Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-90).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Washington State University, May 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-81).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University

This thesis concerns the acquisition of newly developed production equipment in factories. Types of Manufacturing Technology Acquisition (MTA) can range from in-house development through to outright purchase from a supplier. MTA projects often fail because the new equipment fails to perform well enough or the expected financial benefits are not achieved. The purpose of this research has been to find out how to select the right manufacturing technology acquisition projects, and having chosen them, how to make them successful. Very little guidance on this subject was found in the literature. Therefore the approach taken was to adapt techniques widely used in the much more deeply researched field of New Product Development (NPD). The Success Factor method was applied by conducting interviews with managers in a number of factories to develop lists of factors thought to affect success or failure in their MTA projects. The Portfolio method from NPD was adapted to the case of managing a total MT'A budget, and developed through its use in three annual cycles of equipment acquisition in the researcher's Company. A formula for Expected Commercial Value in NPD was modified to become Expected Manufacturing Benefit, and tried out in practice. An important consideration in manufacturing equipment projects was discovered to be the replication of projects which had proved successful, and ways to incorporate this factor into the project selection procedure were developed. A detailed case study of a single project was carried out, which verified the validity of the findings at the level of a single project. This case study also revealed the considerable impact that corporate strategic events can have on technology acquisitions. This led to a case study on corporate strategy in the Company being carried out. Finally the findings were brought together to present a complete model for managing MTA.

M.Comm. / The purpose of this study is to research certain aspects of entrepreneurship and to highlight the relationships between entrepreneurship and business success. Organisations compete in a highly competitive and constantly changing environment and are becoming increasingly more difficult for them to survive and to succeed. One of the biggest challenges for organisations, if they wish to survive and succeed, is to change constantly and to adapt as quickly as possible to the changing environment. There is ample research which suggests that an entrepreneurial orientation is an important contributor to survival and growth of organisations. Entrepreneurs are seen as heroes of the modern business world. The reason for this is the increase in economic growth and job opportunities which they created. The central role of entrepreneurship is the ongoing need to create something new. Creativity and renewed thinking enable entrepreneurs to survive and to grow. Thus, creativity forms a part of entrepreneurship and without creativity, there can be no successful entrepreneurship. By understanding creativity, one can build the foundation of a very important component for entrepreneurship. Creativity consists of four interdependent components, namely the creative product, the creative person, the creative process and the creative environment. All four of these components are important for development of creativity, but this study will focus on the creative environment. It is important to concentrate on those situations in an organisational climate in which creativity can be stimulated, developed and/or discouraged. Although individuals can be taught to improve their creative abilities, one delivers optimal results in a favourable organisational climate that supports creativity. The organisational climate influences the way individuals communicate, solve problems, make decisions and handle conflict. Further, the organisational climate influences job satisfaction, the motivation of workers, the ability to innovate and the involvement of workers. A creative organisational climate has become a necessity for all organisations to survive and to succeed in the business world.

D.Ed. / Entrepreneurs are people who have the ability to see opportunities and create energy when others fail to see possibilities. They are people who help to create positive experiences and thriving communities through their ventures. In the process entrepreneurs would inevitably experience challenging times. In fact, the challenges they may encounter might lead the average man on the street to believe that the venture is not viable. One of the differentiating characteristics of successful entrepreneurs is that they see opportunities and pursue them in situations where most people believe the odds are against any success (Bolton & Thompson, 2004:21; Haskins, 1998:2; Kuratko & Hodgetts, 1989:102). During these challenges, the entrepreneur will find him or herself in a lonely place, as there are few people who would be able to believe in the success of the venture, let alone be able to give support and encouragement. This situation motivated the study into the life stories of the entrepreneur from the perspective of psychology of education. A study that sets out to establish which personal qualities these people draw from; to identify the qualities and characteristics these people have in common and to describe a psychoeducational model for the development of these qualities. The primary research goal of this study is the description of a psychoeducational model for the development of entrepreneurs in Southern Africa. To achieve this goal, the following objectives were pursued, namely: a. To gain an understanding of the life story of a successful entrepreneur. b. To develop a psycho-educational model based on this understanding. c. To describe guidelines for the operationalisation of the model. In an undertaking to meet the above objectives, a theory generative, qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design were executed. The fieldwork was done by having semi-structured phenomenological interviews with successful entrepreneurs. The results obtained from the interviews were analysed and categorised and a literature study was carried out.

