The thesis provides an integrated approach to tourism development within a destination (in this case Libya) that is currently suffering from lack of both short and long term investment due to an extremely uncertain political and social environment. The influences are both internal and external and could be classed as a ‘perfect storm’ affecting the country. The thesis identifies the stages of development, and those responsible for development by using an adapted butler model. It then suggests potential interventions at stages within the development, and ways in which the industry can respond quickly to the ever-changing environment of both investment and capacity building. The responses are based within the concept E-Marketing; a broad term but a modern approach to marketing that can respond quickly to changing environmental conditions. The thesis asserts that with these new methodologies the uncertainty element within a destination can be somewhat negated by the ability of the tourism industry to respond quickly both to market and de-market a destination. The suggestion is that for the foreseeable future tourism development in Libya will always be in a transitional period. The why for the thesis is because tourism has the potential to generate sizeable revenues within the Middle East and Africa, but has always suffered from significant underinvestment and varying levels of development. Libya has tourism development potential, and the thesis outlines the large number of tourist areas and unique attractions. To understand the current position of Libya in touristic terms an exploratory, qualitative, cross-sectional research strategy was adopted based on interviews with Libya stakeholders, Muslims consumers and country case analysis. The theoretical framework draws on contemporary marketing and e-Marketing theory intersecting development theory and destination management theory to investigate the role of e-Marketing. The key findings indicate that e-marketing represents a diverse toolbox that can be brought to bear in a highly integrated and focused approach that in itself becomes a source of competitive advantage. A technology-enabled e-marketing driven tourism framework provides Libya with the capacity to de-market its tourism programme, combined with the ability to reposition geographically and respond to crises caused by civil unrest. e - ii - Marketing systems provide significant potential to establish highly resilient and available infrastructures and the creation of a virtual space for planning management and tourism marketing. Critically, this thesis suggests tourism development is not wholly constrained by fragmented and transitional context. E-Marketing can counter physical and geographical constraints to facilitate diverse forms of information, communication, knowledge transfer and collaboration that enable creative forms of financing and resourcing and product development. The interconnectedness of e-Marketing processes and systems and the links between diverse actors, and institutions reflects in essence an ecosystem that is significant in allowing countries in transition to develop in highly dynamic and responsive approach. There is thus the substantial potential for the model proposed to progressively mobilise collective action, market knowledge and engagement that is critical for transitional economies.

The charcoal market in Africa is an informal economy. This enables millions of people to earn a living producing, selling and trading charcoal, due to low barriers to market entry. However, research and policy on charcoal has long focused on the downsides of informality. Informal charcoal production is commonly linked to criminality, an undermining of social cohesion, poor working conditions and most of all, forest loss. These negative perspectives continue to shape our approaches to charcoal markets, despite a recent reframing of charcoal as a potential sustainable development opportunity. This thesis aims to provide an alternative perspective. I argue that by focusing on the negative aspects of charcoal production, in particular forest loss, we end up misdiagnosing the problems and excluding stakeholders. The focus on forest loss has obscured research on the role of charcoal in rural livelihoods and has led to research that is primarily interested in large-scale production providing charcoal to major urban areas. This means small-scale charcoal production has been comparatively neglected in academic research, despite its importance for rural livelihoods and overall charcoal supply. Through three empirical chapters, I provide perspectives on small-scale charcoal production, its role in rural livelihoods and some of the factors that shape this role. I strive to provide novel analytical insights by moving away from questions of charcoal’s environmental impact and towards an approach that situates charcoal within the politics of rural livelihoods. I explore these ideas using case studies from Mozambique and a mixed methods approach. The results show small-scale charcoal production is a flexible form of income, primarily used as a livelihood diversification strategy. Furthermore, charcoal production is closely linked to the agricultural practices of producers. This means that conventional theoretical approaches to forest loss that treat charcoal production as distinct from agricultural practice may misinterpret the role of charcoal production in deforestation and forest degradation. I then move on to look at approaches to charcoal market formalisation in Mozambique. The results show that the regulations, whilst shaped by a variety of processes, concentrate on governing charcoal as an environmental problem. Changes to forest management requirements within the regulations have done little to improve sustainability as they are incapable of reaching out to small producers, in part due to inherent barriers within the formalisation process - stringent forest management plans and a conceptualisation of charcoal as a full-time, professional livelihood. The picture of charcoal production that emerges from the thesis is one of a flexible cash-income generating strategy, complicated by the politics of forest loss and livelihoods at local and national levels. The results show that charcoal plays a vital role in rural economies, not only in spite of its informality, but because of it. I argue throughout the thesis that small-scale charcoal production should be seen as a livelihood strategy to be nurtured rather than neglected and marginalised. The research questions whether the formalisation and modernisation of charcoal markets can engage small producers and concludes that in order to allow charcoal livelihoods to flourish and to improve sustainability, interventions need to work with, and for, charcoal as an informal economy.

