Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:23:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T13:57:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 00780.pdf: 1641915 bytes, checksum: 35b3db1eb4599fae5ff3905d4f8bf524 (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IEA/T / Escola Politecnica, Universidade de Sao Paulo - POLI/USP

Orientador: Maria Alejandra Caporale Madi / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Economia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-15T12:10:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Wandera_Martin_M.pdf: 1436817 bytes, checksum: f3f553f4cab6fd742c056f1546b58e28 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Este estudo foi motivado pelo interesse em entender melhor os fatores que constrangem o crescimento da exportação e limitam os resultados sociais da liberalização do comércio como o emprego. A Indústria de flores foi usada como estudo de caso e os objetivos específicos do estudo eram analisar as restrições a oportunidades de acesso ao Mercado sob os APE e em que medida as instituições do mercado de trabalho em Uganda podem facilitar o alcance a benefícios sociais sob os APE por meio da agenda de trabalho decente. A idéia por trás dos acordos de livre comércio como os APE é que comércio mais livre expande as oportunidades e benefícios igualmente para todos os parceiros da negociação. O estudo, no entanto, descobre que ao lado disso, devido à restrição de suprimentos, como a infra-estrutura pública pobre, tarifas de eletricidade sempre em ascensão, altos preços de fretes, bem como dificuldades de acesso a financiamentos de longo prazo, Uganda não é capaz de tirar vantagem plena dos benefícios comerciais gerados pelo acesso ao livre mercado. Construindo sobre idéias Keynesianas, que vinculam emprego à produção, o estudo conclui que o aspecto dos constrangimentos de suprimentos também afeta o emprego na medida em que mina a produção. Enquanto o nível de emprego é uma questão do Mercado produtivo, as questões de bem-estar social como o trabalho decente só o mercado de trabalho e, por essa razão, instituições do mercado de trabalho também foram analisadas. O estudo conclui que, como parte da agenda neoliberal de desregulação, o governo de Uganda frustrou, deliberadamente, a implementação de leis de trabalho. A falha em implementar leis como o salário mínimo facilita uma apropriação desequilibrada dos benefícios do comércio. Por exemplo, ainda que o valor das exportações de flores tenha aumentado mais de 200 por cento nos últimos 10 anos, os salários permaneceram estagnados. / Abstract: This study was motivated by an interest to understand better the factors that constrain export growth and limit the social outcomes of trade liberalization like employment. The flower industry was used as a case study and the specific objectives of the study were to examine the constraints to market access opportunities under EPA and the extent to which labour market institutions in Uganda can facilitate the achievement of social welfare benefits under EPA through the decent work agenda. The underlying idea behind free trade agreements like EPA is that freer trade expands opportunities and benefits all trading partners equally. The study however finds that because of supply side rigidities like poor public infrastructure, ever rising electricity tariffs, high freight charges as well problems of accessing long term funding; Uganda is not able to take full advantage of trade benefits created by free market access. Building on Keynesian ideas that link employment to production, the study concludes that supply side constraints also affect employment in as far they undermine production. While the level of employment is a product market issue, social welfare issues like decent work are labour market and for that reason labour market institutions were also examined. The study concludes that as part of the neoliberal agenda of deregulation, the government of Uganda has deliberately frustrated the implementation of labour laws. Failure to implement laws like the minimum wage facilitates unequal appropriation of the benefits of trade. For example whereas the value of flower exports has increased by over 200 percent in the last 10 years, wages have remained stagnant. / Mestrado / Economia Social e do Trabalho / Mestre em Desenvolvimento Econômico

