The need for a more authoritative approach to investment decision-making and cost control has been a requirement of office spending for many years now. The commercial offices find itself in an increasingly demanding position to allocate its budgets as wisely and prudently as possible. The significant percentage of total spending on buildings demands a more accurate and adaptable method of achieving quality of service within the constraints on the budgets. By adoption of life cycle costing techniques with risk management, practitioners have the ability to make accurate forecasts of likely future running costs. This thesis presents a novel framework (Artificial Neural Networks and probabilistic simulations) for modelling of operating and maintenance historical costs as well as economic performance measures of LCC. The methodology consisted of eight steps and presented a novel approach to modelling the LCC of operating and maintenance costs of two sustainable commercial office buildings. Finally, a set of performance measurement indicators were utilised to draw inference from these results. Therefore, the contribution that this research aimed to achieve was to develop a dynamic LCC framework for sustainable commercial office buildings, and by means of two existing buildings, demonstrate how assumption modelling can be utilised within a probabilistic environment. In this research, the key themes of risk assessment, probabilistic assumption modelling and stochastic assessment of LCC has been addressed. Significant improvements in existing LCC models have been achieved in this research in an attempt to make the LCC model more accurate and meaningful to estate managers and high-level capital investment decision makers A new approach to modelling historical costs and forecasting these costs in sustainable commercial office buildings is presented based upon a combination of ANN methods and stochastic modelling of the annual forecasted data. These models provide a far more accurate representation of long-term building costs as the inherent risk associated with the forecasts is easily quantifiable and the forecasts are based on a sounder approach to forecasting than what was previously used in the commercial sector. A novel framework for modelling the facilities management costs in two sustainable commercial office buildings is also presented. This is not only useful for modelling the LCC of existing commercial office buildings as presented here, but has wider implications for modelling LCC in competing option modelling in commercial office buildings. The processes of assumption modelling presented in this work can be modified easily to represent other types of commercial office buildings. Discussions with policy makers in the real estate industry revealed that concerns were held over how these building costs can be modelled given that available historical data represents wide spending and are not cost specific to commercial office buildings. Similarly, a pilot and main survey questionnaire was aimed at ascertaining current level of LCC application in sustainable construction; ranking drivers and barriers of sustainable commercial office buildings and determining the applications and limitations of LCC. The survey result showed that respondents strongly agreed that key performance indicators and economic performance measures need to be incorporated into LCC and that it is important to consider the initial, operating and maintenance costs of building when conducting LCC analysis, respondents disagreed that the current LCC techniques are suitable for calculating the whole costs of buildings but agreed that there is a low accuracy of historical cost data.

L’engagement organisationnel a un effet réducteur sur les comportements déviants au travail. Cette recherche se propose de relever et de chiffrer les conséquences du déficit d’engagement puis d’identifier et d’analyser ses causes pour pouvoir, grâce au management et à la gestion stratégique des ressources humaines, élaborer et tester des propositions susceptibles d’améliorer durablement l’engagement dans un souci de performances socio-économiques.Notre terrain de recherche est le service nettoiement d’une collectivité territoriale en Tunisie où nous avons mené une recherche-intervention qui montre que l’estime et la valorisation du travail et du statut de l’employé, aussi bas dans l’échelle soit-il, est nécessaire pour augmenter l’engagement et le sentiment d’appartenance à l’organisation et par là l’amélioration des performances. Mots clés : engagement organisationnel, comportements déviants, management, performance socio-économique. / Organizational commitment has a reductive effect on deviant behaviors at work.This research intend to show up and calculate the cost of a lack of commitment and then identify and analyse its causes to be able, by the mean of the strategic management of human resources, to work up and test proposals that enhance durably commitment and socio-economic performance.Our research terrain is a local authority cleaning service in Tunisia where we conducted a research-intervention that shows that respect and valuation of employee labor and status, especially when he’s in the bottom end of the scale, is necessary to enhance commitment and strengthen the sense of belonging to the organisation and thereby performance.Keywords : commitment, dark side behaviors, socio-economic performance, management.

The thesis is focused on the analysis of the competitiveness of selected countries of eastern enlargement of the EU. The aim of this work is to analyze the competitiveness of selected countries - Slovakia, Slovenia and Estonia, comparing them to each other and in relation to other EU countries. The first chapter defines competitiveness and methods of its assessment. The second chapter discusses the external and internal economic balance of the selected countries. Analysis of long-run competitive advantages is the aim of third chapter and final part of the thesis, confronts results of international competitiveness yearbooks with reality.

