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The capabilities of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to integrate all necessary business functions into a single system with a shared database efficiently and effectively has persuaded organisations to adopt them. Research shows that ERP implementation in both large and small to medium enterprises has been a difficult challenge for organisations throughout the years. Despite the many advantages of ERP systems, there isn't a clear and easy way of implementing them in Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The motivation for the research is to investigate the barriers to ERP software system implementation in an SME using a case study approach, and to identify the steps to overcome these barriers and investigate the claim of ERP vendors that their ERP solutions improve the performance of their customers, the profitability and efficiency of work processes. This research identifies the barriers to ERP implementation in an SME, provides an overview of the traditional and current approaches of ERP implementation and discusses the effects of adopting an ERP system on the company's overall performance. The research uses a mix of methods including case study research and action research. Un-structured interviews and semi structured interviews approaches with negotiation and change management techniques were also used in order to generate knowledge concerning the problems at the case study. The case study has determined reasons for failed implementations, unlike previous research which suggests education level impact upon the implementation of the ERP system, the study demonstrates that an insufficient education level is not a necessary condition for resistance to change. It has also been shown in this research that high level management can have a direct influence on the ERP implementation in SMEs. This research suggests that SMEs need to standardize processes into business routines which will influence the introduction of a different knowledge store that helps the development of the new system; however employee s resistance to change, lack of trust of the new system and lack of knowledge has limited the implementation process by increasing mistakes and duplication of data. The ERP system has been evaluated by the end users at the case study organisation, and the results suggests that the implementation of an ERP system has improved the overall business and has increased the performance, the profitability and the efficiency of work processes. This research adds to the overall knowledge of ERP implementation in SMEs by deriving a better understanding of the problem in the body of knowledge and identifying the barriers to ERP implementation in SMEs. It provides recommendations that have been tested in the case study organisation for overcoming ERP implementation barriers in SMEs, and a financial model of the implementation costs and benefits. Finally, the recommendations presented in this thesis and suggested areas for further research set out the potential way forward to advance knowledge in this area.

This study evaluated how three conservation approaches implemented by the Brazilian Sea Turtle Conservation Program (the TAMAR Project) are related to local support for sea turtle conservation in Praia do Forte, Brazil. Four species of sea turtles nest in Praia do Forte. In Praia do Forte, locals harvested sea turtles for their meat and eggs on a regular basis to support subsistence needs. The three conservation strategies analyzed are employment opportunities and alternative sources of income from sea turtle ecotourism; enforcement of federal sea turtle protection laws; and implementation of environmental education programs via sea turtle ecotourism. These conservation strategies, which are implemented since 1982, represent both top-down and bottom-up conservation paradigms. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered through nine months of fieldbased research (between May 2006 and September 2008), using tools of participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and key informant interviews. Results indicate that conservation strategies implemented by TAMAR seem to influence local support for sea turtle conservation. Income and environmental education programs to the local children are cited as the main benefits sea turtle conservation brings to the community. Enforcement caused resentment when first implemented, but is now perceived as a necessary strategy to protect sea turtles. The relative lack of community participation in sea turtle conservation seems not to have hampered local support for sea turtle conservation. In fact, the majority of respondents perceive TAMAR as the most appropriate entity to manage sea turtles, and only a minority believes the community should co-manage sea turtle conservation with TAMAR. Though these three conservation strategies seem to help maintain traditional ecological knowledge, the future of this knowledge across generations is uncertain. Though community-based