Submitted by Fabielle Cheuczuk (fabielle.cheuczuk@unioeste.br) on 2018-05-03T19:15:00Z No. of bitstreams: 2 MARCIA BONIFACIO STOOC.pdf: 2775592 bytes, checksum: 161d47853cb87725ac1bda6f18d81915 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-03T19:15:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 MARCIA BONIFACIO STOOC.pdf: 2775592 bytes, checksum: 161d47853cb87725ac1bda6f18d81915 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-21 / The Individual Microentrepreneur Program is an alternative for the reduction of entrepreneurs who work informally, however, it is important to identify if the offered benefits are attractive for this working class. Thus, the objective of this work is to verify the perception of the Individual Microentrepreneurs that participated in the “Bom Negócio Paraná” Program, regarding the benefits generated by the formalization and improvement in the results of their business. This research is classified into quantitative nature, having as sample 190 Microentrepreneurs that participated in the “Bom Negócio Paraná” Program. To meet this research’s goals, a questionnaire in a Likert-type scale was applied, divided in three stages, which the first one consists in charting a profile of the respondents, the second one, identifying the benefits of the Individual Microentrepreneur Program, and the third one, identifying the results of these enterprises after the formalization as an Individual Microentrepreneur. A descriptive analysis of the data was made to chart the profile of the research’s respondents. To identify the benefits and the results after the formalization, a descriptive and frequency analysis were made. To develop a comparative analysis of the benefits and results, the non-parametrical Kruskal-Wallis test was applied between the Individual Microentrepreneurs of ten centers of the “Bom Negócio Paraná” Program, to test the hypothesis that they present the same distribution between the variables, and a peerreview was made to detect which centers presents itself differently than the others. As result of the research, it was identified that the majority of the respondents are male and that they are between 31 and 40 years. They opened their enterprises for opportunity and worked as legally registered workers before the formalization. Among the most evaluated benefits from the respondents, there was the possibility of selling to other companies for the fact that they can emit invoice. The Microentrepreneurs as the main improvements identified client’s satisfaction and an increase in production and services after the formalization. As for the negative points after the formalization, only being able to hire one employee and the revenue limit are the main drawbacks. After the application of the Kruskal-Wallis method, it was possible to identify that there was a variation between both the benefits and the results, in which the Individual Microentrepreneurs of centers of Cascavel and Guarapuava presented lower average scores more often in their answers, providing differences between the centers categories. / O programa microempreendedor individual é uma alternativa para a redução de empreendedores que trabalham na informalidade, contudo é importante identificar se os benefícios ofertados para a classe são atrativos. Desta forma, este trabalho apresenta como objetivo verificar a percepção dos microempreendedores individuais que participaram do programa Bom Negócio Paraná, quanto aos benefícios pela formalização e melhoria nos resultados do empreendimento. A pesquisa se classifica de natureza quantitativa, tendo como amostra 190 microempreendedores individuais que participaram do Programa Bom Negócio Paraná. Para atender aos objetivos foi aplicado um questionário em escala Likert, dividido em três etapas, onde a primeira incide em traçar um perfil dos pesquisados, na segunda identificar os benefícios do programa microempreendedor individual e, na terceira, identificar os resultados dessas empresas após a formalização como MEI. Foi realizada análise descritiva dos dados para traçar o perfil dos respondentes da pesquisa e para identificar os benefícios e os resultados após a formalização como microempreendedores individuais foi realizado análise descritiva e de frequência. Para desenvolver uma análise comparativa dos benefícios e resultados, entre os MEIs dos 10 núcleos do programa Bom Negócio Paraná foi aplicado o teste não paramétrico Kruskal Wallis, para testar a hipótese de que os núcleos apresentam a mesma distribuição entre as variáveis e uma análise em pares para identificar qual núcleo se apresenta da forma diferente dos demais. Como resultado da pesquisa identificou-se que a maioria dos respondentes é do sexo masculino, entre 31 e 40 anos, abriram a empresa por oportunidade e atuavam como trabalhadores com carteira assinada antes da formalização. Dentre os benefícios mais avaliados pelos respondentes foi a possibilidade de vender para outras empresas pelo fato de emitirem nota fiscal. A satisfação dos clientes e o aumento na produção e serviços foram identificados pelos empreendedores como as principais melhorias após a formalização. Quanto aos pontos negativos após a formalização, a contratação de apenas um funcionário e o limite de faturamento foram os principais empecilhos. Após a aplicação do método de Kruskal Wallis, foi possível identificar que houve variação tanto entre os benefícios quanto entre os resultados, onde os Microempreendedores Individuais dos núcleos de Cascavel e Guarapuava foram os que mais apresentaram médias menores nas respostas, provendo diferenças entre as categorias de núcleos.

