South Africa is endowed with hot springs, some operating as resorts. Some hot springs are either totally undeveloped or were developed in the past but now collapsed now in disuse. The main objective of this study was to identity competitive factors that contributed to the success or failure of the resorts as tourism destination. A multifaceted approach was used to gather data from three thermal springs located in Vhembe District Municipality in Limpopo, namely, Tshipise, Mphephu and Sagole, through personal observation, field trips, informal discussion, interviews with specific individuals, group interviews, published and unpublished literature. The data generated was analysed using Likert type scale as well as scoring the presence and absence of competitive elements to compare the success factors of the three resorts. Tourism Destination Competitiveness was used as a proxy indicator of successful development of the resorts. The results indicate that Tshipise was very successful, Mphephu less so and Sagole was declining. Elements that require improvement identified and recommendations were made to rejuvenate Sagole. / (M.Sc. Environmental Management)

South Africa is endowed with hot springs, some operating as resorts. Some hot springs are either totally undeveloped or were developed in the past but now collapsed now in disuse. The main objective of this study was to identity competitive factors that contributed to the success or failure of the resorts as tourism destination. A multifaceted approach was used to gather data from three thermal springs located in Vhembe District Municipality in Limpopo, namely, Tshipise, Mphephu and Sagole, through personal observation, field trips, informal discussion, interviews with specific individuals, group interviews, published and unpublished literature. The data generated was analysed using Likert type scale as well as scoring the presence and absence of competitive elements to compare the success factors of the three resorts. Tourism Destination Competitiveness was used as a proxy indicator of successful development of the resorts. The results indicate that Tshipise was very successful, Mphephu less so and Sagole was declining. Elements that require improvement identified and recommendations were made to rejuvenate Sagole. / (M.Sc. Environmental Management)

Darbo objektas: e – verslo panaudojimas viešbučių sektoriuje. Darbo tikslas: ištirti e – verslo panaudojimą viešbučių konkurencingumui didinti. Darbo uždaviniai: 1. Išanalizuoti konkurencingumo ir e – verslo sampratas. 2. Išnagrinėti, konkurencingumą lemiančius veiksnius. 3. Apžvelgti e – verslo teikiamą naudą ir jo trūkumus viešbučių sektoriui. 4. Atlikti e – verslo panaudojimo viešbučių konkurencingumui didinti ekspertinį vertinimą. Išvados: Šiandien e – verslas klientui suteikia galimybę lengvai ir greitai internetu įsigyti norimą prekę ar paslaugą. Ne išimtis yra ir viešbučių sektorius, kadangi dabar iš daugybės pasirinkimo variantų, jis gali pasirinkti tinkamiausią. Jis gali susirasti daugybę informacijos apie patį viešbutį, kambarių nuotraukų ir tikriausiai svarbiausias – palyginti kainas. Tačiau dar yra žmonių, kurie bijo atsiskaitinėti internetu, nes nežino kokią gaus paslaugą ar prekę ir mano, kad tai – nesaugu. Atlikus tyrimą paaiškėjo, jog viešbučiai norintys būti konkurencingais privalo išnaudoti e – verslo privalumus savo veikloje, kadangi: • E – verslas labai įtakoja viešbučių konkurencingumą. Šį faktą patvirtina tai, jog ekspertai visiškai sutinka, jog tai padeda plėsti rinką ir suteikia galimybę reklamuotis ne tik vietinėje rinkoje, tačiau ir užsienio. Tai taip pat svarbu, kadangi tai didina vardo žinomumą, padeda pritraukti naujus klientus ir stebėti konkurentų veiksmus. • E – verslas teikia daug naudos. Šiandien klientams jis suteikia kur kas paprastesnę... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The target of the research: the usage of e – business in hotel sector. The object of investigation: perform the usageo of e – business in hotel sector expert evaluation. Objectives: 1. Describe competitiveness and e - business concepts. 2. Examine, the factors influence of competitiveness. 3. Review benefits and disadvantages of e – business in hotel sector. 4. Perform the usage of e – business, which increase hotels competitiveness expert evaluation. Conclusions: Today, e - business provide a possibility for customer easy and fast purchase online the desired product or service. Is not an exception and hotel sectors, as now many options, it can choose the most suitable one. It can find a wealth of information about the same hotel, room photos and probably the most important - to compare prices. However, there are people who are afraid to be accountable on the Internet, they do not know what will get a service or product, and considers that it is - unsafe. The investigation revealed that the hotels, who want to be competitive must use e - business benefits of their activities as: • e - business highly influence the competitiveness of hotels. This fact is confirmed by the fact that the experts completely agree that it helps to expand the market and provide the opportunity to advertise not only in domestic market but also overseas. This is also important because it increases name awareness, help to attract new customers and track competitors' actions. • e - business... [to full text]

Transportation and competitiveness practices of hardwood lumber exporters and other firms were studied and compared to determine the most important factors associated with exporting hardwood products. It was found that exporters differed significantly in their transportation methods, marketing activities, and production profiles from those other hardwood lumber firms. They also were significantly larger than expected in their total production and employment. As the forest products business continues to become more global, an analysis of the importance of these factors can be used how firms can begin exporting, or increase sales in international markets. It was found that certain elements of a sawmill's marketing strategy are a major determinant to the likelihood of its being an exporter. Results from logistic regression methods showed that transportation factors such as using intermodal transportation and inland port facilities and competitiveness factors such as species selection, marketing practices, and using government export assistance programs increased the probability of a firm's high involvement in international markets. Finally, data from exporting hardwood sawmills to Mexico, Europe, and Asia were analyzed to determine what makes successful exporting to these markets. Factors including export distribution methods, relationship with export distribution partner, competitiveness, transportation, and export assistance were analyzed. Such information might be useful for government agencies that wish to promote business commitment to sawmills throughout the United States for the following international markets. Hardwood sawmills should be encouraged by state officials to plan more aggressively to enter the Mexico market. Efforts are needed from U.S. trade associations to better identify the Mexican market segments, sources of market demand, and credit opportunities for US sawmills. / Ph. D.

