Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Information Technology In the Faculty of Informatics and Design at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology / Dealing with information quality issues remains a serious concern for organisations. With the fact that modern organisations generate much higher volumes of information than they did in the past, with more variety and at a higher velocity, this concern is only expected to increase. Information quality is a complex topic and there is no single view shared by stakeholders on the quality of information within an organisation’s value chain and information quality issues experienced by stakeholders are also different. In this study, the topic of information quality is addressed through the following research questions: How do information stakeholders view the quality of information throughout the information value chain of a retail organisation? What kind of information quality issues do business stakeholders experience throughout the information value chain of a retail organisation? And how are stakeholder decisions affected by information quality when producing or consuming information at the different touch points of the information value chain? An interpretive research approach was chosen for this study to explore this complex topic. The research was conducted in two phases. A literature review in which different concepts related to information quality were investigated was the first phase. In the second phase, a specific business case was investigated before findings from the two phases were analysed and discussed In response to the main research questions, the findings of the research indicated that information quality is complex and there is no single view shared by all stakeholders involved in an information value chain.

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Agronomia e Medicina Veterinária, Programa de Pós-graduação Agronegócios, 2014. / Submitted by Ana Cristina Barbosa da Silva (annabds@hotmail.com) on 2014-10-16T17:07:29Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_RafaelSoaresCosta.pdf: 1993400 bytes, checksum: d277dc46ef37549e2e2ac8096e97d64e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Tania Milca Carvalho Malheiros(tania@bce.unb.br) on 2014-10-16T18:57:46Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_RafaelSoaresCosta.pdf: 1993400 bytes, checksum: d277dc46ef37549e2e2ac8096e97d64e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-16T18:57:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_RafaelSoaresCosta.pdf: 1993400 bytes, checksum: d277dc46ef37549e2e2ac8096e97d64e (MD5) / No últimos anos, o consumo de carne bovina vem sendo modificado por meio de mudanças dos padrões alimentares, ocasionados pelo acréscimo de renda e pela preocupação com meio ambiente, saúde, e bem estar social. Estes fatores levaram a cadeia de pecuária de corte bovina a rever seus modelos, com o objetivo de se adaptar aos padrões do desenvolvimento sustentável. Entretanto, este tipo de desenvolvimento só faz sentido se for implantado por todos segmentos da cadeia de pecuária de corte bovina - do produtor ao consumidor -, uma difícil tarefa, permeada por diversas barreiras a serem solucionadas. O objetivo desse trabalho é aplicar no GTPS - Grupo de Trabalho da Pecuária Sustentável - o modelo de identificação de stakeholders proposto originalmente por Mitchel, Agle e Wood (1997). Este modelo propõe que a caracterização de stakeholders baseado na combinação de três atributos: poder, legitimidade e urgência. O estudo pode ser caracterizado como uma pesquisa exploratória, com foco na categorização dos stakeholders do GTPS por meio do critério da saliência, que pode influenciar as decisões tomadas pelo grupo acerca do desenvolvimento sustentável na bovinocultura. Para tanto, foi analisada também a importância dada aos três pilares da sustentabilidade (social, econômico e ecológico), e também foram identificadas as principais barreiras da cadeia da pecuária de corte bovina e seus respectivos segmentos. Adotou-se a análise quali-quantitativa dos dados primários, obtidos por meio de reuniões e eventos promovidos, e da aplicação de um questionário junto aos executivos representantes das organizações membros do GTPS. Os dados secundários foram obtidos por meio de referências bibliográficas referentes às principais demandas e soluções para a sustentabilidade do setor em análise. Este trabalho visa a contribuir para a fomentação de estratégias para implantação da pecuária sustentável, por meio da categorização dos stakeholders, e análise de suas respectivas saliências sobre demandas e decisões tomadas para o desenvolvimento sustentável na bovinocultura. ______________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT / In the past years, the consume of cattle meat has been modified by changes on nourishment standards, resulted