A Study on the Development Strategies of the Bank of Kaohsiung ABSTRACT There has been a trend toward financial deregulation and globalization since 1980. During this period, both Britain and France started the system of privatization of state-owned firms. And Taiwan, R.O.C. also kept up with the trend to construct the framework of economical deregulation and globalization. Meanwhile, being against the global trend fearlessly and courageously, the Kaohsiung city government, to the contrary, established the Bank of Kaohsiung (B.O.K.) to bring prosperity to residents. However, under the big pressure of the global tendency, the Kaohsiung city government finally changed its policy to implement privatization and completed all the tasks on Sep. 27, 1999. Through the establishment of privatization of state-owned firms, the B.O.K. modulate development strategies, progress enterprise renovation and upgrade the operation performance to face the increasingly strict challenges and the tendency of bank consolidation. However, privatization is not a panacea for the sustainable development of the B.O.K. Therefore, this study aims to discuss the development strategies of the B.O.K. from three aspects of employees, employer and the government, to achieve win-win-win results. The results and suggestions of this study are as follows: I. The Operation Performance The operation performance after privatization of the B.O.K. still acts as a role of state-owned bank of the Kaohsiung city government. Basically speaking, the quantities of the municipal loans of the city government will comply with the performances of the bank¡¦s assets, liabilities, and incomes. The higher the former one is, the more the latter ones are. II. The Industrial Competitive Position In late 2004, the market shares of assets and liabilities of the B.O.K. didn¡¦t exceed 1%. Besides, the scale of B.O.K. fell behind the other firms. Its operation performance was fair. Except for the growth rate, the capital adequacy, asset quality, profitability, liquidity ability, and interest rate sensibility respectively are in high-middle rankings among the domestic banks. And the competitive position of deposit, loan, and profit-risk fell in the area of the third quadrant. The major rivals against the B.O.K. on business and consolidation strategies will be Kao Shin Commercial Bank, Taiwan Cooperative Bank and First Commercial Bank. But the potential rivals against the B.O.K. on consolidation strategy include Chinese Bank, Chinfon Commercial Bank, Hwatai Bank, Cota Commercial Bank, Lucky Bank, Taitung Business Bank, Taipei Bank, China Development Industrial Bank. III. Employee Satisfaction The survey of questionnaires shows that the employees in the B.O.K. recognize the business principles of this enterprise and feel satisfied with the payoff, but express non-trust on executive officers and unfairness on personnel system. With the impact of privatization and bank consolidation, the B.O.K. Union adopted the strategy of law-compliance to complete establishing employment regulation, signing collective agreement and electing worker director, which are considered three pillars of the Union, for protecting the working rights. IV. The Competitive Strategies and Operation Policies The overall application on competitive strategies is not excellent. Especially, the implement in development strategy is the worst. The priority that the B.O.K. should do is to establish clear developmental strategies to upgrade its competitive potential through the following steps. A. Risk Management: Comply with the regulation of Basel II to enhance the ability of managing risk. B. Finance Management: Improve assets quality to increase the bank¡¦s profitability. C. Business Management: Develop diversified businesses on the basis of municipal loan. D. Human Resource: Plan proper manpower placement and hold in-service training to raise the degree of employee satisfaction. E. Interior Procedure: Implement responsibility center management and enhance financial information system. F. Developmental Perspective: Found the basis of ¡§small is beautiful, small is professional, and small is strong¡¨, and develop into the biggest financial holding company in southern Taiwan in the future. G. Organization Restructure: Consider establishing corporate banking group, consumer banking group and wealth management group. In Kaohsiung area, the B.O.K. should focus on the plan of establishing region center, and mini-individual bank with specific task outside Kaohsiung area. V. Proposal Evaluation for development strategies of the B.O.K. Considering the recognition over competitive developmental strategies of the B.O.K. from three aspects including labors, employer and the government, the study offers the following suggestions under the limitation for implement. A. The best strategy of the B.O.K. for sustainable management is to adopt the principle of ¡§small is beautiful, small is professional, and small is strong¡¨, and to expand business across the whole nation in the future. B. If the Kaohsiung city government adopts the strategy of capital withdraw, the proposal of selling to domestic general public should be the first priority to be taken into consideration. C. If the Kaohsiung city government adopts the strategy of niche, the proposal of consolidation with varied small financial holding company or being merged by non-banking financial holding company will gain the best benefits. D. Not launch the proposal of increasing capital to avoid the public¡¦s anxiety. VI. Intrinsic Value Evaluation for the B.O.K. Based on the evaluation criteria of bias, accuracy, explanatory, and investment performance, the study shows that model D of discounted free cash flow (FCF-D) ranks number one, model B of Edwards-Bell-Ohlson (EBO-B), model B of price/earning ratios (PE-B) rank number two and three respectively. The rest six ones are not recommended. Also the study suggests that the B.O.K. should adopt FCF-D to evaluate its intrinsic value. It is estimated that the intrinsic value per stock is NT$22.24 on May 3, 2005.

