Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 229-237). Also available on the Internet.

The thesis develops a new model of the small open economy emphasizing financial constraints, based on the notion of liquidity preference as a constraining tendency on the income adjustment process. Preference for liquid assets results in a number of financial states of constraint, such as financial vulnerability, financial exclusion and financial fragility. These are explored in a regional and international context. Openness brings with it new opportunity as well as potential constraints. Models of small open economies have in general assumed away the latter and have neglected the consequences of financial openness. This is reflected in the absence of a means to identify economies as small and open on the basis of their financial exposure. The financial vulnerability index is developed to address this deficit. Applied to twenty-one countries, the index reveals that emerging countries can be classified as small open economies constrained by preference for liquid assets. Policies designed with the conventional approach to constraints in mind appear to be inappropriate for these countries. The concept of constraints has rarely been dealt with explicitly and a possible categorisation of constraints for mainstream and Post Keynesian schools is developed. It proves to be a useful point of entry for grasping ontological differences between schools. It also provides insights into the constraining tendencies facing the small open economy, and how they can be managed. When these insights are applied to the South African economy, the current macroeconomic policy, and critiques thereof, are found to be wanting.

State-owned banks in China have been among the last institutions to undergo reform. Over the last ten years, new institutions and regulations have been created and the banks have undergone a process of divesting themselves of bad policy loans in preparation for public listing. Three of the “Big Four” are now exchanged on Chinese stock markets, though majority ownership remains with the state. The recent reforms of China’s financial system have been tested by a financial crisis that has toppled banks around the world; yet China’s banks remain profitable. They have been able to weather the storm because of the unique institutional relationships they have with various state vehicles. In particular, state ownership as manifested through asset-management companies have given the Chinese banks an edge over the international competition. However, this relationship is not without its risks. There still remains a great deal of dependence within China’s financial system on the state and its favorable policies, subjecting the banks to continued interference. / text

Technological and industrial advances have resulted in the growth of large enterprises.Optimization models have been developed to increase the efficiency of partsof these systems, but models that optimize entire enterprises are frequently immenseand very complex to solve. Sequential solution techniques have resulted, which leadto useful, but not globally optimal, solutions. For example, airlines develop flightschedules based on strategic business objectives, and sequentially plan operationalprocesses to execute the schedule. Proven models that exist for the operationalsubproblems are solved sequentially, begin with a flight schedule, and allow limitedfeedback in the planning process. Since small changes to the individual parts haveproduced millions of dollars in improvement, an overall optimal solution could yielda significant increase in the airline's profit.We consider a modelling paradigm that moves toward integrated methods for theairline schedule planning phase using surrogate representations of the operationalproblems. In this context, surrogate models are relatively easy to solve, yet suffi-ciently representative of the operational problem to reflect its impact on schedulechoices. To illustrate, we develop surrogate models of maintenance scheduling, crewscheduling, and revenue generation. We solve the master schedule problem with eachsurrogate model using well-known decomposition techniques, and then combine thesurrogates into a single model that is readily decomposed into multiple subproblemsand solved.The model developments include additional considerations in constructing surrogatemodels. For example, to demonstrate validation of a surrogate's utility, wecompared the feasibility indications from the maintenance subproblem surrogate tothose from a larger, exact model of maintenance feasibility. The crew scheduling surrogatemodel development incorporates disruptions in the master schedule, drivingthe schedule to account for both crew costs and the impact of random disruptions.Finally, in the revenue management subproblem, we consider random demand thatimpacts a schedule's profitability.While surrogate solutions are inherently of little utility operationally, the resultsare useful for shaping the master schedule towards a global optimum. The paradigmallows for consideration of the subproblems in initial planning, so that solutionsobtained from the full models are based on a schedule that may lead to a betteroverall bottom line.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems claim to provide organisations with an integrated Information Technology (IT) solution that can be used as an effective business tool with real-time information of all business transactions at the managers' fingertips. ERP software attempts to integrate all departments and functions across a company onto a single computer system that runs off one database and can serve the needs of all the different departments in the company. The investment in an IT solution that will provide strategic information to aid in strategy formulation and decision-making should be part of strategic planning. In short, the ERP system should add to a company's strategic advantage. The challenge to an organisation is to use ERP to leverage opportunities in the competitive environment in order to create value. If a resource view is taken of ERP systems, strategy theory describes the way that an organisation should go about achieving strategic advantage. The IT resource in itself cannot be the basis for competitive advantage in a manufacturing industry. The resource is available to all competitors. The nature of ERP systems however supports the creation of distinctive competences in the organisation through organisational learning. The enhanced capabilities of the organisation, combined with its superior resources form the basis of distinctive competencies that in turn lead to value creation through the advantages created. The test for strategic advantage is to evaluate the strategic options or choices against consistency, consonance, advantage and feasibility. The model for evaluating strategy can also be applied to the planned ERP implementation or to enterprise systems already implemented. This model is based on strategic evaluation and support the process of continuous evaluation and change to respond to triggers in the competitive environment the organisation operates in. In order for ERP systems to add value in the organisation, their implementation must satisfy the strategic evaluation criteria, and continuous business process improvement will follow subsequent evaluation in order to adjust to the changing environment. / Thesis (MBA) University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

