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The use of asbestos fibres in construction products has been banned in European countries for about two decades due to its effect on human health. At present, many developing countries use asbestos cement board as one of the most important construction products for roofing, cladding and partition walls. The Hatschek process is the most commonly used method to produce asbestos Fibre Cement Board (FCB). There are two major problems for the asbestos FCB manufacturers in replacing their products with non-asbestos FCB. The first one is finding materials and fibres that are available and competitive in price compared to asbestos fibres, and the second is providing inexpensive machines and equipment to produce non-asbestos FCB. In this research, an effort has been made to solve these two major problems. After the initial laboratory investigations on several natural and synthetic fibres some of the fibres with potential use in FCB were chosen for the further investigations. A slurry vacuum dewatering process was then designed and made for the laboratory use. The performance of material selections and mix designs selected from the laboratory studies were subsequently verified with factory Hatschek process in a factory site trial. Many specimens with natural and synthetic fibres incorporating silica fume and limestone powder were made and tested in the laboratory. Silica fume and limestone powder were used for enhancing flexural strength and suppression of alkalinity to reduce breakdown of the cellulose fibres. The results of mechanical, physical and II durability tests were analysed. The microstructure of the fibres and composites was also studied by SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy). At some stages, mix design optimization was carried out to gain the highest flexural strength. The most suitable mixes were chosen for the factory site trials. A number of full-scale non-asbestos trial boards were made successfully in an asbestos FCB factory and tested in accordance with the current national and international standards. The results indicated that the trial boards fulfilled the requirements of the relevant standards. Based on the outcome of this research, a combination of acrylic fibres and waste cardboard in a mix incorporating silica fume and limestone powder in addition to Portland cement can be used to replace asbestos fibres. Although broadly compatible with the asbestos cement production process, this formulation change will necessitate some changes to the existing production lines in asbestos cement factories to produce non-asbestos FCB.

Thesis (MMus (Music))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / The Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB) was one of four regional government-funded councils established in 1963, with the mandate to promote and develop the Western performing art forms (opera, ballet, music and drama) in the four provinces of the Republic of South Africa. Although the Board, and more specifically, the Music Department, made a significant contribution to the development of the performing arts in the Cape Province over more than three decades, its history remains largely undocumented. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to provide an account of CAPAB’s music activities against an outline of the organisation’s general history. Included is a discussion of the Music Department’s most significant contributions: the Department’s role as an impresario; the extensive music education programmes presented in schools and rural areas; the promotion of home-grown talent and the major part played by CAPAB’s orchestra (1971-97) in facilitating the development of the Western performing arts in the Western, Eastern and Northern Cape. Inextricably linked to these topics are a range of both positive and negative factors which influenced the development of the performing arts in this context. These include the effects of the Apartheid government’s policies on the development of the arts; the Board’s reliance on, and claim to state funding; the controversial history of CAPAB’s state-of-the-art Nico Malan Theatre Complex; the Board’s attempts to rectify imbalances of the period prior to the political transformation in the early 1990s and the events leading to a new dispensation for the performing arts in a democratic South Africa. Since CAPAB’s demise in 1998, sufficient time has elapsed to allow for a more objective evaluation of its role. Therefore, this study concludes with a brief assessment of the legacy of the CAPAB’s 35-year existence, summarising its effect on classical music in South Africa as we experience it today.

