Дисертації з теми "Indicators of strategic stability"

Магістерська дисертація на тему: «Управління стратегічною стійкістю промислового підприємства» містить 113 сторінок, 48 таблиць, 15 рисунків. Перелік посилань нараховує 60 найменувань. Актуальність теми дослідження зумовлена низьким рівнем розвитком показників стратегічної стійкості промислових підприємств під впливом низької фінансової та соціальної активності, обмеженості попиту на виробництво. Необхідність вирішення порушених питань потребує розроблення програми з удосконалення управління стратегічної стійкості підприємства. Зв’язок роботи з науковими програмами, планами, темами. Магістерська дисертація на здобуття ступеня магістра виконувалася згідно з планом наукових досліджень кафедри менеджменту КПІ ім. Ігоря Сікорського у межах науково-дослідної теми «Управління економічним забезпеченням міжнародних форм бізнесу і підприємництва на основі принципів сталого розвитку та економічної безпеки» (№ ДР 0117U005640). Метою роботи є аналіз, обґрунтування та розроблення практичних рекомендацій з удосконалення управління стратегічною стійкістю підприємства. Завдання дослідження. Відповідно до зазначеної мети поставлено такі задачі: ознайомлення с теоретико-методичними основами стратегічної стійкості підприємства. аналіз стратегічної стійкості підприємств виробництв алюмінію. оцінка стратегічної стійкості ТОВ «Зеніт Ко». аналіз стратегічного положення підприємства в контексті стійкості. розроблення програми з удосконалення управління стратегічною стійкістю підприємства. реалізація програми підвищення стратегічної стійкості підприємства. економічне обґрунтування доцільності реалізації запропонованих заходів. Об'єктом дослідження є процес розвитку управління стратегічної стійкості промислового підприємства. Предметом дослідження є теоретичні та практичні положення, методичні аспекти, щодо удосконалення управління стратегічною стійкістю промислового підприємства. Методи дослідження. Виконання дипломної роботи другого (магістерського) рівня вищої здійснено на застосуванні загальних та спеціальних методів дослідження: статистичний аналіз, систематизації та узагальнення; фінансово-економічний аналіз; аналіз показників стратегічної стійкості підприємства. Наукова новизна одержаних результатів. За результатами проведеного дослідження розроблені заходи з удосконалення управління стратегічною стійкістю підприємства, зокрема щодо моніторингу рівня стійкості та запровадження з цією метою окремих посад фінансового та бізнес аналітика; підвищення рівня стратегічної стійкості за виробничою складовою, шляхом впровадження нового обладнання. Практичне значення одержаних результатів. Практична значущість дослідження полягає в застосуванні удосконаленого інструментарію управління стратегічною стійкістю підприємства, що дозволятиме підприємству втримувати стійкі позиції за фінансовим, виробничим, соціальним факторами. Апробація результатів роботи: 1) Бояринова К.О, Соловйова Т. Е., Особливості управління стратегічною стійкістю підприємства. Економіка, облік, фінанси та право: концептуальні та практичні аспекти розвитку: матеріали Міжнар. наук.-практ.конф.: м.Полтава, 3 грудня 2021 року. URL: http://www.economics.in.ua/2017/10/konference201709. 2) Результати дослідження організаційно-економічного забезпечення розвитку кадрового потенціалу підприємства доповідались на І Міжнародній науково-практичній конференції "Бізнес, інновації, менеджмент: проблеми та перспективи". За результатами досліджень опубліковано тези доповіді: Соловйова Т. Е., Нагорна І. І. Організаційно- економічний розвиток кадрового потенціалу підприємства. Бізнес, інновації, менеджмент: проблеми та перспективи: збірник тез доповідей. C. 74-75. URL: http://confmanagement.kpi.ua/proc/article/view/201213.
The master's dissertation on the topic: "Management of strategic stability of an industrial enterprise" contains 113 pages, 48 tables, 15 figures. The list of links includes 60 items. The relevance of the research topic is due to the low level of development of strategic stability of industrial enterprises under the influence of low financial and social activity, limited demand for production. The need to address the issues raised requires the development of a program to improve the management of strategic stability of the enterprise. The master's dissertation for the master's degree was performed in accordance with the research plan of the Department of Management KPI. Igor Sikorsky within the research topic "Management of economic support of international forms of business and entrepreneurship based on the principles of sustainable development and economic security" (№ DR 0117U005640). The purpose of the work is to analyze, substantiate and develop practical recommendations for improving the management of strategic stability of the enterprise. Objectives of the study. In accordance with this goal, the following tasks are set: - acquaintance with theoretical and methodical bases of strategic stability of the enterprise; - analysis of strategic stability of aluminum enterprises; - assessment of the strategic stability of Zenit Co. LLC; - analysis of the strategic position of the enterprise in the context of sustainability; - development of a program to improve the management of strategic stability of the enterprise; - mplementation of the program to increase the strategic stability of the enterprise. The object of study is the process of development of strategic stability management of an industrial enterprise.The subject of research is theoretical and practical provisions, methodological aspects of improving the management of strategic stability of industrial enterprises. Research methods. Execution of the diploma work of the second (master's) higher level is carried out on the use of general and special research methods: statistical analysis, systematization and generalization; financial and economic analysis; analysis of indicators of strategic stability of the enterprise. Scientific novelty of the obtained results. The scientific novelty of the study is as follows. According to the results of the study, measures were developed to improve the management of strategic stability of the enterprise, in particular to monitor the level of sustainability and the introduction of certain positions of financial and business analyst; increasing the level of strategic stability of the production component by introducing new equipment. The practical significance of the results obtained. The practical significance of the study lies in the use of improved tools for managing the strategic stability of the enterprise, which will allow the company to maintain a stable position on financial, production, social factors. Approbation of work results: 1) Boyarinova KO, Solovyova TE, Features of strategic stability management. Economics, accounting, finance and law: conceptual and practical aspects of development: materials International. scientific-practical conference: Poltava, December 3, 2021. URL: http://www.economics.in.ua/2017/10/konference201709.html 2) The results of the study of organizational and economic support for the development of human resources of the enterprise were reported at the First International Scientific and Practical Conference "Business, Innovation, Management: Problems and Prospects". According to the results of research published abstracts: Solovyova TE, Nagorna II Organizational and economic development of human resources of the enterprise. Business, innovation, management: problems and prospects: a collection of abstracts. C. 74-75. URL: http://confmanagement.kpi.ua/proc/article/view/201213.

In many (social, economic, and political) strategic situations, conflict and cooperations coexist and group (or coalitional) behavior is as important as individual behavior. This dissertation studies several issues in such situations.
Chapter 1 provides an overview of the theoretical background and motivates the analysis undertaken.
Chapter 2 analyzes strategic situations with diverse coalitional interactions to ascertain the "stable" outcomes that will not be replaced by any rational (hence farsighted) coalition of individuals, and the coalitions that are likely to form. The analysis takes into full account the perfect foresight of rational individuals, which has been overlooked in the literature.
Chapter 3 defines "negotiation-proof Nash equilibrium", a notion that applies to environments where players can negotiate openly and directly prior to the play of a noncooperative game. The merit of the notion of negotiation-proof Nash equilibrium is twofold: (1) It resolves the nestedness and myopia embedded in the notion of coalition-proof Nash equilibrium. (2) The negotiation process, which is formalized by a "graph", serves as a natural alternative to the approach that models pre-play communication by an extensive form game.
Chapter 4 examines the notion of "renegotiation-proofness" in infinitely repeated games. It is shown that imposing renegotiation in all contingencies creates both conceptual and technical difficulties. A notion of self-enforcing agreements is offered: an agreement is self-enforcing if it is immune to any deviation by any coalition which cannot (confidently) count on renegotiation.

The society's dependency of a reliable power supply is increasing, and properly identifying the distance to the stability limits of the power system and avoiding large disturbances is thus becoming increasingly important. In this thesis, a system integrity protection scheme (SIPS) for voltage instability is proposed. First, six voltage stability indicators are studied and compared, and their performance is tested in several power system models. They are first tested in a two-bus system where the load impedance is gradually increased until the load-side voltage reaches zero. The performance of the indicators is then tested under circuit contingencies in models of the IEEE Reliability Test System and of the Norwegian power system. From the results, the most reliable indicators seem to be the ones that are based on local measurements (SDI, ISI and VSIscc).Several actions to mitigate voltage instability are described and tested in the power system models, including load shedding, switching of reactive compensation equipment, increasing AVR set points and increasing the active power generation. Of the unconventional actions, increasing AVR set points appears to be the most effective mitigation action.A SIPS is proposed based on the above mitigation actions, voltage stability indicators and signals from activation of OELs. The principle behind the scheme is to avoid load shedding as far as possible by using indicator values and OEL activation signals to initiate preventive mitigation actions to relieve the situation when the system is approaching instability. This also reduces the necessary amount of load to shed to stabilise the system.Simulations show that the proposed SIPS works as long as it has an adequate amount of mitigation actions available. In the simulations in the model of the Hammerfest/Skaidi region in Northern Norway, there was a general lack of possible mitigation actions, providing no alternative other than shedding large amounts of load to prevent voltage collapse after critical contingencies.

Background: Economic and Business cycle indicators are used when predicting a country’s Gross Domestic Products, GDP. During recent time, Purchasing Managers Index and its ability to signal changes in the economy have received attention. It provides inconsistent signals since the financial crisis in 2008. Decision makers in the society rely on macroeconomic forecast when implementing strategic decisions. It is therefore necessary for indicators to provide correct signals in relation to GDP. Previous research about indicators’ stability is mostly conducted in the U.S. According to the authors’ knowledge, scarce research has been made in Sweden. The area lacks observations where a wider range of indicators is included to get a broader perspective of the economy. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine Swedish indicators and observe if they are stable and provide accurate, reliable and consistent signals in relation to GDP growth. Furthermore, the financial crisis in 2008 is used as a benchmark when observing stability and indicators’ predictive ability. Method: Ten indicators within the categories financial, survey-based and real economy indicators are selected. Quarterly data with a time period of maximum 1993-2013 are analyzed. The statistical tests conducted include Correlation, Cross-Correlation and Simple Linear Regression, an interaction term is also included to account for the financial crisis. Conclusion: The results show that nine out of ten indicators are unstable. Purchasing Managers Index show largest changes compared to other indicators. Industry Production index is the best performing indicator. When it comes to the categories; survey-based, financial and real-economy indicators, no category overall provide stability.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2001.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 196-203).
Shifts in the US water industry are characteristic of the flux found across all infrastructure sectors. Economic, environmental, market, regulatory and systemic forces are pushing the industry toward a different future where challenges of significant capital formation, competitiveness, efficiency and resource allocation will be prevalent. Amidst these drivers, longstanding assumptions about water provision and management are under scrutiny. The path forward remains unsettled as industry players debate the role of the federal government in financing pending capital challenges. The two sides of the debate describe divergent paths, and the one taken will define the industry's near-term structure. One hand indicates a pending crisis that necessitates substantial federal assistance while the other suggests staying the course towards self-sufficiency.
(cont.) Missing from these discussions is objective evidence concerning the state of the industry. To supply the missing component, this thesis develops and applies a rational methodology to characterize a national cross section of large water systems. The methodology provides a basis for (a) understanding the state of systems within the national portfolio and (b) guiding strategic assessment and policy development. A set of common, core indicators are deployed that rely upon widely available operating and financial data and make use of thresholds that serve as estimates of industry-wide averages or standards. Once applied, the indicators provide grounds for describing an enterprise's structure and core functions as well as assessing both capital needs and opportunities. The evidence indicates that large systems are adequately positioned to handle near-term capital challenges, so an expanded federal role is unnecessary. In addition, alternatives that might improve national water provision remain largely untested, so policies and strategies that support exploration of these approaches are recommended. The work presented is a key step toward normalizing an industry.
by Michael J. Garvin.
Ph.D.

Understanding successful community planning and transparently monitoring the process through indicators is essential for empowering communities to move towards a sustainable future. This paper investigates two key categories of indicators: 1) socio-ecological indicators and 2) process indicators. The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development, the foundation of this research, offers a science-based and principled definition of sustainability, as well as a method for structuring, evaluating and informing the design of indicators. A universally applicable set of community planning process indicators has been devised through ‘backcasting’. First, a list of Success Criteria for an ideal sustainable community planning process was developed. To determine the gaps that require monitoring, general practices in current planning were next assessed against this vision of success. Indicators were then brainstormed to measure closure of the highlighted gaps and movement towards success. Finally, these indicators were evaluated against a comprehensive list of ideal indicator characteristics. In summary, applying whole systems and strategic approaches to identifying and designing indicators can be relevant in any context. Process indicators provide the structure in which to monitor planning at every level and across disciplines so that appropriate socio-ecological indicators can then be derived, while simultaneously ensuring more effective governance.

