Orientador: Shiguenoli Miyamoto / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-12T22:53:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Bertazzo_JulianaSantosMaia_D.pdf: 3409902 bytes, checksum: 2f3ceabffb8b7b725889457b7a33b239 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: A Organização do Tratado do Atlântico Norte contraria a teoria das alianças: mesmo tendo sido declarada vencedora da Guerra Fria por uma inesperada retirada de seu oponente, ela não saiu de cena. A Aliança Atlântica desde então se expandiu e se adaptou gradativamente às novas exigências do contexto regional e internacional, com uma presença ativa em ambos. Após os eventos de 11 de setembro 2001, contudo, a Organização do Tratado do Atlântico Norte perde seu foco principal, que era a defesa da Europa, e se desdobra entre demandas regionais e globais não só dos seus membros, mas também de outras organizações. O meu objeto de pesquisa é, portanto, a Organização do Tratado do Atlântico Norte em sua nova fase, ao mesmo tempo um caso único de persistência entre as alianças militares e de adaptação entre as organizações regionais de segurança. Minha análise sobre os fenômenos relacionados à nova fase da Aliança Atlântica se desenvolve em quatro pontos: o alargamento, a permanência, a transformação, e as operações. Minha hipótese central é que durante a Guerra Fria a Organização do Tratado do Atlântico Norte foi uma referência para a segurança internacional, mas se manteve restrita à dinâmica da segurança regional, e com o fim da confrontação bipolar ela assume tarefas que progressivamente expõem os seus limites. Assim, neste trabalho de pesquisa, divido os pontos destacados em dois grandes eixos: enquanto um se refere a questões de segurança regional, incluindo alargamento e permanência, o outro diz respeito à segurança internacional, contendo a transformação da Organização do Tratado do Atlântico Norte e sua atuação em operações diversas. Com base em dados obtidos durante a pesquisa bibliográfica e de campo, afirmo que esta política atual de expansão do alcance geográfico e estratégico da Organização do Tratado do Atlântico Norte apresenta sérias limitações. Mais especificamente, minhas hipóteses de trabalho são de que há limitações para o seu (I) alargamento, colocadas pela Rússia, para a sua (II) permanência, colocadas pela União Européia, para sua (III) transformação, colocadas pela necessidade de um componente civil nas operações em que se envolve, e também para a sua (IV) atuação global, colocadas pelo engajamento dos seus membros. Portanto, nesta tese analiso (I) o ritmo e a direção da expansão da Organização do Tratado do Atlântico Norte, (II) a sua permanência e a sua relação com outras organizações, (III) o seu conceito estratégico e desenho institucional, e finalmente (IV) as suas operações, com atenção para as questões de legitimidade. As conclusões do meu estudo apontam para a chegada de um ponto de inflexão importante: tendo passado toda a Guerra Fria sem entrar em combate, a Organização do Tratado do Atlântico Norte vive uma nova fase, se envolvendo constantemente em conflitos, mas seu maior desafio atual é a afirmação de sua contínua utilidade e relevância. / Abstract: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization stands against this theory of alliances: even after it was declared winner of the Cold War by a sudden lack of opponent, it was not disbanded. The Atlantic Alliance has since then expanded and gradually adapted itself to respond to new demands of the regional and international contexts, keeping itself actively present in both. In the post-September 11 era, however, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization loses its main focus, which was the defense of Europe, and takes on regional and global tasks to comply with requests from its own members and also extraneous actors. My research topic is therefore the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in this new phase, at once a unique case of persistence among military alliances and of adaptation amongst organizations. My analysis of the phenomena related to the new phase of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization revolves around four points: enlargement, persistence, transformation and operations. My central hypothesis is that during the Cold War, although the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was a reference for international security, it was restricted to the dynamics of regional security, and after the end of the bipolar confrontation, it takes on tasks that progressively reveal the limits of the Alliance. Thus, in this research work I divided these four main points into two axes: while one is concerned with regional security issues, such as enlargement and persistence, the other involves international security, namely transformation and operations. I use data obtained through bibliographic and field research to argue that the current geographic and strategic expansion