Given that the focus of strategic management research is understanding the determinants of firm performance, and that product development capabilities have been shown to influence firm performance, the research question this dissertation attempts to answer is: what factors influence a firm's product development capabilities? Building on the resource based view and evolutionary theory, this dissertation proposes that firms leverage knowledge generating resources to modify or develop their routines. Firm level routines are theorized to influence the capabilities of the firm. This dissertation focuses on two firm-level product development capabilities: effectiveness and efficiency. Effectiveness refers to a firm's ability to develop desirable products and efficiency refers to the firm's ability to develop those products quickly. The knowledge generating resources this dissertation examines is the firm's prior experience in product development and the firm's relational resources pertinent to product development. Specifically, this dissertation develops theory on four types of experience: market niche, component technology, platform technology, and general product development. Additionally, theory is developed regarding the effects of platform relational resources, as well as the breadth and depth of co-developers a firm utilizes in the development of their products. Using the videogame development industry as the empirical context, few hypothesized relationships are statistically or substantively significant. Prior experience with component technologies lowered the effectiveness of a firm' product development capabilities, but were found to increase efficiency. In addition, older firms tended to create more desirable products despite controlling for the four types of experience which may suggest that the age of the firm contributes something to the firm's ability to create desirable products beyond specific types of experience. This dissertation makes contributions to the theory on how capabilities are developed and enhanced by introducing mechanisms regarding how firms can leverage knowledge generating resources to improve their capabilities. More specifically, this dissertation provides contributes to the product development literature as well as the literature on how experience and relational resources influence a firm's product development capabilities. / Ph. D.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) is an extension of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that aims to promote living healthier lifestyles for low-income participants of SNAP with limited resources. This thesis aims to investigate the effectiveness of Virginia's adult SNAP-Ed program through a cost-effective analysis (CEA) for fiscal year 2013 which requires the separation of the into the costs and the effects of the program. The costs for the program are categories as the labor, capital, material, and utility costs that are required to implement the adult SNAP-Ed program. The effects are measured as the number of participants who start, graduate, and improve from the start to the end of the program. The effects were measured on a retrospective self-assessment that measured both if a participant graduated and their magnitude of improvement. The analysis showed that as the state of Virginia the adult SNAP-Ed program incurred a cost of $2,488,170.07 with 6,759 participants starting the program and 3,704 of those that graduated in fiscal year 2013. Participants that improved on at least one of the questions by a score of one were 3,609 of the 3,704 that graduated. For the state of Virginia the cost effective ratio (CER) for starting a participant was $368 and CER of $672 for each graduated participant. An improvement on at least one question saw a CER value of $689. These findings show patterns that can be used for future policy implementation and the focus of the program. / Master of Science

<p>In the dynamic landscape of modern warfare, innovation stands as a critical driver of military prowess and strategic advantage. This research initiative embarks on a comprehensive exploration. Seeking to elucidate the intricate interplay between academic research, effective leadership traits, and their combined influence on fostering innovation within the U.S. military. Through an integrated methodology that encompasses surveys and interviews, this study aims to unravel the complex mechanisms that underpin innovation and to provide insights that can enhance the U.S. military’s efficiency and effectiveness.</p> <p>Innovation has emerged as an indispensable component of military success, enabling armed forces to adapt swiftly to evolving challenges. The purpose of this research is to dissect the relationships between academic research, leadership efficacy, and innovation, with the overarching goal of identifying the key factors that drive innovation within the military sphere.<br> </p> <p>The research methodologies include a thoughtful blend of approaches, combining both qualitative and quantitative methods to capture a holistic understanding of the intricate connections between academic research, leadership, and innovation. A comprehensive literature review forms the cornerstone of this study. This allows for the synthesis of existing theories and empirical insights pertaining to military innovation and leadership dynamics.</p> <p>Supplementing the theoretical framework, an in-depth examination will provide contextualized insights into how effective leadership and academic contributions have synergistically fueled innovation within the military domain. Surveying and conducting interviews will constitute the crucial mechanisms for gathering primary data in this research endeavor. These two principal methodologies, thoughtfully selected for this study, will elevate the insights obtained from the literature review and the existing case studies drawn from related domains. This deliberate approach facilitates an immediate and unmediated investigation into the perspectives and experiences of active-duty military personnel, spanning both officers and enlisted members.</p> <p>The central drive of this research lies within surveys and interviews conducted among active-duty military personnel. This diverse participant pool encompasses officers and enlisted members, offering a cross-sectional perspective that illuminates innovation dynamics at multiple levels of the military hierarchy. The survey instrument meticulously addresses various dimensions of military innovation, including participants’ assessment of the prevailing level of innovation within their specific roles, the noticeable influence of commanders on innovative practices, leadership attributes that contribute to innovative outcomes, and the extent to which collaborations with external entities engender effective problem-solving and process enhancement.<br> </p> <p>The research project holds the promise of generating insights with real-world applicability. By combining the insights obtained from active-duty personnel, this study endeavors to construct a comprehensive narrative that explains the multifaceted aspects of military innovation. These insights have direct implications for policy formulation, potentially influencing decisions that facilitate and amplify innovative initiatives within the U.S. military.</p> <p>In summary, this research project aspires to shed light on the intricate relationship between academic research, leadership efficacy, and innovation within the U.S. military. Through the perspectives of military personnel, this study aims to decode the essential elements that catalyze military innovation. The outcomes of this research are envisaged to contribute to informed decision-making, fostering an environment where academic research and effective leadership synergistically fuel innovation. This, in turn, is anticipated to strengthen the efficiency and efficacy of the U.S. military, empowering it to navigate the complexities of contemporary security challenges with resilience and ingenuity.<br> </p> <p><br></p> <p>Keywords: Academic Research, Leadership Effectiveness, Collaboration.<br> </p>