Alaya Boisvert - alaya.boisvert@gmail.com Sarah Cheevers - sacheevers@yahoo.com Erin Romanchuk - erinroser@gmail.com Karen Stroebel - kstroebel@gmail.com

The essential characteristic of the future is uncertainty. A basic feature of the economy, and life in general, is that decisions are made under conditions of uncertainty-the future is unknowable. Having reliable guidelines or indicators that provide discipline and signposts to the future is required for the process of successful investing. Conditions are constantly changing, and there are no rewards for replaying the same old game over and over. To answer for this demand, continued from the previous studies (Choi, 1996; Choi et al., 1997a; Choi et al., 1997b; Choi et al., 1999), this study developed the restaurant industry business cycle models and examined financial practices of the high and low performing firms over the industry cycles. The U.S. restaurant industry demonstrated three cycles (peak to peak or trough to trough) for the period of 1970 through 1998. The restaurant industry peaked in 1973, 1979, and 1989. The industry troughed in 1970, 1974, 1980, and 1991. The mean duration of the restaurant industry cycles is 8 years (SD: 2) calculated by peak to peak and 6.5 years (SD: 2.08) calculated by trough to trough. Expansion takes an average of 6 years in the restaurant industry but declines sharply after it reaches the peak taking average 1.33 years. The restaurant industry experienced high growth (boom) every five years on average. The troughs of the growth cycles, contrasted to the peaks of the growth cycles, coincided with those of the restaurant industry business cycles in each case except one (1985). During that year a low growth phase interrupted industry business expansion but did not terminate it. Restaurant industry growth cycles, then, tend to be relatively symmetrical: since 1970 the average duration was about 2.25 years for both expansion (L-H) and contraction (H-L). In contrast, the restaurant industry business cycles in the same period show a strong asymmetry: the expansions lasted on the average 6 years; the contractions, 1.33 years. The expansions have varied in duration much more than the high growth phases have (the respective standard deviations are 2.58 and 0.95 years). This study supports the view that the cyclical fluctuations of the growth of the restaurant industry can be projected by measuring and analyzing series of economic indicators and each economic indicator has specific characteristics in terms of time lags, and thus can be classified into leading, coincident, and lagging indicators. This study formed a set of composite indices with twelve indicators classified in the leading category, six as coincident, and twenty as lagging. The high performing firms' financial practices regarding investment decisions measured by capital spending, and price earning ratio, and part of financing and dividend decisions measured by market value of common share outstanding are independent of the cyclical fluctuations of the industry cycles. But, their practices regarding dividend decisions measured by the earning per share, investment decision measured by cash flow per share, and financing decisions measured by asset value per share and long term debt level are dependent on the events (Expansion/Contractions) in the Restaurant Industry Cycles. Conclusively, high performers exercise their capital investment (reflected by capital spending) and equity management (reflected by common share outstanding and P/E ratio) independently while being less influenced by the industry swings. They exercise, however, their working capital management (reflected by cash flow per share), earning management (reflected by EPS), asset management, and long term debt management quite dependently while being more influenced by the industry swings. The financial practices exercised by the low performing firms are independent from the events in the industry cycle. Although some financial practices are related to the events in the industry cycle, the directions are opposite to the events in the industry cycle. Specifically, for all of the selected financial strategies except common share outstanding and long-term debt, the low performers practice them independently from the cyclical fluctuations of the industry cycles. Even for common share outstanding and long-term debt strategies, they practiced their strategies in opposite directions to the events (Expansion/Contractions) in the Restaurant Industry Cycles. It is expected that the above results can be used for improving investment performance through understanding the cyclical behavior of the economy and the restaurant industry. With that model, investors should be able to take part in the upswings while avoiding the cyclical downturns, and to structure a portfolio that keeps risk to a minimum. This should then presumably result in competitive investment decisions of firms, thereby improving the effectiveness of resource allocation.
Ph. D.

Thesis (M.A. in Security Studies (Far East, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific))--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2009.
Thesis Advisor(s): Twomey, Christopher P. "September 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on 5 November 2009. Author(s) subject terms: Deterrence, Japan, China, Nuclear Missile Defense. Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-66). Also available in print.

Deciding between sustainability or prosperity may be a false choice when the phenomena are appropriately defined and considered together (Stiglitz et al. 2009). With reference to existing indicator systems and frameworks, including the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) and the Community Capitals Framework (CCF), this research developed three novel indices (SMSI, SMSI+, and CCFI) using a Strategic Sustainable Development (SSD) approach to measure and analyze the correlation between sustainability (SMSI, SMSI+) and prosperity (CCFI) in Swedish municipalities. The spearman rank-order coefficient values were 0.259 and 0.588 for SMSI and CFFI and SMSI+ and CCFI, respectively. Both were significantly correlated with a p-value of 0.05, where SMSI+ and CCFI were 0.329 more correlated than SMSI and CCFI. This showed that an index that more comprehensively considers an SSD approach correlates more with CCFI. Furthermore, only six out of 234 Swedish municipalities ranked in the top 10 percent of both SMSI+ and CCFI, showing that it is difficult to successfully pursue sustainability and prosperity together in practice. Importantly, this research also demonstrates that it is possible to create indices using an SSD approach while outlining the methods for how to do so.

Cuando los miembros de una sociedad tienen que tomar una decisión sobre un conjunto de alternativas suelen usar ciertas reglas que tratan de alcanzar un acuerdo entre sus diferentes intereses. Estas reglas se suelen denominar mecanismos de votación, procedimientos de elección social o, simplemente, elecciones. Las reglas de votación definen escenarios en los que los miembros de la sociedad interaccionan y tratan de obtener el mejor resultado de acuerdo con sus preferencias. Esta tesis doctoral está dedicada al estudio de los incentivos estratégicos de los participantes (votantes y candidatos) en procesos de elección social.
Nuestro análisis se centra en modelos generales en los que se admite que el resultado de la elección consista en un conjunto de alternativas. Aunque resulta natural suponer que sólo una alternativa será finalmente elegida, existen múltiples situaciones en las que este supuesto es sumamente restrictivo. Por ejemplo, podríamos considerar la elección como una etapa intermedia en el proceso de decisión. El objeto del proceso electoral sería reducir el número de alternativas entre las que la sociedad tendría que escoger. Con esta interpretación, nos centraríamos en situaciones en los que existe cierto grado de incertidumbre sobre la resolución final de la elección social.
En esta tesis seguimos dos importantes ramas de la literatura de la teoría de la elección social, el estudio de reglas decisión social no manipulables y el análisis de los problemas de candidatura estratégica.
En primer lugar, siguiendo el trabajo seminal de Dutta, Jackson y Le Breton (Econometrica, 2001) estudiamos los incentivos de los candidatos para entrar o abandonar la lucha electoral con la intención de afectar al resultado de la elección. Si los candidatos comparan conjuntos de candidatos de forma consistente con los postulados de la teoría de la utilidad esperada, cualquier regla de decisión unánime y no dictatorial provee a algún candidato con incentivos a abandonar su candidatura. Sin embargo, si los candidatos comparan los resultados de la elección de acuerdo con métodos menos sofisticados, sí que se pueden obtener resultados positivos.
Seguidamente, pasamos a analizar los incentivos estratégicos de los candidatos en un entorno complementario: en el que el resultado de la elección es explícitamente probabilístico. En esta situación podemos caracterizar la familia de reglas de votación que nunca incentivan la salida de ningún candidato. Sorprendentemente, aunque la familia de dictadores aleatorios juega un papel central dentro de la caracterización, podemos probar que reglas de decisión más flexibles también satisfacen los requerimientos de estabilidad en las candidaturas.
Finalmente, nos centramos en la posibilidad de construir reglas de decisión no manipulables cuando los votantes comparan conjuntos de alternativas de acuerdo con actitudes extremas ante el riesgo. En este contexto, analizamos la compatibilidad entre la condición de no manipulabilidad y otras condiciones de regularidad que han sido propuestas en la literatura como por ejemplo, Resolución Residual. Además, también presentamos los requerimientos en las preferencias de los votantes sobre conjuntos de alternativas que reducen la posibilidad de reglas de decisión no manipulables a reglas dictatoriales.
When a society has to make a choice from an array of alternatives, it usually relies on certain rules that try to reconcile the opposite interest of the members of the society. These rules define environments in which the agents interact and try to obtain the best outcome according to their preferences. This work is devoted to the study of the strategic incentives of the participants in the social decision processes.
We analyse general frameworks in which the outcome of the social choice process can be multivalued. Even when it seems natural to assume that the result of an election as a singleton, there are many situation in which our assumption should not be precluded. For instance, we can consider the social decision process as an interim stage that narrows the social agenda. Another possibility is to consider the set of the possible equilibria that could eventually arise in the voting procedure as the outcome of the election.
Our study focuses on two important branches of the literature, the study of strategy-proof social choice correspondences and the analysis of strategic candidacy in multivalued voting procedures.
First, we study the possibility of constructing non-manipulable social choice correspondences when the voters have strict attitudes towards risk. We analyse the trade-off between strategy-proofness and some regularity conditions proposed in the literature like Residual Resoluteness. Moreover, we introduce necessary conditions for strategy-proof and onto social choice correspondences. We also present the requirements in voters' preferences over sets of alternatives that reduce the possibility of strategy-proof correspondences to dictatorial ones.
Second, we study the incentives of candidates to enter or to exit elections in order to affect strategically the outcome of a voting correspondence. We show that, if candidates form their preferences over sets according to Expected Utility Theory and Bayesian Updating, every unanimous and non dictatorial voting correspondence violates candidate stability, at least a candidate has incentives to leave the ballot at one profile of preferences. We also analyse the implications of using other extension criteria to define candidate stability that open the door to positive results.
Finally, we analyse the strategic incentives of the candidates to withdraw the election in probabilistic environments. We characterise the family of unanimous and candidate stable probabilistic voting procedures when the candidates are expected utility maximisers. Surprisingly, we show that there are rules that are not probabilistic combinations of single-valued candidate stable voting procedures (random dictatorships) that do not provide incentives to the candidates to withdraw the election.

Valves play a critical role in a water distribution system for subsystem isolation and flow or pressure control. Among them, subsystem isolation is required to repair or to rehabilitate a broken component and can be done by closing adjacent valves. To evaluate the role of valves, the concept of â Segmentâ is necessary. A segment consists of a set of pipes and nodes isolated together by closing adjacent valves when a pipe fails. An efficient algorithm to identify segments in a water distribution system is proposed. In addition, when a segment is isolated, an additional subsystem may be disconnected from water sources by the segment isolation. It is a topological unintended isolation. In addition, a hydraulic failure, in terms of pressure types of failures at demand nodes should be considered. These three account for the failure impact of a pipe. Placing valves efficiently improves the reliability of a water distribution system. However, the valve reliability itself is not 100%. Therefore, valve failure consequence should be explored in determining the locations of valves. For this purpose, three methodologies, namely segment-valve matrix algorithm, decision tree approach and simulation are proposed. Another consideration for placing valves is a strategic valving rule, namely N and (N-1) valving rules. Using a formulation for node reliability in terms of failing valves, the reliability difference between the two valving rules is evaluated. We also employ a mixed N and (N-1) valving rule. Another strategic valving rule, a segment size reducing approach minimizing the number of affected customers is proposed. The developed algorithms are utilized to build software, the Strategic Valve Management Model, to solve practical problems. The methodology is applied to three real water distribution systems.
Ph. D.

To achieve a sustainable development, impacts onbiodiversity of urbanisation, infrastructure, land use changesand other developments must be considered on a landscape andregional scale. Landscape ecology can provide a conceptualframework for the assessment of consequences of long-termdevelopment processes like urbanisation on biodiversity on alandscape scale, and for evaluating the impacts of alternativeplanning scenarios. The aim of this study was to explore theeffects of habitat quality, quantity and connectivity on forestbird diversity in an urban-rural gradient. The purpose of theanalyses was to develop knowledge and methods for integratingbiodiversity issues in planning and assessments in anurbanising environment, on landscape and regional scales.

