傳統上利用X射線使底片曝光而顯影的醫學影像，不僅造成X光片的儲存、調閱與管理上的問題，同時洗片的週邊設備亦不符環保標準。隨著數位化時代的來臨，透過醫學影像儲傳系統（PACS）的建置，可以節省Ｘ光片和耗材成本、加速住院流程、提高整體醫療效率、增進影像判讀品質、解決Ｘ光片檔案室空間不斷增加問題等，醫療院所建置PACS將是必然趨勢，同時也彰顯出PACS之未來發展潛力。 然而，由PACS發展歷程及相關研究文獻來看，截至目前為止大多著重技術面之探討，針對整體產業之研究甚為缺乏。另一方面，以目前醫療產業發展的情形來看，全球性知名企業多藉由併購方式擴張市場，並且在台灣的PACS市場佔有一席之地。因此，本研究除了對我國目前PACS發展現況及趨勢作進一步的分析外，並探討台灣醫學影像業之發展潛力，希望藉由個案公司的訪談，分析本土企業成功的經營模式，以瞭解台灣未來在PACS市場是否具有發展空間，並提出產業未來發展方向建議。最後也希望透過分析本土企業的經驗，提供政府或相關單位參考，以利其制訂有利於創造良好產業環境之政策，培養我國醫療產業之發展。

<p>This paper is the result of a minor field study conducted in Istanbul, Turkey, during the period of November and December 2007. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the current business environment for apparel manufacturing in Istanbul. Research was carried out through an industry analysis in terms of competition and potential future development for apparel manufacturers.</p><p>The research has been carried out through interviews with actors related to the apparel manufacturing segment. Interviewees include five manufacturers, two sourcing agents, one trade organization and one professor with research in the area.</p><p>Our findings concerning the business environment are based on Michael E. Porters theoretical framework on “How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy”. In the case of Turkish apparel manufacturers this paper concludes how the barriers of entry for new actors are high, unless integrating forward. Additionally in general terms the suppliers have a weak bargaining position while customers are relatively strong in the bargaining process. The rivalry among apparel manufacturers is low, but it can be stated how less differentiated manufacturer experience significant higher level of rivalry. Further on this paper also concludes how these factors not are affected by any substitute products, much due to the broad scope of the study.</p><p>In respect to these factors a general strategy used by apparel manufactures has been identified as they try to affect the balance of these competitive forces through e.g. differentiation and vertical integration.</p>

本研究之目的在檢驗國際銀行於外匯市場中競爭力的來源。研究的資料來自於歐元雜誌每年針對外匯市場作的調查，並且採用1996年至2006年各個銀行量性或質性變數。實證結果發現分行分佈的廣度、公司規模大小、併購事件和母公司的當地貨幣強勢與否，與國際銀行在外匯市場的競爭力有顯著的正向關係，然而法律的影響力較不顯著。此外發現金融控股公司和投資銀行比商業銀行在外匯市場更具有競爭力。 / The aim of this research is to examine the sources of bank competitiveness inthe foreign exchange market. Using Euromoney’s annual survey of foreignexchange market competitiveness, we test the influence of various factors of bank competitiveness using data from 1996 to 2006. Results show thatinternational branch networks in major financial centers, firm size, M&A activities,and home currency have positive effects on international banks’competitiveness in the foreign exchange market. The impact of law origin contributes less to bank competitiveness. We also find that bank holding companies and investment banks are more competitive than commercial banks in the foreign exchange market.