policy carried out by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has serious limitations. More specifically, my working hypotheses are that there are limits to (I) the enlargement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, posed by Russia, (II) to its persistence, posed by the European Union, to its (III) transformation, posed by the lack of a civilian component for its operations, and finally, for its (IV) global operations, due to unsteady commitment by its members. Therefore, in this thesis I analyze (I) the pace and direction of expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, (II) its persistence and its relations with other organizations, (III) its strategic concept and institutional design, and finally (IV) its operations, with special attention to legitimacy issues. The conclusions of my study reveal the coming of an important turning point: having gone through the whole of the Cold War without engaging in combat, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization mow lives a new phase, which sees it constantly involved in conflicts, but assuring its continued utility and relevance is hitherto its major challenge. / Doutorado / Doutor em Ciência Política

O presente trabalho tem como foco o estudo e análise das alianças estratégicas realizadas entre empresas do setor do real estate, no período entre 2006 e 2010, enfatizando as alianças realizadas entre empresas atuantes predominantemente nas cidades de São Paulo e Rio de Janeiro com empresas atuantes nas regiões Norte e Nordeste do Brasil, cujo objetivo por parte das empresas paulistas foi o espalhamento geográfico. Considerando o volume representativo de alianças estratégicas verificado no setor no período em questão e a geração de resultados dos empreendimentos objetos de tais parcerias inferiores às expectativas estabelecidas, o objetivo do trabalho é a apresentação de um conjunto de diretrizes que possa contribuir para o planejamento, realização e condução de futuras parcerias entre empresas do setor, visando a mitigar dificuldades e a explorar da melhor forma possível os benefícios que as alianças estratégicas podem proporcionar. Para tanto, realizou-se uma pesquisa por meio de um estudo de casos múltiplos abrangendo o estudo de empresas de capital aberto que atuavam predominantemente nas capitais do eixo Rio-São Paulo, empresas atuantes em nível regional no Norte e Nordeste brasileiro que realizaram parcerias com as empresas do Sudeste, além de empresas de consultoria que estiveram envolvidas nas parcerias por meio de prestação de serviços. Tal pesquisa permitiu identificar as principais dificuldades, vantagens e desvantagens decorrentes das parcerias em questão, cujos dados foram analisados e discutidos à luz da revisão bibliográfica, embasando assim o conjunto de diretrizes proposto. As diretrizes apresentadas visam a contribuir com todo o processo que envolve a realização de uma parceria, contemplando desde aspectos de planejamento, gestão até aspectos operacionais e são complementadas por recomendações que somadas às diretrizes podem elevar a probabilidade de êxito das parcerias. / This work focuses on the study and analysis of strategic alliances made between companies in the real estate sector in the period between 2006 and 2010, emphasizing the alliances made between companies operating predominantly in the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro with companies operating in North and Northeast of Brazil, whose goal by the São Paulo companies was the geographical spread. Whereas the representative volume of strategic alliances observed in the sector in the period, and the generation of results of the objects of such developments partnerships lower than the set expectations, the main goal is to present a set of guidelines that can contribute to the planning, achievement and conduct of future partnerships between companies in order to mitigate difficulties and to explore the best possible way the benefits that strategic alliances can provide. Therefore, a research had been carried out through a multiple case study covering the study of publicly traded companies operating predominantly in the capitals of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, companies operating at the regional level in the North and Northeast Brazil who underwent partnerships with companies in the Southeast, and consulting firms that were involved in partnerships through service. This research identified the main difficulties, advantages and disadvantages of partnerships in question and the data was analyzed and discussed based on the bibliography review, so basing the set of suggested guidelines. The guidelines presented are intended to contribute to the process that involves the pursuit of a partnership, covering aspects from planning, management, and operational aspects and are complemented by recommendations that added to the guidelines can increase the probability of success of partnerships.