The study area was situated in and around Stockholm, thecapital of Sweden, covering the city centre, suburbs andperi-urban areas. Data on breeding forest birds were collectedthrough bird censuses in an urban-suburban gradient. In orderto embrace also the peri-urban areas for a more completeurban-rural gradient, data on two fragmentation-sensitiveforest grouse species were obtained through a questionnaire tohunters in the whole study area. Response variables in theanalyses were forest bird species richness and diversity,relative species richness and occurrence of single sensitivespecies like selected sedentary forest birds, including theforest grouse species, and red list species. Habitat quality,quantity and connectivity were analysed using available data onabiotic conditions, including urban disturbances, andvegetation in geographical information systems. In addition, afield study on vegetation structure and composition wasperformed in a subset of the smaller sample sites.Relationships between the response variables and habitatquality, quantity and connectivity were explored usingstatistical methods like multivariate statistics and regressionmodelling. Further, for some models, spatial dependencies werequantified and accounted for. When habitat models wereretrieved, they were used for spatial predictions of habitatsuitability. They were also applied on future planningscenarios in order to predict and assess the impacts onsensitive species. In the urban-rural gradient, the foreststructure and composition changed, so that in more urban areas,coniferous forest on rich soils, wet forests and wetlandsbecame less abundant and more scattered. Sensitive birdspecies, tied to these habitat types, were shown to besensitive to habitat fragmentation caused by urbanisation.Large, well-connected habitat patches and aggregations ofsuitable habitat in the landscape had a higher probability ofoccupancy when compared to other patches. For the forest grousespecies, effects of car traffic added to the explanation oftheir distribution. By contrast, deciduous forest was stillquite common in predominantly urban areas, due to both latechanges in land use and a history of human preferences. Certainred listed bird species tied to deciduous forest did not seemto be affected by isolation, and also occurred in suitablehabitats in some highly urbanised areas. Furthermore, relativespecies richness in the urban-suburban gradient was related tomulti-layered deciduous forest habitats with a large amount ofdead wood. Such habitats were associated with natural shorelineand with old pastures and parks. From the derived statisticalmodels, describing the relationships between sensitive speciesand environmental variables, predictive habitat maps could becreated for the present situation and for planning scenarios.The predictions of the impacts on habitats of sensitive speciesmade it possible to quantify, integrate and visualise theeffects of urbanisation scenarios on aspects of biodiversity ona landscape scale.

The membership of the Group of 20 was selected without any official criteria. This paper investigates whether group membership can be explained through the consideration of several different factors that coincide with the mission of the organization. I found strong evidence that membership in the Group of 20 was based on some combination of land mass and economic output. The results demonstrate that these factors are highly predictive of group membership.

Grasslands throughout the world including those in British Columbia have been severely reduced and altered by agricultural production and inappropriate livestock grazing practices. Ongoing degradation of rangelands is a worldwide problem, currently affecting about 680 million hectares of rangelands. Studies on development and application of criteria and indicators for forests and grasslands are often lacking, or have been done on a limited number of sites with relatively narrow ranges of climate and soil type. This study aims to (i) quantify the relationships among soil/vegetation properties known to be affected by grazing to easily-assessed indicators, used in the existing health assessment systems, that do not require laboratory analyses or time consuming measurement, and (ii) to evaluate impacts of grazing on soil aggregate stability on the rough fescue grasslands of the southern interior of British Columbia. During the growing seasons of 2006 and 2007, soil and vegetation properties were measured on nine open grassland sites with a potential natural plant community dominated by rough fescue (Festuca campestris Rydb.) in the southern interior of British Columbia. Each site had at least one area excluded from grazing and all units were classified into different seral stages according to the amount of rough fescue present on the land. Rough fescue cover was found to be a useful indicator of the presence of functioning recovery mechanisms. Percent exposed mineral soil was found to be a sensitive indicator of the degree of soil stability and watershed function, as well as an indicator of the integrity of nutrient cycles and energy flows in rough fescue grasslands. Percent Junegrass cover was not as sensitive an indicator as percent exposed mineral soil, but has general overall strength with many health measures.. Only the 1-2 mm aggregate size class was closely related to most soil and vegetation properties, showing that it is more sensitive than the other aggregate stability parameters to soil and vegetation properties. The results from this study can help rangeland managers and ranchers in determining the rangeland health in their area as well as help researchers understand that only a certain number of parameters need to be assessed.

Mestrado em Economia Monetária e Financeira
Um sistema bancário sólido é de importância fundamental para o bom funcionamento de uma economia, pois estabelece uma ponte entre credores e devedores. A estabilidade financeira, particularmente a estabilidade bancária, tem vindo a ganhar maior foco tanto por parte de autoridades de supervisão como académicos devido à sua relação com a economia real. Esta dissertação pretende utilizar uma ferramenta, o índice de estabilidade bancária agregada (ABSI), para avaliar a estabilidade bancária e seus determinantes em Portugal. Para tal, em primeiro lugar, é construído um índice que reflicta a estabilidade bancária durante o período 2010-2019. Em segundo lugar, com recurso a técnicas de séries temporais, é feita uma análise do impacto dos indicadores macroprudenciais para o sistema bancário português. Os resultados sugerem uma melhoria da estabilidade desde 2017 e, em consonância com a literatura empírica, apontam importantes indicadores macroeconômicos como o taxa de crescimento do índice de preços ao consumidor (% ΔCPI) e indicadores financeiros, como a taxa do multiplicador do segundo dinheiro (M2) em relação ao indicador de produto do produto interno bruto (PIB).
A solid banking system is of key importance for the well-functioning of an economy, as it establishes a bridge between lenders and borrowers. Financial stability, particularly, banking stability,has been gaining a greater focus from supervisory authorities and academics due to its interconnectedness with the real economy. This dissertation aims to use a tool, the aggregate banking stability index (ABSI), to assess banking stability and its determinants in Portugal. In order to do so, firstly, an index reflecting banking stability during the 2010-2019 period is constructed. Secondly, with recourse to time series techniques,an analysis is made on the impact of macroprudential indicators, for the Portuguese banking system.Findingssuggest for an improvement of the stability since 2017 and, in line with the empirical literature,point significant macroeconomic such as the growth rate of the consumer price index (%916;CPI)and financial such as theratio of the secondmoney multiplier (M2) to gross domestic product (GDP) early warning indicators.
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This study investigates the changes in soil fertility due to the different aggregate breakdown mechanisms and it analyses their relationships in different soil-plant systems, using physical aggregates behavior and organic matter (OM) changes as indicators. Three case studies were investigated: i) an organic agricultural soil, where a combined method, aimed to couple aggregate stability to nutrients loss, were tested; ii) a soil biosequence, where OM chemical characterisation and fractionation of aggregates on the basis of their physical behaviour were coupled and iii) a soils sequence in different phytoclimatic conditions, where isotopic C signature of separated aggregates was analysed. In agricultural soils the proposed combined method allows to identify that the severity of aggregate breakdown affected the quantity of nutrients lost more than nutrients availability, and that P, K and Mg were the most susceptible elements to water abrasion, while C and N were mainly susceptible to wetting. In the studied Chestnut-Douglas fir biosequence, OM chemical properties affected the relative importance of OM direct and indirect mechanisms (i.e., organic and organic-metallic cements, respectively) involved in aggregate stability and nutrient losses: under Douglas fir, high presence of carboxylate groups enhanced OM-metal interactions and stabilised aggregates; whereas under Chestnut, OM directly acted and fresh, more C-rich OM was preserved. OM direct mechanism seemed to be more efficient in C preservation in aggregates. The 13C natural abundance approach showed that, according to phytoclimatic conditions, stable macroaggregates can form both around partially decomposed OM and by organic-mineral interactions. In topsoils, aggregate resistance enhanced 13C-rich OM preservation, but in subsoils C preservation was due to other mechanisms, likely OM-mineral interactions. The proposed combined approach seems to be useful in the understanding of C and nutrients fate relates to water stresses, and in future research it could provide new insights into the complexity of soil biophysical processes.

The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the methodology at the intersection of relational and evaluative bibliometrics. Experimental investigations are presented that address the question of how we can most successfully produce estimates of the subject similarity between documents. The results from these investigations are then explored in the context of citation-based research evaluations in an effort to enhance existing citation normalization methods that are used to enable comparisons of subject-disparate documents with respect to their relative impact or perceived utility. This thesis also suggests and explores an approach for revealing the uncertainty and stability (or lack thereof) coupled with different kinds of citation indicators.This suggestion is motivated by the specific nature of the bibliographic data and the data collection process utilized in citation-based evaluation studies. The results of these investigations suggest that similarity-detection methods that take a global view of the problem of identifying similar documents are more successful in solving the problem than conventional methods that are more local in scope. These results are important for all applications that require subject similarity estimates between documents. Here these insights are specifically adopted in an effort to create a novel citation normalization approach that – compared to current best practice – is more in tune with the idea of controlling for subject matter when thematically different documents are assessed with respect to impact or perceived utility. The normalization approach is flexible with respect to the size of the normalization baseline and enables a fuzzy partition of the scientific literature. It is shown that this approach is more successful than currently applied normalization approaches in reducing the variability in the observed citation distribution that stems from the variability in the articles’ addressed subject matter. In addition, the suggested approach can enhance the interpretability of normalized citation counts. Finally, the proposed method for assessing the stability of citation indicators stresses that small alterations that could be artifacts from the data collection and preparation steps can have a significant influence on the picture that is painted by the citationindicator. Therefore, providing stability intervals around derived indicators prevents unfounded conclusions that otherwise could have unwanted policy implications. Together, the new normalization approach and the method for assessing the stability of citation indicators have the potential to enable fairer bibliometric evaluative exercises and more cautious interpretations of citation indicators.

У даній роботі розглянуті питання щодо застосування приладових панелей для вирішення задач бізнес-аналізу, що дозволяє поліпшити якість вирішення задач управління та аналізу діяльності підприємства.
This paper considers the use of indicators dashboards in order to solve business analysis problems. It allows improving the quality of solving the management and analysis problems related to enterprise activities. The relevance of this research is defined by the need for continuous improvement of business performance of Ukrainian and foreign organizations due to the constant calls of the competitive environment. Therefore, this paper discusses the foundations of using dashboards in business analysis, their purpose, and role in organizational management. According to the considered survey, modern organizations tend to be interested in applying dashboards systems. This growing interest depends on huge analytical abilities of operational, tactical, and strategic dashboards that provide information for management decisions on each level of organizational governance. As the example, this work considers the prototype of the operational dashboard intended to visualize the selected indicators of the supply process. The common procedure of building the dashboard system based on indicators is outlined.

In today’s globalized business world enterprises face increasing competition and accompanying internal and external threats that challenge their enterprise strategies. Multiple examples of enterprises show that long-lasting strategies need to be progressively overworked in order to secure competitiveness. One key for long-term competitiveness seems to lie in the ability to find a reasonable ratio of strategic stability and change. Neglecting the tension of strategic stability and change can have fatal consequences. Strategic management research increasingly focuses on this challenge. Lately research on ambidexterity and dynamic capability attempts to explain the underlying issues of proactively balancing strategic tensions in dynamic markets. Yet, there remain a couple of questions that – unanswered – limit the explanatory power of recent research models. Because of conceptual ambiguities around the concepts of ambidexterity and dynamic capabilities, until now it remains unclear how a balance between strategic stability and change is reached and managed, and how the underlying strategic decision and strategic management processes at the organizational level look like. To address these open issues, this work develops an alternative framework of strategic ambidexterity. It is defined as a deliberate mechanism to detect, monitor, steer, coordinate and balance stability and change of the enterprise strategy. It argues that enterprises do not deal with strategic stability and change accidently. Quite on the contrary, the enterprises’ key actors are aware of this challenge and have a mechanism in place that allows them to deliberately and continuously employ the right ratio of strategic stability and change. This deliberate mechanism is assumed to create performance differences. High-performing enterprises have a particular setting of the mechanism that distinguishes them from low-performing peers and that secures their long-term competitiveness. In order to empirically test the mechanism a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) using a sample of 74 mechanical engineering enterprises is performed. As will be shown there are in fact differences between high and low-performing enterprises. The strategic behavior of high-performing enterprises can be classified as Guided Long-Term Inclusive Planning (GLTIP). This work adds new knowledge to the research on ambidexterity and dynamic capabilities and also contributes to the methodological discussion on the analysis of sustainable competitive advantage in today’s globalized and dynamic markets.

