The South African pharmaceutical market is seen as part of the so called "pharmerging" markets, together with countries like India, China and Brazil. These "pharmerging" markets are the fastest growing markets within the global pharmaceutical industry. The distribution of chronic medicine in South Africa is a growing market, as the disease burden in South Africa continues to escalate, with the incidence of chronic conditions growing at a rapid rate. The study will focus on one of South Africa’s pioneer courier medication service providers, with more than twenty years’ experience in the healthcare industry. The company will be referred to as Pharmacy X. The mission of Pharmacy X is to provide the right chronic medication, to the right patient, at the right place, at the right time. It is imperative to ensure that a patient receives his/her chronic medication on the scheduled date of delivery to ensure compliance and customer satisfaction. To achieve a competitive advantage, companies increasingly depend on their supply chain partners to minimize cost and improve business processes. The core value chain activity of outbound logistics has been outsourced by Pharmacy X to several courier companies. This study will aim to understand the importance of the outbound logistics function within the value chain of the company and the costs involved with the outsourcing of the function. The primary objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of an in-house courier operation in the Bloemfontein area versus the current outsourced courier model. In order to achieve the primary objective of the study, several secondary objectives were set and reached throughout the four chapters of this study. The study applied cost benefit analysis techniques to determine the feasibility of the Bloemfontein courier investment project. All the cost benefit analysis techniques concluded that the Bloemfontein courier investment will be a financial viable operation. The Bloemfontein courier investment will increase shareholder value over the period of the project compared to the current outsourced model. The contribution of this case study to determine the feasibility of a courier operation investment can be of value to Pharmacy X. The current projected total courier cost of Pharmacy X for the 2013 financial year amounts to more than a third of the total operational cost. The findings within the case study can lead to a greater national roll out of courier operations in order to reduce costs and increase profit margins for Pharmacy X. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The South African pharmaceutical market is seen as part of the so called "pharmerging" markets, together with countries like India, China and Brazil. These "pharmerging" markets are the fastest growing markets within the global pharmaceutical industry. The distribution of chronic medicine in South Africa is a growing market, as the disease burden in South Africa continues to escalate, with the incidence of chronic conditions growing at a rapid rate. The study will focus on one of South Africa’s pioneer courier medication service providers, with more than twenty years’ experience in the healthcare industry. The company will be referred to as Pharmacy X. The mission of Pharmacy X is to provide the right chronic medication, to the right patient, at the right place, at the right time. It is imperative to ensure that a patient receives his/her chronic medication on the scheduled date of delivery to ensure compliance and customer satisfaction. To achieve a competitive advantage, companies increasingly depend on their supply chain partners to minimize cost and improve business processes. The core value chain activity of outbound logistics has been outsourced by Pharmacy X to several courier companies. This study will aim to understand the importance of the outbound logistics function within the value chain of the company and the costs involved with the outsourcing of the function. The primary objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of an in-house courier operation in the Bloemfontein area versus the current outsourced courier model. In order to achieve the primary objective of the study, several secondary objectives were set and reached throughout the four chapters of this study. The study applied cost benefit analysis techniques to determine the feasibility of the Bloemfontein courier investment project. All the cost benefit analysis techniques concluded that the Bloemfontein courier investment will be a financial viable operation. The Bloemfontein courier investment will increase shareholder value over the period of the project compared to the current outsourced model. The contribution of this case study to determine the feasibility of a courier operation investment can be of value to Pharmacy X. The current projected total courier cost of Pharmacy X for the 2013 financial year amounts to more than a third of the total operational cost. The findings within the case study can lead to a greater national roll out of courier operations in order to reduce costs and increase profit margins for Pharmacy X. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The thesis deals with the issue of inventories in a company with business activities. The aim of the thesis is at first theoretically to introduce the accounting of inventories and then to demonstrate the accounting activities on a real company. The practical part of the thesis focuses on a company that sells medical devices. Due to the choice of company and its business activities this thesis highlights the general and specific information about business with medical devices and the areas connected to this.

The positive contributions of entrepreneurship towards the economic development were already proved by the previous researchers. The main aim of this study was to analyse the determinants of entrepreneurial activity in the Nordic countries over the period of years 2004‑2013 to provide the supportive empirical analysis for the Nordic entrepreneurial policy makers. Data were obtained from the various databases and were formed into the panel dataset. Entrepreneurial activity was quantified by the two variables, rate of registered business activity and established business ownership rate. For each entrepreneurial activity, acting as the dependent variable, was estimated the set of econometric models following the econometric approach with the Fixed Effects Estimator. The results obtained for the both dependent variables did not substantially differ from each other and were generally in agreement with the results obtained by the previous scholars. The hypothesis stating the positive relationship between unemployment rate, GDP per capita and entrepreneurial activity, during the analysed period, were accepted. Also the negative impact of administrative barriers on entrepreneurial activity was confirmed. However, no statistically significant empirical support was obtained for the hypothesis assuming the positive relationship between R&D sector and entrepreneurial activity.

