Business in the twenty-first century has become global and being able to deal effectively with others who are culturally different has become a business necessity (Thomas & Inkson, 2004). Understanding and working with and across cultures is nowhere as prominent and as important as it is South Africa. This is particularly so because of the various cultures within South Africa combined with the challenges introduced by the ending of apartheid in 1994. To be successful, organisations have started realising that people’s differences can be their strength, if only leaders could perfect the skill of combining their qualities and ideas, whilst still valuing them and each other as very different and unique individuals. For centuries now the concept of the “melting pot” in which everyone embraced the same culture and values (DuPont, 1997) has worked well. However, the boundaries to trade and business within the twenty-first century have undergone vast adaptations with these boundaries to business being lifted and individuals across and within nations being given equal opportunities, no matter what nationality, race and / or gender group one represents. Arguing that organisations merely comprise bricks and mortar and that it is about the individuals within an organisation and their behaviours, one would then suggest that, to mobilise and equip an organisation in the twenty-first century, leaders would have to change the behaviours and thought processes of those individuals within and representing the organisation. As an opening statement the challenge to business in the twenty-first century, becomes apparent when one start to delve into the arsenal of skills required to - 4 - meet this challenge. For centuries leaders have been following the same recipe and consistently added the same ingredients as described in the metaphor of the “melting pot” without any real consideration for difference. Leaders have long known that interacting effectively with others is probably one of the most important skills a leader needs to have. Thomas and Inkson (2004) argue that for the foreseeable future, cultural differences will remain a key factor in these interpersonal interactions. Thomas and Inkson (2004) add two very distinct points. • Leaders who do not keep their skills up-to-date run the risk of losing out. • The key leadership competency for the twenty-first century is cultural intelligence.

Analysis and design of the neighborhood plan supported by economic data

Enterprise systems have been used since the 1970s. They have changed over the time but their main purpose - to automate and streamline the corporate processes, is still the same. However the scope has increased and the enterprise systems became very widespread. They integrate many usefull utilities into one system and have moved from the mainframes to common desktop computers. The abreviation ERP is very well known in today's IT world. It would be really difficult to find a large or midsize company which does not use the enterprise resource planning system. Yet the situation is dramatically different at the small enterpirse market. Due to theirs complexity, ERP systems are expensive. Many small companies are unable to afford heavy investments into the software they are using. Such enterprises can use the lightweight versions of the commercial solutions or not to use ERP systems at all. There is a new business trend - the SaaS business model. It is based on providing the access to the system over the network for regular fees. These fees are smaller than the licence ones so that it is easier for small companies to get up to ERP systems that would be too expensive for them otherwise. Even big software companies (such as SAP) have been getting engaged with the adoption of the SaaS recently. The IT experts say the SaaS business model is to be very prospective. The goals of this dissertation consist of the analysis of providing the ERP system as a service and the description of technical and processionary aspects that are mandatory for succesful adoption of the SaaS business model. A proprietary solution of the ERP system will be provided as a part of this thesis. The solution would be designed and developed especially for purposes of the adoption of the SaaS model.

The aim of this thesis is to assess the gaps in theoretical planning to implement a business plan. Analysis carried out on a real project of iStavitel Ltd. by comparing the status of the project after the first year of its historic run to the business plan. A sub-goal is to suggest the development of the company, after unfulfilled potential of the original business plan. The work also contains some less common methods used in internet marketing.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

Teachers' subject knowledge is a significant aspect of teachers' practice and worthy of further research. This research focuses on how 'expert' geography teachers use their subject knowledge and its relationship to their practice. The research consists of three over-arching themes: geography teachers' subject knowledge; other influences on teachers' practice and teacher 'expertise'. The research is based upon data collected on six examples of 'expert' geography teachers. Data were collected in two cohorts and focused on illuminating teachers' practice, personal motivations and relationships with academic and school geography. These data were coded, described and analysed using a framework, described as the 'cultures of influence' map. The research highlights new understandings about how these teachers used their subject knowledge. The six teachers were encouraged, at interview, to articulate individual philosophies and theories about geography and teaching geography. The research shows that the case teachers ascribed qualities to geography that they valued and wanted to emphasise in their teaching. It also shows that whilst a central influence on their practice, the case teachers' subject knowledge was not always the most significant influence. In examining their practice, analysis revealed three strategies used by these teachers to help students bridge the lesson content with their prior knowledge. The term 'synoptic capacity' is used to describe how teachers can link their lesson content with the subject as a whole. The research calls for policy to refocus on the subject and on teachers' professional practice, to enable teachers to develop and use their synoptic capacity. It also calls for a reemphasis on geography as a resource for teaching in ITE and CPO and for further research into how the subject can affect geography teachers' expertise.

