Changes and challenges that have occurred in the past two decades have forced a radical shift in the basic foundations of how business is conducted. Internal, as well as external forces have forced organisations to constantly monitor their surrounding environment in order to create an awareness of opportunities and threats to allow them to survive in their competitive environment. Organisations need to gather all the information at their disposal, and turn the raw data into intelligence through a process of analysis and an exercise of human judgement. By utilising the potential offered by information systems in the process of generating intelligence and creating a corporate knowledge base to be used in strategic decision-making will lead to competitive advantage and constant innovation. Strategic Intelligence has information as its foundation. This research proposes that through its ability to absorb sources of information, the synergy of Business Intelligence, Competitive Intelligence, and Knowledge Management combined to form Strategic Intelligence, will allow organisations to incorporate all of their information and intellectual capital into a single database or system which will meet the intelligence requirements of management. The purpose of this study is to identify the current use of Strategic Intelligence in the Long-term Insurance Industry in the South African environment, and through the use of a survey questioned the benefits or problems experienced by executive management who have not yet implemented and used Strategic Intelligence as an input to the Strategic Management process, and identified the perceived value Strategic Intelligence could add in the decision-making process. The research study shows that organisations have not yet fully embraced a model for a cooperative global internal corporate Strategic Intelligence System or Portal that will incorporate all aspects of Strategic Intelligence into a single, easily manageable resource for management’s strategic planning and decision-making process, even though it could enhance their ability to withstand the onslaught of global competitors and expand their business into new markets, protect their local market or identify potential merger or acquisition targets, and increase innovation within the organisations. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management

La surexploitation des prédateurs de haut niveau trophique (HTLP) peut déclencher des cascades trophiques qui souvent conduisent à une simplification des réseaux trophiques marins en réduisant leur résistance aux impacts humains. Les aires marines protégées (AMP) peuvent favoriser des augmentations d’abondance et biomasse des HTLP, mais la complète restauration des interactions trophiques, lorsque cela est possible, nécessite des délais importants. Cette thèse vise à proposer des outils intégrés de gestion pour évaluer le retour des HTLP et la restauration des interactions trophiques dans les AMP méditerranéennes, et à évaluer l’efficacité de ces outils pour estimer les impacts de la pêche sur les HTLP et le réseau trophique associé. Deux approches souvent éloignées ont été combinées : les suivis de terrain et la modélisation des réseaux trophiques. Pour échantillonner la communauté de poissons, nous avons proposé d'améliorer la technique traditionnelle de recensement visuel sous-marin en recourant à des transects de taille variable, adaptée à la mobilité des poissons. Cette méthode a alors permis d'augmenter la précision des estimations de densité et de biomasse des HTLP dans les trois AMP méditerranéennes suivies. Ensuite, nous avons évalué l'apport de la modélisation trophique avec les approches EwE et EcoTroph comme outil de gestion écosystémique pour les AMP méditerranéennes. Une structure standard de modèle a été proposée comme étant le meilleur compromis entre la complexité du modèle, la faisabilité de sa construction et la fiabilité de ses sorties. / The overexploitation of high trophic level predators (HTLP) may trigger trophic cascades, often leading to a simplification of marine food-webs and reducing their resilience to human impacts. Marine protected areas (MPAs) can foster increases of HTLP abundance and biomass, but long time frames are needed to observe a recovery, when possible, of lost trophic interactions. This PhD aimed to propose integrated management-tools to monitor HTLP recovery and the restoration of trophic interactions in Mediterranean MPAs, and to evaluate the effectiveness of these tools at assessing fishing impacts upon HTLP and the associated food-web. Two often distant approaches were combined: field monitoring and food-web modelling. First, to survey the fish assemblage, we proposed to improve the traditional underwater visual census technique of one size-transects with variable size transects adapted to fish mobility. This improvement increased the accuracy of density and biomass estimates of HTLP at three Mediterranean MPAs. We then evaluated the potential of food-web modelling with the Ecopath with Ecosim and Ecotroph approach as a tool to inform ecosystem-based management in Mediterranean MPAs. We proposed a standard model structure as the best compromise between model complexity, feasibility of model construction in terms of data collection, and reliability of model outputs. Key functional groups for which local accurate biomass data should be collected in priority in order to get reliable model outputs were identified.

