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The role of boards in strategic goal setting and, in particular, the level of board involvement in strategic goal setting has not been extensively researched, primarily because of the difficulty of gaining access to empirical data. Therefore, boards of directors of companies listed on the Alternative Exchange (AltX) of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) were targeted for this research by means of a survey questionnaire administered via email. The aim of the research was firstly to understand the level of board involvement in strategic goal setting, secondly to establish the common strategic goals set by AltX companies and how often these goals are reviewed, thirdly to determine whether there is a relationship between independent variables such as organisational size, board size and number of non-executive directors and the level of board involvement, and finally to determine whether the level of board involvement varies between executive and non-executive directors. The research found that the level of board involvement was at mid-level being ‘sometimes involved’ while the board’s involvement is significantly lower in strategic goal formation processes. The most common goal was found to be EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) with Cost being the strategic goal most frequently reviewed. No statistically significant correlation was established between the independent variables and the level of board involvement in strategic goal setting. Finally, non-executive directors prefer to take on more of an ‘agency’ role by not becoming involved in ‘prescribing’ strategy. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

acase@tulane.edu / This work adopts an attention-based view to study boards of directors’ attention and its effect on CEOs’ attentional patterns from two perspectives: how the aggregate attention of directors relating to other firms may influence the attention of focal firms’ CEOs over time; and how this dynamic may be influenced by social, power and cognitive factors or dynamics. In so doing, it considers the influence of status and power differences between board members and CEOs, the number of reciprocal interlocks present in each boardroom, and boards members’ imported attentional homogeneity. General linear models analysis is carried out to test the hypotheses, measuring board and CEO attention through previously-validated, computer-assisted content analysis of letters to the shareholders of large companies. In broad terms, this study develops a novel construct, board imported attention, to present partial evidence that suggests a process by which CEOs’ attention is affected by the prior attentional focus of board members, resulting from their board or executive roles in other firms, and that this process may be affected by social and/or power relationships between boards and their CEOs. In light of the pervasiveness of boards with an increasing proportion of interlocked directors, these findings have implications for the corporate governance and managerial cognition literatures, allowing for a deeper understanding of the importance of the composition of boards in shaping the attentional patterns of CEOs. / 1 / Juan Vicente Romero McCarthy

L'équipement électronique de bord est maintenant devenue partie intégrante de l'architecture réseau des véhicules. Elle s’appuie sur l'interconnexion de microcontroleurs appelés ECUs par des bus divers. On commence maintenant à connecter ces ECUs au monde extérieur, comme le montrent les systèmes de navigation, de divertissement, ou de communication mobile embarqués, et les fonctionnalités Car2X. Des analyses récentes ont montré de graves vulnérabilités des ECUs et protocoles employés qui permettent à un attaquant de prendre le contrôle du véhicule. Comme les systèmes critiques du véhicule ne peuvent plus être complètement isolés, nous proposons une nouvelle approche pour sécuriser l'informatique embarquée combinant des mécanismes à différents niveaux de la pile protocolaire comme des environnements d'exécution. Nous décrivons nos protocoles sécurisés qui s'appuient sur une cryptographie efficace et intégrée au paradigme de communication dominant dans l'automobile et sur des modules de sécurité matériels fournissant un stockage sécurisé et un noyau de confiance. Nous décrivons aussi comment surveiller les flux d'information distribués dans le véhicule pour assurer une exécution conforme à la politique de sécurité des communications. L'instrumentation binaire du code, nécessaire pour l’industrialisation, est utilisée pour réaliser cette surveillance durant l’exécution (par data tainting) et entre ECUs (dans l’intergiciel). Nous évaluons la faisabilité de nos mécanismes pour sécuriser la communication sur le bus CAN aujourd'hui omniprésent dans les véhicules. Une preuve de concept montre aussi la faisabilité d'intégrer des mécanismes de sécurité dans des véhicules réels. / Electronic equipment has become an integral part of a vehicle's network architecture, which consists of multiple buses and microcontrollers called Electronic Control Units (ECUs). These ECUs recently also connect to the outside world. Navigation and entertainment system, consumer devices, and Car2X functions are examples for this. Recent security analyses have shown severe vulnerabilities of exposed ECUs and protocols, which may make it possible for attackers to gain control over a vehicle. Given that car safety-critical systems can no longer be fully isolated from such third party devices and infotainment services, we propose a new approach to securing vehicular on-board systems that combines mechanisms at different layers of the communication stack and of the execution platforms. We describe our secure communication protocols, which are designed to provide strong cryptographic assurances together with an efficient implementation fitting the prevalent vehicular communication paradigms. They rely on hardware security modules providing secure storage and acting as root of trust. A distributed data flow tracking based approach is employed for checking code execution against a security policy describing authorized communication patterns. Binary instrumentation is used to track data flows throughout execution (taint engine) and also between control units (middleware), thus making it applicable to industrial applications. We evaluate the feasibility of our mechanisms to secure communication on the CAN bus, which is ubiquitously implemented in cars today. A proof of concept demonstrator also shows the feasibility of integrating security features into real vehicles.