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to reduce the production time while providing employees satisfaction and the problem formulation for thesis is;</p><p>-How can a company use its work area effectively in order to reduce production time while providing</p><p>employee satisfaction?</p><p>To answer problem formulation, proper lean tools were applied. Before implementing lean tools, the study started with a questionnaire to evaluate the effect of work area on employees. Five steps of 5S were implemented on work area so as to provide an organized work area for employee satisfaction in accordance with the theory. SMED’s four stage methodology was applied to the machine in the work area where was focused by the authors in order to reduce the production time. The study was made in a Swedish Company called Swepart Transmission AB. which produces gearboxes, bearings etc. Results obtained from the study shows that employees are under effect of work area and employees were satisfied after 5S implementation, also production time will be reduced at least one hour in the length of time. This thesis can be generalised to all manufacturing companies thus both employee satisfaction and production time reduction can be provided and companies can work more effectively which enables them to become competitiveness in order to survive in market.</p>

Forestry employees are the most valuable asset to forest operations. An analysis was completed to determine employee training status, how safe employees feel within their roles and identify major reasons of dissatisfaction. Through the development of job descriptions and person specifications, it was possible to identify the job requirements along with the personal attributes and qualifications required by employers, to ensure employees were capable of undertaking their role. There is an identifiable gap within the level of formal education among employees. Over half (55%) of the employees have lower qualifications than those required to have undertaken further forestry on-job training. A majority of employees’, particularly those in machine operator roles feel safe in their forestry operational roles. A small proportion of employees in breaker out, thin to waste and pruning roles feel unsafe. All employees surveyed except loader operators, felt only moderately safe in their role. The difficult environment associated with forestry was determined to be the major reason for dissatisfaction (52%) among employees, along pay and length of day. Paradoxically, the environment was also a major reason for satisfaction among those surveyed. By identifying the major reasons of dissatisfaction among forestry employees it is possible to improve job satisfaction and employee retention. Training forestry employees needs to be from a more practical aspect. This will lead to increase the number of employees that are trained for the roles they are undertaking, by ensuring they are equipped with adequate knowledge, and have the skill to work safely and to a high quality standard.

This dissertation presents an investigation of a rarely studied business entity in the cross disciplinary literature on organizational culture, a completely virtually organized firm. Subscribing to a conviction that any culture can only be understood through an approach that uncovers the lived experiences of its members, I employ the traditional anthropological method of participant observation as my foundational data gathering technique. In an effort to help engage anthropology with the cross disciplinary organizational culture literature generally, I also use two well-known methods of corporate culture assessment from the management sciences. I provide a number of recommendations to the sponsors of the research for addressing problems that relate directly to worker morale and performance and which, consequently, impact the company's overall potential for success. Some of these problems are unique to this particular company while other issues that I identify, such as weak organizational identification among employees, loose networks of social capital between co-workers, employee training and nurturing deficits, email overload impacts on employee productivity and regard for organizational leaders, and the encroachment of work on personal time, are problems likely to be encountered by members of other virtual work organizations. As such, my findings should be of interest to applied researchers who study these fast-growing types of work arrangements.

The healthcare industry evolved on March 23, 2010, when the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law. The general problem prompting the need for this study was that healthcare workers are affected by patient and family anxiety, evolving evidencebased practices and treatments, and regulatory complexities. Outdated managerial skills with leaders lacking emotional intelligence may produce employee dissatisfaction, and satisfied workers may influence the quality of care and patient satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between senior healthcare leaders' EI and employee satisfaction. EI theory was the conceptual foundation for this research. This quantitative study used a survey to collect EI scores from 25 senior healthcare executives using the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) and employee satisfaction scores from the Press Ganey Employee Voice Solution Survey collected by their organizations. Data were analysed using Pearson correlations, independent sample t tests, and ANOVAs to test the variables of EI and employee satisfaction. Assumptions of the t test and ANOVA were met to ensure the sample size was sufficient. The results of the Pearson correlation indicated that employee satisfaction percentile and score were not related to EI within the sample. No differences were found in EI by age, gender, years of experience, or educational level. The changes in healthcare require focusing on social change as it relates to service behaviors by all individuals who have any impact on the patient-care experience.

