ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Historically organisations have had the "luxury" of being able to anticipate future developments and respond to them in good time due to, firstly, the comparatively slow pace of change and, secondly, the past being a relatively good predictor of the future. The second half of the 20th Century bears witness to some of the most dramatic changes and developments experienced by mankind. Most notable of these were globalisation,de-regulation, the emergence of the information/knowledge economy and, perhaps most significant of all, the changes brought about by the Internet. The underlying assertion of this report is that, given the current, complex, dynamic and sometimes volatile nature of changes in the external environment, in order to ensure a sustainable competitive advantage, organisations will be forced to consider carefully the dynamics of the environment in which they operate and to build their plans around these dynamics. This report briefly traces the evolution of strategic planning to its current status prior to providing a detailed analysis of the nature of environmental scanning and its applicability to strategic planning. The report provides a theoretical overview Qf environmental scanning and a discussion of some of the tools and techniques of environmental scanning. Within this context the report provides a brief indication of the extent of the practice of environmental scanning within the financial services sector of South Africa. The conclusion assesses the findings of the current state of the practice of environmental scanning against the theory, with the view to providing an insight into the extent to which environmental scanning is applied in South Africa Possible future directions of research and development of the practice are also identified. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Histories gesproke, het instansies oor die "luukse" beskik om toekomstige ontwikkelinge vooruit te kon waarneem en betyds op hulle te reageer, eerstens weens die betreklike stadige pas van verandering en tweedens, omdat die verlede 'n betreklike goeie voorspeller van die toekoms was. Die tweede helfte van die 20ste eeu getuig van sommige van die mees dramatiese veranderinge en ontwikkelinge wat deur die mens ondervind is. Die mees uitstaande was globalisering, deregulering, die verskyning van die inligting/kennis-ekonomie en, dalk die mees uitstaande van almal, die veranderinge wat deur die Internet teweeggebring is. Die onderliggende stelling van hierdie verslag is dat, gegewe die huidige, komplekse,dinamiese en soms onbestendige aard van veranderinge in die eksterne omgewing, om 'n mededingende voordeel te verseker, sal instansies geforseer word om die dinamika van die omgewing waarin hulle werk, versigtig te oorweeg en om hulle planne om hierdie dinamika te bou. Hierdie verslag speur kortliks die ewolusie na van strategiese beplanning tot sy huidige status gevolg deur 'n omvattende analise van die aard van omgewingsondersoeke en die toepaslikheid daarvan op strategiese beplanning. Die verslag voorsien 'n teoretiese oorsig tot omgewingsondersoeke en 'n bespreking van sommige van die instrurnente en tegnieke van omgewingsondersoeke. Binne hierdie konteks voorsien die verslag 'n kort aanduiding van die omvang van die uitvoering van omgewingsondersoeke binne die finansiele dienstesektor van Suid-Afrika. Die slot som die bevindings op van die huidige toestand van die praktyk van omgewingsondersoeke volgens die teorie, met die oog op voorsiening van 'n insig in die mate waartoe omgewingsondersoeke in Suid-Afrika toegepas word. Moontlike toekomstige rigtings van navorsing en ontwikkeling van die praktyk word ook geidentifiseer.

With today's rapidly changing business environment, more and more businesses are using competitive intelligence to improve planning efforts, identify threats and opportunities and help avoid unpleasant surprises. However, to be effective, this intelligence must be gathered and communicated between managers. Two research questions will address these issues: (1) can a representation of competitive knowledge be developed that reflects managerial thought and (2) will a graphical computer tool based on this representation elicit a more complete representation of competitive intelligence knowledge in a more efficient manner relative to traditional methods? Various studies have shown managerial thought to be represented in several ways, e.g., conceptual groupings, hierarchically, and causally. However, by proposing that managers represent information about competitors in a story structure and integrating this proposal with the literature from competitive intelligence and strategic planning, a more complete conceptual model results. To validate the proposed conceptual model, an archival case study of three competitors in the computer workstation market was conducted. Following that, interviews were conducted with six MBA students with experience in competitive intelligence and with six managers. The transcripts from these interviews have been analyzed and the conceptual model has been modified based on input from this content analysis. A prototype was developed using the ConceptBase platform, an X-windows tool that provides both graphical and textual access to concepts and their relationships. The prototype will allow managers to create a graphical representation of their competitive knowledge. This representation will allow managers to locate gaps in their knowledge and to communicate their information to others. The prototype was validated by two different groups of MBA students by asking them to represent a given competitive situation. One group used pencil and paper while the second group used the prototype. Both the number of uncategorized concepts and the number of relationships differed significantly. This indicates that a more complete representation was created using the prototype. The two main contributions of this research are: (1) a model of competitive intelligence knowledge based on managerial cognition, and (2) a prototype that will facilitate the elicitation of competitive intelligence knowledge in a graphical and understandable manner.