No / Randomised, controlled trials are widely regarded as the gold standard by which the clinical effectiveness of healthcare products should be evaluated. Debate continues as to the value of this method of product assessment in a complex area such as wound care. Any method that is employed to define a product’s clinical value is, however, useless unless its ongoing effectiveness in a clinical area or with an individual patient is effectively monitored.

This qualitative case study examines academic performance effectiveness (or lack of effectiveness) of a charter school based on the perceptions of the administrator and teachers. This study explores what they perceived to be effective/ineffective, the reasons for this effectiveness/ineffectiveness, and the solutions to any identified challenges/problems at their charter school as they relate to students' academic performance. The participants in the study were from one charter school in a charter school system in North Central Texas. The study utilized surveys and interviews as sources of data that revealed administrator and teacher perception of what they considered to be the strengths and weaknesses of the school, factors accounting for the strengths and weaknesses, and possible solutions to the weaknesses of their charter school as related to students' academic performance. Five perceived strengths were identified to be instruction, curriculum, personnel, mission statement, and parent involvement. Likewise, three perceived weaknesses were identified to be instruction, curriculum, and parent involvement. Recommendations of the study for practitioners included recruitment and employment of preservice teachers from colleges and universities, partnering with alternative certification programs, creating a program of professional development, creating professional learning communities, creating a parent committee, and partnering with local agencies and community businesses. Implications for future research included similar analysis of schools within the same charter school system, analysis of a charter school within another charter school district and replicating this study with the addition of parents.

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Environmental Management / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The organizational effectiveness and strategic management areas of organizational theory are the general focus of this study. Organizational effectiveness is defined as the extent to which an organization by the use of certain resources fulfills its objectives without depleting its resources and without placing undue strain upon its members and/or society. Strategic management is defined as an array of processes which leads to the development of an effective approach to achieve the organization's objectives. Little agreement appears to exist on how to evaluate organizational effectiveness and to what extent strategic management impacts organizational effectiveness. This is the problem this study addressed. This study presents an extensive review of the literature, formulates some syntheses and utilizes a questionnaire to gather pertinent data. The sample of respondents consisted of a group of key administrators from all the Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States. The questionnaire had a ninety percent response rate. This study was primarily a correlation study which emphasized the perceptions of the respondents regarding the elements and/or processes of strategic management and the concepts of organizational effectiveness. The Chi-Square and Spearman rank order tests were utilized for statistical measures. The analysis of data revealed any significant relationships between (1) the elements and/or processes of strategic management and (2) the concepts related to organizational effectiveness.