Este estudo analisou duas experiências de alianças estratégicas intersetoriais realizadas entre empresas e comunidades na Amazônia no início do século XXI, com o intuito de identificar contribuições para as práticas de desenvolvimento sustentável a serem propostas por organizações privadas e públicas. Concluiu-se que, à despeito das necessidades de adaptação encontradas nos casos estudados, o aprendizado obtido com as práticas de alianças que vêm sendo realizadas na Amazônia, podem contribuir para o desenvolvimento socioambiental desta região. Percebeu-se um potencial imenso de alcançar resultados econômicos, sociais e ambientais se as alianças intersetoriais forem estimuladas e se elas passarem a fazer parte de fóruns de discussão mais amplos, superando preconceitos quanto ao papel de cada ator social e partindo de regras do jogo mais claras. Para chegar a esta conclusão foi montado um quadro teórico composto pela análise da dinâmica dos laços sociais em comunidades com pessoas provenientes de diversas regiões, e de algumas das formas possíveis de organização e participação comunitária. Também foi verificado se tais aspectos facilitavam ou dificultavam a criação e o respeito a regras formais e informais de convivência e o uso sustentável de recursos naturais. Além do papel do ambiente institucional e dos custos de transação em uma visão crítica do desenvolvimento sustentável. A motivação para este estudo se tornou evidente a partir do agravamento das conseqüências dos problemas ambientais e da urgência de se apontar alternativas que envolvessem os diversos atores sociais para lidar com os complexos desafios inerentes a uma região que triplicou sua população desde a década de 1970, e que, apesar da inexistência de um modelo de desenvolvimento adequado às suas especificidades, ainda concentra uma parcela importante das riquezas naturais disponíveis no planeta. Tornando-se o foco da observação internacional e da busca de alternativas de geração de renda que se equilibrassem à manutenção da riqueza dos conhecimentos tradicionais sobre os recursos naturais. Passou-se a exigir das atividades econômicas empresariais uma convivência tranqüila com o extrativismo e a agricultura familiar, além do respeito às normas para que todos pudessem, efetivamente, contribuir para a redução da pressão sobre a floresta gerada pela extração de recursos superior à capacidade de reposição natural. A partir dos anos 1990, iniciou-se uma convergência de opiniões sobre a necessidade de integrar diversos agentes econômicos no esforço de promover o desenvolvimento, que devia ser entendido como o processo de transformação da sociedade não só em relação aos meios, mas também aos fins, produzindo benefícios comuns. Ampliando este conceito, o desenvolvimento sustentável passou a ser entendido como a utilização de recursos para atender às necessidades do presente sem comprometer a capacidade das gerações futuras em atender as suas próprias necessidades. Dar o salto dos modelos tradicionais para uma proposição de desenvolvimento sustentável vem exigindo mudanças de estratégias públicas e privadas e de atitudes individuais e coletivas. Diante disso, optou-se pela modelagem de uma pesquisa do tipo exploratório-descritiva com abordagem qualitativa, empregando o método de estudo comparativo de casos, o que propiciou a inferência de variáveis a serem testadas em posteriores pesquisas hipotético-dedutivas: imagem, estratégia de negócios, transparência, confiança mútua, atração de talentos e regularização fundiária. Procurou-se controlar as limitações e os vieses inerentes a este tipo de pesquisa utilizando ferramentais metodológicos como a criação de protocolos de pesquisa e a triangulação de técnicas. / This research analyzed two experiences of inter-sector strategic alliances between companies and communities in Amazonia in the starts of the 21th century, to identify contributions to public and private organizations to put into practice the concept of sustainable development. The main conclusion is despite problems found in the cases studied; that their learning can contribute to the social and environmental development of Amazonia. There are a huge potential to find economic, social and environmental results if society stimulate inter-sector alliances and if this kind of arrange become part of ample discussion forums, taking care with biases about role of each social actor and based in clear \"rules of the game\". To find this conclusion was designed a theoretical frame composed of an analysis of social relations in communities with people that came from other places besides conceptual references about organization and community participation, used to verify if its aspects can make easier or more difficult to create and to respect formal and social rules to preserve natural resources. To complete this analysis were studied concepts of institutional environment and costs of transaction based in a critical vision of sustainable development. The motivation to do this research starts with a preoccupation with the growing consequences of environmental problems and the urgency to connect several social actors to find alternatives to the inherent challenges of a region that has three times more people than in 1970. In spite of there aren\'t a development model created specially for the region, it still has a important part of natural wealth of the world. Amazonia becomes the focus of international observation and of the search for alternatives that put together income generation and traditional knowledge. Now, companies have to pay attention in communities\' activities like agriculture in small areas and respect rules that could contribute to reduce pressure over the forest. Since 1990 started a convergence about need of join several economic agent to promote development or transforming society producing common benefits. Sustainable development was defined like the using resources to attend actual necessities without make difficult to future generations to attend their own necessities. This urgent necessity has asked mind changes in public and private strategies and in individual and collective attitudes. To analyze it complex scenery, was designed a exploratory-descriptive qualitative research, using comparative case studies method, that gave the inference of variables to be tested in the hypothetical-deductive researches: image, business strategy, transparency, mutual confidence, talent attraction and land use rules. It was tried to control inherent limitations and biases using methodological instruments like research protocols and triangulation of techniques.

