced. Policy-making should consider support structures for entrepreneurial capacity building, increase the production of primary products and raw material, provide entrepreneurial training and skills development (higher education), and develop mechanisms to allow easy access to information, reduce trading restrictions and reduce crime.

Business Intelligence (BI) har blivit en stor byggsten för många företag och en viktig aspekt är att det implementeras rätt så att beslutsfattare kan ta del av data för att fatta faktabaserade beslut. Detta data behöver beslutsfattare och övriga i ledningen ha tillgång till och kunna förstå det utan problem. Ett sätt att undvika problematiken med data är att visualisera det i form av grafer för att ge en överblick och förenkla analysuppgiften i en dashboard. Att skapa dessa dashboards har genom tidigare forskning visat sig vara problematiskt genom att lösningen i slutet inte bidrar med den analytiska förmåga som önskas. För att kunna dra nytta av en dashboard krävs det att de skapas på ett korrekt sätt avseende användning och analysförmåga. Detta leder till att denna studie kommer besvara frågan: Vilka framgångsfaktorer finns för att framgångsrikt driva ett BI-projekt sett från en dashboardutvecklares perspektiv? För att undersöka problemet kommer en litteraturanalys utföras tillsammans med en fallstudie med intervjuer baserade på det som kommer från litteraturanalysen. Intervjun kommer undersöka vad frontend-utvecklare identifierar för framgångsfaktorer med implementation av dashboards. Resultatet som kom fram från studien och med hjälp av det insamlade materialet och utförd analys är en modell över de framgångsfaktorer som påverkar ett dashboard projekt. Resultatet framkom genom att analysera alla respondenters svar för att identifiera återkommande fraser och ord respondenterna nämnde. Dessa fraser och ord sammanställdes till en tabell som senare ledde vidare till den slutgiltiga resultat modellen.
Business Intelligence (BI) has become a more important building block for many companies and an important aspect is that it is implemented correctly so that decision makers can make decisions based on facts rather than intuition. This data is needed for decision makers and other people in the management team and also be able to understand this data without any bigger issues. One way to avoid issues with the understanding of data is to visualize it into graphs to give a fast overview and to simplify analysis of data in a dashboard. To create said dashboards has been identified by earlies research to be problematic in the sense of the solution not contributing to the analytic capability that are desired. To be able to get any sort of benefit from the dashboard it is necessary that it is built correctly with usage and analysis in mind. This leads to the question that this study aims to answer: Which success factors contributes to successfully manage a BI-project as seen from a dashboard developers point of view? To investigate the issue a literature analysis together with a case study making use of interviews based on what is gathered from the literature analysis. The interviews will investigate the factors that dashboard developers has experienced themselves whilst implementing dashboards. The result from the study and with help from the data gathered via the interview and the analysis process a model could be formed showing the success factors that has an effect on dashboard oriented projects. The result came through by analyzing all of the answers from the respondents to identify reoccurring phrases and words that they mentioned. These phrases and words were put together into a table which eventually led to the finalized model.

Abstract Swedish start-ups seem to efficiently develop new products and services but less successful when it comes to taking them to the market and launching them globally. This research aims to address this gap through investigating Swedish start-ups. In light of this problem, the author argues that there is a need for increasing knowledge regarding the financial success factors and challenges facing Swedish start-ups in the go-to-market phase. The research question is thus: What are the significant challenges and success factors affecting the financing of Swedish start-ups during the go-to-market phase? Four major challenges facing start-ups during the go-to-market phase are identified. These are lack ofsufficient capital,lack of support from the banking sector, lack of support from the regional public leveland, finally, regulations and legal issues. On the other hand, four success factors have been identified, which are support from private investors, shared financial private/public risk, efficient internal operationsand non-traditional financing methods. In order to facilitate the go-to-market financing, it is recommended that start-ups be established in a business incubator environment in order to have access to investor networks and other financial support. Besides, having investors with financial experience in the start-up boards increases the chances of success in the go-to-market phase. The banking sector in Sweden should also play a bigger role in the strategic issues in order to accelerate the start-up’s growth. For further studies, more knowledge regarding the underlying motivations of private capitalists, public funders and loan lenders is desirable. Furthermore, the business incubator’s role in facilitating the financing of start-ups and understanding how start-ups in different sectors should act to increase the rate of success are two important areas for future studies.  Keywords: start-ups, go-to-market, financing, growth, early growth, success factors

The European health care is facing challenges with an increasing ageing population, with a higher frequency of chronic diseases, which have resulted in rising health care costs. Meanwhile, the trend shows how patients and citizens are becoming more active in their personal health care, with the number of existing doctors and nurses subsiding furthermore entailing problems. The area of eHealth, which involves information and communication technologies with health care, is hence seen as a partial long-term solution and is considered being a rapidly growing market both in Sweden, but also in Europe. eHealth services further consider to promote increased access, mobility and interoperability in the health care, but the lack of wholehearted commitment, financial support and complex EHR-systems in Sweden's municipalities and county councils might partially impeding down the development. The purpose of this report is therefore targeting to explore, identify and analyze prominent aspects for the continued development of the Swedish health care and eHealth services. The study also examines what subsequent benefits an implementation of an eHealth service entails, which also has been related to the identified prominent aspects. This master thesis is based on a thorough literature review extracted from a theoretical framework including an interoperability-, security-, mobility- and business-modeling perspective, which are used as a foundation for the building of a set of hypotheses, which are subsequently verified with the aid of gathered empirics. The empirics are obtained from 10 semi-structured qualitative interviews, as well as two case studies, which together resulted in key-findings and conclusions. Firstly, in relation to the interoperability perspective, it became clear how there should exist both a technical and social interoperability that communicate with each other. The EHR-systems of today are often considered difficult to learn, non-intuitive and lacking interfaces that are user-friendly designed for the end-user. Increased interoperability was also seen as enabling and simplifying the access to the patient’s medical history, which the EHR-system TakeCare evidently demonstrated. Furthermore, it was acknowledged how there is no correlation between the increased time spent by health care professionals with administrative tasks and documentation with an increased interoperability. It also emerged that patients and the dominant part of the population had either no or very limited knowledge regarding the underlying security and overall management of personal health information in health care. Patients instead often blindly trust the Swedish health care system being secure, and prioritizing other things during medical appointments. The knowledge of security issues in the health care is predicted to increase among patients if they in the future would obtain full access to their own medical records. There is also a general opinion among health care professionals and related instances how new security risks will arise alongside the eHealth wave, with a particular concern for the increasing involvement of mobile devices. Relationships between an increased interoperability also seem to favor increased mobility in health care, but security aspects often prevent the mobility development. Finally, it was unanimously espoused how non-financial values must not be ignored, where the on-going debate argues whether what real impact these non-financial values have, where inter alia strict budgets and large gaps between the decision-makers and end-users appeared as issues. Similar arguments were encountered regarding the actual impact of the opinions of patients in relation to business modeling, where a tripartite-problem and the patients’ limited access to their medical records was partly seen as a primary issue. Secondly, the case studies demonstrated how a transition to the EHR-system TakeCare generally did result in cost- and resource savings in terms of local servers, IT-maintenance and inventory management. The TakeCare implementation also led to an increased visibility among health care centers by enabling and simplifying the access to patient medical history. Increased communication, awareness, and more effective internal processes due to integrated modules and direct connections to ePrescriptions could also be accessed from the TakeCare transition. Finally, it emerged that relations existed between simplified access to the patient’s medical history and how it subsequently resulted in an increased interoperability. A correlation was also seen as the health care become generally more mobile due to increased interoperability.
Hälso- och sjukvården i Europa står inför utmaningar i och med en stigande åldersgrupp med en större andel kroniska sjukdomar, vilket resulterat i stegrande sjukvårdskostnader. Samtidigt ses en trend i hur patienter och medborgare börjar bli mer aktiva i sin egen vård och efterfrågan på sjukvårdspersonal ökar, med ökande utmaningar som följd. eHälsa-området, vilket involverar informations- och kommunikationsteknik inom sjukvården, ses därför som en potentiell långsiktig del-lösning och anses samtidigt vara ett starkt växande område i Sverige, men också på den övriga europeiska marknaden. eHälsa betraktas vidare främja en ökad åtkomst, mobilitet och interoperabilitet inom sjukvården, men bristen på helhjärtat engagemang, finansiellt stöd och det stora antal komplexa journalsystem i Sveriges olika kommuner och landsting ses delvis ligga till grund för en bromsad utveckling. Syftet med denna rapport är därför att undersöka, kartlägga och analysera de mest centrala aspekterna för den fortsatta utvecklingen av svensk sjukvård och eHälso-tjänster. Studien undersöker även vad implement av en eHälso-tjänst praktiskt har medfört, med ett fokus på journalsystem där de enskilda förändringarna även har relaterats till de identifierade centrala aspekterna. Examensarbetet är baserat på en gedigen litteraturstudie som utifrån ett teoretiskt ramverk inkluderande ett interoperabilitets-, säkerhets-, mobilitets- och affärsmoduleringsperspektiv ligger till grund för framtagandet av hypoteser som sedan verifierats med hjälp av empiriskt insamlad information. Empirin är erhållen från tio semi-strukturerande kvalitativa intervjuer, samt två fallstudier, vilka tillsammans har resulterat i ett flertal slutsatser. Utifrån ett interoperabilitetsperspektiv framgick det hur det bör finnas både en teknisk och social interoperabilitet som kommunicerar med varandra, då journalsystem idag anses vara svåra att lära sig, icke intuitiva och ej användarvänligt utformade för slutanvändaren. Ökad interoperabilitet ses även möjliggöra och förenkla åtkomsten av patienthistorik, vilket journalsystemet TakeCare tydligt påvisat. Vidare kunde det konstateras att det inte finns en korrelation mellan den progressivt ökande avsatta tiden som sjukvårdspersonal idag tillbringar med administrativa uppgifter och dokumentation med en förhöjd interoperabilitet. Det framkom även att patienter har väldigt liten eller obefintlig kunskap rörande den underliggande säkerheten och hanteringen av personlig information i sjukvården, då de ofta blint litar på att svensk sjukvård anses vara säker samt att patienter prioriterar annat vid läkarbesök. Kunskaper om säkerheten i sjukvården bland patienterna anses dock öka ifall de i framtiden får tillgång till sin journal. Det finns även en allmän oro bland sjukvårdspersonal och närbesläktade instanser för att nya säkerhetsrisker kommer att uppstå i och med eHälsa-vågen, med ett särskilt orosmoln för den ökande användningen av mobila enheter. Relationer mellan hur ökad interoperabilitet även gynnar förhöjd mobilitet sågs även förekomma, men att det ofta samtidigt är säkerhetsaspekter som hindrar den mobila utvecklingen. Avslutningsvis förespråkades det hur icke-finansiella värden inte får bli ignorerade, men problemet kring hur verkningsfull dess faktiska påverkan är, relateras bland annat till strikta budgetar samt stora avstånd mellan beslutstagare och slutanvändare. Liknande argument påträffades angående den faktiska inverkan av åsikter från patienter vid affärsmodulering, där ett trepartsproblem och patienternas begränsade åtkomst till sina journaler delvis sågs ligga till grund. Fallstudierna påvisade hur övergången till journalsystemet TakeCare generellt har lett till resursbesparingar i form av lokala servrars underhåll och lageranvändning, samt en ökad synlighet i vården med förbättrad tillgång till patienthistorik jämfört med tidigare journalsystem. En ökad kommunikation och medvetenhet samt effektivare interna processer på grund av integrerade moduler och direktkoppling till eRecept kunde även påvisas. Slutligen framgick det att relationer förekom mellan den ökande åtkomsten av patienthistorik och andra journaler, och hur förhöjd interoperabilitet medfört detta. Samband kunde även ses hur ökad interoperabilitet positivt gynnar mobiliteten i sjukvården.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research report examines stock market reactions to sudden changes in investor mood. The motivation for the study is the large volume of psychology and finance research showing that investor mood is affected by various non-economic or economically-neutral phenomena. Previous research has provided strong evidence of a link between the outcome of international sporting results, particularly soccer, and investor mood. This report examines the impact of South Africa's national soccer, rugby and cricket teams' performances in international matches on returns on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Match results constitute a mood proxy variable hypothesised to affect stock returns through its influence on investor mood. The unconditional mean return on the JSE All Share index for a 13 ½ year period from September 1995 to February 2009 was compared to the mean return after wins, draws and losses by the national sport teams. An event study approach was followed and four different statistical tests were conducted in order to test for a relationship. The results of the tests indicate the existence of a moderate win effect, with mean returns after wins being statistically significantly higher for all sports combined, cricket and soccer. The report concludes that there is some evidence of a relationship between sporting success and stock returns.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie navorsingsverslag ondersoek die reaksie van die aandelebeurs op skielike veranderings in beleggersentiment. Die motivering vir die studie is die aansienlike volume sielkundige en finansiële navorsing wat toon dat beleggersentiment beïnvloed word deur verskeie nie-ekonomiese of ekonomies-neutrale verskynsels. Vorige navorsing het sterk getuienis verskaf van 'n verband tussen die uitkoms van internasionale sportresultate, veral sokker, en beleggersentiment. Hierdie verslag ondersoek die impak van Suid Afrika se nasionale sokker-, rugby- en krieketspanne se prestasies in internasionale wedstryde op opbrengste op die Johannesburg Effektebeurs (JEB). Wedstryduitslae verteenwoordig 'n sentimentsveranderlike met die hipotese dat dit aandeeloprengste sal beïnvloed deur die uitslae se invloed op beleggersentiment. Die onvoorwaardelike gemiddelde oprengs op die JEB All Aandele-index vir 'n 13 ½ jaar periode van September 1995 to Februarie 2009 is vergelyk met die gemiddelde oprengs na oorwinings, nederlae en gelykopuitslae van die drie nasionale spanne. 'n Gebeurtenisstudie-benadering is gevolg en vier verskillende statistiese toetse is uitgevoer om te toets vir 'n verband. Die resultate van die toetse dui op die bestaan van 'n matige oorwiningseffek met gemiddelde oprengste na oorwinnings wat statisties wesenlik hoër is vir alle sportsoorte gekombineerd, krieket en sokker. Die verslag kom tot die gevolgtrekking dat daar wel getuienis is van 'n verband tussen sportsuksesse en aandeeloprengste.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011.
This study was conducted to investigate on what basis hospitals in Ontario could justify the capital and resource requirements needed to implement green initiatives. The study used two theoretical references as the basis for the literature review as well as for the interpretation of the results. The one reference used was a report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) in 2009, that addressed the responsibility of hospitals towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The second reference looked at a theoretical model that discussed four potential competitive environmental strategies that businesses can use to differentiate themselves based on green initiatives. The literature review more specifically discussed the seven opportunities that were identified by the WHO and HCWH that hospitals can use to reduce their carbon footprint. These were: (1) energy efficiency; (2) built environment; (3) alternative energy; (4) transportation; (5) waste; (6) water; and (7) food. Each opportunity was discussed in detail and was evaluated in both a competitive and non-competitive environment. In addition, each opportunity was evaluated in light of its ability to be used in one of the competitive environmental sustainability strategies. In order to assess what the regulatory pressures are on Ontario hospitals, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act was evaluated. No major environmental legislative pressures on hospitals could be identified. Another important part of the literature review was the evaluation of the funding model for Ontario hospitals. It was seen, that hospitals in Ontario received around 85 percent of their funding from the Ontario government and that hospitals and the ministry are both under financial pressure. This is an important indicator that funding to hospitals is very restricted. The research data for this study was obtained through a survey that was conducted among hospital representatives who have already implemented some form of green initiatives. The results from 33 questionnaires indicated that hospitals primarily implemented green initiatives to obtain cost savings. In this regard, an eco-efficiency strategy would be a logical competitive strategy for Ontario hospitals to follow. This is a clear indication that green initiatives are seen more as a cost reduction tool than a direct attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Projects that are quick to implement, require low capital and have a quick payback, are favoured. The areas on which hospitals have focused, were energy efficiency, waste management and water savings. In general, it seems that most green initiative projects were still in an immature stage. Further results also showed that hospitals had no opportunity to increase revenue by making use of the benefits of green initiative projects. The research concluded that the only basis on which Ontario hospitals could justify the capital and resource required to implement green initiatives, were on a cost savings basis. This report concludes with a discussion on the use of certain competitive strategies in a non-competitive environment before recommendations are made on how to improve the current situation. The study concludes with shortcomings of this study and recommendations on further research to be done.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2001.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Daily more than 300 000 health care workers in South Africa are to a lesser or greater extent exposed to the risk of deadly viruses which can be transferred through neediestick injuries. It is estimated that currently 9,8 million people in South Africa are HIV positive. This high incidence of HIV has a great impact on the danger of infection from neediestick injuries. It is estimated that 44 000 neediestick injuries takes place annually in South Africa. Despite such a high risk there are currently few safety regulations or official efforts to prevent or determine the true impact and incidence of needlesticks in South Africa. This study project investigated the number of neediestick injuries that could potentially be prevented by the use of needles with safety features and estimated the ranges of benefits and costs of using such safety devices. With the financial constraints that are imposed on South African hospitals, infection control through the use of safety syringes makes economic sense. Prevention of infections is clearly far cheaper than cure.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Daagliks word meer as 300 000 gesondheids personeel in Suid Afrika in 'n mindere of meerdere mate blootgestel aan die risiko van lewens gevaarlike viruse wat deur middel van naaldprik ongelukke oorgedra kan word. Hierdie risiko word spesifiek in Suid Afrika verhoog deur die hoë insidensie van HIV. Dit word beraam dat daar tans 9,8 miljoen mense in Suid Afrika is wat HIV positief is. Daar word beraam dat daar tans 44 000 naaldprik ongelukke per jaar in Suid Afrika plaasvind. Ten spyte van die hierdie hoë risko is daar tans min veiligheids regulasies of amptelike pogings om die omvang en voorkoming van naaldprik insidente te bepaal nie. Hierdie studie het die getal naaldprikke wat voorkom kan word deur die gebruik van veiligheids inspuitnaalde ondersoek en het die voordele en kostes van sulke veiligheidsmaatreëls beraam. Gegewe die finasiële druk wat ons tans in Suid Afrikaanse hospitale ondervind, is bewys dat die gebruik van veiligheids inspuitnaalde ekonomiese sin maak. Voorkoming op hierdie manier is bewys as 'n ver goedkoper opsie as nasorg.

