Organizations that can successfully develop both radical and incremental innovations positively impact sustained competitive advantage, dramatically improving their chances of survival and success in both dynamic and stable environments (Han et al. 2001; Tushman and O'Reilly 1996). Experimentation and radical innovation are mandatory knowledge assets for competitive play in emerging markets, but efficiency and incremental innovation are essential for mature markets (He and Wong 2004; Tushman and O'Reilly 1996). The attainment of dual focus between radical and incremental innovation is challenging and calls for organizational architectures of sometimes conflicting processes, structure, and culture (cf, Tushman and O'Reilly 1996; Wind and Mahajan 1997). While prior research has investigated the structural and cultural determinants (Duncan 1976; Gibson and Birkenshaw 2004), there is a significant lack of research addressing the third major element of business processes. Without winning business processes in place that influence both exploration and exploitation, a successful portfolio mix of radical and incremental product innovations that maximize customer value and benefits will not be fully realized, and firm performance will suffer. Through core business processes, marketing's role and influence is significant in increasing customer value creation in the resulting product innovations. By mapping the "inside-out" and "outside-in" processes of a market-driven organization (Day 1994) into the Srivastava et al. (1999) core business process framework, this dissertation develops and tests a model of business process influence on dual focus in innovation strategies in the context of the high technology manufacturing environment. Each of these processes is critical in generating maximum customer value and is an explicit input into strategic choices and decisions (Srivastava et al. 1999). Specifically, it is argued and proposed that the Product Development Management (PDM) process, comprised of the processes of market experimentation, technology monitoring, and technology competence, predominantly influences exploration while the Supply Chain Management (SCM) process, comprised of the processes of channel bonding and quality process management, predominantly influences exploitation. The Customer Relationship Management (CRM) process, encompassing the processes of lead user collaboration, competitor benchmarking, and current customer knowledge process, acts as a moderator to add dual focus to these extremes by interacting with PDM processes to enhance exploitation and with SCM processes to enhance exploration. Furthermore, it is proposed that firms successfully achieving a dual focus have greater firm performance than firms entrenched in either extreme. Hypotheses were tested with data collected from a nationwide sample of high technology manufacturers. The results largely supported the main effect hypotheses of the PDM processes and SCM processes on exploration and exploitation. Additionally, the hypothesis of a positive interaction between exploration and exploitation on firm performance was also supported, however no visible support was garnered for the moderating impacts of CRM processes on PDM and SCM processes as hypothesized. Post hoc analyses were performed, bringing additional insight into dual focus based on the successful implementation of opposing businesses processes. Specifically, dual focus firms were shown to have multiple processes in place that impact both types of innovation strategies and that these firms implement these processes to a greater extent than those firms operating in the more extreme positions. Academic and managerial implications are discussed, as well as study limitations and exciting future research directions.

In this qualitative research project, I examine the development of landscapes of care for, and by, identified trafficked people and its implications for rebuilding a sense of place and identity. Through in-depth interviews and ethnographic data, I argue that discourse, place and identity interact to form complex landscapes within both providers and clients/patients that emerge as distinct experiences of care or non-care experiences. Each analytical chapter examines a particular production of care: a merging of psycho-legal care, the interactions of formalized informal caring relationships, and the burden of external identification in the configuration of self-identity among identified trafficked people. Building on anthropological theories of care (Giordano 2014; Mulla 2014; Stevenson 2014; Mattingly 2010), these chapters build the argument that, in contrast to humanitarian human trafficking and trauma discourse that focuses on a specific kind of trafficking experience; the complex assemblage of trafficking experience and subsequent care should be considered within what I term “structural trafficking.” Becoming identified as trafficked is beneficial for receiving specific rights and services. However, this identity can also be detrimental for rebuilding a sense of self and place, because it assumes a fixed experience that translates to fixed care packages. I examine multiple landscapes of care to better understand potentials for care by expanding identity and coordinating existing and novel systems of care.

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

This research aims to investigate how socio-economic factors influence the vulnerability of women to engage in sexual services and potential trafficking in Gauteng, South Africa. This province is South Africa’s most prosperous one with an enormous flow of migrants and is therefore of interest to investigate. Moreover, it is certainly intriguing to examine more into South Africa's measures against human trafficking; additionally, it is interesting to investigate further here because of the signature by South Africa of the Palermo protocol and look further and deeper into if this signature has helped decrease the crime. This research seeks to untangle the complex web of factors contributing to vulnerability. By examining the socio-economic and potential other dimensions of human trafficking in South Africa, the aim is to gain a deeper understanding of how these factors interact, perpetuating a cycle of victimization and further raise crucial awareness of the subject. This research has adopted a abductive qualitative content-desk study to be most appropriate for the research and in order to do at least harm as possible to the victims by using already published documents and reports. Furthermore, theories and approaches such as Radical Feminist Theory, Rational Choice Theory, Human Rights-Based Approach and V-Dem Approach have been used in order to answer the objective as successfully as possible. The conclusion of this study points at the fact that women’s lower societal position, along with patriarchal influences, cultural practices and state corruption impact human trafficking and the vulnerability for women making them fall a victim of the crime. Recommendations that have been made in the paper are further studies on the subject and an idea of universal legislation regarding human trafficking, which could be similar to Agenda 2030 and finally some urgent measures in Gauteng.

