Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Per concerning about competition of manufacturing business in Taiwan¡A most enterprises were tempted to reallocate their production line or agency from Taiwan to abroad. No matter what the main factors were¡A IT system should follow accordingly. Many enterprises were obliged to give up the original running IT system for the tremendous variance in time and space to convert themselves from traditional domestic company or branch into world wide enterprise globally. In global running concept¡A many business owners pick their ERP system such as: SAP¡BORACLE¡BJDE¡BPeoplesoft¡K¡Kthat are popular here in Taiwan. Yet¡A after exhausting tremendous cost and man hours¡A most of them were disappointed. So many variances were derived in customizing factors of group members¡A culture of enterprise and original work process which would be differed with the timeline of ERP project initiated in the first beginning. The criteria among would be mainly concluded as below after lots of case study. Solving the internal ERP system issues¡A the consultant and the company in service play the main role of project running in many ways. It¡¦s always the key-criteria to make a successful customization to lead the work process via the consulting experience to guide the company staffs getting used to the new ERP system. Via picks of the consulting service companies of many cases¡A their approaches are analyzed and concluded and would be referred as here within for the companies who plan to get their consulting service in the future.

As the whole environment is changing dramatically and competition is globalizing, corporations face a future hard to predict and control and have a strong desire for more help from outside. Therefore, the consulting industry which satisfies corporations¡¦ demand to solve their problems is growing faster and faster. With the suggestions and recommendations from consulting firms, some corporations really have better performance and become more competitive; however, others do not benefit but get big losses from consulting forms. So we can have a conclusion that solving corporations¡¦ problems from consulting firms is not the only way to choose. Nevertheless, this research hopes to provide corporations and consulting firms with some efficient methods when they are involved in consulting projects. According to the case study and integrating analysis, the main conclusions of this research are as following: 1. Corporations must understand what they need and measure they own capability before planning to have consulting, and then be able to evaluate if they need to have consulting. 2. When corporations plan and choose consulting firms, they can benefit more by starting from staffs with interpersonal relationship and other corporations¡¦ experiences. 3. In the beginning, corporations and consulting firms should communicate completely with each other. Corporations should insist on their core value and culture and take it as the base of changing to get rid of missing their directions. 4. When facing resistance, corporations should solve problems positively and rely on the consulting firms¡¦ distinctive experiences and competencies of resolving conflicts. 5. Corporations usually find it difficult to evaluate consulting firms¡¦ performances; therefore they often spend more making a decision about consulting firms. But what is important for corporations is taking the results of evaluating consulting projects as the basis of improving to enhance the success of next project. Consequently, corporations should complete performance evaluating of consulting projects in detail; continue using a good model and correct failures and mistakes to promote the performance and value of consulting projects.

The world of business and consultancy are undergoing enormous change at an unprecedented rate. It is at such a time of upheaval that the values of a profession come under increasing pressure. But it is also a time when the values of a consultant (independence, objectivity and integrity) are never more important. This study emphasises and focuses on guidelines for smaller MCFs to obtain a competitive advantage in an ever changing environment. With large companies shedding jobs and outsourcing all but their core workforce, the consultancy industry moved into a new post industrial age in which the proportion of smaller knowledge base service companies or the so-called Management Consulting Firms (MCFs) is on the increase. The essence of management consulting firms is to render independent advice and assistance about management issues. This typically includes identifying and investigating problems and/or opportunities, recommending appropriate actions and helping to implement solutions. Change brings with it new problems, the solutions to which cannot be derived from past experience. Many changes occurring simultaneously and interacting with each other give rise to complexity. The essence of consultancy lies in the twin activities of helping client companies develop solutions to novel problems in resolving complex issues. Thus the greater the rate of change the greater the demand for consultancy services. The macro, market, micro environments segmentation in which MCFs operates, is of the most important driving forces that influence it existence. To anticipate the impact of these forces in advance could assist smaller MCFs to manage it to their own competitive advantage. The findings of the study serve as a source of reference that provide practical guidelines for a competitive strategy for smaller MCFs in an environment, best described as uncertain, complex and subject to continuous change. To conclude, these guidelines are formulated to practically implement a strategy to obtain a competitive advantage for smaller MCFs. / Prof. N. Lessing

Main goal of the thesis is an analysis of a position and resources of a real small management consulting firm, then to suggest possible strategic scenarios of a firm's expansion. The theoretical part contains issues related to general strategic management. The issues are accompanied by alternative points of view on a strategic planning, for example by Mantra and Master Idea concepts and Effectuation. Consequently, specific issues of management consulting firms related to strategic management are described. Whole theoretical part is based on world literature primarily. The practical part of the thesis starts by a description of the analyzed firm and strategic premises of firm's owners. Next part is an analysis of a firm's position and resources. It consists of analyzes of external macro and micro environment, analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. After analyzes, there are strategic scenarios and consequent strategic steps described. The steps are divided onto three groups. First group consist of steps which influence whole firm. Second group contains steps on a field of management consulting. Last group is focused on education market.

