The manufacturing industry of eThekwini municipality has been the most important aspect of economic development and job creation. This sector currently contributes 22% of gross domestic product to the local economy, with finance and transport being the other major sectors. The growth in manufacturing has averaged about 1% per annum over the past 10 years which has contributed to jobless growth of eThekwini. Whilst policy makers have realized the importance of the manufacturing industry, the important sub-sectors within the manufacturing industry are proving to be uncompetitive in a more open economy as they are faced with numerous growth challenges. The rationale of this study was to investigate the factors that affect the growth of manufacturing businesses that operates within the eThekwini municipality. Despite the contributions of the manufacturing businesses to the local economy, this sector has never been given due attention as past studies of business performance had been biased towards larger businesses. For the purposes of this study, the questionnaire used was aimed at respondents who own manufacturing businesses within the area. Questions were distributed electronically via QuestionPro to 100 respondents and 76 respondents accessed the questionnaire with 44 respondents who completed the survey which gave the completion rate of 44%. The results from the respondents indicated that access to finance or credit, business skills, technology and globalisation were the factors that negatively affects the growth of the manufacturing businesses. The results also indicate that the unpredictable business environment, the regulatory environment and other economic factors such as inflation also affect the growth of the manufacturing businesses. The quantitative results supported by the literature review confirm that these factors affect development and growth of businesses especially small manufacturing businesses. Recommendations is also made on the actions to be undertaken to address factors affecting manufacturing businesses. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.

In order to stay competitive, it is necessary for companies to continuously increase the effectiveness and efficiency of their production processes. High availability has, thus, increased in importance. Therefore, maintenance has gained in importance as a support function for ensuring, e.g., quality products and on-time deliveries. Maintenance, though, is a costly support function. It has been reported that as much as 70% of the total production cost can be spent on maintenance. Further, as much as one-third of the cost of maintenance is incurred unnecessarily due to bad planning, overtime cost, limited or misused preventive maintenance, and so on. In so, condition based maintenance is introduced as one solution for a more effective maintenance. In condition based maintenance, critical item characteristics are monitored in order to gain early indications of an incipient failure. Research, though, has shown that condition based maintenance has not been implemented on a wide basis. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate how a condition based maintenance approach can be implemented in an industrial setting, and to develop a method that can assist companies in their implementation efforts. Further, the research has been divided in three research questions. They focus on: constituents of a condition based maintenance approach, decision-making prior implementation of condition based maintenance, and finally, the implementation of condition based maintenance in a company. By using a systems approach and a case study process, how condition based maintenance can be implemented as a routine has been investigated. The result is an implementation method in which four suggested phases are presented. The method starts with a feasibility test. It then continues with an analysis phase, an implementation phase, and an assessment phase. The conclusions can be summarized as follows: implementing condition based maintenance consists of many general enabling factors, including management support, education and training, good communication, and motivation etc.

There is a numerous of literature on Key Account Management but there is a lack of empirical research supporting the literature, especially regarding the implementation process. This study investigates five companies according to how they manage their customer relationships with main focus on their key customers. The study is based on existing KAM literature and also involves additional factors; change management and global talent management. The purpose of the study is to investigate how KAM can be more successfully implemented in Swedish companies in IT and management industry. The study was conducted with a qualitative approach and the interviews were held with Top management at five Swedish IT and management companies in Växjö. The findings show new insights into KAM implementation; Change management and Global talent management were shown to have a direct effect on the success of an implementation, which the existing theory of KAM is not emphasizing. The result of the study is visualized in a model at the end of the study.

