Thesis. 1979. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Alfred P. Sloan School of Management. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND DEWEY. / Bibliography: leaves 119-121. / M.S.

M.Phil. / The following study will examine the effects of the reunification of East Germany and West Germany on the South African coal exports to Germany. The Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989, and thereafter the reunification of East and West Germany took one year to complete. Before the reunification (1981 to 1988), the West German economy was booming, and the contributions of the different energy carriers to the West German energy consumption were as follows: Contribution in 19811 (%) Contribution in 1988 (%) Hard Coal! 20,9 19,1 Brown Coal 10,6 8,1 Oil 44,8 41,9 Gas 16,0 16,2 Nuclear 4,7 12,0 Other Energies 2,9 2,5 As West Germany is a country which is poor in indigenous energy resources, the majority of the above energies were and still are imported. Before reunification, West Germany had, however an established local hard coal mining industry. Due to rising expenses, however, the mining industry was being cut back. Production had decreased as had the number of people employed by the industry. The main consumers of hard coal were the electricity generation industry and production industries other than the iron and steel industry. To supplement hard coal supply, steam coal was being imported into West Germany. The countries of origin for these imports were South Africa, Poland, the USA, Australia, Canada, and more recently, Indonesia and Colombia. By contrast, the comparable energy picture for East Germany from 1981 to 1988 was as follows: Contribution in 1981 (%) Contribution in 1988 (%) Hard Coal 5,0 4,5 Brown Coal 64,4 68,5 Oil 16,5 13,2 Gas 9,2 9,3 Nuclear 4,0 3,7 Other Energies 0,8 0,5 The majority of the above energy was imported, but all the brown coal required was mined locally. Hard coal, which was required mainly for the iron and steel industry, was imported chiefly from Poland. The East German economy was close to bankruptcy shortly before the reunification. The extent of this condition, however, only became apparent after the reunification. The poor condition of the industries and their detrimental effect on the environment came as a shock to all. The initial step taken after the reunification, was to close all the East German nuclear power stations, mainly for safety reasons. Thereafter, large portions of the brown coal mining industry, along with many other sectors of the industry were closed while others were reconstructed. The enormous economic strength of West Germany was demonstrated in the speed with which the East was converted to a market economy. Effects of the reunification were also seen in the energy sector

M.Phil. (Energy Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, March 2017. / This thesis follows the development of a particular set of large technical systems in South Africa from the late apartheid era into the age of democracy. During apartheid technological prowess, upheld by the network of state corporations or parastatals, bolstered the authoritarian rule of the white minority government in South Africa. The economic and political liberalisation of the late 1980s challenged the power of the parastatals and altered the underlying rationale of infrastructure development. In particular I describe the transformation of Iscor and Eskom, two of the country’s major parastatals, and their activities in the Waterberg coalfields, an isolated region on the country’s north-western border. While Eskom’s activities in the region began in the 1980s they gained public notoriety with the construction of the Medupi power station two decades later. The obstacles that Eskom faced at Medupi represent the main challenge of developing large technological infrastructures in the democratic, post-colonial order, where the fruits of infrastructure development demand to be spread beyond the bounds of an elite minority. But the eventual completion of some power generating units in 2015 at Medupi demonstrates that failure is not inevitable. I argue that this success is due to the fact that the autonomous parastatal network negotiated the political and economic liberalisation of the early 1990 by incorporating the changing socio-political conditions into its operations. The parastatal network retained a momentum, in the sense first described by the historian of technology Thomas Hughes, which was also a product of the “locked-in” nature of investment in the infrastructure project. Because of the large capital investment required for the infrastructure development, proceeding tenaciously against the odds to see the project to completion was cheaper than retreat for those involved. / MT2018

Thesis. (D. Tech. - Business, Faculty of Management Sciences)--Vaal University of Technology, 2010. / The study explored the South African coal mining industry and it’s role players to establish the causes of the bottlenecks/constraints experienced in the coal mining industry supply chain. A qualitative research paradigm methodology was used. Both theoretical and philosophical assumptions were utilised with inferences from and references to works by other researchers to broaden the knowledge horizons for the study. Thirteen supply chain executives and professionals from the key role players in the coal mining industry were interviewed and provided invaluable input for the study. The study determined the presence of communication barriers between the industry role players in the public and private institutions that culminated in main themes and sub-themes being established from which the industry constraints were uncovered. The study identified six main constraints affecting the various role players within the coal mining supply chain and it culminated in the model that would enable the industry to minimise such constraints. To this end, the study proposes the development of an Integrated Strategy for the Development of Coal Mining (ISDCM).The model is based on the public and private partnership arrangement that would alleviate most of the prevailing constraints when implemented. The model would furthermore have the capacity to rectify most of the existing constraints. It would be funded from the commercial sector and would operate on triple bottom lines of economic, social and environmental factors, with equal weight. This is a desirable direction for the future in order to maintain sustainable development. Emanating from the study are policy and research recommendations for the South African coal mining industry, covering the coordination of the critical areas of the proposed integrated strategy for the development of the coal mining industry. Such recommendations include further research into new coal mines and power stations as well as perceptions and expectations of potential investors in the industry, among others.

In an ever-changing world where economic growth is inter-alia dependent on the export of bulk minerals, the risk and the severity of risk incidences in the bulk mineral supply chain should be minimised. In South Africa the export of coal is a large contributor to the GDP and any risk to this supply chain will directly affect its contribution to the GDP. Although all the stakeholders in the bulk coal export logistic chain manage the risk in their own domain, the bulk export logistic chain represents a supply chain structure where the risk of one stakeholder influences the risk of another stakeholder. Therefore, to reduce the total risk, an integrated risk management framework for the bulk coal export logistic chain is required. This study investigated the risks and the risk management processes in the bulk coal export supply chain. This logistic chain was chosen based on the monetary value the chain represents and the contribution to the GDP. A qualitative research design was used with one-on-one interviews and content analysis of risk management policies and procedures to obtain the data. The study revealed that there are risks that could not be managed on an individual stakeholder level and therefore an integrated risk management approach that considers the total bulk coal logistics export chain is required. / Entrepreneurship and Supply Chain, Transport, Tourism and Logistics Management / M. Com (Logistics Management)