Thesis (MTech (Retail Business Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016.
Small Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) play a vital role in employment creation and economic growth. As South Africa experiences population growth, so does the township small business industry. Township refers to those areas that were previously reserved for Blacks, Coloured and Indians under the discriminatory apartheid government. The characteristics of these areas included the following: poor infrastructure, high crime, low income and generally exclusion from mainstream economic activities According to the top three liquor manufacturers and brand distributors that claim about 80% of the total market share by volume and revenue (South African Breweries, Distell and Brandhouse Beverages) the township market makes the largest contribution to their business revenue. These giants are recording growth every year, but the development, growth, sustainability and success of the township liquor retail market is static and unsatisfactory. How township liquor retailers can achieve sustainable growth is not yet clear. The significant contribution made by the industry to the economy and job creation has been recognised by industry role players at large. The Department of Trade and Industries (DTI) has also expressed its commitment to supporting this industry as one that shows potential for growth and sustainability. This particular sector needs assistance to improve the success and sustainability of township liquor retailing, especially with the creation of employment opportunities. The objective of this study, then, is to develop an industry specific framework that identifies and addresses the critical success factors (CSFs) for township liquor retailing. The study is based on qualitative interviews carried out with industry experts (as an exploratory study) and liquor retailers from two of Cape Town’s townships, namely Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain.

Business Intelligence (BI) handlar huvudsakligen om att samla in, analysera och konvertera data till värdefull information som sedan används av beslutstagare för att vidareutveckla och optimera verksamheten (Negash, 2004). Utvinning av positiva effekter till följd av BI-implementering är dock inte något som organisationer kan eller bör ta för givet. Tidigare forskning påvisar att ett stort antal organisationer upplever svårigheter att utvinna nytta ur BI-initiativ och att satsningar på BI därmed ofta betraktas som ett misslyckande (Chenoweth, Corral & Demirkan, 2006). Baserat på tidigare forskning bedöms frekvensen av misslyckade BI-projekt vidare ligga någonstans kring 50-80% av alla BI-satsningar (Meehaan, 2011; Legodi & Barry, 2010). I dagsläget finns begränsad forskning om faktorer som påverkar BI-implementeringars framgång på grund av att utvecklingen av BI främst drivits av IT- industrin och dess leverantörer (Yeoh & Koronios, 2010). Detta pekar enligt oss på att det finns en diskrepans mellan forskning och praktik. Vår förhoppning är således att vår studie kan fylla denna kunskapslucka genom att presentera nya empiriska insikter kopplat till framgångsfaktorer för implementering av BI hos svenska organisationer, med hjälp av en vetenskaplig förankring.
Business Intelligence (BI) mainly concerns collecting, analyzing and converting data into valuable information that is then used by decision makers to further develop and optimize the business (Negash, 2004). However, the extraction of positive effects as a result of BI implementation is not something organizations can or should take for granted. Previous research shows that a large number of organizations find it difficult to derive benefits from BI initiatives and that investments in BI are often regarded as failures (Chenoweth, Corral & Demirkan, 2006). Furthermore, the frequency of failed BI projects is assessed to be somewhere around 50-80% of all BI initiatives (Meehaan, 2011; Legodi & Barry, 2010). There is currently limited research on factors that affect the success of BI implementations due to the fact that the development of BI has been mainly driven by the IT industry and its suppliers (Yeoh & Koronios, 2010). This leads us to believe that there is a discrepancy between research and practice. Our hope is therefore that we through our study will be able to fill this knowledge gap by presenting new empirical insights linked to success factors for BI implementation in Swedish organizations, using a scientific foundation.

The prosperity of small micro and medium enterprises (SMME’s) in the construction industry is vital for the improvement of the South African economy. Unfortunately, the poor safety record of this industry negatively affects the sustainability of SMME’s and augments the loss of human lives. Owners and managers of SMME’s in the construction industry are usually financially fragile and unaware of the direct and an indirect cost associated with injuries that may result in potential profit loss and ultimately, bankruptcy. The construction industry continues to lead with high levels of fatalities and injuries compared to other industrial sectors. High levels of non-compliance with health and safety legislation in the construction industry necessitate creative interventions to improve health and safety standards. The objective of the research was to establish to what extent SMME’s comply with health and safety in the construction industry. Research was done by means of a survey questionnaire and the findings concluded that government laws are appropriate however the enforcing of such law needs attention. Furthermore, most owners are aware of the required legislation but the competitive nature allude that “that shortcuts are taken”.