by income increase and environment, health, and social well-being awareness. Such factors has led the beef cattle chain to revise its models in order to adapt to the sustainable development standards. Nevertheless, this kind of development only makes sense if it is implanted by each and every branch of the beef cattle chain –from the producer to the consumer –which is a challenging task, pervaded by many obstacles that must be overcame. The aim of this work is to apply on the GTPS –Brazilian Roundtable for Sustainable Livestock –the stakeholdersidentification model originally proposed by Mitchel, Angle and Wood (1997). This model proposes that the characterization of the stakeholders is based on the combination of three features: power, legitimacy and urgency. The study can be regarded as being an exploratory research, focusing the categorization of the GTPS stakeholdersthrough the salience, that may have influence on the decisions made by the group about the sustainable development in cattle breeding. In this manner, the importance given to the three bases of sustainability (social, economic and ecologic) and the identification of the main obstacles in the beef cattle chain and its respective branches, has also been analyzed. A quality-quantitative analysis of the primary data was carried out, which was obtained through meetings and promoted events and the application of a questionnaire answered by the executives representing the member organizations of WGSB. The secondary data wereobtained through bibliographic references related to the principal demands and solutions for sustainability in the analyzed sector. This work aims to contribute to the fomentation of strategies for the implantation of sustainable beef cattle through a categorization of the stakeholdersand, its respective salience over demands and decision making in the direction of sustainable development in beef cattle.

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Administração, 2014. / Submitted by Cristiane Mendes (mcristianem@gmail.com) on 2014-11-26T17:05:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_EstelaAlvesDeMedeiros.pdf: 2776600 bytes, checksum: 7e025f6eba7791827b04edf760cd1246 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Raquel Viana(raquelviana@bce.unb.br) on 2014-11-26T19:30:24Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_EstelaAlvesDeMedeiros.pdf: 2776600 bytes, checksum: 7e025f6eba7791827b04edf760cd1246 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-11-26T19:30:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_EstelaAlvesDeMedeiros.pdf: 2776600 bytes, checksum: 7e025f6eba7791827b04edf760cd1246 (MD5) / A tese analisa como as organizações governamentais brasileiras gerenciam os stakeholders na implementação de programas estratégicos. Para tanto, foi realizado um estudo de caso comparativo sobre a revisão do Código Florestal a partir da ótica de dois principais atores governamentais: Ministério do Meio Ambiente (MMA) e Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (MAPA). Entrevistas, análise de documentos e notícias de jornais de grande circulação permitiram captar a percepção dos gestores sobre como os ministérios lidaram com seus stakeholders, que são ambientalistas, ruralistas, governo e sociedade organizada. O modelo teórico utilizado na pesquisa uniu as proposições de Freeman (1984) sobre ‘Capacidade de Gerenciar Stakeholders’ (CGS) e o Advocacy Coalition Framework – ACF (SABATIER e WEIBLE, 2007). Após a identificação dos participantes da Coalizão Agricultura e Coalizão Meio Ambiente, utilizou-se as três perspectivas de análise propostas por Freeman (1984). Na análise racional, demonstrou-se que tanto MMA quanto MAPA fizeram mapeamento de stakeholders, apesar de não terem feito categorização quanto à influência e poder e nem o levantamento de seus valores. Do ponto de vista do instrumento de planejamento, o MAPA executou todas as etapas previstas na teoria (valores da organização, questões para os próximos 10 anos, análise de portfólio, revisão da estratégia e análise de ambiente). O MMA, por outro lado, executou apenas análise de portfólio para construção do PPA 2008-2011. Do ponto de vista da análise transacional, ambos os ministérios utilizaram como estratégia principal a negociação. O MAPA investiu também em informação científica, enquanto o MMA realizou mobilização social. Com relação ao programa de ação específico para lidar com as negociações do Código Florestal, a Coalizão Ambiental adotou posicionamento mais defensivo, enquanto a Coalizão Agricultura foi mais ofensiva e buscou a mudança de regras. Desta forma, o MAPA aparece com maior CGS que o MMA. Não se pode afirmar que a existência do Plano Estratégico fez a diferença no resultado alcançado com o novo Código Florestal. Porém, o Planejamento Estratégico do MAPA refletiu uma preocupação da Coalizão com as questões