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This thesis sets out to examine the impact of marketisation on the value chains of a number of English post-1992 universities between 1992 and 2010. The research focuses on the relationships and interplay between knowledge and value in the context of the knowledge economy and the increasing marketisation of the higher education sector. While the extant global value chain (GVC) literature tends to focus on manufacturing networks and chains, this thesis will argue that (quasi-) public service sector value chains, especially those in higher education provide important cases for study. In-depth interviews with twelve members of the ‘institutional elite’ within the post-1992 sector of higher education, supported by rich documentary analysis, provides compelling evidence for modifications to the existing ‘value chain’ framework in order to better account for the particularities of (quasi-) public services and service work. The research proposes a typology designed to capture fragmented and commodified knowledge, and its practical manifestations, generated within the higher education sector. Beyond this, it attempts to rationalise the notion of value (in the context of the value chain framework) with the production, diffusion and dissemination of knowledge for higher education institutions. The study also develops a broad value chain for the post-1992 sector of higher education to explore the robustness of the conceptual ‘value chain’ framework for similar organisations. The research concludes that marketisation has indeed in part been responsible for encouraging universities to re-structure their value chains. It also challenges the conceptual reach of the existing ‘value chain’ framework by making a number of insightful observations regarding the nature of (higher education) service activities. Specifically, it identifies a number of underplayed factors including (1) the treatment of knowledge and value (2) ‘institutional elites’ (3) ‘ideology as governance’ (4) the (quasi-) public service sector and (5) place as having particular consequences for the conceptualisation of (quasi-) public service sector value chains.

Credit card fraud losses within the South African credit card market in 2006 exceeded R257M. A portion of these losses (R179M) are within the borders of South Africa and its common monetary area partners. This represents a startling 70% of credit card fraud on magnetic stripe cards used within the borders of South Africa. The South African credit card industry adopts floor limits at certain merchants and merchant categories. South Africa is one of a few countries in the world that still adopt floor limits on credit cards within its payment card industry. Credit card transactions on magnetic-stripe cards conducted below the merchant’s designated floor limit do not go to the issuing bank for authorization. The first time the issuing bank acknowledges these transactions is when they are settled on average two days later. The rationale for not adopting zero floor limits within the South African credit card market is the supposed inability of the existing telecommunications infrastructure to handle the volume and frequency of data submitted by merchants for authorization. The impact of reduced fraud and bad debt losses through adopting a zero floor limit in relation to merchant operational costs is the basis of the research. The research also aims to examine the Proposition that the existing telecommunications infrastructure is unable to support a zero floor limit proposal.

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This thesis investigates whether the tendency for Advanced Business Services to concentrate in Sydney and Melbourne implies a similar spatial bias in the propensity for innovation across the Australian economy. The various models of business innovation are reviewed. The traditional Schumpeterian view is characterized by a strategic leap in customer offer, based on some new break-through technology. Alternatively, innovation may proceed in incremental or organic fashion. Other conceptual frameworks for analyzing innovation conceive of it as a network process, which is becoming more prevalent as corporate value chains 'unbundle' with improved communication technologies, reduced barriers to capital transfers and new techniques for managing transaction risk. Regardless of which model of innovation is applied, Advanced Business Services have a critical role in sparking and facilitating innovation. This is gathering potency as the 'thinking part' of the value chain becomes increasingly separable from the 'making' and 'distribution' aspects of production. While Advanced Business Services are vital to successful innovation in the modern economy, they continue to operate within primitive commercial models where social networks and trust based relationships are paramount in successful client service. The innovation catalyst function of Advanced Business Services may be prone to a significant distance deterioration effect, because of the difficulty of maintaining the requisite social relationships over an extended geography. This, in turn, suggests an emergent core and periphery geography in innovation. The thesis examines this hypothesis through both demand and supply side analyses. The latter involves a random sample survey of approximately 100 Advanced Business Service firms in Melbourne. This confirms the tendency of these firms to favour local clients. The demand side analysis includes case studies of Advanced Business Service use and innovation outcomes amongst six metropolitan Melbourne based firms and six similar firms based some two hours drive away in Bendigo. In line with the hypothesis, the metropolitan cases show much stronger engagement with knowledge intensive advisory services than their counterparts in regional Victoria. The demand side analysis also includes a quantitative component, which is exploratory in nature owing to data limitations. It considers how innovation outcomes in manufacturing change with increasing distance from key Advanced Business Service centres. Innovation outcomes are proxied by variations in manufacturing worker wages. These results are also consistent with the hypothesis of distance deterioration in the innovation role of Advanced Business Services.

Datum:                     2012-01-06 Nivå:                        Kandidatuppsats i företagsekonomi med inriktig marknadsföring Institution:               Akademin för hållbar samhälls- och teknikutveckling, HST,                                  Mälardalens Högskola Författare:               Aiman Hadrous        Ashkan Mortazavifar              Nancy Saad                                  25 juni 1987               7 december 1990                26 november 1986 Titel:                        Att locka fler studenter till Energiingenjörsprogrammet: En studie om studentrekrytering. Handledare:             Johan Grinbergs Nyckelord:                Attrahera, Energiingenjörsprogrammet, Konsumentens köpprocess, Means- and Value Chain Frågeställning:                   Hur skall fler studenter bli attraherade av att söka till Energiingenjörsprogrammet? Syfte:                        Arbetets syfte är att undersöka och analysera hur Energiingenjörsprogrammet kan attrahera fler studenter i framtiden.                     Metod:                                I detta arbete utnyttjas både den kvalitativa och den kvantitativa metoden. Insamlingen av sekundära data gjordes genom studier av relevanta artiklar inom ämnet konsumentbeteende. Till grund för resultat och slutsats användes en enkätundersökning på gymnasieelever inom Västerås kommun. Slutsats:                   Undersökningen visade att flera aspekter påverkar studentens val av utbildning. Energiingenjörsprogrammet ska arbeta med positionering av programmet och anpassa detta utifrån studentens mål och behov, för att kunna skapa ett attraktivt val.