Thesis (MComm (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Numerous individuals daily partake in injurious consumption, such as excessive or unhealthy food choices. Individuals’ incorrect food choices can have a negative effect on their weight, health and general quality of life. Marketers could and should play a pivotal role in influencing consumers’ food choices, which will ultimately contribute to healthier individuals and societies as a whole. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between self-concept and food choice, self-efficacy and food choice, emotional states and food choice, and weight perception and food choice, and to highlight implications for marketers based on these findings. These relationships were investigated in a Generation Y sample. A sample of 383 college-aged1 students of Generation Y completed a self-administered questionnaire that was designed based on previous studies. Respondents’ weight perception was also investigated as many students from Generation Y try to change their weight perceptions through their food choices. Respondents’ food choice was compared to the recommended food choice of the South African Department of Health (Department of Health, 2009). Based on this comparison, it was proposed that marketers of food products should promote a decrease in respondents’ meat consumption and an increase in milk, fruit, vegetable and starch consumption. Small yet significant relationships between respondents’ specific food choices and self-concept, self-efficacy, emotional states and weight perception were found. Marketers can incorporate these relationships into their advertising campaigns and brand slogans in order to positively influence Generation Y to make healthier food choices. Another significant finding was that male respondents indicated a higher ideal weight than their actual weight, while female respondents indicated a lower ideal weight than their actual weight. A relationship was also found between self-concept and weight perception for both men and women from Generation Y. The significance of this study lies in the expansion of knowledge regarding the food choice behaviour of a Generation Y sample and the recommendations made to marketers based on relationships found between food choice and the constructs at hand. These recommendations can ultimately improve consumers’ food choice.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Verskeie individue neem daagliks deel aan nadelige verbruik, met inbegrip van oormatige of ongesonde voedselkeuses. Individue se foutiewe voedselkeuse kan hul gewig, gesondheid en lewensgehalte negatief beïnvloed. Bemarkers kan en behoort 'n belangrike rol te speel om individue te oortuig om gesonde voedselkeuses te maak. Die doel van hierdie navorsing was om die verhouding tussen self-konsep en voedselkeuse, selfekwiteit (‘self-efficacy’) en voedselkeuse, emosionele toestande en voedselkeuse en gewigspersepsie en voedselkeuse te ondersoek en om die implikasies hiervan gebaseer op hierdie bevindings aan bemarkers voor te lê. ʼn Steekproef van 383 lede van Generasie Y het ’n vraelys ingevul wat ontwerp is op grond van vorige navorsing. Respondente se gewigspersepsie is ook bestudeer aangesien verskeie studente (universiteitsouderdom) van Generasie Y poog om hul gewigspersepsie te verander deur middel van hul voedselkeuses. Respondente se voedselkeuses is vergelyk met die voedselkeuses wat aanbeveel word deur die Suid-Afrikaanse Departement van Gesondheid (Department of Health 2009). Op grond van die vergelyking is bevind dat bemarkers ʼn afname in individue se vleisinname, en ʼn toename in individue se melk-, vrugte-, groente- en styselinname behoort te bevorder. Die ondersoek het getoon dat daar klein, maar beduidende verhoudings aangetref is tussen respondente se spesifieke voedselkeuses en self-konsep, self-effektiwiteit, emosionele toestande en gewigspersepsie. Bemarkers kan hierdie verhoudings in hul bemarkingsveldtogte en handelsmerk-slagspreuke inkorporeer. Nog ʼn beduidende resultaat was dat die manlike respondente ʼn hoër ideale gewig as hul huidige gewig aangedui het, terwyl vroulike respondente ʼn laer ideale gewig as hul huidige gewig aangedui het. Die resultate toon ook dat daar vir beide mans en vroue van Generasie Y ʼn verhouding tussen self-konsep en gewigspersepsie is. Deur middel van hierdie studie is kennis rakende die voedselkeuses van ʼn steekproef van Generasie Y uitgebrei. Aan die hand van die verhoudings tussen voedselkeuse en respondente se self-konsep, self-effektiwiteit, emosionele toestande en gewigspersepsie, is daar aanbevelings vir bemarkers gemaak. Hierdie aanbevelings sal uiteindelik bydra tot die verbetering van Generasie Y se voedselkeuses.

Thesis (MDF)--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.
For many years, people have migrated to other parts of their countries or across national borders. The reasons for the phenomenon of migration are many. People tend to migrate from poorer regions or countries to those that are comparatively better than their places of origin. Migration affects both host and destination countries in many ways. While there is evidence to support positive effects from migrations, mostly in developed countries, there is ongoing debate in most developing countries as to the effect of this phenomenon of migration. Immigrants are often associated with negative effects in destination countries. The purpose of this research is to determine the contribution of skilled professional immigrants to the South African economy. This report will narrow its focus to a case study of the contribution of skilled professionals in the health and higher education sectors but will also take a cursory look at the broad effects of other immigrant categories in South Africa. This research report focused on selected sectors of the South African economy since 1994 and found enough evidence to conclude that immigrants contribute positively to the South African economy. This is contrary to commonly held assumptions that foreign immigrants negatively affect the South African economy. However, this research only focused on the higher education and health sectors. A broader understanding of the effects of immigrants on the South Africa economy therefore requires further investigation.

Thesis (MBA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The prevalence of overweight and obesity escalated over the past 30 years worldwide in adults, children, and adolescents. Estimates are that 26% of the global adult population is either overweight or obese. However, the most alarming fact is the increase in obesity in children and adolescents. In South Africa, the estimated overweight and obesity prevalence in adults is 45% and 20% in children below 6 years of age. The World Heath Organisation acknowledges obesity as an unforgiving, formidable chronic disease, an eminent global epidemic, and the most significant independent risk factor to chronic disease. There are about 30 different diseases associated with obesity of which cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, lifestyle cancers, depression, and diabetes are the most prominent. The current rising obesity trends increase the prevalence of these obesity-associated diseases, as well as a wide range of psychosocial problems. Global expectations are that weight-related chronic disease will develop into the most significant healthcare problem in the 21st century. The overarching trend of globalisation has transformed the global landscape into a more obesogenic environment with resultant changes in behavioural lifestyles of increased caloric consumption and less physical activity at home and at work. However, genetic, social, and cultural determinants enhance weight gain, which contributes largely to current obesity trends. Obesity is a major public healthcare problem in South Africa, with African women and Caucasian men most at risk. However, the competing priorities of unemployment, poverty, and HIV/AIDS place high demands on the South African economy, with resultant neglect of obesity. Obesity has the potential to incur a large impact on the South African economy through the reduction in labour productivity, corporate profitability, and national output, especially in combination with HIV/AIDS.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die insidensie van oorgewig en obesiteit het toegeneem oor die afgelope 30 jaar wereldwyd in volwassenes, tieners, en kinders. Omtrent 26% van die globale populasie is of oorgewig of vetsugtig. Die erns van die huidige situasie is egter die toenemende voorkoms van obesiteit in kinders en tieners. Die voorkoms van oorgewig en obesiteit in Suid-Afrika word geskat op 45% in volwassenes en 20% in kinders jonger as 6 jaar. Die Wereld Gesondheid Organisasie het in 1997 obesiteit geklassifiseer as 'n chroniese siekte en hul kommer uitgespreek oor die feit dat obesiteit epidemiese proporsies bereik het. Obesiteit word ook nou erken as die belangrikste, onafhanklike risiko faktor vir chroniese siekte. Obesiteit word geassosieer met omtrent 30 verskillende siektetoestande waarvan kardiovaskulere siekte, metaboliese sindroom, lewensstyl kankers, depressie, en diabetes die belangrikste is. Stygende obesiteit syfers verhoog ook die voorkoms van hierdie siektes asook verskeie psigososiale probleme. Verwagtings is dat gewig verwante siektes die belangrikste gesondheid probleme sal wees gedurende die 21 ste eeu. Die proses van globalisasie het die wereld landskap verander in 'n omgewing wat meer obesogenies is, wat gelei het tot veranderings in leefstyle in die rigting van 'n hoër inname van kaloriee en minder aktiewe leefstyle. Genetiese, sosiale, en kulturele faktore verhoog ook die vatbaarheid van die individu tot gewig toename en speel 'n groot rol in die huidige obesiteit status. Obesiteit is tans 'n geweldige gesondheidprobleem in Suid-Afrika met Swart vrouens en Blanke mans die populasiegroepe wat die hoogste risiko dra. Die probleem is egter dat die kompeterende prioriteite van werkloosheid, armoede, en MIV/VIGS alreeds hoe eise stel aan die Suid-Afrikaans ekonomie met gevolglike verwaarlosing van obesiteit. Obesiteit het die potensiaal om 'n groot effek uit te oefen op die Suid-Afrikaanse ekonomie deur middel van 'n verlies in produktiwiteit, verminderde korporatiewe wins, en ekonomiese groei, veral in kombinasie met MIV/VIGS.

