Studying organizational capabilities from the perspective of national institutions has been widely adopted in high tech industries in developed countries, but scarcely in developing countries. This research applies this framework into China to study the solar PV industry, but at the regional level. The solar PV industry in China has strongly developed in the global market in recent years, having been the biggest solar PV producer since 2007. However, there are contrast regional differences in the solar PV industry development between Jiangsu and Shandong. The solar PV producers in Jiangsu have stronger organizational capabilities to perform well compared to those in Shandong. Thus this research adopts the framework to explore the influence of regional institutions (the role of regional government, financial systems, inter-firm relations and education and labor systems) in building organizational capabilities (R&D capabilities in technology, capabilities in finance, managerial coordination and human resources) in solar PV industry in Jiangsu and Shandong regions. Comparative case studies are adopted in my research and the research has investigated six solar PV companies and several associated organizations. It is concluded that different regional institutions have different influences (to promote or hinder) in building organizational capabilities in the solar PV industry. Compared to Shandong, the regional institutions in Jiangsu can help solar PV companies to build organizational capabilities. The research findings indicate the importance of regional institutions in China.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / The Great Lakes Region has long been viewed as a land of untapped economic potential due to, amongst other factors, the failures of the Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries (ECGLC)1 and the Rwandan genocide. The region has many opportunities and common initiatives despite tensions among its core countries. Cross-borders trade, common infrastructures and common border security zones operations have shown that regional integration is possible within the region. From the Dar-Es-Salaam Conference and Declaration2 in November 2004, and thereafter, the signing of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) Pact3 in Nairobi, in 2006 the Group of Friends (GoFs) and the member states plus international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) took a stance to build for the future of the region. They created this new regional integration initiative in order to achieve peace. Peace has multiple dimensions and implications among which poverty alleviation and building of common future in the region are crucial and conducive to increase of population resources.4 Poverty alleviation, sustainable management of common infrastructures, trade and security can be effectively achieved by integrating economically the region.

[pt] A presente dissertação tem por finalidade analisar a atual disposição da arquitetura regional da América do Sul; fazendo-a em particular, por meio do sistemático exame da composição e do conteúdo dos principais temas e agendas, que compõem as mais proeminentes instituições regionais do continente, isto é, o Mercosul, a ALBA e a Aliança do Pacífico. Para cumprir com tal objetivo, pretende-se construir um modelo analítico simples, centrado na percepção que cada uma das referidas instituições possui, a respeito de quatro temas-chave considerados institucionalmente prioritários – princípios institucionais, integração produtiva, sistema financeiro e infraestrutura e transportes – e que envolvem integração regional; visando, identificar sobre que orientações paradigmáticas integrativas tais instituições se assentam, se as agendas entre estas instituições são: convergentes, complementares ou dissonantes entre si; e a influência que a combinação das interações entre estas exercem, para com a atual disposição da Arquitetura Regional na América do Sul. Esta dissertação argumenta que a atual disposição da Arquitetura Regional sul-americana subsiste em módulos. / [en] This dissertation aims to analyze the current provision of regional architecture in South America; by doing so, in particular, through the systematic examination of the composition and the content of the main themes and agendas, which make up the most prominent regional institutions of the continent namely Mercosur, ALBA, and the Pacific Alliance. To fulfill this objective, the intente is to build a simple analytical model, centred around the perception that each one of these institutions have about four key institutional priority issues – institutional principles, productive integration, financial system and infrastructure and transport - and also involves regional integration; in order to Identify on which paradigmatic integrative guidelines such institutions are based, If the agendas between these institutions are: convergent, complementary or dissonant to each other; and the influence that the combination of the interactions between them exert, in relation to the current disposition of Regional Architecture in South America. This dissertation argues that the present layout of South American Regional Architecture subsists in modules.

À partir d’une approche socio-historique, la thèse propose une analyse des mécanismes de fabrication d’une politique du livre en Bretagne. En restituant les logiques sociales à l’œuvre dans le processus de naturalisation d’une politique publique de la culture, de la période de la Libération à la période actuelle, l’étude entend retracer les configurations successives de négociations et de luttes – entre les agents de l’Etat et les agents sociaux qui composent l’espace régional (notamment au sein des champs éditorial et politique) – pour le monopole de la définition d’une « identité régionale ». Dans cette perspective, « le livre » constitue un instrument légitime de production et de promotion de perceptions antagonistes de « la culture ». De sorte que le retour sur les conditions sociales et historiques d’émergence d’une catégorie d’intervention publique révèle les usages différenciés du « livre » et les enjeux politiques de « la culture », en les rapportant aux trajectoires individuelles et collectives des agents investis dans l’espace des mouvements sociaux bretons, en fonction d’une conjoncture nationale de prise de conscience régionale et de remise en cause de l’ordre symbolique établi. Il conduit par ailleurs à repérer le travail de représentation politique des institutions régionales consistant à homogénéiser une politique culturelle et le sens public qui en découle. De l’incorporation d’une indignité culturelle au renversement de l’ordonnancement légitime du monde social, l’histoire de la politique du livre en Bretagne met ainsi au jour les rapports de force engagés, avec et contre l’Etat, pour l’institutionnalisation de la région. / From a sociohistorical perspective, this thesis analyses the different developments that lead to the creation of a political identity through the use of the book in Brittany (France). By restoring the social logistics at work in the process of institutionalisation of a cultural policy, from the Liberation (1945) up to the present day, this study aims to retrace the path of the successive struggles – between State bodies and local bodies (particularly editors and politics) – in monopolizing the definition of a “regional identity”. In this regard, “the book” constitutes a legitimate instrument in the production and promotion of opposing views of “the culture”. Consequently, looking back on the social and historical conditions of the emergence of a public intervention highlights the different ways the book is used and also the political stakes of “the culture”. That must be put in parallel with both individual and collective paths of the bodies invested in the Breton social movements, which are taking place in a nationwide growth of a regional awareness and challenge of the established symbolic order. It is also necessary also to notice the work of the regional institutions in their political representation in order to homogenize a cultural policy and the public meaning that follows. From the acceptance of a cultural unworthiness to the overhauling of the legitimate order of the social field, the history of the book policy in Brittany highlights the power struggles engaged with and against the State for the institutionalisation of the region.

Please read the abstract in the 00front of this document / Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Centre for Human Rights / LLD / Unrestricted