M.Tech. (Operations Management) / This dissertation elaborates the reengineering of the personal loan application process in a South African bank operating in Africa. The research provides an understanding of the current situation and issues encountered with the current personal loan application process. It presents the framework for reengineering of the process and the methodology used in the research. The primary objective is to improve the existing process for personal loan credit applications in order to create improvements in the process. The research methodology used is quantitative analysis using statistical methods and qualitative research focusing on qualitative aspects with research reasoning being inductive allowing the researcher to draw conclusions from facts, assumptions and observations established through the data collection processes. The article offers a comprehensive understanding of the challenges faced in processing of loan applications. Businesses and institutes are built on good control systems which are needed to address the challenges faced in the processing of personal loan applications. The study contributes to customers service discourse in operations. The recommendation of the research is to reengineer the current personal loan process, taking into consideration the technology needed to improve the process, training of existing employees, implementation of a reward system and implementation of the redesigned process.

Utvecklingen inom IT-området har under de senaste åren varit explosionsartad. Allt fler branscher har börjat att leta efter nya sätt att tillämpa de olika framsteg som skett inom området Detta arbete behandlar en kombinerad litteraturstudie och intervjuundersökning kring objektorientering och Business Process Reengineering. Problemställningen för detta arbete har varit: - På vilka sätt kan objektorientering tillämpas för att utveckla de synsätt och de metoder som används inom Business Process Reengineering Syftet med arbetet var att hitta ett antal generella tillämpningsområden utifrån problemställningen, samt att hitta ett antal fördelar, som dessa generella tillämpningar skulle kunna medföra. Resultatet av detta arbete visar att det finns områden inom Business Process Reengineering, där en objektorienterad tillämpning skulle kunna medför stora fördelar. Som exempel på detta kan nämnas förbättrade möjligheter att skapa och anpassa de informationssystem som skall stötta verksamhetsprocesserna. Även möjligheterna att skapa dynamiska metoder, där varje metodsteg utgörs av färdiga moduler som sedan kombineras, bör nämnas som en fördel.

M.Ing. / The aim of this research is to develop a Project Management Maturity Measurement Model to evaluate project management efficiency in a large Parastatal such as Eskom Distribution. This model will identify areas of improvement to assist a large Parastatal in improving their project management performance. It will eventually assist the organisation to build a culture of project management excellence. The hypotheses for the study were that firstly, the Parastatal does implement project management practice processes as advocated by project management bodies of knowledge. Secondly, a Project Management Maturity Measurement Model can be successfully implemented at a large Parastatal and help the Parastatal to identify project management grey areas that require improvement. Thirdly, a Project Management Maturity Measurement Model could assist a large Parastatal with project management improvement as a result of areas of recommendations. The method used to collect the required data for analysis and interpretation was the descriptive survey method. A customised survey questionnaire was developed to obtain data from research sample. Data was analysed using appropriate statistical techniques. The research sample was defined as the people who are primarily responsible for project, programme and portfolio management at a large Parastatal. The results of the data analysed pin pointed project management process weaknesses and possible improvement opportunities. Three main areas of improvement have been identified, namely applying lessons learned from previous project into future project, performing benchmarking to improve performance and project control processes. The findings of this study support the abovementioned hypotheses, and the insights provided and recommendations made will be of great help to a large Parastatal on its road to continuous improvement and building a culture of project management excellence.

M.Ing. / The telecommunications industry worldwide is experiencing massive downsizing activities as the mobile telecommunications market is flooded with mobile operators. In Europe and other leading countries world wide, fixed line operators are able to cover more than 90% of the population of the country and there is not such a necessity for a mobile service as in a country such as South Africa, where less than 50% of the population is connected to a fixed line operator. Together with many investors, planning to create substantial returns on investments saturated the communication market in these worldleading countries. When mobile data transfer, in the form of GPRS (General Packet Radios Services) and UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System), was developed it was estimated that the amount of mobile data transferred (via mobile operators) per annum would exceed the amount of data transferred by normal fixed line transport (fixed line operators). Many mobile cellular operators worldwide have invested in these technologies but their ROI (Return on Investment) is not nearly as good as was estimated in the initial feasibility study of the technologies. Together, these issues have had a negative impact on all the world leading mobile communication infrastructure suppliers, which had to downsize to accommodate the decrease in world business. Only 3rd world countries (such as in Africa) are still expanding their mobile networks and are creating some business opportunities for the world leading suppliers, but it is unfortunately not sufficient to sustain the current business. With the initial roll out of GSM (Global system for mobile communication) network infrastructure suppliers could ask what they want for the equipment and services supplied, as these were hard to imitate, but as the market grew, more competitors were able to meet their standards in equipment quality and better the price and service.