The failure rate of small business initiatives in South Africa is phenomenal, and much is needed to unravel the causes contributing to such failures. Yet small businesses are playing a vital part in our global economy and in particular in terms of job creation and poverty eradication. There are internal as well as external factors that play a significant role in determining the success of these small businesses. In South Africa much emphasis is placed by national, provincial and local governments on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to drive wealth creation and black economic empowerment. Therefore, an investigation into the factors contributing to the success and failure of SMEs is of vital importance. The South African government’s poverty eradication strategy, which is driven by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), allocated funds for job creation programmes as a method to combat poverty and more importantly, to develop young entrepreneurs. Among the seven departments mandated by DTI was the Department of Social Development. Since the birth of the new democracy, this department has transformed from offering a traditional remedial method of service delivery to an integrated developmental approach. This approach included extensive community work, which includes job creation and economic empowerment through the establishment of small businesses. Given the availability of funding, the inability to spend fiscal budgets as per allocation as well as the charity element of receiving involved, it is important to explore whether factors contributing to the success of these SMEs are any different to the traditional business strategies. In this study, the researcher gave special consideration to the social capital element and its contribution in the context of community support as well as the ability of SMEs to become sustainable business ventures over time. The research study aims to highlight unique factors contributing to the success and failures of SMEs established by the Department of Social Development and in doing so hopes to manifest an improved understanding of the management of these SMEs. In chapter one, the researcher gives a brief description of the activities of the Department of Social Development and its mandate to establish SMEs for job creation. A brief explanation regarding the context of the problem that was investigated is also given. Chapter two provides a detailed theoretical overview of the study, focusing in particular on factors contributing to the success and failure of small businesses. In chapter three, the research design and the various instruments used are discussed. Here, emphasis is placed on procedural issues and ethical considerations. The validity and reliability of the research is strongly motivated. In chapter four the research results are discussed. Chapter five aims to discuss the findings of the research with reference to the theoretical overview outlined in chapter two. Lastly, chapter six makes recommendations to the various stakeholders who may benefit from this research. These recommendations are the most important objectives of the research and should add value with regards to the management of SMEs in future, with special reference to the Department of Social Development in the Eastern Cape.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2004.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Psychological distress, whether caused by personality traits, biochemical imbalances, or difficult circumstances or events, can have a profound effect on a one's physical wellbeing and quality of life as an individual, manager and executive. Personality traits include type A personality, type B personality, being emotional as well as management style. Difficult circumstances or events include changes at work, the birth of a child, the death of a family member as well as a promotion received at work. Experiencing constant stress at work, in addition to having unresolved emotions such as sadness, anger, fear and anxiety can have an effect on one's physical health. This can be observed in management as sluggishness, tiredness, and depression, increasing susceptibility to infections, heart attacks, burnout, and rheumatoid arthritis. Personality, personal experiences and circumstances shape the way one responds emotionally to problems in life. A particular problem may cause one person to become ill, whereas another person might cope comfortably with it. However, because responses to problems are not set in stone, managers can learn to manage their emotional problems more effectively. Above all, managers can teach their subordinates techniques that can help them steer clear of self-neglect. People find themselves living and working in an era dominated by real-time business decision-making, and many managers are struggling to cope. Of course, there are also people who are happy, healthy, peaceful and wealthy and who seem to have it all. They have good positions and seem to have a balanced life regarding their family and work. They have achieved equilibrium. There is a perception that such people are just lucky. Perhaps they are, but more likely they simply possess appropriate coping mechanisms that others too can acquire. The objective of this dissertation is to assist not only managers, but also the individual to overcome the rat race that the new millennium has bestowed upon us. It further aims to show that everyone is capable of achieving the necessary tools to combat self-neglect and destruction of the inner self. It is suggested that by learning to change ones thinking and behavioural approach to an event it is possible to change the outcome of the event. By learning a few thinking (cognitive) and physical (meditation) techniques it is possible to overcome the mere interpretation of an event, which will allow the individual to improve their ability to cope with stress and maintain not only their own physical well being, but also the well being of the organisation. Furthermore, organisations may assist their employees by encouraging or creating a good working culture in order to improve both the coqqitive and physical environment as experienced by the individual. This "looking after the other" relationship can and will only have a positive effect. The poet, Khalil Gibran (2002), reflects: "But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of earth's furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born. And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life's innermost secret." Thus to enjoy life through work, one should learn to enjoy what life hands out by changing ones perception of the event as well as the attitude towards life and work.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sielkundige distres wat ontstaan as gevolg van óf persoonlikheidstrekke, biochemiese wanbalanse, moeilike omstandighede of gebeurtenisse ongeag die oorsaak daarvan, kan 'n wesentlike uitwerking op 'n persoon se liggaamlike welstand en lewensgehalte as 'n individu, bestuurder en bedryfsleier hê. Persoonlikheidstrekke sluit tipe A-persoonlikheid, tipe B-persoonlikheid, emosionaliteit en bestuurstyl in. Moeilike omstandighede of gebeurtenisse sluit veranderinge in die werkplek, die geboorte van 'n kind, die sterfte van 'n familielid sowel as 'n bevordering by die werk in. Voortdurende spanning by die werk tesame met onverwerkte emosies soos hartseer, woede, vrees en angs kan 'n uitwerking op 'n mens se liggaamlike gesondheid hê. In bestuur kan dit waargeneem word as traagheid, moegheid en depressie, wat 'n mens se vatbaarheid vir infeksies, hartaanvalle, uitbranding en rumatiek verhoog. 'n Mens se persoonlikheid, ervarings en omstandighede bepaal hoe jy op die lewe se emosionele probleme reageer. Een mens mag siek word weens 'n probleem wat iemand anders heel maklik sal hanteer. Bestuurders kan egter leer hoe om hul emosionele probleme meer doeltreffend te hanteer. Bowenal kan bestuurders hul onderskiktes tegnieke leer om te verhoed dat hulle hulself verwaarloos. Die individu leef en werk in 'n era wat oorheers word deur die neem van vinnige en goeie sakebesluite en bestuurders sukkel om by te bly. Natuurlik is daar ook mense wat gelukkig, gesond, vreedsaam en welgesteld is, en lyk of hulle alles het. Hulle beklee goeie poste en ly skynbaar 'n gebalanseerde lewe tussen hul gesin en hul werk. Hulle het 'n balans bereik. Die persepsie bestaan dat sulke mense eenvoudig geluk aan hul kant het. Miskien het hulle, maar dalk het hulle net die regte meganismes om probleme doeltreffend te hanteer wat ander ook kan aanleer. Hierdie skripsie se doelwit is nie slegs om bestuurders nie, maar ook die individuele werknemer wat vasgevang is in die "rat race" wat teweeg gebring is deur die nuwe eeu, te help om die effekte daarvan teen te werk. Dit streef verder om te bewys dat elke persoon instaat is om die nodige hulpmiddele te bekom om eie-nalatigheid en uiteindelik die selfvernietiging van die innerlike mens te oorkom. Dit word verder voorgestel dat deur die aanlering om mens se denkwyses en gedragspatroon benadering tot die aangeleentheid te verander, is dit moontlik om sodoende die uitslag van die aangeleentheid te verander. Deur die aanleer van 'n paar denkwyses (kognitiewe) en fisiese (meditasie) tegnieke is dit moontlik om selfs die interpretasie van die aangeleentheid te oorkom, wat sal toelaat dat die individu sy vermoë om spanning te hanteer en die instandhouding van hulle fiesieke toestand te verbeter. Maatskappye kan ook sy werknemers bystaan deur die aanmoediging van, of die daarstelling van 'n goeie werkskultuur om sodoende beide die kognitiewe en die fisiese omgewing soos deur die individu beleef, te verbeter. Hierdie "omsien na die ander" verhouding kan, en sal net 'n positiewe uitwerking hê. Die digter, Khalil Gibran (2002), reflekteer: "But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of earth's furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born. And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life's innermost secret." Dus, om die lewe deur middel van werk te geniet, moet mens leer om dit wat die lewe uitdeel, te geniet. En dit kan slegs bewerkstelling word indien 'n mens se persepsie van die aangeleentheid sowel as mens se houding teenoor die lewe en werk verander.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is rooted in career psychology with implications for career management. In addition, the study draws from various fields including the positive organisational behaviour paradigm. The underlying assumption of this study is that certain organisational and individual factors influence the experience of subjective career success amongst black employees in the South African work environment. In order to evaluate this assumption an attempt was made to gain an understanding of the antecedents of subjective career success. An overview of the literature led the researcher to the conclusion that transformational leadership, job resources, supportive organisational climate, psychological empowerment, and psychological capital (PsyCap), could be regarded as antecedents of subjective career success. Based on the literature, a theoretical model was developed that portrays a sequential process within which the identified variables play roles that vary in salience, depending on the stage in the sequential process. A mixed-methods research design was employed to guide the investigation. More specifically, the study consisted of a qualitative strand, followed by two quantitative strands. In the qualitative strand (Phase 1), a semi-structured interview was used to obtain information about the factors influencing career success from 30 black employees in white-collar jobs from three different South African organisations. The purpose of the qualitative strand was two-fold, firstly to seek confirmation that the instruments utilised covered the most salient issues. Secondly, to obtain guidance on how to supplement constructs that were not adequately covered, before continuing with the subsequent quantitative strands. The outcome of Phase 1 provided evidence of sufficient coverage of the variables as based on the literature review. However, it was decided to add three questions to the job resources measuring instrument, as well as two items to the supportive organisational climate instrument. During both the quantitative strands, survey research was used. To facilitate the collection of data during the survey research, an electronic web-based questionnaire was compiled. Standardised questionnaires were utilised to measure each of the ten constructs. The purpose of Phase 2 was to pilot test the composite questionnaire. A total of 220 usable questionnaires were analysed during Phase 2 with regard to the psychometric properties associated with each of the constructs. Evidence of the psychometric properties was obtained by means of internal consistency, confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis. All the instruments used in Phase 2 had acceptable reliabilities and goodness-of-fit, with the exception of the psychological capital instrument (PCQ). More specifically, less than satisfactory reliability coefficients were observed for resilience (α= .60) and optimism (α= .48). On the basis of this, no changes were made to the content of the instruments for use in Phase 3. However assumptions about the factorial structure of the job resources scale had to be revisited. The outcome of Phase 2 was a set of reliable and valid measuring instruments that could be used with confidence. The purpose of Phase 3 was to evaluate thirteen propositions guiding the current study. A total of 418 usable questionnaires were analysed during Phase 3. During Phase 3, further confirmation was found that all the instruments used had acceptable reliabilities, as well as goodness-of-fit. In addition, correlation analysis, step-wise multiple regression and structural equation modelling (variance and covariance-based) were employed. All the independent variables were significantly related to the dependent variable, subjective career success, except for objective career success (past). Job resources, psychological capital and supportive organisational climate, however, were the only significant predictors of career success. In order to evaluate the appropriateness of the proposed sequential model, both variance and covariance-based structural equation modelling were used. Model exploration was facilitated by the use of variance-based structural equation modelling. Both non-significant paths, as well as significant, but weak paths, were removed during the exploration process. The covariance-based approach allowed the utilisation of modification indices to arrive at an optimal model. A model consisting of only the significant paths were subjected to covariance-based structural equation modelling. The modification indices suggested adding three direct paths between subjective career success and transformational leadership, job resources, as well as supportive organisational climate. However, in the optimal model, the direct path between transformational leadership and subjective career success was excluded due to not being statistically significant. In the optimal model all the proposed paths were significant. Acceptable goodness-of-fit was obtained for this optimal model. The results of Phase 3 provided evidence supporting the majority of the thirteen propositions that guided the current study. With the unique combination of variables, this study can be seen as making a contribution to the existing theory and literature by explicating the interrelationships between transformational leadership, job resources, supportive organisational climate, psychological empowerment, psychological capital (PsyCap), and subjective career success. The researcher made recommendations for future research, as well as for scientific and practical interventions regarding the development of subjective career success.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie is gegrond in loopbaansielkunde met implikasies vir loopbaanbestuur. Hierbenewens het die studie op verskeie velde gesteun, insluitend, en veral, die positiewe organisatoriese gedragsparadigma. Die onderliggende aanname in die studie was dat die ervaring van subjektiewe loopbaansukses onder swart werknemers in die Suid-Afrikaanse werkomgewing deur sekere organisatoriese en individuele faktore beïnvloed word. Ten einde hierdie aanname te evalueer, is gepoog om ’n begrip te vorm van die aanleidende oorsake van subjektiewe loopbaansukses. ’n Literatuuroorsig het die navorser tot die slotsom gebring dat transformasionele leierskap, werkhulpbronne, ondersteunende organisatoriese klimaat, sielkundige bemagtiging en sielkundige kapitaal (PsyCap) as oorsaaklike faktore van subjektiewe loopbaansukses beskou kan word. ’n Teoretiese model wat op die literatuur gebaseer was, is ontwikkel om ’n opeenvolgende proses waarin die geïdentifiseerde veranderlikes wissellende rolle ten opsigte van prominensie speel, weer te gee. ’n Gemengde-metodes-ontwerp is in die navorsing gebruik om die ondersoek te rig. Meer besonderlik het die studie ’n kwalitatiewe fase behels, wat deur twee kwantitatiewe fases gevolg is. In die kwalitatiewe fase (Fase 1) is semigestruktureerde onderhoude met 30 swart gesalarieerde werknemers in drie verskillende Suid-Afrikaanse organisasies gevoer om inligting oor die faktore wat loopbaansukses beïnvloed, in te win. Die doel van die kwalitatiewe fase was tweeledig: eerstens om bevestiging te verkry dat die instrumente wat gebruik is, die mees belangike kwessies gedek het. Tweedens was die doel om uit te vind hoe om die konstrukte wat nie behoorlik gedek is nie, aan te vul voordat daar met die daaropvolgende kwantitatiewe fases voortgegaan word. Die uitkoms van Fase 1 het getuienis gelewer dat daar, soos op die literatuuroorsig gebaseer, voldoende dekking van die veranderlikes was. Daar is egter besluit om drie vrae by die meetinstrument vir die meet van werkhulpbronne by te voeg, sowel as om twee items by die meetinstrument vir die meet van ondersteunende organisatoriese klimaat by te voeg. Opname-navorsing is gedurende beide kwantitatiewe fases gebruik. ’n Elektroniese web-gebaseerde vraelys is opgestel om die opname-navorsing te vergemaklik. Gestandaardiseerde vraelyste is gebruik om elk van die tien konstrukte te meet. Die doel van Fase 2 was om ’n voortoetsing met die saamgestelde vraelys uit te voer. Twee honderd en twintig bruikbare vraelyste is gedurende Fase 2 ontleed met betrekking tot die psigometiese eienskappe wat met elk van die konstrukte geassosieer was. Getuienis omtrent die psigometriese eienskappe van die meetinstrumente is deur middel van interne konsekwentheid, en bevestigende en ondersoekende faktorontleding verkry. Al die instrumente wat in Fase 2 gebruik is, het aanvaarbare betroubaarheid en goeie passing getoon, met die uitsondering van die sielkundige kapitaal (PsyCap) instrument, meer spesifiek, minder aanvaarbare vlakke van betroubaarheid is gevind in die geval van veerkragtigheid (α= .60) en optimisme (α= .48). Daar is egter geen veranderinge vir gebruik in Fase 3 aan die inhoud van die instrumente aangebring nie. Aannames ten opsigte van die faktoriale struktuur van die werkhulpbronneskaal moes egter hersien word. Die uitkoms van Fase 2 was ’n betroubare en geldige stel meetinstrumente wat met vertroue gebruik kon word. Die doel van Fase 3 was om die dertien hipoteses wat die huidige studie gerig het, te evalueer. Hiervoor is 418 bruikbare vraelyste tydens Fase 3 ontleed. Verdere bevestiging dat al die instrumente aanvaarbare betroubaarheid, asook goeie passing getoon het, is tydens Fase 3 verkry. Daarbenewens is korrelasie-ontleding, stapsgewyse meervoudige regressie en strukturele vergelykingsmodellering (variansieen kovariansie-gebaseerd) gebruik. Behalwe vir objektiewe loopbaansukses (vorige), was al die onafhanklike veranderlikes beduidend verwant aan die afhanklike veranderlike, naamlik subjektiewe loopbaansukses. Werkhulpbronne, sielkundige kapitaal en ondersteunende organisatoriese klimaat was egter die enigste beduidende voorspellers van loopbaansukses. Beide variansie- en kovariansie-gebaseerde strukturele vergelykingsmodellering is gebruik om die toepaslikheid van die voorgestelde konseptuele model te evalueer. Verkenning van die model is met gebruik van variansie-gebaseerde strukturele vergelykingsmodellering bewerkstellig. Beide nie-beduidende bane, sowel as beduidende, maar swak bane, is tydens die verkenningsproses verwyder. Met die benutting van modifikasie-indekse het die kovariansie-gebaseerde benadering dit moontlik gemaak om ’n optimale model daar te stel. Die model, wat slegs uit die beduidende bane bestaan het, is aan kovariansie-gebaseerde strukturele vergelykingsmodellering onderwerp. Die modifikasie-indekse het die toevoeging van drie direkte bane tussen subjektiewe loopbaansukses en transformasionele leierskap, werkhulpbronne, en ondersteunende organisatoriese klimaat voorgestel. In die optimale model is die direkte baan tussen transformasionele leierskap en subjektiewe loopbaansukses egter uitgeskakel omdat dit nie statisties beduidend was nie. Al die voorgestelde bane was in die optimale model beduidend en goeie passing is vir hierdie optimale model verkry. Die resultate van Fase 3 het bewys gelewer vir die aanvaarding van die meerderheid van die dertien hipoteses wat die huidige studie gerig het. Vanweë die ontwikkeling van die onderlinge verband tussen transformasionele leierskap, werkhulpbronne, ondersteunende organisatoriese klimaat, sielkundige bemagtiging, sielkundige kapitaal (PsyCap), en subjektiewe loopbaansukses, kan hierdie studie, met hierdie unieke samestelling van veranderlikes, as bydraend tot die bestaande teorie en literatuur beskou word. Die navorser doen aanbevelings vir toekomstige navorsing, sowel as vir wetenskaplike en praktiese intervensies ten opsigte van die ontwikkeling van subjektiewe loopbaansukses.

