<p> The study utilized the logic model evaluation to ascertain the effectiveness of the Student-Athlete Academic Support Services (SAASS) unit at a NCAA Division I research university located in the Western United States. The logic model evaluation provided a process to determine the extent to which the unit achieved its purpose and outcomes. The logic model evaluation can be tailored to the exact unit based on the short-term and long-term goals of the program. Based on the tenets of flexibility and adaptability, the logic model evaluation was selected as an appropriate tool for the study. Overall, the SAASS unit was perceived to be effective by its key constituent groups. The evaluation highlighted the importance of the athletic academic advisor in keeping students on track to graduation and communicating issues to administrators, coaches, and professors. Recommendations are provided to potentially improve the SAASS unit under study.</p>

Theory building in strategic management has traditionally suffered from strong demarcation lines. The case of the resource-based view of firm (RBV) which has emerged as an alternative approach to industry-based explanations of how organisations develop and sustain competitive advantage, particularly demonstrates this divide. Since then, these alternative views of competitive advantage have often been portrayed as mutually exclusive antagonists. This study sets out to examine the perceptions of strategic managers in the UK automotive components industry in relation to these two competing schools of thought which advocate advantage through resources (RBV) or advantage through residence (industry approaches). This industry has been chosen due to the clear potential for industry structure and internal competencies to influence competitive advantage. Using quantitative techniques, data from senior managers is analysed in order to establish the extent to which the views of industry practitioners converge or diverge with the theoretical or anecdotal offerings of the strategy literature. The findings of this thesis suggest that a complex hybrid of perceptions tends to prevail among respondents from the industry. This can be attributed to historical, operational and supply chain factors. Furthermore, the study finds that the lexicon of competitive advantage and the priorities of resources advocated in the literature are not shared by strategists in the industry. Accordingly, the study finds, strategic management theory in relation to the resource-based view requires further research using the methodology developed in this thesis as a foundation.

This thesis reviews the main methodological developments in public sector investment appraisal and finds growing evidence that appraisal techniques are not fulfilling their earlier promise. It is suggested that an important reason for this failure lies in the inability of these techniques to handle uncertainty except in a highly circumscribed fashion. It is argued that a more fruitful approach is to strive for flexibility. Investment projects should be formulated with a view to making them responsive to a wide range of possible future events, rather than embodying a solution which is optimal for one configuration of circumstances only. The distinction drawn in economics between the short and the long run is used to examine the nature of flexibility. The concept of long run flexibility is applied to the pre-investment range of choice open to the decisionmaker. It is demonstrated that flexibility is reduced at a very early stage of decisionmaking by the conventional system of appraisal which evaluates only a small number of options. The pre-appraisal filtering process is considered further in relation to decisionmaking models. It is argued that for public sector projects the narrowing down of options is best understood in relation to an amended mixed scanning model which places importance on the process by which the 'national interest ' is determined. Short run flexibility deals with operational characteristics, the degree to which particular projects may respond to changing demands when the basic investment is already in place. The tension between flexibility and cost is noted. A short case study on the choice of electricity generating plant is presented. The thesis concludes with a brief examination of the approaches used by successive British governments to public sector investment, particularly in relation to the nationalised industries.

The tension uncovered during this study is between two worlds: the very pragmatic and enormously challenging world of managing in a rapidly changing and highly competitive global market, and the scientific world of strategic management thinking and the concern that contemporary strategic management is unable to deal effectively with the modern dilemma of globalisation. This dilemma is as a result of change; before a current scenario can be solved, the next evolution of scenarios is upon the business community. In today's turbulent world, globalisation is sweeping away the market and industry structures that, historically, have defined competition. Swept away with them are the classic approaches to strategic management, nearly all of which mistakenly assume that a predictable path to the future can be paved from the experiences of the past. The solution: Strategy should be dynamic and should change constantly in order to contend with external turbulences. Organisations should brace themselves for a future of hyper-competition. They should respond to these rapid changes in the business environment by adopting a new approach to strategy, one that combines speed, openness, and flexibility. Organisations need: an ability to sense changes in their environment; an ability to understand the impact, of this change, on the whole; a willingness to adapt to change; and an ability to adapt. Experimenting with new strategies is also important. Constant testing, adaptation and building on what is found to be successful with customers is the way ahead, especially when one is trying to re-invent the value provided, or the way in which it is produced and delivered. The overall purpose of this experimental strategic learning and management process is to establish which strategic options or elements thereof are robust across the possible competitive scenarios, and use the healthiest elements to develop your strategic intent - your core strategic focus or theme.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. / In the increasingly dynamic environment of information technology, it has become imperative that organizations continue to seek ways to effectively capture and measure knowledge in order to survive. With the emergence of a global economy and information networks, the knowledge creating capacity within organizations has grown tremendously. As a result, organizations are now shifting their focus to management of the knowledge used in executing processes and producing products. As demand for quality products and services continues to grow, companies must now find ways to effectively manage knowledge intensive processes in order to increase overall process capacity. Through business process reengineering and the KVA methodology, this thesis will seek to identify ways in which the performance of knowledge assets can be measured and make recommendations to improve the capacity of knowledge intensive processes, better enabling organizations to meet increased demand. / Lieutenant, United States Navy / Major, United States Marine Corps

M.Com. (Business Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

D.Econ.

M.Dip.Tech. / Due to the fact that the homoeopathic practice is both a medical service and. a small retail business, the homoeopath has to manage both these aspects well to ensure a' successful practice. Some homoeopathic students are of the opinion that at the end of their formal education at the Technikon, they do not have sufficient training in business matters, to be able to manage a practice efficiently. Unfortunately, no literature is available that cover the management of the homoeopathic practice, especially to assist a newly qualified or new practitioner in this task. Apart from this, the available literature on management is very broad and relates to many aspects of different types of businesses. Management of the homoeopathic practice is therefore a suitable topic for research. A dissertation of this kind is limited in' respect of time and space and would not allow a detailed study of all the management issues discussed in management literature. The objective of this study is therefore narrowed to research only two of these aspects, namely purchasing and inventory management. The study highlights the role and importance of each of the mentioned aspects, states their objectives and includes a discussion of the processes involved with the operation and management of these aspects. All examples and applications throughout the study are made with direct relation to the homoeopathic practice. At the end of this study a short summary of the results that were obtained through the study is given. A model is also compiled as a guide to practitioners in the management of the purchasing and inventories aspects of their practices.

Ph.D.

<p> Fraudulent automobile insurance claims are not only a loss for insurance companies, but also for their policyholders. In order for insurance companies to prevent significant loss from false claims, they must raise their premiums for the policyholders. The goal of this research is to develop a decision making algorithm to determine whether a claim is classified as fraudulent based on the observed characteristics of a claim, which can in turn help prevent future loss. The data includes 923 cases of false claims, 14,497 cases of true claims and 33 describing variables from the years 1994 to 1996. To achieve the goal of this research, parametric and nonparametric methods are used to determine what variables play a major role in detecting fraudulent claims. These methods include logistic regression, the LASSO (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) method, and Random Forests. This research concluded that a non-parametric Random Forests model classified fraudulent claims with the highest accuracy and best balance between sensitivity and specificity. Variable selection and importance are also implemented to improve the performance at which fraudulent claims are accurately classified.</p>