Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb 16, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation advisor: Dr. Murali K. Mantrala. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006. / McGinnis, Leon - Committee Chair, Griffin, Paul - Committee Member, Hackman, Steve - Committee Member, Parsons, Len - Committee Member, Sharp, Gunter - Committee Member. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010. / Committee Chair: Farzad Rahnema; Committee Co-Chair: Eric Elder; Committee Member: C.-K. Chris Wang; Committee Member: Rebecca Howell; Committee Member: Sang Cho. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Reliable engineering productivity measurement is a critical element of predictable project performance and continuous improvement. Despite the fact that engineering costs have risen to levels approaching 20 percent of total project cost on some industrial projects, engineering productivity is less well understood and has received less study than construction productivity. Furthermore, engineering productivity is a critical determinant of the final cost and schedule performance of a project (Chang et al. 2001). For these reasons, metrics for assessing productivity to drive improvement are essential, especially considering trends toward offshore engineering. Applicable industry standard engineering productivity measurements must first be established and then applied to present day work processes before significant improvement and predictability of performance can be established (CII 2001). Over the years, a number of different approaches for engineering productivity measurement have been proposed. These approaches are discussed and the development of the CII Benchmarking and Metrics approach, a direct measurement approach, is presented for this research. This research: (1) identifies critical issues for the implementation of engineering productivity measurement; (2) develops an Engineering Productivity Measurement System (EPMS) based on real project data; and, finally (3) recommends a framework for future studies. / text

The South African Liquid Fuels Industry is currently in a state of flux. A new fuel pricing mechanism has been rolled out and new legislation has been enacted within the past few years that have significantly impacted on the business environment. The Main Supply Agreement which governed the marketing and distribution of Sasol's liquid fuel products also came to an end on the 1 st of January 2004. All these drivers have had a major impact on the business environment that the Sasol Liquid Fuels Business operated in. The government has also stated its policy to further deregulate the industry including the pricing structure of liquid fuel. The United States Liquid Fuels Industry is the largest in the world and is based on an unregulated fuel price thus leading to price competition among competing retailers. It therefore serves as a good basis with which to compare and evaluate the South African industry. A comprehensive industry analysis is performed in order to explore, understand and describe the nature of the liquid fuels business environments in the USA and South Africa. The Delphi technique was used to gather primary data on the state of the South African Liquid Fuels industry. Thereafter a benchmarking of the South African Liquid Fuels Industry is carried out using primary data from the Delphi study and secondary data from the literature review. The techniques used include PEST analysis and Porter's Five Forces. Aspects of the United States industry that are similar to the South African industry are identified. A scenario for a future deregulated South African Liquid Fuels Industry is described and a marketing and distribution strategy for Sasol is proposed. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2006.

Performance measurement in higher education is examined during this study, in particular university performance indicators are reviewed and discussed. The conclusion is made that appropriate input and output indicators require some form of combination in order to allow practical consideration to be made. The technique of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is reviewed and found to have a number of conceptual drawbacks. The model is considerably developed within the thesis, primarily by the introduction of weight restrictions on the variables. Taken as a whole the developments, coined the DEAPMAS process, create a technique which can be used to assess cost effectiveness rather than simply efficiency. Data for two examples of subject areas, defined by recognised accounting units, are applied to the program as inter-university comparison was felt to be impractical at institutional level; due to differing subject mixes. A considerable computer implementation of the developed theory was written and utilised to provide results over a number of data runs for the examples. It was concluded that the results obtained represented a considerable improvement over separate consideration of numerous performance indicators.

Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2001.

Thesis (MBuilding) -- University of South Australia, 1998

Thesis (MBuilding) -- University of South Australia, 1998

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.