Thesis (D. Tech.) -- Central University of Technology, Free State, 2008
In the twenty-first century knowledge landscape, companies are compelled to compete in a complex and challenging context, transformed by globalisation, technological development, new applications of knowledge and hyper-competition. This new economic landscape requires organisations to perform differently with their knowledge assets to survive and prosper. It has become crucial for organisations to reinvent themselves through new rubrics of leadership, which essentially requires radical change as post-modern perspectives on the knowledge economy emphasise the fluidity, and immediacy of information exchanges that are leveraged through creativity and innovation as the new future sustainable rent. Postmodernist contestations of modernist economic and organisational rationalities have successfully activated discourse from diverse audiences and immense contributions to contemporary knowledge-intensive organisational diagnoses have been proffered. A current issue, which urgently enquires into new conceptions of organisational leadership, is regarded as the global knowledge economy. This economy seeks new sources of inspiration and revitalisation within the dynamic, mutable domains of future knowledge competency construction and enactment. New forms of human capital are now required to manifest tacit and intellectual capacity through exponential creativity and innovation capabilities, rather than explicit production-driven modalities. Therefore, organisations must access this new talent that engages deeply with creative thinking, as they can no longer reproduce themselves within the old traditions of management and control. The need to conjure new aspects of leadership to harness and then transform novel solutions into action should create an environment enabled to validate creativity and innovation as the major building blocks for knowledge transfer and trading. The purpose of this study is to render solutions for future knowledge-intensive organisations and explore new methodologies where leadership realises the paramount importance to nurture the knowledge worker as the most important source of knowledge creation. This study explores the complex challenges faced by contemporary leadership in grasping future value propositions for advancing knowledge trading and offers suggestions to unlock creativity and innovation for the enhancement of knowledge productivity and the development of supportive managerial effectiveness. It is recommended that leadership requires a profound cultural shift from traditional methods of management that can be best described as control orientated, bureaucratic and autocratic. These former hierarchical management structures originated in the modernist paradigm of industrial capitalism. In contrast, contemporary knowledge management is defined within the post-modern debate, where authority is diffused throughout the organisation and leadership engages in sufficient reflexivity to facilitate a more effective understanding of the contemporary knowledge worker. Within this postmodern context, fluidity of knowledge-leadership could actively promote the immediacy of creative exchanges as foundational to deliver the future into the present. The findings suggest a new role for leadership acting as coach and innovation facilitator, rather than controller. Furthermore the findings indicate that creative leadership should involve knowledge workers in defining the mission, vision and strategic intent and secure participation in the knowledge philosophy to mould their respective knowledge roles within a supportive culture. The findings indicated that collaboration between knowledge workers and leadership is crucial to establish formal communities of practice. These, as opposed to informal exchanges amongst knowledge workers, are pivotal to the process of continuous reinvention and proffer the shifts that are essential to drive future knowledge competencies. The findings furthermore revealed that communities of practice should be formally encouraged by leadership who diffuses the strategic intent to initiate forums where formal learning and the sharing of skills occur and creativity is continually advanced. The result is the creation of repositories of knowledge and innovation networks within knowledge concomitance required to enhance knowledge performance and ultimately drive sustainable competitive advantage. The research findings produced novel suggestions to proffer new knowledge-trading opportunities. The recommendations address contemporary leadership to perpetually challenge communities of practice to seek new creative and innovative horisons. This would yield the competencies and capabilities required for improved knowledge performance, based on individual and collective creative contributions. It is imperative for creative leadership to imbibe a new corporate curriculum to embrace the necessary radical innovative approaches required in today’s hyper-competitive economy. The recommendations suggest that the harnessing of creative and innovative potentials of knowledge workers, through the development of the creativity dimensions, namely fluency and elaboration could yield dominant discourse as a central ingredient for collective learning. This, in turn, would propel exponential levels of knowledge productivity, which is the critical component required to drive economic sustainability. Knowledge-leading organisations need to unearth and exploit the economy of knowledge by tapping into subjective experience, creativity and intuitive reflexivity. This study endeavours to offer a compelling vision of the future and recommends an intelligent organisation of the future that utilises a new corporate curriculum achieved by creative leadership to leverage enhanced managerial effectiveness. Finally, a definition for creative leadership is proposed which promotes innovative awareness, fluency and elaboration through formalised communities of practice to leverage enhanced knowledge productivity by means of knowledge worker empowerment and two-way communication. Creating a high-involvement organisation also involves new choices with respect to organisational design. An effective design would be the entrenchment of an organisational culture where the knowledge worker is accountable for and involved in the future success of the organisation. It is recommended that future leadership can achieve new innovative value propositions by structuring new mental models for increased knowledge productivity. The knowledge concomitance model suggests solutions to manipulate and economise knowledge to produce a transformational fusion of discontinuous innovation, nurturing a new syntagma for future knowledge management practitioners.

Problem: In South Africa, women have not always had opportunities in society or the workplace due to historical discriminatory political and socio-economic policies and practices, including apartheid (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2011). Gender disparity at the top echelons of organisations is still prevalent, and the South African business landscape is not different despite progressive legislation promulgated in the late 90s when the democratic government took over. Aim of the study: The aim was to identify challenges faced by women when attempting to advance into executive positions and strategies that could assist them in this respect. Method: A literature study was conducted to establish what work had already been done in the field of gender studies and advancement of women in the corporate world. For the empirical study an interpretivist paradigm with a qualitative research approach was adopted. Interviews were conducted with ten women who were members of the Port Elizabeth branch of the Businesswomen's Association of South Africa (BWASA) and who were categorised as hopeful, emerging or already in executive positions. They were asked about the challenges they were facing or had experienced and the strategies that assisted or could assist them in advancing to an executive position. They were also asked to provide critical incidents with the view of enriching the data and gaining a deeper understanding of the phenomenon. Results: Gender-insensitive organisational policies, an unsupportive organisational culture and unknown barriers in selection emerged as key challenges experienced by the participants. Facilitative strategies that emerged included a supportive corporate culture, family support, an enabling supervisor and affiliation to professional bodies. Conclusion: Whilst a large pool of work has been done on the advancement of women, gender equality in corporate South Africa remained a challenge. This challenge should be addressed from a corporate, personal and professional perspective. Recommendations: An integrated organisational approach to this phenomenon is required which should include appropriate company policies, a supportive organisational culture and enabling supervisors. In addition, women should garner the support that their families provide and they could greatly benefit from affiliating to professional bodies.