No description available.

M.Comm. / Vision and mission are often incorrectly seen as synonyms. In this study the vision and mission are defined separately. A vision is defined as a dream of an ultimate goal of the organisation in the future. This must be a clear and specific image or word picture that requires imagination. The vision must become ideology and summarise the core values of the organisation. A mission is defined as the type of business that the organisation is carrying out. It says why the organisation has a right to exist and the immediate goal of the organisation. A vision and a mission have definite advantages for the organisation. Some of the advantages are an ultimate and an immediate goal to strive for. A vision helps employees to decide if its actions are correct or incorrect. A mission gives employees responsibility and the employees' performance can be measured against it. There are certain requirements a vision and a mission have to meet. The joined requirements are it must inspire, motivate and energise the employees. Secondly, management with the input of the employees must formulate it. Thirdly, the vision and the mission must be shared with all the employees to ensure goal concurrency. Fourthly, the vision and mission must be positive. Lastly, it must encourage employees to think long term. Vision specific requirements are it must be a leap in the future, specific and understandable to all the employees, unique and original, timeless, something worth the organisation's while, make sense in the market and create a environment of risk taking and experimentation. Mission specific requirements are it must describe the type of business clearly, must be in line with the external environment, state the right to exist, help with the allocation of resources, lead by the vision of the organisation and persuade employees emotionally to achieve the mission. The mission should include a ten to thirty year goal against which employees performance can be measured...

"December 2001" Includes bibliographical references : (p. 31-32) Simons (1990) notion of interactive controls has been used in the literature to examine the role of management control systems in facilitating strategic change. The implications of strategic change for routine diagnostic feedback mechanisms have received less attention. Drawing on interview and archival data from a single case study of an Australian pump manufacturer, we examine the way diagnostic controls are used in the immediate period following strategic change. The changes in diagnostic controls are shown not only to align the organization in a self-regulating way to a new strategic direction, but also to promote learning, co-operation and culture change which are integral to, rather than an outcome of the strategic change process.

Currently in Taiwan, there are about 450,000 people with net assets of US$100,000 and this number is estimated to exceed 510,000 (people) in three years. The market of wealth management is in its infancy and the potential for future development in this sector is huge. Moreover, the emerging trends of financial holding companies, ¡§cross marketing¡¨ strategies as well as an under-cultivated market will be contributing factors for the banking industry to be able to expand and grow into the wealth management sector. In the highly competitive financial sector, the margin for administering traditional deposits and lending is getting narrower all the time. Furthermore, under government regulation, a bank must provide a certain amount of reserves for bad debts in its administration. Therefore, the main objective of the Bank of Kaohsiung is to create more revenue for its sustainability. The Bank of Kaohsiung (BOK) has been engaged in the wealth management business since September 2002. This report details the study of ¡§ The Strategy planning for the wealth management sector for the Bank of Kaohsiung¡¨. The motive of this research is not only to gain more revenue from non-risk administrative fees but also to help improve the core competitive ability of the Bank of Kaohsiung. This research mainly focused on the SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat) analysis of the staff of BOK; to understand their position in the promotion of wealth management and how to plan the market strategy for this sector through a systematic procedure (Questionnaire Survey included). Through this study, we would like to understand our clients¡¦ needs as well as the direction of future development. This would enable us to improve our competitive edge in this sector. In conclusion, we hope that this document may provide a reference guide to peers for promoting their wealth management business in the banking industry.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1991. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 208-224). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.L.A.) -- University of Texas at Arlington, 2008.

Thesis (M.S.)--California State University, Chico. / Includes abstract. "Located in the Chico Digital Repository." Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-102 ).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Oregon State University, 2002. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-161). Also available online.