Esta tesis contribuye a la literatura sobre la eficiencia y la productividad adoptando un enfoque gerencial. Las aplicaciones empíricas se dirigen hacia el sector bancario español, industria que ha atraído un gran interés debido su crecimiento post-desregulatorio. Además, es probable que este interés se intensifique, pues la reciente crisis financiera ha generado la necesidad de reestructurar el sector y de introducir nuevas estrategias competitivas. Tres temas constituyen los capítulos centrales de esta tesis: (1) La identificación y el análisis de conglomerados bancarios a través de la descomposición de un indicador de productividad y eficiencia, (2) La formalización de nuevas propuestas para realizar benchmarking basado en índices de la productividad total de los factores (PTF), (3) La evaluación de los beneficios potenciales de fusiones y adquisiciones a través de fronteras de eficiencia convexas y no convexas. En el contexto de los grupos estratégicos, el primer capítulo analiza la productividad y la eficiencia de los bancos y las cajas de ahorros españolas durante 1998-2006. Para ello se utiliza el indicador de productividad de Luenberger, que se descompone de forma similar a los índices de Malmquist. La PTF se descompone en cambios tecnológico y de eficiencia. A su vez, esté ultimo se descompone en cambios de eficiencia pura, de escala y de congestión. Los resultados empíricos muestran que las mejoras de productividad se deben en parte a la innovación tecnológica y explican cómo se desarrolla la competencia entre los bancos y las cajas de ahorros. Posteriormente, los componentes del Luenberger se utilizan como inputs en un análisis de conglomerados. Las interpretaciones de los grupos resultantes se hacen a través de las principales diferencias entre los varios indicadores de productividad y eficiencia. Finalmente, siguiendo la literatura sobre grupos estratégicos, se introducen diversos ratios bancarios para alcanzar nuevas interpretaciones de los grupos. El segundo capítulo propone nuevas perspectivas de benchmarking para el análisis de la PTF. Se vincula así la literatura sobre el benchmarking con los estudios de eficiencia y productividad. Concretamente, varias especificaciones del índice de PTF de Hicks-Moorsteen están adaptadas a las siguientes perspectivas de evaluación comparativa: (1) estática, (2) de base y unidad fijas, y (3) cambio dinámico de la PTF. Estos enfoques utilizan empresas fijas y/o tecnologías de base como referencia. A diferencia de la mayoría de los índices de productividad, el índice de Hicks-Moorsteen estándar siempre proporciona resultados factibles e interpretables desde la PTF. Mediante estas especificaciones, un gerente puede evaluar diferentes aspectos comparativos entre la empresa y sus competidores. Las implicaciones del análisis propuesto se ejemplifican en el sector bancario español durante 1998-2006. El tercer capítulo analiza las potenciales mejoras de eficiencia obtenidas de las operaciones de fusiones y adquisiciones, un tema ampliamente estudiado pero a menudo con resultados no concluyentes. Especulamos que esto se debe parcialmente al supuesto tecnológico de convexidad que puede condicionar los resultados. Por ello, ambas tecnologías, convexas y no convexas, se utilizan para analizar las fusiones y adquisiciones y revelar las reducciones de exceso de costes debido a ineficiencias técnicas y de escala. Asimismo, se establecen condiciones ex ante para alcanzar las potenciales reducciones de costes. Utilizando una muestra de 32 procesos de fusión ocurridas durante 1988-2006 en el sector bancario español, se encuentran que significativas reducciones de costes se producen a partir de los dos años después de la fusión. Además, se muestra como las estimaciones no convexas son más próximas a los movimientos de costes observados. Estos hallazgos son relevantes dada la actual ola de fusiones provocada por la crisis financiera, y deberían ser complementados con investigaciones sobre eficiencia de gama y economías de diversificación. / This dissertation contributes to the efficiency and productivity literature by adopting a managerial focus to address gaps in previous research. In doing so, it uses existing methodological tools, further developed and adapted to current needs. These proposals are applied to the Spanish banking sector, an industry that attracted vast amounts of interest due to its post-deregulation growth phase. Against the background of the recent financial crisis, this attractiveness for research of (Spanish) banks will probably escalate, as new consolidation policies from central institutions will induce novel competitive strategies. Three topics represent the core chapters of this thesis: (1) The identification and analysis of bank performance groups through decomposed productivity and efficiency indicators; (2) New proposals of total factor productivity (TFP) benchmarking via technology-based index numbers; (3) The assessment of potential gains from mergers and acquisitions (M&As) through convex and non-convex efficiency frontiers. In the framework of the strategic groups' literature, the first chapter analyses changes in the productivity and efficiency of Spanish private and savings banks between 1998 and 2006. By adapting a decomposition of the Malmquist productivity indices, it proposes similar components decomposing the Luenberger productivity indicator. TFP is disentangled into technological and efficiency changes. The latter is then decomposed into pure efficiency, scale and congestion changes. Empirical results show that productivity improvements are partially due to technological innovation and explain how the competition between private and savings banks develops. Consequently, the Luenberger components are used as cluster analysis inputs. Thus, economic interpretations of the resulting performance groups are made via key differences in TFP components. To end with, as suggested by the strategic groups' literature, insights are gained by linking these performance groups with banking ratios. Second, by proposing a benchmarking framework to analyze TFP, a gap is filled between the benchmarking literature and multi-output efficiency and productivity studies. Different specifications of the Hicks-Moorsteen TFP index are tailored for specific benchmarking perspectives: (1) static, (2) fixed base and unit, and (3) dynamic TFP change. These approaches assume fixed units and/or base technologies as benchmarks. In contrast to most productivity indices, the standard Hicks-Moorsteen index always leads to feasible results and TFP interpretations. Through the defined specifications, managers can assess different facets of the firm's strategic choices in comparison with relevant benchmarks and thus have a broad background for decision making. An analysis for the Spanish banking industry between 1998 and 2006 illustrates the feasibility and managerial implications of the proposed framework. The third chapter scrutinizes the potential efficiency gains from M&As, a widely researched topic, but often linked to inconclusive results. We speculate that this is partly caused by the employed methodological assumptions. Among them, the assumption of a convex technology can be an important influence on the results. Thus, both convex and non-convex technologies are used to reveal post-M&As cost excess gains due to scale and technical inefficiencies. Ex ante conditions for achieving potential cost reductions are devised and then tested ex post on a sample of 32 Spanish banking M&As that occurred between 1988 and 2006. Empirical results show that significant cost excess reductions appear two years after the merger event. Furthermore, it is illustrated that the non-convex estimations are closer to the movements in the observed costs. These are interesting findings in view of the upcoming merger wave and should be complemented with research on scope efficiency and economies of diversification.

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Medius AB är en svensk aktör inom IT-marknaden med affärsområden inom Workflow, ERP och Consulting. Företaget har upplevt en kraftig tillväxt och med sin egen produkt inom elektronisk fakturahantering, MediusFlow™, har de skaffat sig en unik position på marknaden. Medius AB har för avsikt att fortsätta denna tillväxt för att uppnå ett mål om 500 MSEK i omsättning år 2012. Detta examensarbete är en studie kring tillväxt på en ständigt föränderlig IT-marknad. Den svenska IT-marknaden är en relativt mogen marknad och många aktörer söker sig utomlands för att hitta nya lukrativa marknader. Historiskt sett har många företag vuxit lavinartat för att sedan uppleva en lika kraftig tillbakagång och har således varit väldigt konjunkturkänsliga. Syftet med denna studie är således att finna påverkande krafter för en stark och stabil tillväxt på ITmarknaden genom att undersöka svenska IT-företag som har genomgått denna tillväxt. Fokus ligger på hur dessa företag har agerat marknadsmässigt. För att undersöka andra aktörers tillväxt har en benchmarkingstudie genomförts med tio noga utvalda företag. Detta har skett genom kvalitativa intervjuer ute hos företagen där de gavs chansen att berätta om hur de har agerat marknadsmässigt de senaste fem åren. Som ett underlag för studien har en hypotes arbetats fram kring påverkande tillväxtkrafter utifrån en förstudie och en teoretisk referensram. Efter intervjuernas genomförande har varje företag analyserats enskilt i fallstudieanalyser i avsikt att undersöka vilka de mest väsentliga krafterna har varit samt hur de har påverkat företagens tillväxt. Dessutom har en klusteranalys genomförts för att finna naturliga kluster bland företagen. I denna analys har vi funnit tre kluster indelade efter vilka krafter som haft störst påverkan på företagens tillväxt. Trots att klustrena skiljer sig något har de även mycket gemensamt som påverkar tillväxten. Det har visat sig att för att uppnå en framgångsrik tillväxt har företagen varit flexibla mot kund, detta