Background: Previous research focuses predominantly on the negative aspects that exist in women's careers and organizations have forgotten about the opportunities that exist and that can benefit women in working life. Since the 1960s, the proportion of women in the labor market has increased and today it is largely the same number of women as men who work. For today's women, there are no or few formal obstacles left and women can hold the same education and professions as men in the Swedish labor market. Thus, the essay will be focusing on female managers and the aspects they experience may have influenced the path to managerial positions. Purpose: The purpose of the essay is to describe, interpret and understand various circumstances that have affected women's career development. The authors 'contribution with the essay is to try to give a clearer picture of what female managers' career development can look like. Theoretical reference frame: The theoretical frame of reference highlights aspects that are believed to have influenced female managers' career development. Aspects selected are individual-related and situation-related and under these aspects there are associated categories. The concept of career is also defined in the theoretical frame of reference and a theoretical analysis model is presented. Method: To answer the purpose of the thesis, a qualitative method was chosen with semi-structured interviews that were conducted on five female managers at different hierarchical levels in a laboratory company. Conclusion: The aspects that emerge from all respondents follow the same pattern and the majority of the aspects are seen as opportunities, but challenges have also emerged. There are aspects that are considered to be prerequisites for women to have succeeded, but which have nevertheless been affected by the facilitating aspects. The respondents' personalities and the organization's commitment are two of the aspects that are prerequisites for women to reach a managerial position. Two of the facilitating aspects that have been identified and indirectly influenced and facilitated women's path towards managerial position are early socialization and education. In summary, the women's path to today's managerial position can be described through a collaboration between the various aspects that have influenced each other to varying degrees.
Bakgrund: Tidigare forskning fokuserar övervägande på de negativa aspekter som finns i kvinnors karriärer och organisationer har glömt av de möjligheter som finns och som kan gynna kvinnor i arbetslivet. Sedan 1960-talet har andelen kvinnor ökat på arbetsmarknaden och idag är det i stor sett samma mängd kvinnor som män som arbetar. För dagens kvinnor finns det inga eller få formella hinder kvar och kvinnor kan inneha samma utbildning och yrken som män på den svenska arbetsmarknaden. Därmed kommer uppsatsen riktas in mot kvinnliga chefer och de aspekter som de upplever kan ha påverkat vägen till chefspositioner. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att beskriva, tolka och förstå olika omständigheter som har påverkat kvinnors karriärutveckling. Författarnas bidrag med uppsatsen är att försöka ge en klarare bild av hur kvinnliga chefers karriärutveckling kan se ut. Teoretisk referensram: Den teoretiska referensramen belyser aspekter som tros kan ha påverkat kvinnliga chefers karriärutveckling. Aspekter som valts ut är individrelaterade och situationsrelaterade och under de här aspekterna finns tillhörande kategorier. Begreppet karriär definieras också i den teoretiska referensramen samt att en teoretisk analysmodell presenteras. Metod: För att besvara uppsatsen syfte valdes en kvalitativ metod med semistrukturerade intervjuer som genomfördes på fem kvinnliga chefer på olika hierarkiska nivåer i ett laboratorieföretag. Slutsats: Aspekterna som framkommer från samtliga respondenter följer samma mönster och majoriteten av aspekterna ses som möjligheter men det har även framkommit utmaningar. Det finns aspekter som ansetts vara förutsättningar för att kvinnorna ska ha lyckats men som ändå har påverkats av de underlättande aspekterna. Respondenternas personlighet och organisationens engagemang är två av de aspekter som är förutsättningar för kvinnorna att nå en chefsposition. Två av de underlättande aspekterna som har identifierats och indirekt påverkat och underlättat kvinnornas väg mot chefspositionen är den tidiga socialisationen och utbildning. Sammanfattningsvis kan kvinnornas väg till dagens chefsposition beskrivas genom en samverkan mellan de olika aspekterna som i olika utsträckning påverkat varandra.

Det finns övrigt digitalt material (t.ex. film-, bild- eller ljudfiler) eller modeller/artefakter tillhörande examensarbetet som ska skickas till arkivet.

High project failure rates result in billions of wasted dollars each year. Project failure does not discriminate by type of project or the industry from which they originate. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies that leaders at a health care organization located in Pennsylvania use to manage projects successfully. This population was selected due to the health care organization's reputation for successful project completion. The conceptual framework for this study was Fiedler's contingency theory. Data were collected by conducting semistructured interviews with 9 project leaders and reviewing project documents provided by study participants. Interviews were transcribed, thick descriptions were obtained, and participants were engaged in member checking. The thematic data analysis process consisted of compiling and coding data, identifying patterns, and organizing themes into relevant categories, iteratively. Findings were organized into 4 thematic categories, which were, essential strategies, relationship management, best practices, and self-attunement. Findings from this study may contribute to positive social change if health care leaders can use the information to enhance their project leadership capabilities. When project managers are successful, the benefits cascade to health care organizations. Leaders of those health care organizations can ensure that important health and wellness services are provided and available to those who need them, fund performance improvement initiatives, resource quality programs, and offer innovative services to improve health outcomes for individuals and communities.

Particular interest lies in understanding how variants of a metric - namely, a survey question - have been employed in academic studies and industry-surveys, in order to measure smoking-related risk-perceptions. In the process of reviewing select tobacco-industry survey records, we analyze the implications of different features of this metric, (e.g., use of a 'probe', the 'Don't Know' option), and various interview modes (e.g. telephonic, face-to-face), for the estimates of perceived risk arrived at in these studies. The review makes clear that two aspects of health risks from smoking--the risk of contracting a smoking-related disease, as against the risk of prematurely dying from it conditional upon getting affected--have not been jointly explored so far. The dataset obtained from the Family Heart Disease and Prevention Survey (November 2010-March 2011), provides a unique opportunity to explore these two kinds of probabilities, particularly with regard to the risks of lung-cancer from smoking. Chapter 3 concludes by illustrating how individuals evaluate both these aspects of health-risks. While the probability of getting lung-cancer is found to be overestimated in conjunction with previous studies, the conditional probability of premature death is severely underestimated. Additionally, it is found that individuals' subjective assessments of either of these risk aspects predict smoking behavior in an identical manner. This calls into question the so-called 'rationality' of smoking decisions with implications for policies designed for the control of tobacco consumption.; This dissertation is an empirical investigation into the roles that different quantifiable and measurable perceptions play in defining individual behavior across a variety of decision-making contexts. In particular, the focus lies on smokers and the choices they make with regard to smoking and beyond. Chapter 1 analyzes a nationally representative sample of adults (23 years and older) in the United States, pertaining to the Annenberg Perception of Tobacco Risk Survey II (1999-2000). It is observed that three dimensions to smoking behavior viz., risk, temporality and addiction, interact to determine the smoking status of an individual. Although previous studies mostly looked into each of these dimensions in isolation, in this chapter, we empirically illustrate how perceptions on risk, time dimensions and addiction, jointly influence the smoking behavior of adults. Chapter 2 casts the smoker in the role of a parent and explores parental behavior towards the general health-risks facing their children. Using the dataset from a survey (2009), conducted in Orlando, Florida, on parents, having at least one child aged between 1 and 16 years, the chapter arrives at two findings relevant for policy: i) In each of the 'smoker' and 'non-smoker' parent categories, parents exhibit equal concern for themselves and their children, and ii) the level of concern shown by smoker-parents, towards health-risks faced by their children, is the same as that shown by their non-smoking counterparts. The analysis in this chapter also affirms the need to incorporate subjective risk assessment in willingness-to-pay (WTP) exercises to facilitate a deeper behavioral analysis of health risk valuation. Lastly, in Chapter 3, we focus on the issue of quantitative assessment of the perception of health risks from smoking.
ID: 030422682; System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader.; Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Central Florida, 2011.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 119-127).
Ph.D.
Doctorate
Economics
Business Administration
Economics

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.
An exploratory, cross-sectional, qualitative survey was conducted to describe the market of lower income mothers who had recently given birth to a child in a state hospital in the Western Cape (WC) region of South Africa. These mothers were viewed by the researcher as potential consumers of low cost maternity plans which would provide for maternity care in Active Birthing Units (ABUs) in the private healthcare sector in South Africa. The motivation behind the research stems from various sources. The currently inequitable healthcare system in South Africa, which has been described as a two tier system in the recent Policy Paper on National Health Insurance (Republic of South Africa, 2011: 4-5), is one such source. Reports of poor maternity care in the South African public healthcare system (Vogel, 2011: E1097-E1098), is another source of motivation behind the research report. It was apparent to the researcher that given the low quality of maternity care in state hospitals, a potential market of healthcare consumers – who would be willing to pay a small premium for what they considered to be a more acceptable level of maternity care in the private healthcare sector – could exist. This view was supported by research conducted by Joan Costa and Jaume Garcia (2003: 587-599) in which the “quality gap” was confirmed as a driving force behind the demand for private health care. This focus on the lower socioeconomic groups as a market for private sector goods and services was found to be well described by Prahalad (2005). The researcher conducted interviews amongst mothers who had delivered a child in a public hospital in the previous two years. A convenience sample of 100 mothers was selected in a shopping mall in the Western Cape (WC). The researcher administered a structured questionnaire during a face-to-face interview with each of the 100 respondents. The respondents were rewarded with a shopping voucher to the value of 50 ZAR, which was both a prerequisite specified by the management of the shopping mall and consistent with rewards offered in similar studies (Francis, Battle-Fisher, Liverpool, Hipple, Mosavel, Soogun, & Nokuthula, 2011). Data collected from the questionnaire included both data on willingness to pay (WTP), as well as demographic data, which provided interesting insights into a relatively under-researched market segment. A statistical analysis of the data collected revealed that 31 respondents (31%) reported a positive WTP for private maternity care. A statistically significant relationship was revealed between respondents’ WTP and the birth experience the respondents had had during their most recent pregnancy, whereby mothers who had described their most recent birth experience as “poor” were significantly more likely to exhibit a positive WTP for private maternity care (p=0.00006). Significant relationships between respondents' WTP for private maternity care and their age and household size were also discovered, whereby younger mothers were more likely to be willing to pay than older mothers (p=0.02) and mothers from smaller households were also significantly more likely to be willing to pay than mothers from larger households (p=0.02). Amongst a sub group of 32 respondents deemed to have potential monthly savings, those with a higher monthly household income were more likely to exhibit positive WTP (p=0.02753) than were those with higher levels of monthly expenditure (p=0.04093). The researcher acknowledged that the limitations of the research included the fact that respondents were selected non-randomly, as a small isolated sample, which made the extrapolation of the results to the larger population of South African mothers impossible. The research did, however, serve to describe the demographic characteristics of a new and relatively under researched target market of mothers from the lower socioeconomic segment of the WC. Data gleaned from this survey will serve to inform further research into this target market, so as to complete a more comprehensive feasibility analysis for the establishment of low cost maternity care packages and ABUs in South Africa.

Access to digital information and communication has an increasing importance in both the work of healthcare professionals and in patients’ everyday life and has transformed what we do and how we carry out activities. It changes the way in which healthcare is delivered, how information is exchanged within and between organizations and how patients and other actors access and manage information. Currently, innovation is imperative in the healthcare sector and today there is a focus on how different eHealth services can improve healthcare. With increased access to various eHealth services, there is a need to know more about the impact of eHealth innovations on healthcare. The aim of this thesis is to acquire more knowledge about eHealth innovations in healthcare. The focus is on prerequisites to realize innovative eHealth services and eHealth services that provide patients with access to health information. The theoretical background addresses innovation, services and business models. This thesis is a compilatory work and includes five qualitative research papers. The first study is an interview study, the second is a literature review and the remaining three are case studies. The data collection consisted of interviews, surveys, workshops and secondary data collected from documents. The interview study and the case studies were performed in the Swedish eHealth setting. The research contributes to our understanding of eHealth innovations with insights on prerequisites to realize eHealth innovations and knowledge on patient accessible information. The first study provides a classification of prerequisites that need to be considered to realize innovative eHealth services. When dealing with eHealth services, organizational and sematic interoperability are still a challenge, and they transcend organizational boundaries. This thesis provides knowledge on the recent trend of opening up electronic health records to patients. The knowledge derived from the studies on patient accessible electronic health records show that there is a discrepancy between the perceptions of patients and healthcare professionals. The thesis concludes that patients feel more involved and that the patient-professional relationship improves with patient access to electronic health records, whereas healthcare professionals have concerns about how patients will manage access to health information. This thesis also provides empirical insights on how business models can be represented in a public eHealth setting. By viewing public eHealth services as social innovations, the thesis contributes to the research on business models in a public healthcare setting by incorporating societal value into the representation of the business model. The research in this thesis contributes to research in health informatics by discussing issues related to eHealth innovations and patient accessible information. Its practical importance lies in identifying issues that are important when discussing eHealth initiatives and the implications of giving patients online access to their electronic health record.