This thesis deals with a subject of collaboration economy and it aims at two of its representatives in particular, Airbnb and Uber. My focus targets at current status in terms of established or missing regulation and mapping of up to date trends for regulation to be developed or to be improved in contrast to what has already set. Simultaneously, there is described its functional system and familiarization with them for a potential user. At least but not last, one of the goals is to clarify why new representatives as Uber or Airbnb might be spotted controversial. It is observed that current legal status of collaborative economy does not reflect its ability to share a global market and its potential regulation from government point of view has become likely. However, politician opinions on how this regulation should look like vary. Nevertheless what may be found identical in those opinions is that there is no will collaborative economy to be repressed however, rules and limits should be clearly stated. Expansion of digital technologies and its relation to collaborative economy growth was hardly predictable. For traditional services, for instance, taxi drivers, rules and limits are very restrictive regardless modern social and technological situation does not require such a strict limits since modern...

Dans le contexte où le secteur automobile apparaît comme l’un des principaux émetteurs de gaz à effet de serre, des efforts doivent être apportés pour répondre à des normes antipollution de plus en plus contraignantes. L’objectif de la thèse est alors de développer un système qui aide le conducteur à adopter globalement une conduite plus économique, et qui plus est, écologique et sécuritaire. Notre approche se différencie des études et systèmes déjà existants par la stratégie utilisée. Celle-ci prend à la fois en compte les caractéristiques du véhicule, celles de l’infrastructure (pente, dévers, courbure) et surtout les contraintes sécuritaires que doit respecter le conducteur (limitation de vitesse légale, distance intervéhiculaire). Partant de ces informations, le problème d’optimisation de la consommation en carburant est formulé et résolu par la programmation dynamique. La stratégie de calcul en ligne est par la suite adoptée pour rendre le système adaptatif aux conditions de trafic. C’est ainsi que, sur la base de cette stratégie, le couplage entre le problème de sécurité routière et de réduction de consommation est réalisé. Des expérimentations de ce système informatif suggestif sur véhicule prototype montrent que le suivi des consignes, données par le système, est tout à fait réalisable par le conducteur. Ces essais confirment aussi le potentiel d’économie en carburant et l’amélioration de la sécurité grâce à notre système. En comparaison avec le style d’éco-conduite des conducteurs, l’économie en carburant en moyenne est de 7.5% et peut atteindre 12.9% et des réductions des dépassements de vitesse de 50% en moyenne et atteint près de 80% pour certains conducteurs. / In the context where the automobile sector represents one of the major greenhouse gas emitters, significant efforts should be made to answer the demand for increasingly restricted emissions standards. The object of this thesis is to develop a fuel-efficient support tool which helps the driver to adopt more economical, ecological and safe driving. our approach differs from studies in the literature by the introduction of a strong coupling of fuel optimization and safety maintaining problems. As inputs of the system, we use the vehicle states such as the vehicle and engine speeds, the gear used, the road geometry and information related to safety (inter-vehicle speed, traffic conditions, legal speed limit...). Optimisation algorithms compute in real-time a speed and gear profile for fuel economy and improvement of safety.. The experimental results of this informative and suggestive system show that instructions, given by the system, are quite feasible by the driver. These tests also confirm the potential for fuel economy and the safety

Abstract not available

This thesis is a socio-economic history of the relationship between music technology and organisational practices in twentieth-century Australia. It argues that the history of technology in the Australian music economy is dependent not only upon the changing technical characteristics of musical instruments and electronic consumer goods but also upon government policy-making, management practices in music technology manufacturing firms and patterns of music technology consumption. The thesis examines economic statistics regarding the import, export and local production of music technology in Australia. The economic statistics have not previously been examined in relation to the history of music technology in Australia. The historical analysis is structured according to a four-part periodisation which includes the Electric Age (1901-1930), the Electronic Age (1930-1950), the Transistor Age (1950-1970) and the Information Age (1970-1990). This periodisation enables the analysis to continually be refocussed as the key technological and socio-economic dynamics change. With this perspective, the history of the relationship between technology and organisation in the Australian music economy has been demonstrated to be dependent on a number of key technological changes. The thesis examines changes including the shift from acoustic to electric recording; the development of transistor-based consumer electronics goods; and the advent of digital information technology. However, a number of key social determinants, particularly organisational modes, are examined including changes from protectionist to more deregulated trade policy; lack of business skills in areas such as marketing, manufacturing technique and industrial research and development; and the development of a sense of popular modernity which is expressed in the consumption of new, technically advanced and glamorous music technology. In addition to the new perspectives on the history of music technology provided by the analysis of empirical economic data, this thesis contributes to the historiography of technology. The analytical framework it proposes locates music technology within what is described as an assemblage of technologies: technologies of production, technologies of sign systems, technologies of power and technologies of the self. This approach makes clear the interdependence of technological and social factors, and the inadequacy of narrow technological determinist and social constructivist accounts. The notion of an assemblage of technologies is further embellished by drawing upon key elements of recent theories of systems analysis: the seamless web, evolution and chaos theory. Through this analytical framework and the socio-economic analysis of the relationship between music technology and organisational practices, the thesis demonstrates that the history of technology cannot be understood unless it is seen as part of a complex and interacting technical, social, economic and institutional system.

