The question of how an improved safety performance was achieved and what needs to be done to maintain such a performance is investigated. The is done using the example of a laboratory that turned from a bad and worsening safety performance to the best in the organisation. Aspects of transformational leadership, employee empowerment and incident reporting and investigation were examined as contributing factors. In a survey of the laboratory employees, an independent level of safety culture maturity was found, indicating a successful and complete cultural transformation. High levels of employee empowerment were found. Barriers to incident reporting are suggested. In order to maintain a high level of safety performance, the next higher level of safety culture maturity is suggested, together with other recommendations. Further research is suggested from having identified some key factors describing a group having achieved and seeking to maintain an exemplary safety performance. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / (M.B.A.)

The question of how an improved safety performance was achieved and what needs to be done to maintain such a performance is investigated. The is done using the example of a laboratory that turned from a bad and worsening safety performance to the best in the organisation. Aspects of transformational leadership, employee empowerment and incident reporting and investigation were examined as contributing factors. In a survey of the laboratory employees, an independent level of safety culture maturity was found, indicating a successful and complete cultural transformation. High levels of employee empowerment were found. Barriers to incident reporting are suggested. In order to maintain a high level of safety performance, the next higher level of safety culture maturity is suggested, together with other recommendations. Further research is suggested from having identified some key factors describing a group having achieved and seeking to maintain an exemplary safety performance. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / (M.B.A.)

British and US oil companies set up the world's largest oil refinery transhipment complex in the Caribbean after the Suez Crisis and a technological revolution in oil tanker design in 1956. Trinidad and Tobago became one of the world's largest oil refinery and transhipment centres. In 1969 the British oil companies began to withdraw their investments and requested the nationalisation of their assets. In 1985 the US companies withdrew their investments in response to the US government's deregulation of the domestic oil industry and financial incentives to bring their investments back home. Requested nationalisation led to the state-ownership of the oil sector. The government of Trinidad set up state-owned petrochemical and iron and steel industries, with some of the world's most sophisticated technology, to utilise the country's large natural gas reserves. But by 1988 state capitalism had failed to provide the expected economic and social benefits, despite the drain on limited financial reserves and massive foreign loans. The government's reliance on the oil sector as the `prime mover' of the economy had caused sectoral and trade imbalance, high inflation, increased unemployment, currency instability, debt crisis and political instability which culminated in an attempted coup in July 1990. The root cause of the failure of state capitalism was the governments' rush to industrialise and the structure of the state petroleum enterprises. The lack of accountability and responsibility of top management and government interference led to poorly run, unprofitable industries in which government waste and corruption were common.

It is recognised that as with any other risk; health, safety and environment issues require an integrated management system to comprehensively and sustainably manage the risks in the workplace. However to move beyond the paper based systems, ultimately require a behavioural change that can only be achieved through a culture change that continually re-invents itself and that motivates staff (human beings) to intrinsically do the right thing every day, every time and without any overseer. This study focuses on the critical success factors for the practical implementation of a safety culture improvement initiative in South Africa.

It is recognised that as with any other risk; health, safety and environment issues require an integrated management system to comprehensively and sustainably manage the risks in the workplace. However to move beyond the paper based systems, ultimately require a behavioural change that can only be achieved through a culture change that continually re-invents itself and that motivates staff (human beings) to intrinsically do the right thing every day, every time and without any overseer. This study focuses on the critical success factors for the practical implementation of a safety culture improvement initiative in South Africa.

Business transformation has become the sole means of survival for today¡¦s traditional businesses in Taiwan that were, once upon a time, star performers. So challenging has the business environment become that even today¡¦s star performers¡Xthe high tech and advanced industries¡Xwill someday become yesterday's news as well. The lessons of business transformation, therefore, are applicable to all businesses. Old school thinkers used to emphasize the impact company strategies had over the operation performance of a company, that the right strategies could alone produce effectively and efficiently performing companies. However, it has been proven over the years that the same strategies adopted by different companies could produce vastly different results. Execution has proven to be a bigger deciding factor in the success or failure of an enterprise. This study aims to demonstrate that proper and effective execution of the right strategies plays a critical role in deciding the future of a company, and success of its transformation. This study utilizes case studies, investigating how the petrochemical companies in study choose their transformation strategies, and how the choice of execution methods affects their operating performance after effecting transformation strategies. It also aims to understand the cause and effect relationship between the choice of transformation strategies, execution methods and the operating performance. Interviews and analysis have been carried out in the conduct of this study. The following is a list of major conclusions: 1.A continuously competitive company is able to deliver a high operation performance. 2.Strategies towards business transformation impact the company¡¦s operation performance. In the petrochemicals industry, the most effective strategies towards business transformation include, in order of impact, vertical integration, globalization, multi-faceted strategy. Horizontal integration is not a recommended strategy. 3.Execution affects the operation performance. Petrochemical companies with effective execution deliver high operation performance. 4.Manpower is any company¡¦s important resource. A high operation performance is also a result of effective manpower. 5.Companies that have been successful in its business transformation are equipped with leadership abilities, high quality of manpower and astute leadership by top management are critical factors to a successful company.