Many countries have formulated their eHealth visions and billions of dollars have been spent on supporting the eHealth development throughout the world. An important part of the development is the electronic patient record (EPR). To enable sharing and increase cooperation between care providers, most Swedish county councils have decided to use a region-wide EPR. The health professionals often experience numerous problems and consider the region-wide EPR to be too generic and require them to tailor their practices instead of the system evolving towards supporting their needs. The aim of the PhD research is to gain knowledge of adoption when deploying and using region-wide health IT systems. This is accomplished by studying, analysing and reflecting upon what region-wide health IT systems are and how professionals use them in their practice. In the research a grounded theory method has been used, which means that the empirical data, not theories and hypotheses, have driven the research process. The data-gathering methods have been interviews, observations, participating in meetings, questionnaires, seminars and conducting literature reviews. In order to be able to improve the adoption, a set of four key principles has been identified: (1) Evolving systems-Engaged users, (2) Treat IT deployment and usage as part of organisational development, (3) Identify, respect and support differences, and (4) Identify what must be customised and what can be centralised. These four principles challenge the traditional way of developing enterprise-wide IT and emphasise the importance that users must engage in the development, procurement and deployment process to identify their similar and unique needs and procedures. It is crucial that both the similarities and uniqueness are respected and supported. The similarities can be supported by a centralised, standardised solution, while uniqueness requires a customised solution. In order to accomplish that, the IT deployment and usage needs to be treated as an important part of the on-going organisational development, and the IT systems must evolve, i.e., be continuously developed in order to engage the users to participate.

Acquisitions have become an increasingly used tool for corporate growth during the lastdecade. Even so, most acquisitions fail, due to a lack of focus on the human elements of the integration process. This research sheds light on the human integration process of acquisitions and more specifically, three of its critical elements; culture, structure and humanresources management. However, when investigating acquisitions at Atlas Copco it becomesapparent that these elements are emphasized and prioritized differently in differentacquisitions. By conducting 22 interviews with managers from both Atlas Copco and managers and employees from three of its acquired organizations, this paper seeks tounderstand how the acquirer should choose an appropriate human integration strategy and what factors that determine that choice. Furthermore, it examines how the acquirer should manage the employees of the acquired firm to facilitate the implementation of changes duringthe integration process. The results shows that the acquirer choose to emphasize and prioritize the aspects that are most important to reform in order to allow the implementationof future changes in the integration process. In these cases, the prioritized aspects are alsoconsidered critical to improve by the employees, therefore the prioritization creates a perception of the acquirer’s good intentions with the integration as a whole. Furthermore, the results reveals that it is important that the acquirer invest in resources for communication,trainings and additional personnel to help the employees understand and support the changesduring the entire process.

Vertrauen ist ein zentrales Element im menschlichen Leben und in der zwischenmenschlichen Zusammenarbeit. So ist ein Zusammenleben ohne ein gewisses Maß an Vertrauen überhaupt nicht denkbar. Im alltäglichen Leben ist auch zu erfahren, dass der Aufbau von Vertrauen sehr viel Zeit, Kraft, Investition und Geduld erfordert, wogegen der Vertrauensverlust sich schlagartig einstellt und oft starke psychische und psychologische Belastungen zur Folge hat. Die Auswirkungen, mit denen ein Arbeitgeber bei Vertrauensverlust durch unmotivierte und unproduktive Mitarbeiter zu rechnen hat, können enormen wirtschaftlichen Schaden für das Unternehmen bedeuten und den Verlust eines Marktvorsprungs zur Folge haben. Aus diesem Grund erfährt das Konstrukt Vertrauen im betrieblichen Umfeld einen immer stärker werdenden Bedeutungszuwachs insbesondere vor dem Hintergrund von Wirtschaftskrisen, Fusionen, Produktionsverlagerungen, Kurzarbeit oder Arbeitsplatzverlust. Der Aufbau und die ständige Pflege einer vertrauensvollen Unternehmenskultur, deren Inhalt u.a. der konstruktive Umgang des Managements mit Ängsten und Emotionen der Mitarbeiter in Bezug auf bevorstehende Veränderungen ist, bildet die Basis für eine erfolgreiche Zusammenarbeit. Derzeit besteht aber in der Wissenschaft noch kein Konsens darüber, was Vertrauen ist, wie es gemessen, beurteilt und gezielt beeinflusst werden kann. Dieser Problemstellung ist der vorliegende Beitrag gewidmet. Mit Hilfe von Methoden der empirischen Sozialforschung wurde zum einen die Bedeutung von „professionellem“ Vertrauen in mehreren Unternehmen erhoben. Ein weiteres Ziel der Untersuchung war es, das Vorhandensein von vertrauensfördernden und -hemmenden Faktoren in und zwischen Unternehmen zu untersuchen und Rangfolgen bzgl. deren Bedeutung für die Mitarbeiter abzuleiten. Aus der Befragung und Analyse wurde des Weiteren ein Messinstrument zur Ausprägung von professionellem Vertrauen in Organisationen entwickelt. Die daraus gewonnenen Erkenntnisse weisen den Weg eine belastbare Vertrauenskultur im Unternehmen aufzubauen und nachhaltig zu erhalten.