Os mercados cada vez mais competitivos fazem com que as empresas busquem novas formas organizacionais e desenvolvam \"capacidades dinâmicas\" a fim de sobreviver no mundo globalizado. Nesse contexto, a inovação se tornou tema central para a competitividade. As fontes de inovação estão cada vez mais diversificadas e dispersas geograficamente, as empresas utilizam fontes internas e externas para o desenvolvimento de soluções inovadoras e modelos de negócios diferenciados. Estudos afirmam, que durante todos os anos, são produzidos milhares de artigos científicos que envolvem a biotecnologia, mostrando que é um dos campos mais promissores do mundo, com implicações importantes para economia global. A biotecnologia é caracterizada por ser baseada na ciência, ser multidisciplinar e o seu desenvolvimento é realizado por meio da interface com diversos atores, sendo altamente dependente do seu ambiente institucional. Assim, dado o contexto da biotecnologia, as lentes da teoria das capacidades dinâmicas são úteis para verificar a construção do conhecimento que conduz ao desenvolvimento de novos produtos, já que as empresas não podem depender somente do desenvolvimento do conhecimento interno, elas devem absorver conhecimentos relevantes de fontes externas. No setor de biotecnologia, verifica-se uma série de casos de alianças para melhoria de competitividade global por meio da inovação em sua forma mais ampla, incluindo desenvolvimento de novos produtos, de novos formatos para negócios, de novos mecanismos organizacionais. Como a capacidade de absorção é vista como um dos elementos das capacidades dinâmicas e tornou-se fator crítico para o sucesso dessas empresas, o presente estudo tem como objetivo verificar se as alianças contribuem para o desenvolvimento da capacidade de absorção e o desempenho inovador das empresas dedicadas à biotecnologia. O estudo é classificado como exploratório-descritivo e foi conduzido em duas etapas: quantitativa e qualitativa. Na etapa qualitativa foram realizados cinco estudos de caso e na quantitativa foram enviados questionários à 270 empresas do setor de biotecnologia, instaladas no Brasil, Portugal e Espanha. Verificou-se, por meio do estudo, a importância das alianças no desenvolvimento das quatro dimensões da capacidade de absorção. Ademais, identificou-se que as alianças também influenciam no desempenho inovador das empresas. Pode-se ainda relatar que a idade das empresas influencia na assimilação do conhecimento e a experiência do gestor influencia tanto a assimilação quanto a transformação do conhecimento. Por fim, verificou-se também que as parcerias no exterior levam as empresas a um desempenho inovador superior. Dessa forma a pesquisa contribuiu para o desenvolvimento da literatura sobre capacidade de absorção, bem como pode auxiliar os gestores das empresas dedicadas à biotecnologia e dos habitats de inovação por meio do modelo proposto para o desenvolvimento da capacidade de absorção e, para o governo, na formulação de políticas e incentivos para o desenvolvimento da biotecnologia. / The increasingly competitive markets mean that companies seek new organizational forms and develop \"dynamic capabilities\" in order to survive in the globalized world. In this context, innovation has become central to competitiveness. Sources of innovation are increasingly diverse and geographically dispersed; companies use internal and external sources for the development of innovative and differentiated business models. Studies claim that during each year produce thousands of scientific articles involving biotechnology, showing that it is one of the most promising fields in the world, with important implications for the global economy. Biotechnology is characterized as a science-based, multidisciplinary and its development is carried out through the interface with different actors, being highly dependent on its institutional environment. Thus, given the biotech context, the dynamic capabilities theory of lenses are useful to verify the construction of knowledge that leads to the development of new products, since it is dependent on new knowledge and business cannot depend on only development of internal knowledge, they must absorb relevant knowledge from external sources. In the biotechnology sector, there are series of alliances to improve global competitiveness through innovation in its broadest form, including