Orientador: Ruy de Quadros Carvalho / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociências / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-21T12:46:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Julio_LuizMariano_M.pdf: 3161752 bytes, checksum: 304550773dfbbfa379846e627f9c8920 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: O objetivo do trabalho é entender as estratégias adotadas pelas empresas sediadas em países de industrialização recente para poderem competir nos segmentos mais dinâmicos da economia mundial. Inicialmente se estabeleceu uma contextualização, apresentando a relevância econômica e a representatividade dos setores dinâmicos em termos de participação na economia, com isso demonstrando a lógica inerente a buscar um espaço de competição nesses segmentos. Uma vez determinados esses pontos, identificamos dentre os setores mais dinâmicos um setor particularmente relevante, o de Computação Pessoal, o qual foi analisado quanto à sua estrutura e cadeia de valor. De sua compreensão partimos para a identificação de quais são os países cuja indústria é dominante nesse segmento, onde identificamos Taiwan como um exemplo marcante de país em desenvolvimento que tem domínio tecnológico no setor. Partimos para o estudo de caso da indústria taiwanesa de computadores pessoais, estudando sua evolução histórica, ações governamentais e ações empresariais do segmento, identificando as maneiras como obtiveram seu aprendizado tecnológico e como isso influenciou seu sucesso empresarial. Além de recorrer à literatura entrevistamos executivos de diversas empresas ODM taiwanesas e com isso obtivemos uma visão interna do segmento, suas dificuldades e suas estratégias (antigas e atuais) para prosseguir evoluindo e se mantendo na vanguarda tecnológica do setor. A partir desses dados elaboramos um resumo das estratégias mais bem-sucedidas empregadas por tais empresas para atingirem seu (atualmente) elevado nível de competência tecnológica no segmento e apontamos estratégias e práticas que possivelmente poderão ser úteis a empresas que busquem similar evolução em outros segmentos onde a importância do domínio tecnológico seja significativa / Abstract: The objective is to understand the strategies adopted by firms in newly industrialized countries to compete in the more dynamic segments of the world economy. We initially established a context, presenting the economic relevance and representativeness of the dynamic sectors in terms of participation in the economy, thereby demonstrating the inherent logic to search a way to compete in these segments. Once determined these points, we identified among the most dynamic sectors a particularly important one, the Personal Computing segment, which was analyzed for its structure and value chain. From this point of understanding we proceed identifying which countries dominate this segment identifying Taiwan as a striking example of a developing country that has technological dominance in the sector. We left for the case study of Taiwanese Personal Computer Industry, studying its historical development, governmental and corporate actions of the segment, identifying the ways in which they acquired their technological learning and how it influenced their business success. Besides the available literature we interviewed executives from several Taiwanese ODM companies and therefore got insider view of the segment, their difficulties and their strategies (past and present) to proceed evolving and staying at the technological forefront of the sector. From these data we developed a summary of the most successful strategies employed by such companies to achieve their (currently) high level of technological competence in the segment and pointed out strategies and practices that could possibly be useful to companies seeking similar development in different segments, where the importance of technological mastery is significant / Mestrado / Mestre em Política Científica e Tecnológica

The purpose of this research was to investigate what is involved in IT Service Management and how the NMMU can implement it to improve the quality of IT service support and service delivery. The IT Service Management approach was investigated but the main focus was on the Service Support and Service Delivery in the ITIL framework. Higher Education was analyzed to try and measure the maturity level of the ITIL process implementation to see where Higher Education in South Africa is and to determine the gaps. Findings from the empirical study will be presented and recommendations highlighted to Top management and the IT department in order to promote and improve the quality of the IT service being delivered to users and customers. The data was collected and administered by means of a structured questionnaire based on the ITIL Service Capacity Maturity Model and Rick Leopoldi’s alternative Maturity Assessment method. An Association of South African University Directors of Information Technology (ASAUDIT) questionnaire on Service Management was also used to supplement the questionnaire. It was discovered that the implementation of ITIL in most organizations brought about improvements and benefits in the quality of the IT service being delivered.

Manufacturing activities in the personal computer industry are organised in a complex global production network (GPN) led by a variety of branded global lead firms. Increasingly, considerations on environmental, health and safety governance have emerged as an important element to the management and co-ordination of these production networks by lead firms. Within the personal computer GPN, the printed circuit board (PCB) industry is commonly subcontracted by branded firms to suppliers located in developing countries such as Penang, Malaysia. The activities of PCB manufacturing and assembly involve the use of various hazardous chemicals that pose environmental health risks to workers. This research aims to understand how governance over environmental health is implemented in the GPN led by Hewlett Packard (HP) and in particular with lower tier suppliers in the printed circuit board industry in Penang, Malaysia. The main research question is: how are environmental health concerns managed by governance mechanisms in GPNs that involve the relocation of harmful manufacturing activities to developing countries? Governance mechanisms within the GPN include private standards and codes of conduct, which are supplemented by government regulation in the host country. Governance outcomes are shaped by relations between firms and non-firm actors such as government agencies, civil society organisations and trade unions. Therefore, a GPN analytical framework is utilised to understand more specifically how a variety of firm and non-firm actors and their relationships and power dynamics influence governance practices in the industry. Fieldwork for the research was conducted in 2008 and 2010 and consisted of semi-structured in-person and telephone interviews with thirty seven key actors in Malaysia, Western Europe, and the United States. Key informants included HP; first tier suppliers to HP and second tier suppliers located in Penang, Malaysia; global and Malaysian civil society organisations; an international federation of trade unions and Malaysian trade unions; Malaysian government agencies; and a politician, occupational health doctor and journalist in Penang. The findings from this research show that a combination of factors results in a weak scenario for governing environmental health risks of suppliers in Penang. These factors are resource constraints among suppliers; weak host country capacity and willingness to regulate; weak knowledge of environmental health risks by firms and regulatory agencies; and weak contestation by external stakeholders. Findings from the analysis also show the need to have differentiated views of power amongst different actor relationships in order to understand the complexity of GPN governance.

Canada is currently experiencing the transition to a post-industrial society as the result of the wide spread introduction of information related technologies. This thesis focuses on the legal rights to information of skilled employees who work with modern computer technology. The objective is to assess the adequacy of existing laws to meet the needs of employers and employees and to serve the public interest. The initial chapters concentrate on the legal principles of trade secrets and breach of confidence as applied to the employment relationship. Patent and copyright protection for software is briefly reviewed but not emphasized. Against this background, the major portion of the thesis examines the delicate balance between the legal interests of the employer, the employee and the public. Any attempt by employers to limit post employment use of information by employees invokes the doctrine of restraint of trade. This doctrine recognizes an employee's right to use the knowledge and skills developed during employment for the benefit of other employers. The thesis examines the elements of the restraint of trade doctrine as applied to skilled employees in the computer industry. The creation and development of software is used throughout the thesis to illustrate legal principles. Employers such as software developers are extremely vulnerable to misappropriation of confidential information by their employees. Such employers rely heavily upon the use of restrictive covenants in employment agreements to limit disclosure and to prevent future competition. The remedies for an employee's breach of confidence are reviewed. This chapter concludes that the legal principles governing interlocutory injunctions are inadequate to properly protect the information employer. The thesis concludes that the present Canadian law is increasingly inadequate to protect a computer industry employer against an employee's unauthorized appropriation of confidential information. In short, the law has not yet recognized the social and technological changes that have greatly increased the vulnerability of the information employer. If neither the courts nor the legislatures take action, information employers will have to further increase their reliance on the limited and uncertain protection of restrictive covenants in employment agreements. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

In order to remain competitive, firms must be able to merge diverse, differentiated people into teams. In comparison to solo ventures, venture teams not only offer a broader base of physical and financial resources and varying points of view, but also positively influence the profitability, growth, and survivability potential of new ventures. Despite the growing importance and potential benefits offered by venture teams, relatively little is known about assembling and maintaining effective venture teams in the field of entrepreneurship. More specifically, information is needed to understand what composition and combination of demographic characteristics of team members would contribute to the effectiveness and success of a venture team. In this study the relationship between venture team demographic characteristics and team effectiveness (which is defined in terms of the interpersonal process of venture team members in their group activities) is investigated. The demographic characteristics examined include average age, age heterogeneity, average level of education, educational background heterogeneity, gender heterogeneity, and functional background heterogeneity. A field study, involving face-to-face and telephone interviews with the venture teams is used to gather data from40 computer related venture teams in a large midwest U.S. city. The venture teams are identified through the local Chambers of Commerce, peer referrals, and library research. Information is gathered on demographics and team interpersonal process effectiveness using a pre-validated instrument. Data are analyzed using regression analysis. The results indicate that average age negatively and significantly relates with team interpersonal process effectiveness. Furthermore, average level of education positively and significantly relates with team interpersonal process effectiveness. The other demographic variables, age heterogeneity, educational background heterogeneity, gender heterogeneity, and functional background heterogeneity do not produce significant relationships.

The primary goal of this study was to develop a theoretically based, parsimonious framework for the examination of the relationships between executive characteristics, strategy and performance. In order to achieve this goal, prior literature examining the linkages between executive characteristics and strategy and executive characteristics and performance was integrated to derive two broad theoretical propositions. The first proposition stated that different managerial profiles would be associated with different strategic postures. The rationale for this proposition was derived from previous empirical and theoretical evidence which suggests that since different strategies emphasize different organizational competences, they can be best implemented by managers who have skills compatible with these competences. Building on this logic, the second proposition suggested that a fit between managerial profiles and organizational strategy would enhance performance. This proposition stems from the behavioral literature which argues that the characteristics of managers influence their perception of the environment and consequently their decision-making. Thus, if managerial decisions are not compatible with the strategy and consequently the competences of the organization, performance will suffer. In order to test these propositions each of the three constructs were operationalized in a multidimensional manner. Strategy was conceptualized in terms of the Miles & Snow (1978) typology which delineates comprehensive and internally consistent postures of organizational behavior encompassing their structures and processes. The executive characteristics construct was operationalized through five demographic dimensions each of which had been found significant in previous research. Finally, performance was operationalized to include the separate market based and efficiency goals of the different strategies. The data used to perform the empirical test were obtained from objective, secondary sources to control for the effects of perceptual bias which plagues researchers who use self-report data. The measures of strategic orientation and performance were standardized through the use of ratios to limit the unwanted variation introduced by differences in organizational size. The research site was restricted to a single industry containing relatively homogeneous firms, to control for spurious results that can occur due to the different environmental factors that operate in different industries. The manuscript includes detailed descriptions of the theoretical literature from which the research was conceived, the results obtained and the conclusions derived. The primary contributions of this study were the integration of two distinct research streams, and the development of a broadly applicable model which is a useful platform for the future study of strategic leadership. / Ph. D.