Purpose - The purpose of this thesis is to explore what performance indicators that exist within public procurement in defence sector context and how such performance indicators can be categorized.   Methodology - For the purpose of this thesis, an abductive approach was applied. This thesis is characterized as an exploratory multimethod qualitative research, which emphasize a single case study and a comprehensive research literature review. The empirical data was collected using semi-structured interviews, observations and documentary. The empirical data was analyzed using a data display and analysis, whereas a descriptive and content analysis was used for the research literature review.     Findings - Initially, a comparison between the conducted research literature review and the empirical study resulted in 117 performance indicators were abled to be identified. Furthermore, with support from the research literature review, the empirical study and the frame of reference, categorizations of performance indicators were possible. Through research literature review, the author were able to identify eight dimensions cost, quality, time, flexibility, sustainability, innovation, risk and compliance, all of which can be aligned to public procurement. Through the empirical study, seven elements were identified as categories. These elements include business strategy and development, operations management, category management, supplier management, customer management, procurement and expert and system support, all of which with aligned performance indicators.  Through the frame of reference, three decision-levels were used as categorization of performance indicators. The decision-levels could either be strategic, tactical or operational. Finally, a merger of decision-making levels and elements resulted in a conceptual model, visualizing how elements with aligning performance indicators within public procurement could be organized and structured.    Research limitations - At first, this thesis uses only one database for the research literature review, limiting the search result of publications concerning the research topic of this thesis. Secondly, single cases study within the defece sector, which limits the amount of information and may prevent transferability possibilities for other public procurement organizations.   Future research - From the result of this thesis, several potential research opportunities has been discovered. First, following-up and measure PIs in public procurement in order to justify the “real” compliance to rules and regulation. Another one is possible challenges with implementing PIs in public procurement organizations. Lastly, measuring process maturity in public organization would allow benchmarking possibilities among public organizations and defece sector procurement.

Bygg- och anläggningsindustrin brottas med frågor kring produktivitetsutveckling, då inte önskad produktivitet alltid uppnås. För att kunna öka och utveckla produktiviteten bör anläggningsföretag kunna mäta och följa upp sina prestationer. Genom att kunna mäta prestationer skapas en förståelse över hur verksamheten går och i vilken riktning den är på väg. Det finns svårigheter med att ta fram ett tydligt arbetssätt kopplat till målarbete inom anläggning då alla projekt har unika förutsättningar att utgå ifrån. Fel inom anläggningsprojekt kan leda till stora ekonomiska konsekvenser för företaget, och utan en tydlig målbild med relevanta prestationsmått är det svårt att veta om arbetet som utförs ligger i linje med de satta målen eller ej. För att kunna bemöta problemen har forskning inom problemområdet föreslagit att det är viktigt att det finns ett linjerat arbetssätt genom hela organisationen, så kallad strategisk linjering. Då företag inom bygg- och anläggningsbranschen länge blivit kritiserade för sin långsamma utveckling är strategisk linjering av prestationsmått ett intressant område att studera. Det är även ett relativt outforskat område när det kommer till andra studier och speciellt fallstudier inom bygg- och anläggningssektorn. Syftet med examensarbetet är att bidra till en ökad kunskap om strategisk linjering av produktionsmål och prestationsmått och dess specifika implementering inom anläggning. Examensarbetet studerar ett konkret implementeringsarbete avseende strategisk linjering av produktionsmål och prestationsmått inom ett anläggningsföretag. Målet med studien är att, med utgångspunkt i litteratur inom ämnesområdet adressera följande två huvudfrågeställningar: 1.     Hur kan ett anläggningsföretag implementera strategisk linjering mellan produktionsmål och prestationsmått? 2.     Vad kan utgöra hinder respektive möjliggörare vid implementering av strategisk linjering av prestationsmått inom anläggning?   Datainsamlingen har bestått av intervjuer, dokumentinsamling och observationer. Innan datainsamlingen påbörjades utfördes en litteraturstudie inom forskningsområdet strategisk linjering av prestationsmått som ligger till grund för den teoretiska referensramen och den framtagna analysmodellen.   För att möjliggöra implementering av strategisk linjering mellan produktionsmål och prestationsmått krävs en sammanhängande målnedbrytning från ett anläggningsföretags övergripande mål ned till specifika produktionsmål som sedan kan följas upp genom tydliga mätbara prestationsmått. Prestationsmåtten ska vara lätta att förstå och utföra, och vara linjerade med de specifika produktionsmålen som i sin tur är linjerade med anläggningsföretagets övergripande mål. Analysen av litteraturen sammanvägt med fallföretagets förutsättningar visar att det är av värde att ha prestationsmått som både indikerar på vad som sker just nu, och vad som har skett under en viss period för att både kunna vara proaktiva och reaktiva i sitt agerande kopplat mot målarbetet. De prestationsmått som återkommande nämns i litteratur kring strategisk linjering av prestationsmått och som är analyserade i studien för att uppfylla detta är key performance indicators (KPI), performance indicators (PI), result indicators (RI) och key result indicators (KRI). Då projekt inom anläggningsbranschen består av väldigt varierande förutsättningar finns det möjliggörare för att lyckas implementera strategisk linjering av prestationsmått, men det finns även en del hinder.   Det största hindret med strategisk linjering av prestationsmått som upptäcktes i studien är att lyckas få prestationsmåtten tydligt mätbara då olika aktiviteter i ett anläggningsprojekt mäts i olika enheter. Det har visat sig att vara viktigt att alla som ska använda prestationsmåtten har en förståelse varför de ska användas, och hur de ska användas för att få öka möjligheterna för ett gemensamt arbetssätt inom företaget. Ytterligare ett hinder är om prestationsmåtten tas fram utan anknytning till produktionsmål, kritiska framgångsfaktorer, strategi, övergripande mål och vision, vilket skulle bidra till en avsaknad av enhetlighet inom ett anläggningsföretags målarbete. Det sista hindret som studien visar är om prestationsmåtten används på fel sätt och enbart visar resultat på past performance. Möjliggörarna till strategisk linjering av prestationsmått har visat sig vara att tydligt utformade prestationsmätningar bidrar till ett gemensamt arbetssätt, och det blir enklare att kontinuerligt följa upp resultat över tid. Med tydligt utformade prestationsmått ökar sannolikheten att tidigt upptäcka avvikelser som i sin tur kan korrigeras i rätt tid innan problemet hinner växa sig större. Rekommendationerna till fallstudieföretaget och andra anläggningsföretag blir att tydliggöra hur prestationsmåtten ska mätas, och hur de ska följas under projekten. Nästa steg blir att tydligt sprida prestationsmåtten ut i verksamheten för att säkerställa att alla förstår hur de ska användas vilket kan leda till större möjlighet att styra processen i rätt riktning.

The diploma thesis evaluates the strategic position and the level of financial health of a selected internationally operating company. The thesis is divided into three parts. The theoretical part defines the basic theoretical concepts of strategic and financial analysis. The analytical part evaluates the strategic position of the company and its financial situation. The last part of the thesis presents a proposal for the company's expansion strategy.

The general topic of our thesis is forward looking behavior in strategic situations. Mixing theoretical and experimental analysis, we document how strategic thinking is affected by the specific features of a dynamic interaction. The overarching result is that the information regarding decisions that are close to the current one, receive a qualitatively different consideration, with respect to distant ones. That is, the actual decisions are based on reasoning over a limited number of steps, close to actual decison node. We capture this feature of behavior both in a strategic (limited backward induction) and in a non-strategic (limited farsightedness) set up, and we identify relevant consequences on the outcome of the interaction, which powerfullly explain many observed experimental regularities.

In the first essay, we present a general out-of-equilibrium framework for strategic thinking in sequential games. It assumes the agents to take decisions on restricted game trees, according to their (limited) foresight level, following backward induction. Therefore we talk of limited backward induction (LBI). We test for LBI using a variant of the race game. Our design allows to identify restricted game trees and backward reasoning, thus properly disentangling LBI behavior. The results provide strong support in favor of LBI. Most players solve intermediate tasks - i.e. restricted games - without reasoning on the terminal histories. Only a small fraction of subjects play close to equilibrium, and (slow) convergence toward it appears, though only in the base game. An intermediate task keeps the subjects off the equilibrium path longer than in the base game. The results cannot be rationalized using the most popular models of strategic reasoning, let alone equilibrium analysis.

In the second essay, a subtle implication of the model is investigated: the sensitivity of the players’ foresight to the accessibility and completeness of the information they have, using a Centipede game. By manipulating the way in which information is provided to subjects, we show that reduced availability of information is sufficient to shift the distribution of take-nodes further from the equilibrium prediction. On the other hand, similar results are obtained in a treatment where reduced availability of information is combined with an attempt to elicit preferences for reciprocity, through the presentation of the centipede as a repeated trust game. Our results could be interpreted as cognitive limitations being more effective than preferences in determining (shifts in) behavior in our experimental centipede. Furthermore our results are at odds with the recent ones in Cox [2012], suggesting caution in generalizing their results. Reducing the availability of information may hamper backward induction or induce myopic behavior, depending on the strategic environment.

The third essay consists of an experimental investigation of farsighted versus myopic behavior in network formation. Pairwise stability Jackson and Wolinsky [1996] is the standard stability concept in network formation. It assumes myopic behavior of the agents in the sense that they do not forecast how others might react to their actions. Assuming that agents are perfectly farsighted, related stability concepts have been proposed. We design a simple network formation experiment to test these extreme theories, but find evidence against both of them: the subjects are consistent with an intermediate rule of behavior, which we interpret as a form of limited farsightedness. On aggregate, the selection among multiple pairwise stable networks (and the performance of farsighted stability) crucially depends on the level of farsightedness needed to sustain them, and not on efficiency or cooperative considerations. Individual behavior analysis corroborates this interpretation, and suggests, in general, a low level of farsightedness (around two steps) on the part of the agents.
Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion
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Mestrado em Contabilidade, Fiscalidade e Finanças Empresariais
Definir e executar uma estratégia de longo prazo é um dos grandes desafios de um gestor. O Balanced Scorecard foi criado nos anos 90 do século passado, apresentando-se primeiramente como uma ferramenta de avaliação de performance, mas hoje é utilizado como um sistema de gestão estratégica. O contexto atual de enorme globalização dos mercados e crescente competitividade entre as empresas desperta cada vez mais os gestores para a importância dos ativos intangíveis para atingir vantagens competitivas. A metodologia do BSC explica, através das relações causa-efeito entre objetivos estratégicos, traduzidos em indicadores financeiros e não financeiros, a forma como os ativos intangíveis podem potenciar os ativos tangíveis. Esta combinação possibilita coordenar e alinhar a estratégia global da organização com as tarefas do dia-a-dia. O presente trabalho apresenta uma proposta de Balanced Scorecard para uma empresa da indústria farmacêutica. A partir da missão, visão e valores da empresa são definidos objetivos, indicadores e metas. Pretende-se que esta proposta de BSC seja implementada e permita à empresa o acompanhamento da estratégia, a sua comunicação a todos os níveis organizacionais, e a consequente monitorização dos resultados obtidos.
Defining and executing a long-term strategy is one of the biggest challenges for a manager. The Balanced Scorecard was created in the 90´s of the last century as a performance evaluation tool; however it has evolved to a strategic management system in nowadays. The current context of enormous market globalization and growing competitiveness among companies is increasingly alerting managers to the importance of intangible assets in achieving competitive advantages. The BSC methodology explains, through cause and-effect relationships between strategic objectives, which are translated into financial and non-financial indicators, how intangible assets can leverage tangible assets. This combination allows coordinating and aligning the organization's overall strategy with operational tasks. The present work develops a Balanced Scorecard proposal for a company in the pharmaceutical industry. From the mission, vision and values of the company are defined objectives, indicators and targets. The goal is to provide the company with a BSC proposal that can be implemented, allowing the company to follow the execution of its strategy, to communicate that strategy to all organizational levels, and to monitor the results obtained.
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Antioxidant properties of green tea (GT) have been widely reported. The antioxidant capacity (AOC) of green tea was investigated to include the effect of infusion time over 24 hours. The AOC was measured by the FRAP, DPPH, TEAC, and CBA assays. It was proven according that after 2 hours of brewing, tea has higher AOC and Total phenolic content (TPC), these significantly decreases after 4 hours. GT has a high amount of polyphenols with potent AOC. However, interactions between polyphenols and food matrix may decrease their potential benefit. The objective of this experiment was to test the hypothesis that the addition of milk (full fat, semi-skimmed, and skimmed) may affect the phenolic content and AOC was measured. The results indicated the plain GT had highest activity; then tea with FFM had a significantly higher amount of AO than others. Plant extracts possess health promoting properties. The objective of this study was to determine the TPC and AOA of different concentrations of spice extracts (fennel, clove, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, anise, and black pepper) with DPPH, TEAC and Rancimat methods. At low concentration, black pepper had a highest activity but at high concentration, ginger showed the highest activity among the extracts. The TPC for spice extract was greater for anise. Results provided evidence that the studied spices may be used as a natural AO. In recent decades, saliva has emerged as a new way to diagnose and investigate basic health problems. In this study, salivary TPC and AOC were measured after consumption a single cup of green tea with and without of milk. In a healthy adult crossover design. The salivary AOC and TPC were measured before and after consumption up to 3 hours. Results indicated that milk decreased AOC of GT when compared with the control water. The activity reached peak 1 hour after ingestion and then decreased returning to the baseline. Results confirmed that saliva could be used as an easier and safer alternative to blood to assess AOA in humans.