Modern research being conducted on Mental Toughness is now shifting away from efforts aimed at developing definitions for the construct and instead moving toward efforts at understanding its development. This particular research study focuses on the development and implementation of a Mental Toughness programme designed specifically for, and tailored exclusively to, the needs of schoolboy cricket at Kingswood College in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape. The programme development was an intricate process and the research procedure was guided by the Organisational Development Process model. Data from a focus group as well as various individual interviews were integrated with currently existing Mental Toughness literature and theory to devise this particular Mental Toughness programme. The programme entails educating the athletes on six specific mental skills and incorporates elements of practical application as well as awareness of the importance and influence of Mental Toughness and mental training in a sporting sphere. The programme took the form of mental skills workshops held over a three week period. An analysis was conducted post-programme to document the experience of the athletes as a result of exposure to the programme. Results drawn from the array of analysis procedures were used to help identify the level of success of the Mental Toughness intervention as well as help validify current Mental Toughness models. In addition to highlighting the benefits as a result of the programme experience, various recommendations were drawn in order to shed light on the programme limitations and assist future researchers with understanding the intricacies behind better and more efficient programme implementation.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Menslike immuungebrekvirus (MIV) en Verworwe immuniteitsgebrek sindroom (VIGS) is een van die grootste uitdagings waarvoor werkgewers vandag te staan kom, en behoort die stukrag te wees vir ’n deeglike ondersoek om die voorkoms van hierdie toestand in die werkplek so akkuraat as moontlik te bepaal. So ’n ondersoek kan lig werp op toekomstige demografiese arbeidsmagtendense en verwante koste, byvoorbeeld verlies aan produktiwiteit en dienslewering weens afwesigheid, ’n toename in aftredes, en stygende sieke- en pensioenfondseise wat waarskynlik ingedien sal word. Daarbenewens kan so ’n ondersoek die werkgewer in staat stel om noukeuriger vir die toekoms te beplan, vanuit die oogpunt van finansies sowel as menslike hulpbronne. Daar is egter ’n neiging by werkgewers om MIV/VIGS steeds as ’n maatskaplike of samelewingsprobleem eerder as ’n besigheidspesifieke risiko te beskou. Onkunde is meestal die rede hiervoor. Werkgewers neig om weg te skram van direkte risikobestuur, dikwels met die argument dat dit die regering se plig is om MIV/VIGS-opleiding en gesondheidsorg te voorsien. Sodoende word die bestaande verhouding van ‘ekwilibriumkonvergensie’ tussen die staat, sakesektor en arbeid verydel. MIV/VIGS moet soos ander groot geïdentifiseerde sakerisiko’s beskou, gemeet en proaktief bestuur word, net soos met wisselkoers wisselvalligheid, politieke en infrastrukturele risiko’s, en persoonlike en batesekuriteit. Hoewel hierdie risikofaktore dwarsoor die wêreld bestaan, en sommiges in ander wêrelddele groter is, het hul gekombineerde uitwerking veral in Suider-Afrika ernstige implikasies vir investering en die koste om hier sake te doen. Soos alle ander sakerisiko’s moet die hantering daarvan multidimensioneel wees: • Identifiseer, meet en bestuur die risiko; plaas MIV/VIGS eerste op die direksie se agenda. • Stel senior beamptes aan om die risiko te bestuur. • Evalueer bestuurstrukture en intervensie stappe gereeld. • MIV/VIGS opleiding is die sleutel, vir bestuurslede sowel as werknemers. Risikobestuur moet holisties wees. So byvoorbeeld is dit nutteloos om gesondheidsorg sonder proaktiewe pasiëntebestuur te voorsien. En net soos wat behandelingsplanne sonder befondsing sinloos is, is dit futiel om goed befondsde voordeelplanne te skep as behandeling nie toeganklik is nie. Die doel van hierdie studie is om die proses wat Old Mutual (SA) gevolg het om die voorkoms van MIV onder sy 13 000 permanente werknemers landwyd te eksploreer. Die statistiese uitkoms sal dan gebruik word om te bepaal of Old Mutual (SA) wel sy doelwitte in terme van werknemersgelykheid sal bereik en behou, gegewe die MIV/VIGS pandemie. Vooruitskouings oor die implikasies van MIV/VIGS vir Old Mutual (SA) moet met die nodige omsigtigheid benader word, alhoewel hierdie studie aandui dat dit moontlik implikasies kan inhou vir werkverskaffing in die toekoms, gegewe die wetlike vereistes vir die verskeie aangewese groepe. MIV/VIGS lei nie net tot siekte, ongeskiktheid en dood onder Old Mutual (SA) se werknemers nie. Tesame met ernstige ekonomiese en emosionele ontwrigting vir hul gesinne, verhoog dit ook die koste om in Suid-Afrika sake te doen. Hierdie koste sluit die volgende in: • verhoogde gesondheidsorgkoste; • meer eise vir aftree-, pensioen- en doodsvoordele; • laer produktiwiteit namate afwesigheid van die werk styg weens siekte, hetsy eie of siek familielede na wie omgesien moet word; en • verhoogde koste vir personeelwerwing, arbeidsomset en opleiding weens die verlies van ervare personeel.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection and the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is one of the greatest challenges facing employers today, and should provide the impetus for a thorough investigation among employees in order to arrive at an estimate of HIV prevalence within the workplace. Such an investigation could shed light on future demographic workforce trends as well as related costs, e.g. loss in productivity and service delivery due to absenteeism, increased retirement and a rise in medical aid and pension fund claims that the employer is likely to encounter. Furthermore, this investigation could enable the employer to plan better for the future – both from a financial and human resources viewpoint. In the ‘real’ world though, employers still perceive HIV/AIDS as a social or community problem rather than a business specific risk. Employers, largely through ignorance, tend to shy away from direct risk management – often using the argument that it is the government’s responsibility to provide HIV/AIDS education and healthcare. In this way they nullify the existing ‘equilibrium convergence’ relationship between the state, business and labour. HIV/AIDS must be measured and proactively managed and should be regarded in the same light as other major identified business risks, e.g. personal and asset security, exchange rate volatility, and political and infrastructure risks. While it is true that all of these particular risk factors exist across the globe, and may be greater in other parts of the world, nowhere else do they seem to combine with such severe implications to deter investment and raise the cost of doing business than in Southern Africa. As for any other business risk, the response should be multi-dimensional: • Identify, measure and manage; place HIV/AIDS at the top of board agendas. • Appoint senior executives to manage the risk. • Regularly evaluate management structures and interventions. • HIV/AIDS education is key to both management and employees. Risk management should be holistic. For example, providing healthcare without proactive patient management is pointless. Similarly, treatment plans without funding are futile, and well-funded benefit plans without practical access to treatment are a waste of time. The aim of this study is to explore the process Old Mutual (SA) followed in estimating the HIV prevalence among its 13 000 permanent employees nationally. The resultant statistics would then be used to project whether or not Old Mutual (SA) will be able to achieve and sustain its employment equity targets, given the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Predictions on the implications of HIV/AIDS for Old Mutual (SA) should be approached with due caution, although this study suggests that it could probably seriously impact on shortages in the supply of labour in future, given the legislative requirements for the various designated groupings. HIV/AIDS not only causes illness, disability and death among Old Mutual (SA) employees, coupled with severe economic and emotional disruption for their families, it also increases the cost of doing business in South Africa. These costs include: • increased healthcare expenses; • increased retirement, pension and death benefit claims; • decreased productivity as worker absenteeism rises owing to personal illness, or absence from work to care for sick relatives; and • increased recruitment, labour turnover and training costs due to loss of experienced workers.

In the early 1990s, Oregon Health and Science University leadership examined the political and economic landscape and determined it needed a new operational model to survive and thrive. In 1995 OHSU separated from the state higher education system and became a public corporation, with goals of increased efficiency, customer-focus, ability to attract world-class researchers and physicians, and salaries commensurate with an urban academic health center. This research examines the internal impacts when universities undergo significant change, using OHSU's governance change as a case study. Central is the question: what effect(s) did OHSU's decision to become a unique public corporation have on specific employee groups? This study looks at two groups and their perceptions of the change: faculty, and union-represented staff. The author interviewed the leadership team who led the transition, reviewed historical and organizational documents and archives, and examined quantitative data such as tuition, state funding, research, and salaries. Interviews were then conducted with longtime and former employees to obtain employee perceptions. Finally, the study compares employee perceptions about process, culture, and job satisfaction, to the goals established by the leadership. The results of this study reveal that, while there were internal and external challenges, the transition to a public corporation was successful according to the perceptions of most employees when compared to the goals. After the transition, OHSU did become more efficient and more nimble for a time, able to recruit world-class employees and pay competitive salaries. Staff felt empowered and some faculty felt it made OHSU a better institution. However, some faculty felt that OHSU's transition to the public corporation eventually led to increased bureaucracy, as well as to the loss of shared governance, tenure practices, and other cultural norms inherent to academic institutions. By examining OHSU's transition and the impacts on employee groups, this study provides insight to other universities contemplating this type of change. While each institution is unique, understanding the impacts to these key stakeholders can help universities plan for and implement significant governance change.

Human beings have been gathering with other human beings for any and all reasons. These gatherings have occurred since biblical times. The Roman baths were the first gatherings that can be classified as clubs. In contemporary terms, humans gather in small numbers for a coffee with friends at a coffee restaurant, they gather in the thousands to show their dejection of wage offerings and they gather in the millions to support a sports jersey. The common factor in all of these gatherings is that they do it because of one shared goal, one shared vision. The places where people with the same interests gather, called clubs and organisations, have been around for many years. They fulfil some of the very basic human needs as well as some of the most intricate human wants. Ensuring that clubs or organisations remain in our social fibre for many years to come is in the best interest of all of their stakeholders. These clubs or organisations need to adjust to the times of present and adjust the offering they make to the members as the needs of the members change over time. It is this premise that led the researcher to The Port Elizabeth Club. This social club is struggling with dwindling membership numbers and the development of a membership strategy that will increase its membership numbers and the benefits that are offered to them. The secondary literature study conducted revealed many benefits and strategies that clubs currently use or that they could use to improve their membership brand. It further showed the different approaches, of the different clubs, to attracting and retaining the members they wanted. These benefits and strategies formed the basis iv of the primary study that was conducted by the researcher and were the main constructs in the study. The primary study was in the form of questionnaires and these were given to the target market of The Port Elizabeth Club as well as The Port Elizabeth Club members themselves. The primary study revealed that many of the benefits and strategies found in the literature can be used by The Port Elizabeth Club to improve their membership offering. The literature also stated this type of study, a questionnaire or survey, should be done on a regular basis by The Port Elizabeth Club to ensure that it is on track with its members’ needs and wants. The literature revealed that many club members feel that the value that is offered by clubs are diminishing and this results in the loss of members and disinterest from prospective members. It is for this reason that the research study conducted is important to The Port Elizabeth Club and shows that they should focus on the value they offer to their members and continue to improve this value offering. The research study concludes with a detailed description of benefits that The Port Elizabeth Club could implement for its members as well as strategies that will assist it in attracting new members and retaining its current members.