development of new products, new formats for business, new organizational mechanisms. As the absorptive capacity has seen as one of the elements of dynamic capabilities and has become critical to the success of these companies, this study aims to determine whether the alliances contribute to the development of absorptive capacity and the innovation performance of dedicated biotechnology firms. The research is classified as exploratory and descriptive study since it was conducted in two phases: quantitative and qualitative. The qualitative analysis was collected from five case studies and quantitative questionnaires were sent to 270 companies in the biotechnology sector, installed in Brazil, Portugal and Spain. It has found the importance of alliances in the development of the four dimensions of absorptive capacity. In addition, we identified also that alliances influence the innovation performance of firms. One can also report that the age of the company influences the assimilation of knowledge and the manager\'s experience influences both the assimilation and the transformation of knowledge. Finally, the study also has found that alliances abroad lead to companies having a higher innovation performance. Thus, the research contributed to the development of literature on absorptive capacity and could assist managers of companies dedicated to biotechnology and innovation habitats through the proposed model to develop absorptive capacity and, to the government, in the formulation of policies and incentives for development of biotechnology.

The present research, which treats about the development of Corporate Strategics, was done at Holding CVI, with home office in Santa Maria-RS city. The Holding CVI, that among others investments, works on beverage area, has as its main business, The Coca Cola Company franchise, in the region of Santa Cruz do Sul, Passo Fundo and Santa Maria, cities located in Rio Grande do Sul. This research is case a study, and has as its goal suggesting to the stockholder the development of Strategics Alliances - merging, purchases an associations that allow the grow of the Holding. To the conception of this Strategics Alliances it takes into consideration the followings points: the company historic, the environment analyze of beverage field and the stockholder profile. / A presente pesquisa, que trata sobre o desenvolvimento de Estratégias Corporativas, realizou-se na Holding CVI, com sede na cidade de Santa Maria-RS. A Holding CVI, que, entre outros investimentos, atua no segmento de bebidas, tem como seu principal negócio, a franquia da The Coca Cola Company, nas regiões das cidades de Santa Cruz do Sul, Passo Fundo e Santa Maria, situadas no Rio Grande do Sul. Esta pesquisa caracteriza-se com um estudo de caso, tendo como principal objetivo sugerir, para os acionistas, o desenvolvimento de Alianças Estratégicas - fusões, aquisições e associações que permitam o crescimento da Holding. Para a concepção dessas alianças estratégicas considerou-se os seguintes pontos: o histórico da empresa, a análise ambiental do setor de bebidas e o perfil dos acionistas.

M.Tech. (Construction Management) / The aim of the study was to assessment of the critical success factors of joint ventures in the South African construction industry. The study strived to further establish the benefits and sustainability of contractor joint ventures between established contractors and small and medium contractors in the industry. In undertaking the study, primary data relative to contractor joint ventures was obtained by means of an administered questionnaire to one hundred and twelve (112) contractor representatives in the South African construction industry that had partaken or had an involvement in a joint venture project, to both the established and small and medium contractors. The findings indicate that multiple factors lead to the successfulness of contractor joint ventures, among these however, the main factors found to be efficient planning, commitment, trust, communication and comprehension. Other findings included the main benefits of both emerging and established contractor as well as the factors that can be used to measure the success of joint ventures. The research limitations can be said to include the fact that the study focused only on contractors that had previously taken part in a joint ventures project in Gauteng.

