Zugl.: Stuttgart, Universiẗat, Diss., 2005.

Assignment (MComm)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-103). Also available in electronic version.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-133). Also available in electronic version.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-74).

Today’s turbulent business environment has made external knowledge a dominant source of information in firms’ attempt to develop and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage. Firms need to share and acquire new knowledge as they seek to develop new applications and to survive. Therefore, whether inter-firm information sharing has a direct effect on firm performance has become a central question in studies on strategic management and supply chain management. However, the empirical results remain largely divergent and inconclusive, ranging from a positive relationship to a negative relationship. This study advanced the literature by examining the mediating role of ordinary capabilities (manifested by operations capabilities) in the relationship between information sharing and firm performance. By drawing on the dynamic capabilities perspective, we propose that information sharing, as a dynamic capability, deploys and reconfigures the existing operations capabilities, which in turn lead to superior firm performance. Furthermore, we used a dimensional approach to look at how the two types of information sharing, focal manufacturer-key suppliers (MS) information sharing and focal manufacturer-key buyers (MB) information sharing, may affect both ordinary capabilities and firm performance. Moreover, this study investigated how a firm’s market orientation moderates the information sharing-operations capabilities link. We argue that market orientation positively strengthens the effects of both MS information sharing and MB information sharing on operations capabilities by driving a continuous and proactive disposition to meeting customer needs. We randomly chose as our sample manufacturing firms from the official list provided by the provincial Association of Entrepreneurs in the Ning Xia autonomous region of China. The data collection was performed over a two-month period and 154 cases were considered valid for our study. Multiple regression and bootstrapping methods were used to test our model. Most of the key hypotheses have been supported. First, operations capabilities fully mediate the relationships between both types of information sharing and performance. Moreover, the three dimensions of market orientation (i.e., market intelligence generation, dissemination, and responsiveness) positively moderate the effects of both MS and MB information sharing on operations capabilities, except for the moderating effect of market intelligence generation in the relationship between MB information sharing and operations capabilities. Several implications, both theoretical and practical, are envisaged. First, our findings, which reveal that operations capabilities fully mediate the effects of information sharing on firm performance, contribute to unpacking the black box of information sharing and performance relationship in the buyer-supplier relationship context. The study offers an alternative explanation for the inconclusive empirical results regarding the relationship between information sharing and firm performance. We propose and verify a theoretical claim suggesting that information sharing is a necessary but insufficient condition to improve firm performance, and operations capabilities that are extended, modified, changed, and/or created by using information sharing determine the firm’s market position, which in turn transforms the potential benefits of information sharing into superior firm performance. Second, our study goes one step beyond existing studies on the interactive effects of marketing capabilities and marketing orientation on firm performance. We demonstrate that it is the interactive effects of dynamic capabilities (information sharing) and market orientation on the development of ordinary capabilities (operations capabilities) that really matter to a firm’s sustained performance supremacy in the long term. The practical implication is that managers must ensure that their firms have ongoing inter-firm information sharing arrangements with their suppliers and buyers. At the same time, they should have good operations capabilities to take advantage of the shared information and transform the benefits into superior firm performance. Another practical implication is that manufacturers need a corporate culture of market orientation to maximize the positive effects of both MS and MB inter-firm information sharing on the development of operations capabilities since at the end of the day it is operations capabilities that contribute directly to the supremacy of a firm’s performance. Keywords: Information Sharing; Dynamic Capabilities; Ordinary Capabilities; Market Orientation

Thesis (MTech (Quality))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009 / The Catalytic Converter Industry (CCI), forms part of the component supply chain in the motor industry. The CCI is made up of a plethora of different suppliers, however for the purpose of this study, the focus will be on three of the five main suppliers, namely the ‘monolith substrate manufacturers’, the ‘coaters’, and the ‘canners’. The latter suppliers supply directly to the car manufacturers, also commonly referred to as the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM), and are known as first tier suppliers. Some OEM’s exercise control over the entire supply chain. The control is exercised through various ‘customer requirements’ and ‘customer specific requirements’. Customer specific requirements influence the Quality Management System (QMS) of a supplier. Most OEM’s require that strategic suppliers must be ISO/TS 16949:2002 certified. ISO/TS16949:2002 refers to an internationally recognised specification, specifically adopted for the motor industry, and dictates the certification requirements that an organisation’s QMS must adhere to. The specification also makes provision for additional requirements that could be specified by the customer. In this instance, the customer is the OEM, in terms of which additional requirements can be specified over and above the certification requirements. For organisations manufacturing generic components for the various motor manufacturers, customer specific requirements add to the complexity of activities related to quality management systems. Applying an array of methods to minimise the risk of sending defective products to the customer by building each customer’s specific requirements into the quality management system, can lead to confusion and make work difficult to execute. To mitigate the complexity, the quality management systems should be simplified to ensure that the quality management system is entrenched and adds value to the organisations’ activities.

