Thediploma thesis dealswiththe use of Competitive Intelligence in a small company. Theaimofthe thesis is to findout by the rigorous analysis of competition the biggest competitor and the prediction of possible further steps of this competitor. Thefirst part ofthe thesis introdukces the company, its competitors and the theoretical knowledge is analyzed. The second part analyzes the selected competitor of thecompany and looks for possible further steps of the biggestcompetitor. Thethird part contains suggestions and recommendations for using Competitive Intelligence in small company.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T16:44:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Julio Araujo da Silva Junior.pdf: 1473840 bytes, checksum: c025661b63a987223825f831793a6172 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-10-01 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The changes stimulated by the economic model have demanded of private higher educational institutions answers to deal with the challenges related to the business environment. These challenges are putting to the test these organizations in their ability to differentiate among the competition and to reinvent itself in the face of new opportunities and risks presented in this market. This differentiation in IES can occur through the development or improvement of educational services or in support of activities. Innovation is essential for these institutions, as the need to identify their capabilities, maximizing the development of innovation for a more efficient response to the challenges presented ahead.However, the identification of these information requires an understanding of information as subsidizer element of innovation and identification of what is needed for decision making by managers. Therefore, these organizations require an environmental monitoring to identify threats, opportunities and trends in this market. This monitoring, also called Competitive Intelligence, gives information to assist managers in making decisions. The question that arises is whether the competitive intelligence can provide inputs for the strategic management of innovation at Brazilian private non-denominational higher educational institutions , providing conditions for development of innovative services with bias and with positive outlook in relation to its performance and competitive advantage in the market. To answer this question, the literature review was conducted, with collection of secondary data as the Ministry of Education reports. The literature was able to identify the organizational characteristics of educational institutions, innovation models applicable in these institutions and competitive intelligence processes that support this innovation, in addition to integrating aspects of the innovation process and competitive intelligence in these institutions. The literature review points to the existence of relationships between the Competitive and Innovation Intelligence processes in IES, which leads to respond affirmatively to the main assumption raised in this paper: competitive intelligence can provide inputs for the strategic management of innovation in brazilians private non-denominational higher educational institutions, providing conditions for development of innovative services with bias and with positive outlook in relation to its performance and competitive advantage in the market / As mudanças estimuladas pelo modelo econômico têm demandado das Instituições de Ensino Superior Particulares respostas cada vez mais rápidas e eficientes frente aos desafios relacionados ao ambiente de negócios. Esses desafios, em termos de ambiente interno e externo das empresas e da diversidade da natureza dos seus campos de atuação, em que os fatores de risco e sucesso se apresentam de forma sinérgica, têm colocado à prova essas organizações em relação a sua capacidade de diferenciar-se frente à concorrência e reinventar-se diante de novas oportunidades e riscos apresentados nesse mercado. Essa diferenciação nas IES pode ocorrer por meio do desenvolvimento ou aprimoramento dos serviços educacionais ou nas atividades de suporte a realização desses serviços. Fica claro que a inovação é fundamental para essas instituições, juntamente com a necessidade de identificação de suas capacidades, maximizando o desenvolvimento da inovação e possibilitando uma resposta mais eficiente frente aos desafios apresentados. Porém, a identificação dessas necessidades informacionais passa pelo entendimento da informação como elemento subsidiador da inovação e pela identificação das informações necessárias para a tomada de decisão pelos gestores relacionados aos processos de inovação. Diante disso, essas organizações necessitam de um monitoramento ambiental que lhes permita identificar ameaças, oportunidades e tendências desse mercado. Esse monitoramento, também chamado de Inteligência Competitiva, municia a organização de informações, auxiliando os gestores na tomada de decisões. A questão que se coloca é verificar se a inteligência competitiva pode fornecer insumos para a gestão estratégica da inovação em IES brasileiras Privadas não confessionais, propiciando condições para o desenvolvimento de serviços com viés inovador e com perspectivas positivas em relação ao seu desempenho e de vantagem competitiva no mercado. Para responder a essa questão, foi realizada a revisão da literatura, com levantamento de dados secundários, baseada em uma pesquisa bibliográfica acrescida de dados estatísticos encontrados nos relatórios do Ministério da Educação. O levantamento bibliográfico possibilitou identificar as características organizacionais das instituições de ensino, os modelos de inovação aplicáveis nessas instituições e os processos de Inteligência competitiva que suportam essa inovação, além dos aspectos integradores dos processos de inovação e inteligência competitiva nessas instituições. A revisão de literatura aponta para a existência de relacionamentos claros entre os processos de Inteligência Competitiva e Inovação em IES, o que nos leva a responder afirmativamente à principal suposição levantada neste trabalho: a inteligência competitiva pode fornecer insumos para a gestão estratégica da inovação em IES brasileiras Privadas não confessionais, propiciando condições para o desenvolvimento de serviços com viés inovador e com perspectivas positivas em relação ao seu desempenho e de vantagem competitiva no mercado