Agência Nacional do Petróleo / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / A atividade empresarial requer dos agentes econômicos soluções práticas para a transposição dos riscos inerentes ao exercício da empresa. A engenhosidade dos homens de negócio tem visualizado nos denominados contratos associativos um importante mecanismo para o sucesso do empreendimento. Na indústria do petróleo, especificamente no setor do upstream, as parcerias empresariais mostram-se como importante meio para compartilhamento dos riscos geológico, financeiro e político inerentes a esta atividade. Neste sentido o trabalho desenvolvido busca efetuar uma análise das associações empresariais, especialmente aquelas consagradas na prática como joint ventures, especificando suas peculiaridades, para posteriormente analisar a situação destas dentro do novo marco regulatório que se firma para exploração de petróleo, gás natural e outros hidrocarbonetos na região denominada de pré-sal e outras áreas estratégicas. Nesse sentido, foram analisadas as mudanças instituídas pela Lei n. 12.351/2010, a qual instituiu o modelo de partilha de produção, no qual se observou uma mudança do Estado que deixa de ser mero regulador para atuar mais diretamente, de modo a influenciar a atuação empresarial, limitando a autonomia privada no referido setor. / The business activity requires practical solutions for overleaping the risks inherent to the performance of the activity. The creativity of businessmen finds in the so-called associative contracts an important mechanism for a successful venture. In the oil industry, specifically in the upstream sector, joint ventures show up as an important means for sharing of geological risks, financial and political involved in this activity. In this regard, the dissertation then developed primarily seeks to analyze the concept and the legal nature of joint ventures, specifying its peculiarities, to further analyze their situation within the new regulatory framework that is firm to explore oil, natural gas and other hydrocarbons in the region called pre-salt and other strategic areas. Accordingly, we analyzed the changes instituted by the Law n. 12.351/2010, which established the model production sharing, in which we observed a change in the State ceases to be mere regulator to act more directly, to influence the business performance, limiting individual autonomy in that sector.

Agência Nacional do Petróleo / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / A atividade empresarial requer dos agentes econômicos soluções práticas para a transposição dos riscos inerentes ao exercício da empresa. A engenhosidade dos homens de negócio tem visualizado nos denominados contratos associativos um importante mecanismo para o sucesso do empreendimento. Na indústria do petróleo, especificamente no setor do upstream, as parcerias empresariais mostram-se como importante meio para compartilhamento dos riscos geológico, financeiro e político inerentes a esta atividade. Neste sentido o trabalho desenvolvido busca efetuar uma análise das associações empresariais, especialmente aquelas consagradas na prática como joint ventures, especificando suas peculiaridades, para posteriormente analisar a situação destas dentro do novo marco regulatório que se firma para exploração de petróleo, gás natural e outros hidrocarbonetos na região denominada de pré-sal e outras áreas estratégicas. Nesse sentido, foram analisadas as mudanças instituídas pela Lei n. 12.351/2010, a qual instituiu o modelo de partilha de produção, no qual se observou uma mudança do Estado que deixa de ser mero regulador para atuar mais diretamente, de modo a influenciar a atuação empresarial, limitando a autonomia privada no referido setor. / The business activity requires practical solutions for overleaping the risks inherent to the performance of the activity. The creativity of businessmen finds in the so-called associative contracts an important mechanism for a successful venture. In the oil industry, specifically in the upstream sector, joint ventures show up as an important means for sharing of geological risks, financial and political involved in this activity. In this regard, the dissertation then developed primarily seeks to analyze the concept and the legal nature of joint ventures, specifying its peculiarities, to further analyze their situation within the new regulatory framework that is firm to explore oil, natural gas and other hydrocarbons in the region called pre-salt and other strategic areas. Accordingly, we analyzed the changes instituted by the Law n. 12.351/2010, which established the model production sharing, in which we observed a change in the State ceases to be mere regulator to act more directly, to influence the business performance, limiting individual autonomy in that sector.

This graduation thesis focuses in development of business activities of company ARTOSS realitní kancelář, s.r.o. Thesis is developed in four main parts. The first part describes the given problematics and defines main and minor objectives. The second part is focused in theoretical resources, especially methods and procedures, main concepts and business activity tools. After theoretical base there is the third part of thesis, which analyzes current state of society and it's environment. The last part represents own suggestions of the company's business activity development.

