The 21st century is the time for network economic with hyper-competition. The well-developed information technology makes information flow smoothly among suppliers, retailers, competitors, and entrants. Thus, that lowers the barrier for entry, imitation, and then increases the difficulty in long-term competitive advantage. Under such circumstances, Teece et al. (1994) published the Dynamic Capabilities Theory, DCT, for the incomplete description of former competitive strategies such as Competitive Forces, Strategic Conflict, and Resource-Based Theory (RBT). DCT is referred to a firm¡¦s capabilities to integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and external competences to address rapidly changing environments. The purpose of this study is to apply the absorptive capabilities to investigate the affecting factors of organizations¡¦ dynamic capabilities from the knowledge management perspective. In addition, the path-dependence of absorptive capabilities is discussed and verified in this study as well. The empirical results show that absorptive capabilities have strong influence on organizations¡¦ dynamic capabilities and the path-dependence of absorptive capabilities is supported in this study. From the academic application, the results of this study provide the research model of absorptive capabilities and dynamic capabilities to the following researchers who are interested in these topics. And, from the practice implication, firms can adopt this results and suggestion of this study to build dynamic capabilities throuth knowledge absorption.

Cloud computing is becoming a viable option for Chief Information Officers (CIO’s) and business stakeholders to consider in today’s information technology (IT) environment, characterized by shrinking budgets and dynamic changes in the technology landscape. The objective of this study is to help Federal Government decision makers appropriately decide on the suitability of applications for migration to cloud computing. I draw from four theoretical perspectives: transaction cost theory, resource-based theory, agency theory and dynamic capabilities theory and use a conjoint analysis approach to understand stakeholder attitudes, opinions and behaviors in their decision to migrate applications to cloud computing. Based on a survey of 81 government cloud computing stakeholders, this research examined the relative importance of thirteen factors that organizations consider when migrating applications to cloud computing. Our results suggest that trust in the cloud computing vendor is the most significant factor, followed by the relative cost advantage, sensing capabilities and application complexity. A total of twelve follow-up interviews were conducted to provide explanation of our results. The contributions of the dissertation are twofold: 1) it provides novel insights into the relative importance of factors that influence government organizations’ decision to migrate applications to cloud computing, and 2) it assists senior government decision makers to appropriately weigh and prioritize the factors that are critical in application migration to cloud computing.

In this thesis, I analyze some of the most important contributions concerning the inclusion of animals in the moral and political sphere. Moving from these positions, I suggest that a meaningful consideration of animals' sentience demands a profound, radical political theory which considers animals as moral patients endowed with specific capabilities whose actualization needs to be allowed and/or promoted. Such theory would take human-animal different types of relationships into account to decide what kind of ethical and political responsibilities humans have towards animals. It would be also based on the assumption that animals' sentience is the necessary and sufficient feature for assigning moral status. I start from the consideration that in the history of political philosophy, most theorists have excluded animals from the realm of justice. I then propose an examination of utilitarianism, capabilities approach, and relational-based theories of animal rights (in particular the works by Kymlicka and Donaldson, and Clare Palmer) and borrow essential elements from each of these approaches to build my theory. I claim that a political theory which attaches high importance to individual capabilities, as well as to the various types of relationships we have with animals, is the most appropriate to tackle the puzzle of human responsibilities to animals.

This thesis refers to several different themes, including democracy, human rights, and the water scarcity that is occurring in Pakistan. While simultaneously protecting democratic values and human rights, the thesis offers an investigation into viable solutions to the pressing water crisis that the country is now experiencing which is further exacerbating with time. This research uses qualitative methodology with a primary focus on policy analysis along with content analysis and document analysis with the application of the Capability Theory to analyze how the lack of water impacts the capacities and well-being of people. In this thesis, the social, economic, and environmental variables that contribute to Pakistan's water scarcity are investigated based on their respective contributions. The study proposes that democratic governance and human rights frameworks can play a viable role in improving water governance, equality, and access to clean water for all communities in Pakistan. Furthermore, it provides avenues for future research to ensure effective water management in Pakistan.