Os incentivos fiscais têm sido utilizados pelos mais diversos países, das mais variadas tendências políticas e econômicas, como instrumento para promover o desenvolvimento e a inovação tecnológica das organizações empresariais. No caso brasileiro, alguns estudos têm demonstrado que os efeitos dos benefícios fiscais muitas vezes estão aquém do esperado pelas entidades governamentais, com baixo nível de adesão por parte das empresas. As causas desse fenômeno geralmente são atribuídas a fatores econômicos, embora se reconheça que possa existir outras razões, dentre as quais a influência de fatores ambientais e estruturais no processo decisório das organizações. Para o estudo mais aprofundado dessas influências no ambiente empresarial, o framework proposto pela teoria da contingência tem sido utilizado em pesquisas científicas, especialmente no campo da contabilidade, na análise de fenômenos relacionados ao uso da informação contábil no processo de tomada de decisões. Sob essa perspectiva teórica, este trabalho tem como objetivo identificar, analisar e discutir os fatores que influenciam a utilização da informação contábil no processo decisório das empresas especificamente relacionado à adesão aos incentivos fiscais estabelecidos no capítulo III da Lei 11.196/05, conhecida no ambiente tributário brasileiro como \"Lei do Bem\". Após algumas breves considerações sobre as políticas de incentivos adotadas no âmbito dos países membros da OCDE, são apresentadas uma retrospectiva histórica e uma análise detalhada, com base na legislação, dos incentivos fiscais de inovação tecnológica em vigor no Brasil. A finalidade desta parte do estudo é demonstrar que há uma clara necessidade de um processo de decisão estruturado, por parte dos gestores das empresas, para a opção sobre a adesão ao incentivo fiscal, que envolve informações contábeis. Em vista destas considerações a questão de pesquisa é definida como: \"quais os fatores indutores e inibidores da utilização de informações contábeis para tomada de decisão sobre adesão aos incentivos fiscais de inovação tecnológica?\". Na revisão bibliográfica, são analisadas aplicações da teoria da contingência no que se refere ao processo de tomada de decisão e à importância do sistema de informações contábeis, definindo-se 17 fatores e 55 variáveis que podem influenciar na utilização da informação contábil, os quais foram divididos em cinco grandes grupos, cada um com variáveis próprias. Com base nesse referencial, foi elaborado um questionário estruturado, o qual foi enviado às 542 empresas que se utilizaram dos incentivos fiscais de inovação tecnológica no ano base de 2.009 no Brasil, tendo sido obtidas 77 respostas válidas. O tratamento estatístico dos dados coletados foi realizado através da técnica denominada análise de homogeneidade (HOMALS). A pesquisa encontra que a informação contábil é comumente usada no processo de adesão aos benefícios fiscais. No entanto, o modelo de decisão utilizado pela maioria dos gestores é o assim chamado classical, que parece ser inapropriado para este tipo de decisão, segundo a teoria da contingência, o que pode demonstrar ou necessidade de revisão da teoria neste ponto, ou que um modelo inapropriado está sendo utilizado. Como resultado da base de dados obtida da pesquisa confirma-se que há fatores indutores e inibidores no uso da informação contábil. Os fatores indutores identificados são dinamismo, heterogeneidade, hostilidade, rentabilidade, lucratividade, instrumentos gerenciais, escopo, agregação, relevância comparabilidade e confiabilidade. Os fatores inibidores são heterogeneidade, agregação e confiabilidade. O fato que alguns fatores sejam indutores e inibidores mostra que a influência desses fatores varia de acordo com as características de cada companhia ou do meio, confirmando neste sentido um dos princípios básicos da teoria da contingência. Do ponto de vista teórico, esses achados contribuem para um melhor entendimento da realidade acerca do tema, permitindo que, na prática, gestores empresariais e governamentais atuem sobre fatores importantes que influenciam a efetividade de suas ações, mas que nem sempre são claramente percebidos no cotidiano da dinâmica empresarial. / Tax benefits have been used in a variety of