The concept of lights-out process control is explored in this work (specifically pertaining to the minerals processing industry). The term is derived from lights-out manufacturing, which is used in discrete component manufacturing to describe a fully automated production line, i.e. with no human intervention. Lights-out process control is therefore defined as the fully autonomous operation of a processing plant (as achieved through automatic process control), without operator interaction. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / National Research Foundation (NRF) / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / PhD / Unrestricted

Les opérateurs économiques sont confrontés à un fort accroissement de la concurrence combiné à des préoccupations sociales et environnementales désormais devenues indispensables. De ce constat, il semble que la performance qu’elle soit de type économique, social ou environnemental, soit devenue une valeur intrinsèque qui s’intègre ponctuellement à des obligations, ou engendre des obligations. Elle sera parfois extérieure au contrat et imposée par le droit lui-même. En ce sens, le législateur impose que la rémunération de certains dirigeants de sociétés soit obligatoirement indexée sur des critères de performances. Mais la performance sera parfois interne au contrat et constituera un élément essentiel pour ce dernier. Ces manifestations traduisent un mouvement d’ensemble rendant nécessaire la construction d’une réflexion juridique sur la performance, prisme de lecture devenu inévitable et particulièrement crucial. En dépit de l’attrait de la quête de performance, le droit est à la recherche d’un point d’équilibre de nature à permettre un développement économique dans les meilleures conditions, adossé au respect de l’environnement, naturel, humain, voire sociétal. C’est dans cette perspective que la dynamique de cette étude est construite. Elle appréhende la performance comme le fait d’atteindre un objectif, avec des moyens et des méthodes efficientes, tout en limitant les pertes financières et les effets néfastes. La performance est la nouvelle clé de lecture de la vie en société, et le droit des affaires s’impose à cet égard comme l’un des premiers relais / Economic operators are facing a sharp increase in competition combined with social and environmental concerns that have become of the essence. From this observation, it seems that the performance, be it economic, social or environmental, has become an value that is part of obligations, or creates itself obligations. It will sometimes be outside the contract and imposed by the law itself. In this sense, the legislator requires that the remuneration of certain companies executives is compulsorily indexed on performance criteria. But the performance will sometimes be internal to the contract and will be an essential element for the latter. These events reflect an overall movement making it necessary to construct a legal dissertation on performance, a new reading prism that has become inevitable and particularly crucial. Despite the attractiveness of the quest for performance, the law is seeking a point of balance likely to allow economic development in the best conditions, backed by respect for the environment, natural, human, even societal. It is in this perspective that the dynamics of this study is built. It understands performance as achieving a goal, with efficient means and methods, while limiting financial losses and adverse effects. Performance is the new key to reading life in society, and business law is one of the first relays

The nexus among foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and the Mexican economic growth has been the subject of a number of recent papers. Yet, previous studies frequently overlook its relationship to human capital and consequently ignore potential interlinkages between the variables. By running an ARDL model and thereafter applying the Granger causality technique derived by Toda and Yamamoto (1995) and Dolado and Lütkepohl (1996) this paper investigates the relationship among FDI and economic performance in Mexico during 1970-2018 after incorporating human capital into the framework. When including human capital, measured as gross enrolment ratio in tertiary education, FDI inflows and real GDP per capita have an insignificant long-run relationship. However, this paper finds a Granger-causal relationship running from FDI inflows to human capital. Human capital, on the other hand, precedes real GDP per capita and the main implication is thus that FDI may not spur economic performance directly, but indirectly through its significant effect on the enrolment ratio in tertiary education. Therefore, to ignore the influence of human capital may result in deceptive conclusions regarding the Mexican FDI-growth nexus.

Entrepreneurship is viewed by scholars and policy makers as an important factor contributing to increased levels of economic performance. New businesses are conduits of innovation, connecting resources and ideas within the economy and fostering competition. Central and Eastern Europe is a special case regarding entrepreneurship, due to its communist legacy. The surge in entrepreneurial activities caused by the process of market liberalization ultimately affected economic development in the area. This thesis acknowledges the importance of studying entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe, and aims to analyse the impact of new business formation on economic performance in the region. To do so, the thesis creates a comprehensive guide of theoretical frameworks linking entrepreneurship to measures of economic performance and applies them to the Central and Eastern European area. The thesis also develops an empirical study using regression analysis with regional Eurostat data, which shows that new business formation has a significant, positive impact on GDP levels in Central and Eastern Europe. The results also indicate that entrepreneurial activity should be regarded by policy makers as an important factor that leads to increased economic performance, in addition to measures of research and...