Encouraging greater implementation of conservation agriculture practices such as reduced tillage and cover crops may require better understanding of the effect of these practices on soil health. The overall objective of this study was to quantify soil health dynamics due to conservation agriculture practices and address methodological gaps in terms of measuring soil health parameters. We developed five sites across the state of Virginia; each site had replicated plots with combinations of reduced tillage versus disk tillage and wintertime cover crops versus no cover crops as experimental treatments. Soil and plant samples were collected 1-2 times per year for 3 years, and were analyzed for 30 soil health parameters. The parameters were first evaluated to determine if any consistently detected treatment differences. We then quantified the temporal dynamics of the eight most responsive soil health parameters, while considering influences of soil water content at time of tillage, cover crop biomass, and previous land management history. Of the analyzed parameters, only 2-4 mm aggregate stability and magnesium showed high responsiveness and consistency in identifying tillage and cover crop effects. None of the parameters detected treatment differences in all sites or at all times, yet samples collected after high biomass cover crops or after tillage in wet conditions tended to show significant treatment differences for multiple indicators. The previous history of management in each site may have affected trends in aggregate stability, but did not appear to influence other indicators. As soil aggregate stability was found to be the most important soil health parameter, our third study developed an improved method for measuring soil aggregate stability. This new method, Integrated Aggregate Stability (IAS), interprets aggregate stability using a laser diffraction machine. Overall, IAS showed higher correlation with the wet sieving method (R2 = 0.49 to 0.59) than widely used median aggregate size (d50) (R2 = 0.09 to 0.27). IAS can also quantify stability of macro- and micro-sized aggregates, which d50 cannot. When comparing between IAS and wet sieving, IAS requires considerably less time and sample amounts. Our fourth study focused on creating an inexpensive yet accurate tool for measuring soil respiration, as microbial assessments based on respiration rates have great potential for detecting rapid changes in soil health. Using an Arduino-based infrared gas analyzer (IRGA) sensor, we developed the Soil Microbial Activity Assessment Contraption (SMAAC) for less than $150. Our results show that SMAAC provided consistent readings with a commercial IRGA unit when tested using three different configurations. Altogether, the research presented in this dissertation identifies important soil health parameters and quantifies their temporal and between-site dynamics. Using this narrower set of indicators can help producers and practitioners save resources when conducting measurements to assess soil health effects of agricultural practices. Further, this work also provides improved measurement techniques for useful soil health parameters like aggregate stability and soil respiration. These findings and innovations should help to encourage greater adoption of agricultural management practices that build and preserve soil health.
Doctor of Philosophy
If we want to make sure that ample and safe food is available to future generations, then it is time that we produce food without damaging the soil. Many widely used soil management techniques like tillage and leaving the field bare can harm the soil and decrease productivity in the long run. One potential technique to produce food while protecting the soil and environment is conservation agriculture, which can include reduced tillage and cover cropping. Reduced tillage is a technique in which we grow food without majorly disturbing the soil, while cover crops are planted when cash crops are not in the field in order to improve or sustain the soil. Understanding the soil-related benefits of conservation agriculture practices is important to encourage farmers to adopt these practices. In this study we tested the effects on soils of reduced tillage and cover crop practices versus conventional tillage and bare soil practices, using five locations across Virginia. We also developed improved methods for measuring two informative soil parameters. We found that, when looking at all of our five sites, the stability of soil aggregates, the rate at which water enters soil, and the nutrients in surface soils were all affected by the type of management that the soils were subjected to. Reduced tillage increased stability of soil aggregates when compared with conventional till. This increased stability of aggregates indicators lower potential for surface water runoff, erosion, and flooding when we practice reduced tillage. Cover cropping also increased stability of soil aggregates, especially when the cover crops attained substantial above-ground mass. Soil nutrients (which are essential for plants to grow) were also overall higher in the surface soil layers under no-till. Since the stability of soil aggregates was found to be an important benefit of CA practices, we also perceived a need for a better method for measuring stability of these aggregates. In response, we developed a new index called Integrated Aggregate Stability (IAS). IAS was found to give similar results as established methods, but the time required to get IAS result is about 10 minutes, whereas the time required for established methods like wet sieving is around 2 days. IAS measurements are therefore both accurate and quick to perform. We also focused on developing an inexpensive tool for measuring soil respiration. Soil respiration-based measurements help us to understand the activity of microbes in the soil. These microbes are very important for soils to function. Our tool, Soil Microbial Activity Assessment Contraption (SMAAC), was very consistent with a currently used tool and shows high potential for future use. Altogether, we found that no-tillage and cover cropping can increase stability of soil aggregates even within 1-3 years of starting those practices. No-till can also increase nutrient concentrations in the top soil layer. The tools and innovations developed in this study have the potential to increase the ability of farmers to assess soil health and also encourage greater adoption of conservation agriculture practices.

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South African municipalities are under pressure to improve the current state of the water andwastewater service delivery industry. Knowing that there exists a need for improvement within the municipal water and wastewater industry, the Department of Water Affairs (DWA) launched a municipal strategic self-assessment (MuSSA) initiative to evaluate the business health of the industry. MuSSA asks high level technical management staff five key questions about sixteen key business attribute areas. This study seeks to determine if theMuSSA data can be used to aid municipal decision making, by way of drawing correlations between key performance indicators contained in the MuSSA questions. The correlations are to bring forth areas thatmust be focussed on to improve selected attribute areas requiring attention within municipalities. Three areas have been chosen from theMuSSA data to be investigated in this research project namely; (i)staff skill levels and capacity, (ii)non-revenue water and (iii)the execution of planned water services activities. In the MuSSA questionnaire there are questions addressing each of (i), (ii) and (iii) to determine the municipality’s performance in each of the three areas. Non-parametric statistics are used to determine with which of the MuSSA questions’ answers the relevant questions’ answers significantly correlate for (i), (ii) and (iii). Engineering judgement and expert opinion are used to determine if the questions correlating with the relevant questions for (i), (ii) and (iii) either affect, are affected by or have no relation with the question. These results are then organized using a flow diagram and are discussed in detail by way of a bivariate histogramof each correlation. The investigation revealed that municipalities not having sufficient technical management capacity are not performing well on at least one of the five questions asked on eleven of the sixteen MuSSA business attributes. The skill level of water and wastewater treatment works staff were found to be strongly affected by technical management capacity and skill, water services planning and financial sustainability of the organization. Municipalities training technical management and operational staff showed a high percentage of skilled operational staff employed at treatment works. Water and wastewater treatment works staff capacity are very dependent of the level of skill and capacity of technical management employed by the municipality. Municipalities having appropriate budgets and funding to appoint and train staff showed a tendency to be better at operational staff capacity building than those lacking funding. The reduction of non-revenue water (NRW) showed strong correlations with technical management and network operational repair staff skills and development. Municipalities employing staff with correct skills and experience combined, with commitment from management to reduce NRW by way of monitoring and practicing of pressuremanagement programs, significantly reduced NRW percentages. Equally crucial to the reduction of NRW, as revealed from the investigation, is the practicing of infrastructure asset management within the municipality. It was concluded that municipalities should strive to reach a NRW percentage of 30% or less to become financially stable, due to correlation between funding of routine operations and building up of cash reserve versus NRW percentages. Municipalities wanting to improve the execution rate of planned water services activities are recommended to address, among other factors, technical management skill levels and capacity. Municipalities lacking technical management skill and capacity reported a low percentages of planned activities being executed. Also of high significance, is the technical operational staff skill levels and capacity, due to their involvement in the execution of planned activates. The involvement of council members in water and wastewater planning and the reporting of data and issues to council greatly enhancesmunicipalities’ abilities to execute planned activities. This can mainly be contributed to increased funding in situations where council members support planned projects. The lack of funding was found to be a major inhibitor of the execution of planned activities. Even though a great deal of municipalities indicated that they are effectively spending allocated budgets, this positive indication is not seen in the percentage municipalities executing planned activities and leads to the conclusion that there is a lack of funding. Municipalities taking actions in other areas of their business such as infrastructure assetmanagement and planning were more effective at executing planned activities. In all, it was concluded that technicalmanagement and operational staff skill levels and capacity need to be present for amunicipality to function properly. Municipalities also are in need of funding to execute planned activities and need to become financially self sustainable. One way of working towards the goal of financial self sustainability is the reduction of NRW percentages. The data from this investigation shows great similarity with the literature consulted on the current state and functioning of South African municipalities. The statistical analysis of the MuSSA data accurately revealed correlations among key performance indicators in municipalities. The conclusion can be drawn that investigation of correlations amongMuSSA questions can be used to help aid municipal decision making.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Suid-Afrikaanse munisipaliteite is onder druk om die huidige toestand van die water en afvalwater dienslewering te verbeter. Met die wete dat daar ’n behoefte vir verbetering in die munisipale water en afvalwater bedryf is het dieDepartement vanWaterwese ’n munisipale strategiese self-assessering (MuSSA) projekte geïnisieer omdie welstand van die bedryf te evalueer. MuSSA vra hoë vlak tegniese bestuurs personeel vyf kern vrae oor sestien sleutel besigheids aspekte. Hierdie studie poogomvas te stel of dieMuSSA data gebruik kan word om munisipale besluitneming te help verbeter, deur middel van die evaluering van korrelasies tussen die sleutel prestasie aanwysers soos vervat in MuSSA vrae. Die korrelasies bring na vore gebiede waar op gefokus moet word om geselekteerde kenmerk areas binne munisipaliteite, wat aandag vereis, te verbeter. Drie areas uit die MuSSA-data is ondersoek in hierdie navorsings projek naamlik; (i) personeel vaardigheidsvlakke en kapasiteit, (ii) nie-inkomste water en (iii) die uitvoering van die beplande waterdienste aktiwiteite. In die MuSSA vraelys is daar vrae wat elk van (i), (ii) en (iii) aanspreek om die munisipaliteit se prestasie op die drie gebiede te monitor. Nie-parametriese statistiek word gebruik om die oorblywendeMuSSA vrae wat se antwoorde met die relevante vrae se antwoorde korreleer vir (i), (ii) en (iii) vas te stel. Kundigheid en oordeel van ingenieurs word gebruik om te bepaal of die vrae wat korreleer met die relevante vrae vir (i), (ii) en (iii) die relevante vraag beïnvloed, beïnvloed word deur die relevante vraag of geen verhouding het met die relevante vraag nie. Hierdie resultate word dan georganiseer met behulp van ’n vloeidiagram en word in detail bespreek deur middel van ’n tweeveranderlike histogram van elke korrelasie. Die ondersoek het aan die lig gebring dat munisipaliteite wat nie genoegsame tegniese bestuurs kapasiteit het nie swak presteer op ten minste een van die vyf vrae van elf van die sestienMuSSA besigheid eienskappe. Die personeel vaardigheidsvlakke van water en afvalwater behandelings werke word sterk beïnvloed deur die tegniese bestuurskapasiteit en -vaardigheid, waterdienste beplanning en die finansiële volhoubaarheid van die organisasie. Munisipaliteite wat opleiding van tegniese bestuur en operasionele personeel uitvoer het ’n hoë persentasie van opgeleide operasionele personeel werksaam by suiweringswerke. Water en afvalwater behandelingswerke se personeelkapasiteit is baie afhanklik van die vlak van vaardigheid en kapasiteit van tegniese bestuur in diens van die munisipaliteit. Munisipaliteite met toepaslike begrotings en befondsing om personeel aan te stel en op te lei het ’n neiging om beter te presteer met kapasiteitsbou van operasionele personeel as die wat aan ’n gebrek ly van befondsing. Die vermindering van nie-inkomste water (NRW) het sterk korrelasies met tegniese bestuur en netwerkherstel personeelvaardighede en ontwikkeling. Munisipaliteite wat personeel met die korrekte vaardighede en ervaring in diens het, gekombineer met bestuur wat dit nastreef om NRW te verminder by wyse van monitering en uitvoering van druk beheer in water netwerke het aansienlik kleiner NRWpersentasies. Ewe noodsaaklik vir die vermindering van NRW, soos geopenbaar deur die ondersoek is die beoefening van interne infrastruktuur batebestuur deur diemunisipaliteit. Daar is tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat munisipaliteite daarna moet streef om ’n NRW persentasie van 30% of minder te bereik om finansieel stabiel te word, as gevolg van die korrelasie tussen befondsing van roetine bedrywighede en die opbou van kontant reserwe teenoor NRWpersentasies. Munisipaliteitewat die uitvoeringskoers van beplande waterdienste aktiwiteitewil verbeter, word aanbeveel om onder andere, tegniese bestuurs vaardigheids vlakke en kapasiteit aan te spreek. Munisipaliteite wat nie tegniese bestuursvaardigheid en -kapasiteit het nie, berig dat ’n lae persentasie van beplande aktiwiteite uitgevoer word. Die tegniese operasionele personeel vaardigheidsvlakke en kapasiteit, as gevolg van hul betrokkenheid in die uitvoering van beplande aktiwiteite is ook van groot belang. Die betrokkenheid van lede van die raad by water en afvalwater beplanning en die rapportering van data en kwessies aan die raad verhoog baiemunisipaliteite se vermoëns om beplande aktiwiteite uit te voer. Dit kan hoofsaaklik toegeskryf word aan verhoogde befondsing in situasies waar raadslede beplande projekte ondersteun. Dit is gevind dat die gebrek aan befondsing ’n groot inhibeerder van die uitvoering van beplande aktiwiteite is. Alhoewel ’n meerderheid van die munisipaliteite aangedui het dat hulle begrotings effektief spandeer, word dit egter nie weerspieël in die persentasie munisipaliteite wat beplande aktiwiteite uivoer nie en lei dit tot die gevolgtrekking dat daar n gebrek aan befondsing is. Munisipaliteite wat klem lê op ander gebiede van hul besigheid soos, infrastruktuur batebestuur en beplanning was meer effektief met die uitvoering van die beplande aktiwiteite. Daar is tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat tegniese bestuur en operasionele personeel vaardigheidsvlakke en kapasiteit noodsaaklik is vir ’n munisipaliteit om behoorlik te funksioneer. Daar is ook ’n behoefte aan befondsing by munisipaliteite om beplande aktiwiteite uit te voer en munisipaliteite moet finansieel onafhanklik en lewensvatbaar word. Een manier om te werk te gaan om finansiële self volhoubaarheid te bereik, is die vermindering van NRW persentasies. Die data van hierdie ondersoek toon groot ooreenkomste met die literatuur wat geraadpleeg is oor die huidige stand en funksionering van Suid-Afrikaanse munisipaliteite. Die statistiese analise van die MuSSA data het akkurate korrelasies geopenbaar tussen die sleutel prestasie-aanwysers inmunisipaliteite. Die gevolgtrekking kan gemaak word dat die ondersoek in terme van die korrelasie tussen MuSSA vrae gebruik kan word om munisipale besluitneming te help verbeter.

