The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the challenges that a Namibian bank faced in recruiting and retaining skilled employees. The study adopted a qualitative research approach and the data were collected through face-to-face interviews with 20 participants from the Namibian bank. The researcher used the Five-Phased Data Analysis Cycle as described by Yin (2011) to analyse the data. Ensuring trustworthiness, the researcher used Guba's Model of Trustworthiness as cited by Krefting (1990). The major findings of the study were the shortcomings in the Namibian bank remuneration structure, lack of training and no employee recognition. The recommendations of the study are that the Namibian bank needs to implement training and development for its employees, review its remuneration structure and demonstrate appreciation of staff by showing recognition, better salaries and incentives. / Business Management / M.Com. (Business Management)

Financial liberalisation, through increasing investment as well as the average productivity of capital, should stimulate economic growth, or so the theory goes. Bank lending unfortunately suffers adverse selection and moral hazard effects, to which the establishment and expansion of stock markets has been offered as a remedy. However, research from developing country stock markets have shown that in many cases these markets did not complement the effects of credit market liberalisation but in rather important aspects subverted them. Countries that implemented credit market liberalisation and raised real interest rates only increased the price of debt capital rather than all capital. This caused a share price boom in many of them. When the price of equity capital fell it seriously undermined and indeed allowed large private corporations to skip altogether the main channel of high interest rates through which the theoretical McKinnon-Shaw effects were to operate. This study asks the research question of what effect the expansion of the South African stock exchange has had for its economic development. It makes use of a general empirical model to explain the relationship between financial development and real output. The model comprises indicators for growth, banking system development, stock market volatility; and, stock market development through a conglomerate index that accounts for market size, liquidity and integration with world capital markets. Quarterly data from 1989 to 2001 is analysed based on the null hypothesis that, as far as financial architecture is concerned, the development of the JSE Securities Exchange has stimulated the country's economic growth. This study found a negative and statistically significant relation between stock market development and economic growth. It suggests that while the JSE Securities Exchange is a relatively large stock market it is the presence of thin trading that prevents the proposed benefits of market development from accruing to the economy. Thus the hypothesis is rejected. However, since the only stable cointegrating vector is between growth and banking sector development, it recommends that by expanding their universal banking functions, the present banking structure, though oligopolistic, may be better suited to act as a catalyst for growth. / Business Management / D. Comm.

No description available.

