The South African higher education sector is currently facing many challenges. Factors such as a decrease in government funding, mergers and student unrest compel higher education institutions to apply effective strategies for funding and recruitment of quality students. Higher education institutions are forced to focus on restructuring and repositioning themselves, build a strong brand, communicate their image and to sustain their position in order to ensure a competitive advantage. In order to be locally relevant and globally competitive, higher education institutions need to become more marketing-oriented. In a restricted financial environment, higher education institutions will have to assess and reassess marketing strategies aimed at attracting quality first year students. A proper assessment of the importance of the choice factors students consider when selecting a higher education institution as well as the usefulness of the information sources they consider, will enable institutions to allocate funds, time and resources more efficiently and effectively. A quantitative study with a self-administrated questionnaire was used to allow students to complete the questionnaire during class lectures. Non-probability convenience sampling was used and a sample of 1241 students responded from six higher education institutions: the University of Pretoria, Tshwane University of Technology, University of Johannesburg, University of the Free State, University of Kwa–Zulu Natal and the North-West University. The sample consisted of 64 percent females and 36 percent male students. The ethnic orientation distribution was as follows: 46 percent Caucasian, 41 percent Black African, 9 percent Indian, 3 percent Coloured and 1 percent students of other ethnic groups. The main goal of this study was to investigate the relevant importance of the choice factors, as well as the usefulness of the information sources, that first year Economic and Management Sciences students at selected higher education institutions in South Africa considered when they decided to enrol at a specific higher education institution. The findings indicated that some choice factors were more important to students than others, as well as the fact that students from different gender groups, ethnic groups, language groups and institutions differed in the importance they attached to the choice factors. The top ten choice factors respondents regarded as important in the selection of a higher education institution are: quality of teaching, employment prospects (possible job opportunities), campus safety and security, academic facilities (libraries and laboratories), international links (study and job opportunities), language policy, image of higher education institution, flexible study mode (evening classes and use of computers), academic reputation (prestige), and a wide choice of subjects/courses. The findings also revealed that information sources directly from a higher education institution, such as open days and campus visits, university publications and websites are the most useful to students, while information from mass media such as radio, television, magazines and newspaper advertisements are not as useful. The findings give marketing educators an indication of the importance of choice factors considered by prospective students in selecting a higher education institution, and enable higher education institutions to use their limited funds more efficiently to attract quality students, create a unique position and gain a competitive advantage. Based on the usefulness of information sources and the importance of choice factors considered, student focused marketing communication can be developed. This should aid students to make more informed decisions about the higher education institution they wish to attend. The study also add to existing theory in the fields of services marketing, higher education marketing and consumer behaviour, especially the field of outlet selection, as the institution can be viewed as the outlet for buying education. Information obtained from this study also contributes to the available research and literature on this topic and could be used by other researchers as a basis for future research. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Marketing Management / PhD / Unrestricted

We propose making an empirical application of the temporal view of stakeholder management theory by applying it in the particular context of the Canadian wind industry. The temporal view builds on insights from the resource-based view (RBV), institutional theory, and stakeholder salience theory. We argue that both early stage competitive advantage and late stage sustained competitive advantage could be dependent on the use of salient stakeholders as a special network of resources. We contribute to the literature in various ways. First we determine an empirical list of five salient stakeholders specific to the wind industry. Second, we show that, at early stages, the moderating effects of firm size and market conditions determines stakeholder support or rejection. Lastly, we show that, at late stages, the sustainability equation must take into account the introduction of new salient stakeholders. Also, we make practical recommendations for industry players and policy makers. We reached theory refinement by adopting an exploratory qualitative methodology based on interviews with seven cases of large and small wind firms operating in different electricity market types and provinces across Canada.

The paper gives a summary of the contemporary theoretical and practical approaches to the question of sectoral competitiveness and makes an attempt of verification of theoretical hypotheses by the means of linear regression. In its first part the paper offers a theoretical field for creating a broader competitiveness concept. The theoretical concepts an practical methods used by the professional institutions are both presented therein. In its second part an attempt to unite the presented theories is made. The theoretical conclusions are then applied on the sample of statistic data from EU and UN sources with the aim of verification of theoretical conclusions validity.

The work focuses on strategic analysis of ČZ Řetězy, s.r.o. The theoretical part describes methods and techniques of strategic analysis that are then applied in the practical part. Competitive advantage sources are identified and strategic recommendations are proposed.

The goal of this thesis was designed a complete strategic analysis, both internal and external form of the selected firm LACMAN s. r. o. LACMAN s. r. o. is a small, emerging company, the subject of its business is the distribution of connectors. Thesis is divided into five main blocks: In the first part, called Introduction, describes the basic building blocks for the preparation of the strategy, it is mission, vision and a fundamental target of LACMAN s. r. o. The second part is quite theoretical, it is known as a theoretical-methodological basis and discusses and describes the theoretical facts that I need to apply in practice. The third part is the name and the pictor of the company, how society see the company. This section describes the basic characteristic of information, cultural, sports, and mainly social sponsoring company and the overall culture, norms and standards which govern the company staff. The fourth part is called Practical and is divided into external analysis where I work with macro-economic company's data, policy and legislative factors, and mapping analysis of supplier-customer relationships and existing competition in the market with the connectors material. Internal analysis me serve to evaluace how are the company's resources (material, inmaterial, human and financial) in sufficient quantity, the quality and whether it is used effectively. In this part of thesis, I also included a detailed financial analysis, there I solve the financial health of the company. And the SWOT analysis, which, in my view, contains a large number of strengths, but on the other hand, contains numerous threats from outside the company. The last part is called the Finish, here summarizes the findings from the all analysis. I believe that this thesis is to analyze the company of great benefit and a council, how to overcome difficult times and stay on the market at the time of global economic crisis.

This graduation thesis is considered with an analysis of corporate culture at non-for-profit organization. Present knowledge about corporate culture and methodical procedure of analysis of corporate culture in general are summarized at the theoretical part. Corporate culture of particular non-for-profit organization at stage of transformation is analyze at the practical part. There are described differences between corporate culture of commercial and non-for-profit organization. Final goal is to propose a procedure of turnover of corporate culture so the organization should get a competitive advantage.

The thesis deals with the Toilet Papermarket in the Czech Republic with a focus on competitive analysis. The aim of this work is to formulate recommendations for the Kleenex brand toilet paper, which should be taken into account when creating marketing plan. The theoretical part is focused on the theory of competitive analysis. In the practical part of the theory is applied specifically to the analysis of competitive market toilet paper in the Czech Republic for the use of retail data and knowledge from long-term observation of the market.

The aim of this diploma with the topic "Strategic analysis" is to elaborate the global analysis of the agricultural company ZEMPO-VOS, a.s. Strunkovice nad Blanicí and on the grounds of this analysis, i. e. analysis of influences of outer company environment, to elaborate the synthesis and the outline of strategic recommendations for the future development of the company. The stategic analysis is elaborate in conditions of branches of agriculture that have unequivocal specific characteristics. The diploma is divided into two parts, the theoretical part and the application part, where methods of strategic analysis are applied to the concrete agricultural company.

Garnea a.s. has experienced several significant changes during the last year. Change in the primary market and main part of the product portfolio are the two major ones. Moreover, the company recently experienced a decline in the revenues and profits as well. Therefore, the main goal of this thesis was to define a completely new strategy which would reflect all the current changes and effectively fight the problems the company suffers from. For this purpose, the thesis provides the reader with company analysis. The characteristics of the market and main customers groups are defined in the industry analysis. Competitor analysis summarizes main competitors on the local as well as national level, points out their main strengths, weaknesses and highlights the strategic goals they are likely to pursue. Based on this information the competitive strategy of the company is crafted in respect to its current and future resources and capabilities. The strategy aims at achieving a better competitive position in the market.

The aim is to draw attention to an inefficient allocation of resources and capital, which has resulted in rising food prices and the high number of hungry people in developing coutries, which European and U.S. subsidy policy does nt accumulate capital and invest in their production. I focused on the prices of raw materials for biofuel production in connection with legislative obligations and CO2 emissions, including the impact of indirect land use changes (ILUC) and based on searches draw conclusions from primary studies that deal with macroeconomic modeling. This thesis confirmed the hypothesis that the current agricultural policy on biofuels does not comply with the theory of comparative advantage of growing food where it is advatageous both economically and environmentally.