Abstract Purpose: The aim of this thesis is to contribute to a richer understanding of the two management control systems, Balanced Scorecard (BSC) and Tableau de Bord (TDB), and their ability to function in a real life setting, as an important element for efficiently support organization’s strategy. Design/Methodology/Approach: A case study, containing Company A, was executed through a qualitative approach with the intention to connect the theories, the control systems BSC and TDB, to a real life setting. The empirical findings are mainly based upon information collected through semi-structured interviews. Findings: The BSC is perceived as strict and controlling in its nature and as primarily establishing facts, while the TDB enhances communication with an educational intention. Regardless of the numerous of advantages the use of a TDB would entail, the current structure of Company A, with its hierarchical approach, resists its implementation. Theory, together with the employee’s desire, might imply TDB as the optimal alternative for supporting the strategy, however, the reality of Company A, with the directors of the board as monitors and decision-makers, suggests the use of a BSC. As a result of the correlation between the choice of MCS and the ideology of an organization, BSC will continue to be perceived as the optimal practice within Company A as long as the top-down approach remains. Whether the theory or the reality is to decide which control system to be used is for the organization to determine. Regardless of the organization’s choice of control system, advantages will emerge if a genuine implementation is completed in close connection to the theoretical framework. Research Limitations: The thesis intends to investigate the connection between control system and strategy, however, without providing any explicit theoretical framework regarding strategy. Nor will the strategic content of Company A be further analyzed. The small sample limits the ability to provide any general conclusions, however, similarities and parallels can be drawn and associated to related situations. Practical Implications: The thesis is mainly concerned with highlighting the practical relevance of the theories employed. Further Research: The TDB practice will require a more developed acknowledgment beyond its domestic origin before it can be recognized among organizations as a valid alternative to the BSC. In order for the BSC to continue being perceived as a respected control system, there is a need of a continued development of the theory in correspondence to the rapid changes in the business environment, which in turn would allow for greater flexibility in its use. Further, there is a need to emphasize the importance for organizations to involve their employees in open dialogue, which would ensure more precise information when implementing a BSC. This applies to both internal and external information.

O estudo introduz o planejamento estratégico e o uso de avaliação de desempenho por meio de indicadores para a melhoria dos processos de serviços em uma clínica de Fisioterapia, com a proposta de sistematização de um modelo estruturado a partir do MEIO – Modelo de Estratégia, Indicadores e Operações proposto por Müller (2014), em dois dos seus três alicerces: planejamento estratégico e avaliação de desempenho. O terceiro elemento do modelo MEIO é gerenciamento por processos, que foi minimamente utilizado para apoiar o uso de indicadores no estudo. O estudo foi aplicado em duas etapas, sendo: Etapa 1 - Planejamento Estratégico, organizado em 4 fases e Etapa 2 – Indicadores de avaliação do desempenho, estruturado em 6 fases. Os resultados da sistematização do planejamento estratégico permitiu à empresa o desenvolvimento de uma identidade organizacional com definição de missão, visão, valores e visão de futuro, além do envolvimento de todos os colaboradores na construção de objetivos estratégicos capazes de nortear a proposta da etapa 2, em que os indicadores de avaliação do desempenho foram estruturados em três perspectivas, sendo (i) gerencial, (ii) assistência da Fisioterapia e (iii) colaboradores. É possível concluir que esta estruturação foi aderente às características e necessidades da empresa estudada e que o modelo MEIO pode ser aplicado em pequenas empresas de serviços de saúde, no caso a clínica de Fisioterapia, uma vez que sua aplicação é detalhada e de fácil compreensão.
The study introduces the strategic planning and the use of performance evaluation through indicators for the improvement of service processes in a physiotherapy clinic, with the proposal of systematization of a structured model from the MIDDLE - Model Strategy and Indicators operations proposed by Müller (2014), in two of its three pillars: strategic planning and performance evaluation. The third element of the MID model is management by processes, which was minimally used to support the use of indicators in the study. The study was applied in two stages, as follows: Step 1 - Strategic Planning, organized in four phases and Step 2 - Performance Evaluation indicators, divided into 6 stages. The results of the systematization of strategic planning enabled the company to develop an organizational identity with defining mission, vision, values and vision, plus the involvement of all employees in building strategic objectives able to guide the proposal from step 2, where performance measurement indicators have been structured into three perspectives, namely (i) management, (ii) assistance of physical therapy and (iii) employees. It was concluded that this arrangement was adhering to the characteristics and needs of the company studied and that the MID model can be applied in small business health care, if the physiotherapy clinic, once your application is detailed and easy to understand.

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O objetivo geral desta pesquisa foi verificar se a metodologia do Balanced Scorecard (BSC) permite o alinhamento das diferentes diretivas adotadas pelo Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia da Bahia (IFBA), visando à definição de uma estratégia única. Para o alcance do objetivo geral, três objetivos específicos foram definidos: (1) identificar e analisar criticamente a missão, a visão, o planejamento estratégico e demais diretivas adotadas pela gestão estratégica do IFBA, (2) entender a relação existente entre o Planejamento Estratégico, o Termo de Acordo de Metas e Compromissos-TAMC e os Indicadores de Gestão do IFBA sob a ótica do BSC e (3) construir e validar uma proposta de mapa estratégico para o IFBA. A pesquisa tem caráter qualitativo, o método adotado foi o estudo de caso, desenvolvido a partir de pesquisa bibliográfica, documental, observação participante e entrevistas semiestruturadas. Os temas que constituíram a fundamentação teórica das análises realizadas foram o planejamento e a gestão estratégica, o Balanced Scorecard-BSC e os indicadores de gestão. A pesquisa documental e a observação participante proporcionaram o alcance do primeiro objetivo específico da pesquisa. Com base nos critérios de abrangência, nível de obrigatoriedade perante instâncias hierárquicas superiores, e compatibilidade com a metodologia do BSC foram definidas as principais diretivas adotadas pela gestão estratégica do IFBA e que serviriam de base para as análises realizadas nesta pesquisa. Para alcance do segundo objetivo especifico, buscou-se entender a relação existente entre estas diretivas selecionadas. O resultado foi a construção de um quadro, o qual demonstrou que a partir das perspectivas do BSC era possível promover o alinhamento entre as diretivas que inicialmente apresentaram-se desconexas. A representação gráfica do quadro resultou no alcance do terceiro objetivo específico, quando então foi construído o mapa estratégico proposto para o IFBA, o qual foi validado através de entrevistas semiestruturadas com a alta gestão do Instituto. Como produto desta validação surgiu o mapa estratégico ajustado conforme sugestões dos entrevistados. Como produto desta validação surgiu o mapa estratégico ajustado conforme sugestões dos entrevistados. Assim, apesar das lacunas encontradas, a pesquisa concluiu que a metodologia do Balanced Scorecard (BSC) permite o alinhamento das diferentes diretivas adotadas pelo IFBA por meio da utilização de instrumentos a exemplo do quadro e do mapa estratégico Este alinhamento foi desenvolvido a partir do estabelecimento das relações de causa e efeito entre os objetivos do PDI e as metas do TAMC, sob a lógica das perspectivas do BSC e dos indicadores de gestão. Por fim, alguns fatores limitadores e sugestões de pesquisas futuras foram apresentados. The objective of this research was to determine whether the methodology of Balanced Scorecard (BSC) allows the alignment of the different policies adopted by the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Bahia (IFBA), in order to define a single strategy. Three specific goals were defined to achieve the general objective: (1) identify and critically analyze the mission, vision, strategic planning and other policies adopted by IFBA’s strategic management, (2) to understand the relationship between strategic planning, Targets and Commitments Agreement Term-TAMC and IFBA’s management indicators from BSC perspective and (3) to construct and to validate a strategy map proposition for IFBA. This research holds a qualitative nature and adopts the case study method, developed from literature, documentary review, participant observation and semi-structured interviews. The constituent themes of the theoretical basis concerning the performed analysis were: planning and strategic management, the Balanced Scorecard-BSC and management indicators. Documentary review and participant observation provided the achievement of this research first specific goal. Based on criteria including coverage, level of subordination to hierarchically superior cells and compatibility with BSC methodology, the main policies adopted by IFBA’s strategic management were defined, those of which would serve as a base for the analysis performed within this research. In order to achieve the second specific goal, it was necessary to comprehend the relation between those selected policies. This process entailed the construction of a framework that has shown that, from the perspectives of the BSC, it was possible to promote the alignment between said policies, which, at first, seemed unconnected. The graphical representation of the framework resulted in the achievement of the third specific goal, when it was built the strategic map proposed for IFBA and validated through semi-structured interviews with the high management of the Institute. As a product of this validation, the adjusted strategy map emerged, in agreement with suggestions from respondents. Therefore, despite gaps found, this research concluded that BSC methodology allows the alignment of the different policies adopted by the IFBA through the use of instruments such as the framework and the strategic map. This alignment was developed through establishing cause-and-effect relations between PDI objectives and TAMC goals, from BSC and management indicators rationale. Finally, some limiting factors and suggestions for future research were presented.