Cette thèse étudie la place des Galeries Lafayette dans l’échange marchand entre l’offre et la demande, au cœur du système de la mode. Elle réévalue le rôle de la distribution en général et du grand magasin en particulier comme intermédiaire créateur de valeur dans la relation entre le producteur et le consommateur. Au tournant du XXe siècle, sur le marché de la nouveauté et le segment émergent de la confection, l’enseigne répond aux attentes des consommateurs qui cherchent à se distinguer et se différencier en suivant de près les phénomènes de mode. Alors que les maisons de couture exercent un monopole sur les tendances, et limitent leur diffusion en France à un cercle de clientes privilégiées, les Galeries Lafayette ont fait « entrer la mode dans le grand magasin ». Elles fabriquent et vendent sous leur propre marque des modèles inspirés de ceux des couturiers. Cette appropriation efficace de la création construit la légitimité de l’entreprise en tant qu'intermédiaire ainsi que le pouvoir prescripteur de la marque sur le marché de la mode. Elle fait aussi des Galeries Lafayette un acteur de l’économie de la contrefaçon, au centre des enjeux de l’industrie du vêtement dans l’entre-deux-guerres. La thèse montre cependant qu’il existe plusieurs régimes de management de la création aux Galeries Lafayette. A travers l’analyse des investissements de l’entreprise dans les industries créatives et en particulier les cas des Parfums Chanel, des maisons Madeleine Vionnet et Jean Patou, elle se saisit pour la première fois de la question du financement de la couture et décloisonne l’étude des principaux acteurs du système de la mode. La période couverte, de la fin du XIXe aux années 1960, rend compte des transformations de l’industrie du vêtement, mais aussi de la plasticité de la stratégie et des structures de l’organisation. Après la Seconde Guerre mondiale, l’intégration verticale de la fabrication laisse progressivement la place à de nouvelles modalités de construction de l’offre. Dans un contexte marqué par la modernisation de la filière habillement, la « révolution » du prêt-à-porter, et l’émergence de nouvelles capitales de la mode, la centrale d’achats élargit ses approvisionnements aux marques et à l’international. La mise en place pionnière d’un bureau de style au début des années 1950 est centrale dans cette transformation pour faire le lien entre les créateurs, les industriels et les clients avec lesquelles les Galeries Lafayette sont en contact direct.Une partie des développements est consacrée aux associations professionnelles internationale qui sont le véhicule privilégié des transferts transatlantiques mais aussi de la construction d’un réseau européen favorisant la circulation des idées et des marchandises. Ces échanges montrent que la diffusion des méthodes nouvelles d’organisation, importées et adaptées des États-Unis, ne s’est pas limitée à l’industrie. Les efforts des Galeries Lafayette pour rationaliser l’organisation sont une nouvelle démonstration de la nécessité de réévaluer le rôle de la distribution et des intermédiaires du système de la mode longtemps négligés au profit de la figure du créateur. / This thesis researches the role of Galeries Lafayette at the heart of the French fashion system. It re-evaluates the role of retail and department stores as value-creating intermediaries in the relationship between producer and consumer. Additionally, the research highlights the innovative capacity of a family business and shows that the introduction of new organizational methods in retail trade along the 20th century, imported and adapted from the United States, was as much present as in manufacturing enterprises. In the first part, the thesis looks at the foundation of the company, its competitors and its customers. To differentiate themselves, Galeries Lafayette manufactured and sold models inspired by those of the couturiers under the store private label. At the turn of the twentieth century, while fashion houses claimed a monopoly on trend setting, Galeries Lafayette introduced fashion in department store. This effective appropriation of fashion design built the legitimacy of the company as an intermediary, and posited the prescribing power of the brand in the fashion market. It also made Galeries Lafayette a player in the economy of counterfeiting, a major issue for the apparel industry in the inter-war period. The thesis shows, however, that various management regimes for design exist at Galeries Lafayette. In a second part, we analyze the investments of the company in the creative industries and in particular the cases of Chanel Perfumes as well as Madeleine Vionnet and Jean Patou fashion houses. In doing so, for the first time, the thesis analyzes the financing of fashion houses thus unbundling the study of the main actors in the fashion system. In a third part, the thesis studies competitive and market change from World War II onwards: the modernization of the clothing industry, the ready-to-wear revolution, and the emergence of new capitals of fashion besides Paris. The dismantling of the vertical integration in manufacturing, the opening of central purchasing to new suppliers, the pioneering establishment of in-house fashion forecasting office in the early 1950s induced a new organization and changes in the link between creators, designers, industrialists and customers for Galeries Lafayette.