Domestic workers, also known as house maids or handmaids, are a predominately female workforce that traditionally provides labor in upper-class households. With the increase of dual income families and the global expansion of the middle class, the demand for domestic workers increased, which facilitated the practice of importing lower-cost foreign domestic workers (FDWs) from developing areas. Hong Kong has the highest concentration of FDWs when compared to other metropolitan areas, such as Taiwan, Singapore, or New York. Since the trade began in the 1970s, qualitative research and journalistic investigations have reported that FDWs frequently encounter exploitation, including emotional, physical, and sexual abuse; being underpaid and overworked; and racial discrimination. With sparse quantitative research identifying risk factors that predict psychological well-being, this study hypothesized two models: (a) racial and ethnic microaggressions, job satisfaction, and family concern predict psychological distress and (b) resilience mediates the association in the first model. We surveyed 478 female FDWs in Hong Kong, and the results suggested that racial and ethnic microaggressions, job satisfaction, and family concerns were significant predictors of psychological distress, supporting the first hypothesis. The women demonstrated very high levels of psychological resilience; however, due to a ceiling effect in the measure of resilience, the data collected on resilience were unrelated to job satisfaction and family concerns. Thus, the second model was not supported, apparently due to a problem in the measurement of the construct of resilience in this sample of FWDs. Overall, FDWs’ working conditions and their level of resilience to those conditions did significantly influence their levels of psychological distress. These findings serve as pilot data for future quantitative research that investigates female FDWs’ employment experience.

In this thesis, I argue that a neo-Marxist critical theory perspective on self-driving cars shifts critical conversations from risks and benefits to concerns about the commodification of free time necessary for our human experience of autonomy. First, I outline that neo-Marxist perspective by charting the different types of power exercised by a capitalist in order to increase their surplus. I then analyze Karl Marx's conception of time in economic exchange to show that, under capitalism, power is exercised over labor through the commodification of workers' free time. I then introduced Michel Foucault's concept of biopower to transition to the commodification not only of labor but also of bodies. Then, I introduce contemporary German philosopher Byung-Chul Han's concept of psychopolitics as a neo-Marxist critique of the exercise of power over the psyche of individuals in order to increase their surplus. These philosophers' models shift commodification from labor to bodies to information. In the final section, I apply Han's contemporary critique of power dynamics to the case of self-driving cars (SDCs) to show that the technologies they represent may serve to perpetuate the negative implications of a constantly optimizing society: a continuation of commodification of the very conditions of labor. This analysis illuminates an overlooked possible negative implication of this emerging technology, as contemporary literature focuses heavily on the developer of the self-driving cars rather than the user and glosses over possible concerns of alienation of the workers' time itself. I argue that increases in "free time" proposed by the implementation of self-driving cars will inevitably be used for "auto"-exploitation, or, self-exploitation. This thesis will contribute to developing work on the effects self-driving cars have on their users, rather than emphasizing effects on society or our environments.

While commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is widespread, little research has been conducted regarding parents’ knowledge of, beliefs about, and protective actions against CSEC. Using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model as a lens and a quantitative survey, this study explored four questions: how knowledgeable of CSEC are parents in Mississippi and the surrounding states; what beliefs do parents have toward CSEC; how are parents taking protective actions against CSEC; and how are parents’ knowledge, beliefs, and protective actions correlated? Results from 13 participants were examined for frequencies and correlations. Findings indicated that parents have a basic knowledge of CSEC, beliefs favorable to CSEC prevention and intervention, and parents take protective actions. However, gaps and inconsistencies existed. In future, practitioners should target parents and church staff for CSEC prevention and intervention education and training.

Computer security professionals and researchers are investigating proactive techniques for studying network-based attack behavior. Attack modeling is one of these research areas. In this dissertation, we address a novel attack modeling technique called an exploitation graph (e-graph) for representing attack scenarios. The key assumption in this research is that we can use exploitation graphs to represent attack scenarios, and methods involving e-graphs can be applied to provide vulnerability mitigation strategies. The modeling process consists of three primary steps. The first step is the creation of a knowledge base of vulnerability graphs (v-graphs) from known system vulnerabilities. Each v-graph shows necessary preconditions in order to make the vulnerability exploitable, and post-conditions that denote effects after a successful exploitation. A template is used to facilitate the definition of preconditions and post-conditions. The second step involves the association of multiple v-graphs to create an e-graph specific to a system being modeled. Network topology information and security policies (e.g., firewall rules) are encoded during the modeling process. A set of experiments were designed to test the modeling approach in a cluster computing environment consisting of one server node and eight internal computing nodes. Experimental results showed that e-graphs can be used to evaluate vulnerability mitigation solutions, e.g., identifying critical vulnerabilities and evaluating firewall policies. The third step of this process focuses on devising graph-simplification techniques for large e-graphs. Efficient graph-simplification techniques are described based on host and exploitation similarity. The most distinctive feature of these techniques is that, they help to simplify the most complex graph-generation process and do not require excessive memory storage. Experimental results showed that these techniques can not only reduce the size of e-graphs substantially, but also preserve most information needed for useful attack scenario analysis. The usefulness of the e-graph approach is shown in this dissertation. As a general approach for system administrators, the proposed techniques can be used in, but is not limited to, the cluster-computing environment in providing proactive Vulnerability Assessment (VA) strategies.

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