gäller främst genom kundanpassade lösningar men även genom att de har funnits geografiskt nära kunden. Företagens tillväxt har haft tydliga strategier och det har dessutom varit viktigt att inte lämna företagets kärnkompetenser genom att förvärva eller expandera utanför dessa ramar. Utöver detta har relationerna till kund visat sig vara betydande, genom att många av företagen strävar efter att bevara kunder i långvariga och nära relationer i syfte att uppnå kontinuerlig försäljning. Typ av marknadsföring och valet av distributionskanaler, däribland användandet av partners, har även det visat sig vara av betydelse. Detta har resulterat i att de tillväxtkrafter som gemensamt har haft betydande påverkan över alla tre kluster är Flexibilitet, Tillväxtinriktning, Kundstyrka och Distributionskunskap. Rekommendationerna bygger från de slutsatser och lärdomar som anammats från denna studie och riktar sig mot Medius AB:s fortsatta tillväxt. Vi anser att Medius AB främst ska satsa på att skapa personliga relationer med kund och sedan underhålla dessa för att öka försäljningen på dessa befintliga kunder. Vidare för Medius AB:s fortsatta expansion är det dessutom viktigt med tydliga strategier och att inte frångå sina kärnområden vid eventuella företagsförvärv. Företaget skulle även kunna ta steget ut och etablera sig på nya marknadsföringskanaler inom sociala medier för att öka exponering av företaget mot kunder och kompetenta personer som söker anställning. / Medius AB is a Swedish player in the IT market with business in the workflow, ERP and Consulting areas. The company has experienced a strong growth, and with its own product, MediusFlow™, in the electronic invoice handling area have gained a unique position in the market. Medius AB intends to continue this growth to achieve a target of 500 million in revenue in year 2012. This thesis is a study of growth in a rapidly changing IT market. The Swedish IT market is a relatively mature market and many players are looking abroad to find new lucrative markets. Historically, many companies have grown exponentially, then experienced an equally sharp decline, and have been very sensitive to economic fluctuations. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to identify critical forces for a rapid and stable growth in the IT market by examining Swedish companies, which have already achieved this growth. The focus is on how these companies have acted within the marketplace. Internal forces such as the organization's structure will therefore not be investigated. The study will culminate in recommendations for Medius AB to achieve continued strong growth in the IT market. To explore other players' growth, a benchmarking study was carried out with ten carefully selected companies. This was done through interviews onsite at each company in which they were given a chance to talk about how they had acted, on market terms, in order to achieve growth. Before the interviews began a hypothesis, based on the forces affecting growth from the feasibility study and the theoretical framework, was developed. After the completion of the interviews, each company has been individually analyzed in a case study analysis to identify the most significant forces, after which a cluster analysis has been carried out to search for and identify any natural clusters among these companies. In this analysis, we found three clusters ranked according to the forces that had the greatest impact on growth. Although there are differences between the clusters, they are also in many ways similar in regards to growth. We have found that for successful growth, companies must be flexible to customers, not only in customized solutions but also in proximity to the customer. The growth must have clear strategies and it is extremely important not to divert from core competencies by acquiring or expanding outside this framework. In addition, relationships with customers and partners have proved to be extremely important. Being able to retain customer loyalty in the long term through a close relationship leads to good opportunities for continued sales to them. Common to the clusters, we have seen that some of the forces have had considerable impact on growth. These forces are Flexibility, Growth Direction, Distribution Knowledge and Customer Focus Strength. Our recommendations are based on the conclusion of the findings of the study and have been targeted to securing the continued growth of Medius AB. Medius AB should primarily focus on creating personal relationships with customers and then maintaining them to increase sales to these existing customers. Furthermore, Medius AB should continue its expansion with clear strategies and not deviate from its core areas of focus when considering potential acquisitions. Finally, Medius AB should also take active steps to penetrate new marketing channels in social media to increase exposure of the company to existing and potential customers and also competent persons seeking employment.