This study investigates what three large, multinational hospitality companies do in practice when evaluating and making IT investment decisions. This study was launched in an attempt to 1) learn more about how multinational hospitality companies evaluate, prioritize, and select IT investments in the context of hotel GDS; 2) call attention to an important and costly topic in hopes of improving current practices; and 3) fill a noticeable literary void so that future researchers on IT and hotel GDS would have a foundation and starting point. The perennial question of any business is "How does an organization add value?" Value can be defined from many different perspectives and may result from tangible and intangible factors. Principal stakeholders include shareholders (investors), customers, and employees. Shareholders typically measure value in terms of economic return on their investment based upon some level of perceived risk. For customers, value is assessed in terms of a price-value relationship; that is, how much they received in terms of product and services for the price they paid. For employees, value is measured by salary and by the intrinsic rewards of the job. Yet, one of the most elusive questions with respect to information technology is "How can value be measured?" Hospitality executives are being pressured daily to invest more in information technology (IT) - especially in the area of hotel global distribution systems (GDS), which have become the cornerstone of a hotel firm's IT infrastructure and portfolio. There are a number of sweeping changes on the horizon impacting hotel GDSs and requiring the development of a well-crafted strategy for global distribution systems. These broad changes include bypass theories to remove airline GDSs and travel agents, the introduction of new and emerging player, and innovative approaches to pricing and promotion. Many of these developments offer promise to hoteliers, but they also threaten their control over their customer relationships and their inventory and add to the complexity and cost of distribution. Selecting the appropriate distribution channels is paramount to success and important if hotel firms are to grow top-line revenue and control overhead; yet the number of choices facing hotel executives is overwhelming. They are also at a loss for measuring value derived from IT. One of the greatest issues plaguing the advancement of technology in the hospitality industry is the difficulty in calculating return on investment. Until recently, most technology investment decisions have been considered using a support or utility mentality that stems from a manufacturing paradigm. Under such thinking, business cases could be built around an application or technology's ability to reduce costs or create labor savings. However, management's attitudes towards technology have been shifting in recent years. The more technologically savvy hospitality companies are looking to IT to build strategic and competitive advantages. These types of investments yield results over time, and seldom in the short-run. This is problematic among owners and investors who demand more immediate results. Moreover, it is difficult to quantify and calculate the tangible benefits of technology when it is used for strategic purposes. Today's financial models are inadequate for estimating the financial benefits for most of the technology projects under consideration today. While the hospitality industry has disciplined models and sufficient history to determine the financial gains or success of opening a new property in a given city, it lacks the same rigorous models and historical data for technology, especially since each technology project is unique. Although this problem is not specific to the hospitality industry, it is particularly problematic since the industry tends to be technologically conservative and unwilling to adopt new technology applications based on the promises of its long-term merits if it cannot quantify the results and calculate a defined payback period. When uncertainty surrounds the investment, when the timing of the cash flows is unpredictable, and when the investment is perceived as risky, owners and investors will most likely channel their investment capital to projects with more certain returns and minimal risk. Thus, under this thinking, technology will always take a back seat to other organizational priorities and initiatives. Efforts must be made to change this thinking and to develop financial models that can accurately predict and capture the financial benefits derived from technology. Given the present predicament and difficulties surrounding the current tools, techniques, and measures, executives are faced with an important choice. They can 1) continue to use the present methods despite their shortcomings, 2) dispense with ROI, cost-benefit, and discounted cash flow analyses altogether for IT projects, or 3) develop new methods, tools, and measures that can accommodate the complexities of IT and quantify the intangibles. This study is a call to action in favor of the latter because the measures determine not only which projects will be accepted but also how their success will be evaluated. Having a rigid evaluation process forces executives to identify a project's potential contribution and align the project's objectives with the firm's strategic goals and objectives. Using the co-alignment principle as its theoretical underpinning, this study employs a multiple-case design to investigate the resource allocation processes used with respect to information technology and global distribution systems. It looks at how three leading, multinational hospitality firms address IT project/investment evaluation and decision-making, the measures they use, and the frustrations they encounter. These frustrations include problems that arise from a hotel firm's fragmented ownership as well as from hotel executives' inability to measure the results of IT through definitive cause-and-effect relationships. The results of the study provide affirmation of the co-alignment principle and document linkages and co-alignment between strategy and IT. Clearly, decisions involving IT and hotel GDSs require multivariate measures, multidimensional perspectives, and multidisciplinary involvement. However, research from the marketing discipline is noticeably absent in this area. This study concludes that because IT plays an important enabling role for marketing initiatives and is redefining the supply chain of a hotel firm, marketing researchers can no longer stand on the sidelines. This study also identifies three important constructs, or classes of variables (context, process, and project), the variables comprising each, and their influences on the evaluation and decision-making processes. These findings add to the understanding of IT evaluation, measurement, and decision-making in the context of hotel GDS. This study clarifies the intangible aspects in hopes that useful measures can be developed in subsequent research to quantify and evaluate these costs and benefits. Finally, this study provides a series of prescriptions or recommendations gleaned from the three companies that were the focus of this study in hopes that they will lead to the development of best practices in the hospitality industry. / Ph. D.

In March 2022, OECD published a public consultation document entitled Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework and Amendments to the Common Repoting Standard (CARF). This doucment proposed new and amended requirements covering reporting and exchange of information of crypto-assets as well as containing broader revisions to the existing Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for the automatic exhange of informaiton (AEOI) between countries. In recent years, there has been a mass adoption of crypt-assets for a range of invesment and financial activities. OECD believes that the use of crypto-assets threatens the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) since crypto-assets can be easily transferred without a central administrator and held inaccessbile crypto "wallets." In reponse, OECD drafted CARF in an attempt to retrofit regulations made for traditional financial institutions, a regulatory "choke point model," onto the nascent and quickly developing crypto-asset space. The thesis argues that CARF is flawed in several ways. First, the CARF's requirements deviate from CRS for unexplained reasons created extra costs and administrative burden for cryto-asset service providers (CASPs). Second, as crypto-assets are more in the nature of moveable assets, CARF's inartful attempt to retrofit CRS is onto the crypto-asset space is likely stifle innovation and technological development, especially critical for the developing world and shifting power away from banks and other large financial institutions back to individual consumers and merchants. Finally, CARF may not even materially meet its goal of increasing tax revenues and ensuring tax compliance.