This study is motivated by the numerous reforms to strengthen the efficacy of corporate boards and their oversight committees, in the wake of high profile corporate failures. The empirical question, however, is whether recent proposals would enhance board and their committee effectiveness and in this way, reduce the likelihood of firm`s failure. This study examines whether the composition, structure and functions of corporate boards and their interactions are related to the probability of corporate failure. Prior studies employ agency and resource dependency theories in isolation as theoretical lenses. This study, however, employs these aforementioned theories as theoretical lenses and argues that the board control and resource function affects the relationship between corporate board attributes and corporate failure. This study examines a sample of 358 UK listed firms, consisting of 95 failed firms and 263 non-failed firms during the period 1999-2011. This study also uses a unique hand-collected data set that measures the corporate governance attributes and functions of these 358 firms over a period of five years preceding failure or otherwise, resulting in 1748 firm-years observations. This study reveals that the probability of failure is lower in firms with large board size, former government officials, independent remuneration committee chairman and greater proportion of outside directors as well as effective audit and remuneration committees. This study also finds that the prospect of corporate failure is higher in firms with less than three independent NEDs on both the audit and nomination committees, without audit committee and where audit committee has no one with financial expertise. The results, however, suggest that the possibility of corporate failure is higher in firms whose boards have a female director and where the nomination committee meets often or where its membership is exclusively preserved for independent NEDs. On the interaction effects, the results show that frequency of board meetings as well as its interactions with presence of female directors, audit and remuneration committees effectiveness are positively related to the probability of corporate failure. The results also indicate that a number of interactions between corporate board attributes and functions are unrelated to the likelihood of corporate failure. These include the interactions between board composition measures (i.e. proportion of outside directors, presence of female directors and board size) and the board resource proxy (i.e. former government official). These associations, especially remuneration committee effectiveness, remuneration committee chairman independence, firm size and profitability, are not only statistically and economically significant but also robust to different specifications. Further, the Receiver Operating Curves indicate that the impact of corporate governance measures after controlling for firm size, liquidity, profitability, age, industry effects, and leverage is more profound in two years preceding failure. The implication of this is that corporate governance mechanisms alone are insufficient to rescue the firm on the verge of collapse. The findings are consistent with the idea that failing firms decline in size, managerial performance, corporate board attributes as well as their board`s ability to discharge it`s monitoring and resource roles. This study adds to the debate on the impact of corporate governance on corporate failure by developing, analysing and testing a robust UK corporate failure prediction model which is underpinned by a multi-theoretical framework: agency and resource dependency theories. This study also offers several recommendations for policy makers and firm-level corporate governance strategies in the mix of the numerous corporate governance reforms worldwide, this in particular makes this study unique.

This dissertation has identified, developed and empirically tested concepts associated with the capacity of chairpersonship to promote innovation in entrepreneurial small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A multi-methodological approach is applied in five studies, comprising a systematic literature review, three empirical studies and a concluding conceptual paper. The dissertation focuses on how the chairperson of the board of directors influences value creation in entrepreneurial SMEs. Value creation in this context is about the performance of strategic leaders at entrepreneurial firms’ upper echelons in acting and making strategic choices aimed at increasing firms’ capability to engage in innovation. Innovation is defined as the generation and/or adoption of an idea or behaviour, relating to a product, service, device, system, policy or program, which is new to the adopting organization. Innovation has been widely recognized as a concept central to economic growth and societal development. Governance is widely recognized as essential for the support and development of innovations in firms. However, the academic literature is scarce regarding how the chairperson of the board can contribute to and promote innovation in SMEs. This dissertation offers theoretical and empirical insights into how the chairperson of the board of directors influences value creation in entrepreneurial SMEs. In this respect, the dissertation offers a conceptual framework and a research model for understanding board leadership in promoting innovation in entrepreneurial SMEs. The framework and research model emphasize the behavioural aspects of board leadership and show how these are related to the development of entrepreneurial SMEs. Furthermore, the findings in this dissertation provide actionable knowledge for practitioners and policymakers. In this respect, the dissertation contributes theoretical and empirical understandings of the benefits of employing external chairpersons with relevant knowledge and experience in SMEs. These insights also provide practitioners with advice on the qualifications and processes that can help them to develop innovation-promoting boards.

After the financial crisis and several corporate scandals, efforts to improve the quality of corporate governance have been made but extended regulatory actions can be seen as insufficient as issues still arise. According to several scholars and practitioners one way for boards to become more efficient is by increasing their involvement in strategy. However, there are discrepancies in what the boards are expected to do and what they are capable of doing. By researching what the barriers are for boards’ active involvement in strategy, the purpose of this paper is to fill, or at least partly explain, this empirical gap. Palepu (2012) has identified four potential barriers for boards’ strategic involvement; the role of the board, external pressures, access to information and boardroom dynamics. Based on Palepu’s framework 17 board members were interviewed with the aim to explore underlying issues and problems preventing strategic work in the boardroom. The results of this study show that the potential barriers for strategic involvement have two different effects on strategy. The role of the board, as well as the external pressure affect the amount of time spent on strategy in the boardroom. The boardroom dynamics and the access to information on the other hand have an impact on the quality of the strategic discussions. These four factors may then limit boards’ involvement in strategic questions if not handled correctly. Two main areas that have shown to be of utmost importance in improving the strategy engagement and the board work in full are increasing the level of engagement of the individual director and having more diversified boards in large. Diversification and higher levels of engagement are thereby two key factors which should be prioritized in order to ensure a sustainable development of corporate governance with more efficient boards actively involved in strategy.