Abstract E-Marketplace is a major model for B2B commerce. The thesis uses the transaction cost theory to investigate factors affecting the intention of adopting e-marketplace for Taiwanese petrochemical companies, Factors under study include characteristics of petrochemical products, the readiness of computerization in business, and attitude toward adopting e-marketplace. The results indicate that larger companies have stronger intentions than smaller ones to adopt an e-marketplace. Companies having a great demand on digitizing their procurement procedures are more willing to reduce their transaction costs through e-marketplaces. Businesses with higher degree of computerized operations require more functions in the e-marketplace. In addition, security over the Internet and the degree of collaboration among partners are also key factors. With regard to choosing a marketplace, most local petrochemical companies prefer joining the e-Marketplace, managed by large suppliers of raw materials. Based on the above observations, Chinese Petroleum Corporation, may be the largest upstream company producing petrochemical raw materials in Taiwan, may be the most suitable for offering such an e-marketplace to facilitate collaboration and alliance among companies. This also provides a means for globalization in the future.

Companies and organizations in different industries around the world make use of different technologies for many reasons and purposes, such as to improve performance and to stay competitive. This raises some questions and concerns about the use, benefit, risk and the investment decision-making process for the selected technology. A review of the available literature shows that the decision-making processes related to investments in general are difficult and complex. As a result of this, many organizations that have invested in technology have not achieved the required benefits; this leads to unsuccessful investment decisions and loss of opportunities. This can occur when decision makers and planners do not pay enough attention to some critical factor that may affect the investment, or they may just not have planned sufficiently carefully for it. This research aims to examine and investigate the gaps and factors behind technology investment decisions, with a focus on several of the more important factors and elements that may have a huge impact on these decisions. These include investment justification techniques, technology selection, organizational readiness, technology alignment, and benefits realization. The unique aspect of this research is that these five elements have not previously been linked in research publications or reports, particularly within the petrochemical industry. Thus, the research focuses on these five elements to identify the critical factors and difficulties to support decision makers in order to achieve successful technology investment in the petrochemical industry. To address the research aims, the issues affecting investment decision-making within a number of the biggest petrochemical companies in Saudi Arabia were investigated.

A indústria petroquímica brasileira, assim como outros setores consolidados e maduros, está acostumada a inovar incrementalmente em produtos e processos, mas para manter sua competitividade tem a necessidade de inovar mais e mais radicalmente. Tanto na literatura pesquisada quanto nos resultados dos estudos de caso realizados, há o conceito de que os Projetos Organizacionais para o desenvolvimento de inovações radicais e incrementais deveriam ser diferentes entre si. Mas a literatura não avança nesta questão, não apresentando recomendações ou prescrições assertivas. Por outro lado, sente-se a mesma dificuldade nas empresas, que entendem a necessidade de lidar com as inovações radicais de uma forma distinta das incrementais, mas acabam trabalhando em ambas da mesma forma, com estruturas distintas, porém com semelhante organização, com as mesmas ferramentas e práticas gerenciais. Este trabalho tem por objetivo contribuir com esta discussão, através da proposição de critérios para o Projeto Organizacional adequado ao desenvolvimento de inovações incrementais e radicais de forma sistemática em empresas consolidadas de setores maduros, aprofundando o que já foi proposto pela literatura, partindo do princípio de que não haveria um único modelo a ser prescrito. A pesquisa de campo foi realizada através do estudo de múltiplos casos em três empresas inovadoras do setor petroquímico brasileiro, onde foram avaliados onze projetos de inovação. O modelo aqui proposto oferece um conjunto de diretrizes e critérios para que cada empresa adapte suas estruturas e processos a cada diferente desafio encontrado pelos projetos de inovação em cada etapa de seu desenvolvimento. / The Brazilian Petrochemical Industry, as well as other established and mature sectors, is used to incrementally innovate in products and processes. In order to maintain its competitiveness, it is being challenged to innovate more and more radically. Both in literature and in results of the cases here studied, there is the idea that the Organizational Design for the development of radical and incremental innovations should be different. But literature does not advance in this subject, there is no assertive recommendations or prescriptions. Companies feel the same difficulty, they understand the need to deal with radical innovations in a distinct form of incremental ones, but they end up working in both situations in the same way, with different structures, but with similar organization, management tools and practices. This thesis attempts to contribute to this discussion by proposing criteria for Organizational Design suitable for the development of incremental and radical innovations in a systematic manner in consolidated companies from mature industries, deepening what has been proposed in the literature, assuming that there would be no single model to be prescribed. Field research was conducted through multiple cases study in three innovative companies in the Brazilian petrochemical sector, where eleven innovation projects were studied. The model here proposed offers a set of guidelines and criteria for each company to adapt its structures and processes for each different challenge faced by innovation projects at each stage of their development.

Singapore gained access to independence sixty years ago. Since then, in order to improve its economic growth, the country went through many economic development plans, and nowadays the success of the past economic policies, made Singapore a diversified economy, where industrial development is its milestone. The Singaporean government and foreign companies played a very important role in the history of its economic development. From the status of colony with a fragile economic structure, to a diversified economy after the independence, industrialization is the cornerstone of Singapore¡¦s economic transformation. Industrialization made Singapore become a newly industrialized country with petrochemical industry as the most important industry. Singapore Economic Development Board was established in 1962, and after its establishment a series of domestic economic planning were implemented. Subsequently, the JTC was created to manage the entire country¡¦s industrial Affairs. Via an efficient planned economy by the governmental institutions, the Jurong Industrial park gradually developed and helped Singapore to reach its industrial development¡¦s objectives. In the process of promoting the development of the petrochemical industry or the global industry, it is evident that Singapore¡¦s government followed the pattern and specificities of the developmental sate, by the combination of economic planning institutions, an outstanding bureaucracy, and Multinational Corporations, Singapore managed to develop the petrochemical industry which became the country¡¦s most important industry.