ambientais. A integração dos membros da Coalizão Agricultura foi peça-chave no processo, o que corrobora a proposição de Freeman (1984) sobre a importância do gerenciamento de stakeholders. A tese possibilitou a experimentação do modelo de Freeman (1984) associado ao ACF no setor público e propõe um modelo de planejamento estratégico integrado com stakeholders para o setor público. _________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT / The thesis analyzes how the Brazilian government organizations manage stakeholders in the implementation of strategic programs. Thus, a comparative case study was conducted on the revision of the Forest Code from the perspective of two main governmental actors: Ministry of Environment (MMA) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA). Interviews, document analysis and news from major newspapers allowed to capture the perceptions of managers about how the ministries dealt with its stakeholders, which are environmentalists, large farmers, government and organized society. The theoretical model used in the research joined propositions by Freeman (1984) on Stakeholders Management Capability – SMC and the Advocacy Coalition Framework - ACF (SABATIER and WEIBLE, 2007). After identifying the participants of the Agriculture Coalition and the Environment Coalition, we used the three perspectives of analysis proposed by Freeman (1984). On rational analysis, it was demonstrated that both MMA and MAPA did stakeholder mapping, despite not having categorized their influence and power and not lifting their values. From the point of view of the instruments of planning, MAPA performed all the steps of the theory (the organization's values, issues for the next 10 years, portfolio analysis, strategy review and environmental analysis). MMA, on the other hand, performed portfolio analysis only for the construction of PPA 2008-2011. From the perspective of transactional analysis, both ministries have used negotiation as their main strategy. The MAPA also invested in scientific information, while the MMA conducted social mobilization. Regarding specific action to deal with negotiations of the Forest Code, the Environmental Coalition adopted more defensive positioning, while the Agriculture Coalition was more offensive and sought to change the rules. Therefore, MAPA appears have more SMC than MMA. One cannot claim that the existence of the Strategic Plan made the difference in results obtained with the new Forest Code. However, the Strategic Planning of MAPA reflected a concern of the Coalition to environmental issues. The integration of Agriculture coalition members was important in the process, which supports Freeman’s proposition (1984) on the importance of stakeholder management. The thesis enabled the test of the Freeman’s model (1984) associated with ACF in the public sector and proposes a model integrated with stakeholders in the public sector strategic planning.

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Tecnologia, Departamento de Engenharia Civil e Ambiental, 2012. / Submitted by Alaíde Gonçalves dos Santos (alaide@unb.br) on 2013-03-27T12:10:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2012_ArturCarlosdeMorais.pdf: 1883816 bytes, checksum: 2ec365689b1b4c9ea2359dbbe2cd4ab8 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Guimaraes Jacqueline(jacqueline.guimaraes@bce.unb.br) on 2013-03-27T13:23:39Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2012_ArturCarlosdeMorais.pdf: 1883816 bytes, checksum: 2ec365689b1b4c9ea2359dbbe2cd4ab8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-03-27T13:23:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2012_ArturCarlosdeMorais.pdf: 1883816 bytes, checksum: 2ec365689b1b4c9ea2359dbbe2cd4ab8 (MD5) / As políticas públicas de transportes surgem por serem de extrema importância em praticamente todos os aspectos da vida de uma comunidade e um grande componente da economia. Porém, a sua viabilidade não está condicionada apenas a aspectos técnicos afetos aos problemas de engenharia ou de viabilidade econômica, pois existem outros componentes que contribuem para a decisão do agente público em agir ou não agir. O fracasso na implantação de projetos de transportes viáveis, técnica e economicamente, comumente pode ser creditado ao desconhecimento desses componentes externos ao ambiente da engenharia. Um deles ocorre na arena de disputas e negociações entre atores. Assim, este trabalho se propõe a contribuir para dotar a área de engenharia de arcabouço teórico/metodológico para a viabilização política de projetos de transportes em complemento à fundamentação técnica e econômica. O método proposta que possibilita direcionar a ação de atores no intuito de influenciar na ação do decisor em agir, possui base teórica no modelo do Ciclo de Política Pública, onde são definidos os momentos de tomada da decisão; na Análise dos