sea turtle conservation is working at the community scale, external factors associated with tourism development at the larger scale seem to influence both livelihoods and sea turtle survival. On a negative side, larger scale tourism development is associated with an increase in the cost of living, the introduction of drugs, violence and greater sense of insecurity, changes in the local fishing culture, and with ongoing threats to sea turtle survival. Tourism development is associated with benefits as well, including improvements in the local infrastructure, employment opportunities, and alternative sources of income. Since tourism development, at both local and regional scales, is unlikely to decrease any time soon, sea turtle survival no longer solely depends in getting local support for sea turtle conservation, but also in addressing the external factors that drive conservation and consumption of sea turtles. Overall, sea turtle ecotourism is one part of a larger strategy for meeting local socioeconomic needs while also protecting sea turtles in Praia do Forte.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Civil Engineering / Sunanda Dissanayake / Seat belt usage is considered to be one of the most effective ways of improving safety of motor vehicle occupants. Thus, increasing seat belt usage among motorists has become one of the top prioritized goals of many highway safety improvement programs. The main objective of this study was to develop a methodology to estimate potential economic benefits associated with increased seat belt usage by Kansas motorists based on conditions prevailing in the State of Kansas. Seat belt effectiveness in reducing injuries was estimated and those values were then used to estimate economic benefits due to injury reductions. Five methodologies were used to estimate seat belt effectiveness which included multiple logistic regression, double pair comparison method, Cox proportional hazards regression, conditional logistic regression, and risk ratio model using estimating equation approach. Crash data from Kansas Accident Reporting System (KARS) database was used. A procedure was developed to estimate economic benefits due to increased seat belt usage based on State conditions. The highest variation in estimated seat belt effectiveness values using different methods were observed for incapacitating injuries while the lowest variation was observed for possible injuries. For fatal injuries, the estimated seat belt effectiveness values ranged from 50-69% for passenger cars and 57-70% for other passenger vehicles. The range of seat belt effectiveness values for incapacitating injuries was 47-65% for passenger cars and 44-69% for other passenger vehicles. It was also found that the multiple logistic regression method provide relatively narrower confidence intervals for almost all the nonfatal injury categories in both vehicle groups. Based on estimations using logistic regression method, seat belts are 56% effective in preventing fatal injuries in passenger cars and 61% effective in other passenger vehicles. The seat belt effectiveness in reducing incapacitating injuries was found to be 53% in passenger cars and 52% in other passenger vehicles. It was found that if seat belt usage rate in Kansas reaches the national average rate of 81% (2006), the resulted annual economic benefits to the State is estimated to be about $ 191 millions in 2006 dollars or in other words, due to lower seat belt usage currently observed in Kansas compared to national usage level, the annual estimated economic loss is about $ 191 millions. Seat belt effectiveness values are currently not available based on KABCO (K-Fatal, A-Incapacitating, B-Non-incapacitating, C-Possible, and O-No injuries) injury scale. Therefore, this study could serve as an initiative towards establishing a procedure to estimate benefits of seat belt usage based on State highway crash data.

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Master of Arts / Department of Economics / Dong Li / Comprehensive worksite wellness programs were first introduced in the United States in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with the goals of improving health, reducing health care expenditures, and demonstrating senior management’s commitment to the health and well-being of workers (Ozminkowski et al, 2002). As the annual cost of employer-sponsored family health coverage increased four percent between 2012 and 2013 (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2013), many companies are turning to worksite wellness programs. Wellness programs have shown not only to reduce health care costs, but also decrease absenteeism and increase employee satisfaction. The studies on the benefits of wellness programs are not conclusive; there seems to be a general lack of good data collection and analysis. This report discusses what determines an employer’s likelihood of offering a wellness program, what determines an employee’s participation in a wellness program, and a benefits analysis of wellness programs.