X3 C is a Swedish company which develops a world wide good tracking system by using ARFID tags placed on every item which has to be delivered and base stations as gateway in a wireless sensor network. The requirement of a long lifespan of their ARFID tags made it difficult to implement security. Firstly an evaluation of possible security mechanisms and their power consumption was done by measuring the avalanche effect and character frequency of the sym- metric algorithms Blowfish, RC2 and XTEA. Secondly, the required CPU time which is needed by each algorithm for encrypting a demo plaintext, was measured and analyzed. Summariz- ing both analysis, the XTEA algorithm, run in CBC mode, is the recommendation for the XC ARFID tags. The testing processes and the results are presented in detail in this thesis.

Load factors are an important simplification of electrical energy use data and depend on the ratio of average demand to peak demand. Based on operating hours of a facility they serve as an important benchmarking tool for the industrial sector. The operating hours of small and medium sized manufacturing facilities are analyzed to identify the most common operating hour or shift work patterns. About 75% of manufacturing facilities fall into expected operating hour patterns with operating hours near 40, 80, 120 and 168 hours/week. Two types of load factors, electrical and production are computed for each shift classification within major industry categories in the U.S. The load factor based on monthly billing hours (ELF) increases with operating hours from about 0.4 for a nominal one shift operation, to about 0.7 for around-the-clock operation. On the other hand, the load factor based on production hours (PLF) shows an inverse trend, varying from about 1.4 for one shift operation to 0.7 for around-the-clock operation. When used as a diagnostic tool, if the PLF exceeds unity, then unnecessary energy consumption may be taking place. For plants operating at 40 hours per week, the ELF value was found to greater than the theoretical maximum, while the PLF value was greater than one, suggesting that these facilities may have significant energy usage outside production hours. The data for the PLF however, is more scattered for plants operating less than 80 hours per week, indicating that grouping PLF data based on operating hours may not be a reasonable approach to benchmarking energy use in industries. This analysis uses annual electricity consumption and demand along with operating hour data of manufacturing plants available in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) database. The annual values are used because more desirable monthly data are not available. Monthly data are preferred as they capture the load profile of the facility more accurately. The data there come from Industrial Assessment Centers which employ university engineering students, faculty and staff to perform energy assessments for small to medium-sized manufacturing plants. The nation-wide IAC program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Recently, Taiwan GDP has been increased continuously, outdoor sports are getting popular and we have 2 days off per a week. More and more people are encouraged to join the healthy outdoor sports. Golf is one of the quality, healthful outdoor sports. Also there are many new golf courses, driving ranges, golf shops. It helps golf to be very popular. At present, the top 4 golf manufacturing companies are listing theirs stocks in Taiwan markets such as Dynamic (OTC), Ota (OTC), Fusen (TSEC), Advance (preparing). Each company has its own strength and weakness. Also each company has a complete manufacturing strategy both in Taiwan and China. How does Dynamic use Benchmarking theory to upgrade their company strategy. The writer is interested in the research on the topic. In order to combine the theory and active operation, the writer designs the researching range as below: 1. The decision for the topic of Benchmarking. 2. Choose good company for Benchmarking 3. The trend of the external environment. 4. Use the resource of industrial specificity to upgrade the competitive strength.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Open University. BLDSC no. DXN081871.

This thesis is composed of two parts, that relate to both parallel and heterogeneous processing. The first describes DistCL, a distributed OpenCL framework that allows a cluster of GPUs to be programmed like a single device. It uses programmer-supplied meta-functions that associate work-items to memory. DistCL achieves speedups of up to 29x using 32 peers. By comparing DistCL to SnuCL, we determine that the compute-to-transfer ratio of a benchmark is the best predictor of its performance scaling when distributed. The second is a statistical power model for the AMD Fusion heterogeneous processor. We present a systematic methodology to create a representative set of compute micro-benchmarks using data collected from real hardware. The power model is created with data from both micro-benchmarks and application benchmarks. The model showed an average predictive error of 6.9% on heterogeneous workloads. The Multi2Sim heterogeneous simulator was modified to support configurable power modelling.

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