published_or_final_version / Economics and Finance / Master / Master of Economics

published_or_final_version / abstract / Geography / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This thesis is an introductory research study on the impact of operations management techniques on productivity under Turkish Premier Turgut Ozal's industrial policy. The effectiveness of opening up the economy to international competition has been analyzed by comparing the present industrial productivity to the productivity figures before Premier Turgut Ozal. The evaluation is done through four major areas: quality, operations research techinques, inventory and manpower planning. The final chapter gives a summary of the findings and suggests that competition most likely has helped Turkish industry increase their productivity in these four areas.

M.Comm. / Economic growth is the key to wealth creation and competitiveness. The purpose is to improve the welfare of society and upgrade the standard of living of all citizens. The most important element to any nation seeking growth and stability is economic growth - and the key to this is a high level of productivity. Sustained growth transforms the lives of poor people. It makes higher output and income possible, which raises the productivity of their work. However, South Africa's productivity record is disappointing and has fallen behind that of its main trading partners. Productivity growth has slowed down since 1970 and is poor compared to world standards. This contributes to the poor economic growth and a decline in competitiveness. Despite strong capital investment, productivity growth in South Africa has been weak and even negative for a long time. South Africa's lack of economic growth is further accentuated by high unemployment, labour unrest and high goverment expenditure. South Africa, competing with developing countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Greece and Mexico has lagged behind these countries in terms of economic growth. Real incomes rose steadily in the 1960's, but dropped during the 1980's. South Africa was also the only country where output per person was lower (8%) in 1994 than in 1970. The next worst performer, Argentina, reported output per person of 13% higher in 1994 than in 1970. Brazil performed the best with over 80% higher output in 1994. The challenge facing the Goverment of National Unity is sustained productivity-growth. Firstly, the economy must grow faster to provide the basis for human development in the long run. Secondly, growth must benefit everybody. The economy must be stimulated to increase job creation to help alleviate poverty. In an attempt to stimulate the local economy and focus on productivity growth, incentive-based schemes are more widely being used to increase productivity. The use of incentives and "gainsharing" is recognised by management as an effective and one of a few successful methods to help raise productivity levels. In the process, a "win-win" solution is created. Ultimately, productivity gains translate into benefits for all the stakeholders. The aim of this study is thus to investigate the problems regarding productivity, methods of improving productivity in general with the emphasis on incentive schemes and "gainsharing" with a specific focus on the insurance industry in South Africa. The study begins with a thorough literature study regarding productivity, productivity improvement techniques and incentives to increase productivity. Following this is an imperical study to investigate certain specific factors which influence productivity, and methods to improve productivity through incentive schemes.

Three major research questions were addressed in this study. First, does information technology contribute to the productivity of retail institutions? Second, to what degree can information technology be substituted for labor and capital in retailing? Finally, is the market efficient in allocating information technology? These questions were chosen after a careful review of the literature revealed gaps in these areas.

The main question in this study was: do business units that exhibit a "linkage" or "fit" between their business strategy and manufacturing strategy variables, outperform competitors who lack such a fit? This exploratory research focused on two business strategies: cost leadership and differentiation. Based on existing literature, twenty-four hypotheses concerning the relationship between business strategy and selected manufacturing strategy variables were developed. The manufacturing executives of eighty-eight broadwoven cotton fabric mills (SIC 2211) were surveyed using a qualitative questionnaire. Two sets of comparisons were made between the manufacturing strategy variables of the sampled firms: first, high vs. low performers pursuing cost leadership strategy; and second, high vs. low performers focusing on differentiation strategy. Within each set of comparisons, high performers reported linkage between their business strategies and selected manufacturing strategy variables. This study re-affirms the importance of linking business strategy with manufacturing strategy variables as a forceful weapon for overcoming competition.

The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between intensity of short-range and medium-range capacity management and effectiveness of manufacturing operations. Data were collected to test the null hypothesis which stated that intensity of short-range and medium-range capacity management does not influence manufacturing effectiveness. Intensity of short-range and medium-range capacity management was indicated by the following variables: (1) production standards; (2) priority determination; (3) delivery dates determination; (4) material requirements planning; (5) routing information; (6) capacity utilization; and (7) backlog measurement. Manufacturing effectiveness was indicated by the following variables: (1) delivery dates performance; (2) lead times; (3) subcontract work; (4) direct labor overtime; (5) direct labor efficiency; (6) plant and equipment utilization; and (7) work in process inventory. The population selected to provide data for this study is the manufacturing firms in the State of Texas with five hundred or more employees. Over 42 percent of the eligible firms responded to a six-page questionnaire. Several multivariate techniques were utilized for data analysis: (1) factor analysis; (2) canonical correlation analysis; (3) bivariate correlation; (4) multiple linear regression; (5) cross-tabulation; and (6) analysis of variance. The results of this research did not adequately support the rejection of the null hypothesis. However, they did definitely identify a distinct group of capacity management intensity variables that influence manufacturing effectiveness in specific cases. Intensity variables were placed in three groups that identified how influential they were over the effectiveness measures. The most influential group included the variables: production standards and material requirements planning. The indication for the manufacturing manager is to concentrate on improvements in these areas. Effectiveness variables were also placed in three groups that identified the level at which the variables were influenced by the intensity variables. The highly influenced group included plant and equipment utilization and delivery dates performance.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering, 2017 / Productivity is an important topic within the mining industry and advances in productivity open up opportunities to make the best possible use of South Africa’s mineral wealth. The report uses publicly available data to assess trends in productivity in the SA coal mining industry since the 1980s and to compare SA’s performance with that of the US and Australia. It is found that between 1980 and 2003, productivity growth in the SA coal mining sector was primarily driven by capital deepening. However, productivity growth has been negative from 2004 onwards, despite continued capital deepening. Possible explanations include resource depletion, investment lags, deteriorating worker quality, increased complexity, more stringent safety regulations and adverse labour market conditions. The report highlights skills development and investment in innovation as possible ways of addressing declining productivity performance in the SA coal mining sector and recommends improvements to the availability of data for productivity research purposes. / CK2018

A metodologia KAIZEN é divulgada pelo mundo todo e no Brasil há muitas empresas fazendo uso dela para melhorarem seus resultados. Neste trabalho o histórico e conceitos do KAIZEN são apresentados e são as bases para o levantamento amostral realizado. Este tipo de pesquisa foi utilizado para, no ambiente da indústria de autopeças no Brasil que aplicam a metodologia KAIZEN, se conhecer como os fundamentos desta metodologia estão sendo utilizados, quais os reais resultados alcançados e quais ações são encontradas que, através do KAIZEN, encaminham a estes resultados. Foi desenvolvido um questionário como instrumento de pesquisa e este foi distribuído às empresas de interesse a este trabalho. Cada questão colocada tem seus resultados apresentados em forma de distribuição de respostas para cada opção e a discussão final utiliza estas distribuições de respostas para suas fundamentações e a conclusão do trabalho. / KAIZEN Methodology is known all over the world and in Brazil it has many companies making use of it to improve their results. In this work, the description and concepts of the KAIZEN are presented and are the bases for the survey done. This type of research was developed in the environment of the auto parts industry that applies KAIZEN methodology in Brazil to know how this methodology is being used, which the real results reached and which actions are found that, through the KAIZEN, direct to these results. A questionnaire was designed as research instrument and distributed to the companies of interest to this work. Each question has its results presented in form of distribution for each option and the final discussion uses these distributions as bases to the conclusions of the work.

Thesis. 1977. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: leaves 412-433. / Ph.D.