Indicadores econômicos e sociais consistem em sinalizadores do comportamento das diferentes variáveis econômicas e sociais, fundamentais para a melhoria da compreensão da situação atual e delimitação do viés de curto prazo da economia. Em âmbito organizacional, servem para subsidiar o processo de tomada de decisão estratégica, permitindo que a empresa estabeleça técnicas e práticas condizentes com seu ambiente externo, como é o caso da Inteligência Competitiva. Esse estudo teve por objetivo examinar as práticas de inteligência competitiva, compreensão de indicadores econômicos e sociais, e a decisão baseada em dados de pequenas e médias empresas de Caxias do Sul. Para tanto, foi realizada uma pesquisa de abordagem quantitativa caracterizada quanto a sua finalidade como exploratória e descritiva, adotando como procedimento técnico uma survey. Os 204 participantes da pesquisa são gestores de Pequenas e Médias Empresas (PME’s) de Caxias do Sul. Os resultados indicam que, em diferentes níveis, os gestores compreendem os indicadores econômicos e sociais, utilizam dados para a tomada de decisão e praticam inteligência competitiva. Foi identificada uma correlação no aspecto dinâmico da informação, de seu compartilhamento e de sua disseminação. / Submitted by Ana Guimarães Pereira (agpereir@ucs.br) on 2017-04-20T16:24:22Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Eduardo Dieter.pdf: 1553301 bytes, checksum: 8ec0357bcec7bcc0dfd4c80b54e344bb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-20T16:24:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Eduardo Dieter.pdf: 1553301 bytes, checksum: 8ec0357bcec7bcc0dfd4c80b54e344bb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-20 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, CAPES. / Social and economic indicators consist on behavior signs on different social and economic variables, primordial to improve the understanding of the current situation of short-term economy. In organizational context, the indicators support the process of strategic decision making, allowing the company to establish techniques and practices consistent with its external environment, as in the competitive intelligence. Thereby, the study aims to examine the practices of competitive intelligence, understanding of economic and social indicators, with the decision-making process in small and medium enterprises in Caxias do Sul. Therefore, it was conducted a quantitative research approach characterized as its purpose as exploratory and descriptive, adopting survey as technical procedures. The 204 participants were managers of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Caxias do Sul. The results indicated that, in different levels, managers understand economic and social indicators, use data for decision making, and practice competitive intelligence. A correlation was identified in the dynamic aspect of the information, its sharing and its dissemination.

Indicadores econômicos e sociais consistem em sinalizadores do comportamento das diferentes variáveis econômicas e sociais, fundamentais para a melhoria da compreensão da situação atual e delimitação do viés de curto prazo da economia. Em âmbito organizacional, servem para subsidiar o processo de tomada de decisão estratégica, permitindo que a empresa estabeleça técnicas e práticas condizentes com seu ambiente externo, como é o caso da Inteligência Competitiva. Esse estudo teve por objetivo examinar as práticas de inteligência competitiva, compreensão de indicadores econômicos e sociais, e a decisão baseada em dados de pequenas e médias empresas de Caxias do Sul. Para tanto, foi realizada uma pesquisa de abordagem quantitativa caracterizada quanto a sua finalidade como exploratória e descritiva, adotando como procedimento técnico uma survey. Os 204 participantes da pesquisa são gestores de Pequenas e Médias Empresas (PME’s) de Caxias do Sul. Os resultados indicam que, em diferentes níveis, os gestores compreendem os indicadores econômicos e sociais, utilizam dados para a tomada de decisão e praticam inteligência competitiva. Foi identificada uma correlação no aspecto dinâmico da informação, de seu compartilhamento e de sua disseminação. / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, CAPES. / Social and economic indicators consist on behavior signs on different social and economic variables, primordial to improve the understanding of the current situation of short-term economy. In organizational context, the indicators support the process of strategic decision making, allowing the company to establish techniques and practices consistent with its external environment, as in the competitive intelligence. Thereby, the study aims to examine the practices of competitive intelligence, understanding of economic and social indicators, with the decision-making process in small and medium enterprises in Caxias do Sul. Therefore, it was conducted a quantitative research approach characterized as its purpose as exploratory and descriptive, adopting survey as technical procedures. The 204 participants were managers of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Caxias do Sul. The results indicated that, in different levels, managers understand economic and social indicators, use data for decision making, and practice competitive intelligence. A correlation was identified in the dynamic aspect of the information, its sharing and its dissemination.

