published_or_final_version / Management Studies / Master / Master of Business Administration

Thesis (MTech. degree in Business Information Systems.)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2011. / The study aimed at establishing the impact of competitive intelligence on the innovation products and services of information systems in organisations. For this purpose the study was based on one research question: How does competitive intelligence impact on the innovation products and services of information systems in organisations? At the end of the study on the role of competitive intelligence on information systems innovation the following was achieved. It was better understood that while competitive intelligence is overemphasized as revolutionary, customer focused information systems products and services still remain challenging. It was also understood that not all organisations that deploy competitive intelligence produce more innovative methods. A lack of knowledge- sharing and limitations within the organisational culture were found to be important factors for the deployment of competitive intelligence products and services in the organisations. Based on the findings and interpretation, a framework was developed, aimed at improving the development and deployment of competitive intelligence products and services for organisations' competitive advantage

The focus of this project will be on introducing the concept of an extended enterprise to business leaders, subsequently presenting e- Business Integration and the supporting role that it can play in the establishment of an extended enterprise. Various literature sources will be consolidated to describe the integration approaches and supporting integration technologies and standards that can be employed in establishing integrated communication between the members of the extended enterprise. Finally, a phased approach will be proposed that can be employed in supporting the establishment of an extended enterprise through e-Business Integration.

M.Comm. / The influence of electronic trading on the corporate environment is researched in this study. Large amounts of money in the form of financial instruments are managed on behalf of clients on a daily basis. With the ever-changing technology, organisations are forced to reconsider their current use of technology to enable them to provide the best service to their clients. Most financial processes have done away with the unnecessary use of paper. Corporate organisations that invest large amounts of money on behalf of clients and do not utilise electronic trading systems, are putting themselves, as well as their clients, at a disadvantage. It must be stressed that although the technical requirements and systems that are necessary for electronic trading are discussed, this study concentrates more on the strategic advantages and management implications electronic trading has on the organisation. This study comes to the conclusion that electronic trading has a significant impact on the business world, and that corporate organisations should seriously consider to convert their processes accordingly, expand it and utilise it to its full potential.

M. Tech. (Marketing, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology / Keywords: Mobile payments, usefulness, ease of use, security, attitude, future intentions. An increased reliance on mobile phones by consumers for making retail purchases has been witnessed over the years. Given the pervasive use of m-payments and the incessant diffusion of innovations in South Africa, it is important for marketers to have knowledge of the right set of factors that enhance consumers’ intent towards favouring m-payments in future encounters. This study draws from the undertones of Davis’s (1989) Technology acceptance Model (TAM). Whereas the theory alludes to the influences of both usefulness and ease of use on consumer attitudes and behaviour, this study further amplifies the salience of cosumer perceptions of security as a salient drive towards m-payment acceptance. This is because m-payments involve moneybased transactions and therefore it is important for consumers to have assurance that they operate along a secure platform. The TAM was nominated as the underlying theory in this research owing to its effectiveness when applied during the initial phases of an innovation, to avoid costly mistakes of implementing innovation attributes that do not offer the requiredset of elements for persuading consumers. The purpose of this study was to test an integrative research model of the antecedents of mpayment acceptance using a South African sample of consumers. A quantitative study comprising a non-probability snowball sample of 474 consumers aged between 18 and 50 years was conducted in 2016, in and around the five major towns of Southern Gauteng province in South Africa. The structured questionnaire requested respondents to indicate their perceptions regarding the usefulness, ease of use and security of m-payment platforms they have utilised. In addition, the questionnaire relates to consumers’ attitude evaluations of m-payments in general, as well as their intentions to both use and recommending m-payments to others in the future. Initially, descriptive statistics were performed on the data set, including correlation analysis and multicolinearity testing. Subsequently, structural equation modelling was applied by first, assessing the measurement model using fit indices, confirmatory factor analysis and statistical accuracy tests of reliability and validity. Specification of the measurement model led to the conclusion that the future intentions model was a five-factor structure comprising usefulness, ease of use, security, attitude and future intentions. Thereafter, the results of the structural model (Structural model A) supported the existence of a direct influence between usefulness and security with attitude, while the latter was found to have a direct influence on future intentions. Nevertheless, the relationships between ease of use and attitude was not significant and therefore, alternative hypothesis Ha3 could not be supported in this study leading to the need to specify a vi subsequent competing model. Under Structural model B, perceived usefulness is used as both a dependent and an independent variable since it is predicted by perceived ease of use and in turn predicts attitude towards using and behavioural intention to use simultaneously. The results of Structural model B led to the decision to accept the competing model as the ultimate model for this research since the model presents complete evidence of path weights that are greater than 0.20, interpreted as evidence for significant path outcomes. Insights gained from this study could assist both marketing academics and practitioners to understand the perceptions of consumers towards m-payments. In this regard, if a determination is made that conducting m-payment transactions in secure and effort-free environments could enhance the effectiveness of consumers in their jobs and lives in general, then marketers could be in a better position to deliver a worthwhile innovation solution for South African consumers.

Chinese Restaurant Online System was designed to allow customers to view information about the restaurant over the Web and order some dishes online. It allows employees to login to do their work, depending on their sponsored rights.

This study explores complexity metrics for business artifact process models described by Case Management Model and Notation (CMMN). Process models are usually described using Business Process Management (BPM), which is a relatively mature discipline with a large number of practitioners. Over the last few decades a new way of describing data intensive business processes has emerged in BPM literature, for which traditional BPM is no longer adequate. This emerging method, used to describe more flexible processes, is called business artifacts with Guard-Stage-Milestone (GSM). The work on GSM influenced CMMN, which was created to fill a market need for more flexible case management processes for knowledge workers. Complexity metrics have been developed for traditional BPM models, such as the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). However, traditional BPM is not suitable for describing GSM or CMMN process models. Therefore, complexity metrics developed for traditional process models may not be applicable to business artifact process models such as CMMN. This study addresses this gap by exploring complexity metrics for business artifact process models using CMMN. The findings of this study have practical implications for the CMMN standard and for the commercial products implementing CMMN. This research makes the following contributions: • The development of a formal description of CMMN using first-order logic. • An exploration of the relationship between CMMN and GSM and the development of transformation procedures between them. • A comparison between the method complexity of CMMN and other popular process methods, including BPMN, Unified Modeling Language (UML) Activity diagrams, and Event-driven Process Charts (EPC). • The creation of a systematic literature review of complexity metrics for process models, which was conducted in order to inform the creation of CMMN metrics. • The identification of a set of complexity metrics for the CMMN standard, which underwent theoretical and empirical validation. This research advances literature in the areas of method complexity, complexity metrics for process models, declarative processes, and research on CMMN by characterizing CMMN method complexity, identifying complexity metrics for CMMN, and exploring the relationship between CMMN and GSM. / School of Computing / Ph. D. (Computer Science)