Current literature asserts that recipients of social services in South Africa are characterised by their history, race and ethnicity (Pharoah, 2007; Scheurmans and Visser, 2005). This study attempted to either confirm or challenge such assertions, based on the experiences and strategies implemented by Eleos, a unique non‐ profit organisation that is entrenched in communities that are diverse. The primary aim of this study was to explore the ethos of Eleos, in its interventions to address poverty in underprivileged communities. The study drew from two groups of participants. The first sample of eight participants was drawn from the two beneficiary communities of Eleos. One project is located in Booysens West and the other in Danville. The second group of participants were key informants who were drawn from the management committee as well as representatives of the individual projects. The research instruments took the form of two different semi‐structured interview schedules with open‐ended questions. One for key informants and another for beneficiaries. The research design that was used in the study was the case study design and was exploratory in nature. The collected data was transcribed and analysed using ‘thematic content analysis’ or ‘conceptual analysis’. Main findings indicated that donors seemed to impose a more radicalized view of the world, more so than the beneficiaries and organisation it self.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to analyse the cost and profit efficiency of banks in South Africa. The cost-to-income ratio has always been used in the South African banking sector in measuring efficiency. However this approach is very simplistic and does not provide enough insight on real profit efficiency. This research uses a stochastic frontier model to determine both cost and profit efficiency of four large and four small, South African-based banks. The results of the study show that South African banks have significantly improved their cost efficiencies between 2000 and 2005. However efficiency gains on profitability, over the same time period, have not been significant. No bank was found to be superior to another in terms of achieving efficiency gains in cost reduction and profitability. A weak positive correlation was found to exist between the cost and profit efficiencies, with the most cost efficient banks also being most profit efficient. With regard to bank size, cost efficiency declined with increasing bank size.

Capacity, the emergent combination of attributes that enables a human system to create developmental value (Morgan, 2006, 2008), is the point of arrival of an inquiry journey through a personal territory and the Portuguese non-profit world. Inspired by the metaphor of the Portuguese golden age of the maritime discoveries, and by Action Research, in line with Reason and Bradbury’s notion of inquiry into the “quality in our acting” (Reason and Bradbury, 2001), the author defies several borders in her exploration of answers to the question of “how to build capacity?”. This multi-level question is unfolded in three – the individual, the non-profit organisations and the society, in a journey that find points of connection. The author defies the border of her worldviews, embracing a participatory worldview that offers her an extended epistemology, which she explores in its multiple-level understanding of knowing comprised of experiential, practical, propositional and presentational knowing, in a process of personal and professional development in a concrete project – the Acreditar project. Through stories, another border the author defies, meaning is explored through layers of personal reflections and through shared meanings in a Learning History developed by the Acreditar team members. The stories presented are a result of a commitment to highlight the learning in capacity-building endeavours. In a particular story, and in a twist of irony, the learning emerges from an experience of dis-capacity. But that experience would serve as the departing basis for another re-start the author initiates, in a process of forgiveness that acknowledges the past as irreversible but redeemable. It is my intention to engage you in this journey from the beginning, and I hope this is also a useful journey for you. Ultimately its account is here to serve as basis for further dialogue I would be very glad to engage with you.

Recently in the Netherlands and in Amsterdam, policymakers have started to see generalized trust as an indicator of societal cohesion, which is taken to be endangered by participating in ethnically homogenous or bonding organizations. However, there is no study that supports this negative socialization effect. Existing surveys in the Netherlands and in Amsterdam lack either appropriate data on ethnic minorities or do not allow this question to be properly addressed. They do not contain the relevant variables or do not have a multilevel structure, since the latter requires one to sample many responses from the same organization rather than collect data that is representative of individuals. This thesis addresses this gap in the literature by juxtaposing Turkish (bonding) associations with organizations whose membership consists of different ethnic groups (bridging). I surveyed 40 non-profit organizations in Amsterdam and collected responses from around 450 participants. I subsequently describe different bonding and bridging practices within and between organizations, and demonstrate that Turkish, as compared to mixed organizations, are internally focused on their own group, but externally are more involved in bridging networks. Thus contact within Turkish organizations is confined to fellow ethnics and this allows for testing the contact hypothesis. This thesis employs a multilevel model and distinguishes individual attributes from organizational factors (ethnic composition). However, the variance in generalized trust at the organizational level is only 4%, which indicates that the context of voluntary organizations has not much influence on it. Secondly, I test an interaction effect between the mixed ethnic composition of an organization and the length of participation in years in order to test for a socialization effect (the contact hypothesis). However, this interaction effect is not statistically significant. Finally, I test for another interaction effect, namely the effect of having a close tie in a mixed organization, in order to test for a sufficient but not necessary condition of the contact hypothesis, which might turn contact into attitude change. Again, this interaction is not statistically significant. Beyond bridging and bonding, there are complementary mechanisms which might have affected generalized trust. I, therefore, extend my model to include cognitive evaluations about one’s humanitarian values, negative life experiences and socio-economic factors. Three theoretical frameworks are tested: psychological; norm driven; and social success. The findings suggest that differences in generalized trust are best explained by individual processes rather than contact between ethnically diverse groups in voluntary organizations. Optimism has the strongest effect size on generalized trust. Other key factors are educational levels, and to some extent older age as well as having been widowed or lost one’s partner due to divorce. Younger people who adhere to humanitarian values are also among the high generalized trusters. The effect of education, age and the experience of divorce or separation is also found in other Dutch representative national samples and support the consensus around social success theories in explaining generalized trust.