The intense economic growth that Brazil has experienced in recent decades and its consequent explosive motorization process have resulted in an undesirable impact: the continuously increasing trend in traffic fatality numbers. This study presents a research on indicators and indexes with the objective of delivering both overall and disaggregated evidence about the road safety performance and targets in fatality reduction in Brazil at the state level taking the exposure into account. The intention is to support road safety strategic analysis in the country and to contribute to improve this critical scene. The methodological structure of this thesis consists of the following three main parts: (I) diagnosing the road safety situation at the state level using final outcome related information, in particular traffic fatality risk data; (II) setting a target number of traffic fatalities based on the relationship between the exposure level and the number of traffic fatalities in each state; and (III) suggesting domains for improvements based on the research of safety performance indicators representing three domains (road user, environment and vehicle) throughout the states. From a benchmarking point of view, we divided the Brazilian states into three separate clusters in order to provide more realistic state performance comparisons. After a data collection and indicators selection step, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was the method used for executing the different steps, with the application of four different types of models specially developed for the identified research purposes. In addition, by means of bootstrapping the DEA scores we measured the sensitivity of the results to possible variations in the input data, for example concerning data quality and availability. As a result, we provided a road safety diagnosis per state as well as traffic fatality targets according to different perspectives: the entire group of road users (motorized and nonmotorized ones), motor vehicle occupants, and finally a disaggregated performance evaluation by running four separate DEA models (for motorcycle, car, truck and bus). Moreover, the SPI research including a hierarchy of 27 safety performance indicators expressed the states relative performance on the main road safety domains. Lastly, state profiles compiling all this information summarized the \"per state\" findings.
O intenso crescimento econômico que o Brasil tem experimentado nas últimas décadas e seu consequente explosivo processo de motorização resultaram em um impacto indesejado: a tendência contínua do aumento do número de mortes no trânsito. Este estudo apresenta uma pesquisa acerca de índices e indicadores com o objetivo de fornecer evidências gerais e desagregadas sobre o desempenho da segurança viária e metas de redução no número de mortes no Brasil no âmbito estadual, levando a exposição em consideração. A intenção é embasar uma análise estratégica da segurança viária no país e contribuir para melhorar este cenário crítico. A estrutura metodológica desta tese consiste das seguintes três partes principais: (I) diagnóstico da situação da segurança viária no nível estadual utilizando informações relacionadas ao resultado final, em particular dados de risco de morte no trânsito; (II) estabelecer uma meta para o número de mortes no trânsito para cada estado; e (III) sugerir domínios para melhorias baseado em pesquisa de indicadores de desempenho da segurança viária voltada a três domínios (usuário da via, ambiente e veículo). Sob a ótica do benchmarking, dividiram-se os estados brasileiros em três clusters para proporcionar comparações mais realistas dos desempenhos estaduais. Após uma etapa de coleta e seleção de indicadores, utilizou-se o método de Data Envelopment Analyis (DEA) para executar as diferentes etapas, com a aplicação de quatro tipos distintos de modelos especialmente desenvolvidos para os propósitos da pesquisa. Além disso, por meio de bootstrapping dos escores obtidos com a DEA, mediu-se a sensibilidade dos resultados a possíveis variações nos dados de entrada, no que diz respeito a, por exemplo, qualidade e disponibilidade dos dados. Como resultado, propicia-se, a partir de diferentes perspectivas, um diagnóstico da segurança viária por estado, assim como metas no número de mortes: para todo o grupo de usuários (motorizados e não-motorizados), ocupantes de veículos motorizados, e finalmente uma avaliação desagregada por meio de quatro modelos separados (para motocicletas, automóveis, caminhões e ônibus). Adicionalmente, a pesquisa de indicadores de desempenho da segurança considerando a hierarquia de 27 indicadores expressou os desempenhos relativos dos estados nos principais domínios da segurança viária. Por fim, perfis estaduais compilando todas estas informações resumem os resultados para os estados.

The main purpose of this study is to define important criteria to consider when selecting and implementing performance measures on a strategic, tactical and operational level. The thesis is built around the questions "What to measure" and "How to measure". Generally within the thesis the question of "what" concerns different frameworks and working procedures that can be used to determine what to measure, while the question of "how" concerns criteria to consider when implementing performance measures, such as how to design measure formulas and targets, how to communicate measures, etc.

The study has been conducted as a qualitative study, where the empirical data has been collected through interviews and by using information material from the case company. The purpose of the case study was to test the theoretical framework. The studied case company was Sandvik Process Systems, a product area within the Sandvik group. The case study was complemented by two minor comparative studies of companies also belonging to the Sandvik group. In total the study comprised interviews with 15 persons within different organizational levels.

Several different frameworks aiming to help organizations to answer the question of what to measure have been developed during the last decades. The frameworks differ more or less, but theorists appear to agree on several matters. My conclusions of the most important criteria to be taken into consideration when answering the question of what to measure is:

* Complement the outcome measures, i.e. the financial measures that show the results from past efforts, by pro-active performance drivers - the measures that drive the future performance

* Ensure linkage between performance measures and company vision and strategic objectives

* Involve the co-workers in the process of developing measures

* Use an overall comprehensive view and methodic approach

* Limit the amount of measures

* Retain the methodic approach – manage the performance measurement system

After answering the question of what to measure there are also a number of important criteria to consider when it comes to how to measure and implement measures into the organization:

* Define measure purposes

* Assign reasonable targets to the measures

* Consider the field of application when designing a performance measure

* Communicate the performance measures

* Specify the measures

Despite attempting to simplify a complicated reality the frameworks aiming to help organizations to select measures are all rather complex. Hence, to develop and implement a PMS (Performance Measurement System) by the book will imply an extensive project for any company. How time- and resource demanding the project will become will differ from one company to another. Thus, a general conclusion of this study is that a company must start out from its own conditions in order for the development and implementation not to become too complex a project, where the organization loses focus and fails to manage the project all the way through.

Companies must consider factors such as the size and complexity of the organization, how the business is controlled and managed as well as the structure and control of an already existing PMS. For large organizations, already possessing a rather unstructured PMS, the best approach could be to look upon the development as a constantly on-going activity in the spirit of continuous improvements, rather than a complex project running over a limited time. A vital success factor is also to communicate the intentions to the whole organization at an early stage. If the whole organization is aware of the intention and the purpose this will facilitate the process of developing and implementing a successful PMS.

Для соблюдения оптимального объема оборотных активов и источников их финансирования управленческому персоналу предприятия необходимо регулярно проводить мониторинг и оценку финансовой устойчивости. Короткий срок хранения товара с учетом его наибольшей доли в составе запасов компании и высокие значения кредиторской задолженности при практике отсроченных платежей создают риск повышения уровня долговых обязательств у предприятий розничной торговли продовольственными товарами. Целью магистерской диссертации является разработка научно-методических рекомендаций по совершенствованию оценки финансовой устойчивости предприятий розничной торговли продовольственными товарами. В работе рассматривается понятие финансовой устойчивости, теоретические и методические основы ее анализа, вопросы оценки финансовой устойчивости предприятий розничной торговли продовольственными товарами. При написании работы применялись методы общенаучного исследования, логический подход, сравнение изучаемых показателей, метод финансовых коэффициентов, системный подход и др. В магистерской диссертации был разработан методический подход к оценке финансовой устойчивости предприятий розничной торговли продовольственными товарами, результатом которого стали сформированный специфический комплекс показателей финансовой устойчивости для предприятий розничной торговли продовольственными товарами, отличающийся оптимальным количеством показателей, исключением дублирования применяемых коэффициентов, который позволяет повысить точность оценки, а также усовершенствованный метод сравнительной диагностики и мониторинга финансовой устойчивости, включающий специфический способ объединения показателей в рейтинговой оценке, который позволяет принимать лучший конечный итог по рейтингу в качестве эталонного (нормативного) при принятии решений по повышению финансовой устойчивости.
To comply with the optimal volume of current assets and sources of their financing, the management personnel of the enterprise must regularly monitor and assess financial stability.The short shelf life of the goods, taking into account its largest share in the company's inventory, and the high values of accounts payable in the practice of deferred payments, create the risk of an increase in the level of debt obligations of food retailers. The aim of the master's thesis is to develop scientific and methodological recommendations to improve the assessment of the financial stability of retail food retail enterprises. The paper discusses the concept of financial stability, theoretical and methodological foundations of its analysis, issues of assessing the financial stability of retail food retail enterprises. When writing the work, the methods of general scientific research, a logical approach, comparison of the studied indicators, the method of financial ratios, a systematic approach, etc. were used. In the master's thesis, a methodological approach to assessing the financial stability of food retail enterprises was developed, which resulted in a specific set of financial stability indicators for food retail enterprises, characterized by the optimal number of indicators, excluding duplication of the applied coefficients, which improves the accuracy of the assessment, and also an improved method for comparative diagnostics and monitoring of financial stability, which includes a specific way of combining indicators in a rating assessment, which allows taking the best final rating result as a reference (normative) one when making decisions to improve financial stability.

Ємець, Н. А. Сучасні тенденції планування стратегічного розвитку підприємства : випускна кваліфікаційна робота : 073 «Менеджмент» / Н. А. Ємець ; керівник роботи С. І. Пономаренко ; НУ "Чернігівська політехніка", кафедра публічного управління та менеджменту організацій. – Чернігів, 2021. – 65 с.
В умовах ринкової економіки велике значення для розвитку діяльності підприємства має стратегічний розвиток. В управлінні підприємством основним стрижнем, який повинен забезпечувати стійкий економічний розвиток підприємства, підвищувати конкурентоспроможність виробленої ним продукції і послуг, що надаються, є планування стратегії розвитку. Актуальність нашої роботи полягає у необхідності розглянути планування стратегічного розвитку підприємства в сучасних реаліях. Метою роботи є удосконалення планування стратегічного розвитку на підприємстві. У першому розділі розглядаються сутність і особливості стратегічного розвитку підприємств в сучасних умовах, основні етапи та принципи формування стратегії розвитку підприємств, методичні підходи до планування стратегічного розвитку підприємства. У другому розділі здійснена оцінка ефективності стратегічного розвитку та характеристика ринкової позиції підприємства ПАТ «Запоріжсталь». Зроблена комплексна оцінка ефективності господарської діяльності як індикатора його стратегічного розвитку. Також проаналізована стратегічна карта розвитку ПАТ «Запоріжсталь». Третій розділ присвячений удосконаленню планування стратегічного розвитку підприємства ПАТ «Запоріжсталь». За результатами досліджеіння факторів навколишнього середовища були розроблені стратегічні рішеінняі, спрямовані на зміцнеіння конкурентної позиції. Запропоноване планування показників ефективного розвитку підприємства ПАТ «Запоріжсталь». Встановлено, що піісля впроваджеіння системи стратегічного плануваіння піідприємство отримає довгострокове і короткострокове плануваінняі, повну картину завантажеіння виробничих потужностейі, облік фактичної собівартості виробничих замовленьі. Вказані напрями удосконалення планування стратегічного розвитку підприємства в умовах цифрової економіки. Наукова новизна роботи полягає у дослідженні основних шляхів удосконалення планування стратегічного розвитку ПАТ «Запоріжсталь». Практична значущість роботи: після впровадження системи стратегічного планування підприємство отримає нові можливості в частині виробництва, маркетингу і збуту, матеріально-технічного постачання, бухгалтерії та фінансової служби, що дозволить оперативно управляти виробництвом, підвищити не тільки кількісні, але, в першу чергу, якісні показники діяльності. Основні положення і висновки роботи обговорювалися на V Всеукраїнській науково-практичній конференції здобувачів вищої освіти та молодих вчених, м. Рівне, 18 листопада 2021, Національний університет водного господарства та природокористування.
In a market economy, strategic development is of great importance for the development of the enterprise. In the management of the enterprise the main core, which should ensure the sustainable economic development of the enterprise, increase the competitiveness of its products and services, is the development strategy. The relevance of our work is the need to consider the planning of strategic development of the enterprise in modern realities. The purpose of the work is to improve the planning of strategic development in the enterprise. The first section considers the essence and features of strategic development of enterprises in modern conditions, the main stages and principles of formation of enterprise development strategy, methodological approaches to planning strategic development of the enterprise. The second section assesses the effectiveness of strategic development and characterizes the market position of the company PJSC "Zaporizhstal". A comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of economic activity as an indicator of its strategic development. The strategic development map of PJSC "Zaporizhstal" was also analyzed. The third section is devoted to improving the planning of strategic development of the enterprise PJSC "Zaporizhstal". Based on the results of the study of environmental factors, strategic decisions were developed aimed at strengthening the competitive position. Planning of indicators of effective development of the enterprise of PJSC "Zaporizhstal" is offered. It is established that after the introduction of the strategic planning system the company will receive in terms of production - long-term and short-term planning, control over production, a complete picture of capacity utilization, accounting for the actual cost of production orders. The directions of improvement of planning of strategic development of the enterprise in the conditions of digital economy are specified. The scientific novelty of the work is to study the main ways to improve the planning of strategic development of PJSC "Zaporizhstal". Practical significance of the work: after the implementation of the strategic planning system the company will receive new opportunities in production, marketing and sales, logistics, accounting and financial services, which will quickly manage production, increase not only quantitative but, above all, qualitative indicators activities. The main provisions and conclusions of the work were discussed at the V All- Ukrainian scientific-practical conference of applicants for higher education and young scientists, Rivne, November 18, 2021, National University of Water Management and Environmental Sciences.