This study employs a Gioia analysis to investigate the AI services offered within three distinct professional service sectors in Sweden: IT consulting, marketing, and legal services. Utilizing a list of companies from a prior KTH project and publicly accessible information, we applied a cross-sectoral Gioia analysis to systematically categorize, compare, and understand the types of AI services provided and how these offerings differ between sectors. The objective of this scholarly pursuit is twofold. Firstly, it seeks to develop a cohesive and comprehensive taxonomy that clarifies the AI utilization within the selected domains, providing a clearer perspective on the diverse AI services offered and their respective implications. Secondly, it aims to discern the notable commonalities and distinctions in AI services across the said sectors, highlighting the specific ways in which AI integration manifests within each domain in Sweden. Our research reveals several shared trends, including AI-driven data analysis and management, automation, real-time monitoring, and personalization. Despite these commonalities, each sector leverages AI in a unique way, emphasizing aspects like cybersecurity in IT consulting, ad optimization in marketing, and legal document scrutiny in legal services. We further discuss practical implications, such as elevated operational efficiency, potential shifts in professional focus, and the emergence of AI service providers as indispensable intermediaries. While the adoption of AI presents numerous opportunities, it also introduces challenges, such as the democratization of specialized knowledge, which could disrupt traditional professional-client relationships. Future research avenues and study limitations are also addressed. Our findings serve as a cornerstone for both academic discourse and practical application, illuminating the nuanced impacts of AI across different business domains. / Denna studie verkställer en Gioia-analys för att undersöka de AI-tjänster som erbjuds inom tre distinkta professionella tjänstesektorer I Sverige: IT-rådgivning, marknadsföring och juridiska tjänster. Genom att använda en datauppsättning från ett tidigare KTH-projekt och allmänt tillgänglig information tillämpade vi en tvärsektoriell Gioia-analys för att systematiskt kategorisera, jämföra och förstå vilka typer av AI-tjänster som erbjuds och hur dessa tjänsteerbjudanden skiljer sig mellan sektorer. Målet med denna studie är tvåfaldig. Först och främst syftar den till att utveckla en sammanhängande och omfattande taxonomi som klargör AI-användningen inom de valda sektorerna, vilket ger en tydligare översikt över de olika AI-tjänsterna som erbjuds och deras respektive implikationer. För det andra strävar studien efter att urskilja de märkbara gemensamheterna och skillnaderna i AI-tjänster mellan de nämnda sektorerna, vilket framhäver de specifika sätten på vilka AI-integration manifesterar sig inom varje domän i Sverige. Vår studie avslöjar flera gemensamma trender, inklusive AI-driven dataanalys och hantering, automatisering, realtidsövervakning och personalisering. Trots dessa gemensamma drag utnyttjar varje sektor AI på ett unikt sätt. Aspekter som cybersäkerhet inom IT-rådgivning, annonsoptimering inom marknadsföring och granskning av juridiska dokument inom juridiska tjänster betonas. Vidare diskuterar vi praktiska implikationer, såsom ökad operativ effektivitet, potentiella förändringar i professionellt fokus och framväxten av AI-tjänsteleverantörer som oumbärliga mellanhänder. Även om införandet av AI erbjuder många möjligheter introducerar det också utmaningar, såsom demokratisering av specialiserad kunskap, vilket kan störa traditionella verksamhet-kundrelationer. Framtida forskningsvägar och studiebegränsningar diskuteras också. Våra resultat agerar som en hörnsten för både akademisk diskurs och praktisk tillämpning samt belyser de nyanserade effekterna av AI över olika affärsdomäner.

No description available.