To reach EU’s climate and energy target an integrated electricity market is considered to be required (Klessmann, et al., 2011; Boie, et al., 2014; Becker, et al., 2013). As a result the European Commission decided to form a set of rules, named the Network Codes, to create a single European market (ENTSO-E, 2013b). The Network Codes will affect Distribution- and Transmission System Operators, grid users and production units as well as all the other actors on the electricity market (Eurelectric, n.d.a). Concerns regarding what the Network Codes’ actual consequences are have been expressed within the line of business (Swedish Energy, 2013a). Therefore the purpose of this master’s thesis was to determine and furthermore illustrate the consequences the Network Codes will have, in current version, for a Swedish non-transmission system connected electricity company and determine what actions need to be taken. The purpose has been addressed by conducting interviews, document studies and by utilizing a change management model, the Intervention Strategy Model, introduced by Paton & McCalman (2000). The structured approach that is the nature of the model was used when determining the consequences the Network Codes enforce and what actions a non-transmission system connected electricity company has to take to cope with them. To further facilitate the determination of these actions this study was conducted on a non-transmission system connected electricity company, in this thesis named Electricity Company A. The investigation of the concerns expressed within the line of business illustrated that the concerns were diverse but a majority of them might be incorporated into either of the following groups, simulation models, demand side aggregator and information handling. Out of these groups information handling was by far the area of greatest concern with issues primarily connected to the Distribution System Operator. Consequently this thesis focused on the Distribution System Operator’s perspective. The analysis of the area of greatest concern, presented in two flow charts, clearly showed the increased amount of communication enforced by the Network Codes. This increased information handling results in numerous possible organisational consequences for the Distribution System Operator, for example might new systems be required and some existing systems be used with or without adaption. Furthermore, the extra workload could possibly be handled by the existing personnel, in some cases after complementary education, but it might also require new personnel. Finally the Network Codes open up for the possibility for the Distribution System Operator to define certain details which may be conducted individually or in cooperation with other Distribution System Operators. Which of these possible consequences that will affect a specific company is, however, dependent on its preconditions. The study on Electricity Company A reveals that the numerous actions required to handle the new communication were not as significant as the line of business might have feared. For Electricity Company A, primarily a new system is needed to handle the real-time values and some of the existing systems need to be updated. Additionally the combined extra work load might require extra personnel for Electricity Company A even though the individual work assignments are fairly small. The actions required should be fairly similar for companies of approximately equal size but might be more extensive for smaller non-transmission system connected electricity companies. All companies need, however, to conduct an individual analysis to determine which specific actions are required for them. The conclusions of this thesis aspired, and partly succeeded, to be generalizable on a European level. One example of this is the usage of the Intervention Strategy Model which proved applicable for determining which specific actions are required for all European electricity companies. Furthermore the concerns presented and the possible consequences of the increased information handling found, are generalizable but not complete for all European electricity companies. This thesis focused on one part of the complex Network Codes’ consequences and consequently further research is needed to fully understand the consequences for the electricity business in total.