countries, which adopt different political and economic trends, as a way of promoting the development and the technological innovation in companies. In Brazil some researches have shown that the effects of tax benefits have frequently had less impact than it would be expected by the government because of the low adoption rates of these benefits by companies. The causes of these low adoption rates are generally attributed to economic factors, although other reasons are recognized, such as the influence of environmental and structural factors in the decision-making process in companies. In order to further study these influences in the corporate environment, scientific researches - mainly in the accounting field -have used the framework proposed by the contingency theory for the analysis of accounting information in the decision-making process. This thesis aims to identify, analyze and discuss, according to that theory, the factors which influence the use of accounting information in the corporate decision-making process. The study considers specifically this process related to the adoption of tax benefits as established by Chapter III of Act 11.196/05, known in the Brazilian tributary environment as \"Lei do Bem\" (in a loose translation, \"Law of the Goodness\"). After brief considerations on incentive policies adopted by countries which are members of the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), there is a historical retrospective and a detailed analysis of tax benefits for technological innovation in Brazil, based on the current Brazilian legislation. The objective of this part of the study is to demonstrate that the leaders of the companies must have a structured decision-making process in order to opt for adopting tax benefits, and this involves accounting information. Based on these considerations, the research question is proposed: \"what are the promoting and the hindering factors concerning the use of accounting information which influence the decision about the adoption of tax benefits for technological innovation?\" In the literature review the study analyzes the applications of the contingency theory, taking into account the decision-making process and the importance of the system of accounting information. Seventeen factors and fifty-five variations which may influence the use of accounting information are defined, and they were divided into five large groups, each one with its own variables. Based on this referential a structured questionnaire was elaborated, which was sent to the 543 companies which used tax benefits for technological innovation in the base year of 2009 in Brazil, and 77 valid answers were received. The statistical treatment of the data assembled was done through a technique named homogeneity analysis (HOMALS). The research finds out that accounting information is commonly used in the process of adopting tax benefits. However, the decision-making model used by the majority of the leaders is the so- called classical, which seems to be inappropriate for this kind of decision, according to the contingency theory. This consideration can demonstrate that either the theory must be reviewed at this point or the inappropriate model is being used. As a result of the database obtained by the research, it was confirmed that there are promoting and hindering factors concerning the use of accounting information. The promoting factors identified are the dynamism, heterogeneity, hostility, profitability, managerial instruments, scope, aggregation, relevance, comparability and reliability. The hindering factors are heterogeneity, aggregation and reliability. The fact that some of these factors are both promoters and hinders shows that the influence of these factors varies according to the characteristics of each company or according to the environment, confirming one of the basic principles of the contingency theory. From the theoretical point of view, these conclusions contribute to the better understanding of the reality about the theme, allowing that, in practice, business and government leaders work on important factors which influence the effectiveness of their actions, factors which are not always clearly distinguished in the day-to-day corporate dynamics.