Darbuotojų mokymo įtaka organizacijos konkurencingumui Magistro studijų baigiamasis darbas, sudaro 72 puslapiai, darbe pateikiama 36 paveikslai, 5 lentelės bei 2 priedai. Raktiniai žodžiai: organizacijų mokymai, besimokanti organizacija, mokymų įtaka organizacijos konkurencingumui. Tyrimo objektas – Lietuvos organizacijų darbuotojai. Tyrimo laikotarpio trukmė – 2010 m. pirmas ketvirtis. Darbo objektas - Lietuvos organizacijų darbuotojų mokymai. Darbo tikslas – nustatyti, ar personalo mokymai tiekia naudą organizacijų konkurencingumui. Darbo uždaviniai: 1. Išnagrinėti darbuotojų mokymų sampratą bei procesą. 2. Aptarti darbuotojų mokymo ir tobulinimo sistemą Lietuvoje. 3. Įvertinti darbuotojų mokymų įtaka organizacijos konkurencingumui. Tyrimo metodai: anketinis, palyginamosios analizės. Anoniminis anketavimas pasirinktas dėl patogumo respondentams ir tikėtinai teisingos informacijos. Norint pabrėžti skirtumus tarp įvairių organizacijų ir jų pasirinktos mokymosi/nesimokymo strategijos naudojama palyginamoji analizė. Pirmojoje dalyje „Darbuotojų mokymai teoriniu aspektu“ aptariami darbuotojų mokymai teoriniu aspektu, nagrinėjama darbuotojų mokymų samprata, mokymų proceso etapai bei metodai. Antrojoje darbo dalyje „Darbuotojų mokymo ir tobulinimo sistema Lietuvoje“ nagrinėjama Lietuvoje šiuo metu egzistuojanti darbuotojų mokymo ir tobulinimo sistema. Aptariama kvalifikacijos tobulinimo svarba organizacijos konkurencingumui. Taip pat nagrinėjama besimokančios organizacijos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / LAURINĖNIENĖ, Elinga. (2010) The Influence of Personal Training for Companies Competitive Ability. MBA Graduation Paper. Kaunas: Kaunas Faculty of Humanities, Vilnius University. 72 p. SUMMARY Master's degree final paper consists of 72 pages. 36 figures, 5 tables and 2 appendixes are exposed. Key words: organizational training, learning organization, training and the influence of training to ompanies competitiveness. Research of object – staff of Lithuania organizations. Study period - the first quarter of 2010. Object - Lithuanian organizations in staff training. The aim - to determine whether staff training benefits the competitiveness of organizations. The tasks: 1. To verview the concept of employee training and process. 2. To xplore the training and development system in Lithuania. 3. To evaluate thye staff training on the organization's competitiveness. Research methods: questionnaire, comparative analysis. Anonymous questionnaire was chosen for the better convenience of selected respondents and the higher probabilily for the correct information gathering. To highlight the differences between various organizations and the preferred learning/not learning strategy a comparative analysis was used. The first part „The theoretical concept of employee training“ consist of the theoretical aspect of staff training, overviewing staff training concepts, processes and methods of trainings. The second part of "Training and development system if staff in Lithuania“ contains analysis... [to full text]

面對全球化市場與激烈競爭壓力下，企業如何維持生存及永續經營的長期競爭優勢，與提升股東的價值，己經成為企業追求的目標及使命。 全球重要的商業模式流通活動，其中以零售業為面對最終消費者的主要經營業者，而隨著消費者生活型態的多元化、銷售模式的突破與創新，以及市場競爭的愈趨激烈，也逐漸有了嶄新的面貌，更帶來了企業營運策略上的挑戰。零售業將如何透過轉型與創新，掌握市場新商機? 本研究透過個案R公司，曾經是一個近百年經營歷史的美國前二大消費性電子類產品零售商，擁有自有品牌,代理及加盟店總數曾經高達7000多家,零售點幾乎遍佈全美各州.公司業績曾超過美金60 億美元,(約NT 1,800億元),其企業形象與產品服務等,曾為美國消費者認為是新科技創新與零售產業之標竿。 本研究經由探討及分析個案公司過去不同時期的營運策略及商業模式運用，歷程如何極大化其競爭力領先市場競爭者。　然而面對消費性電子產品市場不段變遷、新科技及網際網路創新之商業營運模式下，個案公司如何面臨重大經營挑戰而下市。科技的發達，帶來消費行為的改變，不論是實體零售業者、或是線上業者，都必須與時俱進才能保持競爭力。未來，業者若不加緊腳步，整合虛實通路行銷、產品及服務的需求，及適時的調整營運模式與策略，恐怕會在業績上重大衝擊。希望由此個案研究結論, 能給相關企業未來參考進而有所助益。 關鍵詞：零售業、營運策略、商業模式、競爭力 / In the face of global market and intense competition, how to maintain the long-term competitive advantage of survival and sustainable management, and to enhance the value of shareholders, has become the pursuit of business goals and mission. The world's major business model of circulation activities, of which the retail industry to face the ultimate consumer of the main business, and with the diversification of consumer lifestyle, sales model breakthrough and innovation, and the increasingly fierce market competition, But also gradually have a new look, but also brought the business strategy on the challenges. How will the retail industry manage new business opportunities through transformation and innovation? This study, through Case R- Company, was a top consumer electronics retailer in the United States for nearly a century, with its own brands, agents and franchises totaling more than 7,000 retail outlets in almost all states. The company's performance has exceeded US $ 6 billion (about NT $ 180 billion), its corporate image and product services, etc., was the US consumer think is the new technology innovation and retail industry benchmark. This study explores and analyzes the use of business strategies and business models in the past different periods of time, and how the process maximizes its competitive leading market competitors. However, the face of consumer electronics market is not changing, new technology and Internet innovation business model, the case of how companies face major business challenges and market. The development of technology, bringing changes in consumer behavior, whether physical retailers, or online industry, must keep pace with the times to remain competitive. In the future, if the industry does not step up the pace, the integration of the actual situation of marketing, product and service needs, and timely adjustment of business models and strategies, should have major impacts of the performance. Hope that the case study conclusions, to the future reference to the relevant enterprises and then help. Keywords: Retail, Operational Strategy, Business Model, Competitiveness