Student Number : 9202134A - PhD thesis - School of Civil and Environmental Engineering - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / South Africa’s energy economy is dominated by coal, which produces relatively high emissions of greenhouse and noxious gases during combustion. This causes environmental problems that may lead to health risks that are cause for concern. In this thesis, various propositions are tested about whether in the Cape Metropolitan Area natural gas is a lower cost energy source than coal for generating base load power within a specified range of capacity factors under different scenarios. The problem being investigated is the uncertainty about the quantified effect that revenue from monetised carbon dioxide credits and inclusion of damage costs would have on the breakeven selling price of electricity, if natural gas were substituted for coal for generating base load power in the above Area. The research procedure entailed conceptualising and developing technical details of four power generation scenarios and reviewing various tools for cost-benefit analysis. Next, a Te- Con Techno-Economic Simulator model and screening curves were selected from a suite of potential tools. The power generation cost profiles for coal and natural gas were determined, followed by sensitivity analysis. The model was populated and used to compare the lifecycle economic performance of coal and natural gas technologies. Natural gas emerged as a lower cost energy source than coal for generating base load power within a specified range of capacity factors under all the scenarios. This thesis recommends the following: the introduction of tax holidays and favourable capital equipment depreciation regimes to stimulate natural gas exploration; the use of natural gas as an energy source to promote small-scale enterprises in communities contiguous to gas transmission pipelines; in addition, electricity prices should reflect damage costs in order to internalise externalities associated with power generation. The contribution to knowledge is the innovative way of financing the gas-fired power generation project by using the monetised carbon dioxide credits under the novel Clean Development Mechanism to redeem a bank and a shareholders’ loan. This could result in reducing the loan payment by 4.3 years, saving 38 % in interest payments and allow scarce finance available for project funding to be extended to other projects to the advantage of national economic development.

O objetivo central desta tese é analisar o desempenho econômico de um conjunto amplo de países sob a ótica da competitividade externa, que explicita a competitividade estrutural relativa das economias. Para isso esta tese conta com três ensaios. O primeiro ensaio constrói um índice de qualidade da pauta exportadora e qualidade da pauta importadora para 143 países e comprova a significância desses índices na determinação da renda per capita. Além disso, o ensaio utiliza os resultados para analisar os canais de transmissão entre setor externo e renda apontados por alguns modelos de crescimento. O segundo ensaio faz um teste do modelo de crescimento sob restrição externa para um conjunto de 137 países utilizando uma nova metodologia empírica que recupera a idéia de teste conjunto sem recair em vários problemas de endogeneidade, recorrendo a técnicas de painel. O terceiro ensaio elabora um modelo Kaldoriano de causação cumulativa e o aplica para a economia brasileira no período 20032008. O modelo revela que a economia brasileira passou por um ciclo virtuoso de crescimento que se originou no mercado externo e foi internalizado pela economia. Com os argumentos explorados nos três ensaios comprova-se o papel da competitividade externa no desempenho econômico das nações e debate-se alguns dos canais de transmissão entre setor externo e renda. / The main aim of this thesis is to analyze the economic performance of nations in the 2000s on the perspective of external competitiveness. For that, this thesis has three essays. The first essay builds an index of quality of export basket and an index of quality of import basket for 143 countries and demonstrates the significance of these indexes in determining the per capita income. Moreover, the essay uses the results to discuss the transmission channels between the external sector and income indicated by some growth models. The second essay is a balance-ofpayment constrain growth test applied to a set of 137 countries, using a new empirical methodology that recovers the idea of a whole test for several countries, without falling into various problems of endogeneity, using panel techniques. The third essay elaborates a Kaldorian model of cumulative causation and applies to the Brazilian economy 20032008. The model reveals that the Brazilian economy went through a virtuous cycle of growth that originated in the external sector and was internalized by the economy. With the arguments explored in the three essays, it was possible to prove the role of external competitiveness in economic performance and to discuss some of the transmission channels between the external sector and income.