This thesis examines Czech-German cross-border cooperation within intercultural communication, identifies problems and develops possible solutions. The thesis is divided into a practical and a theoretical part. The theoretical part first describes the Czech-German cross-border cooperation and then intercultural communication, followed by a discussion of the context and the research methods. In the practical part, the author first performs a sequential analysis of data collected via interviews conducted with people working in the Tandem organization. The results of the analysis are interpreted, problems within the cooperation of Tandem are identified, and possible solutions developed. A glossary divided into two parts, recapitulating the definitions of relevant terms from the first two theoretical chapters of this thesis, is listed at the end of this work. A French résumé summarizing all the important points and conclusions is enclosed with the thesis. The aim of this thesis is to answer the following research question: "Linguistic and intercultural challenges of Czech-German non-profit cross-border cooperation: The case of the Tandem organization."

Title: Gender equality in non-profit organizations: Gävle International Red Cross Level: Final assignment for Master Degree in Business Administration Authors: Zhe Chen and Bijun Sun Supervisors: Maria Fregidou-Malama and Pär Vilhelmson Date: 2013-May Aim: The study is to investigate the factors that influence gender equality in non-profit organizations. In order to find out the factors, we choose Gävle International Red Cross as the target organization to do the investigation. Method: The study uses qualitative approach to collect the primary data and interview is the source of primary data. We interviewed seven members of Gävle International Red Cross. As for the secondary data, previous theories are the sources, and we also created a theoretical framework based on those theories. Furthermore, we combine the theories and empirical findings to present the discussion chapter. The orders of empirical findings and discussion follow the theoretical framework. Results & Conclusions: After analyzing the data, we find out that organization, culture, management and government’s efforts are four factors having impacts on achieving gender equality in the target organization. Based on the primary and secondary data, there is no ranking for these four factors and all of them are important for the target organization to achieve gender equality. Suggestions for future research: Qualitative approach is the only way to collect primary data, which is helpful for collecting different opinions from the participants. However, it will be more critical and objective for the study to use both qualitative and quantities approach at the same time. Since seven interviewees have participated, the numbers of the participants can be increased, in order to improve the reliability and validity into higher level. Contribution of the thesis: We organize the theories we used and create a theoretical framework which is useful for connecting gender equality into non-profit organizations. This study can motivate managers to consider gender equality during managing their organizations. Key words: Gender equality, management, non-profit organization, culture

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This thesis presented an empirical study exploring the performance of TFT-LCD industry through vertical integration in value chain. Statistical analysis methods were adopted to examine the performance of TFT-LCD industry. The following theories of the profit pool and DuPont financial analysis approach, supplemented by competitive strategies, vertical integration, value chain and profit pool theory literature, from the industry overview and key aspects of the value chain Profit distribution and changes in the degree of value chain integration impact on the profitability of panel makers. In this research, we focused on the different segment of the TFT-LCD value chain (color filters, polarizers, backlight module, driver IC and panel manufacturing). We used three financial performance indices of these companies between 2005 and 2009,namely ROE (Return on Equity; ROE), return on total assets (Return on Asset; ROA), operating margin (Return on Sales; ROS) such as most scholars commonly used financial indicators as measurement tools observe all aspects of the value chain profit changes. Finally from the perspective of profit pool and vertical integration strategies to examine whether TFT-LCD panel manufacturers could use an integration strategy as a way to improve their performance on operating profit margin and lower the risk. The results are as follows: the value of different levels of vertical integration, panel makers will do the performance of the operating profit margin have different effects, with the active dwell Taiwan¡¦s TFT-LCD industry up the value chain integration, is indeed closer to or exceed the Korea TFT-LCD maker, but with the TV panel sales with a gradual increase in the proportion of the panel sales , sales channel became a key factor in whether or not profitable. Therefore, the panel makers may be able to consider more closer cooperation with the player of home appliance industry and downstream continuing down the value chain to make the direction of integration efforts.