M.Comm. / A modern electronic telephone exchange is very flexible in terms of size. Such exchanges can vary in size from a few lines to more than 50 000 lines. They can be expanded at any time to cater for more subscribers. This means that the telecommunications service provider is able to build the exchange just large enough to supply service to the subscribers in the area, and then expand the exchange on a regular basis as needed to cater for any growth in demand for exchange connections. The main advantage of this flexible approach is that money is not tied up in very expensive exchange equipment which is not being used.

M.Tech. (Construction Management) / This research provides an overview of intra-organisational centralised/decentralised structures and inter-organisational consortia. It then aims to provide a theoretical explanation of Management Shared Services, prior to providing case study evidence of management shared services performance and proposed areas of improvement, comprising business units and services departments of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The research provides empirical evidence of the proposed improvement areas of selected processes of management shared services as a viable structural option for improving services provided to the business units and a starter to currently untapped reservoir of potential research. It suggests an additional improvement options to be considered in determining the optimum management shared services model and to provide business case evidence and suggestions for optimum usage of the management shared services. The research assessed the actual level of performance of Management Shared Services Unit in order to provide a basis on which to identify potentials for efficiently improving and optimising existing Management Shared Services Unit. The research identified two areas as success areas in the current set-up and six other areas as requiring improvement if Management Shared Services Unit is to serve the purpose of providing non-core services to the Business Units. The first area of success is the organisation, governance and compliance in the Management Shared Services Unit. The second is in the area systems and technology. The areas identified by research as requiring improvement are strategy, customer relations, human resources, business processes, performance management and continuous improvement.

[Integrative Summary] This study is situated in the complex field of change management, and strategy execution. The study focuses on the corporate level restructuring of Ellerine Holdings Limited (EHL), subsequent to its acquisition by the micro lending financial institution African Bank Investments Limited (ABIL). The interest of the researcher was aroused by the uniqueness of the relationship. This was the first of its kind in a South African context, where a banker owned a furniture retailer. The restructuring was undertaken shortly after the acquisition. This research paper adopted a case study approach, in describing the restructuring initiative that took place in EHL, focusing on the period between January 2008 and the end of 2010/ 11 financial year on the 30th of September 2011. The case captures the significant phases of the restructuring including a background of (1) the protagonist, Toni Fourie (Chief Executive Officer), (2) EHL as the researched company, (3) the industry it operates in, and (4) the case content. Brief teaching notes have been provided to explain the teaching value of the case and to assist with its delivery in the classroom. Attention is drawn to a presentation by the protagonist in November 2011, named 'A CEO Insight' where he gave an overview and insights of the road travelled in restructuring Ellerine Holdings Limited, and more importantly highlights the following about the purpose and nature of the restructuring of the organisation. • A plan to change the way the industry works. • The creation of a profitable, stand-alone retail business through: o The sale of two companies, the closure of two companies and consolidating from thirteen to six brands. o Separating financial services from retail. o Moving the financial services component to African Bank, also a subsidiary of ABIL. o Redesigning the credit model. o Completion of twelve system changes. • Over R600million reduction in cost • A place where people want to work. The restructuring outlined above represents a major shake-up in many aspects of the corporation. The main challenge for Toni Fourie and his team was: how best could they restructure EHL to extract synergies between their two subsidiaries Ellerine Holdings Limited & African Bank to increase shareholders ' value at Group level. The case seeks to describe this in detail. The overarching strategy underpinning the restructuring of the researched corporation is premised on the price volume elasticity equation, by reducing the cost of credit, thereby driving pricing down within the brands, and facilitating more people having access to affordable credit. The case study of the restructuring is presented in Section 1. A review of relevant literature on strategy implementation is presented in Section 2, focusing on restructuring. Successful implementation of strategies only takes place with structures that are developed by organisations to support the achievement of their strategic objectives. Organisational architecture and design have a critical role to play in the execution of organisational strategies. Nadler and Tushman (1978) emphasise the importance of congruence in the organisational design, for the organization to not only deliver superior results but to sustain them over a period of time. Research by Okumus (2005) seems to tell us that the lack of credible framework to implement strategy, has contributed the high failure rate of strategy initiatives. Although this is a strategy implementation case, it also touches on aspects of leadership - mainly the architectural role - and the role, or influence of strategic leadership, in restructuring the corporation. The results of this research paper were achieved by following a specific research methodology. The aim of the research was to analyse the restructuring of the researched company at corporate level, having the following objectives in mind; • Understanding the strategy. • Analysing the design decisions in the light of the strategy chosen by the top management of Ellerine Holdings Limited. • Analysing what monitoring and control measures had been designed to facilitate the corporate restructuring. Data was collected through documentation of the corporation that was made available to the researcher on request, as well as those that are in the public domain, and an interview with the CEO of the researched company. The interview was conducted after analysing the documentation (Hakim, 2000). The Methodology is detailed in Section 3. The researcher hopes that the case study will contribute to learning about business leadership and strategic management. The case should develop an understanding of the complexities related to strategy execution at corporate level, particularly the restructuring aspect of it.