Air pollution is one of the world’s leading risk factors for death. And transportation is one of the largest pollution sources. Therefore, electrification becomes a necessary step in reducing air pollution and save lives. As a result, electric vehicles are becoming the future trend in automotive industries. However, there are still some of the concerns which stop consumers from purchasing electric vehicles. Charging faster and longer driving range are two factors that consumers care most. So how to solve these concerns? A high-efficiency charger could be one solution. Level 2 charger takes less time in charging than level 1. But with the lack of charging facilities right now, charging should be available in all situations. This thesis investigates a high-efficiency on-board charger (OBC) that could be used both at residences and at charging stations. The OBC is able to operate at a wide output battery range as well. High efficiency means low losses. Therefore, the proposed topology uses the least number of components to minimize the losses as much as possible. The efficiency is further optimized by using wide bandgap device Gallium Nitride. Since Gallium Nitride shows superior performance in high power applications. The proposed OBC combines a GaN-based bridgeless totem-pole PFC with a synchronous buck converter with innovative active filtering to allow a much smaller dc-link capacitance. The carefully designed passive components occupy less space and help improve power density. Film capacitors are used to replace the conventional electrolytic capacitors since the latter do not have good reliability for automotive applications. The proposed OBC is designed with small current ripple percentage and small output voltage ripple percentage. The simulation results show a high peak efficiency over 98% at both level 1 and level 2 charging mode. The power factor (PF) is over 0.998 and the total harmonic distortion percentage (THD %) is less than 5% at full load condition (3.3 kW). In one sentence, the charger is simple, high efficiency, works with a universal charging system, with a wide output range, and compact. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

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Problemdiskussion: Mångtalet forskare har argumenterat för behovet av kreativitet i dagens problematiska organisationsklimat och med detta som grund har forskningen om kreativitet fått stor uppmärksamhet och utvecklats i nära alla tänkbara riktningar. Trots detta finns det ett område som fortfarande är mycket outforskat, nämligen det om kreativitet och styrelser. Då samband påvisats mellan styrelser och, de till kreativitet nära besläktade områdena, innovation samt intraprenörskap uppskattar vi emellertid att styrelsen har en betydelsefull roll också i skapandet av kreativitet. Syfte: Vårt syfte är att skapa förståelse för styrelsens roll i skapandet av kreativitet i den enskilda organisationen. Metod: Studien bygger på en flerfallsdesign och är genomförd med en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi och en abduktiv forskningsansats. Som undersökningsmetod användes kvalitativa intervjuer av semi-strukturerad karaktär. Slutsats: För båda fallföretag tolkar vi att styrelsen spelar en betydelsefull och främjande roll i den kreativitetskapande processen i den enskilda organisationen. Den av styrelsens formulerade roller som är av störst vikt i denna process hör vidare till området för strategi. / Problematization: Due to the challenging environment organizations face today, the need for creativity has been raised by numerous researchers and thus the research of creativity has been developed in nearly all possible directions. In spite of this there is still one area that is critically unexplored, namely that of creativity and board of directors. Since connections have been found between boards, innovation and intrapreneurship, areas that are closely related to creativity, we however estimate that boards play an important role in the creativity making process as well. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to create understanding of the board’s role in the creativity making process of the individual firm. Method: Based on case studies from two organizations, the study is conducted with a qualitative research strategy and an abductive research approach. Qualitative interviews of semi-structured nature were used in order to gather empirical information. Conclusion: According to our interpretation the board plays a significant and stimulating role in the creativity making process of both individual firms. Furthermore the board function that is of highest importance in this process belongs to the field of strategy.

The purpose of this study was to develop a profile of Texas public school board members and to determine if there were significant differences in the profiles of board members according to sex, race, age, length of residence, length of board membership, type of community and superintendency tenure.

Thesis (M. Com. (Accountancy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Accountancy, 2014 / Academic and commercial interest in the corporate governance practices of publicly listed companies has increased significantly in recent years (Rossouw, 2005). With high-profile corporate failures such as Enron and WorldCom heightening the interest in corporate governance practices (Rashid, 2011). It has become evident that the performance of well governed firms is superior to that of less well governed firms (Kyereboah-Coleman & Biekpe, 2005). Despite the fact that corporate governance is multi-dimensional (Kyereboah-Coleman & Biekpe, 2005), this study focused on the impact of board composition (defined by the percentage representation of independent non-executive directors on the board) and board size on the firm performance measures namely; Tobin’s Q (TOB), return on assets (ROA), and return on equity (ROE) of firms listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE). Annual data, from the period 2006 to 2012 was used while the analysis of data was done using the Multiple Regression Analysis Model. After having analysed the research results, it was found that no significant relationship exists between the proportion of independent non-executive directors on the board and board size, and firm performance measures. Thus, this research study suggests that performance of South African companies listed on the JSE Securities Exchange is not influenced by board composition and board size.