M.Ing. / Nowadays successful companies realize that placing the customers' needs first is so important that it must be an attitude of all departments within the business, an attitude of everyone involved in the business and staff at large. They have to understand that the success of a company depends on customers. This research report will aim to emphasize that it is crucial for companies to satisfy and meet customer needs. Thus, the identification of customer needs, the satisfaction of customers and to satisfy the customers establishing product specifications are emphasized. The applications of the methods and techniques of the process of customer needs identification of a commercial product will be demonstrated and compared on a Turkish computer company and a South African computer company. As the market place, the South African and the Turkish computer market, as the commercial product, a computer and as the computer companies, the Surat computer company and the Microstar computer systems company will be chosen in the case study. The results of the case study will be presented in an integrated manner with the literature study. This report will be based on a case study of customer needs identification in computer technology.

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本研究乃由檢視資訊硬體產業環境開始，透過產業發展沿革、歷程、階段及競爭現況的資料及相關文獻，對產業的現況與經營內容有初步的了解。其次，藉由資訊硬體產業價值鏈的開展及探討，了解產業中作業流程的詳細狀況，並藉由專家意見及文獻資料的整理，配合策略矩陣中所發展之策略形態六大構面，及產業價值鏈整理歸納所得的內容，來進行產業的策略點及策略要素的分析。對產業內所有產業靜態及動態的策略作為及特性，作詳細的探討。並根據產業分析所得的策略點及策略要素，配合個別公司境條件、前提的檢驗，來檢視個別公司所採取的策略作為。 　　本研究的目的有五：1.我國資訊硬體產業中，廠商的事業經營策略構想為何？這些策略構想背後所持的理由為何？2.這些策略構想是如何與環境的變動及廠商本身的條件相配合的？而策略構想或策略作為間之因果關係為何？3.企業運用這些策略作為或策略構想？是想達成怎樣的目標？或建構何種競爭優勢或競爭武器？4.資訊硬體產業中，企業用以競爭的武器或優勢有那些，它們是如何形成的，是如何確保的，會達成怎樣的效果？5.運用「策略矩陣分析法」是否會使上述問題及策略構想之分析更為便利與豐富？ 　　本研究採用深度訪談配合個案研究法，針對國內資訊硬體產業中廠商為研究對象，作產業之分析。並以四家在國內具有代表性之廠商為個案研究對象，作個案之探討。結論如下： 　　一、隨著廠商階段性的任務不同，廠商所採取的策略要素亦不大相同。 　　二、好的策略構想，必須要符合環境前提及條件前提。 　　三、由個案分析的結果顯示，就時間的連續性而言，策略的構想是根據環境、條件所做一連串策略的組合。 　　四、由個案分析中可以發現，每家公司根據其所面臨之環境及本身之條件之不同，所採取之策略構想亦不相同。 　　五、針對產業中廠商常用之策略要素及競爭武器作一評估整理，及針對產業內自有品牌之爭議作一分析整理。

We developed a price-based resource allocation scheme for Differentiated Service (DiffServ) data networks. The DiffServ framework was proposed to provide multiple QoS classes over IP networks. Since the provider supports multiple service classes, we need a differentiated pricing scheme, as supposed to the flat-rate scheme employed by the Internet service providers of today. Charging efficiently is a big issue. The utility of a client correlates to the amount of bandwidth allocated. One difficulty we face is that determining the appropriate amount of bandwidth to provision and allocate is problematic due to different time scales, multiple QoS classes and the unpredictable nature of users. To approach this problem, we designed a pricing strategy for Admission Control and bandwidth assignment. Despite the variety of existing pricing strategies, the common theme is that the appropriate pricing policy rewards users for behaving in ways to improve the overall utilization and performance of the network. Among existing schemes, we chose auction because it is scalable, and efficiently and fairly shares resources. Our pricing model takes the system's availability and each customer's requirements as inputs and outputs the set of clients who are admitted into the network and their allocated resource. Each client proposes a desired bandwidth and a price that they are willing to pay for it. The service provider collects this information and produces parameters for each class of service they provide. This information is used to decide which customers to admit. We proposed an optimal solution to the problem of maximizing the provider's revenue for the special case where there is only one bottleneck link in the network. Then for the generalized network, we resort to a simple but effective heuristic method. We validate both the optimal solution and the heuristic algorithm with simulations driven by a real traffic scenario. Finally, we allow customers to bid on the duration for which the service is needed. Then we study the performance of those heuristic algorithms in this new setting and propose possible improvements.