Information technology developments in software and hardware have enabled radical changes in information systems, culminating in the paradigm Business Process Management. There has been a concomitant rise in the importance of information security and security engineering due to the increased reliance by society on information. Information is seen as a critical success factor which needs protection. Information security is the response to increased hazards created through recent innovations in Web technology and the advent of intra and inter enterprise-wide systems. Security engineering is based on a variety of codes of practice and security metrics which aim at ameliorating these increased security hazards. Its aim is to produce a balanced set of security needs which are integrated into the system activities to establish confidence in the effectiveness of the security counter-measures. It is generally accepted that security should be applied in an integrated approach, for example, in Information Systems development. This has proved to be a noble thought but is the exception to the rule. Security, historically, is generally applied as an after-thought in an Information Technology implementation. This motivated the concept of formulating a model of integrating security inherently within the paradigm of BPM. The overarching requirements of the model are to align the overall organisational security initiatives and ensure continuous improvement through constant evaluation and adaptation of the security processes. It is the intention of this research to show that these requirements are achievable through aligning the process management methodology of BPM, with the security paradigms of Information Security Management (using the ISO 17799 standard) and security engineering (using the Systems Security Engineering Capability Maturity Model – SSE-CMM). The aim of the Business Process Security Maturity model as the output of this research, is to link the SSE-CMM, as the security metric and appraisal method, to the ISO 17799 security standard, which provides the guidance for the information security management framework and security control selection, within the Business Process Management environment. The SSE-CMM, as the security version of the Capability Maturity Model, provides the necessary strategy to control the security engineering processes that support the information systems and it maintains that as processes mature they become more predictable, effective and manageable. The aim of the model is to provide an integrated, mature security strategy within the business process and monitor and correct the security posture of the implemented counter-measures.

The current business environment is experiencing increased levels of uncertainty, competition and change. Influenced by forces such as globalisation, fast paced technological change, recession and emerging markets, the current business environment is required to continuously adapt to these conditions and deliver new products or services to an increasingly demanding market. Such dynamic environments are characterised by fast and unpredictable changes that place traditional competitive advantages under pressure, requiring a continual pursuit of temporary game changers or radical disruptors. With radical innovation considered to be one of the key drivers of disruption and success within these environments, it has become critical for organisations to create a sustainable stream of new products that push the boundaries of technology and that ensures that those organisations stay ahead of their competitors. In dynamic environments, success is short-lived and temporary gains are quickly eroded as the competition catches up or jumps ahead. The ability for continual change, agility, ambidexterity and superior decision making, all contribute to maintaining the current advantages and quickly closing widening gaps in the innovation race. This study investigates the degree to which these dynamic capabilities influence an organisation’s innovation capability.

National Centre for Nano-Structured Materials (NCNSM), one of the National Department of Science and Technology’s nanotech innovation centres houses a characterisation facility which provides a wide array of high-tech materials characterization techniques used in nanotechnology research, to any researchers from any part of South Africa, whether from higher education institutions, government institutions or private firms. In this study the operational review was conducted to identify if the NCNSM Characterisation Facility is delivering on its implementation intent. With operational review organisations are able to explore their internal operations and seek recommendations as to how they can manage and operate more economically, efficiently and effectively. Given that they perform appropriately, allocating their resources properly, and performing within time frame set and using cost-effective measures. BPR was used as a framework to conduct the operational review. BPR is a framework for analysis and design of workflows and process within an organisation. It is an improvement initiative that provides radical change of the business processes in an organizational process. The findings of this study indicated that the NCNSM-CF did not entirely meet its implementation intent but it is striving towards the intention. One of the main reasons for the facility not to meet its intended implementation was the difficulty of the researchers/clients to get access to the facility. The current booking system process contributed significantly to the access problem.