When measuring Information Systems (IS) success, it is important to know the type of IS being measured, the systems objectives, and the unit of analysis. As organizations invest in technology to help achieve strategic goals, they need to be able to measure IS success. Measuring the effectiveness of IS from an organizational perspective is the effect it has on achieving organizational goals. The effectiveness of information systems is a measure of net benefits. This empirical study investigated IS success in terms of the DeLone and McLean IS success model variable, net benefits. In order to measure IS success, the context of the investigation and the unit of analysis are as important as what is being measured. This investigation, in the context of a building automation system (BAS), evaluated the net benefits success measurement with the organization as the unit of analysis. Two hypothesis testing studies were conducted. The first study was a predictive investigation, which researched the relationship among the independent variables, kilowatt hours, kilowatt demand, and the dependent variable, the cost of energy. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to understand to what extent the independent variables could predict the dependent variable. The second study was a correlational investigation. This study was conducted to ascertain whether a building automation system affects the cost of energy. A Point Biserial Correlation Coefficient test was conducted to understand the relationship between the cost of energy and stores with a building automation system and those without. A t-test was conducted to understand the level of significance. The results of the analysis showed that the relationship between the cost of energy and a BAS is statistically significant and that the variables kilowatt hours and kilowatt demand are statistically significant as predictors of the cost of energy.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Science in Industrial Engineering. October 2016 / The research project aimed at determining employees’ experiences of the application of the flow efficiency methodology. The flow efficiency methodology was the selected management methodology from the broader scope of process-focused methodologies. The significance of the flow efficiency approach is that it’s an alternative approach to the traditional management approach of optimising resource efficiency, but rather focuses on improving the flow of the process in which the resources work. The research was conducted in the context of the labour-intensive, South African manufacturing sector using a case study approach. The purpose of the research was to understand front-line employees’ and supervisors’ perceptions during the application of the flow efficiency approach. The assessed perceptions came from four selected change factors that stemmed from the Lean change iceberg model commonly found in literature. The motivation for research was two-fold: (1) prior research of the flow efficiency methodology in the socio-technical environment focused on operational improvement impact, and not on the impact on people; and (2), most research of improvement approaches and methods in South Africa tended to focus on success factors and pre-requisite maturity levels of various methods. The chosen flow efficiency approach required no pre-requisite culture requirements. The researcher was of the view that gaining an insight (through a case study) into employees’ perceptions of change factors during a flow efficiency approach, could lead to benefits of development and empowerment of employees and management in the labour-intensive, manufacturing sector of South Africa. The case study selected was a flow efficiency-based, improvement initiative in a multinational dairy plant in South Africa. The researcher used an unstructured, group-administered questionnaire to assess operational and supervisory employees’ perceptions of the selected change factors after process changes were made in the process where they work. The four selected process-improvement change factors derived from the Lean change iceberg were: Leadership Behaviour; Social System Change; Effectiveness of Change; and Employee Involvement & Empowerment. Content validity was conducted with external and internal experts to refine the questions and sequence of the questionnaire. A trained research assistant facilitated the multiple questionnaire sessions. Thematic content analysis was used to categorise participant’s responses into themes and sub-themes for each question. The occurrence of themes and sub-themes per question was tallied up and discussed for operational and supervisory employees with respect to the research objectives. The research did not yield a broad-based view on the impact of the flow efficiency management approach on employees’ perceptions in the greater industry context. However, it did give an insight, through the case study, into some universally applicable perceptions of changes experienced by South African, front-line and supervisory employees when the flow efficiency management approach was used. Perceptions of: leadership commitment and coaching, improved teamwork, simplification of jobs, improved flow, and improvements in individual performance, and employee empowerment were prevalent perceptions felt by most employees at both levels. / MT2017

A South African university has obligations to societal stakeholders. One dimension of these obligations is research productivity. The extent to which these societal obligations can be met is a function of how innovative research outputs are, and of the extent to which constraints to research output, or productivity, are known, and can be managed. An extensive body of literature, including the Global Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Effectiveness (GLOBE) studies, have demonstrated the influence of organisational cultural values on organisational outcomes. Hofstede’s cultural values research studies have also demonstrated the influence of societal cultural values on societal outcomes. However, despite this body of literature, there is a lack of knowledge of the influence of organisational culture on the research productivity of academic fields. This research attempts to address this lack of knowledge through a qualitative and a quantitative study of the relationships between organisational culture and research productivity. This analysis is undertaken at the level of the academic field, which is proxied in this study as the level of the academic school. A corresponding analysis is also undertaken at the individual level. The relationship between individual values and research productivity is also investigated, to provide a holistic perspective of the relationships between both organisational cultural, as well as individual values, and research productivity, differentiated by level of analysis. On the basis of the qualitative analysis, a model of context-specific individual-level factors is also derived, which are predicted to influence research productivity. A qualitative study of research-productive academics from the University of the Witwatersrand, the University of Cape Town, the University of Johannesburg, the University of South Africa and the University of KwaZulu-Natal was used to develop theory for testing quantitatively. The quantitative study, which sampled the University of the Witwatersrand, was used to test the theory and the propositions that were developed in the qualitative portion of the study. In the quantitative study, at the level of the academic school, relationships between organisational cultural values and research productivity predicted by GLOBE organisational cultural values theory were tested quantitatively. At the individual level, relationships between individual motivational values theory and research productivity that were predicted by Schwartz’s values theory were also tested quantitatively. The model of factors that were predicted by the qualitative analysis to contribute to research productivity was also tested quantitatively. The iii qualitative and quantitative results of the study are taken to support Kuhn’s argument; that academic research outputs are not necessarily innovative, and do not necessarily represent innovative knowledge creation in this context. Findings also indicate that particular values configurations may constrain research productivity. Specifically, configurations of values associated with lower levels of innovativeness might constrain specific non-peer reviewed forms of research productivity. The results reveal a context dominated by a conflict between two societal needs, one associated with increasing enrolments of students that are not necessarily matched by infrastructure increases, or a process of massification, and the other associated with the need for more research productivity. The conflict between these two needs was found to correspond with differences between individuals that relate to the extent to which they derive their primary job satisfaction from research versus teaching. Teacher-satisfied individuals were found to be signficantly less research productive. On the basis of the research findings, recommendations are made to improve research productivity in this context. On the basis of these and other findings discussed in the main text of the thesis, recommendations for practice and for futher research are made. It is concluded that specific value configurations appear to constrain research productivity in this context and that individuals and the academic institutions for which they work need to take the potential effect of such value configurations into account in their management of research productivity.