This diploma thesis deals with the use of Competitive Intelligence methods in the case of a particular company. The aim of the thesis is to improve the current process of obtaining information about competition and its use in strategic decision making of the company management using CI methods. The first part of the thesis analyzes the current situation of XYZ Company and defines the problem for the subsequent solution. The next part deals with general theoretical assumptions and introduction of different methods and approaches to solution. Then follows the application part of the work in which it applies the selected Competitive Intelligence method to the needs of the company. In conclusion, the final proposal for the solution of the problem is evaluated and there are presented the benefits that this implementation brought to the company.

Presentación realizada en el marco de las IV Jornadas de usuarios Ex Libris. Arequipa, Perú. 02-03 de Julio 2015 / said.castro@upc.edu.pe

No description available.

The Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM), situated in the second largest province in South Africa, the Eastern Cape, is an unfortunate victim of low economic development and high unemployment. The South African Government, through the Department of Trade and Industry, identified the need for SMMEs to address these issues with the inception of the White Paper on National Strategy for the Development and Promotion of Small Business in South Africa over 20 years ago. SMMEs in South Africa are noted to have a failure rate of around 70% which does not bode well for the efforts to improve economic development and reduce unemployment through SMMEs. This research sets out to determine the significance of variables such as human resources, financial resources, information systems, government assistance and competitive intelligence on the sustainability of SMMEs. The researcher examined the literature relating to the challenges and issues faced by SMMEs with particular emphasis on the use of competitive intelligence as a tool to assist in sustainability. The literature review was followed by an analysis and interpretation of a qualitative study of SMMEs within the BCMM. Through an analysis of the results it was possible to determine the nature of the relationships between the independent variables and sustainability. Finally, the researcher was able to make recommendations based on the research.

Master thesis deals with possibilities of playing games using artificial intelligence. Also, there is presented artificial intelligence with ability of playing selected game. Artificial intelligence presented in this work is considered as artificial neural networks. First theoretical part is focused on description worldwide successful and known artificial intelligence strategies. After that there is brief description of neural networks and analysis of some libraries for machine learning. Practical part is focused on implementation of created game with Python programming language and in the end, there is analysis of designed solution.

Dans cette thèse nous étudions trois jeux à objectif compétitif sur les graphes. Les jeux à objectif compétitif proposent une approche dynamique des problèmes d'optimisation discrètes. L'idée générale consiste à associer à un problème d'optimisation (coloration, domination, etc.) un jeu combinatoire partisan de la façon suivante. Deux joueurs construisent tour à tour la structure reliée au problème d'optimisation. L'un d'eux cherche à ce que cette structure soit le plus optimale possible, tandis que l'autre essaye de l'en empêcher. Sous l'hypothèse que les deux joueurs jouent optimalement, la taille de la structure obtenue définit un invariant ludique.Nous commençons par étudier une variante 1-impropre du jeu de coloration, qui est le premier et le plus étudié des jeux à objectif compétitif. Dans ce jeu, les joueurs colorient les sommets d'un graphe de sorte que deux sommets adjacents ne partagent jamais la même couleur. Dans la version 1-impropre, un sommet peut avoir au plus un voisin ayant la même couleur que lui. Nous considérons ensuite le jeu de domination, dans lequel les deux joueurs doivent construire un ensemble dominant, c'est-à-dire un ensemble de sommets du graphe tel que tout autre sommet est adjacent à l'un des membres de cet ensemble. Finalement, nous définissons un nouveau jeu à objectif compétitif, relié au problème de coloration distinguante. Dans ce jeu, il s'agit de construire une coloration qui n'est invariante par aucun des automorphismes du graphe. Nous soulevons plusieurs interrogations stimulantes concernant ce nouveau jeu, notamment sur la caractérisation des graphes ayant un invariant ludique infini, par l'existence d'automorphismes d'ordre deux. / In this thesis, we study three competitive optimization graph games. These games allow a dynamic approach to discrete optimization problems, which is an advantageous alternative way to consider these questions. The global idea consists in defining a combinatorial partisan game, associated to the original optimization problem, like coloring, domination, etc. Two players alternatively build the structure related to the optimization problem. One of them tries to obtain a structure as optimal as possible, whereas his opponent wants to prevent him from doing it. Under the hypothesis that both players play optimally, the size of the obtained structure defines a game invariant of the graph.We start by studying a 1-improper variation of the coloring game, which is the first and the most studied competitive optimization graph game. In this game, the players colors the vertices of a graph, such that two adjacent vertices do not share the same color. In the 1-improper version, we allow a vertex to have at most one neighbor with the same color as it. Then, we study the domination game, in which the players have to build a domination set, that is a sub-set of vertices such that any other vertex is adjacent to one of the vertex in this set. Finally, we define a new game, related to the distinguishing coloring problem. This game is about building a vertex-coloring which is preserved by none of the graph automorphisms. We raise some challenging open questions about this new game, especially concerning the characterization of graphs with infinite game invariant, by the existence of order two automorphisms.