The topic of the master’s thesis is the appropriate selection of financing business activities, namely investments into the preparation of a high capacity hall of the company BARVY A LAKY TELURIA, s.r.o which deals in the chemical industry. The thesis is divided into a theoretical part, analytical part and a design part. The first theoretical part is focused on the characteristics and division of the possibilities of financing the established business activity and the procedures in the field of financial analysis. The second analytical part is firstly focused, with the help of financial analysis, on the evaluation of the company’s financial situation and secondly it contains an initial selection of the possible funding of the high capacity hall. The final design part contains a recommendation of a suitable financing activity in the form of a high capacity hall extension.

In recent years businesses around the world have been facing the challenges of a rapidly changing business and technology environment. As a result, organisations are paying more attention to supporting business process management by adapting to the dynamic environment. With the increased complexity and uncertainty in business operations, adaptive and collaborative business process and exception management (EM) are gaining attention. In the logistics industry, the growing importance of logistics worldwide as well as the increasing complexity of logistics networks and the service requirement of customers has become a challenge. The current logistics exceptions are managed using human brain power together with the traditional workflow technology-based supply-chain management or other logistics tools. The traditional workflow technology models and manages business processes and anticipated exceptions based on predefined logical procedures of activities from a centralised perspective. This situation offers inadequate decision support for flexibility and adaptability in logistics EM. The traditional workflow technology is also limited to monitoring the logistics activities in real-time to detect and resolve exceptions in a timely manner. To mitigate these problems, an intelligent agent incorporating business activity monitoring (BAM) decision support approach in logistics EM has been proposed and investigated in this research. This research creates and evaluates two IT designed artefacts (conceptual framework and prototype) intended to efficiently and automatically monitor and handle logistics exceptions. It follows a design science research strategy. The design, development, and evaluation adhere to the principles enunciated in the design science literature. The aim of this research is to solve the important logistics EM problem in a more effective and efficient manner. Two designed artefacts were strictly informed by, and incorporated with, three different theories. An exploratory case study and a later confirmatory case study assisted in the rigorous derivation of the design and framework. The results of the confirmatory case study were used in particular to refine the designed artefacts. Such a build-and-evaluate loop iterated several times before the final designed artefacts were generated. The designed artefacts were then evaluated empirically via a field experiment. The research included both a technical presentation and a practical framing in terms of application in the logistics exception monitoring and handling domain. In this study, there were three interrelated research phases. In the first research phase, a decision-making conceptual framework (an artefact) for design and development of real-time logistics EM system was developed. To enable more efficient decision support practices for logistics EM, the characteristics of logistics exceptions were first examined and identified. The logistics exception analysis was conducted through a comprehensive literature review and an exploratory case study conducted in a major logistics company in Australia. The logistics exceptions were then classified into known and knowable categories, based on the Cynefin sense-making framework (Snowden, 2002). On the basis of the logistics analysis, informed by Gartner’s three-layer BAM architecture (Dresner, 2003), the Cynefin sense-making framework decision models (Snowden, 2002), and Simon’s (1977) decision-making/problem-solving process, the real-time logistics EM conceptual framework was depicted. The BAM architecture provided the real-time decision support. Based on Cynefin’s decision model, adaptive business process flow was chosen for known and knowable logistics exceptions to speed up the decision-making process. In addition, Simon’s process theory was deployed to model the diagnosing process for known and knowable logistics exceptions. This conceptual model guided the analysis, design, and development for real-time logistics EM systems. In the second research phase, based on the logistics EM conceptual framework, a Web-service-multi-agent-based real-time logistics EM system (an artefact) was designed and developed. Intelligent agent technology was applied to deal with the complex, dynamic, and distributed logistics EM processes. Web-services techniques were proposed for more interoperability and scalability in network-based business environment. By integrating agent technology with Web-services to make use of the advantages from both, this approach provided a more intelligent, flexible, autonomous, and comprehensive solution to real-time logistics EM. In the third research phase, two designed artefacts were evaluated via a confirmatory case study and a field experiment. The confirmatory case study was conducted to collect feedback on the two designed artefacts (i.e., conceptual framework and prototype system) to refine them. The field experiment was then conducted to investigate the proposed logistics EM prototype system decision support effectiveness and efficiency by comparing the human decision-making performance with/without the logistics EM decision support facility. The evaluation results indicated that the proposed logistics EM prototype outperformed the one without logistics EM decision support in terms of more efficient decision process, higher decision outcome quality, and better user perception. The two designed artefacts were the major contributions of this research. They add knowledge to decision theory and practice. The artefacts are the real-time extension for Simon’s (1977) classic decision-making/problem-solving process model in logistics EM by incorporating BAM (Dresner, 2003). In addition, by adding the Cynefin sense-making framework (Snowden, 2002), the artefacts provide a more efficient decision-making routine for logistics EM. This research provides the first attempt (to the best of the researcher’s knowledge) to design a real-time logistics EM decision support mechanism based on decision science theories. To demonstrate the usability of the proposed conceptual framework, a logistics EM decision support prototype was designed, developed, and evaluated. For practice, the logistics exceptions classification, logistics EM conceptual framework, and incorporating agent technologies into logistics EM all will assist logistics companies to develop their logistics exception handling decision-making strategies and solutions.