No / In this article, we contend that due to their size and emphasis upon addressing external social concerns, the corporate relationship between social enterprises, social awareness and action is more complex than whether or not these organisations engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR). This includes organisations that place less emphasis on CSR as well as other organisations that may be very proficient in CSR initiatives, but are less successful in recording practices. In this context, we identify a number of internal CSR markers that may be applied to measuring the extent to which internal CSR practices are being observed. These considerations may be contrasted with the evidence that community based CSR activities is often well developed in private sector small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) (Observatory of European SMEs, 2002), a situation which may be replicated in social enterprises especially those that have grown from micro-enterprises embedded in local communities. We place particular emphasis upon the implications for employee management. Underpinning our position is the Aristotelian-informed capabilities approach, a theory of human development and quality of life, developed by Sen (1992; 1999) and Nussbaum (1999) which has been developed further, in an organisational context, (e.g., Cornelius, 2002); Cornelius and Gagnon, 2004; Gagnon and Cornelius, 1999; Vogt, 2005. We contend that the capabilities approach offers additional insights into CSR in social enterprises in general and internal CSR activity in particular. Our article concludes with proposals for future research initiatives and reflections upon social enterprise development from a capabilities perspective.

Submitted by Cristiane Oliveira (cristiane.oliveira@fgv.br) on 2011-05-24T13:29:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 71080100009.pdf: 1036762 bytes, checksum: 893b5d89a98bed04889918f91de73acc (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Gisele Isaura Hannickel(gisele.hannickel@fgv.br) on 2011-05-24T13:41:36Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 71080100009.pdf: 1036762 bytes, checksum: 893b5d89a98bed04889918f91de73acc (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Gisele Isaura Hannickel(gisele.hannickel@fgv.br) on 2011-05-24T13:43:12Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 71080100009.pdf: 1036762 bytes, checksum: 893b5d89a98bed04889918f91de73acc (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-24T13:46:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 71080100009.pdf: 1036762 bytes, checksum: 893b5d89a98bed04889918f91de73acc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-04-26 / The research focus is to present an integrated analysis model for the behavior pattern of Brazilian banks in the Internet environment. A single case study was conducted at Banco do Brasil. Most interviews took place at Banco do Brasil’s administrative and technology headquarters in the city of Brasília, DF. An Integrated Analysis Model was presented based in many theories and structures of the organizational studies and information systems fields. Findings show that the studied phenomena can be understood with the simultaneous application of all selected theories, proving the complexity of the study object. Research limitations include the fact that this research was focused on a single case and also that it was not possible to run this research with a bigger sample of organizations. Study originality and contribution relies on proposing the Integrated Analysis Model with analysis structures and theories that help to understand the object of study. Future studies may replicate this research in a bigger number of companies to present a richer analysis. / O objetivo deste estudo é propor um modelo de análise integrada para a forma de atuação dos bancos brasileiros no ambiente da Internet. Para tanto foi conduzido um estudo de caso único com o Banco do Brasil. A maioria das entrevistas foi realizada nas sedes administrativa e de tecnologia do banco na cidade de Brasília, DF. Foi proposto um Modelo de Análise Integrada baseado em várias teorias e estruturas da área de estudos organizacionais e sistemas de informação. Entre as descobertas da pesquisa está a constatação de que o fenômeno estudado pode ser satisfatoriamente compreendido com o emprego de todas as teorias selecionadas, comprovando a complexidade do objeto desta pesquisa. O estudo apresentou entre suas limitações o fato de ter sido um estudo de caso único, como também a impossibilidade de se realizar esta pesquisa em amplo espectro, com um número consideravelmente maior de organizações. O ineditismo e a contribuição deste estudo residem no fato de ter proposto um modelo integrado com teorias e estruturas de análise que facilitam a compreensão do fenômeno observado. Em estudos futuros o pesquisador poderia incluir a pesquisa em um número maior de instituições para enriquecer a análise.