Dentre diversas razões para que apenas um empreendimento imobiliário residencial concluído até maio de 2013, tenha conquistado uma certificação ambiental no Brasil, o fato de que empreendimentos sustentáveis contabilizam aumento de custos com a obra, com o processo de certificação e com consultores, em relação a empreendimentos convencionais é a dificuldade mais relevante na opinião dos empreendedores. O custo adicional da obra sustentável é uma dificuldade para construir de forma sustentável citada por 82% dos incorporadores imobiliários que responderam a enquete apresentada neste trabalho. Esse fato pode estar inibindo o desenvolvimento de empreendimentos sustentáveis por parte das empresas incorporadoras do país. Uma possível solução para reduzir esta barreira econômica é a identificação de aspectos que agreguem sustentabilidade a empreendimentos residenciais e apresentem custos de implantação menores ou iguais à seus equivalentes convencionais. O objetivo deste trabalho é a identificação dos requisitos do Processo Aqua para Edifícios Habitacionais (2013, versão 2), que não agregaram custos adicionais ao empreendimento residencial referencial Reserva Anauá, destinado às famílias com renda entre 6 e 10 salários mínimos e podem ser replicados em outros empreendimentos com tipologia similar. Assim, os empreendedores podem incorporar até 193 exigências dessa certificação a seus projetos residenciais, para torná-los mais sustentáveis, sem agregar custos adicionais em relação empreendimentos convencionais. / Among several reasons why only one residential real estate development completed by May 2013, has achieved an environmental certification in Brazil, the fact that there are additional costs with the green construction, the certification process and the consultants are the most relevant difficulties for the entrepreneurs to develop sustainable projects. The green premium is a difficulty to build green cited by 82% of the developers who responded to the survey presented in this dissertation. This may be inhibiting the development of sustainable residential real estate projects by the developers of the country. One possible solution to reduce this economic barrier is the identification of aspects that add sustainability to the residential projects and cost the same or less than similar conventional real estate. The objective of this work is to identify the requirements of Aqua certification process (2013, version 2), which did not add additional costs to the referential residential development Reserva Anauá, being built for families with income between 6 and 10 minimum wages, and can be replicated in other projects with similar typology. Thus, entrepreneurs can incorporate up to 193 requirements of this certification to their residential projects, to make them more sustainable, without adding additional costs over conventional developments.

The thesis addresses the points of interest related to establishing the euro currency in the Czech Republic by 2020. What are the connected costs and benefits? Is euro going to be a contribution to the Czech economy? The theoretical part describes the creation process of European monetary union. The paper then works with advantages and risks associated with euro. The main cost of membership in the eurozone being the loss of independent monetary policy and the loss of the exchange rate mechanism is estimated in range of 0.59 to 2.34 % of GDP. Comparing the direct costs and benefits then leads to a net loss for the Czech Republic. Mutual comparison is conducted between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is shown that the difference in economic progress between these two countries is statistically insignificant. Thus the thesis concludes that establishing the euro in the Czech Republic by 2020 would be of no benefit.

Objetivos. Evaluar la asociación entre tener una especialidad médica y el ingreso económico mensual en médicos peruanos, y comparar los ingresos económicos entre áreas con mayor y menor densidad de médicos en Perú. Materiales y métodos. Se analizaron los datos de la Encuesta Nacional de Satisfacción de Usuarios de Salud realizada en Perú el año 2015. Esta encuesta con nivel de inferencia nacional fue realizada a médicos que laboran en establecimientos de salud de Perú. Se evaluó el ingreso económico considerando todas las actividades remuneradas del médico. Se calcularon las razones de prevalencia crudas y ajustadas (RP y RPa) y sus intervalos de confianza al 95% (IC95%) mediante regresiones de Poisson con varianza robusta, tomando en cuenta el muestreo complejo de la encuesta. Resultados. De 2219 médicos encuestados, se analizaron 2154 (97,0%) observaciones. La frecuencia de ganar >S/ 5000 (1572,3 USD) mensuales fue de 29,1% en médicos generales; 65,6% en especialistas; 63,0% en especialidades clínicas; 70,5% en especialidades quirúrgicas, y 55,7% en otras especialidades. En comparación a los médicos generales, los médicos con especialidades clínicas, quirúrgicas, y otras especialidades, tuvieron más probabilidades de ganar >S/ 5000 mensuales (RPa = 1,44, 1,49, y 1,26, respectivamente). La probabilidad de ganar >S/ 5000 fue mayor en quienes laboraban en departamentos con baja densidad de médicos. Conclusiones. Los ingresos económicos fueron mayores en médicos especialistas que en no especialistas. Los ingresos económicos fueron mayores en departamentos con menor densidad de médicos, lo cual puede animar a que los médicos laboren en dichos departamentos. / Objectives. To evaluate the relationship between having a medical specialty and the monthly income of Peruvian doctors, and to compare the economic incomes among areas with higher and lower density of medical doctors in Peru. Materials and methods. We analyzed data of the National Satisfaction Survey of Health Users (in Spanish: ENSUSALUD) carried out in Peru in the year 2015. This survey, with a national level of inference, was performed on physicians working at health facilities in Peru. Monthly income was measured considering all paid activities of the physician. Crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (PR and aPR) and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated through Poisson regression models with robust variance, taking into account the complex sampling of the survey. Results. Out of 2 219 Physicians surveyed, 2 154 (97.0%) observations were analyzed. The probability of earning > S/5 000 (1 572.3 USD) per month was 29.1% for general practitioners; 65.6% for specialists; 63.0% for clinical specialists; 70.5% for surgeons, and 55.7% for other specialties. Compared to general practitioners, physicians with clinical, surgical, and other specialties were more likely to earn > S/5 000 per month (aPR = 1.44, 1.49, and 1.26, respectively). The probability of earning > S/5 000 was higher in those working in departments with low medical density. Conclusions. Monthly incomes were higher for specialist physicians than for non-specialists. Economic incomes were higher in departments with lower density of physicians, which may encourage physicians to work in these departments.

Context: Over the last two decades, software architecture has introduced a new trend insoftware development. This new trend has completely changed the normal methods andpractices of software engineering. The focus has become the architectural elements ratherthan code and sub-routines. Architecture description languages (ADLs) have been proposedfor this kind of architecture based software development. There are a number of differentADLs both in academia and industry; they are not totally adopted by the software engineeringcommunity, but they are not avoided either. In this research work, an investigation has beenperformed based on the ADLs evaluation in practice. Objectives: The main aim of this study is to investigate evaluation of ADLs in academia andindustry. To explore the benefits and drawbacks of ADLs in practice. The study also exploresthe different quality factors improved by ADLs. Further different methods used to buildarchitecture with ADLs and then how to use architecture described with an ADL in softwaredevelopment and maintenance have also been reported. Methods: This research study has been carried out using the systematic literature reviewmethod. The systematic literature review follows the guidelines suggested by Kitchenham[21]. Results: This research review has resulted in total of 102 different ADLs. It has been foundthat out of the 102 different ADLs, 69 ADLs have been evaluated in academia and only 33ADLs have been evaluated in industry. ADLs have also been classified based on theirindustrial and academia evaluation. There are total 31 different benefits and 19 differentdrawbacks of ADLs have been identified. This review also extracted 20 different qualityfactors from literature that are improved by using ADLs in practice. Further 13 differentmethods used to build architecture with ADL have also been reported. Finally 9 differentmethods of ADLs used in software development and maintenance have been identified. Conclusions: The Large number of ADLs with little evaluation in industry suggests thatmore work needs to be done in order to improve ADLs evaluation in practice. ADLs providemore benefits compared to their drawbacks which suggests that ADLs can be very beneficial.Knowledge gained during this research study, suggests that ADLs are mostly unrecognized.More awareness about ADLs should be provided in education and practice.