Den här uppsatsen handlar om hur ett teknikkonsultföretag, där majoriteten av tjänsterna sker i form av projekt, kan utnyttja kunskapsöverföring för att skapa konkurrenskraft. Här studeras hur kunskapsöverföring, genom att ta hänsyn till tre olika lärprocesser, kan bidra till ekonomisk fördel för företaget. Efter identifiering av vilka verktyg/aktiviteter som används för kunskapsöverföring på fallföretaget analyserades vilka lärprocesser som är möjliga med respektive verktyg/aktivitet enligt dagens teori och medarbetares upplevelser. Empirisk data samlades in från olika delar av organisationen i form av intervjuer och enkätundersökning. Utifrån analysen sammanfattades vilka lärprocesser som utnyttjas och med vilka verktyg/aktiviteter samt vilka som kan utnyttjas bättre för att skapa ekonomiska fördelar för företaget, och därmed också konkurrenskraft. Skillnader i vilka kunskaper medarbetare med mycket lång arbetsliverfarenhet upplever att de lär sig med verktygen/aktiviteterna jämfört med medarbetare med kortare arbetslivserfarenhet har observerats, vilket skapar nya frågor för framtida forskning. Det ges också förslag på vidare forskning om hur hänsyn till lärprocesser vid strategi för kunskapsöverföring skulle kunna generera konkurrenskraft i form av hur förbättringar uppfattas av kunderna. / This master’s thesis is about how a technology consulting firm, where the majority of services is executed as projects, can use knowledge transfer to create competitive advantage. By taking into account three different learning processes this degree project focus on how the transfer of knowledge can contribute to economic benefits to the company. Identification of tools and activities used for knowledge transfer in this specific case company supported the analysis of what learning processes those are possible for each tool/activity with respect to today’s research and employees experiences. Empirical data were collected from different parts of the organization through interviews and questionnaire survey. Based on the analysis a conclusion of what learning processes are mainly used and with what tools and activities. The conclusion also define the economic benefits that could be gained by the company and hence create competitive advantage. Differences in type of knowledge learned by the employees carrying a long work experience compared to employees with shorter work experience has been observed, which creates new questions for further research. This degree project also provides suggestions for further research on how, with respect to learning processes, the strategy of knowledge transfer would generate competitiveness through quality improvements perceived by customers.

Department of worship public and industry for the purpose of worshiping their ancestors and the establishment of an independent property of the original in Mainland China, prevalent in Taiwan, while Taiwan civil habits. Because of the economic, social structure has evolved from an agricultural society to the social patterns of industry and commerce, interpersonal gradually alienated, weak, and due to age, by multi-generational inheritance, to send the identity of the next member of the increasingly vague, complex, so that to send human competition for worship production action, the meaning of sacrifice public sector to set up gradually lost. Due to sacrifice the particularity of the public sector within the public owners, members of crime in the administrator or send personal gain map take illicit profits, fame and fortune of the heart to fight for the assets held, and other issues, External: their legal rights and obligations of civil, judicial and administrative departments have different views, and therefore resulted in numerous controversies, government to actively address the ritual of public sacrifice public sector long years of problems, in 1997, was promulgated "Professions Ordinance, planning the entire clean-up project schedule, except for taxes, the competent authority is still lack of supporting. in this study, secondary data analysis and questionnaires as the main research methods, analysis worship public and industry clean-up the causes and impact of hard, and tax officials on the implementation of the ancient worship Professions Ordinance successful and able to solve the economic efficiency of tax administration, tax equity and land use the troubled expectations. Sacrifice public sector owners of non-tax professionals do not quite understand, to declare the type and tax implications, therefore, to collect scholars' sacrifice the particularity of the public sector and the relevant provisions of the tax law analysis, to be the table lists the legal persons, juridical association with the sacrifice of public sector legal establishment of the legal basis for the purpose of legal nature, and real estate approach for worship public industry to canzhuo , will legal forms and illegal forms of worship the public sector, tax concessions or not, a comparative analysis, the public owners to easily compare, but its declaration of substantial benefit. Another of this thesis study found that tax officials for the implementation of the Ordinance of the sacrifice to the public and industry, it is helpful to the simplification of tax administration, tax equity goals and enhance the land use of economic efficiency, but want to reach the aforementioned goals, depends on the completion of the worship the reporting and registration of public sector jobs, not yet required to complete the declaration and other related job assessment, remains to be the financial sector this sacrifice the particularity of the public sector be deliberated.