Tendo em vista que a China domina o mercado das terras-raras e impõe restrições na produção e exportação sempre que surge a oportunidade, torna-se cada vez mais desafiador o desenvolvimento de empreendimentos nesse setor. No entanto, várias iniciativas foram tomadas nos últimos cinco anos no sentido de prospectar novos recursos e desenvolver a cadeia produtiva, inclusive a mineração, desses bens minerais ao redor do mundo. Porém, alguns fatores de incerteza já influenciaram ou vêm influenciando o futuro de alguns projetos em desenvolvimento, tais como o potencial de remuneração do depósito, a infraestrutura local existente, as expectativas de margens operacionais do empreendimento, as implicações dos elementos radioativos presentes nos depósitos, as expectativas potenciais de mercado com os elementos de terras-raras (ETR) produzidos e os fatores políticoeconômicos, conjunturais e de logística. Então, este trabalho introduz uma nova metodologia dinâmica de análise de competitividade (o modelo de competitividade e risco na mineração de terras-raras – MCRM-TR), na qual se consideram as variáveis/os fatores tidos como principais influências na performance de um empreendimento de mineração destinado ao aproveitamento dos ETR. Para o desenvolvimento do modelo, foram realizadas pesquisas nos âmbitos nacional e internacional, consultando empresas e instituições de pesquisa relacionadas com o setor de terras-raras. Por fim, com os dados obtidos nas pesquisas para cada fator dos respectivos depósitos, foram realizadas simulações por meio da geração de números aleatórios, utilizando-se para isso o método de Monte Carlo. A combinação dos principais resultados gerados produziu um índice de competitividade e risco na mineração de terras-raras (ICRM-TR). Com a aplicação dessa nova metodologia, foi possível constatar algumas realidades, como por exemplo o fato de o Projeto Mount Weld CLD – (AUS) da Lynas ter apresentado bons resultados no modelo e, no mundo real, ainda se manter resiliente diante das incertezas do setor de terras-raras, ao mesmo tempo em que o projeto da Molycorp apresentou resultados não tão satisfatórios e, no mundo real, passa por grandes dificuldades financeiras (em recuperação judicial). Também foi possível constatar que o Projeto Araxá da CBMM no Brasil está entre os mais competitivos do país. / It is known that China dominates the rare earth market and imposes constraints on production and export whenever the opportunity arises, so that it always becomes more and more challenging to develop enterprises in the sector. However, several initiatives have been taken in the last five years to explore new resources and develop the production chain, including mining, of these mineral assets around the world. However, some factors of uncertainty have already influenced or are still influencing the future of some projects under development, such as reservoir remuneration potential, existing local infrastructure, expectations of operating margins of the enterprise, implications of the radioactive elements present in the deposits, the potential market expectations with the rare earth elements (REE) produced and the political-economic, conjuncture and logistics factors. So, this work introduces a new dynamic methodology for competitiveness analysis (the competitiveness and risk model in rare earth mining ‒ MCRM-TR or CRM-REM), in which the variables/factors considered as main influences in the performance of a mining for the use of REEs are taken into account. In the development of the model, research was carried out at both national and international levels, consulting companies and research institutions related to the rare earth sector. Finally, with the data obtained in the surveys for each factor of the respective deposits, simulations were performed through the generation of random numbers, using the Monte Carlo method. The combination of the main results generated produced an index of competitiveness and risk in the rare earth mining (ICRM-TR or ICM-TRM). With the application of this new methodology, it was possible to verify some realities, such as the fact that the Mount Weld CLD Project (AUS) from Lynas had good results in the model and, in the real world, still remain resilient in the face of the uncertainties of the sector at the same time the Molycorp project presented less than satisfactory results and, in the real world, undergoing major financial difficulties (in judicial recovery). It was also possible to verify that the Araxá Project of CBMM in Brazil is among the most competitive in the country.

Final work of the University Undegraduate Studies, 60 pages, 9 figures, 11 tables, 52 references, 16 appendixes. Key words – total index of item competitiveness, total index of item group competitiveness, competition, competition limiting, competition conditions, competition strategy, competition market, competitiveness, competitiveness evaluation, competitiveness factors, competitive advantage, competitors, summary economical parameters index of competitiveness, summary qualitative parameters index of competitiveness, summary index of company’s goods competitiveness. Research object – agricultural equipment selling companies. Research subject – competitiveness in agricultural equipment selling companies. Research aim – to identify possibilities of creating competitiveness in agricultural equipment selling companies. Research tasks: - to dispute theoretical principals of competitiveness; - to prepare methodology of evaluation competitiveness of agricultural equipment; - to analyse market of agricultural equipment; - to estimate competitiveness of chosen agricultural equipment; - to identify conditioning to obtain the competitive advantage. Research methods: - comparative analysis of special literature sources; - comparative analysis of agricultural equipment competitiveness based on counting relative indexes; - interview with companies managers and other employees; - statistical analysis, graphic, data grouping other methods. Research period : year 2000 – 2004. In this final... [to full text]