This thesis comprises four Sections: SECTION A An Introduction: This study has been done according to the article method. It consists of five articles in which the research results have been reported. All the articles form part of the overall objective and goals of the research project. Each article is a project in its own right as it also stands on its own; each one has its own research question, research goals, research methods, bibliography as well as unique content. At the end these articles along with the introduction at the beginning and the final conclusions at the end form part of the entire thesis. SECTION B Section B comprises the following articles: ARTICLE 1 is an expository approach on a selected core of Biblical references pertaining to the renewing of the mind. ARTICLE 2 discusses popular theoretical approaches pertaining to the renewing of the mind. ARTICLE 3 discusses the working of the human mind as well as provides information on left and right brain preferences and provides meta-theoretical perspectives on change. Good thinking (as a prerequisite of mind renewal) in order to ensure positive change is highlighted throughout the article. ARTICLE 4 is a qualitative empirical study existing of five interviews pertaining to the renewing of the minds in Christians. ARTICLE 5 Gives practice theoretical perspectives of the proposed model called Creative Practical Application (CPA) as a dynamic discipline in order to assist and support Romans 12:2 as an important paradigm for transformation/change in the Christian. SECTION C In this section the conclusions and further suggestions for related research have been stated. SECTION D Although each article has its own bibliography, a comprehensive bibliography of the whole research project has been given in this section. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Service Oriented Virtual Organizations (SOVOs) business processes and services are subject to change to meet the internal and external requirements of the competitive, complex and rapidly changing environment they operate in. More practical and efficient ways of change management are needed to allow different partners to initiate changes to their business process and services in a faster and user-transparent manner. This thesis proposes a Change Management Framework for service oriented virtual organizations including a structural and a procedural framework. The structural framework categorizes changes in the SOVO into three layers of change; which include the value network layer, the collaborative process layer and the service providers’ layer, and identifies the impact of change on each layer. Furthermore, the structural framework identifies various triggers of changes which eventually lead to actions taken at the three layers. The change management procedural framework is derived from the ITIL V3, ECM and ECOLEAD best practices and recommendations, customized to fit the SOVO change requirements. It provides different components including the six layers for change processes, change control, change actors and related management processes. The change management procedural framework provides a sequence of steps and methods that the SOVO and its participated organizations can follow in initiating changes to their business processes or services. We design an implementation architecture and a prototype for building the change management console which enables the SOVO change management participants to initiate, assess, collaborate, monitor and authorize changes. The prototype is developed to realize and validate the change management process of change in the SOVO environment. We employ the various capabilities of the IBM Business Process Management (BPM) (including its recent Web 2.0 capabilities) to increase the collaboration between partners in the process of change. We demonstrate that the proposed solutions facilitate and enhance the process of change by effectively engaging the SOVO partners in the process of change.

This thesis comprises four Sections: SECTION A An Introduction: This study has been done according to the article method. It consists of five articles in which the research results have been reported. All the articles form part of the overall objective and goals of the research project. Each article is a project in its own right as it also stands on its own; each one has its own research question, research goals, research methods, bibliography as well as unique content. At the end these articles along with the introduction at the beginning and the final conclusions at the end form part of the entire thesis. SECTION B Section B comprises the following articles: ARTICLE 1 is an expository approach on a selected core of Biblical references pertaining to the renewing of the mind. ARTICLE 2 discusses popular theoretical approaches pertaining to the renewing of the mind. ARTICLE 3 discusses the working of the human mind as well as provides information on left and right brain preferences and provides meta-theoretical perspectives on change. Good thinking (as a prerequisite of mind renewal) in order to ensure positive change is highlighted throughout the article. ARTICLE 4 is a qualitative empirical study existing of five interviews pertaining to the renewing of the minds in Christians. ARTICLE 5 Gives practice theoretical perspectives of the proposed model called Creative Practical Application (CPA) as a dynamic discipline in order to assist and support Romans 12:2 as an important paradigm for transformation/change in the Christian. SECTION C In this section the conclusions and further suggestions for related research have been stated. SECTION D Although each article has its own bibliography, a comprehensive bibliography of the whole research project has been given in this section. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.