No description available.

Chapter 1 introduces the research topic by examining the current health of the American church. After establishing that the majority of American churches today are indeed unhealthy, a case is made for the need to develop a revitalization strategy to improve the health of these churches. This chapter argues that the apostle Paul was interested in church health and pinpointed three sets of factors which he consistently addressed in his work with churches. Chapter 2 begins by recognizing that Paul used both a proactive and a reactive approach to church health in his work with New Testament churches. The chapter then examines the role Paul played in assisting churches, highlighting attributes which can and cannot be reproduced by revitalization agents today. Chapter 3 is a study of contextual factors which affect the health of the local church. After defining and explaining contextual factors, the chapter examines Paul's strategy for dealing with these factors that threatened the health of the churches with whom he worked. Chapter 4 addresses institutional factors which also contribute to the health of the local church. In this chapter, the concept of institutional factors is defined and explained. The chapter then examines Paul's letters to understand his strategy for addressing institutional factors to improve church health. Chapter 5 then focuses on spiritual factors which are also influential in regard to matters of church health. This chapter reveals that, unlike contextual and institutional factors that church leaders and consultants commonly address today, spiritual factors are often ignored. This chapter extracts Paul's strategy for addressing spiritual factors. Chapter 6 seeks to answer the practical research question of this study: how might a Pauline approach to improving church health be applied today? This chapter emphasizes the need for revitalization agents and church leaders to evaluate their approaches through a biblical lens as they work to improve church health and increase effectiveness.

This study was conducted to determine the perception of the chief audit executive as head of the internal audit function, on the internal audit activities that should be performed (current and future) within South African companies after which the findings were compared with the international perception in this regard. Data was also obtained on whether internal audit activities were performed inhouse or were outsourced; the importance of the internal audit activities, senior management’s rating of the value added, the internal audit approach followed, and whether the internal audit standards were being complied with. A statistical analysis was performed on data that was obtained from questionnaires and interviews. This study targeted 30 chief audit executives, and to a lesser extent 30 Chief Executive Officers/Chief Financial Officers/Chief Operating Officers, of large South African listed companies. The results prove that chief audit executives perceive themselves as performing their internal audit activities according to the internal audit Standards and that they satisfy the needs and expectations of their companies. The internal audit profession, its clients and internal audit educators may benefit from the study in the planning of future internal audit activities and educational programmes respectively.

The aim of this study is to examine what current discourses within the expanding popular management culture carry to organizations in terms of worldview, knowledge view, ideologies, norms, and values, and how these discourses shape leader’s roles in modern organizations. A case study is conducted on a conflict management book by a popular management guru, Stephen R. Covey. The three main study questions concern: 1) ontology and epistemology found in the discourses, 2) how the ideas of ‘right’ vs. ‘wrong’ conflict management strategies are constructed by the author, and 3) how the ideas of the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ leader are constructed. The study applies different discourse analytical and poststructuralistic tools combined in a bricolage, to analyze and deconstruct Stephen R. Covey’s (2011) managerial discourses in his book “The 3rd Alternative - solving life’s most difficult problems”. The study result shows that popular managerial discourses such as Covey’s lack solid scientific ground and carry institutional myths, ideology and normative religious beliefs to the learning organizations. The analyzed managerial discourses carry an underlying naive realistic worldview, and belief that there are some universally applicable correct principals concerning conflict resolution, and that there are also some principles and paradigms that are fundamentally wrong. Consequently, leaders who use the ‘right’ conflict management strategy are characterized as good and those who use the ‘wrong’ strategies are characterized as bad leaders. The conclusion of the study is that such non-scientific managerial discourses are given constituating power in organizations, generating a simplistic, ideological and normative view of organizational life, while creating myths about how the organizational reality should be perceived and how a leader should operate in it. It is furthermore argued that even a myth, or an ideal, can sometimes be useful to create a necessary change in an organization and move it in the desired direction.