The Master’s thesis is focused on evaluating the performance of the company Visimpex use of financial and economic indicators and describes the design of a method implementation Balanced Scorecard in the company. The theoretical part of the thesis is focused on defining the basic concepts of financial analysis, describes the selected indicators and methods of financial analysis and describes the concept of Balanced Scorecard method and the procedure for its implementation. In the practical part the company Visimpex, there is an assessment of the current state of society through selected financial indicators and drafted the implementation of the concept of Balanced Scorecard in the company. In the final part, there is a summary of the potential risks and expected benefits of this method for the analyzed company.

Доступ до роботи тільки на території бібліотеки ОНЕУ, для переходу натисніть на посилання нижче
У роботі розглядаються теоретичні аспекти оцінки фінансової стійкості підприємства. Висвітлено сутність та теоретичні засади оцінки фінансової стійкості підприємства. Наведено інформаційне забезпечення оцінки фінансової стійкості підприємства. Обґрунтовано основні показники фінансової стійкості підприємства. Проаналізовано фінансово-господарську діяльність ПАТ «Одеський завод шампанських вин». Здійснено оцінку показників фінансової стійкості ПАТ «Одеський завод шампанських вин». Запропоновано заходи щодо підвищення фінансової стійкості підприємства. Наведено основні резерви для забезпечення фінансової стійкості підприємства.
Diploma considers the theoretical aspects of assessing the financial stability of the enterprise. The essence and theoretical principles of assessing the financial stability of the enterprise are highlighted. The information support of the assessment of the financial stability of the enterprise is given. The main indicators of financial stability of the enterprise are substantiated. The financial and economic activity of PJSC "Odessa Champagne Factory" is analyzed. The financial stability indicators of PJSC "Odessa Champagne Factory" were assessed. Measures to increase the financial stability of the enterprise are proposed. The main reserves for ensuring the financial stability of the enterprise are given.

This master's thesis deals with the evaluation of the financial health of ZOŠI TRANS, s.r.o. in the years 2009 - 2013. On the basis of selected methods of financial analysis examines the company's financial situation and finally submit proposals on possible measures to improve its financial situation.

The global financial system was marked by several crises frequently connected to Commercial Real Estate (CRE). As a precursor to financial crisis events, the phase of Financial Instability (FI) is generally considered from a more macroeconomic perspective with a focus on systemic risk to better identify environmental dynamics in the run-up to such a crisis. However, there is no common understanding about FI on a corporate level that enables organisations to undertake such a strategic analysis. This study aims to explore the corporate meaning of the phenomenon from a managerial perspective. It emphasises executives` lived experience in FI and the underlying procedures in organizational sensemaking. The data was collected using semi-structured interviews with senior executives of German CRE companies with reference to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) 2007/08. Within the social constructivist paradigm, the study adopts a hermeneutic phenomenological research approach using the theoretical lenses of van Manen's ‘lifeworld existentials' and Weick's ‘properties of sensemaking'. The corporate definition of FI that emerged from this study extends existing ones. The revealed procedures indicate that organisational sensemaking was underrepresented in such a phase. From this, qualitative indicators and implications are developed grounded in behavioural dynamics of the market participants. The findings of this research contribute to theoretical and applied knowledge about FI. The study proposes the systematic incorporation of this definition and sensemaking procedures by executives and institutionalises the monitoring of the developed indicators in SM to better control a CRE company prior, during, or after a phase of FI.

Com as oscilações de ordem política e econômica é necessário mais atenção na gestão das corporativas. A falta ou o aprimoramento do uso das ferramentas de gestão nas cooperativas gaúchas foi a origem deste estudo, que se caracteriza por ser uma pesquisa survey exploratória e descritiva, com abordagem quantitativa. A coleta dos dados ocorreu através da aplicação de questionários junto aos dirigentes de 192 cooperativas gaúchas de primeiro grau do Sistema OCERGS/SESCOOP/RS de 2017, ou seja, 49,23% do total do universo das cooperativas do estado do Rio Grande do Sul. O objetivo geral é identificar as práticas de gestão e governança corporativas utilizadas pelas cooperativas, algumas são: há separação entre os cargos do "Presidente do Conselho de Administração" e "Diretor Presidente" em 54,01% das cooperativas gaúchas; 46,45% delas não possuem comitês; as cooperativas estão alinhadas aos princípios da governança: transparência, equidade, prestação de contas e responsabilidade corporativa. Os objetivos específicos são mapear o perfil das cooperativas por ramos do cooperativismo, levantar os indicadores de desempenho mais utilizados e verificar a frequência com que os indicadores de desempenho são medidos pelas cooperativas do estado. Quanto ao mapeamento do perfil das cooperativas gaúchas por ramos do cooperativismo, pode-se observar que em “número de associados”, “número de colaboradores”, “número de cooperativas”, “faturamento anual” e “tempo de trabalho na cooperativa” os ramos que se destacam em todos os quesitos são agropecuário e crédito. Os outros dois objetivos específicos dizem respeito aos indicadores de desempenho e foram medidos com escala nominal variando entre “até 1 mês” (1) e “nunca” (6). Os indicadores financeiros utilizados por 100% das cooperativas é o “índice geral de inadimplência”. O “resultado líquido/ faturamento bruto mensal” é o indicador medido com frequência maior, seguido por “índice geral de margem bruta/ receita líquida” e o “índice de despesa operacional/ receita líquida”. Os indicadores dos clientes medidos pelas cooperativas com maior frequência são “vendas efetivas/ número de contratos” e “número de associados”. O indicador dos clientes utilizado por 96,8% das cooperativas gaúchas é “número de associados”. Os indicadores dos processos internos que apresentam maior frequência de utilização são “custos administrativos/ retorno” e “percentual de entregas realizadas no prazo”. O indicador dos processos internos utilizado pelo maior número de cooperativas gaúchas é “sobras para associados”. O indicador de aprendizado e crescimento utilizado pelo maior número de cooperativas (178 e corresponde a 96,7%) é “rotatividade”. Os indicadores de aprendizado e crescimento medidos com frequência maior - até 1 mês - pelas cooperativas do Rio Grande do Sul são “produção” (111 cooperativas e corresponde a 60%) e “receita/ número de colaboradores” (109 cooperativas e corresponde a 59,2%). Em suma, apesar de algumas práticas já existirem nas cooperativas gaúchas, constatou-se que ainda falta implantar, em muitas delas, o sistema de gestão e governança corporativa conforme o Código das Melhores Práticas de Governança. Tanto a teoria, quanto a prática, comprovaram que as ações de gestão e governança se entrelaçam, entretanto existem carências nas cooperativas, tais como a necessidade de mais profissionalismo; políticas de treinamento; implantação de comitês; uso de mecanismos de controle de gestão e padronização dos códigos, dentre eles, o código das melhores práticas por ramos do cooperativismo. A adoção de mais práticas de gestão e governança, levaria as cooperativas do RS, a maior crescimento, desenvolvimento e melhores resultados. Os dirigentes mostraram-se receptivos à pesquisa e relataram a necessidade de novas, frequentes e continuadas pesquisas, o que demonstra a importância e a carência do cooperativismo.
With the oscillations of political and economic order, more attention is needed in corporate management. The lack or improvement of the use of management tools in gaucho cooperatives was the origin of this study, which is characterized by being an exploratory and descriptive survey research, with a quantitative approach. Data were collected through the application of questionnaires to the directors of 192 first-degree cooperatives from the OCERGS/SESCOOP/RS System of 2017, or 49,23% of the cooperatives in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The main objective is to identify the management and corporate governance practices used by the cooperatives, some of them are: the "Chairman of the Board of Directors" and the "Chief Executive Officer" positions are divided into 54,01% of the cooperatives in Rio Grande do Sul; 46,45% of them do not have committees; cooperatives are aligned with the principles of governance: transparency, fairness, accountability and corporate responsibility. The specific objectives are to map the profile of cooperatives by branches of cooperativism, to raise the most used performance indicators and to verify the frequency with which performance indicators are measured by state cooperatives. As to the mapping of the profile of the cooperatives in the branches of cooperativism, it can be observed that in "number of associates", "number of employees", "number of cooperatives", "annual turnover" and "working time in cooperative". Branches that stand out in all the questions are agricultural and credit. The other two specific objectives relate to performance indicators and were measured with a nominal scale ranging from "up to 1 month" (1) to "never" (6). The financial indicators used by 100% of the cooperatives are the "general default index". "Net income/ gross monthly income" is the indicator measured with a higher frequency, followed by "gross margin/ net revenue" and "operating expense/ net revenue". The indicators of clients measured by cooperatives more frequently are "effective sales/ number of contracts" and "number of associates". The customer indicator used by 96,8% of the gaucho cooperatives is "number of associates". The indicators of the most frequently used internal processes are "administrative costs/ return" and "percentage of deliveries made on time". The indicator of internal processes used by the largest number of gaucho cooperatives is "leftovers for associates". The indicator of learning and growth used by the largest number of cooperatives (178 and corresponds to 96,7%) is "turnover". The indicators of learning and growth measured more frequently (up to 1 month) by cooperatives in Rio Grande do Sul are "production" (111 cooperatives and corresponds to 60%) and "revenue/ number of employees" (109 cooperatives and corresponds to 59,2%). In short, although some practices already exist in the cooperatives in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, it has been found that the management and corporate governance system in accordance with the Code of Best Governance Practices still needs to be implemented. Both theory and practice have shown that management and governance actions intertwine, but there are shortcomings in cooperatives, such as the need for more professionalism; training policies; implementation of committees; use of management control mechanisms and standardization of codes, among them, the code of best practices by branches of cooperativism. The adoption of more management and governance practices would lead RS cooperatives to greater growth, development and better results. The leaders were receptive to the research and reported the need for new, frequent and continuous research, which demonstrates the importance and the lack of cooperativism.

Mestrado em Ciências Empresariais
O sucesso das organizações no longo prazo está cada vez mais aliado a capacidade da sua estratégia se adaptar aos desafios e ameaças que se lhe deparam. Para isso, torna-se fundamental a existência de feedback constante sobre o desempenho estratégico, que é facilitado com a utilização de indicadores financeiros e não financeiros que reflictam as áreas críticas em que reside o êxito no longo prazo. Estes podem estar integrados em sistemas de controlo e gestão estratégica como é o exemplo do Balancea Scorecard. É um dos sistemas com maior aplicação e que se ostenta com qualidades para atingir esses objectivos. Inclui normalmente quatro perspectivas; financeira, clientes, aprendizagem e desenvolvimento e processos internos, que por sua vez são compostos por diversos indicadores. Com a realização deste estudo exploratório descritivo identificamos e averiguamos de que forma as empresas da Região Autónoma da Madeira efectuam a gestão de alguns aspectos da estratégia, especialmente a avaliação e o controlo estratégico e que indicadores utilizam. Procuramos igualmente estudar o grau de utilização do Balanced Scorecard neste pequeno e periférico território e a forma como este é aplicado nas empresas. Concluímos com o estudo que o Balanced Scorecard tem uma utilização reduzida ao contrário do Tableaux de Bord com uma implementação considerável. Grande parte das empresas do estudo utiliza a conjugação de indicadores financeiros e não financeiros. Nos primeiros destacamos a não utilização de indicadores como o EVA, nos não financeiros destacamos a satisfação do cliente.
Long term organizational success is increasingly associated to the ability of organizational strategy to adapt to all kind of challenges and threats. In order to do so it is vital to have a constant feedback on the strategic performance. This task has become simpler with the use of both financial and non-financial indicators to identify critical areas for long lasting success. These indicators are part of the control and strategic management systems. The Balanced Scorecard is probably the system with the wider application and display quality. Typically, it includes four perspectives: financial, customer, learning and development, and internal processes, each one comprehending several indicators. This dissertation runs an exploratory study on Madeira Island Autonomous Region (MIAR) largest companies identifying and classifying their strategic management process, and their use of strategic indicators. In this study we were able to access level of the Balanced Scorecard use in the MIAR's largest companies, which is reduced, contrasting with the employ of the Tableaux de Bord that presents considerable implementation. The majority of companies in the study use a combination of financial (mostly EVA) and non-financial indicators (generally on customer satisfaction).