Stakeholders, que possibilita identificar quais atores devem ser considerados no processo e, por fim, a Advocacy, ações e recursos que possibilitam o convencimento do tomador de decisão. O produto, resultado da aplicação do método proposta, foi comparado com um projeto de transporte já implantado e demonstrou possuir, nesse estudo de caso, boa previsibilidade para ser utilizado. Ele previu 100% das dificuldades encontradas, 100% das ações a serem desenvolvidas para vencer tais dificuldades e 80% dos recursos empregados nessas ações. __________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT / The public transport policies appear to be extremely important in almost all aspects of a community life and a large component of the economy. However, its viability is not conditioned only in technical aspects of engineering problems or economic viability, as there are other components that contribute to the decision of the public official to act or not. The failure to implement viable transportation projects, technically and economically, commonly can be credited to the ignorance of these external components to engineering environment. One of them occurs in the arena of disputes and negotiations among actors. Thus, this paper aims to help engineering equip of theoretical/methodological framework for enabling transport projects policy, in addition to technical and economic grounding. The proposed method that enables to direct action of actors in order to influence the action of the decision maker to act, has a theoretical basis in the Public Policy Cycle, where define moments of making decision; on Stakeholder Analysis, where enables identify which actors should be considered in the process and, finally, the Advocacy, actions and resources that sould convince the decision maker. The product, result of the proposed method, was compared with a implemented transportation project and has demonstrated in this case study good predictability for use. It predicted 100% of difficulty found, 100% of the actions to be developed to overcome these difficulties and 80% of the resources used in these actions.

O turismo comunitário é relativamente novo e pouco explorado no Equador, sendo considerado estratégico para alcançar um desenvolvimento sustentável em nível macro e micro. Isto se deve a sua capacidade de geração e distribuição direta de riqueza nas comunidades indígenas onde é desenvolvido, comunidades antes aflitas pela fome e pela pobreza. Outro beneficio imediato do turismo comunitário é o impacto positivo na conservação do planeta Terra e do patrimônio cultural das nações indígenas. As organizações que se dedicam a este tipo de atividade precisam da ajuda das comunidades onde elas estão inseridas e da colaboração de vários outros parceiros interessados no sucesso deste empreendimento. Tudo isto dentro de um marco de comportamentos éticos próprios dos povos indígenas andinos. Analisar a estratégia de desenvolvimento sustentável do turismo comunitário na comunidade de San Clemente e o papel dos seus stakeholders nessa estratégia sob um marco ético complexo. Para este propósito, elaborou-se um framework baseado em três pilares teóricos: a ética complexa, o desenvolvimento sustentável e a eco-estratégia empresarial. A aplicação do framework foi realizada através de um estudo de caso, que foi construído a partir das entrevistas realizadas com pessoas envolvidas na atividade produtiva analisada, e de uma visita a ECORED, organização que trabalha com turismo comunitário na comunidade de San Clemente. Como resultado da pesquisa, postula-se que o conceito de desenvolvimento sustentável deste tipo de negócios vai muito além dos pilares tradicionais e demanda uma visão mais ampla neste tema até atingir dimensões como a política, a territorial e a cultural. A estratégia sustentável das comunidades é resultado de sua história, de suas tradições e de seus costumes. Não se trata de uma estratégia importada de outras organizações ou setores. Nesta estratégia original, stakeholders como a comunidade, os consumidores e os empregados têm uma relação muito estreita com a organização, chegando, muitas vezes, a se juntar em uma única entidade. Já stakeholders como os reguladores, os investidores e os fornecedores ficam um pouco mais distantes. A importância do cuidado e da preservação da Pacha Mama é fundamental neste tipo de turismo, assim como o resgate de antigas tradições e costumes quase apagados através de séculos de desvalorização dos povos indígenas andinos. A ética, observada pela a lente da complexidade, apresentou uma organização com um comportamento majoritariamente altruísta, com uma ética transmitida de maneira oral e em que se identifica a responsabilidade e a solidariedade em diferentes níveis de legitimidade, dependendo do ambiente em que a organização esteja se posicionando em um determinado momento. / Community tourism is