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Perishability of fluid milk presents challenges for efficient distribution and limits market expansion for dairy when temperatures cannot be fully controlled during transportation. This research develops a modeling framework that integrates food science and economic parameters examining the impacts of different demand specifications on the cost minimization and profit maximization problem of fluid milk. The square root model from the food science literature is used to estimate the shelf-life of fluid milk at retail level. The shelf-life parameter is then used as input to the fixed- order quantity inventory model from the business economic literature. Additionally two demand specifications, the own-price elasticity and the negative binomial distribution, are used to calculate the total cost of managing inventory and resulting profit. Modeling results confirm that fluctuations in temperature and time dramatically increase the percentage of perishability cost and decrease profitability. Specifications of retail demand directly impact outcomes of the inventory model. Under the demand model based on price elasticity, simulated total costs are lower and profits are higher than under the negative binomial specification. The negative binomial distribution approach provides a simulated outcome where sales losses are minimized and customer satisfaction is higher. This thesis proposes, presents and uses a working model that can be extended and directly applied for fluid milk as well as other perishable food supplies.

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Recent developments in environmental management (EM) in Trinidad and Tobago have produced several umbrella legislation and institutional reforms. Since their enactment in 1995, there are still questions about their efficacy and key issues of these are examined. A multi-variant, cross-comparison approach relates the new and existing EM strategies to recommended guidelines found in the literature and collected from local opinion. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is used in tandem with EM, as it is the main tool of EM in Trinidad and Tobago. A case study of EIA application is used to assess the effectiveness of EIA and EM in Trinidad and Tobago. Recommendations for reform are made based on the analysis and the case study.

In a changing world transformation is from the earliest centuries, familiar to mankind. Therefore the argument is valid that the meaning did not require further explanation. Although it might be the case, a dilemma is that people oft en experienced uncertainty regarding the meaning of transformation and intention of role players, when they refer to the concept. People have different viewpoints, opinions and perceptions of transformation. Therefore the purpose is to bring transformation into perspective. It is argued that the concept should be categorised in different types of transformation. This is necessary in order to differentiate the meaning and to increase the possibilities for implementation purposes in practice. The value of this approach is that resistance to change is not necessarily a matter of principal, but it is restricted to ân specific type of transformation. Role players must bear in mind that the various types of transformation are often inter-related. Therefore a rigid approach is not recommended. There is a relation between perceptions of transformation, meanings and viewpoints. This is because viewpoints are for instance, often based on perceptions. Perceptions are not necessarily a true reflection of reality, because it is based on selective observation, what people want to observe. Some individuals base their decisions on perceptions. Therefore it is necessary to determine the meaning of perceptions and their impact on transformation. An anastatic approach can be utilised for the renewal of transformation in the minds of role players. The meaning of anastatic (anastasis) is explained, including why an ideal state of affairs is regarded as static. The changing relations of public institutions and the community in relation to the ideal state are explained. Phases of transformation are also explained within the framework of an anastatic approach. This approach is based on specific elements. An anastatic approach indicated that a transformation process can become vague in the mindsets of role players. This process can be renewed in the mindsets by means of this approach. Renewal can be conducted by focussing for instance on the necessity, reasons, extent, sense, meaning and purpose of a specific content of transformation. In this regard a transcendental approach also focuses on the renewal of transformation in the mindsets of people. By means of this approach it is explained why barriers in mindsets can contribute towards the fact that the necessity of transformation is not understood. It is explained by means of a transcendental approach why minority aspects in an institution can contribute towards majority problems that exceed organisational boundaries. Different solutions are indicated to overcome these barriers. An anastatic and transcendental approach can be utilised in interaction within the framework of Masakhane. The meaning of Masakhane is explained as well as in the context of the Masakhane Campaign. This campaign serves as background why this concept became prominent since the campaign was launched during 1995. Both approaches indicate that four elements or categories can be relayed from the meaning of Masakhane. With these elements, it can be specified why this concept can be viewed as a necessity for the realisation of transformation. The relation of Masakhane and related concepts such as Ubuntu and Batho-Pele are also explained. Both approaches can be based on the foundations of public management. This foundation serves as an alternative approach on which Masakhane can be based for the realisation of transformation. In this Thesis, key concepts are viewpoints/perceptions, anastatic/anastasis, transcendental, transformation, change, renewal, mindsets, barriers, co-operation, Masakhane, Ubuntu and Batho-Pele.