A Research Report presented to the Graduate School of Business Leadership University of South Africa. In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the MASTERS DEGREE IN BUSINESS LEADERSHIP, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA / The purpose of this research is to analyse the changes in housing values in Windhoek, Namibia over the past ten years and explore links in property value variation to macroeconomic changes during that period. The objectives of this research are twofold. Firstly this research compiles and assesses the movement of housing values over the past ten years. Secondly this research assesses if there is a causal relationship between changes in macroeconomic factors and housing values, and to define the nature of this relationship. The timing and magnitude of response by housing values to changes in macroeconomic factors are investigated. The primary data requirements for this study are a monthly relative value index of housing prices for the Windhoek area and macroeconomic factors. Macroeconomic data collected relates to macroeconomic conditions within Namibia that could have an effect on housing prices. This includes information on housing supply, GDP, population levels, inflation and interest rates. The results of this study explore the relationship between these factors and changes in housing prices as reflected by changes in the housing index. The most significant result of this study is the effect of housing availability on housing values. Changes in the total supply of housing as estimated by the number of houses built in a month affect changes in housing values after 5 and 6 months. A total of 20.5% of the change in housing values can be explained by the change in total housing supply. The effect of interest rates found by this study was lower than the theory and literature reviews would have led us to expect. The results of the Pearson correlation test for the relationship between percentage changes in interest rates and percentage changes in future housing values found that a relationship exists 8 months after the change in interest rates occurred. Interest rates were found to explain 5.5% of the change in housing values 8 months later. No significant effects were noted for changes in inflation. For population and income changes there was insufficient data to perform more than a high level look at possible interactions with the level of housing prices. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBL

Look at the challenge of gender equity and global trends and its impact on Eskom / Women form 52 percent of the adult population in South Africa, the majority of the population, but their status in the workplace is marginalized. The Commission of Employment Equity 2003 report revealed that women represent only 37% of the total workforce and 21% of all senior management positions and only 14% of top management positions. The study firstly investigates if gender barriers are creating obstacles for the advancement of women to senior management positions. The evidence of the research indicates that barriers do exist and the most prominent of these barriers included organizational culture, men not supporting women in the organization, division of labour, lack of after care facilities and women not supporting each other. Organizations need to admit that barriers do exist before any meaningful change can be made to the working environment of women. Secondly the study investigates the impact of gender equity targets as some organizations are attempting to increase the number of women in their business. Although gender targets results in an increase of women in the workplace it has negatively impacted the morale of men. Lastly the effectiveness of some of the strategies like mentorship, training and development, networking, flexible work policies are examined. These strategies will only be effective if the organizations are committed in ensuring a balanced workforce. Organizations needs to realize that diversity should be seen as a great opportunity to be encouraged and nurtured. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBL

The research question and phenomenon that is addressed by this research study is: “What is the perceived importance and level of acceptance of ERM in the South African business environment, and what is the perceived value of ERM in South African organisations?” The definition of ERM utilised throughout this research study is: “Enterprise Risk Management is a process, effected by an entity’s board of directors, management and other personnel, applied in strategy setting and across the enterprise, designed to identify potential events that may affect the entity, and manage risk to be within its risk appetite, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of business objectives”. (Committee of Sponsoring Organisations of the Treadway Commission – COSO, 2004: 4) Enterprise Risk Management is perceived by many as being a necessity, but a burden to business caused by increased investor confidence requirements, such as adherence to King II, Basel II, JSE listing requirements, and the Public Finance Management Act in South Africa, and Sarbanes Oxley requirements placed on organisations listed in the USA, resulting primarily from recent international corporate failures. This causes ERM to be implemented for compliance reasons without obtaining the true value that ERM provides. The main research problem is therefore to firstly identify the extent of acceptance and implementation of ERM in organisations in the South African business environment, secondly identify the reasons why organisations implement ERM in these organisations, and thirdly identify factors that describe the perceived value that ERM provides to these organisations. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBL

Les béta-rhizobia sont des symbiotes de légumineuses retrouvées principalement associés au genre Mimosa. Les études des symbiotes de Mimosa pudica révèlent différents profils de diversité au sein des alpha (Rhizobium spp) et béta-rhizobia (Burkholderia, Cupriavidus) le long de la ceinture tropicale, les béta-rhizobia étaient toujours majoritaires dans les nodosités de cette plante hôte. Dans ce travail de thèse, nous avons étudié cette spécificité d'association béta-rhizobia/Mimosa pudica, par une approche couplant l'étude des traits symbiotiques bactériens à l'analyse des profils d'expression de leurs génomes dans les premières étapes de la symbiose, et en comparaison avec les alpha-rhizobia. Nous avons analysé les traits symbiotiques (compétitivité pour la nodulation, efficience symbiotique) au niveau intra et interspécifique de 4 espèces de béta-rhizobia et 4 d'alpha-rhizobia. Si l'efficience symbiotique est similaire parmi toutes les souches testées, différents niveaux de compétitivité ont été trouvés selon l'espèce, B. phymatum et B. tuberum étant les plus compétitives. Les tests effectués sur différentes variétés de M. pudica montrent un effet variétal sur la compétitivité de C. taiwanensis. Les traits symbiotiques mesurés expliquent en partie les profils de diversité des symbiotes de M. pudica dans les zones d'origine (Amérique du Sud) ou en zone introduite (Taiwan). Les transcriptomes de trois bactéries ayant des traits symbiotiques différents (B. phymatum STM815, C. taiwanensis LMG19424 et R. mesoamericanum STM3625) ont été comparés (par RNAseq), pour relier les différentes réponses induites par les exsudats racinaires aux traits symbiotiques de chaque rhizobium. Chaque bactérie développe une stratégie spécifique liée à ses traits symbiotiques et à l'origine de la symbiose dans son groupe bactérien. / Beta-rhizobia are legume symbionts mainly found associated to the Mimosa genus. Diversity studies of Mimosa pudica symbionts in native and introduced areas reveal different diversity patterns of alpha (Rhizobium spp) and beta-rhizobia (Burkholderia, Cupriavidus), with beta-rhizobia being always the main symbionts in the nodules of this legumes species. In this thesis we have studied the symbiotic specificity between beta-rhizobia and M. pudica (and the comparison with alpha-rhizobia) by a dual approach combining the study of bacterial symbiotic traits and the analysis of their transcriptomes in the first steps of symbiosis. We analysed symbiotic traits (nodulation competitiveness, symbiotic efficiency) at intra and interspecific levels on four species of beta-rhizobia and four of alpha-rhizobia. If symbiotic efficiency is similar among all strains, different levels of competitiveness were measured with a strong strain effect largely explained by the species affiliation, B. phymatum and B. tuberum being the most competitive species. Tests on different M. pudica varieties showed an impact on the competitiveness of C. taiwanensis. Symbiotic traits explained in part the symbiont patterns observed in diversity studies in French Guiana (M. pudica native area) and Taiwan (introduced). Root-exudates induced transcriptomes of three bacteria (two beta--rhizobia: B. phymatum STM815, C. taiwanensis LMG19424 and one alpha, R. mesoamericanum STM3625) with contrasted symbiotic traits were compared (by RNAseq). Each bacterium develops a specific strategy linked to its symbiotic traits and the origin of symbiosis in its bacterial group.

1 Abstract The public procurement market that accounts for a significant share of the Czech GDP represents an institution of high rent-seeking motive and corruption potential. Donations to political parties can be used as an indirect linkage between political parties and firms as potential suppliers of public contracts. We analyse whether connections and donations influence the number of supplied contracts, volume of supplied contracts and the number of bidders in the tendering process. Furthermore the impact of donations and connections on firms' performance and profitability is assessed. We identify significant effects on number of contracts, volume of contracts, dependence on revenues from contracts and number of bidders of both giving donations and history of employing a politically active person.