Context. In recent years there has been observed a significant shift from plan-driven development towards agile, which is considered as a vast improvement to processes. However, it has also been spotted that agile methodologies are hardly ever applied in their pure form. Moreover, hybrid processes as combinations of plan-driven and agile practices emerge. In addition, agile adoption has been reported to result in both: benefits and limitations. Objectives. In this study the following matters are investigated: 1) the commonness of plan driven and agile practices usage, 2) common practices combinations, 3) patterns for agile adoption over time, 4) hybrid development models and 5) the actual effects of agile adoption in terms of benefits and limitations as perceived by practitioners. Methods. The thesis presents an empirical investigation of software development organizations. The objectives are achieved through a targeted survey based on existing evidence and a multidimensional data analysis. The mean for obtaining data is a web-based questionnaire with an interactive board with practices and time indication sliders (to capture applied development models and practices adoption strategies) and hierarchical cumulative voting (to measure the relative significance of benefits and limitations). The data analysis is supported by hierarchical cluster analysis and an extended hierarchical voting analysis framework (EHV-F). Results. In total, 45 practitioners have been successfully surveyed. The commonness of 7 plan-driven and 14 agile practices usage was investigated. The relative significance of agile adoption benefits (32 factors in 10 categories) and limitations (23 factors in 7 categories) was measured with respect to global view (all respondents and perspectives), different agile adoption strategies as well as distinguished development models. Conclusions. It is concluded that agile practices dominate over plan-driven, however, hybrid approaches, being combinations of plan-driven and agile practices, are frequently applied. It is also concluded that some practices are commonly used together since they facilitate each other (e.g. continuous integration with testing which facilitate short iterations and releases). Some agile practices are still unsuccessfully applied and eventually abandoned (e.g. pair programming), what should be further investigated by researchers. Incremental agile adoption strategy was found to be the most beneficial approach. It is also concluded that agile adoption leads first of all to improved quality of working life, increased knowledge transfer and improved verification and validation processes. On the other hand, agile adoption is very demanding since it requires high professional skills from development teams as well as managers. Hence, more resources should be devoted to training on agile for all the parties involved in development. Agile is still commonly considered to be poorly scalable. Moreover, the quality of design with agile methods is not considered as a benefit at all. These areas should be further investigated by researchers.

Web-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems deployed through theSoftware-as-a-Service (SaaS) model are a major disruptive technology in the fieldof ERP systems. The defining features of the SaaS are that they are hosted remotelyand are completely used through the web; they are subscription-payment basedand they operate on a multi-tenant fashion. This technological innovation redefinestraditional technical and economic ERP paradigms. This Bachelor’s thesis aims through interviews with vendors, users and consultants,as well as by researching various academical and professional publications onthe subject of Web-based (SaaS) ERPs to study these pehomena, and produce a listof their benefits to SMEs. It also analyses their opportunities and challenges via anumber of interesting facts, thus allowing for thought-provoking observations andspawning of stirring discussions. The benefits of Web-based ERPs were reported to be similar to the ones characteristicfor the On-premise ERPs. They furthermore included remote data access, costefficiency,flexibility, scalability, as well as the esublishment of a new customerdrivenrelationship with the ERP vendor. The major disadvantages of SaaS wereconsidered to be security, cost (in the long run), and customizability. These disadvantages,which were first reported years ago, are continuously dismissed by theadavncements and innovations made in Web-based solutions. Findings from previousstudies and trends suggest that issues of security, cost and customizabilityare gradually disappearing as technology improves and industry dynamics becomesmore customer-centric. Security, which was a major issue in 2007 slowlyfaded and is not regarded as the concern it used to be. From 2008 till now the issuesof customizability and TCO have been heavily disputed about Web-based ERPsolutions. The problem of customizability has also been found to be diminishingdue to technologically advanced capabilities of these systems; new systems haveemerged and old systems have improved enough to provide this feature. Cost hasnever been a transparent issue when it comes to IT investments and has beenshown to be higher in On-Premise solutions through the TVO approach whichlooks at other hidden and non-financial costs. All of the above sheds new light intothe once-‘static’ benefits and drawbacks of Web-based solutions, and provides afresh insight into this developing phenomenon.