relatively new and few explored in Ecuador, being considered strategic for achieving sustainable development at macro and micro level. This is due to its ability to generate and direct distribution of wealth in indigenous communities where it is developed, communities which before were afflicted by hunger and poverty. Another immediate benefit of the community tourism is the positive impact on preserving the Earth and the cultural heritage of indigenous nations. Organizations that engage in this kind of activity need help from the communities where they are inserted and the collaboration of several other partners interested in the success of this activity. All this happens within a framework of ethical behavior of indigenous people. Analyze the strategy of sustainable development of tourism in the community of San Clemente and the role of its stakeholders according to this strategy under an ethical complex framework. For this purpose, it was elaborated a framework based on three theoretical pillars: the complex ethical, sustainable development and eco-business strategy. The implementation of the framework was done through a case study, which was constructed from interviews with people involved in the analyzed productive activity, and through visit to ECORED, an organization that works with tourism in the community of San Clemente. As results, it is postulated that the concept of sustainable development of this type of business goes far beyond the traditional pillars and demand a broader view on this issue until it reaches dimensions such as politics, territorial and cultural. The strategy of sustainable communities is a result of their history, their traditions and customs. This is not about a strategy that is imported from other organizations or sectors. On this original strategy, stakeholders such as community, consumers and employees have a very close relationship with the organization, coming often to join in a single entity. Already stakeholders such as regulators, investors and suppliers are a little more distant. The importance of caution and preservation of Pacha Mama is crucial in this type of tourism, as well as the revival of old traditions and customs almost obliterated by centuries of devaluation of the Andean indigenous people. Ethics, observed by the lens of complexity, presented an organization with a largely altruistic behavior, with an ethical manner transmitted orally and is identified as the responsibility and solidarity in different levels of legitimacy, depending on the environment within which the organization is positioning itself at a given time.

Relationship management plays a critical role in sustainable supply chain management (SCM). The literature focuses on the operational and strategic levels of inter-organisational relationships in supply chains, where little is known about the psychological aspect of these relationships. Adopting social identity theory as the key theoretical lens, this research investigates inter-organisational relationships in the context of sustainability implementation in supply chains. Two research questions are asked: RQ1 How do focal organisations engage their supply chain stakeholders in sustainable SCM using social identity thinking? RQ2 What are the specific identity issues relating to inter-organisational relationships in a sustainability context? This research adopts an exploratory case approach and combines multiple data sources: semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and secondary data analysis. Three case studies are conducted in three international organisations and their suppliers in a global setting. The research findings reveal that organisations face the challenge of managing multiple identities during their sustainability implementation in supply chains. Subject to their operational context and supply chain characteristics, organisations may have different approaches to sustainability implementation. Sustainability identity is associated with internal stakeholders’ motivation and proactivity when contacting external stakeholders, as well as external stakeholders’ commitment to cooperation and information sharing in sustainable supply. Analysis of the 41 interviews reveals that both the internal and external stakeholders play an important role in identity formation through various identity assessment and comparison activities. The key identity issues observed during sustainable supply practices include identity conflicts, inconsistencies, and disagreements among the stakeholders. The current SCM literature focuses on supply chains as one uniform identity. A major contribution of this research is that it addresses the complexity of identity issues in supply chains, especially in the context of sustainability implementation. It also contributes to theory by defining a typology of focal organisations’ identity regulation approaches.