[ES] Los centros tecnológicos (en adelante, CCTT) son uno de los agentes clave de los sistemas de innovación (en adelante, SI) y actúan como pieza fundamental para fomentar y apoyar la innovación empresarial a través de la tecnología. El objetivo principal de esta tesis ha sido el estudio del rol de los CCTT en diferentes contextos identificando, a través de varias técnicas de análisis cuantitativas y cualitativas, su papel como intermediarios de innovación en los SI, así como los factores y variables clave para su competitividad. Para ello, en la primera parte de esta tesis se ha investigado sobre los SI, con el objetivo de analizar el entorno en el que operan los CCTT, aplicando tanto el método comparativo a través del estudio del caso de varios SI de referencia a nivel internacional, como la metodología del Análisis de las Condiciones Necesarias para identificar los factores críticos de mayor incidencia en la innovación y la competitividad de un territorio. La segunda parte de la tesis se ha dedicado a la investigación sobre los intermediarios de la innovación, analizando de forma particular el rol de los CCTT mediante la aplicación de la metodología del Análisis Cualitativo de Datos a la revisión bibliométrica de las publicaciones sobre CCTT. Por último, se ha aplicado la metodología del Proceso de Análisis Jerárquico para identificar y priorizar los elementos que inciden en la eficiencia y la competitividad de un CT. Con todo ello, se establecen conclusiones de utilidad tanto para la mejora de la gestión de los CCTT, como para el establecimiento de políticas de innovación que tengan como resultado una mayor eficiencia de los propios Centros, así como un incremento de la competitividad del territorio. / [CA] Els Centres Tecnològics (d'ara en avant, CCTT) són un dels agents clau dels Sistemes d'Innovació (d'ara en avant, SI) i actuen com a peça funda per a fomentar i donar suport a la innovació empresarial a través de la tecnologia. L'objectiu principal d'esta tesi ha sigut l'estudi del rol dels CCTT en diferents contextos identificant, a través de diverses tècniques d'anàlisis quantitatives i qualitatives, el seu paper com a intermediaris en els SI, així com els factors i variables clau per a la seua competitivitat. Per a això, en la primera part d'esta tesi s'ha investigat sobre els SI, amb l'objectiu d'analitzar l'entorn en què operen els CCTT, aplicant tant el mètode comparatiu a través de l'estudi del cas de diversos SI de referència a nivell internacional, com la metodologia de l'Anàlisi de les Condicions Necessàries per a identificar els factors crítics de major incidència en la innovació i la competitivitat d'un territori. La segona part de la tesi s'ha dedicat a la investigació sobre els intermediaris de la innovació, analitzant de forma particular el rol dels CCTT per mitjà de l'aplicació de la metodologia de l'Anàlisi Qualitativa de Dades a la revisió bibliométrica de les publicacions sobre CCTT. Finalment, s'ha aplicat la metodologia del Procés d'Anàlisi Jeràrquica per a identificar i prioritzar els elements que incidixen en l'eficiència i la competitivitat d'un CT. Amb tot això, s'establixen conclusions d'utilitat tant per a la millora de la gestió dels CCTT, com per a l'establiment de polítiques d'innovació que tinguen com resultat una major eficiència dels propis Centres, així com un increment de la competitivitat del territori. / [EN] Technology Centers (hereinafter, TTCC) are one of the key agents of Innovation Systems (hereinafter, IS) and act as a fundamental piece to promote and support business innovation through technology. The main objective of this thesis has been to study the role of TTCC in different contexts by identifying, through various quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques, their role as intermediaries in IS, as well as the key factors and variables for their competitiveness. To this end, the first part of this thesis has investigated the IS, with the aim of analyzing the environment in which the TTCC operate, applying both the comparative method through the case study of several international reference IS, and the methodology of the Necessary Conditions Analysis to identify the critical factors of greater impact on the innovation and competitiveness of a territory. The second part of the thesis was devoted to research on innovation intermediaries, analyzing in particular the role of the TTCC by applying the Qualitative Data Analysis methodology to the bibliometric review of publications on TTCC. Finally, the Hierarchical Analysis Process methodology has been applied to identify and prioritize the elements that affect the efficiency and competitiveness of a TC. With all this, useful conclusions are drawn both for the improvement of the management of the TTCC and for the establishment of innovation policies that will result in greater efficiency of the centers themselves, as well as an increase in the competitiveness of the territory. / Del Campo Asenjo, C. (2023). El rol de los CCTT como intermediarios de innovación: un análisis mutidimensional [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/201137

Malaysia is a transition economic country that aims to be a developed country by 2020. In realising this mission (Vision 2020), the cluster concept has been an interest and adopted by the central authorities. There are few years ahead to reach the targeted year and it interest of this study to investigate the relevant development on its own engineered cluster of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) that was put forward on the success of Silicon Valley in the US. This thesis focuses on the development of the MSC cluster in the Malaysia context. It examines and measures the state of the cluster, the role played by its core actors (from Triple Helix perspective) and their relationship in the MSC. The role of collaboration has been used to measure the relationship among actors with the key determinants of cluster formation. A mixed data collection method was used to answer the research question and objectives involved. A conceptual model for analysing the MSC cluster is proposed, bringing together insights from the literature on clusters, role of actors, collaborative relationship and the complex systems of innovation approach. This conceptual model uncover the weaknesses of social dimension (social infrastructure) in Porter’s diamond model and the general approach of Triple Helix model in the cluster development. The cluster lifecycle model is used to add the depth to the analysis on the condition of cluster development.