Encouraging the participation of the local population in the preservation of World Heritage Sites is one of the mission’s of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre. Community involvement is also critical in the planning process. This dissertation argues that community involvement should be part of the World Heritage List nomination process and long-term preservation of the sites and that mechanisms should be in place to ensure this as part of the nomination file. To support this argument, literature on community involvement and World Heritage Sites is reviewed. Part of this dissertation is to provide a framework for community involvement at World Heritage Sites. In order to accomplish this, the known potential socio-economic benefits of World Heritage designation are also reviewed. This provides a framework whereby communities can be consulted and involved in activities at World Heritage Sites with the goal of preservation of the site and achieving additional socio-economic benefits. This framework was used to explore the attitudes of eight Western Ukrainian communities on the use of their wooden churches that are nominated to the UNESCO World Heritage List to improve their socio-economic conditions as well as preserve the churches. Previous studies focused mostly on the effects of World Heritage Site designation to produce social and economic benefits. This dissertation takes a different approach by involving the community at the nomination stage to determine which of these benefits they support and develop a plan of action and guidelines focused on achieving the desired changes. A community survey was developed under the supervision of this dissertation committee and Dr. Bevz at the Department of Restoration and Reconstruction of Architectural Complexes at Lviv Polytechnic National University as part of a J. William Fulbright grant to Ukraine. The survey responses were analyzed using both summary and statistical analysis to develop guidelines and a plan of action to be implemented by Lviv Polytechnic. This dissertation provides much needed research into community involvement at World Heritage Sites for their preservation and to achieve socio-economic benefits for the surrounding communities. The framework laid out in this dissertation has implications not only for Western Ukraine, but cultural heritage sites throughout the world.

Magistrantūros studijų baigiamasis darbas, 72 puslapiai, 21 paveikslas, 20 lentelių, 95 literatūros šaltiniai, 2 priedai, lietuvių kalba. PRASMINIAI ŽODŽIAI: ekologiniai ūkiai, ekonominė nauda. Tyrimo objektas – paramos ekonominė nauda ekologiniams ūkiams. Tyrimo tikslas – įvertinti paramos pagal Ekologinio ūkininkavimo programą ekonominę naudą ūkiams. Tyrimo uždaviniai: 1) teoriškai ištirti ekologinio ūkininkavimo vietą agrarinės aplinkosaugos priemonių sistemoje; 2) teoriškai išanalizuoti ekologinio ūkininkavimo reikšmę agrarinės aplinkosaugos priemonių sistemoje ekonominiu, socialiniu bei aplinkosaugos požiūriais; 3) nustatyti, kokią įtaką šalies ūkininkų ūkių pajamoms ir pelnui turi parama ekologiniams ūkiams; 4) remiantis apklausos duomenimis, įvertinti ekologinio ūkininkavimo ekonominę naudą Kėdainių rajono ūkiams. Tyrimo metodai: mokslinės literatūros, dokumentų ir teisės aktų analizė ir sintezė, statistinių duomenų analizės, grupavimo, palyginimo metodai, grafinis vaizdavimo būdas. Detalesniam tyrimui, siekiant įvertinti ekologinio ūkininkavimo ekonominę naudą ūkiams, atlikta atvejo analizė,– apklausti Kėdainių rajono ekologinių ūkių savininkai (atlikta jų anketinė apklausa). Tyrimo rezultatai: • pirmojoje darbo dalyje teoriškai išnagrinėta ekologinio ūkininkavimo vieta agrarinės aplinkosaugos priemonių sistemoje, išanalizuota ekologinio ūkininkavimo reikšmė agrarinės aplinkosaugos priemonių sistemoje ekonominiu, socialiniu bei aplinkosaugos požiūriais; • antrojoje... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The final work of university Master studies: 72 pages, 21 figures, 20 tables, 95 references, 2 appendices, in Lithuanian. KEY WORDS: organic farms, economic benefits. Research object – economic benefits of the support to organic farms. Research aim – to evaluate economic benefits of the support according to the organic farming scheme to farms. Objectives: 1) to investigate theoretically the place of organic farming in the system of agro-environmental measures; 2) to analyze the economic, social and environmental aspects of organic farming in the system of agro-environmental measures; 3) to determine the impact of organic farming support on farm income and profits; 4) to assess the economic benefits of organic farming to farms in Kėdainiai district. Research methods: analysis and synthesis of scientific literature, documents and legislation, statistical data collection and analysis, comparison, graphical presentation, questionnaire. Research results: • The first part examines foreign and Lithuanian literature on the place of organic farming in the system of agro-environmental measures at theoretical level, analyzes the economic, social and environmental aspects of organic farming; • The second part determines the methods to be used to evaluate the economic benefits of organic farming; • The third part evaluates economic benefits of organic farming to farms: in the country – according to FADN 2006 – 2010 data, in Kėdainiai district – according to the questionnaire data (they... [to full text]