In recent years businesses around the world have been facing the challenges of a rapidly changing business and technology environment. As a result, organisations are paying more attention to supporting business process management by adapting to the dynamic environment. With the increased complexity and uncertainty in business operations, adaptive and collaborative business process and exception management (EM) are gaining attention. In the logistics industry, the growing importance of logistics worldwide as well as the increasing complexity of logistics networks and the service requirement of customers has become a challenge. The current logistics exceptions are managed using human brain power together with the traditional workflow technology-based supply-chain management or other logistics tools. The traditional workflow technology models and manages business processes and anticipated exceptions based on predefined logical procedures of activities from a centralised perspective. This situation offers inadequate decision support for flexibility and adaptability in logistics EM. The traditional workflow technology is also limited to monitoring the logistics activities in real-time to detect and resolve exceptions in a timely manner. To mitigate these problems, an intelligent agent incorporating business activity monitoring (BAM) decision support approach in logistics EM has been proposed and investigated in this research. This research creates and evaluates two IT designed artefacts (conceptual framework and prototype) intended to efficiently and automatically monitor and handle logistics exceptions. It follows a design science research strategy. The design, development, and evaluation adhere to the principles enunciated in the design science literature. The aim of this research is to solve the important logistics EM problem in a more effective and efficient manner. Two designed artefacts were strictly informed by, and incorporated with, three different theories. An exploratory case study and a later confirmatory case study assisted in the rigorous derivation of the design and framework. The results of the confirmatory case study were used in particular to refine the designed artefacts. Such a build-and-evaluate loop iterated several times before the final designed artefacts were generated. The designed artefacts were then evaluated empirically via a field experiment. The research included both a technical presentation and a practical framing in terms of application in the logistics exception monitoring and handling domain. In this study, there were three interrelated research phases. In the first research phase, a decision-making conceptual framework (an artefact) for design and development of real-time logistics EM system was developed. To enable more efficient decision support practices for logistics EM, the characteristics of logistics exceptions were first examined and identified. The logistics exception analysis was conducted through a comprehensive literature review and an exploratory case study conducted in a major logistics company in Australia. The logistics exceptions were then classified into known and knowable categories, based on the Cynefin sense-making framework (Snowden, 2002). On the basis of the logistics analysis, informed by Gartner’s three-layer BAM architecture (Dresner, 2003), the Cynefin sense-making framework decision models (Snowden, 2002), and Simon’s (1977) decision-making/problem-solving process, the real-time logistics EM conceptual framework was depicted. The BAM architecture provided the real-time decision support. Based on Cynefin’s decision model, adaptive business process flow was chosen for known and knowable logistics exceptions to speed up the decision-making process. In addition, Simon’s process theory was deployed to model the diagnosing process for known and knowable logistics exceptions. This conceptual model guided the analysis, design, and development for real-time logistics EM systems. In the second research phase, based on the logistics EM conceptual framework, a Web-service-multi-agent-based real-time logistics EM system (an artefact) was designed and developed. Intelligent agent technology was applied to deal with the complex, dynamic, and distributed logistics EM processes. Web-services techniques were proposed for more interoperability and scalability in network-based business environment. By integrating agent technology with Web-services to make use of the advantages from both, this approach provided a more intelligent, flexible, autonomous, and comprehensive solution to real-time logistics EM. In the third research phase, two designed artefacts were evaluated via a confirmatory case study and a field experiment. The confirmatory case study was conducted to collect feedback on the two designed artefacts (i.e., conceptual framework and prototype system) to refine them. The field experiment was then conducted to investigate the proposed logistics EM prototype system decision support effectiveness and efficiency by comparing the human decision-making performance with/without the logistics EM decision support facility. The evaluation results indicated that the proposed logistics EM prototype outperformed the one without logistics EM decision support in terms of more efficient decision process, higher decision outcome quality, and better user perception. The two designed artefacts were the major contributions of this research. They add knowledge to decision theory and practice. The artefacts are the real-time extension for Simon’s (1977) classic decision-making/problem-solving process model in logistics EM by incorporating BAM (Dresner, 2003). In addition, by adding the Cynefin sense-making framework (Snowden, 2002), the artefacts provide a more efficient decision-making routine for logistics EM. This research provides the first attempt (to the best of the researcher’s knowledge) to design a real-time logistics EM decision support mechanism based on decision science theories. To demonstrate the usability of the proposed conceptual framework, a logistics EM decision support prototype was designed, developed, and evaluated. For practice, the logistics exceptions classification, logistics EM conceptual framework, and incorporating agent technologies into logistics EM all will assist logistics companies to develop their logistics exception handling decision-making strategies and solutions.