Cette thèse s'intéresse à la diffusion des systèmes de contrôle de gestion, définis comme un ensemble d'indicateurs de performance, de mécanismes incitatifs et de dispositifs de contrôle, dans le secteur de l'eau urbaine. Le sujet nous a paru digne d'intérêt du fait des forts enjeux économiques, sociaux et environnementaux du secteur. Une recherche-intervention menée auprès de l'opérateur public d'eau urbaine ougandais a constitué notre principal terrain, analysé à travers le prisme de la sociologie néo-institutionnelle, dans une démarche abductive et interprétative. En mobilisant le concept de logique institutionnelle, l'institutionnalisation de contrats de performance a été interprétée comme liée à la domination de la logique de marché. Nous avons mis en évidence le rôle du contexte socio-politique et des prescriptions des bailleurs de fond dans ce changement institutionnel. Les systèmes de contrôle de gestion apparaissent comme des vecteurs structurant la matérialisation de la logique de marché, en structures, rôles et pratiques organisationnels. Une fois encastrés, ils contraignent l'innovation institutionnelle. Des acteurs du champ organisationnel s'en sont saisis pour conduire un travail institutionnel visant à légitimer leur existence, gagner de l'influence et maintenir l'ordre social. A l'issue de cette recherche, nous proposons d'élargir le modèle de changement institutionnel de Greenwood et al. (2002) par une analyse multi-niveau (société, champ et organisation) et l'intégration d'un nouvel objet : « l'outil de gestion » (Hatchuel et Weil, 1992). Sur le plan empirique, ce nouveau cadre invite à déconstruire les notions de public, privé, performance et service public, afin d'éviter les ambigüités qui limitent la portée des travaux menés sur le secteur de l'eau urbaine. Enfin, cette thèse constitue une mise en garde contre une focalisation sur la performance qui peut détourner des enjeux essentiels et spécifiques du secteur. / This PhD thesis focuses on the diffusion of management accounting systems in the urban water sector. These are defined as a set of performance indicators, performance incentive mechanisms, and control practices. This topic is of particular interest considering the strong economic, social and environmental challenges of this sector. Intervention research carried out within the Ugandan urban water utility was our main focus. We analysed the case through the neo-institutional sociology lense in an abductive and interpretative approach. Using the concept of institutional logic, we interpreted the institutionalisation of performance contracts as associated with the domination of a market logic. We highlighted the key role of funding agencies’ recommendations and the socio-political context in this institutional change. The management accounting systems appear as vehicles structuring the materialisation of the market logic into organisational structures, roles, and practices. Once embedded, they constrain institutional innovation processes. Actors from the organisational field have used them to carry out an institutional work, aiming at legitimating their existence, gaining influence and sustaining social order. As the outcome of this research, we propose to expand upon the institutional change model of Greenwood et al. (2002). To do so, we suggested including a multi-level analysis (society, organisational field and organisation) and a new concept: “management tool” (Hatchuel and Weil, 1992). Empirically, this new framework challenges the notions of public, private, performance, and public service to prevent misconceptions limiting the significance of further research on the urban water sector. Finally, this PhD thesis warns against a focus on performance, which may divert from the essential and specific challenges of this sector.

The thesis is focused on the implementation of a software tool to increase the effectiveness of cyber security management. The tool is implemented in a company preparing to be classified as a part of critical information infrastructure. Based on the customer's requirements, a suitable cyber security management tool is selected. Subsequently, I propose a methodology for implementing the tool, which I immediately apply. The output of the work is an implemented tool, risk analysis and security documentation required by law.

The Master’s thesis deals with the issue of collecting mixed municipal waste from producers to a~waste-to-energy or landfills. The initial chapters are aimed to waste legislation and transportation of the waste by road freight transport across Europe. The objective is to collect the data, that are required for calculation in tool NERUDA. The next part describes the cluster analysis and different approaches in it. The selected methods of cluster analysis are apllied to the logistic task in the final chapters. The cluster analysis is considered from different aspects. The results are visualized using the software ArcGIS.

I denna fallstudie undersöks hur kunskapshanteringen ser ut hos ett produktionsföretag i storleksordningen litet till mellanstort, med ett egenutvecklat Enterprise Resource Planner-system, vilket vanligen enbart större företag har. Syftet är att utreda behovet av formell struktur kring företagets kunskapshantering, samt att vid behov skapa ett åtgärdsförslag med rutin och metod för att hantera kunskap och lärande inom företaget. För att samla in empiri, genomfördes kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta medarbetare på företaget som sedan transkriberades och analyserades med en abduktiv tematisk analys. Det analysresultatet som uppkom från studien, lade sedan grund för den morfologiska matris som nyttjades för att kunna prototypa de koncept som det föreslagna åtgärdsförslaget utgörs av. Vi fann inom fallstudien vikten av ett effektivt nyttjande av det mänskliga kapitalet, dokumentation och ett aktivt arbete med kunskapsbehållning inom företaget. Detta kan i kombination med implicit och explicit kunskap utveckla och förbättra en verksamhets nyttjande av sina affärsystem samt integrationen av dess dolda processer. För att hjälpa företaget att tillgodose sig detta på ett bra sett, har ett åtgärdsförslag utformats som drar nytta av de förfarande som idag redan finns och nyttjas. Vilket är goda kunskaper om företagets processer samt en väldigt god samhörighet inom organisationen som knyter an till att medarbetarnas lärande ofta sker i dialog med andra människor. / This case study examines how knowledge management looks at a small to medium-sized production company, with an in-house developed Enterprise Resource Planner system, which usually only larger companies have. The purpose is to investigate the need for a formal structure around the company’s knowledge management, as well as, if necessary, to create a proposal for action with routines and methods for managing knowledge and learning within the company. In order to gather empirical evidence, qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight employees at the company, which were then transcribed and analyzed with an abductive thematic analysis. The analysis result that arose from the study then laid the foundation for the morphological matrix that was used to be able to prototype the concepts that make up the proposed action proposal. We found in the case study the importance of effective use of human capital, documentation and active work with knowledge retention within the company. This, in combination with implicit and explicit knowledge, can develop and improve a business’s use of its business systems as well as the integration of its hidden processes. To help the company accommodate this in a good way, a proposal for action has been designed that takes advantage of the procedures that already exist and are used today. Which is good knowledge of the company’s processes as well as a very good sense of belonging within the organization, which is connected to the fact that the employees’ learning often takes place in dialogue with other people.