Serious games show promise as an effective training method, but such games are complex and few guidelines exist for their effective evaluation. We draw on the design science literature to develop a serious game evaluation framework that emphasizes grounding evaluation in each of four key areas-theoretical, technical, empirical, and external. We further recommend that serious game developers assume an iterative, adaptive approach to grounding an evaluation effort in these four areas, emphasizing some areas more than others at different stages of the development cycle. We illustrate our framework using a case study of a large-scale serious game development project. The case study illustrates a holistic approach to serious game evaluation that is valuable to both researchers and practitioners.

Sustainable business practices are fundamental for the future of business, society and the environment within which business operates. In this journey, stakeholders provide a sustainability compass that must be consulted by companies in determining and realigning the business context to their legitimate needs. Businesses have constantly been accused of an imperious attitude towards stakeholders that manifests in one directional conversations designed to manage rather than engage and report objectively on the state of their relationship with stakeholders. Whilst much exploration has been conducted on stakeholder engagement, the cardinal objective of this research was to explore the role of this engagement in determining the gradation of issues in the businesses’ sustainability reporting process. A review of other significant scholarly material highlighted gaps in the realm of this broad subject that were used in the construct of the research questions. Data in this qualitative study was obtained from sustainability practitioners employed by companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. This was achieved through content analysis of their reports and structured in-depth interviews that sought to understand the materiality concept through their stakeholder engagement process. The findings suggest that stakeholder engagement and materiality determination in particular is a complex area fraught with a lot of challenges as well as diversity in approach and purpose. The findings also suggested that the determination of the sustainability content is a unilateral process instituted and guided by the reporting entity with no involvement of other stakeholders beyond the data-gathering phase. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / zkgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / Unrestricted

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / The primary objective of this study is to critically examine the extent to which the Drakenstein municipality has achieved the principles spelt out in legislation and policy documents in relation to the implementation of Integrated Development Planning (IDP). Central to this process is to determine the roles that each of the stakeholders plays In the design, implementation and monitoring of the IDP On investigating the IDP it became evident that there were various shortcomings in the process in which it was prepared. For example, there was a lack of participation with necessary stakeholders, and, as a result of inadequate knowledge on the subject, councillor discussion in general council meetings on issues pertaining to development and especially to the IDP process was inadequate. Also lacking was the necessary administrative capacity, and proper consultation with other spheres of government with regards to the IDP process. The IDP is a key development instrument for Drakenstein municipality and its people and it is essential that proper systems are in place to effectively address the need for development in the region. However, budgetary constraints curtail the capacity of the Municipality to address all its priorities in one given year. Important and significant gaps therefore exist between the IDP and departmental business plans. It is in these gaps where the private sector and community organisations can add to the capacity of the municipality in support of broad community development priorities. Therefore, to address the aforementioned, it was found that departments should institute business plans in order to translate strategic themes into tangible and measurable activities. The IDP should define synergies between the activities of the Council, NGOsjCBOs and the business community (especially the farming sector) where different players are encouraged to explore roles for their organisations towards a better life for all.

The social networks of IT projects are examined to determine whether powerful stakeholders are identifiable by their centrality in the communication, workflow and friendship networks. Traditional stakeholder models rely on the abilities of the project manager to correctly attribute certain characteristics to stakeholders and thereby determine who is powerful or important to the project. The purpose of the research is to provide an initial network-based stakeholder model that can be used to identify stakeholders by their social interactions in project teams.Stakeholder interactions and power ratings are collected from project team members that are part of three IT projects using social network tools and the resultant sociomatrices analysed to produce centrality measures for each stakeholder. The power ratings consisted of positional, personal and political power variables which were then entered into a regression analysis with nine centrality measures for degree, closeness and betweenness centrality. Overall, the results provided evidence that powerful stakeholders could be determined by their centrality in the various network types. Stakeholders with high personal power can be identified using the communications network. Those with high positional power can be identified using the workflow network and those with high political power can be identified using the friendship network. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted