This study is aimed at investigating the effect of mergers and acquisitions on the share prices and dividends involving South African companies in the food and beverage industry. A sample of 79 mergers from 1999 to 2005 was used. The data was analysed using the event study methodology and descriptive statistics. In addition, the paired t-test was also conducted to test the significance of the results. The results were presented using graphs, tables and charts. The results showed that target companies obtained negative abnormal returns during the announcement of mergers while acquiring companies on the other hand received positive abnormal returns. The results imply that it can no longer be generalized that target companies always win and acquiring companies lose during the merger activity. On the other hand, the dividends for target companies increased significantly after the merger, while the dividends for acquiring companies remained insignificantly negative after the merger. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBL

The case study explores how leveraging on experience, risk and control can be used to enhance a late-entrant globalisation strategy.

The South African Post Office is investing large amounts of money in IT. Organisations were encouraged by the notion that investing in IT correlates with higher returns and the delivery of expected results by replacing the human component in organisations. The employment of IT within business has often resulted in the replacement of old problems with new and the expected business benefits of IT not realised. The primary research objective was to determine the relationship between IT expenditure and the financial performance of a firm. The secondary research objective was to explore the perceived value of IT investment in SAPO. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBL

This study will focus on the South African sugar generic marketing campaign and compare this initiative with other generic food commodity marketing campaigns with the objective of identifying appropriate methodologies for measuring generic marketing campaign effectiveness / The purpose of the study is to determine if consumer attitude towards sugar is an indicator of sugar consumption behaviour. Attitudinal statements were developed using the results of a segmentation study, which classified sugar consumers into six segments. These statements, which were characteristic of consumer attitudes towards sugar, were included in a national survey of 2 516 respondents to test sugar consumption behaviour relative to consumer attitudes. Conventional statistical methods were applied to analyse the sugar consumption behaviour of respondents within the six attitudinal segments. It was found that there is a direct relationship between consumer attitudes towards sugar and sugar consumption behaviour. Consumers with a positive predisposition towards sugar were found to consume significantly more sugar than those in negatively predisposed segments. According to attitude theory, which suggests that attitude can be influenced and changed, the study concludes that generic advertising is an appropriate communication tool to influence and change the attitudes of negatively predisposed sugar users in order to improve sugar consumption. Furthermore the segmentation based on attitudes provides a method for measuring the success of advertising initiatives by monitoring the movement of consumers between positive and negative segments. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBL

This dissertation looks at the technological innovation and market competitiveness of the solar PV industry in China, and examines the role played by policy and markets in the development of the industry. Using solar cell lab efficiency and the quality and quantity of solar PV patents as indicators, this study finds that, unlike what conventional wisdom assumes, China is closing the innovation gap between itself and the world’s leading innovators. This is mainly due to three reasons: a national strategic vision for innovation, growing public and private R&D investment, and an innovation ecosystem made of government sponsored science and technology programs and technology-specific global innovation networks. Solar PV manufacturing in China thrived on a fully-developed self-sufficient domestic supply chain that features a few highly concentrated industrial clusters, such as the one in the Yangtze River Delta area. The agglomeration economies it created, combined with economies of scale development, commercialization-oriented innovation, and attention to low-cost production are mainly responsible for the competitiveness of the solar PV manufacturing industry in China. However, weakness in tooling and material production due to a lack of advanced scientific knowledge and manufacturing skills constrains the further development of the supply chain. The emphasis on process innovation also renders the industry vulnerable to disruptive technologies. Moving forward, policymakers should continue to promote global research networks and local production networks, and use innovation as a crosscutting lever to integrate R&D conducted in labs with innovation needed in the manufacturing sector and the supply chain.

This thesis explores effective and contextually appropriate means through which manufacturing SMEs can create competitive advantage through design and sustainable Product Service Systems (PSS). The exploration focuses on how design capabilities can be developed and used in non-design led contexts to drive an effective adoption of sustainable product service systems, creating competitive heterogeneity. A comprehensive review of literature gave understanding of perspectives to competitiveness issues, how organisations have been supported towards PSS, sustainability and design adoption and related challenges. From this review surfaced the need to be cautious of contextual considerations leading to a Delphi study. The purpose of the Delphi study was to identify factors relevant for SMEs in Botswana to embrace sustainable PSS as a competitive business strategy. Priorities from the Delphi study informed a study aimed at exploring competitiveness experiences of SMEs and their perceptions of sustainability and product service systems. Following the position of experts on industries highly prioritised in Botswana s economic diversification agenda, this was done with a specific industry; the leather industry. Possible opportunities of how design can address challenges identified and how PSS and sustainability can open new business opportunities for SMEs were also drawn from the findings. A systems success framework was developed using the main findings. The framework was tested through workshops with 3 SMEs who were also participants in the previous study. Through interactions with designers, the workshops exposed SMEs to design and PSS. Findings from the workshops indicate that through design capabilities SMEs can recognise opportunities and translate them in a service context to differentiated offerings suitable for their various markets. A designerly approach also offered a simplified but holistic process for SMEs to engage in systems thinking.

In our increasingly globalised world, supranational regions, nation states and individual country regions are progressively more in competition with one another. How the nation state and region can become more competitive and how this competitiveness can be measured is open to debate. This thesis presents work based upon two aspects that have been proffered as to how competitiveness at the country and region level can be explained, that is through investment (via Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)) inflows and through the development of enterprise and in particular the enhancement of the small firm in international markets. The theme that runs through the thesis is one of competitiveness and competence. The competence of the region to attract FDI and the competence of the entrepreneur and the SME to undertake internationalisation. The thesis begins by examining the concepts of national and regional competitiveness. Two of the determinants of national and regional competitiveness are then considered - FDI and the level of small firm activity/entrepreneurship. The paper analyses the empirical and theoretical work on FDI and considers how regional competencies/factors can be used to attract FDI. SME internationalisation and its impact on regional competitiveness are then examined, focussing on the resources and competences, at the level of the entrepreneur and the firm, which influence SME internationalisation. The thesis contributes to the richness of understanding of the complex relationship between the range of explanatory factors at a regional, national and supra-national level that influence inbound FDI. In particular providing a much better understanding of UK regional FDI inflows. The section on internationalisation of SMEs contributes to the understanding of entrepreneurial and firm competences through the study of small firms at the county level of Northamptonshire. This county is a relatively under-researched area in the study of SMEs and in the study of the county's SME activity in international markets it has been even more sparsely investigated.

The impact of domestic policy regulations and standards on trade has been at the forefront of global policy during the past decade. Every country develops their own policies and standards that differ from country to country. These differences create problems for manufacturing industries, especially in major exporting countries. This study overviews the policy context driving standards in the manufacturing industries. The study consists of three different articles that attempt to examine the role of technical regulations and standards and their relationship with trade using different econometric models In the first article, the standard factor endowment approach is employed to explain the effects of environmental regulatory policy on net exports in different manufacturing industries. The study hypothesizes that a countrys comparative advantage depends on its factor abundance. The regulatory policy increases production costs and, thus, reduces the output level of an industry. The results indicate that each industry is unique in the factors determining net exports and in many instances environmental regulations are important. In the second article, we investigate the impact of competition policy on a countrys production and export competitiveness. Since the impact of competition regulation depends upon the particular circumstances of the industry to which the policy is applied, we examine how competition policy impacts production and exports of a specific sector, in particular the agri-food processing sector. The results suggest that competition policy enhances competition by reducing entry barriers, and causes firms to produce more output with lower prices. Exports for both total and food manufacturing in the post-competition policy period are higher than exports in the pre-competition period. In the third article, we estimate regressions based on an extended gravity model to determine the possible influence of food safety standards on export flows of six Asia-Pacific countries to ten importing countries. We examine the relationship between bilateral exports and importers imposition of food safety standards. The results show that the value of exports in food and food products is negatively affected by food safety standards: the greater the aflatoxin standards, the lower its restrictiveness, and higher the bilateral export flows.

<p>The aim of this paper is to theoretically establish a framework for the basics of international trade between countries creating competitiveness. Since the environment in which trade takes place is changeable so is the concept of competitiveness. It is therefore argued in the paper that in order to understand the underlying factors of competitiveness one have to understand the environment in which trade takes place in. Today the concept of competitiveness will therefore be better understood by employing an industrial perspective. This approach can answer questions, which national aggregate estimates cannot. The question asked in the paper is; which industries in Europe, based on the assumptions of international trade theories is competitive? The European industries that came out as competitive were the one using high-skilled labor and produced or used ICT intensively in their production. The question also provided some answers to the always up-do-day wonder namely, in which direction European competitiveness is heading.</p>

<p>The Sugar Industry in Fiji is facing a lot of problems. Since the Government of Fiji has not fulfilled their commitments to the European Union (EU), the EU has backed away from supporting the industry. The milling efficiency has been constantly declining since the mid 1980’s and farm productivities have not kept pace with the changing international market for sugar. To be able to obtain the economies of scale, the sugar production in Fiji has to increase with 75 % from the current level of production. A lot of towns in Fiji would be nothing without the Sugar Industry, and thousands of people are dependent on the industry for their sustenance. Due to this fact, it is certain that the loss of confidence in the industry, or any likely collapse, would imply disaster for Fiji as a whole. It will lead to serious implications on the economic, social and political stability of Fiji.</p><p>The overall aim of this thesis is to study the effects of the EU measures especially on the Sugar Industry in Fiji, to be able to understand to which extent the industry depends on the support from the EU. The aim is also to analyse and discuss different competition strategies on how Fiji can compete and be a part of the global market of sugar.</p><p>This research was made from a qualitative approach in order to gain a deeper understanding about the problem. Abduction made it possible to work parallel with different parts of the thesis. A combination of primary and secondary data gathering has been used, with the secondary data as a basis for building the empirical part of the thesis. The primary data was collected through in-depth interviews with people at different positions within the Sugar Industry in Fiji.</p><p>Fiji is dependent on the Sugar Industry and since there is no other obvious donor for Fiji today, and it is crucial that the industry gets support, the conclusion is that Fiji also is dependent on the support from the EU. Even though Fiji has the possibility to increase their competitiveness on the regional as well as on the international market, there is no need for Fiji to strive after the world market at the moment.</p>