M.Com. (Business Management) / More than fifteen years have gone by since the fall of the apartheid regime in South Africa (SA) in 1994. From 1994, it became critical for every institution of the government to work towards the transformation of the public sector. The ultimate aim of this transformation has been to bring about a better life for all. However, the pace at which improvement in the general life of people from the historically disadvantaged communities is moving slowly. The best weapon that can be employed to ensure that life is improved is through the provision of quality education. There is a serious need for an improvement in the educational system of our country which is counted among the lowest in the world in terms of literacy and mathematics. This situation is continuing to prevail despite the fact that South Africa has some of the best infrastructure in the world. The researcher has undertaken this study with the assumption that the Supply Chain Management (SCM) plays a critical role in the improvement of service delivery and cost reduction as well as inventory reduction. Initially, the SCM was applied in the private sector only where the focus is on profitability. However, for the past few years, the SCM has been overlapping into the public sector. The SA government is amongst the first to adopt SCM as a tool to improve service delivery and to reduce costs. The focus of the SCM in the SA public sector is efficiency, effectiveness and the economic use of resources in the context of development and equity. There are many potential benefits that can be gained in the public sector when SCM is implemented effectively. These benefits include improved service delivery, inventory reduction and cost reduction. The Department of Basic Education (DoBE) is investing heavily towards the improvement of the standard of education in the country. Despite this, there are still learners who attend schools without all the necessary textbooks, the basic source of information for learning. The shortage of books prevails even in Limpopo Province which is one of the poorest provinces in SA. As a poor province, learners in Limpopo do not have easy access to other sources of information such as the internet and only very few schools in Limpopo Province have libraries. These learners rely on the textbooks to get information and therefore the failure to provide adequate textbooks to these learners leaves them with nothing to depend on for their studies. Consequently, their performance at schools is affected to the point that they may fail at the end of the school year.

Quesada, Gonzalez, Mueller & Mueller (2010) have identified that organisations spend at least one-third of their overall budget on procurement of products and services. Hence the importance of reducing procurement costs through an efficient supply chain should be a priority for any senior manager. E-procurement is one of the components that can assist management in streamlining the operations resulting in an efficient supply chain process. The usage of qualitative research for this study ensured that appropriate answers were identified to address the research question and a clear understanding was obtained to establish the factors that affect the adoption of e-procurement technologies. The scope of the research was focused on the suppliers and manufactures of plumbing material in South Africa. The aim of the study was to establish the factors that influence organisation in adopting e-procurement technologies. The data reflected that e-procurement adoption improves organisation’s productivity, ability to better control costs resulting in an efficient and effective supply chain process. This is only possible with the support of senior management, end-user buy-in and allocation of financial resources. The three major findings identified were that e-procurement adoption is driven by internal needs, reduces labour costs and improves customer relations. Possible Future research should examine the influence of other factors such as competitiveness, customer service and organisation size. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / pagibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

The increase in global competition has led to many companies examining how they do business in an increasingly competitive environment, and in many cases adopting models that impact their supply chain competitiveness. Many companies are struggling to find the balance between cost containment and the increasing demands of customers requiring them to demonstrate greater flexibility and achieve higher service levels. This research evaluates the effectiveness of supply chain strategy, specifically related to the decisions made when retailers elect to insert their own distribution centres and the choices they make in the design thereof. Critically, these design decisions were evaluated from both a supplier and retailers perspective against academic articles which relate to effective supply chain collaboration methods. The research examined the consequences of an ineffective supply chain design decision and how this decision resulted in a constraint in the supply chain which reduced competitiveness through higher inventory levels and reduced sale throughput as a result of lost sales and low service levels. This research is exploratory by design and purposive sampling was used to select interviewees that would bring depth to the research by providing understanding as to the rationale behind the supply chain strategy selected. In addition, the research was conducted by reviewing quantitative data collected both pre and post the insertion of a retailer distribution centre to statistically compare the impact of this business strategy on supply chain competitiveness. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / zkgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted