Bien qu’évoluant dans un cadre national dépourvu d’institutions étatiques, le Hamas exerce bel et bien une politique étrangère qui s’explique bien plus par les intérêts que par l’idéologie. L’analyse des processus de décision internes au mouvement le confirme. Agissant comme des filtrent des intérêts et des propositions idéologiques, ces processus, plus ou moins inclusifs en fonction du contexte et de la nature des décisions, illustrent l’importance des intérêts et la marginalité du rôle de l’idéologie. Seule la trêve conclue en juin 2008 avec Israël a donné lieu à des divergences idéologiques et à conduit au départ de certains membres de la branche armée du mouvement qui ont alors choisi de rejoindre des groupes salafistes. Au-delà de ces divergences, les intérêts des différents acteurs au sein du Hamas convergent au moins parce qu’ils cherchent tous à garantir la prépondérance politique de leur mouvement. La politique étrangère leur permet de réaliser un certain nombre d’intérêts à la fois extérieurs et intérieurs: obtenir la reconnaissance diplomatique et symbolique, rechercher des ressources matérielles, assurer leur domination sur la bande de Gaza et enfin concurrencer leurs adversaires nationalistes et islamistes. Les propositions idéologiques sont constamment adaptées pour accompagner la défense de ces différents intérêts. / The present thesis argues that the Palestinian movement Hamas pursues its own foreign policy even though it may be considered a non state actor, or a semi-state actor at best. The key independent variables determining this foreign policy are internal decision-making processes and various types of interests that in the vast majority of cases prevail upon ideological considerations. Decision making processes vary from period to period and sometimes from case to case. Sometimes their output reflects a compromise of competing interests, even though these compromises are always biased in favour of the stronger groups or factions within the movement. Only the 2008 truce with Israel gave rise to substantial ideological debates which left their trace in the run-up to this event and subsequent cleavages and defections, in particular to the al-Qassam brigades. In spite of various diverging interests, the leaders and members of Hamas share a basic objective which is to guarantee the political supremacy of their movement in Palestine. Its foreign policy enables Hamas to pursue a number of interests both external and internal: to obtain diplomatic and symbolic recognition, mobilize material and symbolical ressources, secure its domination over the Gaza strip, and compete with its nationalist and islamist opponents. Ideological propositions are constantly adapted to these different interests.

As organisations operate in a globalised, competitive and ever-changing environment, the process of making strategic decisions, the introduction and implementation of organisational changes, and employees’ responses towards these changes are typical challenges in organisational life. In this content, the recent financial crisis of 2007-2008 had a profound impact on the Greek economy, as the Greek banking sector had undergone a series of profound organisational changes that were met with a mixed response from employees. The aim of this study is to investigate and propose an integrated theoretical model on the relationship among strategic decision-making process (SDMP), organisational change and employees’ responses to change in Greek banks. To achieve this aim, the SDMP by which organisational changes were introduced in Greek banks, and employees’ EVLN behavioural responses towards these changes are examined. Two questionnaire surveys were conducted and data were collected from 11 CEOs and 78 members of top management teams, and 1,259 Greek bank employees. The study adopted the positivistic approach and data were quantitatively analysed by using the statistical software of SPSS version 2.1 and AMOS version 22.0. The findings suggest that top management teams used their Rationality, Intuition and Political behaviour during SDMP, and different contextual factors had a different impact on this process. Moreover, employees’ EVLN behavioural responses varied depending on the type of organisational change and the level of impact of organisational commitment, job satisfaction and psychological contract breach on their responses. Also, significant differences were found on employees’ responses in terms of their age, gender, educational level, length of service at the bank, position at the bank, and the bank they worked for before the changes. The key contribution to knowledge is that this is the first study that develops an integrated theoretical model that examines the relationship among SDMP, organisational change and employees’ EVLN behavioural responses. It also enhances our knowledge and extends the literature on a number of relationships such as the impact of the antecedents of SDMP on SDMP dimensions, the effect of SDMP dimensions on organisational change, and the impact of different types of organisational change on employees’ EVLN responses. Such contribution has significant implications on making strategic decisions and managing change in times of crises.

Today, more and more similar products in one product line appear on store shelves, and buying decisions have become more complicated for the consumer. Despite this, producers have a clear vision that one of the most effective tools that can be used to distinguish their products is sales promotion. Nevertheless, every customer is unique, and the responses to sales promotion tools differ as well. The reason for sales promotion campaigns success depends on the depth of understanding of consumer behaviour. In order to create a successful communication campaign, marketers should be aware in the best ways of reaching the desired consumers. In this work we will take a look at the gender differences in consumer behaviour. In particular, we would like to see different responses toward men and women toward sales promotion campaigns.

This thesis deals with issues of project financing in a non-profit sector. Using management decisions approach tries to contribute to finding a suitable portfolio of financing the Experience Pilsen! project. The goal is to identify, through the decision-making process, such possible solutions that lead to ensuring financial stability in the new project period. The thesis reviews the decision-making process from the analyzing the situation to the selection of the optimum variants. Analysis to determine the decision-making situation, consultations with experts and decision tree methods such as causal relations, the Six thinking hats method and other methods are used. Based on the gathered information a support resources portfolio is designed. It represents a set of optimal variants of solving the decision-making problem.

This thesis deals with the research of consumer behavior and specifics of buyer decision-making process of Czechs during booking of their foreign holidays and methodology of market segmentation in tourism, or in the segment of cruises. Analysis of current trends and determinants on the supply and demand helps to build a competitive marketing strategy emerging of travel agency in the segment of cruises.

Consumer satisfaction is key for retailers to retain loyal consumers. Retailers use apparel brands as a strategy to differentiate themselves in the market place, to attract potential consumers and to retain loyal consumers. Retailers have discovered the potential of the fuller figure sector as a lucrative market which can assist them to make profits and to increase their sales. The aim of this research is firstly to explore and describe the needs and expectations that the fuller figure South African working women have with branded career wear secondly, how they evaluate branded career wear apparel against the two broad quality dimensions namely functional and aesthetic dimensions and thirdly the problems they experience with the functional and aesthetic quality dimensions of branded career wear. The study also describes how fuller figure South African working women consumers further evaluate the branded apparel during the decision-making process which can ultimately lead to her either accepting or rejecting the branded career wear. This research is descriptive in nature, as an attempt is made to describe and understand how working fuller figure females evaluate branded apparel against certain quality dimensions and make decisions to purchase branded apparel to satisfy their needs. The Sproles and Burns’ (1994:264) decision-making model theoretical underpins the study. A quantitative research style was chosen for this study and the objectives and sub- objectives related to the needs and problems of the quality dimensions of the branded career wear were examined. A self-administered, structured questionnaire was designed to gain demographic information of the sample group, their store preferences, where they get their fashion information from as well as their needs and problems with regard to branded career wear apparel. Purposive sampling and snowball sampling techniques were used to select a sample of working fuller figure females in the Tshwane, South Africa area. The responses to the 150 questionnaires were coded, captured and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of this study revealed that most of the respondents ranked the functional quality dimensions higher than the aesthetic quality dimensions. It is clear that most of the fuller figure consumers regard comfort as the most important need, followed by durability (that the material of the branded career wear should be of good quality). The sample group also regarded the emotional aesthetic aspects very important (that the styles are beautiful and make her feel feminine). It is contradictory, that these fuller figure working women experienced major problems with the quality dimensions that they ranked as highly important. The sample group experienced problems with fit at the functional and aesthetic level, although fit is one of the most important factors that consumers use during the evaluation of apparel items. This study makes certain recommendations to apparel retailers, fashion theorists and image consultants how to obtain optimal consumer satisfaction. The South African apparel retailers should take cognisance of the needs and problems of this growing market related to the functional and aesthetic quality dimensions. The study also revealed how age and income play a role regarding the needs and problems this sample group experienced with branded career wear and how this can influence their decision to either accept or reject a brand. The results contribute to the body of knowledge regarding the needs and problems of branded career wear apparel for the fuller figure market related to certain functional and aesthetic quality dimensions Copyright / Dissertation (MConsumer Science)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Consumer Science / unrestricted

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / The research investigation explores the topic from the point of view of intergovernmental institutions and the regional (departmental) decision-making process in Santa Cruz- Bolivia. The purpose was to determine if these institutions influence the decision-making process of actors in the area of road infrastructure. The topic is explored from the viewpoint of Actor-Centered Institutionalism from Scharpf. It states that the solutions to solve social problems can be explained as the outcome of interactions among intentional actors, but that these interactions are structured and outcomes are influenced by the characteristics of the institutional setting in which they occur. For that purpose, the study identifies the actor constellations participating in the process, their modes of interaction and the constraints they face as a result of the institutional setting. The research starts by distinguishing the formal, informal and fiscal lOR institutions and determine their importance; for this purpose, the classification by Agranoff is used. Afterwards, the investigation portrays the decision-making process in the area and analyzes the final decisions of actors as a result of the institutions shaping them. It is argued that mostly fiscal arrangements are shaping the decision-making process in the area. The formal and informal arrangements are determining the actor constellations participating in the process and how they interact, as well as which institutional constraints they face. It is concluded that there are missing channels of intergovernmental cooperation between the national and the departmental level, and it generates misunderstandings and uncertainty. The channels of cooperation between the department and the provinces exist, but training and technical advice is needed to enhance actors' capacities at this level. The mini-thesis concludes with the policy implications derived from the dynamics at the regional level and identifying other factors influencing the decision-making process.

This diploma thesis is focused on examining the activities of production planning and examining the efficiency of the selected machine in the selected company. The theoretical part summarizes the most important findings and methods of lean manufacturing and corrective measures to prevent or eliminate downtime. In the analytical part, the selected machine is examined in terms of the production process, then an analysis of the current state and assessment of the collected data is performed. Furthermore, an analysis of the decision-making process in production planning for a selected machine was performed and shortcomings in planning were assessed. The practical part contains suggestions for removing the identified bottlenecks.

This thesis responds to the need of the company ILLKO, s.r.o. to develop and unify the decision-making process for cases when there is a customer request for a special or extraordinary type of product. In the thesis, the business area of the company, supplier and customer spectrum are described as well as a summary of the company’s capacity and capabilities. The output is a formalized decision-making process reflecting both theoretical knowledge based on the academic bibliography and long-term approved experience gained from the business practice. This process is clearly illustrated in schematic flow charts which are described in detail in corresponding chapters. The developed methodological procedure will help the top management of the company to facilitate, automate and improve future decision-making on the specific customer requirements.

This diploma thesis deals with the evaluation of supplier risk for a chosen company Vinařství Soška using the fuzzy logic principles. This company like many others is forced to shift its sales to the Internet environment due to the government restrictions established to reflect the pandemic situation. For a successful Internet business, it is necessary to choose an optimal ecommerce software based on the company requirements. For this purpose, two fuzzy logic models are built in Microsoft Excel and MATLAB software. Their aim is to evaluate the potential risk of all of the suppliers. Based on this evaluation, the results are transformed into specific recommendations on how to choose the optimal solution for the company. The first chapters deal with the general theory that is later used in the analytical part.