Submitted by William Justo Figueiro (williamjf) on 2015-07-01T21:44:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 04.pdf: 987085 bytes, checksum: 5e83014e7f6de1b89fee3dfe237e14d4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-01T21:44:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 04.pdf: 987085 bytes, checksum: 5e83014e7f6de1b89fee3dfe237e14d4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-09 / Nenhuma / Um olhar crítico no teor das publicações da revista Você S/A – Exame em suas edições especiais apresentando anualmente as “150 Melhores Empresas Para Você Trabalhar”, fomenta questionamentos explícitos e implícitos. Isso se deve ao fato de que tais publicações elencam dados sobre empresas que espontaneamente querem participar do processo para classificação no ranking sem, entretanto, tornar transparente dados que sustentem premissas publicadas a respeito destas. O processo ocorre através de um questionário feito aos funcionários e outro as empresas e dados fornecidos por um book de evidências relatando o que as empresas oferecem a seus funcionários. Em 2006 foram criados os itens satisfação e motivação inseridos em “o que os funcionários dizem”, mantendo-se presente até a atualidade, porém, em uma única contextualização, “estão satisfeitos e motivados”. De acordo com a Você S/A – Edição Especial (2010), após o acréscimo deste item é pelo quarto ano seguido que a média da rentabilidade sobre o patrimônio líquido das 150 melhores empresas supera à média das 500 companhias listadas no anuário Melhores e Maiores. A referência ao que é rentável ou rentabilidade provoca um pouco mais, aludindo para o desempenho econômico superior de empresas presentes no ranking das 150 melhores empresas. Portanto inevitavelmente tornou-se objetivo desta pesquisa detectar possíveis relações entre motivação, satisfação e o desempenho econômico superior das empresas. Assim emerge o problema de pesquisa da presente dissertação: “Existe relação entre o desempenho econômico e a definição das 150 Melhores Empresas Para Você Trabalhar, selecionadas para o ranking da revista Você S/A – Exame?” Para este trabalho, elegem-se o RSPL, Margem Líquida e Ebitda/Lucro Líquido como indicadores dependentes com o intuito de aferição do desempenho econômico das empresas. Nesta pesquisa, a amostra totaliza 452 empresas em um período de cinco anos, de 2006 a 2010 totalizando 2260 observações. Foi utilizado o modelo de regressão com dados em painel, valendo-se dos dados disponíveis no website do ranking das Melhores e Maiores. Sugere-se que a gestão de RH e outros recursos motivadores não possuem influência no desempenho organizacional e econômico das empresas listadas entre as 150 Melhores Empresas Para Você Trabalhar. Ou seja, pelos modelos testados não foi identificada qualquer diferença no retorno econômico entre as empresas classificadas como as melhores para trabalhar e as demais, sendo as empresas que não constam no ranking da Você S/A, mas que fazem parte da amostra por disponibilizarem seus dados contábeis no website das Melhores e Maiores que serviu para o presente trabalho como base de dados. / A critical look at the content of the publications Special Editions of Você S/A – Exame magazine that present the “150 Best Companies to Work” raise explicit and implicit questions. That is due to the fact that these publications list data on companies which are willing to participate on the classification process of the ranking, but without showing transparent information that support published assumptions regarding these companies. The process includes questionnaires applied to employees and companies, as well as data provided by an evidence book which reports what companies offer to the employees. In 2006, satisfaction and motivation items were created and inserted in “what employees say”, but only in the context of “satisfied and motivated”. According to Você S/A – Special Edition (2010), after the addition of such item, the average profitability of net assets of the 150 best companies surpasses the average of the 500 companies listed in the “Best and Greatest” yearbook for four years in a role. The reference to profitability or to what is profitable provokes even more when an allusion to the superior economic performance of companies in the 150 best companies ranking is made. Therefore, the aim of this study is inevitably at detecting possible relations between motivation, satisfaction and superior economic performance of the companies. Thus, the research problem is represented by the following question: Is there a relation between economic performance and the definition of the 150 Best Companies to Work selected by the ranking of Você S/A – Exame magazine? For this study, RSPL, net margin and ebitda/net were elected as dependant indicators in order to assess the economic performance of the companies. The sample comprises 452 companies in a period of five years, from 2006 to 2010, totalizing 2260 observations. A panel data regression model was used, analyzing data available on the Best and Greatest ranking website. Human resource management (HR) and other motivating resources may not influence the organizational and economic performance of the companies listed in the 150 Best Companies to Work. In other words, the models tested have not identified any profit difference between the companies classified as the best to work and the other companies that are not in Você S/A ranking, but which are available in the accounting data of the Best and Greatest website and were included in the study sample.