This thesis is using a framework to analyse the process of transition from foraging to farming in northeast China. Tool complexes analysis is the particular method used to retreive prehistoric economies. Based on the result of these case studies about prehistoric economies in northeast China, this thesis attemp to apply the availability model of transition to farming in northern Europe, proposed by Zvelebil and Rowley-Convy, in the new area northeast China. The result of this research has implicated that the transition to farming in prehistory is the result of the interaction between human societies and environment. among many factors in this interaction, the motivation that prehistoric societies choosing agriculture economy to meet social, political and economic needs would have to be the major one leading to the transition occurred.

This thesis asks: ‘How can tertiary education nurture entrepreneurial creativity?’ Entrepreneurship is considered to be a vital determinant of economic growth and the entrepreneur is understood as someone who innovates and commercialises their own innovation. The setting is New Zealand which is struggling to make the shift from relying on primary production to becoming a ‘creative economy.’ The creative individual has been identified as a new mainstream but it is argued that in New Zealand, education provision is inadequate for supporting the development of the practice of entrepreneurship. The problem is not unique. Various writers are critical of business education generally, and of the mismatch between the passion and chaos in entrepreneurs’ lives and the way education programs are typically organised as a linear sequence of discipline-based courses with prescribed content, activities and outcomes. Rich data were gathered from in-depth interviews with twelve nascent, new or experienced entrepreneurs and two associates (one a marketer, the other a scientist). Each participant was drawn from a different area of economic endeavour. They were asked to share their stories and views about creativity, the connections between creativity and entrepreneurship, business success, formal and informal education, and ways to improve tertiary education programs. The research found that a suitable environment for nurturing creativity will most likely have structure but will also enable chaos. It will present opportunities for experiencing diversity, and will stimulate unconscious and conscious mental processes. It will provide scope for hard work that is fun and involves authentic risk-taking, and will enable both individual and purposeful teamwork. The study also found that business success is not based on knowledge but is rather about being resourceful. The becoming of the creative entrepreneur thus includes developing capability to network with peers and mentors and communicate with customers and staff, and developing passion for and resilience in the pursuit of a dream. The findings suggest that in an age of uncertainty, nurturing entrepreneurial creativity and resourcefulness requires learning to be viewed as a practice-based community process where knowing and doing are interwoven with being. It is argued that this needs to align with Ronald Barnett and Kelly Coate’s (2005) notion of ‘a curriculum for engagement.’ It is suggested that an entire program might simply invite students to work collaboratively to identify and exploit an entrepreneurial opportunity by producing and commercialising an appropriate product/service innovation; to undertake this work as two separate projects – one within an existing organisation, and the other as a new venture; and to theorise their work. It is proposed that a suitable framework lies in William Doll’s (2002) advocacy for a curriculum based on a matrix of five Cs: ‘currere,’ complexity, cosmology, conversation, and community. To these, creativity is added as a sixth C.

No description available.

<p>AbstractIn this paper, we will be interested by the current financial crisis and how it did affect on the French economy. After setting the global French point of view and an overview of other crises, the discussion will be focused on the subprime crisis and how it turned into a worldwide financial crisis to reach the state of France. The data of the French statistic institute (INSEE) will be used as an analytic tool to show how France has been hit.To discuss this topic, we start from a chronology of the last crises to an overview of the French point of view in economy to correlate the current financial crisis to the French economy shrink. To set the subprime principles permit to explain the spread of the toxic mortgages in the worldwide finance and the collapse of economies. In more details, that explains the French economy collapse. The shrinking French economy started with the GDP and as a snowball effect, foreign trade, and companies followed. In the same time, the rise of unemployment and the change of the consumer behaviour can be notice. All of those are correlated with the current financial crisis.Going through this paper, we learnt that the subprime crisis is the cause of the current financial crisis. Indeed, the spread of the toxic loan into the whole financial market provided its collapse and finally reached to a fall of the world wide economy. In this study, we were focused on the effects of the current financial crisis on the French economy. This paper showed in the conclusion that the economy are recovering after a period of depression.</p>