In the wake of financial crisis the UK Coalition government has emphasised an ‘enterprise for all’ agenda for economic growth that, paradoxically, marginalises migrant entrepreneurs within an ‘immigrant reduction’ agenda. While migrant entrepreneurs may be written off as ‘failing’ within economic theory and policy, my research shows instead that the value of migrant enterprise is far from marginal. Focusing on Ghanaian and Polish migrant enterprise within and through London, I recentre our understanding away from the spatially partial (trans)national frameworks used in previous studies, towards a spatially holistic translocal conceptualisation of migrant enterprise. I re-conceptualise the value of migrant enterprise as a continuum of economic and social value, created for multiple stakeholders who consume and simultaneously construct this value relationally across space. Further, I unpack migrant enterprise practices in relation to migrant entrepreneurs’ translocal capital mobilisations and personal mobilities that stretch across localities in the Global North and South. I argue that this translocal framework also provides a more useful basis for facilitating migrant enterprise in practice. I highlight key gaps in support provision between publicly-funded institutions that fail to engage with the specific yet heterogeneous needs of migrant entrepreneurs, combined with self-funded support provisions that are inaccessible to the most capital-poor migrant entrepreneurs. To address these gaps, I make the case for further development of and investment in community-based enterprise support as an appropriate and realistic approach for enabling migrant entrepreneurs to create value across space. My research also expands the intellectual trading zone within Geography by constructing a ‘hybrid’ Economic-Development Geography of translocal migrant enterprise. I argue that the continued expansion of this ‘hybrid’ inter-sub-disciplinary approach is crucial to Geographers’ capacity to theorise our increasingly globalised world and effect positive change within it.

The creative industries have recently been identified as an exemplar of enterprising activity with workers in the sector being described as a 'creative class of entrepreneurs'. The digital sector is seen at the heart of these debates as political and media rhetoric has illustrated the wealth of opportunity, flexibility, freedom and control available to digital workers willing to take up entrepreneurial activity. However, contrasting accounts of enterprise are apparent in the creative industries that highlight unstable and insecure labour market conditions for all but 'star' performers. High levels of job insecurity prevalent in the creative industries are also visible in the digital games sector as project work, flexible employment models, and changes in the structure of the sector leave employment in the sector, at best, fragile and unstable for many workers. In the context of contrasting accounts of the impact of precarious labour market conditions on creative workers, the aim of this thesis is to examine the experiences of a cohort of digital game developers in the North West of England, in a sector that is, by contemporary prescription, both creatively empowered and entrepreneurial. Using in-depth interviews and an ethnography of networking events it will consider the consequences for work and employment in the local sectoral labour market. Empirical research reveals the exploitative and precarious nature of work in the experiences of self-employed digital game developers and charts the responses of developers to unstable and insecure working conditions. It is clear that the typical response to increasing instability in the labour market is to adopt more enterprising and entrepreneurial behaviour in order to find work. Using the Pongratz and Voß (2003) framework of the 'entreployee' this work illustrates the consequences for developers by highlighting examples of self-exploitation which has been fuelled by a passion and a dedication to the work but at the same time has led to long working hours, unpaid work, and a blurring of work-life boundaries. Faced with accounts which explain individuals' acceptance of self-exploitation through self-actualisation, a love of their craft, or a gift of autonomy, this thesis offers an additional understanding of self-exploitation by examining how individualistic values of passion, self-discipline, enterprise, and a strong sense of belonging have acted as a control structure and have given a convincing rationale for individuals to engage in these self-exploitative practices. Furthermore, this thesis demonstrates how the occupational community socialises developers' motivations towards sociality, altruism and enterprise. It is argued that the unintended consequences of these motivations have led to the normalisation and acceptance of self-exploitative practices.

The current thesis seeks to examine the history of Aboriginal development policy and its correlation with the trajectory of an indigenous business class in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. In particular, the study focuses on the period beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s when, following the large-scale social and economic upheaval caused by the collapse of the once dominant pastoral industry (previously the economic mainstay and largest employer of the region), the policy popularly known as self-determination - and termed indigenous trusteeship in this thesis) - came into play. The former policy of state trusteeship, in operation since colonial times, was devised in more prosperous times (as a means to, among other thing, facilitate land and labour to pastoral operations) but was unable to cope with the quickly changing economic conditions. In an attempt to resolve the growing economic and economic crisis - including rapidly increasing unemployment, impoverishment and social dislocation - the new policy of indigenous trusteeship transferred the responsibility for the provision of indigenous welfare to a nascent Aboriginal political and commercial leadership. To assist in ameliorating the escalating rates of Aboriginal unemployment and poverty much government subvention, including land, labour and finance, was transferred to Aboriginal control and specifically to those existing (albeit on a small scale) Aboriginal business operations. In doing so, much economic space was opened to Aboriginal commercial operations, which, during the previous policy regime of state trusteeship, had been purposefully stymied. This thesis aims to tackle some of the misconceptions concerning the history of Aboriginal economic development and the course of an indigenous commercial class. As well, there is recognition of the major contribution made by an emerging Aboriginal leadership to the evolving policy of indigenous trusteeship. In short, there is a critical re-evaluation of the origins of, and support for, successful indigenous owned business operations in the Kimberley region of Western Australia / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The existing scholarship on women in China suggests that gender inequality still exists against the background of the country’s reform and opening in recent years. However, the situation of women in enterprise ownership and leadership seems to indicate that under the surface of women being disadvantaged, some of them are playing a more active and significant role in China’s economic development. Based on a series of interviews with women enterprise owners, wives of enterprise owners and women managers conducted in three localities in three difference provinces of China, this research aims to discover the deeper socio-political realities of leading women in enterprises. By analyzing information on these women’s personal experiences, career and families, this thesis investigates their status at work and at home, as well as their connections with local politics. The research results suggest that although traces of gender inequality can still be found in these women’s lives, they appear to be actively engaged in the business establishment and operation and gradually casting off the leash of domestic responsibilities. At the same time, these women have developed strong connections with the Party-state, not necessarily in their own right, but largely through their family ties. The research has also highlighted that the varied socio-economic development of each locality has its effects on these women’s development.