This thesis aims to explore the effects of tight budgetary control on employee behavior focusing on employee loyalty, employee satisfaction, job related tension and tendency towards data manipulation in public sectors. The study explores the subject on the population of three countries which includes Sweden, Jordan and Pakistan. In Pakistan and Jordan, no previous study has ever been performed which tried to explore effects of tight budgetary control in employee behavior. Method: Keeping the above fact in view, method derived for this study was the combination of qualitative and quantitative approach. Questionnaires were formulated and sent to employees of the sampled companies receiving 740 responses. For qualitative method, 5 employees were interviewed from entire three countries. Finding: the study revealed that all three countries are experiencing tight budgetary control whereas Jordan and Pakistan are experiencing it on higher level and Sweden is experiencing it in lower level as compared to Pakistan and Jordan. As far employee behavior is concerned, both the method proved that loyalty was negatively related to tight budgetary control for Pakistan and Sweden whereas positively related in case of Jordan. Satisfaction is also negatively related to tight budgetary control for Sweden and Pakistan while positively related for Jordan. Job related tension and tendency towards data manipulation are positively related to tight budgetary control for all three countries. Research type: Master’s thesis.

The aim of the thesis is to evaluate importance of benefits in reward system in a selected company and to recommend steps that would lead to increased efficiency of their use. In the first part of this thesis there is a comprehensive look at the remuneration strategy, which consists of cash compensation and employee benefits. After definining the concept of benefits I concentrated on their structuring from different perspectives. The main part of the theoretical part is aimed to evaluate of different types of benefits. At the end of this section I describe current trends in the area of employee benefits. In the first section of the practical part of the thesis I mentioned a short characterization of the selected company. The practical part aims to analyze the provided benefits. Employee benefits system is divided into the following areas: vocational and language training, benefits and housing stabilization policy. I also evaluate importance of the current system of providing employee benefits in the selected company by conducting of satisfaction surveys. The conclusion focuses on the suggestion of possible improvements that would increase efficiency in the provision of benefits.

This thesis investigates employee attitudes to corporate citizenship (CC) and the impact on employer brands. It addresses the practice of CC in the German FMCG industry, considers employee understanding of CC, and examines which CC initiatives influence perceptions of employer brands. The research is driven by the dual challenges of sustainable development and the ‘war for talent’ in attracting, motivating and retaining employees. It is underpinned by the extant literature on CC dimensions, stakeholder theory and employer brands. The research approach is based on two case studies, comprising three phases: analysis of corporate documentation followed by two phases of semi-structured interviews exploring employees’ perceptions of CC and the link to employer brands. Key findings: An understanding of the positioning of CC in the corporate sustainability strategy and differing foci of CC, including environment, sustainable supply chain and people/culture. The study highlights employee understanding of eight CC dimensions, revealing economic responsibility toward employees as a new dimension. With respect to employer brands, CC initiatives focused on discretionary responsibility towards the natural environment and economic responsibility towards customers are seen as essential; legal, ethical and discretionary responsibility towards community are limited; and discretionary and economic responsibilities towards employees have a strong relationship. A focus on economic responsibilities towards owners has a strong but negative relationship. The theoretical contribution is a conceptual framework of all identified CC dimensions in practice and their relationship to employer brands. Contributions to practice include the importance of benefit packages, work-life balance support, employee development and work environment.

The main aim of this work is to determine the current level of employee satisfaction, the reasons that lead to these results, and ways that the current situation can be improved. The theoretical part is focused on the most important topics related to satisfaction characterization, it's influence of work behavior, factors affecting it, importance and methods to investigate it. The practical part is focused on exploration of employee job satisfaction in the chosen company. This finding has been based on the questionnaire survey. The list of areas examined of satisfaction and analyzed problem areas of employee satisfaction. To these results were then suggest ways, how could the current employee satisfaction effectively as possible to increase and secure.

As the airline industry continues to rapidly expand and evolve, today's airlines leaders are faced with the challenge of balancing long term strategies with short term solutions. Customer satisfaction has become significantly important for airline operations and as a result service quality has also gained paramount importance in this sector. Lean's customer-focused theme for improving service quality has gained a momentum in services, however, Lean deployment within the airline service sector is generally a long way behind manufacturing and health services. These factors have motivated research into investigating Lean phenomena within a leading UK airline company. For quantitative and qualitative data analysis, 9 cases were collected from 3 internal departments of the airline company, 35 semi-structured interviews were held, and 220 survey questionnaires were circulated of which 180 were returned. Within-case and cross-case analysis techniques were applied and, to develop a framework and 5 key relationships were identified. This study’s contribution is in the area of Quality Management as it: (a) highlights the role of ‘customer value’ and ‘engagement value’ in the domain of technical and functional service quality attributes; (b) maps cost-quality-delivery relationships through linking Lean improvements to its results; and (c) constructs an ‘outcome-driven’ framework from the findings. Ultimately, this research provides knowledge and understanding of how an airline company deploys Lean as business strategy to improve their service quality. The novelty of the research in terms of deliverables is two-fold: firstly, it establishes framework linking Lean improvement initiatives to its results, which extends to the sustainability, commitment, future profitability and market share characteristics of improvement results; and secondly, it provides a tool, which could assist key decision makers in evaluating the results of the Lean initiative to provide better understanding for Lean deployment. Key words: Lean services; business improvement strategy; service quality improvements; quality management; airline services; customer satisfaction; employee satisfaction.