D.Comm. / Organisations are becoming increasingly aware of the pervasive impact that culture has on its success. Corporate cultures exhibit certain characteristics that are collectively created through years of interaction, and which unconsciously direct the activities of its employees. Research indicates that culture plays a pivotal role in an organisation, and has the ability, either to make a positive contribution to the organisation‘s success, or to be a liability. Culture is also crucial in fundamental change efforts. In current times, social, cultural, political and technological forces constantly challenge organisations to reassess and redefine their strategies. In order to counter these challenges, the focus of many local companies has been on improving their capabilities and growing skills, as they are expected to compete and survive in a dynamic business world. One of the ways to achieve this is to obtain leverage from culture, a driving force in the organisation. To this end, this study seeks to explore the role of culture in driving business success. It is anticipated that the knowledge generated from this inquiry will afford new insights, and inform higher corporate practice. The research employed a qualitative case-study methodology. Participants of this study included a purposefully selected group of eight employees who occupied various managerial roles in the organisation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and thematic analysis was employed in analysing the resultant data. The key findings highlighted the role of culture in driving the organisations past success. However, these cultural traits proved to be questionable for continued success. In order to remain competitive, the changing environment and global challenges compelled the company to redefine its strategies, and introduce innovative measures to achieve its objectives. Strategy compelled the company to move forward to adapt to the ever-increasing environmental changes, but culture posed a constraint on learning and change. Further findings are also presented, and recommendations are made for future research and business practices.

Hospitals and healthcare facilities in the United States are facing serious shortages of medical laboratory personnel, which, if not addressed, stand to negatively impact patient care. The problem is compounded by a reduction in the numbers of academic programs and resulting decrease in the number of graduates to keep up with the increase in industry demands. Given these challenges, the purpose of this study was to identify predictors of success for students in a selected 2-year Medical Laboratory Technology Associate in Science Degree Program. This study examined five academic factors (College Placement Test Math and Reading scores, Cumulative GPA, Science GPA, and Professional [first semester laboratory courses] GPA) and, demographic data to see if any of these factors could predict program completion. The researcher examined academic records for a 10-year period (N =158). Using a retrospective model, the correlational analysis between the variables and completion revealed a significant relationship (p < .05) for CGPA, SGPA, CPT Math, and PGPA indicating that students with higher CGPA, SGPA, CPT Math, and PGPA were more likely to complete their degree in 2 years. Binary logistic regression analysis with the same academic variables revealed PGPA was the best predictor of program completion (p < .001). Additionally, the findings in this study are consistent with the academic part of the Bean and Metzner Conceptual Model of Nontraditional Student Attrition which points to academic outcome variables such as GPA as affecting attrition. Thus, the findings in this study are important to students and educators in the field of Medical Laboratory Technology since PGPA is a predictor that can be used to provide early in-program intervention to the at-risk student, thus increasing the chances of successful timely completion.

The Eastern Cape Province has been cited as the second poorest province in South Africa. The impact of entrepreneurship on the economy, with respect to socio-economic development, has placed increased pressure on entrepreneurs to operate effectively. Moreover, entrepreneurs are required to adopt and adapt to leadership practices that lead to business success. Business success is largely dependent on the leader. The importance of this study may, thus, be attributed to the need for entrepreneurs to possess the necessary leadership attributes for the efficient running of a business. The primary objective of this study was to improve the success rate of entrepreneurs in the Eastern Cape Province. This was done by determining the impact of selected leadership attributes on the success of entrepreneurs. More specifically, this study investigated how the success of entrepreneurs is influenced by leadership attributes (the dependent variable), namely, leadership style, vision, networking, risk-taking and ethics (the independent variables). In order to achieve the research objectives, the researcher used the inferential statistical approach, specifically, hypothesis testing. The first step was to conduct a literature review on factors that influence entrepreneurs. This entailed the barriers to success, critical success factors, the impact of the SMME sector on the economy, as well as the selected leadership attributes. Secondly, the quantitative research method was used to assess the perceptions of entrepreneurs with regards to the influence of the leadership attributes on their businesses. This was done through an empirical survey, namely a self-administered questionnaire that was distributed to a sample of 100 entrepreneurs who are based in the Eastern Cape Province and have been operating for a minimum of three years. Out of the envisaged 100 respondents, 89 questionnaires were completed (89% response rate). The data obtained from the empirical survey was then analysed statistically and the descriptive statistics were presented by using graphs and tables. The results of the empirical survey revealed that although all the above-mentioned independent variables contribute towards increasing the success rate of entrepreneurs, networking and ethics exert the most significant influence. Based on the findings of the literature review and the results of the empirical survey, this study made recommendations on areas of improvement for entrepreneurs in order to increase their success rate. Suggestions were also made for possible future research.