Since the Chinese economic reform in 1979, there have been various types of enterprises being established instead of the period when the market was mainly dominated by state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Nowadays, except for the government (GOV) departments, the three main types of enterprises are state-owned enterprises (SOEs), private-owned enterprises (POEs) and foreign-owned enterprises (FOEs). In the paper, the aim is to compare the difference in empowering and coaching of the leadership style from employees’ perspective across different types of enterprises and government in Shanghai and find out the potential reasons for the differences. To make the suggestions for improvement in leadership, the paper has compared the existing condition with the employees’ preference in both empowering and coaching leadership style. 144 Questionnaires have been collected in order to make quantitative tests. The questionnaires have been distributed to both employees and managers in different types of companies and government in Shanghai. SPSS 19.0 were used to deal with the data and helped to draw the conclusion.   Based on the literature reviews, the paper proposed three hypotheses. The results show that some of the hypotheses are confirmed; however, some of the hypotheses are rejected. For the rejected ones, the paper give the possible explanations and at the same time, based on other variables of the information of respondents, further analysis has been done to find out how the ideal and actual leadership styles affected by other variables in different groups.

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the factors that motivate people to work for social enterprises and how social enterprise can attract qualified employees.Method: Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used. The qualitative data were collected by interviews with 7 participants from 4 social enterprises in Gävleborg of Sweden. We gathered the quantitative data via questionnaires which were collected from 38 MBA students in University of Gävle.Result and Conclusions: By comparison between the expectation of MBA students and reality of the social enterprises, we found promotion opportunities and work environment are the factors which restrict social enterprises to attract employees and motivate people.Suggestion for further studies: Based on the exiting researches and our experiences, most studies focus on the financial problems and entrepreneur problems of the social enterprises. We suggest that further research could investigate the other aspects of social enterprises such as management problems or network of social enterprise.Contribution of the thesis: In this study, the most important factor to motivate students work for social enterprises are pointed out as work environment and we also give suggestions to social enterprises to improve their attractiveness, such as improving the promotion chance for employees.

Due to increasing emergence of social needs and problems throughout the world, accompanied by reduced government ability to provide the funding necessary to effectively combat these problems, it is expected that social enterprises will grow in number and importance. Because of this growing importance and the lack of research concerning marketing practices in such organizations, the purpose of this thesis is to develop a deeper understanding of both marketing in social enterprises and the context in social enterprises that has the potential to affect the marketing strategies employed in such organizations. Based upon this enhanced understanding, I develop and propose a model of marketing strategy in social enterprises. To develop this enhanced understanding and model, I conducted empirical qualitative research consisting of a comparative study of fifteen cases of social enterprises. Results show that four major dualities represent the critical context of social enterprises that influence the marketing strategies employed. Marketing is viewed as important by these enterprises and the strategies employed are quite well developed in the areas of market research, product quality, branding, and promotion.

This thesis examines empirically the demand for as well as the supply, design and the effects of small enterprise support services in Bangladesh. Recognition of the role of small enterprises in economic growth and development has resulted in promoting institutions for providing support services to these enterprises in most developing countries. From the very beginning, expectations have been very high on the effectiveness of this supply-side intervention in fostering healthy growth of the small enterprises sector. As a result, there now exist numerous agencies, both in the public and private sector, for providing support services. However, the initial high expectations about the effectiveness of these services now seem somewhat over optimistic or, as in some cases, even unrealistic, giving rise to a re-examination of the effectiveness of these services and the institutions involved, particularly between the public and private sector organisations. In the literature, apart from the question of the nature and need for support services from small enterprises, there is also the issue of how these services can be evaluated. To address the issues of evaluation, a framework is developed, bringing together major influences on the evaluation process. The framework was applied to a sample of predominantly manufacturing small enterprises, located in the district of Dhaka - the capital city of Bangladesh. Data were gathered through interviews with owner-managers of the small firms. The study also surveyed major public and private support agencies involved in the small enterprise sector. The findings support a view that, overall, the effect of assistance is low, in terms of growth in sales, employment and value added. Financial assistance, however, seems to have a considerable effect on survival, start-up process, production and sales turnover of small firms. Here, the study underlines the importance of extensive support, comprising financial and non financial components. It uncovered that most firms do not receive the services they need and want. The study confirms the view that an agency - which is private, small, autonomous, closer to its clients in terms of people, processes and structures employed, and provider of financial and non financial assistance - can effectively meet the needs of small firms. Thus, private support agencies are well suited in terms of design and are more effective, perhaps due to their pre-selection of few viable small firms, unlike the public agencies. There is evidence, however, to conclude that public support organisations play a major role in the survival of small firms, usually less attractive to private support agencies. Overall, the study underpins the view that assistance can be a trigger to the development of small enterprises, if it is selective. Evaluation of support services, as the findings suggest, can be done by an exploration of the supply-demand interaction, viewing supply-inputs through a process to ultimate outputs. Finally, the study recommends, among others, a restructuring by formation of partnership between the public and private support agencies for the promotion and development of small enterprises in Bangladesh.

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