[pt] A indústria mundial de cosméticos foi pouco afetada pelas recessões econômicas globais dos últimos anos. Por serem bens de consumo que não exigem grande investimento e proporcionam conforto e bem-estar aos seus usuários, os cosméticos tendem a permanecer na lista de compra dos consumidores, mesmo em épocas de recessão. No entanto, o cenário competitivo global evidencia volatilidade e dinamismo nas necessidades do mercado, o que impulsiona empresas de diferentes portes a manterem-se flexíveis e eficientes para responder a essas demandas. As pesquisas no setor de cosméticos tendem a focar em estudos de estratégia de Marketing e comportamento do consumidor, sendo poucas as que analisam as estratégias competitivas globais e menos ainda a formação de alianças estratégicas neste setor. Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo a verificação da adequação da estratégia da L’Oréal América Latina à indústria de cosméticos, considerando suas alianças e a estratégia competitiva global do Grupo L’Oréal. Pela contemporaneidade dos eventos e pelo pouco controle da pesquisa sobre eles, a investigação foi conduzida usando a metodologia de estudo de caso. Múltiplas fontes de evidência foram utilizadas para fazer os dados convergirem de modo triangular. A interpretação e a análise dos dados foram realizadas com auxílio do referencial teórico identificado e baseadas no framework Global SNA (Global Strategic Network Analysis) de Macedo-Soares (2011). Os resultados da pesquisa confirmaram o que havia sido verificado em casos de outros setores: que as alianças globais trazem mais oportunidades do que ameaças, e que em muitos casos as oportunidades relacionais globais mitigam as ameaças globais não relacionais. / [en] The global cosmetics industry was not greatly affected by the economic recessions over the last years. As cosmetics are consumer goods that do not require huge investment and provide comfort and well-being to their users, they tend to remain on consumers’ shopping lists even during recession. However, the global competitive scenario shows volatility and dynamism of market needs, driving firms of different sizes to remain flexible and efficient so as to better respond to customer requirements. Research on the cosmetics sector tends to focus on marketing strategy and consumer behavior. Only few investigations look into global competitive strategies, and even fewer into the strategic alliances established by firms in this sector. The present research aims to verify the adequacy of the strategy of L Oréal Latin America, considering its alliances and the global competitive strategy of L Oréal Group. Because of the importance of taking into account the firm’s specific contingencies and its contemporaneity, the case study methodology was adopted. Multiple sources and means to collect the necessary data were used in accordance with the strategy of data and method triangulation, so as to ensure results’ consistency. Data interpretation and analysis were carried out in keeping with the research’s theoretical references and with the help of the Macedo-Soares, 2011, Global SNA framework (Global Strategic Network Analysis). The results confirmed what was verified in cases of other sectors: the global alliances create more opportunities than threats, and in many cases the relational global opportunities mitigate the non-relational global threats.

Organisations experience increased social, political and economic pressure that is evident in the increased pressure that stakeholders place on organisations. Organisations increasingly realise that stakeholders’ values and objectives need to be incorporated into organisational strategy as well as the day-to-day management of the organisation. Organisational success and survival consequently depends on the organisation’s network of relationships, which provide the organisation with otherwise inaccessible resources and a competitive advantage. Organisational relationships offer the best solution towards illustrating the value of public relations and communication in the organisation. These relationships enable the organisation to attain its long- and short-term goals. Communication is a key influencer of the success of these relationships and communication managers are consequently better adept to manage these relationships. The relationship perspective of communication posits that public relations and communication managers should act in a boundary spanning role by balancing the interests of companies and stakeholders through effective relationship management. A shift has consequently occurred from purely communication management towards building mutually beneficial relationships between an organisation and its key stakeholders. There has also been an increased recognition of the need for strategically managed communication programs that can effectively contribute to organisational success. Strategic communication assists an organisation to adapt to its stakeholder environment by feeding into the organisation’s strategy formulation process intelligence with regards to strategic stakeholders, which, in turn, assists in building mutually beneficial relationships with these stakeholders. Communication managers’ efforts towards the effective management of organisational relationships has been hampered by the lack of current literature on organisational relationships, a lack of knowledge regarding the factors that influence these relationships, as well as the lack of a reliable and quantifiable definition of organisational relationships. Knowledge on these key areas could enable communication managers to manage these relationships effectively through strategic communication that is characterised by open and two-way communication. This study aimed to determine the connection between organisational relationships and organisational success by investigating the relationship between organisational alliances (as a specific form of organisational relationship) and goal attainment. The three-stage model of organisational relationships proposed by Grunig and Huang (2000:34) was applied to organisational alliances in