M.Comm. (Computer Auditing) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This paper explains what recognition the auditor has of theoretical judgment and decision making subjects surrounding the audit process. The auditors’ judgment and decision making skills seem to be more challenged when it comes to estimating their clients’ valuations. Therefore, the audit process of fair value measures (FVM) is used to charterer the recognition more clearly. Attention to this topic is warranted for several reasons. First, FVM was implemented on the Swedish market in 2005 and is relatively recent to Swedish auditors. Second, to our knowledge no similar study, regarding the Swedish audit firms, has been conducted within this area. Third, the evidence, drawn from previous research, of what recognition the auditors have of the theoretical judgment and decision making subjects seem to be more indirect than direct and we also extend the previous research. We find, through semi-structured interviews with employees of the ‘Big four’, that both judgment and decision making are acknowledged as possible issues. However, we also find that certain areas within these two categories are unrecognized to be of immediate concern.

Ph.D. (Business Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Acknowledging the difficulties of achieving effective strategic management in practice, this thesis investigates how formal strategies quite often succeed in conditioning organisational actions even in firms such as professional service firms, which may lack effective measures for coercing action and which often depend on distributed decision-making. The fundamental question posed in this investigation is: what are the social processes that make strategies work? This thesis addresses that question by contributing to our understanding of strategy realisation as a continuing process of translating formal strategies into ‘strategies-in-practice’, i.e. the situated performance of strategies through choices, actions, and practices pertaining to the selection and accomplishment of concrete assignments. The thesis investigates this translation process in three small professional service firms, in which the responsibility for enacting the strategies lies with autonomous practitioners, making centralised strategy realisation difficult. Searching for integration rather than further fragmentation of different strands of strategy research, the thesis make use of Porterian activity systems theory, Giddens’ structuration theory, Wittgensteinian theory of rule-following, Searlean theory of intentionality, and the strategy-as-practice approach, in order to understand the translation process as the intentional structuration of practice. The thesis reports two main contributions, the first addressing a gap in strategy re-search, the second contradicting prevailing theories. The first contribution is an outline of a theory of strategy translation: how formal strategies are translated into strategies-in-practice, coping with insoluble strategic dilemmas, and achieving maintenance of strategic position and strategies-in-practice under pressure for unwanted change. Good strategies-in-practice are as much about managing dilemmas as about eliminating them. Second, in contrast to prevailing strategic positioning theory and generic strategies, this study documents the potential benefits of straddling strategically distinct services within a single activity system, in terms of: learning opportunities; work variation; better opportunities for attracting, developing, and retaining talented people; the possibilities of capitalising on client relationships; and the dynamics of routinisation of once-novel services.

The aim of this thesis is to analyze a management problem in the organization Bohemians 1905, a.s. and submit recommendations to the board of the club for strategic choice options how to solve the management problem. The correct formulation of the problem will need to be analyze the current situation, put it in a strategic context and find the cause of the problem. This is done by Kepner-Tregoe methodology, C-E diagram and cognitive map. It will also need to develop objective solutions, design criteria, specify the possible solutions and determine the consequences of various options due to the proposed set of criteria. This is done by the value tree, a combination of multi-criteria evaluation under risk and certainty, probability trees and decision matrices. As a form of multi-criteria evaluation will be used in a specific form of the transfer bridge in the form of aggregated criteria of price/performance ratio of the options that allows create a list of preferred options.

Thesis (MS en S)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa has moved into a new political era in which all citizens are entitled to equal access to opportunities. Disadvantaged communities are cherishing high expectations of what the future will hold for them. To avoid trade-offs that can lead to the escalation of violence, more efficient management strategies are necessary to restructure the urban environment and address the problems of a rapidly urbanising population. The primary goal of this study is to examine to what extent mixed-use developments can facilitate economic development within low income communities. The results indicate that the planning of mixed-use developments, can create strong, welldefined city structures which will address the current urban deficiencies experienced in metropolitan areas. Mixed-use developments offer a means to integrate those parts of the metropolitan area with no coherent and integrated structure into the larger urban environment. An increase in densities, land use intensification and passing traffic can create the necessary market thresholds to sustain a wide range of economic and social activities and facilities that are typically not found in inwardly turned, peripheral communities. This can increase the standard of living of these communities by improving their access to economic opportunities, providing employment and supporting the fulfilment of their economic and social needs. The informal sector plays an important role in the urban economy. The creation of multi-functional markets within mixed-use development will stimulate groWth and employment creation within the informal sector. The higher economic thresholds and better access to markets and supplies can improve the viability of small -scale informal enterprises. These markets will benefit the local communities by providing a variety of economic activities and services within the same location. The stimulation of economic activity within the low income communities can improve the circulation of money and assist in the prevention of income leakage to other centres. The implementation of mixed-use development has the potential of addressing the problems currently inhibiting economic development of low-income communities. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Suid-Afrika het 'n nuwe politieke era betree, waarin alle burgers op toegang tot gelyke geleenthede geregtig is. Die agtergeblewe gemeenskappe koester hoë verwagtinge vir die nuwe toekoms. Om te verhoed dat uitruiling ly tot 'n toename in geweld, is 'n meer doeltreffende stedelike bestuurstrategieë noodsaaklik om die snelgroeiende bevolking aan te spreek. Die studie het ten doel om die ekonomiese ontwikkelingskapasiteit van gemengde grondgebruiksontwikkeling, te ondersoek. Die gevolgtrekking van die studie is dat gemengde grondgebruiksontwikkeling 'n goed ontwikkelde stadstruktuur tot stand kan bring, waardeur die bestaande tekortkominge van stedelike gebiede aangespreek kan word. Dit bied 'n doeltreffende manier om stedelike gebiede, sonder 'n samehorige en geïntegreerde struktuur, met die groter stedelike gebied te skakel. 'n Toename in digthede, grondgebruiksintensiteit en deurverkeer sal die drempelwaardes, wat nodig is om 'n wye verskeidenheid ekonomiese en sosiale aktiwiteite te ondersteun, skep. Verhoogde toegang tot ekonomiese- en werks geleenthede sal die lewenstandaard van lae- inkomste gemeenskappe verhoog. Die informele sektor speel ook 'n belangrike rol in stedelike ekonomie. Die ontwikkeling van multi-funksionele markte, binne die gemengde grondgebruiksontwikkeling, kan groei en werkskepping binne die informele sektor stimuleer. Hoër drempelwaardes en beter toegang tot markte en voorraad kan die lewensvatbaarheid van informele ondernemings verbeter. Plaaslike gemeenskappe sal voordeel trek uit die toeganklikheid van 'n verskeidenheid ekonomiese aktiwiteite en dienste binne die mark. Die stimulering van ekonomiese aktiwiteite binne lae-inkomste gemeenskappe sal die sirkulasie van geld verbeter en die lekkasie van inkomste na ander sentrums teenwerk. Die implementering van gemengde grondgebruiksontwikkelings het die potensiaal om die probleme, wat die ekonomiese ontwikkeling van lae-inkomste gemeenskappe strem, die hoof te bied.

Thesis (Doctora).