Competitive success for a Contract Research Organization (CRO) entails unlimited process improvement to sustain excellence. Chapter One describes the generic business environment CROs operated in which customers dictate the pace of competition through asking for higher standards of quality, speedy delivery, reliability, and lower prices, as markets are becoming increasingly saturated. Opportunities for market growth and maintaining market share, are testing experiences for all CROs. This imposes the tenets of theories and models on CROs so as to understand the critical factors that have a statistically significant effect on their bottom-line figures. CROs need to take note of causal factors drivin g time and costs, even at the height of their success. Therefore, Chapters Two and Three present informative writings on the tenets of best-practices and activity-based management, because best-in-class principles must be reviewed to contemplate which risks to take; which new ideas to implement; which critical factors will drive success, and which will challenge the myths distinctive to the contract research environment. Informative writings, documented as background information, were used to evaluate the results presented in Chapter Five. During the construction of a model for a CRO in the final Chapter, an attempt is made to explain phenomena experienced in everyday life and to discern aspects necessary to sustain competitive success in contract research. For the purpose of this research a model is defined as a set of statements that make explanatory or causal claims about reality, statements that aim to represent everyday phenomena as accurately as possible, and simplify our understanding of the CRO business environment. This research is aimed at developing a management model to explain the particular phenomena applicable to a pharmaceutical CRO and can be classified as an empirical study, analyzing existing primary and numerical data, gathered from a case study. Although management models are well described in literature, this research adds value to an aspect still to be researched, i.e. a management model comprising the most applicable best-practices for a pharmaceutical CRO. Because throughput time is of utmost importance in clinical drug research programs and because time consequently generates costs, an activity-based methodology is considered the best-in-class information tool to gather the necessary data for the calculation of time and cost factors for a CRO. The results presented in Chapter Five, analyzed with a statistical linear regression model using univariate and multivariate analyses to discern which variables have a statistically relevant effect on time and cost factors, were used to formulate the management model in Chapter Six. The productivity model presented shows that if the productivity of the operational divisions imitates the output of the most productive division, the profit can almost be doubled, or conversely, the same profit can be maintained but, with a reduction in the number of full time employees. This holds win-win benefits for the company and the customer, especially if cost can be used as leverage in a competitive market. Pricing is a complex instrument because of the two-sided conflict and competitive nature of the buyer -seller relationship where the oneâs gains are the otherâs loss. The researcher evaluated time, costs and pricing to make pricing a win-win element through which improved throughput efficacy can provide greater customer value and higher profits to the shareholder. Secrecy agreements are signed between CROs and sponsoring companies and therefore project information is the intellectual property of the sponsoring company. This limiting factor inevitably made a case study approach for this research project a necessity. Research information should preferably have been included from different CROs worldwide, and a case study approach may be regarded as not meeting minimal design requirements for comparison. However, a single, well-designed case study can provide a major challenge to informative writings and theory. It can provide new insight into traditional concepts and figments of the imagination, and identify statistically significant cost drivers to sustain the knowledge base to make recommendations on the optimization of resource utilization. As CROs enter foreign markets, global harmonization of clinical trial standards serve to provide uniformity in processes in trial execution. Guidelines reach beyond the sponsoring country to regulate quality and ensure uniformity of trials globally. Thus, the results obtained from FARMOVS-PAREXEL case studies can be extrapolated to other CROs and the model formulated, as a result of global uniformity enforced by regulations universally applicable to CROs. The project was important because in the quest for developing new drugs, CROs compete inter alia as providers of choice on timelines and price. The interpretation of the results emphasized that factors traditionally perceived as cost drivers, may not have statistically significant effect on time or cost factors. The synergy between techniques applied from the theoretical fields of accounting and project management, i.e. to quantify and optimize resource ut ilization, provided the information to formulate a unique management model for a CRO. The lack of outcome based research results, from a management perspective, on resource consumption during the execution of bioavailability studies, emphasizes the importance of this research project. The research results indisputably prove that concepts and traditions need to be tested with a statistical linear regression and productivity model as the core logic of a management model for a CRO. The results conclusively indicate that a management model with a customer focus for a pharmaceutical CRO is a necessity to align financial performance measures, which are pivotal in the alliance with the customer and shareholder.

Performance measures in the past primarily focused on production and were aimed at attaining increased short-term operational efficiency in terms of financial indicators. This type of measurement is too narrowly focused as it ignores critical measurement indicators that makes or breaks the company such as human capital, processes, customer interface, etc. In this regard most African countries are finding it extremely difficult to compete in the dynamic and changing global business environment. This study aims to assess to what extent Eritrean manufacturing enterprises use integrated performance measures, extent of its utilization and perceived relevance related to their actual financial results. In this regard an integrated model such as the balanced scorecard approach (financial, customer satisfaction, internal process/operational and employee satisfaction measures) was selected as reference for the study. A survey was done to gather data. Qualitative and quantitative techniques were employed for analyzing the data. The specific methods of data analysis include descriptive statistics such as tabulation, cross tabulation, computations of frequencies, and computations of percentages as well as correlation and regression analysis. The relative importance of financial as well as non-financial measures in relation to the performance evaluation process in the context of manufacturing enterprises was investigated. The result of the analysis indicated that the majority of respondent enterprises primarily focus on financial measures, using historical data, accounting profits and financial ratios which are compared with industrial trends. The financial measures are considered as having great importance in the respondent enterprises. Despite the fact that the non-financial measures are as important as the financial measures - little or no attention is being paid to non-financial dimensions. The result of the analysis revealed that there is a clear and strong relation between the financial performance and the non-financial performance measures (customer satisfaction, internal process/operational and employee satisfaction). In addition, empirical findings suggested that the non-financial measures are significant explanatory factors of financial performance. More importantly, findings show that manufacturing plants that consistently employed both financial and non-financial measures performed better than those that do not. Based on the results of the study important policy recommendations are outlined. Manufacturing enterprises have to invest in re-training employees to get motivated and competent people to produce customer perceived product quality as well as continuous improvement of operational processes, which may help the enterprises to compete in todayâs dynamic business environment. Generally the study has collected essential numerical evidence for the future development of manufacturing enterprises. Knowledge and understanding of the critical factors underpinning enterprisesâ performance can lead to further improvements. In turn this will help the overall development of the national economy.

This research study advocates that radio stations in Lesotho should make full use of the benefits offered by marketing both as a philosophy and a business function. The research study also recommends that the radio stations in Lesotho use the strategic marketing planning steps and approach that have been prescribed throughout this project, that is, the development of a mission statement, corporate objectives, situation analysis, competitor analysis, and marketing objectives.