order to determine this relationship, as well as to determine the influence of key constructs like type of industry, type of alliance, duration of the alliance and the size of the organisation. The reliability of using this framework, specifically the relationship outcomes proposed by the three-stage model, was investigated. The relationship outcomes (trust, commitment, relational satisfaction and control mutuality) were positively related to perceptions of goal attainment. This implies that if trust, commitment, relational satisfaction and control mutuality increases in an organisational alliance, the perceptions of goal attainment also increase within that organisational relationship. These findings suggest that effective communication contributes to perceptions of goal attainment within organisational relationships. It offers public relations and communication practitioners a means to demonstrate the contribution of this function to organisational success. High correlations between the relationship outcomes reflected current findings on these outcomes and a factor analysis indicated that only one factor was being measured – the organisational relationship itself. The study proposed an improved measurement instrument for reliably measuring organisational relationships (Cronbach Alpha = 0.93). The type of industry, type of alliance, duration of the alliance as well as the size of the organisation did not have a significant influence on the relationship outcomes or the proposed measure of organisational relationships. This implies that the current proposed measurement instrument can be applied to numerous contexts. A general linear model was applied to goal attainment (as the dependent variable) and the relationship outcomes (as the independent variables) in order to determine the specific contribution of each relationship outcome on perceptions of goal attainment. The regression analysis indicated that control mutuality was the greatest influencer of perceptions of goal attainment within alliances. A noticeably low influence of trust was also measured. These findings were obtained through the use of an e-mail survey that obtained cross-sectional data, where 154 alliances were observed (n=154). The study contributed to present literature on organisational relationships by using Grunig and Huang’s (2000:43) three-stage model to explain the relationship between perceptions of goal attainment and the relationship outcomes in alliances within the South African context. Strategic communication management provides a solution to a key organisational issue – the organisation’s interdependence with the stakeholders in its environment and how these stakeholders can better be managed in order to more effectively contribute towards organisational success. Communication managers can demonstrate their value by effectively managing key organisational relationships like alliances by integrating these relationships into organisational strategy. These successful organisational relationships also contribute towards organisational sustainability by enabling the organisation to attain its long- and short-term goals. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Communication Management / MCom / Unrestricted

Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) play an important role as employers and in the economic growth of South Africa and in Africa as a whole. SMEs comprise over 90 percent of African business operations and contribute to over percent of African employment and GDP. SMEs sector has shown positive signs in South Africa, Mauritius and North Africa. SMEs constitute 95 percent of formal manufacturing activity in Nigeria. Senegal and Kenya have provided an environment which is conducive for SMEs (African Development Bank 2005). In August 2006, flood damage to small businesses and residential premises in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Area was estimated at R120million (SABC News 2006). The holding of an insurance cover by SMEs is crucial and beneficial to the economy and to the survival and success of the Small and Medium Enterprise sector. If a business has an insurance policy and a relationship with its insurer it becomes easier for the company to over come such a catastrophe. However, literature has shown that insurance companies are not willing to insure SMEs and it is the aim of this research to establish whether a relationship between the two constructs exists. An article entitled New Deal In The Offering for SMMEs, the author stated that the insurance industry prefer to deal only with established businesses (Mthimkhulu 2008). The aim of this research is to establish the importance of business relationship between Insurance companies and SMEs. The research will show how beneficial such a relationship is to both industries. The data for the research was collected through a survey type structured questionnaire that was developed and validated. The questionnaire was administered to the owners or managers of SMEs in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Area. The primary objective of this research was to establish whether SMEs in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Area have insurance policies for their businesses, and the results have shown that most of the SMEs in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Area do not have insurance policies for their businesses.

In my thesis I will focus on analysis of basic forms of stock exchange cooperation. I will search theoretical fundament of my thesis in history of stock exchanges and cooperation of exchanges. Afterwards, I will focus on characteristics of basic atributes of main stock exchange alliances.For my thesis I decided to focus on these alliances: NYSE Euronext, NASDAQ OMX, and regional cooperation Vienna-Ljubljana-Budapest-Prague. Within these alliances I focus on form of cooperation, law surroundings,trading platform, clearing and settlement system.Analysis of determinants of mentioned markets will help me to evaluate allinaces. From mentioned above I will conclude general determinants of efective stock exchange cooperation.