Although many businesses invest on e-commerce, some managers still have a mystery which setting up e-commerce website is almost the same as e-commerce. However, they do not spent extra time, money, and labors. The mistake is doomed to failure on e-commerce. The businesses operate e-commerce and a series of operational activities include inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and services must be implemented. The operational activities must be linked together tightly and implement carefully. By value chain, the study measures the implementation of e-commerce companies whether integrates every series of operational activities to enhance the value of products and create competitive advantage. Many studies discuss about how top managers should play a key role as business enterprises import a new information system, but few of them focus on top management support. The attitude and support of top manager will result in the success or failure. The study also found that manager¡¦s attitude and internet industry are the important factors of profit, and these will affect the top management support. If the business enterprises spent sufficient resources and effort in e-business processes and top managers support in action, we believe that staffs will try their best to achieve organizational goals

This thesis presented an empirical study exploring the performance of TFT-LCD industry through vertical integration in value chain. Statistical analysis methods were adopted to examine the performance of TFT-LCD industry. The following theories of the profit pool and DuPont financial analysis approach, supplemented by competitive strategies, vertical integration, value chain and profit pool theory literature, from the industry overview and key aspects of the value chain Profit distribution and changes in the degree of value chain integration impact on the profitability of panel makers. In this research, we focused on the different segment of the TFT-LCD value chain (color filters, polarizers, backlight module, driver IC and panel manufacturing). We used three financial performance indices of these companies between 2005 and 2009,namely ROE (Return on Equity; ROE), return on total assets (Return on Asset; ROA), operating margin (Return on Sales; ROS) such as most scholars commonly used financial indicators as measurement tools observe all aspects of the value chain profit changes. Finally from the perspective of profit pool and vertical integration strategies to examine whether TFT-LCD panel manufacturers could use an integration strategy as a way to improve their performance on operating profit margin and lower the risk. The results are as follows: the value of different levels of vertical integration, panel makers will do the performance of the operating profit margin have different effects, with the active dwell Taiwan¡¦s TFT-LCD industry up the value chain integration, is indeed closer to or exceed the Korea TFT-LCD maker, but with the TV panel sales with a gradual increase in the proportion of the panel sales , sales channel became a key factor in whether or not profitable. Therefore, the panel makers may be able to consider more closer cooperation with the player of home appliance industry and downstream continuing down the value chain to make the direction of integration efforts.

Global competition and electronic business is the inevitable for enterprises in the twenty-one century. Information technology for enterprises is just tools. According to an enterprise¡¦s role that is played in its supply chain and functions that is providing products¡¦ value, an enterprise apply business process design should display the advantage of electronic business. According to the Value System and the Supply Chain macro view, the research analyzed business processes and proposed a business process design approach, named ¡§Collaborated Design Approach of Business Process¡¨, to apply to enterprises collaboration and electronic business. Five steps composed the approach. The first step is Value System analysis to define the Value System, critical activities and linkages. And according that, the research defined the architecture of business core processes and linkages. The secondary step is business core process design. Based on the Value chain, the research explored the relations between demands, supplies and control, and proposed business processes integrated design directions. The third step is an analytic characteristic of supply chain. The research analyzed the supply chain variations with business process design. The forth step is processes simulated and analytic. The research simulated and evaluated the supply chain variations with business process design. The fifth step is the process operational strategy. The ¡§Process operational strategy matrix¡¨ that presented by the research, the research proposed suggestions of inbound and outbound logistics process operational strategies. The research use the supply chain of a famous brand sports shoes company as case study to instructed how to apply the ¡¨Collaborated Design Approach of Business Process¡¨.

Two months of fieldwork was conducted during the summer of 2014 in Nicaragua, through qualitative interviews the aims was to investigate the Value Chain of dried mango and its potential as an alternative income source for livelihood improvements for households in Manzano Uno, Nicaragua. The idea to investigate dried mango in particular originates from a conversation in the spring of 2012 with Ben Orton, co- founder of local NGO Waves of Hope, who considered the idea after witnessing the huge amounts of ripe mango falling to the ground and rutting away during the peak season in Manzano Uno. The research problem in a bigger context is related to the debate on how developing countries, and rural parts in particular, are often excluded from the benefits that come with a globalized market economy, since they often lack the tools to participate or do so on unfavorable terms. The idea of a Value Chain Analysis is to detect where along the production line value is added to a product from raw to finished good. Income Diversification comes in to the investigation and contributes to the conclusion that it would be favorable for livelihood improvements to households in Manzano Uno to diversify income sources, to create more secure and higher quality income. The value chain analysis is mainly based on information provided by Sol Simple, an organic-fruit drying plant in San Ramon, Nicaragua and is one out of two fruit processing enterprises in the country. They have been growing every year and have positive expectations of the future. Dried fruit and mango in particular seems to have good prospects for future demand as export products and one important addition is the sustainable, organic and Fairtrade markets which all enable higher product prices and thereby enable bigger shares to go back to the local producers. The federal incentives in Nicaragua include focus on the foreign investment to the country and quantity secondary education, which is concluded to not always be quality education. The high share of investments and entrepreneurships from foreigners are explained by the high security profile in the country, fertile lands and the lowest minimum wage in the region.