Abstract The researchers because of their loved ones died ten years ago¡A thinking about the meaning of life¡A began to put the For Guang Shan branch of the international service activities. The spirit of "Buddha Heart" vow¡A For Gang Shan International branch of the service routine service work in groups¡A how each branch of the leaders in the "missed the Merciful¡A Compassionate with the body¡A" the spirit¡A the prevalence of the face of increasingly utilitarian and rational thinking prevails¡A the general Chapter leaders have their work during the day and personal life stress¡A in the face without the dedication to the job process¡A leaders in addition to the normal daily operations to maintain and promote activities to promote the chapter¡A the problem may have groups of people bother to deal with outside communication the other individual leaders as sacrifice¡A self-sacrifice of many leisure time¡A they must meet the Federation's supervision and evaluation mechanism¡A these are all leaders have to face many challenges. Peter Drucker in the "changes of the era of management" (Managing in a time of great change)¡A a book mentions "non-profit organizations may become a social sector¡A like its importance in the public sector's government¡A the private sector of the enterprise. "Buddha's Light International is affiliated non-profit organization; we are facing a flood of knowledge-based economy¡A as management guru said:" knowledge-based society¡A the social challenge¡A who will respond? correct The answer is not government¡A not employing organization¡A but another kind of independence¡A the new social sector - nonprofit and for-profit organization ... it seems to play another important point¡A that is to bring back civic responsibility (citizenship) "and Peter Drucker talks about civic responsibility¡A not the doing is a political vote and pay taxes¡A but to enter the non-profit organizations as a volunteer¡A to become citizens. The citizens of this community is once again against the social order¡A social values¡A social behavior and social vision of influence¡A so that our society is not the same. The main research method is to take qualitative research analysis¡A impact the leaders of For Guang Shan branch leading into the plight of the main factors. The main purpose of this thesis is to look forward to the international branch of For Guang Shan leaders as leaders in the post¡A they face day to day management and branch management may face ethical dilemmas¡A organizational issues related to the dilemma faced by the analysis and discussion For Guang Shan branch of the future leaders of succession management issues and put forward constructive and strategic management with insights and recommendations and look forward to the follow-up series of academic research into non-profit organizations¡A another echo of the management guru Peter Drucker words: "non-profit organizations should focus on the mission¡A" the daily continued to improve to reach Buddha's Light International common mission.

This study explored non-profit organization using a qualitative method (in-depth Interview). The research objective of this paper is to analyze the content of Strong Brand to develop the internet marketing strategies and to establish differential and sustainable competitive advantage to achieve the goal of Sustainable Development of the organization. The study found that the Brand Equity of website of non-profit organization is mainly from constructing Strong Brand of non-profit organization, internet marketing strategies and methods, website design, website experience, emotional connections and trust. For non-profit organization limited in marketing resources, website is helpful to establish ¡§brand awareness,¡¨ ¡§brand image,¡¨ ¡¨loyalty,¡¨ and ¡§reputation of organization¡¨ and to achieve the marketing objectives of resource attraction, resource allocation, and persuasion to enhance the impact and performance of organization on society. Suggestions of the managing brand equity of website of non-profit organization could be made as follows: focus on the social network of internet to build loyalty of website, use the special characteristics of internet to target customers, to produce website experiences, to combine eality and vitality, carefully choose partners to internet cooperation, and improve the integration and innovation capability of information communications technology and marketing communication. The study aims to provide the findings as the reference basis for website operating of non-profit organization and internet marketing strategies developing to assist non-profit organization in more effective resource to expand the virtual market of non-profit organization and use the initial study of Brand Equity of website of non-profit organization for the foundation of the future studies.