No description available.

Univ., Diss.--St. Gallen, 2004.

Univ., Dipl.-Arb.--Fibourg, 2000.

Konstanz, Universiẗat, Diplomarbeit, 2006.

Zürich, Eidgenössische Techn. Hochsch., Diss., 2008.

Zugl.: Göttingen, Universiẗat, Diss., 1997.

This thesis was motivated by concern regarding an alleged lack of investment in research and development of vaccine products which could offer considerable net benefit to societies, particularly in the developing world. The aim of this thesis is to provide decision support for science and technology policy which aims to promote private research and development in new vaccine products. The literature suggests that markets fail to allocate sufficient resources to the development of new vaccines. Science policy can attempt to influence the direction of research through government subsidies, targeted fiscal support, regulatory measures or policies designed to influence human capital formation. In order to assess the effectiveness of these measures in the context of the vaccine industry a R&D resource allocation model is empirically tested in Chapter Six. In a partial adjustment specification and error correction form, a relationship between the cost of funds and the allocation of R&D resources could be established for the US vaccine industry over a twenty five year period. It was also found that public sector research effort does not appear to 'crowd out' private sector R&D spending. Other factors emphasised in the literature, such as the relative market size and improvements in patent protection, were not significantly related to research intensity. In the Second Part of this thesis the scope has been extended to include firms in the biotechnology industry which play an important role in vaccine innovation. The focus of research in Chapters Seven and Eight is on collaborative research which is believed to be a particularly productive way to bring new vaccines to the market. In an empirical investigation of established US biotech firms it was suggested that companies which undertake more science or co-operate more closely with universities than their competitors are likely to show a higher level of research productivity. What could not be established is whether scientific activity results in superior research outcomes or whether successful companies attract star scientists who are more likely to publish the results of their work. This emphasises the importance of the promotion of scientific talent and the movement of scientists between the public and private sectors and internationally. It is suggested in Chapter Nine that the institutional structure of higher education has an important effect on the mobility of scientists: a country which imports highly-skilled personnel may maintain or improve its technological capabilities by this means. Using data from the British Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) it is suggested that contrary to belief, disciplines such as biological sciences experience a moderate net inflow of scientists from the private sector and abroad.

No abstract available. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Globally, white people enjoy historical, unearned privilege. This phenomenon is known and understood as 'white privilege'. In contemporary South Africa, white privilege stems from colonialism and apartheid. The legacy of colonialism and apartheid is still felt today and has a direct and continuous consequence in the form of racial inequality. This dissertation confronts the legacy of Afrikaner nationalism, which essentially instituted and upheld apartheid and still undergirds white people's privilege in democratic South Africa. Engagements were undertaken with ten white, Afrikaans speaking women between the ages of 24 and 32. Substantive transformation, bringing about the necessary change to racial power relations, has not been realised in contemporary South Africa. The research finds that this phenomenon is a result of a 'reconciliation gap' that was left by the participants' parents' generation. It is argued that reconciliation in South Africa will only be possible if responsibility is taken for the wrongs of the past. A 'responsibility gap', left by the participants' parents' generation, is identified and the research findings suggest that this gap should now be covered by the post-apartheid generation. This generation must cover the gap and shoulder the responsibility that was not taken by their parents' generation. An inclusive innovation praxis model was produced, to suggest practical steps aimed at cultivating positive political agency and to cover the 'responsibility gap' and contribute towards a more inclusive South African society.

Organisations are increasingly dependent on the collaborative effort of individuals and teams to achieve outcomes such as solve complex problems, take advantage of opportunities and enhance organisational efficiencies. In fact, there are few activities that human beings are involved in which do not involve collaboration. Yet the experiences of individuals called upon to make collaborations work are often over-looked by leaders and collaboration conveners pre, during and post collaborations. These leaders tend to concentrate their attention on operational antecedents such as systems, processes and resources required, as well as the attainment of the collaboration outcome. It is therefore unsurprising that the outcome of collaborative activity is often capped at the specified outcome. However, in the context of a perform and outperform world and especially where global economic growth is severely contracted, there is ongoing interest in the ability of organisations to create competitive advantage through collaborativepeople- based advantage. The modern-day requirement is for collaboration activity to more accurately reflect the capabilities of the collaboration partakes. This study examines how individuals' self-efficacy, optimism, resilience, and trust influence how they collaborate within an organisation setting. Accordingly, the two primary areas of examination are collaboration and individuals' experiences. This phenomenological and explorative study adopted an inductive, qualitative, single-case study approach adopting interviews, questionnaire, observation and secondary data as research instruments. The study was conducted with a mature non-profit organisation where collaboration was identified as crucial to the attainment of their goals and targets. A review of the evolution of collaboration as a theory in its own right was conducted as part of the study. The field of positive psychology and in particular the offshoots of positive organisation behaviours and positive psychological capabilities were reviewed as the foundation from which individuals' experiences were examined within the study. The study revealed that while individuals' experiences were considered important by the leaders within the case examined, they were largely ignored during collaboration efforts. As a result, individuals' experiences were not considered important inputs to collaboration efforts. Furthermore, individuals' experiences were not considered influential to the attainment of collaboration outcomes nor to the attainment of specified organisational targets and goals. In particular, optimism and trust were found to markedly contribute to individuals' experience during a collaboration, while self-efficacy and resilience did so to a lesser degree. Interestingly, rapid organisation growth emerged as an unanticipated yet key influencer to individuals' experiences during collaboration. The study makes a threefold contribution. The first is theoretical contribution to collaboration theory by exposing the positive and negative, external and internal antecedents of individual's experiences during collaboration. The applicable experience construct (self-efficacy, optimism, resilience, trust and growth as an influencer), or a combination thereof, as found in this study, is mapped out for each antecedent type in the "Framework for Individual's Experiences during Collaboration". The framework also includes the positive and negative, individual level and organisational level outcomes of individual's experiences. Thus, in so doing, the second contribution made is to the continually expanding research of Psychological Capabilities (PsyCap) and the specific outcomes they influence. The third contribution of this study is the development of the "Xⁿ collaboration model" which depicts three modes of collaboration where each mode influences the outcome and performance of an organisation against its identified objectives.