The furious pace of global urbanisation has serious impacts on the long-term sustainability and health of the local communities in which we live. The debate about relationships between population size, environmental management and human well-being must now encompass the fundamental concept of sustainability (Rees, 1992; WCED, 1990; McMichael, 2002; Hancock, 1996). Increasingly, the local municipal level is the most influential setting in which to change our relationship with the environment (Chu, 1994; Chu et al., 2000). In the 1980s, the World Health Organisation (WHO) met this global challenge by advocating healthy public policy and laying foundations for its global Healthy Cities Movement. Significant support developed in the early nineties for participatory health planning action in local government: over 2000 cities world-wide developed municipal public health plans (MPH Plans). The Healthy Cities Movement through regional networks of cities and towns encouraged government partnerships with non-government agencies and industry, to anticipate and mitigate urbanisation’s negative impacts. In Queensland eighteen local governments have developed and implemented MPH Plans using a seven-step process (Chapman and Davey, 1997; WHO (1997b) to improve local planning for health and address the social determinants of health through agency collaboration. There is however limited understanding and evidence of the success factors for the effective implementation of MPH Plans. Studies of the evaluation of Municipal Public Health Planning (MPHP) approaches have focused predominately on the evaluation of the process of planning, without conducting comprehensive evaluation of its implementation. The organisational barriers that contribute to ineffective health-planning implementation have not been well researched and documented. Here lies the gap in the research: MPHP requires thorough qualitative assessment, not only of the planning process, but also the implementation impacts. This research explores the achievements, barriers and success factors associated with MPHP implementation in local government organisations by developing a process and impact evaluation framework and applying it to two MPHP projects in Queensland: one, local planning in an expanding tourist city of over 400,000 people; the second, a regional approach involving two provincial cities with a combined population of 100,000 residents. The research examines the degree of collaboration resulting from health planning and assesses if the aims of the MPH Plans have been met. MPHP is both a health promotion tool and a strategic business planning process applied in local communities: this research seeks to understand more about organisational strategic management issues that act as barriers to planning or impact on the success of planning outcomes. This study design uses qualitative methods with a triangulation approach to analyse and understand the complexities of MPH Plan implementation. Grounded theory provides a methodology for interpreting meanings and discovering themes from the comprehensive process and impact evaluation consisting of preliminary cases studies, key informant interviews, using specific process and impact indicator questions and an analysis of MPHP models compared to other CPHP models and legislative frameworks. The impacts of the intervention are discussed and relate to the implementation effects of MPHP on individuals and organisations including council, government and non-government agencies and on the community. Achievements and barriers associated with MPHP are identified and discussed. Three main factors emerged. Firstly, MPHP had significantly increased the degree of intersectoral collaboration between the agency project partners, with particular success in clarifying the role of agencies in the management and delivery of public health services. The principles of successful partnerships need to be further articulated in local government settings to successfully implement MPHP. Secondly, positive political and organisational support was found to be a critical factor in the success of the planning implementation. Thirdly, and most importantly, the aims of the MPHP had not been substantially met due to a lack of financial and human resources. The study concluded that, although MPHP has strengths and weaknesses compared to other CPHP models, its features most suit local government. Success factors recommended for effective MPHP include formalising collaboration and partnerships and improved agency organisational governance in planning; building individual and organisational capacity to strengthen strategic planning; integrating the many layers of regulatory planning in local government and other agencies; sustaining planning structures and processes through regulation and commitment to investment in implementation stages of MPHP. The study’s major recommendation is that, for MPHP local government should facilitate a three-dimensional platform approach: healthy governance – long-term vision, recognising the many layers of planning, supported by state legislation and local industry and with awareness of legislative planning frameworks; a platform mechanism – sustaining agency networking, hosting the stakeholder forum, supporting the advisory committee, enhancing communication; and strategy implementation – in the context of an improved understanding of organisational behaviour, local government and agencies must action priority strategies, formalising agency partners responsibility, articulating desired outcomes, monitoring progress and evaluation. This recommended Platform Approach to MPHP provides an effective model for managing and implementing future MPH Plans, allocating resources three ways: to build people’s capacity to engage in planning mechanisms, to build organisational capacity to manage planning outcomes and to build more effective Healthy Cities planning approaches. The MPHP evaluation framework developed in this thesis could be used to evaluate other MPHP projects in local governments both in Australia and internationally.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Centre for Environment and Population Health
Faculty of Environmental Sciences
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On the current business scenario, due to the speed of changes and information dynamism of contemporary world, it has been widely discussed how organizations can respond swiftly to these movements and thereby build a competitive advantage to ensure business sustainability. Despite the social and non-profit character of the Third Sector companies, this segment also looks for best management practices focused on results. From this perspective, thinking about how management by projects can promote positive change by leveraging actions and resources, this work aims to explore, through a case study, what are the success factors of the projects in a Third Sector Company, on health sector, specialized in oncology, in a time frame of twenty two (22) months. Multiple evidence sources were used: analysis of historical documentation of four (04) projects of avarage and high complexity, observation and accompaniment of five (05) professionals at the implementation stage of a highly complex project, verification of qualitative research maturity’s results in projects and research of project’s portfolio, through the report of twenty (20) health and administrative professionals. In the academic area, several studies had as its study object the critical success factors of the projects. However, is still needed to explore the subject on health sector.
No atual cenário empresarial, em consequência da velocidade das mudanças e do dinamismo das informações no mundo contemporâneo, vem sendo amplamente discutido como as organizações podem responder de forma célere a esses movimentos e, assim, construir uma vantagem competitiva para assegurar a sustentabilidade dos negócios. Não obstante o caráter social e não-lucrativo das empresas do Terceiro Setor, esse segmento também caminha na busca de práticas de gestão baseadas em resultados. Nessa perspectiva, pensando em como a gestão por projetos pode promover mudanças positivas pela potencialização de ações e recursos, este trabalho tem como objetivo explorar, por meio de um estudo de caso, os fatores críticos de sucesso dos projetos em uma empresa do Terceiro Setor do ramo da saúde, especializada em oncologia, em um horizonte temporal de vinte e dois (22) meses. Foram utilizadas múltiplas fontes de evidências: análise da documentação histórica de quatro (04) projetos de média e alta complexidades, observação e acompanhamento de cinco (05) profissionais na fase de execução de um projeto de alta complexidade, verificação dos resultados da pesquisa qualitativa de maturidade em projetos e investigação do portfólio de projetos, através do relato de vinte (20) profissionais de saúde e administrativos. Na área acadêmica, diversos estudos tiveram como objeto os fatores críticos de sucesso dos projetos. No entanto, existe a necessidade de exploração do tema no ramo da saúde.

Dans les pays en développement (PED), les problèmes engendrés par le VIH/SIDA et l’inaccessibilité des antirétroviraux (ARV) s’avèrent être la cause de ravages extrêmement préoccupants à tous les niveaux (démographique, politique, social et économique). Dans le cadre de l’Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC), et notamment de l’Accord sur les aspects des droits de propriété intellectuelle qui touchent au commerce (« Accord sur les ADPIC »), un nombre croissant de PED ont ou sont en train d’intégrer un standard international de protection des brevets de produits et de procédés pharmaceutiques à leur législation nationale. Cette intégration a eu et continue de jouer un rôle majeur dans la problématique de l’accès aux médicaments dans les PED. Les conditions et les effets du régime de protection des innovations suscitent de vifs débats entre les partisans d’une protection accrue des brevets et les défenseurs de l’accès aux médicaments essentiels. Une des principales motivations de notre travail de recherche est de fournir une étude permettant de trouver des solutions à la fois favorables à l’amélioration de l’accès aux médicaments et à la préservation de l’innovation. Le problème complexe de l’accès aux médicaments ARV dans les PED est influencé par la pluridisciplinarité et l’interdépendance de nombreux facteurs. Le système des brevets ne constitue pas « l’unique » solution au problème. Toutefois, il doit être plus sérieusement considéré dans sa fonction d’équilibrage entre l’intérêt privé et l’intérêt collectif. C’est un outil juridique précieux pour le développement économique et technologique des PED et la réalisation de l’intérêt commun contre la pandémie
In developing countries, problems brought about by HIV/AIDS and inaccessibility of antiretrovirals (ARVs) are proving to be the cause of serious damages at all levels (demographic, political, social and economic). Within the context of the World Trade Organization, and in particular the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (“TRIPS Agreement”), a growing number of developing countries have integrated or are in the process of integrating into their national law an international standard of patent protection for pharmaceutical products and processes. Such integration continues to play a major role in the issue of access to medicines in developing countries. The conditions and effects of the protection regime respecting innovations give rise to heated debates between supporters of an increased patent protection and defenders of the access to essential medicines. One of the main motivations for our research is to provide a study that helps to find solutions that are both in favour of improving access to medicines and protecting innovation. The complex problem of access to ARV drugs in developing countries is influenced by the multidisciplinarity and interdependence of many factors. The patent system does not solve the problem on its own. However, it should be seriously considered in its function of balancing the private and collective interests. It is a valuable legal tool for the economic and technological development of the developing countries and to achieve the common interest against the pandemic

The potential for private sector healthcare business in Africa has been forecasted to reach $35 billion by 2016, with South Africa being regarded as the most industrially advanced country on the continent. South Africa’s entry to modern biotechnology is fairly recent, though, with companies in the private sector still in a developmental phase, and most having limited bioproduct ranges. While considerable research has been conducted in the past to attempt to define the biotechnology environment of South Africa, as yet, a concise overview is lacking. In particular, a synopsis of the biomedical or commercial health technology environment has not been forthcoming for entrepreneurs to refer to as a ‘roadmap’. The purpose of this study was to perform a comprehensive study on the attributes that should be met for a successful, sustainable health technology venture (HTV) to be started in South Africa; while identifying the opportunities and threats that have existed in the South African market; thereby, affecting their success and sustainability to date. In this study, two phases of research were conducted. The first was a small-sampled mixed-methods (both qualitative and quantitative) study involving 21 medical devices, biogenerics, diagnostics, and contract services companies. The second was a quantitative study, involving 107 vaccines, biogenerics, therapeutics, nutraceuticals, reagents, diagnostics, medical devices, biotools, contract services and public services companies. Inferential statistical tests were conducted on the data, including Pearson’s Chi-Square, ANOVA, bivariate correlation, linear regression, logistic regression and multinomial logistic regression. From the study, the overall proportion of business sustainability for HTVs was found to be 66.7%, and at least 30% were unsustainable (or not yet at a level of sustainability). Variations were observed in the overall rate of sustainability for companies, based on their core functional classification, location, production type, size and start-up or R&D spending. By converting the observed frequencies of activity level, as an indication of sustainability, into a probability, it was possible to observe the company type that was most, and least likely to succeed in South Africa. Based on the statistical observations in this study, the HTV type most likely to succeed in South Africa, with a 63.7% probability of reaching sustainability, is a ‘vaccines’, ‘biotools’ or ‘public services’ company from Johannesburg with at least 20 employees; that has developed its goods or services internally, but manufactured externally and spent between R20 million–and–R30 million on its R&D or start-up. Conversely, least likely to succeed (3.2% probability) is a nutraceutical company from Cape Town with between six and 20 employees, that has developed and produced internally, and which has spent between R1 million–and–R10million on its start-up.
Life and Consumer Sciences
M.Sc (Life Sciences)

The main aim of this study was to establish the biographical and business variables as predictors of of success of small business' owners in South Africa. is based on secondary information obtained from the national venture capital organisation. value of the level The study files of a The sample consisted of 569 small business owners active within 435 businesses. The statistical analysis strategy implemented was aimed at eliminating chance and capitalisation on chance in an attempt to eventually identify discriminants in a more accurate, valid and reliable manner. One-way Analyses of Variance with Bonferroni's Ranges test specified (only ordinal and interval scale variables) and Chi-square (only nominal scale variables) were used to initially investigate relationships among level of success of small business owners and biographical and business variables. Stepwise Discriminant analyses was then used to determine the relationship between level of success of small business owners and biographical/business variables. Significant differences in the level of success of small business owners were found for five biographical and seven bus iness variables. Discriminant analyses was then used to predict level of success of small business owners by means of the significant biographical/business variables identified in the first phase of the statistical analysis (Chi-square, One-way Analyses of Variance, Stepwise Discriminant Analyses). The results of the study revealed that certain biographical and business variables are promising as predictors of the level of success of small business owners. The results are discussed in terms of (1) implications for the selection criteria of venture capital organisations in selecting possible successful small business owners and (2) future economic policies for South Africa.
Thesis (M.Com.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1992.